In this land of China, one day is equivalent to a hundred years in the mortal world.
The week after meeting the old man, Mother received a call from Director Qi's wife at her workplace and went to the city library to pick up a special reader's card. Moreover, the old man instructed Jiang Zihan that his heart and lung function still needed to be strengthened, and apart from practicing qigong, swimming was the best form of exercise. The old man managed to get a monthly pass for the municipal sports center's swimming pool, which had the city's only standard swimming lanes and was not completely open to the public for three days.
Suddenly, the cold days of the river are busy. Go to the library to read books, go to the gym to swim and exercise, and have some free time to experience the basic entry-level breathing and exhaling, practicing the basic skills of horseback riding.
One day, apart from three meals, sleep and time on the road, the rest is basically used to the extreme by Jiang Zihan. What eight o'clock TV dramas or boring magazines, all disappeared in daily life. Counting with fingers, it turns out that doing these things takes up fifteen or sixteen hours a day.
Looking back on past summers, Jiang Zhihan remembers that life was so boring, every day passed extremely slowly, and often had to use watching TV, sleeping, and reading uninteresting magazines to try to fill it up. At that time, there were probably less than an hour of constructive and meaningful activities in a day. Sixteen hours versus one hour, isn't it equivalent to piling up all the things from the previous sixteen summers into one summer? Thinking about this, Jiang Zhihan couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment.
Jiang Zihan's parents were indeed a little surprised that Jiang Zihan had become so busy during the holidays, but thinking about it, reading and exercising weren't bad things to do, they should be better than staying at home all day being an otaku, so they didn't interfere too much.
Jiang Zihan's social EQ has indeed improved a lot. On the first day of going to the library, he first found his mother's unit phone number and called Director Qi's home to invite his son to go together. As expected, Little Qi said that he had to make up for lessons and couldn't go. Jiang Zihan was very suspicious that he really had an interest in taking a half-hour bus from his suburban home to the library, but since Director Qi had mentioned it, his attitude must be done.
Arriving at the library, although he had all the necessary documents to enter directly, Jiang Zihan still inquired about Director Qi's wife's office and went up to thank her and exchange a few pleasantries. That day at home, Feng Ayi had shown polite indifference, but Jiang Zihan wasn't too bothered. After all, his mother and Director Qi were to some extent fellow sufferers, while his wife was not familiar with their family at all. In China, where the consciousness of official status is very strong, being able to show basic courtesy to the old friend of a worker's husband already demonstrated quite rare refinement.
Jiang Zihan didn't expect a warm welcome, but just wanted to show some courtesy. After all, he had high expectations for this special reading room.
The middle school Jiang Zhan was attending had a small library, but the number of books was extremely limited and mostly very old. The factory where his mother worked was a state-owned medium-sized enterprise, and its library collection was much larger than that of the school, but basically consisted of entertaining books catering to the workers' tastes.
The ordinary borrowing certificate of the city library can only access a small part of the open collection, which is still filled with Soviet books from the 1950s and 1960s and domestically produced revolutionary books that were popular in the 1970s. To get in touch with the latest things, understand the international trends and classic books, it's really not a luxury that ordinary people can afford in this era of China.
The inequality of information largely determines that the part of people who master it have an unparalleled advantage. Jiang Zhihan, who was not yet 17 years old, could not think so far, he just intuitively recognized that if he wanted to see further than others, he had to be the fish that jumped out of the water, and first, he had to access more updated things than most people.
The enthusiastic reception by Aunt Feng made Jiang Zihan somewhat surprised. After all, as a professional graduate from the library department, Aunt Feng roughly explained to Jiang Zihan the classification of libraries and how to quickly search for the materials he wanted, and then asked about his interests.
Jiang Zihan replied that he does not have a specific goal for the time being, but hopes to lock in some special areas through some initial explorations.
Then Aunt Feng briefly introduced to him the difference between extensive reading and intensive reading, how to quickly scan and expand the scope through indexes, introductions, prefaces, and even chapter titles.
Feng Auntie told Jiang Zihan that there is a common misconception in school education, which is that reading any book cannot be done hastily, and one must carefully understand it page by page, line by line, and word by word. In fact, this is not the case, and effective learning must combine extensive reading and intensive reading. Feng Auntie chattered on and on with Jiang Zihan for half an hour until someone called her away on business, and before leaving, she told Jiang Zihan to come find her if he had any questions.
Jiang Zhihan didn't know that the surprising treatment he received today originated from a conversation between the couple after he left that day.
Qī Chùláng instructed his wife and said, "If Jiāng Zhī Hán goes to the library and has something to ask you, be more enthusiastic and considerate."
The director's wife agreed, but it was clear that she didn't think much of a junior high school student from an ordinary family without any background being valued by her husband.
"Jiang Zhihan, this child's future prospects, I dare not predict. But at his age, he already understands human emotions and worldly affairs, speaks with logic and reason, has a broad knowledge base, and most importantly, has a calm and mature temperament - this is indeed an anomaly. People say that children from poor families have to grow up early, but I know the Li family well. They are a working-class family, rooted in the city for generations. With only one child, they naturally spoil him rotten. Although their economic conditions are limited, they don't lack food and clothing, and he probably hasn't suffered any great hardships since childhood. Such children usually understand the importance of studying hard and striving to get into a good university. But this child seems to be planning his long-term life already. I think that success or failure depends not just on effort and talent, but also on having the ability to read the times and understand human emotions. Our generation has experienced many hardships, but even we didn't start thinking about our lives until we were 20, and only began to understand some things when we were 30. From this perspective, Jiang Zhihan's precocity is frightening, with great potential. But that's not the main point - after all, his future depends on opportunities. Next year, Xiao Xun will be in high school, and regardless of her grades, I plan to transfer her to a key high school in the city, such as No. 7 Middle School, which is relatively easier to get into than top schools like No. 1 or No. 5 Middle School. It's also closer to our municipal government office building. At that time, we can rent an apartment in the city and live there during the week, returning here on weekends. Today, when I talked about my trips to Japan, Italy, and America, Jiang Zhihan was enthusiastic about military affairs, football, and other things that Xiao Xun is interested in - I saw that Xiao Xun listened with great admiration. My plan is to give them more opportunities to interact, so that Jiang Zhihan can influence him. As parents, our words are increasingly falling on deaf ears, and relying solely on strict discipline won't work. At this age, children's rebellion during puberty is severe, coupled with the generation gap, making some things difficult for us to do. If there's a peer who can make him admire and emulate, maybe the effect will be much better."
Feng Auntie replied at the time: "Jiang Zhi Han's grades are only average, and he is not a good role model."
Qipu Chang laughed and said, "I'm not saying you're wrong, but you mothers always think that the kids who study well are the ones who will benefit the most. I wasn't the best student when I was young, so why am I doing better than others now? Maybe Jiang Zhihan is trying to make me happy by saying this, but it's true. You have a huge misconception - you think that if your child is with the top students, they will benefit the most. Wrong! Some of these top students are bookworms, and some may be smart but arrogant and don't understand human relationships. What can our son learn from them? Do you think he'll suddenly become extremely hardworking? Probably not, and maybe he'll even develop a resistant attitude.
Xiao's foundation and talent, if you expect him to become one of the top 5 or 10 students in high school, that's unrealistic. We don't need that. As long as he can get into Zhongzhou University with his own efforts, I'm confident I can help him get into a good major. Before I retire, I still have time to help him find a good job, and after that, how far he goes will depend on his own efforts and luck. But if he can just make it to this step, we can basically guarantee that he'll be set for life and won't have to worry about food and clothing.
As parents, we can also rest easy. So, you giving Jiang Zhihan a little favor today is just a small gesture, but who knows, maybe tomorrow he'll be able to repay you with a big favor and your precious son will no longer be muddled and confused."
Feng Aunt had always been obedient to her husband, so she readily agreed.
Jiang Zhihan has been in the special reading room of the library for two weeks. He only took a glance at the audio-visual room, where there were relatively more people, because it had the latest foreign movies, TV shows and music videos, but that was not his interest. He spent a little less than an hour every day in the foreign language reading room. Due to insufficient English foundation, Jiang Zhihan looked a bit struggling, and his speed was very slow. In Jiang Zhihan's plan, the first stage was the time for extensive reading, he wanted to find out what interested him and was worth investing a lot of time in.
After two weeks, Jiang Zhihan had a general idea. The scope of art and philosophy did not conform to his character and ability, understanding a little was enough, it seemed that he was not the right material to go deeper. He slowly concentrated his interests in two areas: one is scientific knowledge and its engineering applications, and the other is economics and financial management.
It's not possible for him to understand and grasp a deeply mathematical professional book in a short time. If he decides to take that path, university is the real stage for learning and cultivation. Jiang Zihan mainly wants to know about the latest technological applications, what are the current hotspots and focuses.
In the past few days, he quickly browsed through many things, including a set of popular science works on classical physics and chemistry in their heyday from the 17th to 19th centuries, biographies of several masters, and introductions to industrial hotspots in the latest electronic magazines. Whether it was the peak period of 19th-century physics or the personal computers and semiconductor products that have just emerged today, Jiang Zihan read them with great enthusiasm.
China's reform and opening up has a history of about ten years, but for inland cities in the Midwest, state-owned enterprise reform is still in its infancy, small business circulation is not developed, let alone high-tech enterprises taking shape and soaring.
Although everything is still far from his own world, Jiang Zhihan feels that he has finally broken free from the shackles of the well-bottom frog and has seen the magnificent and beautiful starry sky. Although the starry sky is beyond reach, sometimes just gazing at it can be a kind of happiness and privilege. From the scientific rage of the 17th century to the new industrial wave of the late 20th century, on many days when the sun sets, when Jiang Zhihan raises his head to look out the window, he is often bewildered by the illusion that this world has been in existence for a hundred years.
The reading room opens at 10 o'clock and closes at 6 o'clock in the evening. In Jiang Zhihan's schedule, from 5 am to 10 am is the time for exercise and practice, then go to the library until closing. The evening time is divided equally between exercise and practice.
With the care of Aunt Feng, he could register to take a book home every day, but it had to be returned the next morning. Jiang Zhihan's breathing exercises felt quite effective, and he secretly thought that his talent was not bad either. As he practiced breathing exercises, he also felt refreshed even after resting for 5 hours a day. With the effect, the enthusiasm for practice became even higher, and not only did he practice while squatting, but Jiang Zhihan also diligently practiced before sleep and during breaks. Some things, the more you taste the sweetness, the more motivated you become, this is exactly what Jiang Zhihan is like now.
