Chapter 209: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 209: Poor Person Mentality, Clinging to the Status Quo

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

"Big Brother, is your job going well?"

Wang Xiaohua took the mobile phone and went back to his room, locking the door behind him.

"My job's fine. I don't sell computers anymore; I'm doing real estate sales now."

Wang Dashan's voice came from the other end of the phone.

Wang Dashan asked at this time: "I plan to start a real estate agency after a while. What do you think?"

Wang Xiaohua said:

"That's great. Starting your own business has risks, but it definitely offers more chances to get ahead than working for others."

Hearing Wang Xiaohua's answer, Wang Dashan couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

But he immediately sighed:

"But our parents don't want me to start a business. They're worried I'll lose money."

Wang Xiaohua said:

"Why tell them that? They've lived in the countryside their whole lives and never made a name for themselves in a big city. What advice could they give you? Don't ask them about things like this anymore. If you ask them, they'll only hold you back and won't give you useful suggestions. We poor people from the countryside must have our own minds and not be swayed by our parents, or we'll only repeat our parents' fate."

Wang Dashan nodded slowly, feeling Wang Xiaohua made a lot of sense.

Although Wang Xiaohua was very young and only in his second year of high school now, his thinking was indeed more mature than ordinary people his age.

There's a saying: "Children from poor families grow up early."

When others still thought "children from poor families grow up early" meant doing housework for their parents and sharing their living and financial pressures,

Wang Xiaohua had long realized that this "growing up early" didn't mean sharing housework, but having independent thought.

If a poor child obeys his parents in everything from a young age, he's very likely to amount to nothing when he grows up. Only with the ability to think independently can he escape the cage built by a poor family.

"I actually didn't ask them; I just told them. After all, they're our parents, and it's still necessary to let them know about such a major matter."

Wang Dashan said this with a smile.

He indeed just came to notify his parents.

His parents didn't want him to take risks starting a business. He could understand their worry, but he wouldn't obediently listen.

He was already an adult. He wanted to make his own decisions and control his own life.

"Actually, you can tell them after you succeed. Telling them now will only add to their worries. Besides, they can't help you at all."

Wang Xiaohua said this.

Wang Dashan nodded again, feeling his little brother made a lot of sense.

"Alright. From now on, I won't tell them about such things. I'll tell them after I succeed, which can be considered a surprise for them."

Although Wang Dashan was Wang Xiaohua's older brother, he knew his own mind wasn't as sharp as Wang Xiaohua's, so he was willing to listen to Wang Xiaohua on many things.

He also firmly believed that after Wang Xiaohua graduated from university, he would definitely do better than him.

Maybe he could even become a big official in the future!

After all, he's so young and already understands so many things. He's indeed material for an official.

The two brothers chatted for a long time, talking here and there. Later, Wang Dashan handed the phone to Wang Erhai, letting Wang Erhai talk to Wang Xiaohua.

At this time, Wang Xiaohua didn't yet know Wang Erhai had been cheated into joining a pyramid scheme. Although almost everyone in the village knew about this, Wang Xiaohua rarely returned to Shangou Village. Even when he came back, he stayed in his room studying all day and basically didn't come out.

"Little brother, when you come home for the Spring Festival, I'll buy you a basketball. Then we can play basketball together!"

Wang Erhai said this to Wang Xiaohua.

Wang Xiaohua smiled and said:

"Okay!"

In recent years, Wang Xiaohua had actually exercised plenty at school. He went to play basketball several times almost every week. Deep down, he still longed to grow taller.

But he found that the saying basketball makes you grow taller was simply a rumor.

Those who are meant to grow taller will grow taller whether they play basketball or even glass marbles.

Those who aren't meant to grow taller won't grow even if they play basketball every day.

In these two years of high school, Wang Xiaohua's basketball skills improved a lot, but his height didn't grow at all.

Basketball is originally a sport for tall people. Wang Xiaohua, among a group of tall boys, could move like a fish in water—driving, jump shots, passing—he was good at almost everything. Especially passing; he could always pass just right, and his teammates caught the ball comfortably.

Moreover, he studied well. Everyone knew he was a top student in the Special Elite Class, so his popularity on the court was still very good.

Everyone was willing to play ball with him, which made his originally introverted personality become much more cheerful.

Wang Xiaohua chatted with his older brother and second brother for nearly an hour before coming out of the room to return the phone to his father.

When he came out to the living room, he found his father Wang Zhanggen and his mother Li Xiulan both looking worried.

"What's wrong with you two?"

Wang Xiaohua asked curiously.

"We're worried about your older brother. Your older brother says he wants to start a business. What if he loses money?"

Li Xiulan said with a worried face.

Wang Zhanggen smoked with a grim face:

"Losing money isn't a big deal. I'm just afraid he'll be cheated and end up with a mountain of debt, ruining his whole life."

Wang Zhanggen also said:

"Your older brother has had no brains since he was little. When he was in school, he almost always ranked last in every exam. Can someone like him succeed in starting a business?"

Li Xiulan was busy saying at this moment:

"Xiao Hua, why don't you go back and persuade your eldest brother, tell him not to be anxious, to first work steadily, save money, marry a wife and have children — that is his top priority; entrepreneurship and such can wait for later."

Wang Xiaohua looked at his worried-looking parents before him, and immediately felt somewhat at a loss whether to cry or laugh.

He knew his parents were sincerely thinking for his eldest brother's sake; their starting point was good.

But this was obviously also a kind of hindrance to his eldest brother.

"Eldest brother wants to start a business, you don't give him support — fine, but you're still worrying blindly here, even wanting me to go persuade him not to start a business — do you want eldest brother to be like you, farming for a lifetime? Let me tell you, girls nowadays are very realistic; they won't date a farmer with no prospects. If you want eldest brother to find a partner and marry soon, then support his entrepreneurship, best pray he succeeds; otherwise he might be a bachelor for life."

Wang Zhanggen and Li Xiulan heard these words, and for a time could not speak.

They had to admit, what Wang Xiaohua said had some reason.

Nowadays girls finding a partner all need the boy to have a house and car in the city.

Their family is poor; objectively speaking, with their family's condition, even if Wang Dashan really found a partner, when the time comes and she's brought home to see — a whole family living in this ghost building built years ago — the girl would probably turn around and run off.

However, they were still very worried about Wang Dashan:

"But what if Dashan's entrepreneurship fails? If he ends up with a buttload of debt, he might not pay it off in a lifetime!"

Wang Xiaohua was even more at a loss whether to cry or laugh at this:

"Eldest brother hasn't even started entrepreneurship yet, and you're already thinking about failure! Rest assured, as long as he can control the risk, even if he fails he won't owe that much money!"

Poor people's mentality is like this; their ability to bear risk is very weak, so often they subconsciously think: what if it fails?

And this subconscious mentality will invisibly make them not dare to take the first step even when facing opportunity.

They don't dare take the first step, and don't want their children to take the first step either.

Clinging to poverty, maintaining the status quo, not taking risks — this became their most secure way of life.

This way of life, you also can't say is right or wrong.

Can only say it's a kind of thinking shaped by environment.

Because Wang Zhanggen and Li Xiulan's worry is not groundless either.

Poor people indeed have little ability to withstand risk; the vast majority of poor people in a lifetime may only have one or two chances; if they fail, they really might never climb back up for life.