Chapter 1333

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

"Then I might contact you from time to time in the future, asking you to answer some questions. When that happens, you mustn't find me troublesome, alright?"

After getting Wang Xiaohua's permission, Gu Wenqing's face blossomed into a radiant smile.

It was clear she was even a little excited.

Wang Xiaohua said:

"No problem. Feel free to contact me anytime. If I have time, I'll answer you right away; if I don't, I'll wait until I do and then answer you."

Gu Wenqing laughed and said:

"Alright. Seeing you so willing to cooperate makes my creative desire even stronger. Who knows, I might accidentally write a work similar to 'Ordinary World'!"

Wang Xiaohua said: "Teacher, you go for it. I believe you can definitely do it!"

Gu Wenqing said at this point:

"It's getting late, almost dinner time. Come on, I'll treat you to a meal!"

Wang Xiaohua was stunned for a moment: "This..."

For some reason, the words Wei Qian had said to him flashed through Wang Xiaohua's mind.

Earlier, Wei Qian had urged him to invite Gu Wenqing to dinner alone, to further develop the relationship between the two of them.

Wang Xiaohua hadn't had the nerve to do it, feeling Gu Wenqing would never in a million years look at him.

He never expected that now Gu Wenqing would actually take the initiative to invite him to dinner alone.

This inevitably made him think crookedly, so he subconsciously froze for a second.

Gu Wenqing explained with a smile:

"You're willing to cooperate with my writing, so it's perfectly reasonable for me to treat you to a meal, right? While we eat, you can tell me about your childhood on the side!"

Wang Xiaohua said:

"Then thank you, Teacher! Better to obey than to be polite!"

So Wang Xiaohua and Gu Wenqing went out together and ate a meal.

Gu Wenqing deliberately picked a relatively quiet restaurant, ordered a barbecue set for two, and then the two of them chatted while grilling and eating the meat.

"Speaking of which, someone like you must have been a child prodigy growing up, right?"

Gu Wenqing actively sought a topic.

Wang Xiaohua answered honestly:

"Child prodigy would be going too far, but in primary school, I really did place first every single time."

Gu Wenqing laughed: "That counts as a child prodigy too. Placing first every time isn't easy. I remember in my primary school days, I always placed fiftieth or sixtieth."

Gu Wenqing had attended school in the city from childhood on. Her primary school had several hundred students per grade, so she naturally found placing first every time very impressive.

Wang Xiaohua explained:

"I went to a rural primary school. There was only one class per grade, forty or fifty people per class. Later, when I entered junior high, my grades plummeted to a few dozen in the whole grade, and throughout junior high, I never made it into the top five again."

Hearing this, Gu Wenqing was surprised and very curious:

"How did that happen? That shouldn't be right. Didn't you become amazing later?"

Wang Xiaohua smiled:

"Mainly because my primary school English was too terrible. We started English in third grade. My primary school didn't even have an English teacher who knew ABC. Every English class, they just played a tape recorder for us. As a result, once I hit junior high, English dragged me down severely. Because of that, I've had a psychological block about learning English ever since, never able to get the hang of it."

Gu Wenqing asked:

"I'm very curious. How did you turn things around after entering high school?"

Wang Xiaohua thought for a moment, then said:

"I'm not too sure myself. Anyway, I just studied. I was in the science top class in high school. Everyone worked hard, I worked hard too. Studying and studying, I went from a few dozen in the grade ranking to the teens, and by the second semester of sophomore year, I was basically always first place. But my English was still terrible. Often I'd only score around 110. At best I could barely reach 120. At worst, just over 100."

Gu Wenqing exclaimed in amazement: "Even with that you could get first in the grade? Your other subjects must have been really strong!"

Wang Xiaohua said:

"Strong is relative. In that small county town, I was indeed strong. But put me in a big city, I'd only be average. I once participated in a math competition, and the results weren't great. That's why, after coming to Tsinghua, compared to Wen Lingyun and Wan Zhiyuan who got in through competitions, I feel like a fool."

Gu Wenqing said with a smile:

"You're amazing. You're being a bit too humble."

But Wang Xiaohua said:

"This isn't humility. It's a genuine, real feeling. Being with the two of them, I really do feel like a fool. The gap between me and them is probably even farther than the gap between an ordinary person and me."

This was Wang Xiaohua's heartfelt, honest truth. He also said:

"There was a period where I followed Wan Zhiyuan to do experiments, right? I felt I completely couldn't keep up with his train of thought. It was precisely because he shocked me that I realized I'm simply not cut out for research. So I prepared to take the civil service exam route."

Gu Wenqing asked at this point:

"Can you tell me about your late wife? How did you two meet?"

Before Wang Xiaohua could answer, she added:

"If that offends you, or you don't want to say it, forget it. We can talk about something else."

Wang Xiaohua smiled bitterly:

"It's fine. It's not something shameful. Actually, Jianjia and I, from freshman to senior year of high school, were just ordinary classmates. Those three years of high school, I barely even spoke to her. She only occasionally came to ask me math problems, and that's when we'd exchange a few words."

"What about after that?"

"After the college entrance exam, I wanted to earn some pocket money. My deskmate and I collected the senior year's books at school and hauled them to the scrap yard to sell as scrap. Then Jianjia, for some reason, actively joined our line of work. The three of us collected books together and went to sell scrap together. That was the first time in my life doing business. We almost got swindled by the scrap yard boss, but fortunately Uncle Chunsheng helped me out. In the end, we still made a little money."

Regarding that memory, Wang Xiaohua found it a bit blurry.

The only thing he remembered clearly was Li Jianjia's smile back then, so pure, so radiant.

"What is Uncle Chunsheng to you? A relative?" Gu Wenqing asked curiously.

"Not a relative. He's a friend my mother knew when she was young; he helped our family a lot."

Gu Wenqing was curious:

"Since he's not a relative, why was he willing to help you all?"

Wang Xiaohua didn't know how to answer for a moment; after thinking a bit, he finally said:

"This matter has to start from when I was just born. Back then Uncle Chunsheng was a Stationed Village Cadre in our village, later he and my mother partnered to open a Small Shop. Because of this matter, my father's misunderstanding toward my mother was huge..."

Wang Xiaohua spoke of his mother and Niu Chunsheng's matters when they were young, but many of those matters were hearsay, and he didn't dare guarantee whether they were true or not.

For example, whether his mother and Niu Chunsheng had real feelings when they were young, he still doesn't know to this day.

However, there is one matter he has a very deep impression of.

That is when he was small, he followed his mother to attend Niu Chunsheng and Lin Xiaofang's Wedding Ceremony.

At that wedding, his mother wept tears streaming down her face.

For so many years after that, he never saw his mother cry that hard again.

Even when his father Passed Away recently, his mother didn't cry that hard.