Chapter 34

Elementary school breaks start earlier than middle school. As soon as Feng Yiping had just settled his luggage at his grandfather's house, he immediately became the leader of the children.

Only Rongrong was a bit more reserved, holding Dongdong, while the other three, led by Yangyang, swarmed around him, rummaging through his backpack and clinging to his legs, showing no reserve at all.

His aunt had once said that these little ones were closer to their cousin than to their own parents.

There was no way around it; when the cousin came back, the food was better, the play was better, he didn't make them do chores, and he never scolded or hit them, of course, he was better than their parents.

Originally, like most men, Feng Yiping found these much younger cousins very annoying. No, to be precise, he found all children very annoying. There was no specific reason; as the youngest in the family, he had no experience taking care of children, he just didn't like them.

He remembered one time, he couldn't remember exactly how old he was, but his aunt had something to do and left the then young Rongrong with him, who was also not much older at the time. Although he was very unwilling, he was always a well-behaved child and did as he was told. However, his attitude was somewhat negative, and he absentmindedly held Rongrong while sitting by the vegetable garden.

Rongrong was very active at the time, and as anyone with experience knows, when children get active, they can be quite strong. He wasn't paying attention, and Rongrong slipped out of his arms, landing face-first on the ground with a thud. Fortunately, the soil in the vegetable garden was soft, so there was no serious injury, but Rongrong still cried uncontrollably.

One of the consequences of this incident was that the aunts no longer asked him to help take care of the children.

Another more serious consequence was that when Rongrong grew up and heard about this from her aunt, she would point to her slightly flat nose and say, "Brother Yiping, my nose used to be very nice, but it's all your fault. You weren't careful when you held me, and now my nose is flat. You have to compensate me."

Even after marriage, she would say in front of her husband, "My nose used to be very nice, all because of Brother Yiping."

Well, anyway, he never understood why most women and a few men were so fond of children, always wanting to play with them. Are your actions really heartfelt? I just can't see what's so good about them.

There was another thing. Whenever the media reported on past or recent disasters, they would mention how many people had died, and always emphasize how many of them were children. He never understood why they always had to emphasize this. Is it really necessary?

Before he had children, he never genuinely felt that these little ones were cute. Although he would always praise other people's children in front of adults, saying how cute, how well-behaved, and how obedient they were, none of these words came from the heart.

All of this changed fundamentally after he welcomed his own son.

This change happened suddenly, on the early morning of the day his son was born, when he carefully took the tiny bundle from the nurse's hands and held him close to his chest.

Since then, whenever he saw children, whether boys or girls, whether they were pretty or not, whether they were clean or not, he liked them and found them very cute. Sometimes he couldn't resist playing with them.

Since then, whenever he saw reports emphasizing how many children had tragically died, those numbers were no longer just numbers. They made him feel immense sorrow and deep hatred for the groups and individuals responsible for those tragedies.

Since then, for example, when the news reported that during the summer vacation, some children had secretly gone swimming in a river and tragically drowned, even though the incident was far away and had no connection to him, he still felt immense pain and empathized deeply with the parents' misfortune.

So, although Feng Yiping was only five years older than the oldest Rongrong, he treated them like a parent would treat their children. Children may not understand many things, but they have a keen intuition, especially in sensing who genuinely cares for them. Therefore, they naturally gravitated towards Feng Yiping.

At noon, as usual, they had a group meal, with the five children sitting at a small table. Since the last incident, Yangyang had been much more obedient during meals. Dongdong was the same; although his parents weren't feeding him, seeing his older brothers and sisters eating heartily, and Rui Rui doing the same, he also picked up his little bowl on his own.

After the meal, Feng Yiping helped Rongrong and Yangyang with their winter homework, while the other three were given paper to draw on.

The winter homework was no challenge for him. He completed all the Chinese and English assignments in one go. When Yunyun pointed to a stick-like figure on the paper and said it was him, he couldn't resist showing off his skills. Using the techniques he had learned from Teacher Zhu, he spent a few minutes drawing a person. The three of them immediately recognized it as Rongrong.

Actually, with Feng Yiping's current skill level, his drawings were only about 50% accurate, but with the help of the clothes and the bow in the ponytail, they could still recognize it as Rongrong.

Seeing this, they naturally wanted to learn. Feng Yiping enthusiastically explained, but to no avail; they still drew the same way. Well, Feng Yiping gave up and decided to teach them just one thing: proportion.

He took them around the house, both inside and out, and then had them draw again. The windows, of course, couldn't be drawn larger than the door, and the cousin couldn't be drawn taller than the house. Fortunately, they accepted this, and there was some improvement. Feng Yiping breathed a sigh of relief.

On the morning of the 17th, Feng Yiping and Wang Changning went to school without any books. On the way, they met the class monitor riding a 28-inch bicycle. They greeted each other, and Tang Shaokang warmly said to Feng Yiping, "You did really well, bringing glory to our class."

At school, Wang Yumin handed him his report card with a smile and patted him on the shoulder, "Great job, you didn't disappoint your teacher."

Feng Yiping didn't look at the report card; being patted on the shoulder by a teacher in middle school was a bit of a surprise for him.

Unlike foreigners, the Chinese, with their five thousand years of brilliant civilization, have less physical contact in their interactions, and it has specific meanings. For example, adults generally pat children on the head, while patting on the shoulder, chest thumping, and arm slinging are more common among peers.

Wang Yumin, who was usually strict, was so kind and seemed to subtly adjust his status, which made him a bit uncomfortable.

Opening the report card, he saw: Math, English, Physics, Chemistry, and Politics were all full marks, Chinese was 96, History was 99, Geography was 98, and Biology was 98.5, with a total score of 891.5.

Wang Yumin happily said, "You are tied for third place in the county with six other students, 3.5 points behind the four students in second place, and 6 points behind the two students in first place."

Oh, so even the two students in first place didn't get full marks.

"Your papers have all been reviewed. Except for a brief answer question in Geography where you missed a point, everything else was correct. The main issue was the Chinese composition, which lost four points. The compositions of the first and second place students only lost one to two points. The principal called the education bureau, and they checked. The main reason for the deduction was that your word choice and sentence structure were somewhat inappropriate."

At this point, Wang Yumin's face showed a strange expression, and he asked Feng Yiping, "I also read it. Why did you write that someone looked very anxious and very apologetic?"

Tsk, he had inadvertently used some modern slang. Feng Yiping scratched his head, a bit embarrassed, "Teacher Wang, I heard this from my uncle once and thought it was interesting, so I used it. Now I realize it was inappropriate, and I will be more careful next time."

"It's not a big deal. I actually found it quite interesting," Wang Yumin said with a smile. "The teacher who graded your paper is from the Experimental Middle School. Since it wasn't from their class, they were naturally more critical."

Thinking back to the first time the Chinese teachers saw it, they were initially stunned, then burst out laughing, joking with each other, "Why do you look so anxious!" and "Is that so, you look very apologetic!" Wang Yumin found it quite amusing.

"Speaking like that in daily conversation is fine, but in exams, it's best not to write like that. Teachers are always looking for reasons to deduct points. Although they understand your meaning and find it funny, they will still deduct points, and we can't argue with them because such combinations are indeed unconventional," Wang Yumin advised him.

"I understand, Teacher Wang," Feng Yiping said obediently.

"Alright, if there's nothing else, you can go back. Have a good time during the New Year, but remember to finish your homework."

After Wang Yumin left, Xiao Zhijie pulled Wang Changning over and punched Feng Yiping in the chest, "Not only did you get first in the grade, but also third in the county."

Wang Changning said, "No wonder Tang Shaokang was so enthusiastic today. It seems he is convinced."

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