Zhou Yu did not dwell on the question of why a 50% discount was equivalent to giving it away for free, because he knew very well that when it came to shopping, women's train of thought was generally quite peculiar. Not to mention Qiao Meng, even Zhou Yu's mother Wang Yufang and Qiao Meng's mother Huang Qing were the same.

In certain aspects of consumption, the consumption concepts of young people and older people are very different.

For example, if a bottle of xx water is sold for 20 yuan, people of the older generation like Zhou Yu and Qiao Meng's parents would definitely think it's crazy. This water is made of gold, and they dare to sell it for 20?!

Why don't I just go home and drink plain water? I might as well save the money and buy some pork ribs. It would be so nice for the whole family to have a happy meal!

However, young people like Zhou Yu have different consumption concepts. If Zhou Yu was still in school, if he saw a 20-yuan xx water drink, his classmates and roommates would definitely...

What the hell, what kind of water is sold for 20 yuan? ! Is this water made of gold? !

No, I have to taste what this water tastes like today!

Of course, Zhou Yu would definitely not be willing to spend 20 yuan to buy a bottle of water. Even if he had the money, he would probably keep it and buy something more practical.

Zhou Yu was very wise and did not argue with Qiao Meng about consumption concepts. He just bought some clothes. As long as Qiao Meng was happy, that was enough!

So, after trying on a few pieces of clothing, Zhou Yu decisively turned the topic to today's lunch.

"What are we having for lunch?"

"Ah? Aren't you going to eat in the cafeteria? Otherwise, I'll cook for you?"

Zhou Yu: “…”

...

...

"Big sister, big sister, I want this fried chicken nuggets, um, and this braised beef! Um...what is this? Ah, beer duck? Um, I want it, I want it, give me another serving of this!"

The cafeteria auntie happily served Qiao Meng a portion of food that was much larger than the normal amount. After serving, she asked Qiao Meng if it was enough, and if not, she would give Qiao Meng two more spoonfuls. Qiao Meng was so happy that she kept saying "enough, enough", and if it was not enough, she would definitely tell the auntie again.

Qiao Meng's sweet mouth is well-known in the cafeteria. No matter how old the aunties serving the dishes are, she always calls everyone "big sister". This makes the aunties very happy and they want to fill all the dishes for Qiao Meng.

In a sense, Qiao Meng and Zhou Yu are really like family. They are both sweet-talkers who say one thing to one person and another thing to another person. However, they are willing to be open-hearted to their own family members and give everything for each other.

"Eat quickly, eat quickly, I'm starving!"

When they returned home after shopping, Qiao Meng, who was eager to help Zhou Yu try on clothes, didn't feel anything yet. But after helping Zhou Yu try on clothes, Qiao Meng belatedly felt the hunger, so Qiao Meng couldn't wait to pull Zhou Yu to the cafeteria.

Since Zhou Yu had eaten a lot of snacks at home, he was not as anxious as Qiao Meng at this time. So in the face of Qiao Meng's urging, Zhou Yu became slower and slower, eating the vegetables in small bites and occasionally putting a few mouthfuls of rice into his mouth.

However, Zhou Yu's attitude attracted Qiao Meng's contempt. Qiao Meng spat out the duck bones in her mouth and casually picked up a piece of beef for Zhou Yu with chopsticks. "You eat more than me, like a girl. Are you trying to lose weight or are you having trouble at work?"

Zhou Yu curled his lips, "What do you mean by losing weight? I just ate too many snacks, I'm not hungry at all! I can eat with you here now, and I can still eat, so I have to thank my extraordinary digestive system!"

After saying that, Zhou Yu did not forget to raise his eyebrows proudly at Qiao Meng, "I am still growing up, and my appetite is good!"

"Step down!" Qiao Meng pointed at Zhou Yu, "Go back to me tonight..."

Before Qiao Meng could finish her words, Zhou Yu was so scared that he buried his face in his bowl, trying to pretend that he was offline.

Seeing that Zhou Yu was really scared, Qiao Meng snorted coldly, and then gently let Zhou Yu go, and turned the topic to Zhou Yu's work, "I heard that the monitor of your class came to see you today? You two even chatted for a long time at the stairs. What did you talk about?"

Zhou Yu was a little surprised when Qiao Meng mentioned this. He didn't care about pretending to be dead. He raised his head from the rice bowl, looked at Qiao Meng and asked, "How come you are so well-informed?!"

Qiao Meng smiled proudly, "Of course! I'm telling you, my spies are everywhere in the school now, so be careful and don't do anything bad! Otherwise, I'll punish you at any time!"

Zhou Yu naturally knew that Qiao Meng was joking, so he didn't respond. After hearing Qiao Meng mention Ouyang Ming, Zhou Yu once again remembered what Ouyang Ming said in the morning, and couldn't help but sigh.

Qiao Meng definitely had nothing to hide, so Zhou Yu thought about it, put down his chopsticks, processed Ouyang Ming's story, and repeated it to Qiao Meng in detail. This made Qiao Meng immediately surprised and she called Ou Jianren a simply inhumane person.

"How could this person be like this!" Qiao Meng was almost confused. She couldn't understand why in the 21st century, there were still people like this in the parents' meeting. "Did he treat his son as a tool?! This person is too selfish!"

Zhou Yu shook his head. When he first heard this story, he also thought it was outrageous and even doubted its authenticity.

But when Zhou Yu considered the bad first impression the other party had given him at the recent parent-teacher conference, he felt somewhat relieved. Maybe it was really true.

"Then...what about your student? Can we help him?" Qiao Meng felt sorry for Ouyang Ming and was worried about the child's future. "He is only 18 years old. He still has a long way to go in his future! If no one intervenes, his parents will drag him down to death!"

Qiao Meng's worries were not without reason. In this world, there were many examples of talented teenagers who were delayed by their parents and wasted their lives, not to mention that Ouyang Ming could not even be considered a genius.

The first to be affected was the famous young genius Zhang Xinyang.

When Zhang Xinyang was 10 years old, he almost got admitted to a 985 university. However, in order to preserve his reputation as a "child prodigy", his parents resolutely ignored their son's future and decided to let him apply for an ordinary second-tier university. This was the first time his parents delayed Zhang Xinyang's future.

When Zhang Xinyang was 13 years old, he passed the postgraduate entrance examination, and his tutor helped him to go to Germany for further studies at public expense. However, his parents thought it was not worth wasting a year and refused to let him go to Germany. This was the second time his parents delayed Zhang Xinyang's future.

When Zhang Xinyang was 16 years old, he successfully passed the doctoral examination. At that time, Zhang Xinyang accurately predicted that the housing prices in Beijing would rise sharply without any special information channels. So Zhang Xinyang strongly suggested that his parents use the family savings and his own scholarship to buy a house in Beijing.

But Zhang Xinyang's parents stubbornly believed that Zhang Xinyang's so-called prediction was unreliable, and they only believed in their own judgment, so in order to deceive their son, Zhang Xinyang's parents just rented a house in Beijing. It was not until later that the housing prices in Beijing soared, and Zhang Xinyang completely turned against his parents after learning the truth.

This is the third time that Zhang Xinyang's parents have delayed Zhang Xinyang's future.

It is all these things that have caused the once dazzling young genius to become ordinary and willing to spend the rest of his life in mediocrity.

Zhang Xinyang once said bluntly, "I think their desire to control me exceeds what I think is a reasonable range." It was precisely because his parents treated him as an accessory rather than an independent individual that caused a series of subsequent tragedies.

Even a talented young man like Zhang Xinyang is no more than this. If there is no interference, Ouyang Ming's future can be imagined. This is exactly what Qiao Meng thinks and worries about.

Zhou Yu shook his head again, but this time it was a rejection of Qiao Meng's suggestion.

"We can't help him. Only he can help himself!"

Zhou Yu said, "We are not his parents. We cannot make decisions for Ouyang Ming or his parents regarding his future."

Although until now, many parents are still willing to let their children follow the arrangements of those qualified teachers in everything.

Even as early as a dozen or twenty years ago, parents would often say something like "Teacher, if my child xxx does something wrong at school, you can beat him up. If he dies, it's my fault!" This also created the illusion that teachers have great power and can interfere with a student's future.

But you must know that the power to educate a child well has never been in the hands of the school or the teacher, but in the hands of their parents.

A teacher is one who teaches and imparts knowledge.

The function of teachers and schools is to teach children the knowledge they should impart and do their best to help every child become an adult, even if he or she cannot become a talented person.

But after doing all this?

After all, children only spend a short 8 hours in school. If they are in high school, it may be a little longer, and we have to add the three hours of evening self-study.

But what about the rest of the time?

Children are with their parents, and ultimately, family education is the goal-oriented educational direction for a child to truly reach adulthood.

However, family education can only be accomplished by parents, and schools and teachers cannot directly intervene.

So sometimes we see some news that college students or graduates from some famous universities have done things that violate the moral bottom line of human cognition, or even do things that are on the edge of breaking the law, and they will curse and say, "You graduated from xx university, is this?"

But we must know that the college entrance examination filters out poor students, not scumbags.

Just because someone has good grades doesn’t mean he has no problems as a person, and just because someone has bad grades doesn’t mean he is a bad kid.

College students attending prestigious universities can do all kinds of things that violate the law or moral bottom line. Except for some who are born bad, it can basically be confirmed that there is something wrong with their family education since childhood.

Therefore, in Zhou Yu's opinion, it is rare that Ouyang Ming can still have such a character in such a family environment.

However, even so, Zhou Yu rejected Qiao Meng's suggestion without hesitation.

Because as Zhou Yu said, he is just Ouyang Ming's teacher after all, not his parent. He cannot make decisions for Ouyang Ming. He can only put the possible paths in front of Ouyang Ming and tell him that if he wants to get out of the predicament, he can try this path.

As for what Ouyang Ming will choose next...

Zhou Yu couldn't say. If Ouyang Ming took that step bravely, Zhou Yu would smile and send his blessings. But if Ouyang Ming was timid and dared not move forward, and just buried his head and acted like an ostrich, Zhou Yu would most likely pat Ouyang Ming on the shoulder and feel sorry for the child.

Or, at most, I can just sigh and say that everyone has their own destiny, so I wish him good luck.

Zhou Yu's words made Qiao Meng feel somewhat heavy-hearted, causing her to feel that even the fragrant rice and vegetables in the lunch box felt like chewing wax, with no taste or appetite at all.

If Qiao Meng was the kind of veteran who had worked for decades, or the kind of person who simply treated teaching as a job, then Qiao Meng might not care.

What? You said he has family problems?

That’s none of my business. It’s not me who caused any problems in his family!

But unfortunately, Qiao Meng is not one of the people mentioned above. Like Zhou Yu, she has just stepped out of the campus not long ago, and she also maintains her enthusiasm for life and her love for the teaching profession. When she sees a student being wronged, Qiao Meng will subconsciously feel sorry for the other person and want to solve the problem for him or her.

Zhou Yu saw Qiao Meng's worry. He reached out his hand, placed it on the back of Qiao Meng's hand, and comforted her softly, "Don't worry. Since this child has told me this, it proves that he is determined to change the future!"

"What's more, his future path is not that difficult! According to Ouyang Ming's last joint exam results, as long as he doesn't fall behind and can continue to maintain his performance, then in next year's college entrance examination, Ouyang Ming has a very high chance of being admitted to a C9 prestigious school!"

"By then, it will be much easier for Ouyang Ming to find his own way!"

In order to reassure Qiao Meng, Zhou Yu also said, "So don't worry. Besides, after this incident, I will not ignore Ouyang Ming in the future. Of course, all I can do is to give Ouyang Ming more help in school."

By that time, the day when Ouyang Ming would be free from suffering would probably have arrived.

After hearing what Zhou Yu said, Qiao Meng's mood improved a lot. The food that originally tasted bland suddenly became delicious.

"Bao'er, you're such a nice person! I knew you wouldn't really just let it go!" Qiao Meng held Zhou Yu's hand and said emotionally, "You performed so well, I'm going to reward you well tonight!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yu's smiling face suddenly froze.

No, are you sure this is a reward?!

...

...

My migraine has recurred and it has been hurting for almost a month. It is very uncomfortable. I have been taking Chinese medicine recently. I hope it will get better soon.