Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

“If you are not a Cantonese, you cannot participate in the Mandarin competition.”

Lao Dou was telling everyone the first-hand news he had heard from the street office. The boss was unhappy just by hearing it and said angrily, "Are you kidding me? Didn't Xianglan practice all night yesterday for nothing?"

"Also, family members of foreigners are not allowed to participate in English competitions." The old man continued. A-Zu was also very angry when he heard it, but he didn't show it. He came here just to have fun, so it didn't matter if he was not allowed to participate.

But the second brother felt something was wrong, and he said, "Dad, these two rules are clearly aimed at our Kang family. In the entire Changsheng Street, apart from us, the families of foreigners and people from other provinces, which other households will be restricted by these two rules?"

Everyone finally realized what was happening, and Grandpa said bluntly, "Honestly, Dad, have you offended anyone? Could it be Uncle Liang? He's jealous of our family, so he came up with this bad idea."

The second sister-in-law said excitedly: "If I knew who came up with this idea, I would peel his skin and make a cold dish, and break his bones and fry them." She clapped her hands in excitement, and ended up hitting Tianxiu's leg, causing him to scream in pain. At this time, Diana happened to walk into the house, and seeing everyone there, she laughed and said, "What's going on? Why is it so lively?"

"Wife, you're back at the right time. I don't know which bastard changed the rules of the competition and targeted our family. It's outrageous. If I knew who it was, I would curse him to have no children." A Zu asked bluntly when he saw Diana coming back.

Diana is now a non-staff cadre of the Street Office, so she naturally knows who proposed it. In fact, it was she who suggested this matter to Director Ye, and she also frankly admitted this to everyone. Upon hearing this, A Zu could only say awkwardly that it was fortunate that Paul had a shit.

"I'm doing this for the fairness of the competition. Is there anything wrong with it?" Diana explained her thoughts to everyone.

The old man disagreed with her point of view. He said, "This is absolutely inappropriate. Aren't you depriving Grandpa and Sister-in-law of their right to participate in the competition?"

"We can ask other people to participate." Diana said.

Kang Qirui actually disagrees with Diana's point of view. It has nothing to do with fairness and justice for non-Guangfu people to participate in Mandarin competitions. Every place has its own dialect, and when speaking Mandarin, there is more or less an accent. Is there a hierarchy between accents? Just like Xianglan's southern Henan accent, compared with other people's Cantonese accents, Kang Qirui does not think it is unfair for her to participate in the Mandarin competition.

It is even more ridiculous that the relatives of foreigners are not allowed to participate in English competitions. This is a typical case of putting the cart before the horse. For example, A-Zu was able to woo Diana because he was good at English and could communicate with Diana, not because he wooed Diana that he became good at English and could communicate with Diana. His English level was also achieved through his own hard work. How can it be unfair for him to participate in the competition?
Of course, Kang Qirui didn't want to make a scene at this street-level competition, so he didn't say what he thought. Instead, he followed Diana's words and suggested, "If Grandpa can't participate in the English competition, Tianxiu can go and see how Xiuzi is doing in school. If Sister-in-law can't participate in the Mandarin competition, Big Brother can go, since Big Brother is used to speaking Mandarin."

Tianxiu agreed immediately, not for the prizes, but because he was a performative person who loved to be in the spotlight. Da Laoguang was not so confident, he said hesitantly: "Me? I go to participate in the Mandarin competition? Is it okay for me?"

"If you can't do it, who can?" Kang Qirui said to Da Lao Guang half-jokingly and half-encouragingly: "Why don't you let your sister-in-law tutor you 24 hours a day?" He emphasized that the reason for letting Xianglan tutor Da Lao Guang was because in the original time and space, Da Lao Guang actually went to Ye Mo to tutor him in Mandarin, and Ye Mo's accent was much more serious than Xianglan's.

Kang Qirui thought about it, and said to Tianxiu: "Xiuzi, just ask your fourth uncle to give you 24-hour tutoring, hahaha." A Zu glared at Kang Qirui unhappily, and said helplessly: "It's okay for me to tutor Xiuzi in English, but don't bother me for 24 hours. Xiuzi doesn't need to rest, but I still need to rest."

Kang Qirui pulled Tianxiu aside, and the two of them discussed in a low voice: "You know XBOX360, right?"

Tianxiu's eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "I know. Only a few people in our school have one at home. I'm so envious. Uncle Yao, are you going to give me one?"

After the XBOX 360 was launched in November 05, it quickly gained widespread attention and popularity. When it was finally taken off the shelves, the global sales volume exceeded 11 million units. In 8600, Guangzhou was still at the forefront of the gaming trend. Many people had bought it just one month after its release. "If you win the English competition this time, I will buy you one and bring it home for everyone to play with." Kang Qirui made his promise, and Tianxiu immediately went back to his room to study.

In Kang Qirui's memory, both Da Lao Guang and Tian Xiu lost in the street skills competition in their previous lives, and the reasons were very simple. Da Lao Guang found the wrong person to teach Mandarin, which resulted in a serious accent, and Tian Xiu was not attentive enough because Diana was the judge, so he just learned a few tricks and went to the competition.

In this life, Kang Qirui found ways to help them correct their problems respectively, and believed that they would be able to achieve good results in the street skills competition this time.

According to the original plan, the street skills competition should have been held on New Year's Day in 06, but the street suddenly received a notice that a leader would come on New Year's Day, so it was decided to move the skills competition forward one day to December 05, 12.

On the day of the competition, the first event was the Mandarin competition in which Da Laoguang participated. As contestant No. 1, Da Laoguang was the first to go on stage to recite. He recited a modern poem taught to him by Kang Qirui: "From tomorrow on, be a happy person, feed horses, chop wood, and travel around the world."

"Stranger, I also wish you a bright future; may your lovers finally get married; may you find happiness in this world. I only wish to face the sea and see the flowers bloom in spring."

Da Lao Guang had memorized Haizi's "Facing the Sea, Spring Blossoms" by heart, and although his accent was mixed with that of southern Henan and Cantonese, it was still pretty good compared to the others. Therefore, he eventually won the Mandarin championship, beating several other contestants.

When the Kang family cheered for Lao Guang's victory, Kang Qirui patted Lao Guang on the shoulder and said jokingly, "I told you that you can do it, Lao Guang. If your Mandarin wasn't good, how did you win over the eldest sister-in-law in the first place? Hahahaha."

After the Mandarin competition, the English competition came. Tianxiu's self-introduction was completed with the help of Azu. For the sake of the game console, he even pestered Diana to check his pronunciation whenever Diana was free. Therefore, Tianxiu's English recitation received a full score of 10 from the five judges including Diana, and successfully won the English recitation championship of the street competition.

"Uncle, uncle, it's the game console." Tianxiu found Kang Qirui the first thing he did after he stepped down. The second brother and his wife pointed at him unhappily and said, "I was wondering why you worked so hard, it turns out it was for the game console. Your mother and I thought you had become wise and understood the importance of studying hard every day."

"Oh, uncle, you know that Xiuzai likes to play, but you still spoil him by buying him a game console. This makes him have even less interest in studying." The second sister-in-law complained to Kang Qirui.

Kang Qirui waved his hands and said to his second sister-in-law, "Don't worry, second sister-in-law. Tianxiu is a smart boy. You saw this time that if he wants to learn something, he can learn it with his talent. So we should encourage Tianxiu. You used to suppress him. How can that work? Didn't you notice that Tianxiu is not as confident as before in the past two years?"

Suppressive education is not just a problem for the second brother and his wife, it is a problem of the environment. Most parents educate their children in this way, and common phrases include "Look at how outstanding other people's children are, and then look at you...", "Why can others do it, but you can't?", etc., or they are indifferent and questioning to their children.

Because this kind of education model lacks positive affirmation and encouragement for children, the children who are educated often have low self-esteem, feel that they lack love, and even become depressed. What's more frightening is that such parents do not love their children, but they do not know how to love them.

The second brother and the second sister-in-law looked at each other, thought about Tianxiu's enthusiasm and initiative in learning during this period, and nodded slowly, agreeing with Kang Qirui's words, and actively reflected on their past educational methods.

After the morning competition, the afternoon costume competition began. In this life, the second sister-in-law had a little daughter, Kang Siyu, and she had to take care of two children alone, so she didn't have the time or leisure to participate in the competition. In other words, this time, unlike in the previous life, this small street competition did not cause conflicts among the Kang family and caused quarrels in the house.

The Kang family did not have their last dinner at home in 2005, but went to the Garden Hotel for a buffet dinner to celebrate the victory of the big brothers Guang and Tianxiu. (End of this chapter)