Kunming, Dongsi Street.

Mei family.

Mei Yiqi's second daughter Mei Zutong brought a bowl of cakes and said with a smile: "Brother Zhou, come and try the Dingsheng cake made by my mother."

"Thank you." Zhou Weilie smiled politely and nodded.

When Mei Zutong saw Zhou Weilie leaving the cakes on the table, she thought he was being polite, and then said: "Don't be a stranger, treat this as your own home. The Dingsheng cake made by my mother is very delicious."

Zhou Weilie could only say: "Thank you, Second Sister Mei, I don't eat pastries or pasta."

Mei Zufen, the youngest daughter of the Mei family, couldn't stand it and muttered: "As expected of a young master from a wealthy family, he is quite naughty."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Mrs. Mei Han Yonghua scolded.

Sun Yonghao quickly explained: "My young master has been allergic to gluten since he was a child. He has diarrhea whenever he eats pasta. As time goes by, he doesn't even touch rice cakes."

Mei Yiqi asked: "What is gluten allergy?"

Sun Yonghao said confusedly: "It's just something in wheat. If you eat it, you will get sick. My wife also took the young master to London to see a British doctor. This kind of disease cannot be cured, but it will be okay as long as you don't eat pasta."

"It's really pitiful that you have this disease at such a young age," Han Yonghua, filled with motherly love, pulled Zhou Weilie and said, "There is no flour in this Dingsheng cake. Xiao Zhou can try it."

Zhou Weilie then picked up the pastry, took a bite, nodded and said, "Yeah, it's delicious."

"I'll just say it's delicious. Many people in Kunming like it." Mei Zutong said with a smile.

Han Yonghua was preparing to go out with a basket of pastries, and said to his son Mei Zuyan: "Zuyan, I'm going out to sell Dingsheng cakes. You take Xiao Zhou around. Don't go too far. If there is an air raid siren, run away quickly. You must

You have to take good care of Xiao Zhou."

"Okay, Mom, don't worry." Mei Zuyan nodded.

Mei Yiqi's eldest daughter has already joined the workforce, while her other three daughters and her only son are still studying. Not long after Han Yonghua left home, her second daughter Mei Zutong took her younger siblings and Zhou Weilie out to play. Mei Yiqi even gave her some pocket money.

, and asked her to buy some snacks for Zhou Weilie.

Walking on the streets of Kunming, Zhou Weilie asked curiously: "Second sister Mei, why do you still make your own pastries and sell them on the street?"

Mei Zutong explained: "Teachers' salaries are too low and they have to make money to support their families."

Zhou Weilie said: "But Uncle Mei is the principal."

"The principal is poorer than ordinary professors. Ordinary professors can find part-time jobs, but the principal must stick to his job," Mei Zutong said, pointing to his younger brother Mei Zuyan. "When Zuyan ran to the police last year, he lost his glasses and couldn't see.

I had to take a year off from school to clean up my things. The new glasses he is wearing now were bought by my mother with money from selling rice cakes."

Mei Zuyan smiled and said: "Brother Zhou, speaking of which, we are still classmates in the same class. I was admitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the United Nations University this year."

Zhou Weilie said: "I am from the Department of Arithmetic."

"Haha, I know, you are famous." Mei Zuyan laughed.

Zhou Weilie scratched his head and said, "I was on the phone with my family yesterday. My dad scolded me and asked me to bring gifts to the interviewing teachers to apologize to them."

…

After all the children had left, Sun Yonghao said: "Principal Mei, I will return to Chongqing in a few days and will not stay in Kunming to take care of the young master. Madam, please take care of me."

"No problem, let Wei Lie move into my house, but the house is a bit too narrow," Mei Yiqi said.

"Mr. Zhou wants to cultivate the child's hard-working spirit and ability to be independent, so he must let the young master live in the student dormitory," Sun Yonghao took out two checks and said, "My wife secretly asked me to give this to you. I hope Principal Mei will do it every weekend."

Order some delicious food and give the young master a toothbrush as a gift. Another large check was given by Mr. Zhou. He wanted to donate money to build dormitories for teachers at the General Assembly. The gentleman said that there was not much money and time was tight, so he could only repair some soil.

House with thatched roof."

Mei Yiqi glanced at the checks. One was for 10,000 yuan, and the other was for 1 million. He said happily: "Mr. Zhou is interested. Mr. Sun..."

"Just call me Xiao Sun." Sun Yonghao said quickly.

"Okay, Xiao Sun," Mei Yiqi said, "I have something to do to get rid of Brother Mingcheng."

Sun Yonghao said: "You say."

Mei Yiqi said: "The United Nations General Assembly sent three representatives to Chongqing to petition the government, asking the government to increase salaries and ensure the minimum living needs of faculty and staff. They are still on the road and will not arrive in Chongqing until the end of the month. Please send my letter

Take it to Brother Mingcheng and ask him to go to the Ministry of Education to give you a nice word."

"I promise to bring it to you." Sun Yonghao said.

"Thank you very much." Mei Yiqi cupped her fists and smiled.

Last year, the salary of the top professors at Southwest Associated University could still meet the living needs of a half-adult. This year, prices have soared, and professors are struggling to feed themselves, leaving their wives and children hungry. This is still the treatment of top professors, ordinary

Professors, lecturers and teaching assistants are even worse off. No one can go to a restaurant in style.

Mei Yiqi is doing pretty well. She doesn't have to support the elderly. Both her wife and eldest daughter have working income, and she only needs to raise four children who are still in school.

Physicist Mr. Wu Dayou's wife was sick, so he could only go to the vegetable market to beg, asking for bones from the butchers to make soup for his wife's health. Not long ago, his house was also bombed, and he struggled to dig out the broken pieces in the crater.

In an earthen pot, add water to the flour mixed with mud and filter it to wash away the gluten and eat it.

Sun Yonghao put away the letter and said: "Principal Mei, I will leave tomorrow. I have one more thing to ask for your help."

"Please tell me as soon as possible," Mei Yiqi said.

"The young master likes to study mathematics and would like to become a disciple of Professor Hua Luogeng. Mr. Zhou would like you to take the young master to his apprenticeship." Sun Yonghao took out ten strips of bacon from the box, "Here is Mr. Zhou's gift."

Mei Yiqi laughed loudly: "Brother Mingcheng is very venerable to the ancients. He is even ready to repair."

The next day.

Sun Yonghao left Kunming, and Zhou Weilie temporarily lived in Mei's house, and then moved into the school dormitory when the semester officially started.

Early in the morning, Mei Yiqi personally took Zhou Weilie to the western suburbs and walked for more than ten miles before finally arriving at the place where Hua Luogeng lived.

Zhou Weilie's eyes widened: "Is this Professor Hua's house?"

"It's very simple, isn't it?" Mei Yiqi said.

"How could this be? Professor Hua is a great mathematician." Zhou Weilie was shocked and confused.

Hua Luogeng and his family live together with the cows. The ground floor is a local farmer's cowshed, and the second floor is used to stack fodder. This kind of building is called a cowshed and a shed. It is cold in winter and hot in summer, and is extremely simple. There are countless mosquitoes, rats, and ants.

None of the local farmers will live here.

Especially when the temperature is high, the smell of cow dung is so overwhelming that it’s hard to describe.

Mei Yiqi roughly understood what Zhou Hexuan meant. Judging from the brief contact, although Mr. Zhou was extremely smart, he was inevitably spoiled and had a somewhat withdrawn personality. Zhou Hexuan simply wanted his son to have a deep understanding of the sufferings of the world and experience life firsthand.

Hard work, correcting all character flaws.

Mei Yiqi suddenly recited a poem: "The two houses are arranged to share the same knees, and not only the two families share the ups and downs. But the archeology of Budong and the calculation of the west are not the same. This poem was written by Professor Hua Luogeng. What do you think?

Sample?"

"Not very good," Zhou Weilie said with a smile, "Professor Hua is very good at mathematics, but his poetry writing skills are about as bad as mine."

Mei Yiqi discovered another shortcoming of Mr. Zhou. He said: "Professor Hua is your elder. You should respect him enough and don't speak so shamelessly."

Zhou Weilie said: "But what I said is the truth."

"Facts must be facts, and morality must be morality. This is the basic bottom line for being a human being." Mei Yiqi taught.

Zhou Weilie said: "My dad said that a person must be sincere."

Mei Yiqi said: "If you say that an old mother is old and sick and has little time left to live. Her son died on the battlefield, if you tell the truth, the old mother may be heartbroken and die early. You

Do you think you should tell the truth or lie in this situation?"

"Of course it's a lie." Zhou Weilie said.

Mei Yiqi smiled and said: "This is called a white lie."

Zhou Weilie shook his head repeatedly: "Uncle Mei, you are secretly changing the topic. Professor Hua's situation is different from that of the old mother. Even if I tell him that his poems are not well written in person, I will not lose anything to Professor Hua. This is just irrelevant.

I don’t think Professor Hua is that small-minded.”

Mei Yiqi immediately couldn't laugh or cry. This child is too smart and difficult to educate. He could only explain: "Professor Hua's poem has a special creative background. At the beginning of the year before last, the house that Professor Hua rented was bombed.

Professor Wen Yiduo took Professor Hua and his family to live together. The two families, 14 people, crowded into a 16-square-meter house, with curtains in the middle. This was not only their bedroom, dining room, and kitchen, but also the two professors

study room, that’s why there’s the saying ‘If you look at Budong, you’ll find Puxi,’”

Zhou Weilie's focus was obviously different. He thought for a while and said: "How can 14 people fit in a 16-square-meter house? There is not much room left after placing two beds. There is not even enough room for a table. There is not enough room left."

Where will the people below sleep?”

Mei Yiqi resisted the urge to roll her eyes and said speechlessly: "Build the floor!"

"What is a floor mat?" Zhou Weilie asked.

Mei Yiqi shook her head helplessly: "You really don't know the sufferings of the people. You just put mats and sheets on the ground to sleep on. I heard that there are shacks everywhere in Chongqing, but you didn't go and take a look?"

Zhou Weilie said: "I have seen shacks, but I have never been inside one."

Mei Yiqi said: "The poem I talked about, as well as the deeds of Professor Wen and Professor Hua, are about being perseverant, enjoying hardship, or not surrendering to reality. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Zhou Weilie nodded, "I will definitely work hard. If I have the ability, I don't have to live in a small house and build a floor, and I can also help other people live a better life. I also saved a lot of pocket money, and I will donate it all today.

Give Professor Hua a better house."

Mei Yiqi put his hand on his forehead. He found that the child's thinking was very strange, and patiently explained: "People have dignity and understand each other. Why did Professor Hua move to live in the cattle pen? It's because he felt that Professor Wen lived in
To be continued...