"Daddy, I want to read some books." Long Zaitian glanced at his father and tried to probe.
The so-called books were comic books. In some places, they were also called picture-books. For a period of time, it was the most important extra-cursory reading material for children. But in 1976, this request was undoubtedly a bit excessive. At that time, there were very few published works. The big one was "Selection", and the small one was "Words"(commonly known as the Little Red Book). The others, including Old Ma's Capital and Lu Xun's works, were not often seen.
His father did not expect Long Zai Tian to make such a request and was stunned for a moment.
The heavens did not allow him to think, so he immediately continued,"I heard that Mr. Li has books at home. I want to read them!”
His father smiled and said gently," Mr. Li has books at home, but they are not books. You won't understand them."”
In fact, Long Zaitian didn't expect to find any books that he liked at Mr. Li's place. This was just an excuse for his father to pay a visit to this crazy Li who was about to have a good fortune.
" No, I just want to read books. I want to read them…" Long Zaitian had no choice but to use the privilege of a seven-year-old kid-acting coquettishly! However, she was acting coquettishly as she got goosebumps all over her body. In order to avoid missing the opportunity, he could only say something mushy.
In order to increase his coquettishness, Long Zai Tian even pulled his father's hand and shook it left and right. Sweat! It seemed that he really had the talent to act!
His father had no choice but to surrender.
Because he had decided to visit Mr. Li, his father spent more than one yuan to ask his brother to go to the cooperative to buy two bags of sugar, four orange cakes and one pound of biscuits. He also asked his grandmother to take out the stock at the bottom of the box--marinated vermicelli meat, also wrapped a bag, plus a pound of noodles, as a four-color gift.
This was already a very expensive gift in the countryside at that time. It made Second Sister roll her eyes at Long Zaitian. One had to know that these good things were rare for them to eat, but because of his inexplicable "reading books", they were all going to become his things.
Fortunately, his father was a well-known filial son and was very filial to his grandparents. Moreover, it was his favorite grandson who suggested it, so his grandfather was very supportive.
"Mr. Li is a knowledgeable person, and Heavenly State is also a scholar. You should go and take a walk.”Kingdom of Heaven was his father's name. When his father graduated from university, he was definitely considered an intellectual. Although his grandfather had not read many books, he valued scholars very much.
Because they were going to the movies, Mom made an exception and made dinner in advance. After dinner, his father brought the twenty or so children of the Long Family Brigade and headed to Matang Bay.
The Heavenly Water Bay was only two miles away from the Liu Family Mountain. Everyone chatted and laughed, and soon they arrived. In the countryside, outdoor movies were usually played in the field of the brigade primary school or in the larger grain-sunning field. It was still early and the sun had not set. His father ordered his brother to find the secretary of the brigade to send someone to hang the screen to support the scene. It was not easy for a brigade to show a movie. The secretary and the brigade leader supported them without reservation and sent whoever they wanted. Big Brother was just a 14 or 15-year-old young man. He was naturally very happy to get such an opportunity to show off.
He didn't want to see Crazy Li. Second Sister and Third Sister didn't want to see Mr. Li either, so they followed Big Brother to the secretary's house.
Strictly speaking, Mr. Li was an outsider. Before the Liberation, his mother brought him to escape from famine and came to Tianshui Bay. He married a local farmer surnamed Li, so he changed his surname to Li and settled down in Tianshui Bay. He was smart, diligent, and loved to read. In the early 1950s, he was admitted to the People's University and successfully left the farm and became a city man. According to the older generation, Mr. Li was extremely famous back then. However, as the saying goes, the tides have turned. Unexpectedly, the Great Revolution had brought Mr. Li back to his original state.
At that time, there was almost no decent house in the countryside. Mr. Li's house was especially dilapidated. The three brick houses were leaking everywhere. After Mr. Li was assigned work in the provincial capital, he brought his widowed mother to settle down in the city, so he did not repair the old house in his hometown.
"Is Mr. Li at home?" Although the wooden door of the Li family's house was only ajar, his father still knocked on the door politely.
"Which one?" A tired female voice came from the room. It must be Mr. Li's wife.
"I'm Long Tianguo from Long Family Mountain. I'm here to visit Mr. Li.”His father was very polite and even used the word "visit". Back then, the villagers rarely spoke in such a manner. However, since they were here to visit the great intellectual, they could not appear to be too unskilled.
With a creak, the wooden door opened, and a white-haired woman with a happy face appeared inside.
" So it's Teacher Long. What a rare guest. Please come in…"
His father felt a little smug. The best thing his father had in his life was his face. Although Mr. Li had lost his power now, Mrs. Li had seen the world after following her husband. This attitude made her father very happy.
"Please have a seat…Aiya…Teacher Long, you're too polite. We're from the same village, why would you bring anything for a visit? Old man, old man, come out quickly, Teacher Long is here…"
"What's the big deal?" With this dull voice, Mr. Li walked out slowly from the room. He wore black-rimmed glasses, had a white head, and a stubble, but his face was full of pride. Of course, it was not arrogance, but the arrogance of a scholar.
" Mr. Li..." His father quickly stood up and greeted him respectfully. Deep down, his father had the pride of a scholar, but he was very respectful to those who were more knowledgeable than him.
" It's Kingdom of Heaven. Please sit." Mr. Li was still lukewarm, but it was obvious that he didn't hate us as guests. He was still a revolutionary academic authority who had not taken off his hat. Who would come to visit him on a daily basis?
"Mr. Li, this is my child. Come, call Uncle Li.”
Long Zaitian was gracious and called out " Uncle Li " in a crisp voice. He even bowed.
"Hey, this child is so obedient. What's his name? How old are you this year?" Before Mr. Li could speak, Auntie Li started to praise him. For some reason, Mr. and Mrs. Li never had a child. Auntie Li especially loved children.
Long Zai Tian bowed again and answered obediently,""Auntie, my name is Long Zai Tian. I'm seven years old this year.”
This time, not only was his father grinning from ear to ear, but Auntie Li was also surprised. Even Mr. Li revealed a rare smile.
"Oh, Long Zai Tian. Alright, alright. Come, tell me, have you gone to school?”
"Let's go. He's in third grade at Longjiashan Primary School."
"Oh, third year. How many words do you recognize? Do you know how to count?"
Long Zai Tian smiled and replied calmly,""I learned a few hundred new words and also learned arithmetic.”
"Oh, then can Uncle test you?”
Faint! Why were all scholars like this? Thinking about the 21st century, if a friend's child came to visit for the first time, wouldn't he quickly give a red packet? How could there be someone like Mr. Li who didn't have candy or red packets and only knew how to take exams? Depressed!
"How much is thirteen plus thirty-two?”F * ck! He really treated village officials as officials and bean buns as dry rations. Even if he was a third-grade primary school student, please don't treat him like a blockhead.
Even though Long Zai Tian was cursing in his heart, his face did not lose the slightest bit of respect as he answered honestly,""It's equal to forty-five."
Mr. Li then asked a few more questions, and Long Zaitian naturally answered them fluently. However, his father was a little dissatisfied. He smiled and reminded him,"Mr. Li, Xiaotian knows how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers within a million. You even know how to recite Tang and Song poems."
"Oh?" Mr. Li became interested and asked with a smile,""Little Tian, what Tang poem do you know? Recite it for uncle to hear."
What was going on? Long Zaitian's original intention was to let his father and Mr. Li get closer, but who knew that Mr. Li would grab him and ask endless questions. It seemed that Mr. Li was also the kind of nerd who was not good at socializing.
Sunset clouds and lone ducks fly together, autumn water is the same color as the sky. Long Zaitian almost wanted to recite Wang Bo's Preface to King Teng's Pavilion to them. After thinking about it, he held back. If he were to show off like this, he would not be a child prodigy but a monster. He had to be careful not to be caught and taken to the research institute to be disempathized!
"The sun is at the end of the mountain, and the Yellow River flows into the sea.”Mr. Li was fine, but his father was extremely shocked."Little Tian, when…when did you learn this poem?”
Hehe, Long Zai Tian had expected this question, so he replied calmly,""Dad, you taught me. You recited this poem to me before."
"Have I recited it before? You remember it just because I recited it once?”His father looked bewildered.
"You've recited it several times." Long Zai Tian laughed. It's not hard to remember."
"Hehe, photographic memory. Heavenly State, your son is really a genius!”Mr. Li was full of praise.
His father was stunned for a moment before he smiled. After all, he wouldn't think of transmigrating just because of a poem. Besides, he didn't know what 'transmigration' was. In addition, the development that Xiaotian had brought to the family in the past six months could not be worn down. No matter how good his performance as a genius was, it was understandable.
" To be honest with you, Mr. Li, Xiaotian wants to come to your place to read books today…" Dad, you're really an honest person. How can you be so straightforward? Oh, because my son wants to read books, so I came to visit. If his son didn't want to read books, he naturally wouldn't have to pay attention to you, Crazy Li. Wasn't she deliberately looking for trouble?
Who knew that Mr. Li was also a clown? He actually didn't think it was disrespectful. He smiled and said,"If that's the case, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint Little Tian. I don't have any comic books here."
"If there's no comic book, other books will do." Long Zai Tian said quickly.”
This was the truth. It was really difficult for Long Zai Tian to read the 'new word book' for the next few years. She might as well find some books to read at Mr. Li's place.
Mr. Li looked at me strangely, stood up and said,""Alright, Xiao Tian, follow me."
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。