Live Stream: Overly Pampered Education Creates Three Superstars in One Family

It's 6:50 in the morning.

Chen Chu opened his eyes as soon as the alarm clock rang.

He sat up in bed, rubbed his face, put on his slippers, and walked to the door of the second bedroom.

Push open the door.

Chen Ziran was curled up in the quilt.

"Get up."

no response.

"Get up, Chen Ziran."

The thing inside the blanket twitched and let out a muffled groan.

Chen Chu walked over and yanked off the blanket.

Chen Ziran suddenly woke up, squinting as he looked out the window. The sky was still gray.

He froze for two seconds, then let out a wail: "Dad... what time is it...?"

"6:50. You said yourself that you had to get up at 7:00 to study."

Chen Ziran looked like he'd swallowed a fly: "I said seven o'clock... but it's not even here yet..."

"Get ready ten minutes early, wash your face, brush your teeth, and eat breakfast. We'll start studying at seven." Chen Chu stood by the bed, arms crossed. "What, want to back out?"

Chen Ziran shrank back; he really wanted to change his mind. Last night, in the heat of the moment, he blurted out that he would get up at seven.

But now that the bed is so warm and the sky outside the window isn't even fully bright yet, he felt like he must have had his brain slammed in a door to say something like that.

"Can...can I sleep in a little longer?"

Chen Chu looked at him, his expression calm.

"Of course not."

Chen Ziran opened his mouth.

"You have to do what you say you will do." Chen Chu's tone wasn't harsh. "If you can't even achieve the goals you set for yourself, then everything you said yesterday was just bullshit."

Chen Ziran fell silent.

He gritted his teeth and sat up in bed.

"Okay... I'll get up."

Ten minutes later, Chen Ziran finished washing up and sat down at his desk.

Chen Chu brought over some bread, and the father and son slurped it down. Chen Chu then put away the bowls and sat down at his desk.

"Bring out yesterday's test paper."

Chen Ziran pulled out a math test paper from his schoolbag, spread it out on the table, and scanned the various crosses with his eyes, feeling a little guilty.

Chen Chu glanced at the test paper and pointed to the first major question: "What's the thought process behind this question? Tell me."

"Hmm... Let's define the quadratic function expression, substitute the coordinates of the three points into the system of equations..."

"and then?"

"Then solve the system of equations..."

"continue?"

Chen Ziran picked up a pen, wrote a few lines on the draft paper, then stopped, scratched his head, and said, "I can't continue calculating here."

Chen Chu didn't tell him the answer directly. Instead, he picked up a pen and drew a coordinate graph on the draft paper: "Look at this function graph. It opens upwards, the axis of symmetry is here, and the two intersection points are here. The system of equations you just listed is correct, but you used the formula backwards when calculating the vertex coordinates. Look..."

As he spoke, he quickly jotted down several lines of the derivation process on a piece of paper. The steps were clear and well-organized, and every point he was stuck on precisely where Chen Ziran couldn't figure it out.

Chen Ziran stared at the draft paper for a few seconds, then his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Ah! I see! I get it now!"

"Do you really understand?"

"I really understand!" Chen Ziran grabbed the pen and quickly wrote down all the remaining steps. When he finished writing the last number, he let out a long sigh of relief and leaned back.

Then he turned his head and looked Chen Chu up and down.

"Dad, you explained this problem so well! You explained it even better than our math teacher."

Chen Chu raised an eyebrow: "That's right, your father learned it specifically for you."

"You learned it specifically?" Chen Ziran was taken aback. "When did you learn it?"

"What do you think?" Chen Chu lied without batting an eye, "I've been learning for a while now."

Chen Ziran lowered his head, looked at the test paper on the table, and then looked at the derivation process written by Chen Chu on the draft paper. Every step was very clear.

He suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

He always thought his dad was just a video game enthusiast who joked around and was never serious.

But it turns out that his father had secretly learned all this so that he could explain the problems to him.

"Dad, you're amazing," he whispered.

Chen Chu patted the back of his head: "Alright, stop flattering me, let's move on to the next question."

Chen Ziran nodded and lowered his head to continue working on the problem.

Chen Chu sat beside him without saying a word.

He did indeed study it specifically for his son, but he learned it within a systematic framework.

After all, what I learned on my own was superficial and ineffective, while the system provided a solid foundation.

That statement is, in a way, the truth.

Chen Ziran buried himself in his work for a while, but got stuck again when he got to a geometry proof problem.

He stared at the question for a full two minutes, drew several auxiliary lines on the draft paper, wrote a few lines and crossed them out, then wrote a few more lines and crossed them out again.

Finally, he threw down his pen and leaned back in his chair.

"It's too difficult... I can't do it."

Chen Chu looked up at him.

"I really can't do it," Chen Ziran scratched his head, "This question is simply inhuman... Dad, how about we take a break today?"

"Don't give up."

"But I really can't learn it!" Chen Ziran's voice was tinged with frustration. "My foundation is so weak, even if I study harder, I still can't catch up."

"But you've already improved since yesterday, haven't you?"

Chen Ziran was stunned for a moment.

Chen Chu pointed to the test paper on the table: "Yesterday when you saw this problem, you didn't even know where to draw the auxiliary lines. Today you've drawn three auxiliary lines, and although you haven't solved it, the direction is right."

He paused for a moment: "Isn't that progress?"

Chen Ziran opened his mouth as if to say something, but didn't say anything.

"Learning is inherently a difficult thing," Chen Chu said. "If you could learn something easily, then geniuses wouldn't be valuable. But progress comes little by little. If you can solve one more problem today than yesterday, and one more problem tomorrow than today, after half a year, you'll be a completely different person."

Chen Ziran remained silent for a while.

"But...it's really hard..."

"That's supposed to be difficult. If it weren't difficult, anyone could get into No. 7 Middle School." Chen Chu patted his shoulder. "Don't be afraid, your dad will study with you."

Chen Ziran raised his head and looked at Chen Chu.

"Dad...don't you need to do anything else?"

"What's more important than you?"

Chen Ziran didn't say anything more. He took a deep breath, picked up his pen, and started drawing auxiliary lines on the draft paper again.

You drew it correctly this time.

Chen Chu watched from the side, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Meanwhile, in the studio, Zhao Shuilan watched the scene on the screen and, unusually, did not nitpick.

"Mr. Chen did a good job in this regard," she said. "You have to keep your promises to your children. You can't change your mind just because they whine. Otherwise, you're spoiling them and slowly murdering them."

Zhou Zhenyang nodded: "That's right. Waking a child up may seem like a small matter, but it involves a matter of principle. If a child says 'I will try my best' but then can't get up the next day, and the parents give in, then the child will think that what I say doesn't count and my goals don't have to be achieved."

"Yes." Zhao Shuilan rarely expressed her agreement. "Education must be strict, not permissive. Parents must have principles, and children must have boundaries."

The live chat also became lively.

Chen Chu did a good job in this respect; he got up at the time he said he would, and he didn't spoil anyone.

Being soft-hearted once or twice is fine, but if you're too soft-hearted, your child won't take your words seriously anymore.

[And that part where Chen Chu was explaining the problem really touched me. He said, "Your dad studied this specifically for you," but my dad would never do something like that for me.]

Some parents might say, "It's already hard enough for me to take you to school, and you want me to teach you how to do your homework?"

When Chen Ziran wanted to give up, Chen Chu didn't scold him or force him. Instead, he said, "You've already improved since yesterday." This kind of encouragement is a hundred times more effective than scolding or beating.

If I had a parent willing to support me through my studies, I'd probably be in Tsinghua or Peking University by now.

[Hey you, do you sell grilled sausages near Tsinghua and Peking University?]

Screen switch.

Li Lele's home.

At 6:30 a.m., Li Lele was already sitting at her desk.

She was dressed neatly, with textbooks and workbooks spread out on her desk. The sky outside the window was still dark, and the light from the desk lamp shone on the pages, making her eyes appear slightly red.

I studied until midnight last night, and woke up at six o'clock this morning.

Sunday was no different for her than any other day.

At nine o'clock, the bedroom door opened.

Li Lele's mother came out yawning and nodded with satisfaction when she saw that Li Lele was already studying.

"Good, you know how to be self-aware."

Li Lele raised her head, opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

She hesitated for a while before finally speaking: "Mom... I don't know how to do a problem, I want to use my phone to watch the online class."

Li Lele's mother's expression changed immediately.

"Watching online classes?" Her voice rose. "Why aren't you paying attention when the teacher is lecturing? Are you trying to sneak onto your phone again?"

"No... I didn't remember some of what the teacher said clearly..."

"Didn't you remember clearly? Why didn't you take notes?" Li Lele's mother's voice grew louder and louder. "How can someone as lazy as you learn anything? I work hard every day to earn money to support your education, and this is how you treat me?"

Li Lele lowered her head and gripped her pen tightly: "But Mom... I really don't understand. You won't teach me... Without a phone, I really can't learn."

This sentence was like flipping a switch.

Li Lele's mother's expression froze instantly.

Then she laughed.

"Oh, I understand."

Her voice became very calm, which frightened Li Lele even more than when she was angry.

"You're disgusted with your mother, aren't you?"

"I don't……"

"Yes, I am uneducated, I cannot teach you, I am a burden to you."

"Mom, that's not what I meant..."

"That's not what you meant? That's exactly what you meant." Li Lele's mother's smile was as cold as a knife. "You think your mother is incompetent, that she can't help you, that she only holds you back."

"Mom, I really didn't..."

"You don't need to say anything. I understand." Li Lele's mother turned her back to her. "What kind of mother is she if she can't even help her child with homework? I've burdened you, I'm so sorry, okay?"

Li Lele's tears fell instantly.

"Mom... I just want to watch my online classes..."

"What online classes are you watching?" Li Lele's mother turned around abruptly, her voice rising again, "You just want to play on your phone! What excuse are you making! You're not touching your phone anymore!"

She took her phone out of the drawer and locked it in the cabinet in front of Li Lele.

Li Lele's mouth was open, and tears streamed down her face silently.

She opened her mouth several times, but finally managed to say only one sentence: "Mom... I really just want to study..."

"What's there to learn?" Li Lele's mother sneered. "If you really want to learn, you can learn even without a cell phone. If you don't want to learn, even hiring a professor from Peking University won't help."