The fat man pulled her back: "Alright, alright, sit down for a while. Tell me, whose personality do you take after?"
Xiao Dang pouted: "Didn't you say that the stalk looks like my dad, the locust flower looks like my mom, and I'm the only one who doesn't look like anything else?"
The fat man chuckled: "You are rational yet passionate, but you also have a touch of indifference; if you had to quantify it, you would probably always retain 3 parts rationality, at most 4 parts passion, and usually carry 3 parts indifference... like a contradictory little collection."
Xiao Dang pouted: "Isn't this the continental personality that you told me about last time, cultivated by that kind of environment?"
The fat man sighed. This girl is getting older and she won't be so easy to fool anymore.
I couldn't help but tap her forehead: "Let's get down to business. You're still so focused on becoming a teacher?"
Xiao Dang sighed in his ear, then slammed his hand on the table like a seal: "Uncle Fatty, I really regret not listening to you. I didn't go to university, not even a worker-peasant-soldier university. Why do you need a diploma for everything these days?"
The fat man snorted, "None of them give me a moment's peace. You're like this, and so is my third sister. She used to tell me things like 'the more knowledgeable you are, the more reactionary you are,' and look what happened! She's constantly worried about being laid off. Now she knows to work hard, but it's too late!"
Xiao Dang said with a worried look, "I can't stay at the school anymore. The leaders said that with my qualifications, the best I can do is work as a teacher in the school-run factory."
"Then don't go, I have a better job."
Xiao Dang's eyes lit up: "What kind of job? What kind of job?"
The fat man feigned mystery, looking like he was begging me, which amused Xiao Dang so much that she grabbed his arm and shook it, drawing out the syllables in a sickeningly sweet voice, "Uncle Fatty~"
The fat man then revealed the answer with satisfaction: "Become the manager! Would you like to?"
"Manager? What the hell? What's their job?"
Many people later misunderstood the word "manager," thinking it was introduced from abroad, but that's not the case. It's an extended meaning of an ancient Chinese word, a truly native word.
The word first appeared in Xunzi's "Rectification of Names": "The Way is the management of governance."
Later, during the Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi wrote in his "Reply to Gao Guoying": "If we were to manage worldly affairs and discuss the past and present, I fear that our current strength is not yet sufficient to achieve it." This formally gave it the meaning of management and operation.
The fat man gave Xiaodang a brief explanation, and she almost jumped up: "Huh? Isn't that speculation and profiteering? If you get caught, you'll go to jail and be eating cornbread!"
The fat man rolled his eyes at her: "You little brat, would I ever cheat you?"
Xiao Dang thought about it and realized that made sense. Besides, Yu Li and Chen Yan were also involved. If he wasn't completely confident, Uncle Pang wouldn't have taken the risk.
Moreover, isn't this much better than going to a school-run factory?
In the inner room, Chen Yan listened intently to Xiao Dang and the fat man's heated discussion; Yu Li put down her book and said to her, "If you want to listen, just sit there and listen openly."
Chen Yan shook her head: "I've heard this stuff so many times I'm sick of it. I'm just listening from an outsider's perspective to see if I can get any new insights."
"..."
Yu Li is now always reading, and Fatty has found her many books to read.
Back then, when they shut down the factory library, Fatty sneaked in under the cover of night and looted the thousands of books inside!
These books are all kept in the Stardew Valley library, where Miss Penny helps to categorize and organize them. That's how Yu Li gets the books she reads every day.
Reading is a shortcut to broadening one's horizons.
As her reading volume gradually increased, Yu Li's mind also began to be filled with exploration and curiosity about the unknown.
Take Xu Damao, for example. Yu Li couldn't tell whether he was a good person or a bad person before. But after reading more books, she naturally became able to use simple standards to distinguish him: those who often do good deeds are of course good people, and those who often do bad deeds are bad people.
Good or bad, judge by actions, not intentions.
The more enthusiastically a place shouts about benevolence and morality, the more it proves that the place lacks benevolence and morality.
For example, those three old men in this courtyard, which of their words didn't stem from a moral high ground? Which of their statements was unreasonable?
These principles bound everyone else in the courtyard tightly, but they always made an exception for Qin Huairu.
Yi Zhonghai, perhaps having taken fake medicine made by Yan Bugui's family, actually made the "wise" suggestion that Banggeng move to the deaf old lady's room in the backyard!
Fatty and Xiao Dang were talking about this: "Yi Daode asked your brother to stay, but your brother didn't go?"
Yi Zhonghai's nickname is now a household name; everyone knows "Yi Daode" in Nanluoguxiang.
People who haul manure nowadays don't dare to pass by here, for fear of being entangled with an old man who will take care of them in their old age.
Xiao Dang showed absolutely no respect for Bang Geng: "Of course, he's been a bit dim-witted since he was a child!"
The fat man slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Haha, that's so true!"
Yu Li stopped reading, came out of the house to pour herself a glass of water, and chatted about gossip to refresh her mind: "Have you heard? Uncle San's family bought a TV."
Little Dang raised his hand high: "I know, I know! My great-grandfathers bought a 9-inch black and white TV and it cost 296 yuan!"
The fat man chimed in, "They're just as stingy as ever. Even Yan Jiecheng and his wife have to pay for electricity if they want to watch TV."
Yu Li gasped, "Goodness, he managed to come up with 300 yuan after all that scheming. Was his TV the first one in our compound?"
Xiao Dang shook his head: "It's Uncle Da Mao's family's."
The fat man then said at the opportune moment, "Why don't we buy one for our family too?"
As a result, the two beautiful women, one tall and one short, simultaneously declared: "No buying!"
The fat man was so angry he almost had a toothache: "Don't you want to watch?"
Xiao Dang was not impressed: "There aren't many TV programs, and all they do all day is sing opera."
Yu Li also advised, "Aren't you going to do something big? How can you do something big without money? Listen to me... I don't like watching TV."
They've been married for 11 years now, don't they understand each other yet?
Fatty is reliable most of the time and is the backbone of the family; but occasionally he can act like a child who never grows up and needs to be coaxed.
Although the fat man was very unwilling, he also enjoyed the warmth and thought about it, which made him even more determined to buy a TV.
Otherwise, Xu Damao's family has it, Uncle San's family has it, and even Sha Zhu can afford it, but his family doesn't. Where would he put his face then?
The next day, the fat man skipped work. He no longer cared about the meager salary and bonuses; he'd rather just go solo than continue coasting along.
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