Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 550 549 Teach Sister
The last time he ate meat was a week ago. When Tang Zhitong got home, he picked up some more lard, not much, just a few pounds.

Because he was delayed for some time today by going to Xinhua Bookstore, when Tang Zhitong got home, Xiao Wang and Feng Zhen had already arrived home.

"Brother, I'm on vacation!" Fengzhi saw the lard and seemed to smell the fragrance of oil residue. She stared at the lard and verbally told Tang Zhitong the good news.

"Do your homework at home first, and don't harm Beibei." Tang Zhitong handed the lard to Zhang Guifang, rubbed his sister's head, and instructed.

Beibei had obviously grown bigger, and no longer staggered when he walked, with a bit of the lightness of a cat's gait. But whenever Fengzhi shouted "Beibei", he could no longer maintain his elegance and would quickly dive under the bed.

"Yeah, brother, do you want to eat fried dough sticks tonight?" Feng Zhi nodded perfunctorily, but what she was thinking about in her heart was food.

"Try a piece. I'll stew some cabbage for you tomorrow." There wasn't much oil left. It wasn't enough to make dumplings, but it was good enough to stew a vegetable. You could even save on oil.

"Okay!" After hearing this, Fengzhi went over to chase the cat with a smile. It was unknown whether she had heard what was said just now.

As a student in the lower grades, the study workload is not heavy and there are not many holiday homeworks, so there is plenty of time to laugh.

If this happened after the millennium, as long as the family conditions allowed, they would have hired a few tutors to give their children extra lessons. After all, many parents believe that no matter how poor they are, they cannot be short of education and cannot let their children lose at the starting line.

Tang Zhitong gives limited recognition to this view, but it is not absolute.

The biggest watershed in a person's life is not academic qualifications, but the uterus.

From the moment of birth, one's fate in this life is basically determined. People like Dongzi who have great achievements despite their background are always a minority. Even if we look at it from a pessimistic perspective, the role of academic qualifications will become weaker and weaker.

Xiao Wang had no idea what her husband was thinking. She nudged him gently with her elbow, and when Tang Zhitong turned around, she pouted in Fengzhen's direction.

Tang Zhitong looked in the direction Xiao Wang pointed and saw Feng Zhen sitting at the table with lifeless eyes, staring at the textbook blankly.

"Fengzhen, is everything going well at school today?" Since there was no big change in Xiao Wang's expression, it meant that nothing serious happened. Tang Zhitong put down his bag, took off his hat, and asked across the table.

"I took the Chinese language test today. I didn't review the composition topic carefully and my writing went off topic." Fengzhen raised her head and glanced at her brother. After she finished speaking, she bit her lower lip, looking a little annoyed.

"It's not a big deal. Be careful next time. It's still a long time before the high school entrance exam." Tang Zhitong saw that Fengzhen's eyes were a little red and her eyelids were a little swollen. It was obvious that she had been crying. This sister was very thoughtful and tried her best to do her best in everything she did.

People, at every stage, have things they think are the most difficult to overcome.

A child of Fengzhi's age might think that breaking a bowl is a big deal and would worry about being beaten by his parents.

A child of Fengzhen's age might think that failing an exam is a big deal and would take several days to recover.

People of Tang Zhitong's age may think that work is a big deal. Without a good job and a stable source of income, he will be confused about the future and have no idea what his future holds.

When people reach middle age, they may be exhausted. They have elderly parents to support and honor, and children to raise and educate. They dare not complain about the hardship and tiredness, and just grit their teeth and persevere.

When people reach old age, they tend to let go of things. Their biggest concern is their children. They don't want to cause trouble for their children. Some people even make their coffins and dig their graves in advance, just waiting for the day they die.

If one day someone is diagnosed with a serious illness or paralysis, there will be many who will commit suicide...

In fact, in Tang Zhitong's view, nothing is more important in life than death.

In this life, many responsibilities are forced upon us. We cannot just live for others, we also have to consider ourselves properly. Life is only a few decades long, there is no need to live so hard.

"Fengzhen wants to ask you how to write an essay." Student Xiao Wang pushed Tang Zhitong again, very dissatisfied with her husband's perfunctory attitude.

"Hmm? Can you give me some advice? I only studied seriously until junior high school, and my essay writing skills were not very good when I was in junior high school." Tang Zhitong replied with a smile.

"Don't you have a copy of the newspaper articles on the wall and the barefoot doctor manual? Oh, don't refuse, talk to Fengzhen." Nowadays, writers who can write have a high status, and Xiao Wang is no exception and does not accept her husband's words.

"Okay, then I'll help Fengzhen analyze it. What is the topic of the composition in today's exam?" Tang Zhitong is not a Chinese teacher, so he doesn't understand the teacher's routine, but he has some insights on composition. After all, she is his own sister, so it's okay for him to pass on some of his ideas to her.

"I was asked to write about my mother, but I wrote about school." Feng Zhen felt a little embarrassed. The two topics were very different.

"Oh, so it means it's praising the campus and teachers?" Tang Zhitong nodded and asked.

Feng Zhen hummed.

"Why not just make it come full circle? End with a sentence: I don't have a mother, school is my mother. It's the finishing touch, and the theme is sublimated, right? As long as what you wrote before is not too outrageous, I believe the teacher will give you a high score." Tang Zhitong has active ideas and can come up with solutions as soon as he thinks about them.

"Nonsense! Our mother is fine, how can she say that?" Although her husband's idea was correct, Xiao Wang criticized her husband in front of her mother-in-law and said to her sister-in-law: "Your brother's words are wrong, but his idea is right. If you add a sentence at the end of your composition, saying that school is my second home and teachers take care of me like my mother, can you achieve the same effect?"

After hearing this, Fengzhen's eyes lit up, but she was also a little annoyed. Why didn't she think of this?

"This composition can be considered as a literary creation. As the saying goes, art comes from life, but it is higher than life. You should not blindly write realistically, and don't think that you can't write about things that haven't happened.

You have to know how to adapt and learn how to edit. As long as it is advocated by society and is positive and active, you can write about it.

You don't have to open your eyes so wide. You are my sister. If it were someone else, I would not teach you.

You must have written an essay like "My Ideal" before, right?
You haven't graduated yet, so isn't this kind of composition just made up?
In the future, I want to be a worker to build the motherland, a teacher to educate people, a scientist to benefit mankind, a doctor to save the dying and the wounded, a farmer to produce more grain, etc. Many of my classmates think so, right?
Apart from being a farmer, you can be a farmer if you want to be one, but you may not be able to get any other job even if you want to!"

Talking about these things, Tang Zhitong was no longer sleepy and spoke very clearly.

"Also, I want to write about a good thing I did in my life. Have you written about this kind of topic before?

Some people wrote about helping an old lady cross the road, returning lost property, holding an umbrella for others on a rainy day, taking people who asked for directions to find their relatives, and some even wrote about how they bravely saved a child who fell into the water.

Do they really do this in reality? Will the teacher verify it?
The teacher also knows that the students are writing nonsense, but at least in terms of thinking, the students who write in this way are positive and the ideas in their essays are good, so the teachers will generally give higher scores.

You don't have to look at me like that. I went to junior high school after all. We were like that back then. Many of my classmates just made up stories. I racked my brains but couldn't think of anything good I had done. Could it be that I stole the peaches and helped other classmates avoid disaster by not selling them out?
I was just being stupid at that time."

Tang Zhitong laughed as he spoke, thinking that he was stupid at the beginning.

Seeing Feng Zhen's incredible expression, Tang Zhitong asked, "Do you think that words reflect one's true feelings and that essays cannot be false?"

Fengzhen was too embarrassed to nod, but she didn't deny it either.

"Some people say that people are inherently good, some say that people are inherently evil, but in my opinion, people are all selfish.

Why didn't I betray my classmates? Because I thought they could play with me!
But what happened later? They still bullied me.

Forget it, let’s not talk about this. Your teacher must have called on students to go up to the blackboard and do exercises, right?

Next time you pay attention, every time at this time, there must be students who dare not look at the teacher, staring at their own desks, not daring to look at the teacher at all, for fear that the teacher will call them.

This is selfishness.

This is not about being inconsistent, double-dealing, or sweet-mouthed.

Even if some people say one thing in public and another behind the scenes, as long as they have no intention to harm others, they can be considered good people. They do this only out of instinct to seek profit and avoid danger, just for the sake of survival, which I think is all normal.

This is the rule of the game for adults. Although it’s a little early to tell you now, you have to slowly learn it in life. It’s beneficial and harmless.”

Tang Zhitong gave examples and spoke from the bottom of his heart, trying his best to make Fengzhen understand.

This is the law of survival for individuals, and it also applies to the country.

Xiao Lie beat Xiao Yi. Xiao Yi went to the United Nations to express his love for peace while sending rockets to Xiao Lie.

Xiao Lie jumped up and cursed at his brother who was at the top of the list. At this time, Xiao Yi spoke up: Xiao Lie, you need to be more cultured and restrained.

The more Xiao Lie cursed, the more the big brothers behind him swiped. There were already more than a thousand of them thrown to the ground. Xiao Lie was sure to win this time.

"Isn't it a little early for you to tell Fengzhen all this?" Xiao Wang agreed with what her husband said, but at the same time she felt that people of different ages should have their own cognition and it is not appropriate to force things.

"Hey, I've taken detours, and I don't want Fengzhen to go through them again. If she can understand these, her life will be much easier." Tang Zhitong did not comment. In fact, it was not just a matter of life.

There will not be many years left of such peaceful days, and Tang Zhitong does not want his sister to be misjudged and involved in the affairs of those students.

Anyway, no matter what, it is definitely not a bad thing to let Fengzhen distinguish right from wrong earlier and have her own ability to distinguish.

After dinner, Tang Zhitong returned to the room, took out the Xinhua Dictionary from his bag and placed it on the desk.

"In addition to learning English and Russian, you are also planning to learn Chinese?" Student Xiao Wang joked when he saw the dictionary.

"Well, a comrade from the Cultural Reform Committee wanted to see me today..." While packing his things, Tang Zhitong told Xiao Wang what happened that afternoon.

"That's amazing. You can make a central government agency come to you on its own initiative." After hearing this, Xiao Wang's eyes were full of stars and tears were almost coming out of his eyes.

As a woman, it is inevitable that she will have a mentality of envying the strong. It may not be healthy, but it is definitely enjoyable.

"Keep a low profile, keep a low profile. Make a small contribution to the country." Tang Zhitong accepted Xiao Wang's admiration with a smile, took out the remaining letters in the sack, and prepared to continue reading the letters tonight.

The letters I read two days ago have been sorted out. The ones with constructive suggestions are in a pile, and the ones with money, food coupons, and oil coupons are kept separately. The rest of the letters have all been stuffed back into the sack. When I’m done with this busy period, I’ll cut off the stamps on them and let them enjoy the treatment of “recycling”.

"Isn't this insignificant? Those of us in our unit who participated in this project are so proud of ourselves." Student Wang knew about the Chinese language reform. Most of those who could participate in it were bigwigs with professional training. They were very knowledgeable in the academic world and had published several professional works. Their works could be used as university textbooks.

"Haha, everyone's pursuits are different. I just want to live my own life well." Tang Zhitong is not opposed to cultural reform. It is a good thing that benefits the country and the people, and it has made an indelible contribution to the popularization of cultural knowledge.

The first simplified character was fine, but the second simplified character went wrong.

Based on the social environment at that time, the man who dug the imperial tomb published an article in "Red Flag" about how to find simplified characters: "People engaged in text reform should always pay attention to the simplified Chinese characters among the people, absorb the desirable ones and promote them at any time. The simplified Chinese characters promulgated should be increased at any time." "Follow the teachings, that is, 'come from the masses and go to the masses'."

Now, simplified characters from all over the country were submitted to the Cultural Reform Commission from all directions.

The masses are indeed wise. The number of strokes in Chinese characters was reduced by half, resulting in the "Second Simplified Characters" being incomplete and extremely ugly.

At the same time, many characters have disappeared, and many homophones have taken on meanings that do not belong to them, causing a certain amount of confusion in understanding and promotion.

(The following pictures show some examples)

Although the second simplified characters were officially implemented not long ago, they had a great impact afterwards, and many teachers still used the "popular characters" of the time when teaching.

Even when Tang Zhitong was in elementary and junior high school, some teachers still used this method. For example, the character "餐" (catering) was written with only the upper left strokes, and the character "量" (strength) had the "里" (li) at the bottom changed to "力", and there are countless examples like this.

Tang Zhitong thought that since he was here, he might as well come up with the perfect simplified characters at once. It wouldn't take much effort anyway.

Tang Zhitong didn't plan to summarize the radicals and rules because he had never learned them back then.

Tang Zhitong didn't want to do anything about pinyin, but he could do his best to simplify the fonts, since he had learned it since he was a child.

This is easy to do. Just follow the dictionary and look up the words one by one. Just write the words and don't worry about the annotations. Excluding the ones that don't need to be simplified, the maximum you can write is four or five thousand words.

Even if you write more than a hundred words every day, you can finish the work in a month.

(End of this chapter)