Yongliang was taken aback by Lin Yi's words. The corners of his mouth twitched, and he said with a faint look in his eyes: "Is it... for me?"
"That's not the case..."
Lin Yi rubbed Yongliang's hair twice. "Let me tell you this. Just like the three of you brothers and sisters going to school, you all had the same starting point and the same environment, but why did these two only go to junior high school and even get into a key high school?"
Yongliang's eyes wandered: "Because they studied hard?"
Lin Yi nodded: "It can be said that you both put in different efforts in studying. If they both put their thoughts and time into studying, they will naturally gain something, don't you think?
But what about you? You are not stupider than them. Although you are weaker than them physically, Dad thinks that your brain is actually smarter than them. "
Yongliang was a little unconvinced: "Do you really think I'm smarter than them? How do you know that?"
Lin Yi: "I just said that casually. If you want to talk about something specific, I can't remember it right away. What's the matter? Do you think you are not as smart as them?"
Yongliang boasted about his eloquence: "Of course I am smarter than them."
Lin Yi: "I think so too, but why can't I study better than them?"
He looked Yongliang in the eye seriously and said, "Judging from their current academic performance, they will definitely go to college in the future. Our small place won't be able to hold them back. But what about you? What can you do in the future? Farming in the village and collecting cow dung? Are you willing to do that?"
Yongliang's chest was filled with resentment, a rage he couldn't let go of. Was he willing to accept this? Of course not! That was why he had deliberately and meticulously prevented Yongqiang and Yongfang from attending high school. If he had become a puddle of mud, then his younger brothers and sisters would have to struggle in the mud too.
"Have you ever thought that, instead of holding back on others' progress, it's better to take big steps forward yourself? Because 'others' are uncontrollable, but 'yourself' is something you can control." Lin Yi patted Yongliang's shoulder gently: "Dad hopes you can think about this carefully."
Lin Yi stood up, asked Ling Shuang for a wash basin, and filled a basin with water for Yongliang: "Hurry up and wash, otherwise you will have swollen eyes to go to work tomorrow."
—I am the serenade dividing line—
The next morning, Yongliang, with puffy eyes, asked Lin Yi, "Dad, how can I take big steps forward? Can I become more powerful than Yongqiang?"
Lin Yi shook his head: "You have to discover it yourself. Even if Dad told you that studying can change your future, would you be willing to study obediently?"
Yongliang quickly refused: "No, I'm so old already." He hasn't even mastered the knowledge in elementary school. Does he want to be classmates with a bunch of snotty people?
Lin Yi: "Look, you don't have many choices, but you're still young, so you can try more and see what you really like. How's your sewing machine learning going?"
Speaking of sewing machines, Yongliang, despite his reluctance, could hardly conceal his small leap of joy at a slight sense of accomplishment. "What's so difficult about that? I know everything the master taught me, except... I'm a little slow. The master said I just need more practice to get it done."
After saying that, he added with a beaming expression, "My master always praises me for my... dexterity." He didn't want to say that originally.
"Really?" Lin Yi was somewhat unconvinced.
Old Lady Cai was carrying a pot of porridge as she passed by them. She said, "It's true. Grandma will testify for Daliangzi that Daliangzi has this kind of...what was it?" The old lady forgot what the master said.
"Talent! Master said I have talent!" Yongliang said loudly.
After shouting this, he suddenly felt relieved. It no longer felt like torture to leave home for work every day. He ate four buns and two bowls of porridge, washed the dishes without being urged, and then limped off to work happily.
After Yongliang left, Lin Yi distributed the gifts in his luggage and gave them to everyone. Yongliang's three sets of clothes were also neatly placed on the bed in his room.
Daliangzi went to work happily, but he didn't expect to receive a little surprise of a gift when he returned home in the evening.
He didn't expect that not only his father and uncle bought him new clothes, but his younger brother also gave him gifts.
Yongliang was wearing new clothes, carefully smoothing out the wrinkles on his collar. Touched, he suddenly asked, "Where did Yongqiang get the money?"
......
I heard that Yongqiang made money by doing business with his uncle. Although my father refused to tell the specific number, Daliangzi was still jealous. He didn't even have a dollar in his pocket, but Yongqiang was already able to buy gifts for the whole family!
The jealousy grew twistedly, and his somewhat peaceful mentality collapsed again. He chased Lin Yi and asked how much money Yongqiang had earned, why he took Yongqiang to Beijing, and why he didn't take him?
He even quit his job at the garment factory, obsessed with this matter every day like a possessed person.
Lin Yi told him that it was not that he didn't want to take him with him, but that he was not at home, he had run away from home, and he missed it all.
Yongliang still couldn't get over it: "I ran away from home, did you look for me? If you did, the village is so small, how could you not find me?"
Yongliang was filled with resentment, and Lin Yi threatened him, "If you don't go back to work, the garment factory will fire you. When that happens, both your household registration and your personal registration will be sent back to your hometown. Don't regret it!"
Yongliang remained unmoved, but he just lay there at home and did not go on a hunger strike. He would eat when the meal was ready, and after eating, he would put down his chopsticks and wipe his mouth and go back to his room to lie down. He did not wash the dishes or clothes, and he did nothing.
On the third day, Lin Yi reached the limit of his patience.
After Ling Shuang came back from the barber shop, he heard that Yongliang was still in the same dead look that day. Without saying a word, he grabbed a fire poker from the kitchen, shook it in his hand, and then kicked open Yongliang's door with a gloomy face.
With a clang, the glass on the door shattered.
Soon, the room was filled with the sound of sticks hitting flesh, accompanied by Yongliang's heart-wrenching howls.
Old Mrs. Cai couldn't stand the beating of the child. She paced back and forth in her room, frowning, enduring it again and again. Later, when she heard Yongliang's voice, she cried out in pain. She couldn't bear it anymore and stood up to go over to intervene. Her husband held her back: "It's the parents who are taking care of the child. Don't interfere. Besides, she is Yongliang's biological mother. She knows her limits."
Zhao Yongliang was isolated and helpless. He had never been beaten since he was a child. He had no experience and didn't know how to run away, so he just took it.
Later, Ling Shuang broke the fire stick and finally stopped.
Stopping wasn't enough. Ling Shuang roared like a lion and glared at Yong Liang: "Stand up and clean up your doghouse for me. Wash all the clothes and sheets for me."
Yongliang was sobbing as he took his foot basin and stuffed the bed sheets, dirty clothes and other things into the basin. He walked out with the basin in his hand, hissing in pain.
The next day, before dawn, he took two leftover steamed buns from the kitchen and went to work obediently despite the injury on his butt.
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