Training the Heavens

Chapter 152 Lin Family
They had just finished cleaning up the house when several tricycles parked at the gate of the yard and the neighbors also started moving.

"Tuanan, Xiaoting, someone is coming from next door, come out and help." Huang Ling went out to take a look, then turned back and shouted.

Zhuang Tunan came out and saw a family of three talking to Huang Ling. This should be the family of three of Lin Wufeng, Song Ying and Lin Zhedong. Song Ying was dressed very fashionably. Although she was moving, her clothes were also very eye-catching. She wore a dark blue pointed collar jacket and a turmeric turtleneck sweater. She looked both bright and neat.

In sharp contrast, the man next to her was dressed in rustic clothes, and the little boy next to the coal pile was even more sloppy.

Song Ying was very familiar with the girl. "Sister Ling, right? Lin Wufeng, this is our future neighbor Sister Ling. Dongzhe, call her Auntie."

Lin Wufeng quickly put down the thermos in his hand and extended his hand to Huang Ling, "Sister Ling, nice to meet you."

When Lin Dongzhe heard his mother's words, he looked up and smiled brightly at Huang Ling. His facial features were very similar to Song Ying's, with delicate features and a very pleasing appearance. Lin Dongzhe was about to call her "Auntie" when he suddenly heard the voices of Zhuang Tunan and Zhuang Xiaoting talking outside the courtyard. He immediately ran to the gate and looked out.

When Lin Dongzhe turned around, Huang Ling couldn't help but notice his pants. There was a big hole on the buttocks of the pants, and a piece of his underwear was exposed through the hole. There was a vague word "urine" on the underwear. It should be the underwear made of urea bag fabric.

This reminded Zhuang Tunan of a popular saying: "To tell if you're a cadre or not, look at the material of the pants. There's a little Japanese character on the front of the crotch, and urea on the back. The nitrogen content on the left leg is the percentage on the right leg."

At present, the supply of materials is tight. Buying cloth not only requires money but also tickets. Many people have set their sights on the urea bags used to hold fertilizers. They cut the leftover urea bags into pants to wear. Only capable people can get this, and ordinary people cannot get it.

Huang Ling instinctively disliked Song Ying. She dressed up ostentatiously while her husband and son were dressed slovenly. She was not doing a good job as a wife and mother.

Zhuang Tunan didn't think so. Lin Wufeng was a college student at Shanghai Jiaotong University. After graduation, he was assigned to Suzhou Compressor Factory. Song Ying worked in a cotton mill and was also a skilled worker. The couple had only one child, Lin Dongzhe. Lin Wufeng was not like Zhuang Chaoying who had to support the family endlessly. Their family conditions were much better than his own.

The reason for this is that Song Ying has a somewhat careless personality, Lin Wufeng often needs to deal with machines, and Lin Dongzhe is naughty, so no matter how good his clothes are, they will be torn soon. After a long time, Song Ying became too lazy to care about these things.

"Is this Tunan? I've heard of your name at the compressor factory. Suzhou has produced a little genius." Lin Wufeng patted Zhuang Tunan's shoulder and praised him. At the same time, he did not forget Zhuang Xiaoting. "Is this your sister? She was in the same class with Dongzhe. She's really pretty and has a great hair style. Sister Ling's hair is really good."

Huang Ling immediately felt much happier when she heard this. Which mother doesn’t like others to praise her child?
"Uncle Lin, I heard that you are a student at Shanghai Jiaotong University? If I encounter questions that I don't understand in the future, can I ask you?" Zhuang Tunan asked.

"I can still answer some questions about physics, and I know a little about Russian, but I'm not sure about the other questions. It's been so many years since I graduated, and I've forgotten a lot of things because they're no longer useful. Don't think I'm incompetent if I can't answer them by then." Lin Wufeng said with a smile and without any airs.

The three members of the family worked together to help the Lin family clean up the house, and were invited to stay for a meal. They all felt that their neighbor was quite nice, and living in the same yard with such people would definitely make their future life not difficult.

Soon, another incident occurred in the yard that completely changed Huang Ling's attitude towards Song Ying's family. Their yard was slightly lower than the one next door, so Wang Yong, the neighbor, dug a hole in their yard and drained the sewage into theirs. Song Ying started cursing when she discovered this, but Lin Wufeng remained silent and dug a few bags of dirt to block the drain. When it rained that night, the water couldn't drain out and instead flowed directly into Wang Yong's house.

This move completely subdued Wang Yong. He no longer dared to poke people and obediently repaired the hole in the wall.

"Mom, Dad doesn't take care of things all day, you are soft-tempered, Aunt Song has a strong personality, and Uncle Lin is smart. We are lucky to be neighbors with such a family." Zhuang Tunan also felt fortunate. If he didn't have such a capable helper, he would have to work hard on his own in the future.

After he reminded her, Huang Ling understood and went to help Lin Dongzhe mend his pants. The relationship between the two families became more harmonious.

However, when Zhuang Chaoying came back, this wonderful life was disrupted.

As soon as he got home, he talked incessantly about the college entrance examination paper marking, as if he regarded it as the greatest honor in his life. However, he forgot to thank Huang Ling and enjoyed his spacious new home with peace of mind.

After dinner, all the neighbors gathered, listening with great interest as Zhuang Chaoying recounted anecdotes about grading the college entrance exams. "Some people wrote poems on the papers I graded, others wrote 'Thank you to all the grading teachers for your hard work!' There were so many different answers on the papers, and only a few were good. If a paper had a high accuracy rate, all the teachers in the room would scramble to see it."

"We rushed to pass the papers around, firstly to make the students happy, and secondly to help them develop new approaches to problem solving. This year's Gaokao was rushed, and the Education Commission didn't have time to prepare correct answers. The examiners had to come up with their own standard answers, but their individual approaches were limited. When we saw alternative approaches, we quickly shared them with other examiners to improve grading efficiency and accuracy."

"Overall, the candidates have a very poor foundation. They don't even know many of the basic junior high school knowledge points, and they've been delayed for too long."

"Many rural school teachers themselves don't understand. I heard that one high school had all its graduates fill out their applications for Peking University. I guess admission to that school is in jeopardy."

"What kind of school is Peking University?" someone couldn't help but ask.

"Peking University is the best school in the country." Zhuang Chaoying answered with longing.

"Oh, then your son Tuanan will definitely be able to get into Peking University in the future!" another neighbor praised.

"It's too difficult to get into Peking University. No matter which university it is, I'll be satisfied as long as he can get in." Zhuang Chaoying said casually.

"It's difficult for others, but not necessarily for Tuanan. I've talked with Tuanan these past few days. He has a solid grasp of math and physics in high school, and he would be able to pass the college entrance exam even if he were to take it now." Lin Wufeng, the only college student present, was full of confidence in Zhuang Tuanan.

"High school math and physics?" Zhuang Chaoying was stunned. "How many days have I been home?" It felt like years had passed since you said that. When did Tunan start studying this?
　I've been busy these days, so I'll update twice. I'll try to update more when I get back.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)