We are all the same in the pursuit of our dreams

Chapter 2 Perseverance has invisible wings (1)
No matter how small a dream is, it has great power.

I believe that as long as you have a dream,
Even through the long dark night,
One day you'll walk through the crowd,

Let out your own light.

leave yourself, find yourself

Some people say, "Leave yourself to find yourself."

She bid farewell to her past self, left the familiar environment, came to a foreign country alone, and grew into another self in a romantic country.She said: If you don't be hard on yourself, you will never know how much potential you have.

Every year on my birthday I get a letter, a handwritten letter.The black ink is all over the white letterhead, showing sincere friendship between the lines.

Today, with the development of communication tools such as WeChat, text messages, telephones, and emails, few people are willing to sit at a desk and put their full friendship into writing.Chivalry has insisted on this, and it has not changed for eight years.

The beginning of the letter is about her recent situation as usual, and the end of the letter reads: "Happy Birthday (Happy Birthday), My Princess (My Princess)."

Signed: "Your Knight (your knight)."

Every time I see her letter, my heart will always warm, because she still insists on conveying her heart in such an ancient way of writing letters by hand, and because she can always remember my birthday every time.

Before I met Chivalry, my birthday was on the lunar calendar, and I knew little about the constellations. I always used the lunar calendar to correspond to the constellations. For a long time, I thought I was a Libra.

After meeting Chivalry, she wrote to me and told me that my lunar birthday corresponds to November 11th in the solar calendar, and my corresponding zodiac sign is Scorpio.She said: "You used to celebrate your birthday on the lunar calendar, and I will celebrate your birthday on the Gregorian calendar every year in the future. On this day, your birthday wishes will come from me alone."

Because I am a workaholic, I often forget my birthday, and some people say that it is best to only have one birthday in a year.So, since I received the birthday wishes from Knight Yi, I simply only celebrate my birthday in the Gregorian calendar once a year.

Qi Qiyi is my reader, a "post-90s" with short hair and a baby face. She is younger than me, but she never calls me sister.When we met, I had just graduated from college and she was still a middle school student.She wrote to me, saying that she appreciates my articles and the attitude towards life conveyed in my articles.I usually reply to her on QQ, and I will reply to her when I am not busy at work.Back and forth, we gradually became familiar with each other.She said that she thought I was very kind, and hoped that I would be her princess all her life, and she was willing to be a knight to protect me forever; she also said that she wished she could be a man so that she could marry me when she grew up.Later, she learned that I had a boyfriend and told me that although she was very jealous of him, she still gave me full blessings.

She was only a middle school student at the time, and we had never met, but she told me this through a letter, which made me feel very heart-warming.I was originally a girl with a little low self-esteem. I never thought I was good-looking, nor did I think how well my articles were written. Her letter let me know that I was so beautiful in her eyes.She gave me confidence and encouragement.Later, she became my first reader, and almost every book I wrote would be sent to her first.She does not blindly praise, but also puts forward pertinent opinions.

In addition to exchanging writing experience, we also exchanged each other's lives. I talked about my trivial life in Beijing, and she talked about her life in school: the monthly exam was No. 1 again, and she seemed to like a boy, and that boy was her. at the same table.Because he likes to drink a certain brand of mineral water, she only drinks that brand of mineral water, and then collects the empty bottles after drinking and puts them in the bedroom.

A bottle of mineral water every day, just like the mood when she fell in love with him secretly, refreshing and transparent.How many mineral water bottles are collected means how many days she has been secretly in love with him.However, one day, her mineral water bottle was sold by her mother as scrap. She was heartbroken and had a big fight with her mother.She just finished high school, and she couldn't tell her mother that these mineral water bottles meant a lot to her, it was all the feelings she had when she was young and had a crush on someone.She can only say that you have violated my privacy, and I don't need you to clean up my room.Her mother was very surprised and puzzled. She kindly helped her daughter clean up the room, but she was thankless and was scolded by her daughter.

Although there were some minor frictions with her mother, she loved her father and mother more. She said that she loved her parents' love for each other, their tolerance, and the beautiful city of Suzhou in the south of the Yangtze River where she lived.She said that she was going to go to a university in Suzhou and stay in Suzhou to work after graduation and stay with her parents for the rest of her life.Of course, in order to meet me, she decided to come to Beijing after she was admitted to university.

Later, she really got admitted to a university in Suzhou, and she really came to see me in Beijing, and brought me a box of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs as a gift.

Once, I really thought that she would stay in Suzhou for the rest of her life as she had planned.

Once, Knight Yi also thought so.

When I suddenly received a letter from Chivalier from Paris, France one day, I realized that she actually went to the Paris headquarters of Le Cordon Bleu to learn how to cook western pastry and western food.This really surprised me. I never thought that she would leave Suzhou to study and live in such a distant place alone.

Before the age of 21, she had been living in Suzhou, and she traveled with her parents every time she traveled.She obeyed her parents' plan and never deviated from the track, but now, she actually left her parents' long-term protection and went to Paris alone!Besides, she never told me she was going to Paris!

All I know is that she worked as an intern in a cake shop during college, and she usually likes to make biscuits, snacks and the like.I thought it was just her hobby, but I didn't expect her to regard it as a lifelong pursuit!
Every day, she posts the western food and pastry she learned to cook in class in her circle of friends, which looks very attractive.When I was hungry, I was determined not to look at her photo album, otherwise the more I looked, the hungrier I would be, and I would seek abuse.

Maybe it's because she's grown up, or because we're both busy, our letters aren't as many as before, and our relationship is not as close as before, but I believe that we still put each other in the warmest corner of our hearts.

I have always wondered about her sudden trip to Paris—why she was willing to let go of the comfortable life in a small town in Suzhou, leave the familiar environment, and choose to go to Paris alone?
I made an appointment with her to have a good chat.Her course schedule is very tight, and my work is doubly busy, coupled with the time difference between Paris and Beijing, we managed to spare half a day to have an in-depth chat through the Internet.

That day, it was a sunny afternoon in Paris where she was, and it was a brightly lit night in Beijing here.

Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, Seine River, Champs Elysees, open-air cafes, kissing couples can be seen everywhere, the air is filled with the aroma of coffee and romance... This is the impression I have of Paris.

However, Chivalier told me: Paris is not as good as you imagined.In smoggy days, you can’t see the iron tower. The subway station is full of homeless people who defecate everywhere. There are many pickpockets in the scenic area. The subway often breaks down. She has to go out at [-] o’clock now. She is afraid that the subway will stop halfway or call them all. Get off the train... What's even more frightening is that last year a Chinese girl who was also a Le Cordon Bleu student was pushed onto the rails in the subway and died unfortunately.

Chivalry's words overturned my usual impression of Paris.For me, who has never been to Paris, Paris is as beautiful as a dream; for her, who has lived in Paris for half a year, Paris has restored the true colors of reality.

Dreams are better than reality, and reality is crueler than dreams.

The so-called growth is nothing more than becoming more and more able to accept reality, gradually understanding the distance between reality and dreams, and trying to balance this distance.

From Suzhou to Paris, Chivalry is constantly balancing the distance between reality and dreams.

In life, if you can find something you like and are willing to continue to work hard for, it may be called a dream.Everyone will have a dream, and there may be some detours before finding the dream.

Many people stumble on the road to pursue their dreams before finding the dream that suits them best.

In this regard, dreams are sometimes like falling in love. You need to try a few times before you understand what is best for you.

Before coming to Paris to learn how to cook pastry, Chevalier also had other dreams.

She once wanted to be a writer, but being a writer requires super perseverance. She often gives up halfway, and often fails to write a novel halfway through.Maybe I don't love writing enough, so I can only bid farewell to my dream of being a writer.

She also wanted to be a Japanese translator. She chose Japanese as her second foreign language during college and learned it well.Helpless, he was strongly opposed by his grandfather who had experienced the War of Resistance Against Japan.After joining, Japanese translations were everywhere, and she had to learn a very high level to be able to succeed, and she was unwilling to become a teacher in a training institution.So her dream of Japanese translation was shattered.

When she was in college, she worked as an intern in a pastry shop in Suzhou by chance. Gradually, she found that she loves those sweet and beautiful pastries. Not only did she find that eating sweets is a way to heal bad emotions, but she also enjoyed making pastries. Time to feel happy physically and mentally.

But at that time, she only regarded making pastries as a hobby, never thought that it could be a dream, and devoted herself to it.

All because of a friend's stimulation of her.

That was a friend she met in high school, and she had never had any opinions. When they usually had dinner together and asked her what she wanted to eat, she would always answer "anything" without exception.Her university and major were chosen by her parents, and her job was also found by her parents. Recently, her parents are arranging a blind date for her.

Qi Qiyi felt that this kind of life was too boring, as if he could see the end at a glance, life was plain like water, without waves.

Reminiscent of her own life, she has lived under the umbrella of her parents since she was a child, and has never left Suzhou City except for travel.It is indeed comfortable and comfortable to stay by her parents' side, but if her life is arranged by her parents, and she is like a puppet without self, then wouldn't she have lived in vain in this life?She hopes that the rest of her comfortable life will be created by herself, rather than being built for her by her parents.

Therefore, she plans to leave her parents, the familiar Suzhou city, and her past self to look for another possibility.

She chose Paris not because of how romantic the city is, but because the city has a 120-year-old culinary school - Le Cordon Bleu.

After graduating from university, he was dishonestly looking for a job in his hometown, but he had to go to Paris to learn how to cook pastry. Could it be possible that he spent so much money and came back from school just to be a cook?

Chivalry's parents did not approve of her daughter's move, and even felt that her daughter was joking with them.

However, Qi Qiyi knew better than anyone else that she was serious this time, and she wanted to earnestly seek a brand new future for herself.

She contacted the agency by herself, signed up for IELTS classes, passed the test once, and then applied to the school.When she said calmly to her father, "I have passed the IELTS, I am applying for a school", his father's expression was extremely shocked.He thought his daughter was just joking, but she actually put it into action, and the efficiency was so high!

Not only applying for schools, but also looking for a house in Paris, paying the rent deposit, buying air tickets and other things are all done by Chevalier alone.

The parents couldn't believe it. The good girl who was always tired of being around her parents didn't rebel at all during adolescence, but now she is almost 22 years old, but suddenly published the Declaration of Independence?
But seeing Qi Qiyi's "I've made up my mind" look, her parents have no choice but to support her decision.At that time, her father was still vaguely thinking: Maybe she lived outside alone for a while, she was not used to it, and she would come back soon!

In fact, the father underestimated his daughter's abilities.A person's potential is infinite, in the words of Chivalry: If you don't be hard on yourself, you will never know how much potential you have.

At the end of August 2014, Chivalier came to Paris alone.

The content of learning is divided into three levels: elementary, middle and high, and each level has 10 weeks of classes.Originally, she had to learn 10 lessons in 30 weeks for western food, and 10 lessons for western pastry in 20 weeks. In order to challenge herself, she chose a college diploma, that is, she learned western food and western pastry at the same time, and completed 10 lessons in 50 weeks.

After each level of class, you have to take an exam. If you fail the exam, you have to pay money to learn it again, and there is no chance to make up the exam.It looks pretty brutal.

It was too late to get homesick, and Qi Qiyi quickly devoted herself to her studies, and she finished almost every class the fastest.

The classroom is actually equivalent to a kitchen, and the teachers are all chefs.Just like how we liked to nickname our teachers when we were in school, the nicknames given to our teachers by Chivalry are cute grandpa, master of failure, master of patience, low-scoring chef, hobbit elf and so on.

Her favorite is Grandpa Meng, she feels very comfortable standing next to him and doing everything.Grandpa Meng appreciates that she can always silently and quickly complete cakes that are both good in appearance and taste, and thinks she is very smart, which gives her great encouragement.Unlike some chefs who criticized her for not asking questions in class, and blamed her for being too shy and having communication barriers.She argues for herself: "Those European and American students ask stupid questions like why they peel the shrimp, why they keep the shrimp tails, how many shrimps do Chinese people eat a year, if you ask such stupid questions that will lower my IQ , I'd rather not get a high score."

The low-scoring chef is very handsome. I don’t know why he gave everyone a very low score. No one scored more than 3.5 points, usually 3 points.However, students with poor skills like him, because although his scores are all low, none of them are lower than 3 points.

What she dislikes the most is the master of failure. As long as she takes his class, she will make mistakes.The master of failure left a serious psychological shadow on her in a certain class, and he bombarded her four times in that class.The first time she was bombarded was that she cut the bread into right triangles, the second time she was bombarded that she rolled the dough a little longer, and the third time she was bombarded because she didn’t put the weighed dough in the refrigerator first .The master of failure croaked French so fast that she tried to interrupt and was scolded.The failure master said angrily: "Chinese people are like this. If you don't learn French well when you come to France to study, since you don't understand what I'm talking about, you might as well get out!" Then he smashed her dough on the table .In this way, she still failed to escape the fourth shelling.

The failure master mixed up her dough, so she had to re-weigh the dough, and the result was that someone else's dim sum was already in the mold and ready to be baked, and she hadn't finished it yet.Hence the fourth bombardment.

Filled with grievances, there are many classmates who do worse than her, and the master of failure just grabs her!I blamed her for coming here because she didn't learn French well, but it was clearly written in the prospectus that she only needs to be good at English!

She comforted herself afterwards: Every time I do a little bit wrong, the master scolds me, maybe it is because he has too high demands on me?Thinking of this, she will feel better.

Gradually, she practiced a golden bell-covered iron cloth shirt, and the chef scolded whenever she scolded, changed what was really bad, and unreasonable accusations went in one ear and out the other.

Perhaps it is because she is very attentive in every class, basically every chef can call her name after class, so she has become one of the most concerned students this year.

She said that apart from love, there was another reason why she worked so hard: she was motivated by the unfair scoring system of Le Cordon Bleu.She secretly made up her mind: How can those European and American girls who can speak French get high marks just by acting coquettishly? Although my mother's French is broken, I still want to show you how amazing Asian girls are!
Being a beautiful cook is not an easy task. Not only does she have to be good at cutting potatoes into olive shapes of similar size, but she also needs to be able to withstand the ravages of hot oil.Once during a practical class, the hot oil from frying meat splashed on her hands and arms. It was not obvious at first, and she just rinsed it with cold water before continuing to work.After she finished peeling three potatoes, the chef found her scald. He was surprised and asked her, "Did you get scalded today? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You can't do things with the ointment on," she said.

(End of this chapter)