Chapter 15
"This year's Yueming Cup Piano Competition has relaxed the age limit for the children's group to five years old. This is an opportunity for Tu Mian to get a feel for the competition atmosphere and prepare for future competitions. Of course, it would be even better if he could win a prize. Sucheng is also the preliminary competition area, so it's very convenient. What do you think, Tu Mian's father?"
After discussing Tu Mian's study situation today with Tu Chenglin, Lin Xiaomi couldn't wait to ask Tu Chenglin.
"That's great. We'll follow your instructions. We'll do whatever you say."
Tu Chenglin was no less excited than Lin Xiaomi. He thought he would have to wait a long time before seeing his daughter go on stage, but he didn't expect that after only learning for more than half a year, she would have the opportunity to compete on stage.
Lin Xiaomi nodded with satisfaction. The next step was to think about which song to choose for the competition. She had to consider carefully and find the song that could best highlight Tu Mian's strengths.
Tu Mian's age is both an advantage and a disadvantage.
Although the age limit for the Yueming Cup has been relaxed to 5 years old this year, it is not certain that there will be many children this young participating in the competition.
Tu Mian has only studied for half a year. If she were to compete with those who have studied for several years, her chances of winning the prize would seem slim.
But that is for ordinary children. Tu Mian’s half a year is not comparable to others’ half a year.
Such talent is born to win awards.
Lin Xiaomi had a premonition that her resume would be added with another honor brought by Tu Mian.
Thinking about Lin Xiaomi's praise for Tu Mian, Tu Chenglin took Tu Mian home and passed by the store. He put her down and said with a big hand: "What do you want to eat today? Dad will pay for you."
But in the end Tu Mian only took a bag of hawthorn slices.
"Just take this?"
Just because Tu Mian is young doesn't mean she knows nothing.
Tu Mian also heard his mom and dad settling accounts in the living room in the evening.
Knowing how hard it was for them to support the family, she no longer asked for anything unless her family invited her. But she wasn't greedy either, and choosing something like today, a bag of hawthorn slices, was enough.
Tu Chenglin found it a little funny to see Tu Mian's satisfied face.
The atmosphere in their family is that they never hide from their children how much money the family has and how much money is spent, so that they can have a clear idea in their minds.
But this does not mean that the family is so poor that they cannot even make ends meet and the children need to put themselves in a difficult position.
Tu Chenglin was just a dishwasher before. Later, the boss found that the dishes he cooked tasted good, so he took him to learn how to cook. When Tu Chenglin became a master, he took over the shift with him to reduce his burden.
Tu Chenglin also thought that he was not young anymore, and if the boss wanted to find someone to swap shifts with him, he could just find a younger person.
When he asked his boss, he just patted him on the shoulder.
"It's all for the children. It's not easy for everyone."
The boss is not originally from Suzhou. He opened a small restaurant here for his daughter's studies.
Hearing Tu Chenglin bragging about his daughter so often, he began to admire Tu Chenglin even more.
He thought Tu Chenglin was the same type of person as him, who did not favor boys over girls. As long as the child was his own, he would raise him well.
So Tu Chenglin had more money in his hands, and naturally he didn't want to let Tu Mian down, so he directly took a few bottles of soda from the shelf. Tu Mian liked this kind of bubbles, and he knew his family's preferences very well.
"Come on, Dad will cook you some delicious dishes later. They will be delicious with this soda."
As Tu Chenglin was talking, he also felt greedy and bought a bottle of wine. He hadn't drunk any alcohol since he came to Suzhou. He could only take a few sips to satisfy his craving when he returned to his hometown during the Spring Festival.
Today I just have an excuse to satisfy my craving.
The excuse was not just that Tu Mian was going to compete, but that he was going to skip a grade.
At the end of last semester, the school was always thinking about Tu Mian and did not let her take the first-grade exam. Instead, it let her take the third-grade exam. She got full marks, so there was no problem for her to skip to the third grade.
But seeing that the child had finished the test paper long in advance, the school had more confidence in her and specifically told Tu Chenglin that he could let Tu Mian study more during the New Year holiday so that he could take exams in other grades when school started and didn't have to go to the third grade.
After school started, the school finally made adjustments and Tu Mian will be able to take the exam next week.
Tu Chenglin's move was to encourage Tu Mian and also to celebrate in advance.
No matter what, his daughter will at least go to the third grade and won't have to stay in the first grade.
Of course, Tu Chenglin also told Lin Mei and Tu Yin about the celebration in advance, and the two of them came back early today.
However, it would be six o'clock at the earliest. Tu Yin finishes school at this time on Saturdays, but she will basically stay in school for evening self-study so that she will have less homework to carry back.
After the dishes were on the table, Tu Chenglin took out soda and poured it for them, and then poured himself some wine.
When Tu Yin heard that Tu Mian was going to participate in the competition, her eyes lit up and she picked up her glass and clinked it with her sister: "Then I wish our Guo'er a great victory in advance. If others knew that you were my sister, I wonder how envious they would be."
Is Tu Yin jealous of Tu Mian?
No, she just envied her.
She saw the changes in Tu Chenglin. Many of his changes were for the better because of the arrival of his younger sister. If she could be said to feel a little lost, she did.
But at the same time, she enjoyed Lin Mei's care and love, and she also occupied the love that should have belonged to her sister.
So Tu Yin is not jealous of Tu Mian, she just envies her for having such a good brain. Maybe her father is too stupid, so it is her father's fault.
Tu Mian drank happily. She didn't think anything of her sister's words. What was wrong with celebrating in advance?
She thinks she can do her best in everything she does, so why can't she accept it?
Lin Mei was the only one at the table saying, "Don't celebrate in advance. We're just cheering your sister up. Guo'er, don't be too proud or complacent. Humility makes people progress. But our Guo'er is really great, much better than mom."
Even if she had to play the good guy, Lin Mei couldn't hold on for long, as she couldn't hide her pride in Tu Mian.
It is always difficult for this family to play the good guy towards Tu Mian.
But just as the family was toasting to celebrate, Tu Yin seemed to have thought of something. She pretended to be calm and said, "Last semester, I participated in a city essay competition and won a prize. But now they want me to represent Sucheng and go to Beicheng to participate in the competition."
"That's great! Why didn't you tell me earlier? We could have ordered a cake to celebrate! Hey, Auntie will make it up to you tomorrow. This is a great thing. Our flowers are so beautiful!"
Tu Yin scratched her face, feeling embarrassed by Lin Mei's praise.
"Well, it's not a big deal. I thought winning the award before was just a fluke, just luck."
"It's not a big deal. At home, the most important thing is you and Guo'er's. Aren't your aunt and I working hard for you? As long as you are well, we are satisfied."
As he spoke, Tu Chenglin took a sip of wine. These days were becoming more and more promising.
Those who laughed at him for not having a son would be furious after seeing this. His daughters are so successful.
However, Tu Yin was still a little hesitant. "I haven't really decided whether to go or not. It will take several days, which will affect my classes. Besides, North City is so big, and I've never been there before. I'm still scared. And it coincides with my sister's competition, and I want to watch her compete."
"What's there to be afraid of!" Lin Mei knocked on the board.
"No one is born knowing how to do something. People have to go out and explore. Just because you haven't been to North City doesn't mean you can't go there! Isn't this an opportunity? Auntie will take you there. Your dad is a man after all, and it's not convenient for him to take care of you away from home. So he will stay and take Guo'er to the competition. Besides, is this the only time Guo'er can compete? There will be more opportunities in the future, and you will always see them."
The latter sentence was both a comfort to Tu Yin and a comfort to himself.
Lin Mei actually didn't want to miss Tu Mian's competition, after all, it was her first competition.
But as she said, if Tu Chenglin takes her on this long trip, Tu Yin will not be able to ask her father for help with some things.
Moreover, it would be nice to go to Beicheng once. When Lin Mei was young, she was afraid of the outside world, just like when she once sat on a train to Guangcheng, unable to sleep all night and feeling very uneasy.
But now, Lin Mei yearns for the outside world.
Maybe her perspective has changed, or maybe her mentality has changed.
After washing up, Tu Yin was not in a hurry to go to bed. She turned on the desk lamp, and under the warm yellow light, she picked up a pen and wrote a letter to Su He.
They never stopped keeping in touch, and when Tu Yin returned to her hometown for the New Year, she also invited Su He to play together.
They both clearly realized that in just a few months, the other person had undergone tremendous changes. Their topics of conversation had also changed, and the things they saw had also begun to change.
Su He felt lost, but he was also glad that Tu Yin went to the No. 1 Middle School in the city, and he couldn't stop.
Tu Yin belongs to Mu Qiang, maybe she herself doesn't realize it, but Su He knows.
The letters between them never stopped. Tu Yin had not yet realized that there was a rift between them, but Su He would try hard not to let her realize it.
She is always slow to warm up to love, which is good and bad.
In her letter to Su He, she wrote: "I received several more love letters this week. I'm running out of time to write rejection letters. Why do people always write these? Why can't they focus on their studies? Don't they know this causes trouble for others? You know Zheng Qi, right? I told you, I always considered him a friend, and then this week he confessed his love to me! I really don't understand. Isn't it better to be friends?"
It’s great to be friends with an outstanding girl, but what if you can’t control your heart?
Su He placed the letter on his chest, slowly tightened his body, and curled up on the bed.
This relationship was declared a failure before it even began.
Is there any difference between him and Zheng Qi? Is it just because he spends more time with Tu Yin?
It was useless, he knew.
The sprouting buds cannot be stopped, and Su He's love is increasing little by little, almost overflowing the bottle.
But he knew that he couldn't say this, at least not now. Once he said it, he would be out.
He needs to cheer up. There's no point in feeling sorry for himself!
Su He got up from the bed and spread out the letter paper in a cabinet with a small lock. Here were all the letters between him and Tu Yin, as well as the things Tu Yin gave him. He even kept the kite that Tu Yin made when he was a child.
He also has these, he is different from Zheng Qi.
All he needs to do now is wait and work hard.
Tu Yin would not stop to wait for him, but he was persistent enough and would definitely not lose her.
Thinking of this, Su He finally smiled.
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