Chapter 3

"Uncle, don't fight, fighting is not good! I can start preschool next year, and I know I shouldn't fight with my classmates." At this moment, the little girl who had been standing aside suddenly jumped off her grandfather's lap and pulled Jia Hongjian's hand, saying.

"En, Nuan Nuan knows so much, Uncle is really not as good as Nuan Nuan. Nuan Nuan is really amazing." Jia Hongjian was extremely skilled at coaxing little girls, and with just one sentence, he made the little girl, who had been frowning a moment ago, smile broadly, as if a flower bud was blooming.

"Uncle, I also learned a song with Grandpa this morning. Do you want to hear it? Grandpa said this song was sung by everyone during the Republic of China era, a long, long time ago, and no one sings it anymore." The little girl raised her chin high, and her desire to perform seemed to be fully ignited.

"Really? Our Nuan Nuan is so amazing, you can even sing a song from the Republic of China era? Can you sing it for Uncle?" Jia Hongjian widened his eyes, showing great interest as he coaxed the little girl.

"Cough, cough, outside the long pavilion, by the ancient road, a line of egrets fly into the blue sky..." The little girl cleared her throat and started singing, but the lyrics seemed a bit off. After the first line, she herself seemed to notice that the number of characters was wrong and stopped.

"Red tender hands, yellow vine wine, two yellow orioles singing in the green willows..." Jia Hongjian, with a quick wit, started to rhyme with the little girl's lyrics using a mix of classical poetry.

But the little girl didn't find it funny. She anxiously shook Jia Hongjian's hand, "Uncle, that's wrong, the lyrics aren't like that!"

"Ha ha ha..." Seeing how cute the little girl was, the few people around her burst into laughter. Her grandfather, in particular, laughed heartily and picked her up onto his lap, "Silly Nuan Nuan, Uncle was just teasing you."

"Jia classmate, your lyrics were quite well-structured, even forming a scene of a farewell by the ancient road... By the way, the line 'Red tender hands, yellow vine wine' is from Lu You's 'Zhaotou Feng'?" a girl asked Jia Hongjian.

He turned his head and saw that Li Wanying's delicate face showed a thoughtful expression, as if she had discovered some secret but then found more mysteries.

Jia Hongjian just smiled at her with a "you know what I mean" look, without saying a word. This tacit acknowledgment immediately piqued Wang Daiyun's curiosity and surprise.

"Was there a reference in his line just now?" she asked her best friend.

"Yes, it was written by Lu You when he met his ex-wife and cousin Tang Wan again after they were forced to divorce by their parents a few years earlier," the gentle girl explained. She was reserved and knew that her best friend wasn't interested in classical poetry, so she didn't recite the entire poem.

However, just this background information was enough to make the beautiful Wang Daiyun look at Jia Hongjian with surprise again. At first, she saw him as a steady and reliable boy, then found out that his grades weren't good, but now she discovered that he seemed to have a deep foundation in classical culture. Why would someone with such a foundation have poor grades? This didn't make sense!

However, Jia Hongjian, who was the center of attention, didn't plan to explain anything. Maintaining a sense of mystery was always necessary. He continued to tease the little girl, "Little Nuan Nuan, what's your name?"

"My name is Luo Lizi."

"Oh~ your last name is Luo Li, and your first name is Zi?"

"No, my last name is Luo, and my first name is Lizi."

Watching Jia Hongjian smile and tease his granddaughter, the old man looked at him thoughtfully. After a while, he suddenly asked, "What do your parents do, Jia classmate?"

Jia Hongjian looked at the old man with surprise, not understanding why he suddenly asked this question. Did the old man already see through his act and was planning to use the little girl to bind him?

"My father works at Yanzhong Industry, and my mother works at the Experimental School," Jia Hongjian introduced himself simply.

"Yanzhong Industry? Wasn't it the stationery store on Yanzhong Road before? Later it became Yanzhong Copying Company?" The old man, being a native of Shanghai, knew the history of Yanzhong Industry very well.

After Jia Hongjian confirmed this, the old man nodded, thinking about something. He didn't inquire much about Jia Hongjian's mother, assuming that Jia Hongjian was a student who was good at certain subjects but not overall, and had entered the school through his mother's connections.

"I have a request, my granddaughter hasn't been to kindergarten for the past few years. She's five now and will start preschool next year. I've been looking for someone to tutor her, teaching her some basic knowledge. No need for advanced knowledge, just some basic phonetics, poetry, etc. Once or twice a week, and the pay is 50 yuan a month... Would Jia classmate be willing?"

The old man's words made the onlookers' eyes widen. 50 yuan! This was 1993, and ration tickets had just been abolished in May. At that time, a female worker with over ten years of experience earned only about 70 to 80 yuan a month. The old man was willing to pay 50 yuan a month for his granddaughter's tutoring? Who was this old man? How wealthy was his family?

Wang Daiyun, Li Wanying, and Jia Jinghang all looked at Jia Hongjian, wanting to see how he would respond. Even Jia Jinghang was ready to push his uncle to accept the offer, it was 50 yuan!

"En..." Jia Hongjian pondered for two seconds, then looked up and said, "Old sir, can I think about it and give you an answer later?"

What did he mean? Was he refusing the money? Was he not giving the old man face? As everyone was about to persuade him, Jia Hongjian explained, "I'm not being disrespectful. I just think it's not right to immediately accept an offer just because the pay is good. People shouldn't be so materialistic, right? As a tutor, this will affect Nuan Nuan for a long time, and I need to consider whether I have the ability to teach her well. If I can, I need to think about how to teach her and at what pace. These are all things I need to consider beforehand..."

"Ha ha ha... If you had accepted without thinking, I would have regretted it! At your age, you know to think carefully and take one step at a time. You truly live up to the name 'Hongjian'! Alright, here's our address and phone number. Think about it and call me when you've made a decision."

Hearing the old man's words, the three people who were eager to persuade Jia Hongjian were stunned. They felt that Jia Hongjian was a middle-aged man in a young boy's body, or even that he was the same age as the old man, not their peer! Otherwise, they couldn't explain the difference in thinking depth between Jia Hongjian and themselves!

When they saw the 50 yuan, Jia Hongjian was considering responsibility and the potential to mislead, thinking about deeper operational details and whether he could handle the task.

Recalling their own thought processes and comparing them to Jia Hongjian's, they realized they were still too immature. They understood that a steady and mature classmate like Jia Hongjian was reliable, and it was no wonder the old man had chosen him!

As Jia Hongjian's aura grew stronger, Wang Meng felt a strong sense of crisis. "Daiyun, my cousin will be bringing a batch of TVs from Guangdong soon. They're all 21-inch Toshiba picture-in-picture TVs, the ones with the ad featuring Noriko Sakai. I can bring one to your house?"

Hearing this, Wang Daiyun felt everyone's eyes on her. She didn't feel the superiority of being pursued, but rather the awkwardness of being put on the spot by Wang Meng.

She was still relatively innocent. If she accepted, how would her best friend see her? How would the old man and Jia Hongjian see her? They would definitely think she was a gold digger, someone who would eagerly offer herself to any man who spent money on her.

Moreover, even if no one thought that, accepting a TV would create a huge debt to Wang Meng. If he asked her out or wanted her to be his girlfriend in the future, how could she refuse?

If she refused, she would seem cold and heartless. Wang Meng was clearly pursuing her and being attentive to her, and she couldn't embarrass him in front of everyone.

For a moment, she felt that Wang Meng must be her nemesis from a past life, sent to torment her. Her mind was filled with anger. "I'm sorry, that's too expensive, I can't accept it. Besides, I think we should just be ordinary classmates and not exchange such expensive gifts."

"Ordinary classmates? I've spent so much money on you, taken you out to play, bought you things, and even ran errands for you. Now you tell me we're just ordinary classmates? Do you think I don't know that you bring Li Wanying out to make me spend more money and take advantage of me? I pretended to be stupid, but you really think I'm stupid? When have I ever been so lowly in pursuing other girls? Ordinary classmates? Ha ha ha... What a joke! Surname Wang, we'll see who ends up on their knees begging!"

With that, the furious Wang Meng stood up, spat on the ground, and stormed off the train before it had even started moving.

"Daiyun? What if he..." the gentle Li Wanying quickly asked, concerned for her best friend.

"It's fine," Wang Daiyun waved her hand, then turned to Jia Hongjian, the old man, and the others, apologizing, "I'm sorry for the embarrassment. I really am just an ordinary classmate with him. He has been pursuing me for a while, but I really don't think we're a good match. I really haven't spent much of his money..."

Seeing her hurried explanation, Jia Hongjian, who had started it all, felt a bit reflective. He thought that girls in this era were still innocent, at least pretty girls weren't shameless. Even if they had the potential to be social butterflies, they still had a底线 (底线 means a bottom line or limit).

The argument between Wang Meng and Wang Daiyun was essentially due to his excessive care and high self-esteem. Seeing a threat, he overreacted, and his desperate attempt to keep the girl by his side only made her leave him faster. The old saying "haste makes waste" always requires a few falls to truly understand.

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