"I have a hilarious story for you. You know Ah Xiang Po from our company? Today, she was crying her eyes out in front of us. It was so pathetic!" On a dining table, a sharply dressed woman, while shoveling food into her mouth, said to her husband, then kicked her son. "Hurry up and eat, and then go do your homework. Mom bought you a practice set today. The teacher in our group recommended it, saying that finishing this set will boost your college entrance exam scores by at least 20 points!"
"Mom, I'm only seven years old and just in the first grade. Are you really making me think about the college entrance exam? Isn't that too early? Is there any mom in the world as anxious as you?" the child said, looking dejected.
"Why wouldn't I be anxious? Your mom and dad spent all our savings. Your mom works all day and then accompanies you in your studies. Your dad drives for Didi after work, and even your grandpa sold his house back home. All that just to buy a 30-square-meter apartment near Hongxing Primary School. Do you know why? It's all so you can attend Hongxing Primary School! Do you know how much I've sacrificed for you?"
"What do you mean you're only in the first grade? You'll be in junior high in five years! What if you don't build a solid foundation now and can't get into a good junior high school? We were counting on buying another school district apartment for you then!"
"If you can't get into a good junior high school, then it's even more impossible to get into a good high school. The teachers in our WeChat group have all said that the country's current policy is to use high schools for talent division. Only half of the people will be allowed to attend high school, and the other half will have to go to vocational schools or various technical colleges."
"Why is that? Of course, it's because there are only so many good jobs, and this society needs more people to do the physically demanding jobs. If everyone goes to high school and college, who will be the street sweepers? Who will be the construction workers carrying bricks on the sites? Who will be planting crops in the fields to feed you?"
"These jobs need to be done, and the people who do them are the good-for-nothings who can't get into high school. If you become such a good-for-nothing, your mom would rather slit her own throat than see that day!"
"So you absolutely must finish that practice set for me. Get into a good junior high, then a good high school, and most importantly, get into a good university. I don't expect you to get into Jiangnan University, you truly lack the talent. I won't force you to aim for Tsinghua or Peking University. But you must at least get into a 985 or 311 university to be worthy of your mom and all the effort I've put into you!" The mother chattered on. Her son's head was spinning. He put down his half-eaten bowl on the table, shouted, "I'm going to do my homework!" and shut himself in his room.
Of course, the word "shut" might be a bit inaccurate, as the door wasn't locked and couldn't be properly closed. Moreover, half of the door was transparent glass, allowing the mother to sneak glances outside to see what the poor child was up to.
This was one of the mother's proudest renovation achievements. She said her most treasured skill as a child was being able to hide anything unrelated to homework the moment she heard the sound of a door handle turning.
And her greatest fear was her mom replacing the door with a transparent one, thus preventing her from hearing the sound of the lock turning.
"Hey, this kid, today I must..." The mother slammed the table in anger. The father quickly held her back and said, "Hey, why are you only speaking half the story? Tell me, what happened to Ah Xiang Po from your company? Why was she crying so miserably?"
"Oh, why else? It's all because of her unfortunate child!"
"You've seen Ah Xiang Po before. Her hair is all white, like she's seventy or eighty years old. Who would have thought she's not even fifty yet?" the husband said.
"Yes, I remember she seemed to have gotten pregnant too late after marrying late, which drained her vitality and caused her premature aging, right?" the husband added.
"Yes, it's all because of her precious son. Since he was born when she was nearly forty, they doted on him endlessly, never daring to hit or scold him, allowing him complete freedom. And now, look at him. This child is in the same class as ours, and he's consistently last in every subject. It's more of a surprise when he *doesn't* get last place."
"That's not all. This morning, the child actually learned to skip class!" the mother said.
"Skip class? That's impossible! A first-grader dares to skip class!" the husband was also surprised.
"Yes, this child doesn't like studying, he only likes playing football. I heard that for the whole morning, he found some empty cans in a trash heap and went to the school parking lot to play football. He used the space between the principal's two parked cars as a goal, spending the entire morning like that!"
"Good heavens, this actually scared the school teachers. At 9:00 AM, they called, and Ah Xiang Po and the teacher searched for him all morning. It wasn't until the child went home after school that they found out he had been hiding in the school parking lot, kicking empty cans all morning."
"It is said that the principal later discovered that the doors of his two cars were also scratched by the empty cans. Angered, the school decided to expel him that afternoon."
"This directly infuriated Ah Xiang Po. She couldn't stop crying at the company. I advised her that if the school dared to expel her son, she should directly report it to the education bureau and ask why a principal would own two cars and if there were any financial irregularities. Anyway, she had already taken pictures of the scratches on the two cars with her phone, and the principal's request for compensation for the paint repair through a transfer record. Reporting it was a sure thing."
"As soon as I suggested this, she immediately softened. She said the child could be educated and would return to class tomorrow, which is how Ah Xiang Po recovered. She kept apologizing to me and even offered to treat our family to a meal!"
"Isn't that great?" the husband smiled. "Then let's go and mooch a meal."
"Great? I directly refused her. Don't think I don't know her little plan. Our son is the top student in the class, and she's the last. She definitely wants her son to pester our son, help him with his homework, and tutor him.
"She thinks she's smart, wanting our son to improve her son's grades. But what if it delays our son's own studies? What if our son becomes undisciplined and only thinks about kicking empty cans?"
"I've thought it all through. Our son absolutely cannot get involved in this mess. I'll make it clear to him later to stay far away from the last-place student in his class!" the mother kept rambling. The husband stopped talking, as this was pretty much the norm in their household. xxs壹贰
The rest of the story is not worth mentioning, as it all consisted of the mother's typical way of educating her son.
However, the mother remained very worried. Every day after picking up her son from school, she would ask if that last-place student had pestered him.
After several days of asking, her son became annoyed and said impatiently, "Mom, you don't need to worry about Liu Xu anymore. He hasn't come to class since yesterday. He did come this morning, but his mom said a few words to the homeroom teacher, and then took all his belongings from the classroom. According to the homeroom teacher, Liu Xu might not come to class for a while, possibly even taking a semester off!"
"No way, has this kid become this useless?" The mother was shocked, but also secretly pleased.
In her opinion, Ah Xiang Po's child must have completely given up on studying, had a falling out with his family, and was taken home for intensive education before any further decisions could be made.
Then her son continued, "Actually, over a dozen classmates didn't come to class yesterday, but only Liu Xu didn't come today. The classmates all say Liu Xu must have been selected for something, and they're so envious of him!"
"Selected? With his last-place grades, what could he possibly be selected for? Don't listen to their nonsense. Liu Xu is definitely not studying seriously and was taken back by his parents for re-education." the mother said.
"No, all my classmates said they went for player tryouts yesterday, but it started with a long-distance run. Five-year-olds had to run 2 kilometers, six-year-olds 2.5 kilometers. For our class, most are seven and eight years old, needing to run 3 kilometers and 3.5 kilometers. Not a single person in our class could finish."
"Oh, that's probably for sports school recruitment. Nothing to be envious of. Also, don't even think about going to a sports school or anything like that. Those are places for people who can't study. You are the top student in the class; you need to use your brain to earn a living!"
"Not really, Luo Feng also went."
"Luo Feng? Is that the classmate who always competes with you for first place?" The mother was startled, then snorted, "His family must be out of their minds. Not focusing on cultivating their child's studies and going to sports school instead. It's putting the cart before the horse."
"But Mom, even the teacher encouraged us to give it a try. They said there's no loss if we're not selected, but if we are, we won't have to worry about the rest of our lives, and we can even attend Jiangnan University later!" the son said.
"Worry about the rest of your life? What's the use of playing sports? Even Olympic champions end up selling their medals to make a living! And Jiangnan University, it sounds like a no-name university... Wait, did you say *that* university?"
"Jiangnan University!"
"Is it Jiangnan University in Wenzhou?"
"I don't know, but that's what the teacher said!"
"What the heck..." The mother suddenly became restless, her steps unsteady. When crossing the road, she even ran a red light. If not for the timely reaction of the oncoming vehicles, she might no longer have to worry about these matters.