Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Get it done
Things went surprisingly smoothly. He looked at the numbers in his passbook. Although there was always a nagging feeling in his heart, the numbers did bring him a lot of comfort. Well, since he's already done it, he might as well not dwell on it.
Feng Yiping is also relieved that he has always believed that even with this kind of 'creation', he must adhere to the bottom line.
In the music world, especially in China, there are indeed many stars who have become famous with one song and have remained famous with just that one song.
There are a few others who became famous quickly, and faded just as quickly. It's just that although they seem to have produced a lot of work, if you listen to just their two masterpieces from when they became famous, you'll find that all their subsequent work sounds the same.
It's as if there was a certain car company that only had one model, but then they slightly changed the appearance, or had a facelift, or made it taller, or changed the name, and then released it as a new model.
Feng Yiping's bottom line is that he will resolutely not touch the work of these people! Otherwise, there would be far fewer young artists in China with both talent and integrity, and the entire Chinese music scene would have fewer 'folk song princes' and 'love song princes', as well as fewer inspirational stories of the grassroots fighting back, such as the story of a construction site foreman who, through hard work, eventually grew to become a well-known superstar.
Unlike many singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan, they have so many classic works that cutting a small corner off like this will have no impact at all. Besides, they have made so much money from the mainland since then, so let's just consider this an early return of their investment!
For someone like him, who is slightly moralistic and a bit arrogant, it is very important to build up his heart after doing something like this. Feng Yiping doesn't want to keep a knot in his heart.
Although things went smoothly, the return journey was even more rushed than the journey there. Feng Yiping had taken six days off work, and was now on the fifth day. In any case, he would not be able to make it to school tomorrow. So that night, Feng Yiping got on the train and arrived in the provincial capital on the morning of the seventh day of his leave. He didn't care about the 30-hour sleeper train that made him sore and tired, and after visiting two gift shops, he hurriedly got on the bus back to the county town, without even visiting his parents.
How was he going to explain to his parents? That he had lied to them and taken a nearly two-day train ride to the south? If Feng Yiping dared to say that, he really didn't want to live a good life. It was estimated that even his mother, who loved him most, would take decisive measures. So, it was better to keep it a secret for now.
When he finally returned to the village with his big bags, it was already past 8:00 p.m. Wang Changning was not at home, as he was still studying at school at this time.
When Wang Changning returned home, she saw that Feng Yiping had already arrived, and she didn't ask him if it had gone well. 'You're finally back. Teacher Wang asked me twice yesterday, and she looked for me again this morning during morning study. When she just got back, she told me that if you didn't go to school tomorrow, she would have to take him to your grandfather's house.'
'Ugh,' Feng Yiping also scratched his head. It was sometimes quite troublesome to have such a conscientious homeroom teacher. 'Things went a bit more smoothly, and I got it all done at once, so I stayed an extra day.'
He explained to Wang Changning in general terms, and Wang Changning tried to get to the bottom of things, but was silenced by Feng Yiping's box of chicken biscuits.
Early the next morning, while the boarding students were running along the road for morning exercise, he bought two and rode to the school.
As soon as he entered the symbolic school gate, he felt a sense of belonging and peace of mind looking at the familiar surroundings. It was like Popeye eating spinach and the giant Antaeus touching the ground.
The classroom was the same as before. Compared to the first year, everyone had more and more books placed vertically in front of their desks. By the third year, everyone would have a Great Wall of books in front of their desks.
He sat in his seat, took out a book, took a deep breath, and felt that there were only two words to describe it: 'peaceful!'
However, when everyone returned from morning exercise, he only had time to say hello to everyone and say a few words to Xiao Zhijie. After the bell for morning study rang, he carried his bag and went to the homeroom teacher's house to apologize on his own initiative—this trip was definitely not peaceful.
At this time in the morning, every dormitory is busy, and this is especially true for the homes of teachers with children.
Teacher Zhu opened the door with her head bowed and, seeing Feng Yiping, said with a smile, 'Oh, so it's the busy man back!'
Feng Yiping felt no pressure at all when he met Teacher Zhu. He took out a long box from his bag. Teacher Zhu knew that his family's situation was now much better than before, and she said without any formality, 'How thoughtful, you remembered to bring a present.'
When he opened it, it turned out to be a flute. The workmanship was exquisite, and it didn't look like a mass-produced item. He tried it out with some regret, 'Alas, I really like it, but whether I can keep it or not, it's not up to me to say.' He said this and winked at Feng Yiping in the back room.
Wang Yumin had heard the commotion from over here earlier. She was also about to go to the classroom to take a look, but when she heard that Feng Yiping had arrived, she picked up the corrected homework on the table and started reading it.
Xiaoyan was still sitting on the bed at this time. Although she was dressed, she still looked drowsy. Feng Yiping took out a toy piano the size of a stationery box from his bag and waved it in front of her. He pressed a button on it, and Xiaoyan wiped her eyes and immediately ran over to run around his legs, 'Give it to me, give it to me,'
and then what? Feng Yiping took out another beautiful Rubik's cube. Xiaoyan took one in each hand and said, jumping, 'Brother Yiping, you're so nice.'
Wang Yumin's face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot by now. Feng Yiping was afraid to be negligent again, so he took out the gift for Wang Yumin, a creative pen holder. Wang Yumin ignored it, so he had to put it on the table sheepishly. Then he took out a telescopic teaching pen, pulled it to its longest length, held it in his hand, bowed his head and handed it to Wang Yumin, 'I'm sorry, Teacher Wang, I had something to do and it took me an extra day. Please punish me!'
As he looked serious and ready to take the punishment, Zhu, who was standing nearby, couldn't help laughing. The little swallow, who had gained an advantage, chimed in, 'Mom, Yiping is so good, don't hit him!'
In fact, Wang Yumin was also a bit amused to see Feng Yiping like this. She was a bit annoyed, but the moment she saw Feng Yiping stand in front of her, her anger had subsided a lot.
To be honest, she often feels at a loss for what to do with such a mature student. Normally she doesn't have to worry about him, but when there is a problem, it's definitely a hassle. The point is that after something happens, if she wants to give him a lecture, she really has to rack her brains and think carefully.
She took the teaching rod and tapped Feng Yiping on the head. 'You, you, there were originally six days, you could have handled everything, but you actually skipped school for another day. Do you know that? Many of your teachers have reported this to the school leaders. What is going on with you?'
Feng Yiping had no choice but to play the role of screenwriter again. 'There's nothing else. To save money, my brother-in-law and our family did all the renovation work. My father is a bit superstitious and looked at the date and said it was the best day, so we had to work overnight. I saw that they couldn't keep up, so I stayed an extra day to help them.'
'How can I say hello to you? It's important that your family opens a shop, but your studies are not important? Don't you understand that your parents don't understand?'
Feng Yiping hurriedly said, 'Don't blame my parents, they also urged me to come back, and it was me who told them that you had given me permission. Teacher Wang, don't worry, I will definitely make up for the lessons I missed in the next few days, and it definitely won't affect my learning progress.'
Teacher Zhu and Xiaoyan were playing with the Rubik's Cube, and she chimed in, 'Okay, Yiping knows what you're talking about, and he's not just hanging out, he's also helping out at home. These past few days, he might have been working even harder than at school, so let's just let it go!'
Wang Yumin's previous anger was actually exaggerated in part, because she looked at this student and demanded more rigor.
So she now helplessly waved her hand, 'Go, go, you go back to class first, and make up for what you've missed.'
'Thank you, Teacher Wang.'
Done!
A piece of advice from experience: when adults are hard to fool, it's a very classic approach to appease their children first.
In addition, sometimes, when faced with the anger of others, not fighting back or arguing back is not the best approach. But when he is about to scold you, you pull back and let him hit you, and most likely he won't even scold you.
Heh heh!