??191 Chapter 191
◎ Extra Chapter 8◎
"Dad can't watch?" Xu Shengjie moved a stool and sat next to the lady, patting her face.
In the past, girls had no secrets and loved to talk about everything. But what about now? They even have little secrets. Have they really grown up?
"No, this is a diary and only Shanshan can read it." Shanshan guarded her diary with a serious look on her face.
"Okay, you write it yourself. Dad won't read it." Xu Shengjie looked at his daughter and felt that the child had indeed grown up. It was normal for her not to tell her father everything, but he also felt a little sad.
Seeing that her father looked a little regretful, Shanshan felt sorry for him.
She flipped through her diary and found an entry. "I'll show you this one, but you can't read the others."
"Okay!" Xu Shengjie seemed to come back to life. The girl still felt sorry for her old father!!! "Then Dad will read this one."
Taking the diary, Xu Shengjie saw the words written on the top page:
October 3, 1985, sunny
This was yesterday, the format is correct.
Xu Shengjie silently commented in his heart, looked at the lady and nodded. Then he continued reading.
——My dad went out again today. I didn’t see him in the morning and he came back very late at night. I felt like he was a big rooster who would wake up and crow very early...
Xu Shengjie: “…?”
What a metaphor!
Seeing her father in silence, Shanshan poked his arm with her little hand, "Dad, did I write well? I praised you!"
Xu Shengjie pursed his lips and said nothing. This had better be an exaggeration!
"Okay, keep writing. Dad won't bother you anymore."
Before leaving, he pinched the girl's braid, with a smile in his eyes, "This little girl has a lot of things in her head."
I'm almost a rooster! QAQ
"Why, are you admiring your daughter's masterpiece?" Liang Baozhen guessed everything when she saw Xu Shengjie coming back with a loving smile on his face.
"Hahaha, it's really good." Xu Shengjie looked at his wife proudly, "Shanshan's diary is so secret that she let me read an article. My daughter-in-law still cares about me."
Liang Baozhen rolled her eyes at him, not knowing what he was so proud of.
"Did Shanshan show it to you?" Xu Shengjie leaned over. "It was only after I talked to Shanshan for a while that she agreed to let me see it. And she said she would only show me one article at first, but in the end she showed me two!"
"I have seen it." Liang Baozhen answered calmly.
"How many?" Probably just one, and only two for dad to see.
"I read them all. I think there are more than ten articles. I don't know how many."
Liang Baozhen spoke in a nonchalant tone, as if she was talking about the weather today, but this one sentence shattered Xu Shengjie's pride.
"Ah? You've read them all???" Xu Shengjie scratched his head, looking at the girl who was writing furiously in the distance, biting his cheek and saying, "No, why are you treating me differently?"
"What's the big deal?" Liang Baozhen gave the angry man a sidelong glance, "If you buy her a diary and a pen, you can read it, too."
“Is it that simple???!!!”
"Yes. I was too busy to read it, but Shanshan refused and insisted on standing next to me and reading it to me, saying that I bought the diary and pen and she had to let me read it."
Xu Shengjie: "..."
He was responsible for the diary and pens of the young lady in the future!
=
As autumn turned into winter, Shanshan put on a thick cotton jacket and was often wrapped up like a little dumpling by her parents. She went to check on her loquat tree every day. Seeing the loquat tree grow a little taller, she seemed to have grown taller too. She would compare her height with the loquat tree to see who grew faster.
She continued to write in her diary, and Liang Baozhen still found it miraculous that the child had persisted in this habit.
Considering the speed at which Shanshan gave up playing the piano and learning dancing before, it is truly a miracle that she can stick with this.
Shanshan has been obsessed with writing her own essays every day recently. It's good to write her own essays as there is no word limit, unlike the essays assigned by Teacher Yang, which must be 300 words. That's too many and she feels very tired every time.
Writing your own diary is different. You can write as much as you want.
One day, she stood in front of her father and read aloud from her diary, "Today the weather is fine, with white clouds, birds singing and flowers blooming..."
"Wait a minute!" Xu Shengjie raised his hand to hold his lady, pointed at the icy and snowy winter and asked, "Is this the sound of birds singing and flowers blooming?"
Shanshan thought her father was surprised and said seriously, "Dad, this is called artistic creation. Mom told me that many novelists write like this, writing about spring in winter and summer in spring."
Art? Creation?
Xu Shengjie felt that the young lady was a little different, and could even use such high-level words, "Okay, then we artists will continue."
"Then, with the sound of birds singing and flowers blooming, I went to the park with my parents. We saw the spring breeze blowing across the water, and the wild ducks stirring up the water..."
Xu Shengjie listened and realized that this was indeed the case. Half a year ago, the family of three went to the park. However, the more he listened, the more he felt that it was amazing. His daughter's writing was quite amazing. He was not good at Chinese, let alone writing, but he could hear some differences.
What can I say? This girl has some literary talent! If she continues to develop like this, won’t Shanshan become a great writer? ! !
He leaned over to take a look. There was his wife's beautiful handwriting on the girl's notebook. It seemed that the child's mother had corrected it. The words "brush past" and "wave" were added by Baozhen.
Shanshan didn't notice the pride in her father's eyes at all, and read aloud to herself, "We saw an old lady at the edge of the park. The wild fruits in her basket were scattered all over the ground. My parents and I helped her pick up the wild fruits. The old lady smiled and said thank you to us. Looking at the old lady's back as she left, I felt that the red scarf on my neck became more colorful."
Xu Shengjie stared at his daughter blankly. They went to the park half a year ago, and they did help the old lady last month. However, he was not there, so the mother and daughter came back to tell him.
This seems a bit like grafting?
"Shanshan, is this also a work of art?"
"Yes." Shanshan nodded. These were all things that happened to her, but she just put them together. "Dad, how did I write?"
"Very good!" After all, the lady has made significant progress! "Keep it up."
"Then Dad, would you like to buy me some books? Then I can show you everything I write in the future!"
"Okay! What book do you want to read?"
"You don't understand. Just give me the money, and I'll go buy books with Peipei and Jiajia."
The abandoned old father: "..."
Just pay!
With the huge sum of money given by her father, twenty yuan, Shanshan and several classmates went to a street vendor and book stall. She and Jiajia, Pangpang and Niannian each bought several storybooks. Shanshan had the most money, so she also bought a set of martial arts novels!
Only Peipei didn't move.
"Aren't you going to buy it? This storybook is really interesting!" Pangpang doesn't like reading, but he likes watching storybooks. The stories in them are so attractive!
Pei Pei shook her head and said, "I'll go to Xinhua Bookstore to buy it."
The books here don't look very formal, but he didn't dare say this out loud, otherwise his four classmates would definitely glare at him.
Shanshan secretly took the seven books she bought home and started reading when no one was at home.
The stories in the storytelling club were so exciting! They were much more interesting than the texts and ancient poems in the textbooks. She read them every day and even secretly read them at night. She almost got dark circles under her eyes from staying up all night.
After being questioned by her mother, Shanshan became alert and changed her reading time, thus escaping her mother's sharp eyes.
After the story time every day, I would hide the book under the cabinet. On top of it were several first-grade textbooks, which were covered tightly.
Not only she loves reading at home, but her aunt Xu Shengya loves reading even more. She would go to Xinhua Bookstore whenever she had nothing to do, and asked her eldest brother to go to Guangdong City to buy books that are now hard to buy.
However, every time I go to Xinhua Bookstore, I will most likely run into an acquaintance - Fang Zhibin.
Ever since Fang Zhibin prepared to get closer to Xu Shengya intellectually, he had been poring over a pile of math books, reading and reading with great effort.
He stopped studying after graduating from junior high school and later went to work as a worker in a steel mill. It was a respectable job, but it was too difficult for him to learn the math-related knowledge required for university study.
It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t understand, he can ask.
So, every Sunday afternoon, he would rush to Xinhua Bookstore, under the pretext of asking Xu Shengya for knowledge.
Xu Shengya didn't know why the steel mill worker was so interested in college mathematics. She said tactfully, "It's good to keep improving, but do you want to take a look at high school mathematics knowledge first?"
Fang Zhibin waved his hand generously, "No need!"
Then, he listened to Xu Shengya telling him some mathematical knowledge, and he felt drowsy. He had never felt that Xu Shengya's words were so hypnotic. His eyelids drooped...
Fang Zhibin's head almost sank down, and he suddenly came to his senses, scratched his head, and looked at Xu Shengya, "I understand, I understand!"
Xu Shengya looked at Fang Zhibin with a puzzled look on her face, "Do you really understand?"
"Yes! You explained it very well. I understood it all."
"Then tell me what I just said?" Xu Shengya noticed that the man was stunned at first, then he pinched his nose, stammered and couldn't say anything.
"Well, I mean mathematics..."
Xu Shengya smiled, thinking that Fang Zhibin was really problematic. "Are you kidding me? Why are you suddenly clamoring to read a math book, but you don't seem to be serious about it after reading it?"
"No, I'm just curious. As the saying goes, learning never ends and learning makes people progress."
"Stop pretending!" Xu Shengya has become familiar with Fang Zhibin and has returned to the way they used to bicker when they were little. "You don't want to learn math. Your eyelids droop when I talk about math."
"You figured it all out?" Fang Zhibin sighed heavily. He was also helpless. He didn't want to feel sleepy, but his brain wouldn't allow it. He felt dizzy when he heard about those mathematical knowledge.
"Tell me, what happened? Why have you been pretending to read these days?" Xu Shengya felt that the matter must be complicated, otherwise Fang Zhibin would not have to run like this every week. "Don't lie anymore."
"Well...I..." Fang Zhibin hadn't figured out how to start the conversation yet, his mind was racing.
"You've let me teach you for so long, and you still don't tell the truth?" Xu Shengya felt a surge of anger in her heart, making her feel a little suffocated. "You're not really bored and are here to play a trick on me, are you?"
When Fang Zhibin was a child, he was capable of doing such a thing. Fortunately, she thought he had changed as he grew up.
"No, no!" Fang Zhibin was a little panicked when he saw that he was about to be misunderstood, and blurted out an explanation for himself.
"No, I'm not kidding you, I'm...I'm..."
"What are you doing?"
"I just wanted to come and see you." Fang Zhibin said this softly and gently, but with courage.
Xu Shengya didn't react, and there was some confusion in her bright eyes, "Why do you want to see me? What do you want to talk to me about?"
Now that he had said it, Fang Zhibin simply stopped pretending, slammed his math book shut, looked at Xu Shengya and said, "I just want to see you, can't you see? I...I like you very much."
A loud bang.
Xu Shengya seemed to hear something exploding in her head. She felt a mess in her ears. What did she hear?
Fang Zhibin said he likes me?
After a moment, she wondered if she had heard it wrongly. How could it be possible? How could Fang Zhibin say such a thing?
However, before she could confirm, the person next to her spoke up again, "I really like you. I gave you the movie tickets because I wanted to watch a movie with you, but you didn't come. I gave the tickets to your brother, and Xiaowei and I watched a movie together. It was the same when we came to Xinhua Bookstore later. I didn't like reading books at all, but I came because I wanted to meet people."
After saying it, Fang Zhibin felt much better and just poured out his heart out.
The more Xu Shengya listened, the more shocked she became. Now she was certain that Fang Zhibin, who had grown up with her, actually said that he liked her!
It seems like I still like it that way.
She drooped her eyelashes, not knowing how to react.
This person was someone she had known since childhood and was also a good friend of her second brother. Her mind was in a mess and she didn't know what to say.
Fang Zhibin was shocked when he saw Xu Shengya was silent for a while. It was over. He didn't know if he scared her.
Is what I said too scary?
"You don't have to be too stressed. Go back and think about it." Fang Zhibin knew that once the arrow is shot, it cannot be retrieved. He had to make it clear, "Xiao Ya, I like you and want to date you. Please consider it."
Xu Shengya didn't remember how she said goodbye to Fang Zhibin. When she came to her senses, she had already reached the entrance of the alley and was called twice by her second brother who had just returned from outside.
Xu Shengwei patted his sister's shoulder and said, "What are you doing? I called you three or four times, but you didn't even respond? What are you thinking about?"
Xu Shengya looked at her second brother sadly and complained in her heart, it’s all your good buddy’s fault.
How could Fang Zhibin like me? And even said he wanted to date someone?
Xu Shengya couldn't describe the feeling, she just felt it was very strange, so strange!
"The little girl is still worried." Xu Shengwei pulled his sister into the yard and notified his family to watch his retirement game.
Xu Shengwei looked calm and had a smile on his face while he spoke. He had already made full mental preparation before he spoke.
"This is the last game, everyone has to come."
It took him eight years to go from the Children's Palace table tennis training team to the Beijing City table tennis team. He is considered to have some talent and is better than ordinary people, but he started too late, unlike the current team members who were selected into the team at the age of five or six.
In addition, in recent years, the national table tennis team has won championships in various international competitions, which has set off a nationwide table tennis craze. Table tennis tables have been set up in major schools and factories.
Xu Shengwei encountered a bottleneck as early as two years ago, especially when facing talented team members who were younger than him, he felt deeply powerless.
Until now, he has chosen to retire.
Zhou Yun has watched his grandson compete in various competitions over the years. Although his grandson has not been able to stand on the international competition stage like the best athletes, he has also achieved a lot.
"Okay, let's all go watch Xiao Wei's game. We won't have to train so hard in the future."
The 12th city-wide table tennis competition lasted for five days. The Xu family went to watch it. The table tennis competition was very popular and attracted a lot of spectators.
Shanshan stood in the audience, cheering loudly for her second uncle, jumping up and down with great enthusiasm, and accidentally made the headlines of sports reports.
The title is - Enthusiastic table tennis spectators, young but full of energy.
Perhaps it was because he had no psychological burden, Xu Shengwei, who was about to retire, played at his best level and achieved the best result in his career, third place in the city's table tennis competition.
This is the first time in his life that he has stepped onto the podium. In the Chinese table tennis team with so many talented players, it is very difficult to stand out. He is already very satisfied that he can realize his dream on the eve of retirement.
"Uncle, you are so awesome! So great!" Shanshan knew that Uncle was going to retire, but it didn't matter, because he was still the best in her heart.
Xu Shengwei knew that his niece's support for him had become famous, and everyone in the table tennis team knew about it. He smiled happily, "Isn't this the second uncle who failed in a blind date?"
Xu Shengwei still feels aggrieved about being written about in Shanshan's composition in a somewhat embarrassing way.
Shanshan shook her head and gave him a thumbs up. "No, this time we are writing an essay. I have already thought of a topic. My second uncle is the best table tennis player."
"Then write well! I want to read it when the time comes."
"Okay!" Shanshan and her second uncle are determined to hang themselves together for a hundred years.
Xu Shengwei packed up his luggage from the table tennis team and took it all home, starting a life without the boring daily training. However, years of training had made him develop a habit of getting up early and running.
Like his brother, Xu Shengjie got used to it.
The two brothers ran along the moat. It was a bit cold in the early morning, and they gradually slowed down their pace by the river.
Xu Shengjie glanced sideways at his younger brother. Xiaowei has grown up. From a teenager who started playing table tennis, he has grown into a capable man.
This height is almost catching up with mine.
Xu Shengjie was filled with emotion, "What do you plan to do in the future?"
Xu Shengwei had a plan in place. "The Children's Palace asked me to teach the team members and train them."
"Is this the class you joined at the beginning?"
"Yes, I used to train in the class, but now I teach others."
"That's great. You'll be a coach in the future? That sounds good."
Xu Shengwei smiled and said, it’s really not bad, at least it allows him to continue dealing with table tennis in another way.
Working at the Children's Palace is free and you can also take on some extra work. Many factory unions hold table tennis competitions and want to invite experienced coaches, so people like Xu Shengwei are very popular.
He could earn more than 100 yuan a month at the Children's Palace, and he could also earn 10 yuan for a three-hour class by teaching workers in the factory.
It is a very objective income.
Xu Shengwei quickly changed his identity and became Coach Xu, running back and forth between the Children's Palace and the textile factory. Recently, he was invited by the textile factory to be a coach to prepare for the table tennis competition organized by the city's factory union.
The textile mills are determined to beat the other mills.
The number of workers he taught was not too many, about twenty people, including men, women, young and old.
Xu Shengwei, who had already taught three classes at the textile factory, suddenly remembered that his blind date a year ago was from the textile factory...
However, it happened a long time ago and he had almost forgotten it. If he hadn't been in touch with the textile factory this time, he wouldn't have remembered it.
"Coach Xu, my driving has improved a lot, right?" The one who called out to Xu Shengwei was a factory worker, Lao He, He Weimin.
Although he is 50 years old, he is very energetic and plays table tennis very actively. He is considered the most hardworking among Xu Shengwei's more than 20 apprentices in the textile factory.
"Master He, you have made a lot of progress. The grip and power are correct now."
"Hey, why call me Uncle He? Just call me Old He. I still have to call you Coach Xu. Let's not worry about that. Let's talk about our own things."
"Okay, Lao He, I'll listen to you. Don't call me Coach Xu, just Xiao Xu!"
Xu Shengwei was inspired when he saw that the man was in his fifties but still had such a good mentality and was full of energy when playing table tennis. He thought that table tennis was something he could play for the rest of his life!
He Weimin has been training with Xu Shengwei for almost a month and has made rapid progress. Especially since Xu Shengwei has a good attitude and explains how to play in detail, everyone loves to practice with him. He Weimin thinks about practicing every day after work to prepare for the city-wide trade union table tennis competition a month later.
This strong man instead encountered dissatisfaction from his wife.
Dong Huajun looked at the man who ran out after dinner every day and said contemptuously, "At your age, do you really have to work so hard to play table tennis?"
He Weimin waved the table tennis racket in his hand and said, "You don't understand. This is called learning throughout life."
"Huh." Dong Huajun didn't understand why someone could be so obsessed with playing ball. "When you have time, you still care about your girlfriend. How old are you? You still don't have a date! I worry every day, but you are so carefree every day."
"The girl is well-educated, so it's normal for her to have her own ideas. If you're worried, arrange a blind date for her."
"I didn't meet the guy I arranged last year. I even forgot his name, but he didn't like my daughter. I really need to open my eyes and look for him this time."
"Okay, I'm going out to practice basketball first." He Weimin hurried out without stopping for a moment.
=
Some people practice ball every day, while others secretly read books every day.
Shanshan has already bought six storybooks. As they were buying more, she and her classmates came up with a better idea: everyone should buy different ones and exchange them when the time comes to save money!
In this way, over the course of a few months, they had exchanged and read more than ten storybooks, enjoying them very much.
Although she was careful, it was inevitable that her shoes would get wet if she walked near the river often.
Liang Baozhen still noticed that something was wrong with the lady. She pulled Xu Shengjie aside mysteriously and said, "Have you noticed that Shanshan doesn't like going out to play as much recently? She stays at home after dinner."
Xu Shengjie thought about it, it seems so? "The child has grown up, maybe he likes to study."
"Really? This hasn't been going on for just one or two days, or ten days or half a month, it's been at least one or two months." Liang Baozhen didn't think it was a big deal at first, but the girl suddenly became like this, sometimes even evasive, and it had been going on for quite a long time, so she always felt something was wrong.
I knocked on the lady's door, but found that Shanshan had kept the door closed in broad daylight.
When I pushed the door open, I saw the child sitting at the desk reading a Chinese textbook. When he saw his mother come in, he smiled sweetly and said, "Mom, I'm reading."
Xu Shengjie followed her into the house and saw the Chinese books on her desk. He praised her earnestly, "Well done, Shanshan, you love studying more and more! On Sunday, Dad will reward you with roast duck."
"Okay~"
The worried parents left the house, and Xu Shengjie put his arm around his wife's waist and encouraged her, "Look, our Shanshan is so obedient and eager to learn, it's amazing!"
"Come here!" Liang Baozhen ignored him and pulled Xu Shengjie towards the window of Shanshan's room. Through the curtains blown by the wind, they saw Shanshan reading a book that was obviously a few sizes smaller than the Chinese textbook, and she was reading it with great interest.
When Shanshan turned the pages of the book, Xu Shengjie saw clearly three big words on it - Story Club.
The author has something to say:
Thanks to the cutie who irrigated the nutrient solution: 1 bottle of Qianmo Hongchen;
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