Chapter 4 Money is not everything, but...
A lot of happiness is hidden in ordinary life and ignored. Only after a long absence can you taste the fragrance.
For example, dinner at Li Yan’s house.
Lincheng is a city with a strong clan concept, especially in the suburbs and villages, where a large family lives. Li Yan's family is an anomaly. His parents are the only ones in their respective families who moved from the countryside to the city. They worked hard to buy a house of more than 50 square meters in the old city, and they only gave birth to one child, Li Yan.
A family of three is special in Lincheng, and this is also reflected on the Li Yan family’s dinner table. There is no pressure, no rules, we eat the food we like and chat about the trivial matters of life. Li Yan always talks about the new knowledge he has learned from books at the dinner table, and his parents, who are tired after a day's work, always listen with interest.
This kind of happiness was something that my younger self always took for granted.
"How was your game today?" Chen Fengling picked up a fish and put it in her son's bowl.
“It’s okay, there’s progress.” Li Yan smiled, picked out the fish meat and put it back, “Mom, you should eat more.”
“Did you do something wrong? Don’t you dare to say it?”
“Pfft…” Li Yan almost choked, “Can’t I just be enlightened and grow up?”
Li Yan's father, Li Chun, waved his chopsticks with a smile, "Eat, eat, eat. It's a good thing to grow up. Don't let your mother worry about it." This man, who is in his late teens and has a literary and artistic flair, is decent and honest, but the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes have changed. Must be conspicuous.
It feels uncomfortable to hold in secrets... Li Yan pulled at the rice and wanted to reveal everything about time travel and the system several times, but finally suppressed it.
As long as you are the only one in the world who knows the secret of the system, be careful and sail the ship for ten thousand years.
"Although I am happy to be with you, for the greater happiness of our family, I have to devote myself to endless self-struggle!" Li Yan roared in his heart and returned to the room.
“You haven’t finished your summer homework yet, and school starts in half a month?” Chen Fengling’s voice.
"Write, just write now."
School is about to start! Li Yan calmed down and processed his memories as a fifth-year student. After all, I have lived it once and accepted it very quickly. At this time, I was still a fifth-grade child with excellent academic performance but poor physical fitness. He knew how to paint and play badminton and served as the deputy monitor of the class.
"Synchronization successful!" He exhaled a breath, "The content that can be improved is like a vast ocean. There are really a lot of things to do in the future. Let's see if we can improve the system in this half month. Understand it. You have to find a target first..."
Li Yan's brain was electrified, and a memory popped up: the Go appointment.
At the beginning of the summer vacation, Yucai Primary School suddenly invited an old man to open a Go interest class. Students in fifth and sixth grade could take a few basic Go lessons at a low price. Li Yan also went to join in the fun.
The old gentleman used to be a teacher at Yucai Primary School. He has retired for a long time. His biggest hobby is playing Go. In order to cultivate the interest of his fifth-grade grandson in Go, he opened this class. Rather than teaching the basics of Go, it's more like telling stories. It's all about reminiscing about the past, and occasionally boasting about how smart his grandson who studied in the experimental primary school is.
The Yucai primary school students present felt the same hatred and vowed to unseat the old gentleman's precious grandson on the chessboard.
In the end, only Li Yan accomplished this feat. After all, the old man only taught a few rules after one month of lessons. His grandson at least knew some tricks. It was a fool's errand to fight with these kids who could only tell the innocent from the black. Chopping melons and vegetables until Li Yan sat opposite him.
Li Chun has always believed that letting children learn chess can improve their IQ, so Li Yan attended a serious Go training class for a month.
You have a wooden stick and I have a long knife. If you don't talk about martial arts first, don't blame me.
He still remembers the tears of the old gentleman and his grandson, and also remembers that the Go class was canceled after that day, and he experienced the joy of a hero amidst the cheers of everyone. Then he floated into the sky and tortured all the classmates present.
The hero immediately became the target of public criticism. Zhang Ming, the squad leader of his class, even issued a challenge:
"I will fight you again in one month!"
< br>Recalling the whole story, Li Yan at the desk couldn't laugh or cry.
This old man is obviously using us to boost his grandson’s confidence. He doesn’t want to teach him anything, but he still charges money!
"Yan, phone!" is Chen Fengling's iconic loud voice. When Cao Cao arrived, squad leader Zhang Ming called, concisely and to the point, saying that the Go battle would be moved forward to two days later. As for the reason, he did not say.
“It’s just a sentence, you answer it or not.”
“Of course.”
The moment I received the call, Li Yan's memory flashed, and he remembered that Zhang Ming did not learn Go by himself, but found a Go master who was in the first grade of junior high school. It was moved to three days later because I had time at that time...
However, he couldn't remember the outcome of that game at all, let alone the game process.
Sure enough... when you come into contact with others, you can recall related events bit by bit and even further into the future, but the process and ending of something related to you are blocked.
The ending is not difficult to guess. My level of Go is not even an entry level, and there is no possibility of victory compared to a serious chess player.
"This kid..." Li Yan and Zhang Ming used to have a very good relationship, but since the fourth grade when Li Yan's grades stabilized at the top of the grade, there has been a gradual estrangement between the two. Although Zhang Ming refused to admit defeat, he also couldn't afford to lose. He failed in the exam and made fun of Li Yan, who was not as good as him, intentionally or unintentionally, not once or twice in physical education class.
Some vague memories came to mind, which were Zhang Ming's actions in sixth grade when he led the whole class to isolate himself. I can't recall the cause and effect, but the feeling of loss back then is very clear.
"Although it's a shame to fight against a brat, it's not a bad idea to try out the system with Go."
If the system doesn't give you tasks, then give them yourself. Li Yan unconsciously smiled, but he soon realized a serious problem - how to learn?
The memories of the Go training class have naturally come back. Compared to the adult Li Yan who will gradually forget the training routines in the future, the current fifth grader may be at the peak of his Go skills, but of course this is far away. Not enough.
For him who has a system, the "crash course" is naturally the most effective. It’s not hard to find a crash course. I still have the business card of the teacher who taught me a year ago. As long as I have enough money, I can open a small stove for three days without any problem.
As long as the money is enough...
Li Yan sighed heavily. This was the biggest problem. Children with strict upbringings didn't even have pocket money. The only way out was to ask their parents for it. However, the training class only lasted for a month back then, and he gave up on his own initiative because he said he was too bored. If he brings it up now, when he is about to enter sixth grade, the result can be imagined.
Money is not everything, but having no money is absolutely impossible!
"Mom, how about we make a bet."
"Speak."
"Bet on whether I can finish my summer homework tomorrow. If I can finish it, , just let me take a crash course in Go.”
"Finish it tomorrow? Crash course in Go? Are you interested in Go again?" Chen Fengling frowned.
“I met Teacher Xiao, who taught me Go before, when I was playing today. He asked me why I don’t want to continue learning. I accidentally said that it was too simple and boring. Teacher Xiao said that he would beat me. I also thought it was fun. , I just thought that I would just go and study for two days, it would really interest me, and it would be good as a hobby."
Chen Fengling narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and for some reason, she suddenly felt that the son in front of her was a little strange.
“Hey, you don’t have to think so much, just make a bet, a two-day crash course, seventy or eighty yuan, and you can treat it as a reward for me ranking first in the final exam, okay?”
< br>Unable to tell how she felt, Chen Fengling nodded silently.
The son who takes the initiative to ask for money and things, the son who takes the initiative to bet, the son who speaks politely...
Is this his own son?
Li Yan, who had returned to the room, had already taken out a book of summer homework questions and opened them with confidence, "I didn't say I couldn't write tonight. Mom, I'm always afraid of deceit. There are still questions for primary school students. It’s not a matter of skill..."
His expression suddenly turned bad, "No, I am at the level of a primary school student now!"
(End of this chapter)