Daily synopsis: My superpowers are updated every season.

Chapter 1468 Shen Lei: He Chen, please help me calibrate my wife! (Day 17 of Saturday!)

"No, but don't you think it's very meaningful, honey?"

Shen Lei's happy smile paused for a moment, and he explained, "These are all precious documents from the early days of the People's Republic of China's literacy campaign. They have invaluable documentary, historical, and ideological value. The literacy campaign changed the lives of so many people back then!"

Seeing his wife's indifference, he recalled his conversation with He Chen, who shared similar views, and couldn't help but tell her.

"Let alone back then, even now, we benefited from that event! Only by reading and acquiring knowledge can ordinary people like us open the door to a new world and live a good life."

"Good days?"

Xie Meilan was tired of hearing her husband's incompetent nonsense. In the past, she simply didn't want to listen and ignored it. But her husband quickly and naturally lowered his voice and eventually stopped talking.

Today, she expressed her disapproval, first by denying the macro-level value of her husband's extra work, and then by denying its micro-level practical significance for their small family. But her husband kept talking, and seemed quite self-righteous about it.

This was too much for her to bear, and the anger that had been building up inside her couldn't be contained on this 'good day'.

"What kind of good life are we living now? What use are these damn literacy campaigns to our lives?"

“I know this, listen to me.” Shen Lei got excited. He had really talked about this with He Chen before, and he felt a sense of satisfaction, like he had done this problem before. In the past, he had often been speechless because of his wife’s realistic material needs.

"The literacy campaign has certainly had an impact on our lives now, and a very significant one at that!"
Nothing else to say!

If it weren't for the literacy campaign back then, neither you nor I might have had the opportunity to study!

We are all children of farmers. If we couldn't go to school, we would have spent our whole lives toiling in the fields, facing the loess soil with our backs to the sky. How could we live like we do now in such a prosperous metropolis?

"I can go to school because my mother pays for my education! Not because of some bullshit literacy campaign!!!" Xie Meilan retorted angrily.

"Of course, it's really thanks to Mom." Shen Lei sensed that his wife's mood was off, and the pleasant feeling he had shared with He Chen paused. He lowered his voice and first affirmed his mother-in-law's kindness to his wife.

He thought his wife was thinking about her deceased mother again, which was why she was acting this way. He never imagined that his wife had become so materialistic that she couldn't stand his way of expressing her values.

So he paused for a moment, then continued to share the words he had heard from He Chen that greatly affirmed the value of his work.

"But the fact that Mom had this idea was actually a result of the literacy campaign back then! It brought together a social consensus, including Mom's, that education can change one's destiny!"

With this social consensus, the choice to prioritize education above all else, even in the face of hardship, has enabled us to study, leave our hometowns, and settle in this bustling metropolis. This, in turn, has led to the nation's current rejuvenation and prosperity.

"What does the prosperity of the country have to do with your monthly salary of eight thousand?" His wife, Xie Meilan, was practically spitting fire in her eyes.

She understood what her husband meant: if it weren't for the literacy campaign back then, her mother might not have been able to support her, a girl, to study for so many years.
If that's the case, maybe she'd be living a better life now!
Her mother worked hard her whole life, but didn't even get to enjoy herself for a few years before dying because she couldn't afford medical treatment for her illness due to poverty.

Without this social consensus, the usual practice would have been to arrange for her to get married early, so that she wouldn't have wasted more than a decade of her youth on her good-for-nothing husband.

Perhaps she met her current boss more than a decade ago, married him, became his wealthy wife, and is living the life she wants, allowing her mother to also enjoy a good life.

This paradise stands in stark contrast to the hell we live in now.

How dare her husband say that this is good for their family!
What good is that?! When her husband's grand vision was elevated to the national macro level, she finally resonated with the anti-China faction and naturally uttered the same rhetoric.

"Of course it's related." Shen Lei still didn't notice the dangerous atmosphere. In his view, this was a normal discussion, especially after meeting He Chen and facing his own values ​​and beliefs in conversation. He actually wanted to use He Chen's words to influence his wife and make her 'normal'.

That's right!

He wasn't completely oblivious to the changes in his wife.

But he didn't like this change.

He still cherishes the memory of his first love, who cheered him on the basketball court during their college days and who made him happy and dreamed about the future with him in this rented room.

They met when they were 18 and went to college. Now they are 30, a full 12 years have passed. He hasn't changed, and he hopes his wife won't change either. He hopes that he and his wife will stay true to their original intentions and that their love will last forever.

During a previous conversation with his wife, when faced with her questioning and doubts, he felt lost and speechless because his work no longer provided the same positive feedback as his studies. He was unable to comfort his wife, which led to her increasingly questioning and rejecting him.

But it's different now.

He Chen's words cleared his mind and brought him clarity. He was no longer confused and he felt at peace. He also hoped to use this correct theory to comfort his wife, who was somewhat obsessed.

"Only when the country becomes prosperous and strong can we have such a stable social environment, be free from worries about food and clothing, have the opportunity to study, and have a more equitable platform for us to stand out from the crowd..."

He is, after all, a master's graduate from a prestigious university and a successful candidate in the civil service exam; he can easily spout such statements.

He hadn't brought it up before because it was simply impossible to get to this point; his wife had unilaterally ignored him and didn't want to listen, leaving him no chance to speak.

"Enough! I don't want the rise of a great power, I just want the dignity of an ordinary citizen! How can you give me a dignified life by doing such useless things?" Xie Meilan once again uttered her classic cry.

"..." Shen Lei was stunned and speechless for a long time before finally muttering in bewilderment, "How come we have no dignity in our lives now?"

"Dignity?" Xie Meilan sneered: "Living in a rental like this for several years, I asked you to move to a bigger apartment, but you refused. Every day when you go out, you ride your little electric scooter with me, and we have to hide from the police in the cold wind. When I asked you to buy a car, you calculated this and that and couldn't bear to part with that little bit of money. Where is your dignity?"
When you go on a trip, you have to carefully consider everything; you can never just go on a whim. You never go to the movies on the weekend because you have to go to work the next day.

I won't go into those undignified details of life.

Most importantly, we don't even have the money to treat my mother's illness. If we don't do our best to treat her, where does our dignity come from?

"I've tried my best!" Shen Lei never expected his wife to complain about him so much. His eyes were full of disbelief, and he exclaimed with some emotion, "I stay with Mom every day and make soup for her. I used up all the family savings to treat her illness, and we even owe your uncle 100,000 yuan. It's late-stage cancer, and it's really incurable."

His words were met with an even angrier response from his wife. Her explosive emotions left him once again in a predicament where he felt his wife was wrong but didn't know how to refute her. He had never done this before, and he didn't know how to do it.

So his electric scooter started braying downstairs, interrupting their argument. His wife slammed the door and went inside, ignoring him. He went downstairs and kicked the scooter to shut it up. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. His mind was a mess. His wife's scolding made him feel confused and doubtful again. He decided to ask for help.

He had just met a great master who shared similar values ​​but was more eloquent than him and could act as his mouthpiece.

(End of this chapter)