Guan Baiyu put his schoolbag inside the house and then went to Guan Jianguo's house to find Shi Zhen.
Shi Zhen was talking to a young man; the two seemed to know each other well.
Is this the person who moved into his house? Who is he?
Guan Baiyu was unhappy, but he didn't show it on his face. When he saw Shi Zhen, he said, "Brother!"
"Xiaoyu, you're back so early?" Shi Zhen was a little surprised. He was just about to set off for Anshan Town Bus Station to pick up Guan Baiyu... According to his calculations, Guan Baiyu should be on the bus from Changxi City to Anshan Town right now.
The No. 1 Middle School is quite a distance from Changxi Bus Station, and Guan Baiyu needs to take a bus there, which should take half an hour.
And now... only forty minutes have passed since Guan Baiyu got out of school.
Guan Baiyu said, "Brother, Liang Qinxuan has a car at home, so he had someone drive me back."
Guan Baiyu was able to return so quickly thanks to Liang Qinxuan.
Liang Qinxuan's family owns cars, and his father's factory has several more. Among the people who drive for the factory, several are relatives of Liang Qinxuan's mother.
Liang Qinxuan was picked up from school today by his father, who then went home by himself. However, he had his driver take Guan Baiyu home.
Private cars are much faster than buses, and Guan Baiyu was home in just over half an hour.
"You two are so close?" Shi Zhen asked, somewhat surprised.
Guan Baiyu said, "Yes, he doesn't have any friends, so he treats me as his good friend."
Liang Qinxuan used to have some bad friends, but after his family was in such a mess, his friends looked at him with pity and even pretended to say that his father's situation was common... so Liang Qinxuan broke up with them.
On the contrary, he was more willing to talk to Guan Baiyu.
The main reason is... Liang Qinxuan felt that only Guan Baiyu was doing it for his own good.
Although he didn't like reading, he wasn't stupid. Of course, he knew that studying hard was the right choice. No matter what reasons Guan Baiyu gave him, he was ultimately trying to persuade him to study.
If it weren't for Guan Baiyu, to be honest, he wouldn't really want to study anymore. On the one hand, his grades weren't very good, and on the other hand... he really didn't want to see Chen Shaojin every day, especially since his grades were being suppressed by Chen Shaojin.
Besides, his father is already like that, why should he still be a good son and study hard?
But Guan Baiyu's kind intentions led him to read... He felt he should cheer up a bit.
Shi Zhen recalled Liang Qinxuan saying that he had many friends when he was young.
However, Guan Baiyu has a good personality and good grades, so it's normal for Liang Qinxuan to want to be friends with him.
Liang Qinxuan is quite old, yet he still goes to great lengths to learn English; he is very passionate about learning.
Shi Zhen then took the opportunity to ask about Liang Qinxuan.
Guan Baiyu didn't say much about the family matters that Liang Qinxuan told him, so as not to make his brother feel sorry for Liang Qinxuan.
Guan Baiyu simply said, "He didn't want to study at first, but I kept persuading him, and he finally decided to study hard. He is very grateful to me."
"So that's how it is," Shi Zhen said. "You did the right thing. He should be allowed to study hard."
"Well, I gave him an idea: I told him to go to his dad and hire some good teachers from the school to tutor him. He's planning to have classes non-stop this weekend!" Guan Baiyu said.
He told Liang Qinxuan that doing this would allow him to spend more of his father's money and also make his father think he was a good kid... So Liang Qinxuan went to his father and brought it up. His father felt guilty towards his son, not to mention that these were legitimate requests... so he agreed to everything.
Finding a good teacher at their school for tutoring is very expensive; it costs 20 yuan per hour, and Liang Qinxuan's tutoring for a day costs two or three hundred yuan!
"Xiaoyu is great." Shi Zhen smiled, while thinking that he should save money to hire a teacher to tutor Guan Baiyu in the future.
Later generations strictly investigated teachers' after-school tutoring, but this kind of thing is not prohibited at this time. Some high school teachers even made enough money to buy several houses by tutoring for many years afterward...
Guan Baiyu was pleased to be praised, but he was somewhat unhappy that Shi Zhen cared about Liang Qinxuan.
Oh well, anyway, his brother and Liang Qinxuan won't have much contact.
Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu talked about Liang Qinxuan, while in Changxi City, Liang Qinxuan went to the home of his senior high school chemistry teacher and began an expensive tutoring session costing twenty yuan per hour.
In this day and age, it's relatively rare for parents to pay teachers for tutoring. However, some teachers do offer free tutoring to students they like.
Now Liang Qinxuan's father is offering such a high price to have a teacher tutor Liang Qinxuan...
The teacher looked at Liang Qinxuan kindly and decided that even if Liang Qinxuan was a piece of rotten wood, he would still teach him well.
Liang Qinxuan wasn't actually hopeless; he was just playful and didn't like studying.
Sitting in the classroom, he might easily drift off while listening, and if there was anything he didn't understand, his mind would wander even more. But now, someone is teaching him one-on-one!
He can't get distracted!
Liang Qinxuan learned the material smoothly, and after two hours of study, he even received a test paper.
After chemistry, there are physics, mathematics, Chinese, English, biology...
Liang Qinxuan: "..." He was starting to regret it.
However, it doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with learning it.
With the teacher watching him, he didn't have time to think about the troubles at home!
Sigh, of all the people around him, Guan Baiyu is still the best.
His cronies only wanted to spend his money. When something happened to his family, they couldn't hide their schadenfreude and then tried to coax him into spending money to take them to dance halls and other similar places...
Only Guan Baiyu was dedicated to encouraging him to study and never asked him for money.
Guan Baiyu, who mooches meals at Liang Qinxuan's place every day: Liang Qinxuan has been paying for all my meals lately. I haven't spent much of the allowance my brother gives me... I'll save it to buy my brother a gift!
Guan Baiyu had already decided that if he saved up a little more, he would buy his brother a bicycle.
Riding a bicycle is way cooler than riding a tricycle!
After being introduced by Shi Zhen, Guan Baiyu learned that the extra person in the family was Shi Xinghuo's younger brother, Shi Xingchao.
Actually, his brother had mentioned this person to him before, and also said that this person would come.
Guan Baiyu greeted the other person with a smile: "Hello, Brother Xingchao!"
"Hello, hello," Shi Xingchao said hurriedly, then praised Guan Baiyu to Shi Zhen, "Zhen, your cousin is really handsome, like a little fairy boy from a painting! He truly deserves to be your cousin."
Shi Zhen was very pleased to hear this: "Xiao Yu is also a good student, and he studies at the No. 1 Middle School in the city."
"That's amazing!" Shi Xingchao exclaimed, praising Guan Baiyu a few more times.
Praising someone doesn't cost money, right? He didn't have money to give Guan Baiyu a gift, so he just praised him more.
Guan Baiyu was so flattered that the slight resentment he had felt almost disappeared.
Guan Baiyu rushed back without having lunch yet.
Shi Zhen had left him some food, so he went home, ate a little, and then came to Shi Zhen's place to help with the embroidery.
But Shi Zhen stopped her: "Xiaoyu, high school must be quite busy. Stop embroidering and read more books."
Shi Zhen didn't know how to supervise his child's studies, but he couldn't let his child be busy with trivial matters at home and have no time to study.
He rose from the bottom in his previous life, and many of the people he knew in his early years were also from the bottom.
Among those people, quite a few had parents who ran stalls or small shops.
Among these parents, some are quite good and care a lot about their children's education... Apart from a very few children who really can't learn, most of them still have a bright future.
However, some parents don't care about their children's grades at all. Instead, they use their children as free labor, making them do this and that in the store... Those children's future is not good.
Shi Zhen persisted, so Guan Baiyu took out his textbooks and homework and started studying.
Shi Zhen glanced at it occasionally and saw some "hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron" and was filled with awe.
He didn't understand these things very well.
Shi Xingchao also glanced at it, but he didn't quite understand either.
The two stopped talking and quietly embroidered their clothes.
However, after embroidering for a while, Guan Jianguo, who was resting at home, came over.
Guan Jianguo coughed up blood. His wife had a big fight with him and forced him to quit smoking, so Guan Jianguo stopped smoking.
He was also a little scared, afraid that he might lose his life.
These good days have just begun, and he can't bear to die!
Shi Zhen asked him a few questions about his situation, and Guan Jianguo thought for a moment and said, "I plan to sell the tractor, quit this job, and find something else to do."
Shi Zhen was not surprised by Guan Jianguo's choice. In fact, driving a tractor wouldn't be a job for much longer. The country was developing very quickly, and in a few years, tractors would be phased out.
Of course, tractors are still very popular these days.
Trucks are too expensive; most people can't afford them.
He had thought about buying a tractor...
Shi Zhen's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "Uncle Guan, how much do you plan to sell your tractor for?"
Guan Jianguo said, "I bought this tractor for 3,600 yuan, and it should sell for at least 2,500 yuan. Money isn't worth as much as it was a few years ago."
Guan Jianguo's tractor wasn't the kind used for plowing; it was the kind with a cargo box on the back, used for hauling goods, and it drove on the ground.
Six years ago, he gritted his teeth, scraped together the money, and bought it with two other friends.
They each contributed 1,200 yuan to jointly purchase the tractor.
After that, they started a business together and made money together. But no matter what kind of business it is, partnerships are prone to conflicts. There were many trivial matters, such as who did more work and who did less work.
Guan Jianguo had just made some money, so he bought the tractor from a friend and started driving it himself. In the past few years, Guan Jianguo not only built a house and bought a TV and washing machine, but he and his wife also saved more than 10,000 yuan... Guan Jianguo then thought about selling the tractor and doing something else.
Shi Zhen thought for a moment and said, "Two thousand five is a bit expensive. If it's two thousand three, I'll buy it."
Shi Zhen has driven tractors before.
This thing, while you might say it's of poor quality, is actually not bad. The carriage is particularly sturdy, and it can be used to carry bricks, stones, or anything else!
But to say that it is of good quality is definitely not an option.
They are always bad.
Basically, everyone who drives a tractor can repair tractors.
This thing is quite simple in construction. It takes a long time to start, but most people who aren't stupid can fix it after driving it around and the car breaks down a lot.
In his previous life, Shi Zhen worked on construction sites; he drove tractors and also did repairs.
It's precisely because of this characteristic of tractors... that buying a used one isn't a big deal.
Most importantly, this kind of vehicle will definitely be replaced after a few years, unlike his freezer which will probably last for more than ten years without breaking down, so why buy a new one?
If it's a new car, he wants a minivan.
Guan Jianguo was surprised that Shi Zhen would ask to buy a tractor: "What do you want to do with a tractor?"
"With a tractor, everything will be much easier," Shi Zhen said. He plans to visit nearby brick factories and other similar places.
Once you're familiar with the business, it will be easier to build houses for others in the future, and you can even make money from it!
Shi Zhen had originally intended to set up a stall to sell other things, but now that he has bought a used tractor, he can do some other work.
Guan Jianguo has been driving this tractor for many years, so its price should be at least halved.
However, prices have risen rapidly in recent years, and now a new tractor costs more than it did back then, which is why it can fetch a good price.
Guan Jianguo agreed to the price offered by Shi Zhen, and that's how Shi Zhen bought the tractor.
However, before he could set off, he needed to take an exam and get a certificate.
Of course, according to Guan Jianguo, the exam was very simple; if all else failed, he could just bribe someone to let him copy the answers.
Shi Zhen felt that he shouldn't need to copy the answers.
Although Guan Baiyu studied physics and chemistry, he couldn't understand much of it, but he knew all the commonly used Chinese characters, and he also had a driver's license in his previous life, so he knew all the traffic knowledge.
"Brother, driving the tractor is tiring. It would be great if you could handle the sweaters." Guan Baiyu was a little worried, afraid that Shi Zhen would get too tired.
What if Shi Zhen vomits blood like Guan Jianguo?
Shi Zhen said, "Xiaoyu, don't worry, I will do what I can."
Shi Zhen felt that he should not only drive the tractor around, but also find some jobs as a bricklayer.
On the one hand, he could pick up the craft he had long since lost; on the other hand, he could also get to know more people who did these things and try to recruit them into his team.
In his past life, all the people under his command were from his own village, and none of them had any skills. He had to train them one by one, which almost killed him.
He never wanted to do that again in this life. He wouldn't accept all the villagers as indiscriminately as he did in his previous life.
Seeing that Guan Baiyu was still a little worried, Shi Zhen said, "Would you like to ride a tractor? I'll take you for a spin."
Before Guan Baiyu could speak, Shi Xingchao said, "Ah Zhen, do you know how to drive? If it's your first time, you shouldn't carry passengers, right? It's too scary!"
"I can drive, do you want to ride the tractor?" Shi Zhen asked Guan Baiyu with a smile.
Guan Baiyu was dazzled by Shi Zhen's smile and nodded without hesitation: "Yes!"
Shi Xingchao: "..." His cousin's cousin trusts his cousin too much. Isn't he afraid that his cousin will drop him?
Shi Zhen certainly didn't throw Guan Baiyu.
He can't drive a tractor fast, but he's not so bad at driving a tractor.
However, when he drove the tractor around the village and then back, he attracted a lot of people who asked him about tractors.
Shi Zhen didn't hide anything and told Guan Jianguo about buying his tractor.
"Young man, you're really capable."
"It's rare to see such a diligent young person like you."
"That's great, you've finally made a living!"
...
The villagers are growing to like Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu more and more!
Guan Baiyu's admission to the city's No. 1 High School made them very proud. They could go out and tell people that so-and-so from their village had been admitted to the city's No. 1 High School.
What about Shi Zhen? He collects and distributes sweaters in the village, and most families in the village earn money from him!
Especially since Shi Zhen was capable and could do anything... immediately, many middle-aged women began to look at Shi Zhen with the eyes of looking at a son-in-law.
Guan Baiyu was unhappy again.
He wanted to hide his brother so that no one could see him!
Although Guan Baiyu thought this way, it was just a thought. When the women in the village came to talk to Shi Zhen, he could only look at Shi Zhen with resentful eyes.
Shi Zhen was very popular in the village, but Shi Xinghuo and Shi Xingchao were not as popular as him.
It's because they can't speak the local dialect!
The villagers didn't want to marry their daughters off to a place so far away.
Unfortunately, although many people approached Shi Zhenquan to propose marriage, he refused, saying that he was still young and didn't want to think about such things.
Everyone could only sigh.
Guan Baiyu stayed at home for two days, and on Sunday afternoon, he reluctantly left Anshan Town and boarded a bus to Changxi City.
Because he left a little late, he almost missed evening self-study when he arrived at No. 1 Middle School. However, the teachers were not strict during evening self-study on Sunday nights, so it didn't matter.
During evening self-study, most of the students who had just arrived at school were rushing to finish their homework, but Guan Baiyu had already finished all his homework and was now somewhat idle.
However, he soon had something to do... Evening self-study was divided into two periods, and Liang Qinxuan came to find him in the middle of the two periods.
By the way, Liang Qinxuan, who used to commute to school, is now living at school. He has vowed to study hard!
Liang Qinxuan came to find Guan Baiyu just to say a few words and, incidentally, to complain about the tutor his father had hired for him—they gave him too much homework!
Upon hearing this, Guan Baiyu's heart stirred: "Could I take a look at those assignments?"
The best teacher in the whole school, giving students extra practice questions in private... how precious!
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