Zhou Weilie looked down at the yellow and black rice in the bowl, as well as the stones and rat droppings mixed in the rice, and suddenly felt nauseated. Although the rice from Mei Yiqi and Hua Luogeng's family was also very rough, at least it was washed clean.
No additional special "nutritional products" will be added.
The freshmen imitated the old students and kept banging the bowl. Legend has it that this is an essential skill for eating in the General Assembly. Zhou Weilie also asked for tips, but it was difficult to master the first time. In the end, he only used chopsticks to slowly pick out the debris.
Today's dish is boiled kidney beans again. The dish for 50 large tables only uses half a catty of oil, and there is no trace of oil or water in it.
Zhou Weilie took a few mouthfuls of food with difficulty and felt his throat was choking, so he quickly picked up rice soup to moisten his throat and serve the meal.
"Pooh!"
A mouthful of rice water spurted out, and Zhou Weilie was shocked: "Is this rice water or vinegar? It's so sour!"
Peng Xu, who had already owed six laundry errands, said with some gloating: "The rice soup cooked with old rice is so sour. It stimulates the appetite and strengthens the spleen. The more you drink it, the hungrier you get."
Zhou Weilie had completely lost his appetite, but his upbringing had taught him not to waste food. He closed his eyes and swallowed the rest of the rice in the bowl. He didn’t want to drink the rice soup anymore. The taste of it was no different from drinking vinegar. He
Putting down the dishes and chopsticks, he asked, "Is there a store in the school?"
"No," Peng Xu said with a smile, "You want to buy something to eat? There is a fellow selling things at the school gate, frying some peanuts, beans and the like for sale."
"I'll go take a look." Zhou Weilie said.
After he left, the students at the same table began to discuss:
"It seems that Junior Zhou is not used to the food in the cafeteria. The food at Mr. Zhou's house must be rich."
"Don't talk about Mr. Zhou's family, the food at my family is not that bad."
"How long do you think he can last?"
“What lasts long?”
"I'm crying and shouting to go home to find my mother. After all, I'm only 12 years old and I've never suffered anything. How can I bear it?"
"Maybe you'll get used to it in a few days."
"Hard to say."
"..."
At the age of twelve or thirteen, it is the time when the body is growing, and a bowl of rice is definitely not enough.
Zhou Weilie walked quickly to the school gate and saw several fellow villagers selling snacks. Without asking the price, he walked up to a seller of fried peanuts and said, "Give me two kilograms."
"Two pounds is 28 yuan," said the fellow.
Zhou Weilie held the fried peanuts packed in old newspapers and walked leisurely back to the dormitory while eating. He discovered for the first time that peanuts are so delicious.
The students in the same dormitory came back one after another, smelling the aroma of fried peanuts, and they all looked at Zhou Weilie and swallowed his saliva.
The more Zhou Weilie ate, the more uncomfortable he became. There were too many people and he felt bad eating alone. After thinking about it, he simply went outside the school gate again and said to the fellows selling snacks: "I bought all your stuff, please help me."
Move to the dormitory."
"Little classmate, do you have that much money?" a fellow villager asked with a smile.
Zhou Weilie took out a stack of banknotes: "I don't have enough money, but I still have some cash in my dormitory. By the way, I'll buy a few more boxes and sell them to me along with the moisture-proof rags in the boxes."
Since the teachers and students at the school were very poor, a basket of peanuts and peas could not be sold out for several days. Now someone was making a round directly, and the fellow villagers were overjoyed, and they followed Zhou Weilie to the student dormitory with baskets and baskets on their backs.
This group of people walked through the campus in a mighty manner, attracting a lot of attention.
Returning to the dormitory, Peng Xu pointed to the fellow villagers waiting outside and asked, "Junior brother, what are you doing?"
"Invite everyone to eat." Zhou Weilie said with a smile.
Digging out the box and paying for it, Zhou Weilie had already used two-thirds of his pocket money. He opened another soap box and wrote on the cardboard: "Snacks are free, you can take them by yourself. Due to the limited quantity, each person
Limited to one supply."
Zhou Weilie mixed peanuts and peas together and placed a basket under the eaves of each row of dormitories, even the girls' dormitories.
Putting the cardboard in front of the basket, Zhou Weilie went back to the dormitory by himself, leaving behind hundreds of curious students.
At first, no one was too embarrassed to do anything. Peng Xu was more adventurous. He grabbed a handful with a smile and said, "You're welcome, this is Mr. Zhou's treat. Remember to cover it with a cloth to prevent the peanuts and beans from getting wet again."
"You're welcome, you're welcome, the landlord will reward you with the food, haha." Another student also joked and grabbed a handful.
Another student said: "Please save your time and don't eat it all at once. The classmates in the library don't know yet."
The students were very conscious and only grabbed half a handful. Because the quantity of these snacks was obviously not enough, if they grabbed too hard, the students behind them would have no chance.
Regarding Zhou Weilie's actions, most students chose to accept his kindness, but a small number of students thought that he was inviting fame and limelight. Hatred of the rich exists in every era and is inevitable.
Peng Xu ate peanuts and returned to the dormitory. He sat next to Zhou Weilie and said, "Junior brother, don't do this again. The impact will not be very good."
Zhou Weilie didn't care about this, he said: "My pocket money is almost used up, and I won't be able to afford anything in the future."
"You still buy so much when you don't have money?" Peng Xu asked in surprise.
"Money is meant to be used." Zhou Weilie has no concept of financial management at all.
Peng Xu was convinced: "As expected of Mr. Zhou, he is generous and heroic!"
…
I went to pick up textbooks in the afternoon, and class officially started the next day.
On Monday morning, he finally ate boiled eggs. While eating the eggs, Zhou Weilie missed the food at home and looked thoughtfully at his classmates who were devouring them.
There is no such thing as being isolated. Zhou Weilie's staff at the school are surprisingly good. Both teachers and classmates take good care of him. On the one hand, it is because of Zhou Hexuan's face, and on the other hand, it is also because he is too young and cannot do laundry.
Classmates often take the initiative to help with class chores.
About half a month later, Zhou Weilie's pocket money was used up. He could only eat eggs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday mornings, and go to Mei Yiqi's house for teething ceremonies on weekends. At other times, he was forced to accept the school's pig food-like meals.
.
After having diarrhea twice, he got used to it. Zhou Weilie had already learned the skill of sifting pebbles out of a bowl. The rice soup, which was as sour as vinegar, was also delicious. Unfortunately, there was too little oil and water. He was so greedy that he drooled over everything he saw. Every day he was in a state of half
A state of half-hungry and half-full.
At this time, the noble man appeared.
It was another day after school. Wu Mi stood at the door of the classroom and shouted: "Wei Lie, come here quickly!"
"Uncle Wu." Zhou Weilie greeted respectfully.
Wu Mi hooked Zhou Weilie's shoulder and said with a smile: "Let's go, uncle will take you to eat something delicious."
Zhou Weilie swallowed subconsciously and said, "I will invite Uncle Wu back when we get to Chongqing."
"Let your dad invite me when the time comes, and I won't suffer any loss anyway." Wu Mi joked.
During the entire Anti-Japanese War, Wu Mi was the richest man in the Southwest Associated University. He had just divorced when he came to Kunming. He had enough to eat for one person and the whole family was not hungry, and he had many part-time jobs, earning an income of six to seven thousand yuan a month. He went to restaurants every day, and even At the same time, invite three women with ambiguous relationships to have a social dinner together, and don't live too casually.
Wu Mi hated the vegetable gardening behavior of the professors. The two vegetable plots cultivated by Chen Daisun were right outside Wu Mi's house, which made him noisy every day. "From morning to night, they would plant vegetables on the ground outside Mi's window. Mi Shu hated it."
Shen Congwen also had a high income, but all his money was used to buy pottery and books. Even when he invited his student Wang Zengqi to a restaurant, he only ate a bowl of rice noodles.
Wu Mi had a close personal relationship with Zhou Hexuan. He was often dragged by Liang Qichao to play mahjong together in Tsinghua University. He was also invited by Zhou Hexuan to be the editor-in-chief of the supplement of "Ta Kung Pao" for more than half a year. Wu Mi returned from abroad for a while and lived in Tianjin. After spending half a month in Sanletang, Wei Lie became very familiar with him.
One, one and one small, went to the restaurant and ordered three dishes and one soup, which was so sumptuous that it was almost luxurious.
Zhou Weilie was like a beggar who hadn't eaten in several days. He wolfed down three bowls of rice, wiped out several dishes on the table, and finally poured the rice into a dish with boiling oil and water.
Wu Mi shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Your father is also cruel. He can't live a good life, so he has to throw you into a ghost place like Kunming to suffer poverty. When I get greedy in the future, I will come to see your Uncle Wu. I will definitely let you eat well."
"Thank you, Uncle Wu," Zhou Weilie put the last few grains of rice on the plate into his mouth and wiped his mouth. "I understand what my dad meant. He wanted me to see the true face of China."
Wu Mi smiled and said, "Oh, you quite understand the truth."
Zhou Weilie said: "When I was in Tianjin and Chongqing, my father often told me this, but I didn't even understand it at the time, but now I finally understand it personally."
"It's good if you can understand. You have a bright future." Wu Mi nodded in approval.
Zhou Weilie said: "I am considering whether I should change my major and study physics, chemistry or mechanics."
Wu Mi asked: "You are so good at math, why do you want to change your major?"
"Mathematics is of little use to the country," Zhou Weili said. "Since the beginning of the school year, two students in our class have changed departments, and several other students also have such plans."
Wu Mi scolded: "Who said mathematics is useless? Mathematics is the foundation of all natural sciences, and it can drive the development of other science and engineering subjects."
Zhou Weilie muttered: "Professor Hua said the same thing, and he even wrote a letter to my dad last week to complain."
"Your task now is to study with peace of mind and don't have random thoughts, do you understand?" Wu Mi said seriously.
"I know." Zhou Weilie was a little depressed.
Wu Mi was not the only one who improved Zhou Weilie's food. Whenever conditions allowed, many professors would come forward to help. For example, Shen Congwen would ask Zhou Weilie to eat out two or three times a month, or ask his wife Zhang Zhaohe to make fermented eggs for Weilie. .
Fermented fermented eggs are Zhang Zhaohe's specialty. In Zhu Ziqing's words, it is simply the most delicious food in the world.
In the second month of school, Fairbank visited the Southwest Associated University as the special envoy of the United States. This man was more familiar with Zhou Hexuan. In the past, whenever he came to Tianjin, Fairbank and his wife lived in the Zhou family, and also stayed in several Zhou residences in Shanghai. Week.
When Fairbank learned about Zhou Weilie's situation, he immediately invited the boy to a feast and left a red envelope of US$200.
Fairbank wrote in his memoirs: "Chinese people have two extreme ways of educating their children. One is to spoil and want to give everything to future generations to enjoy; the other is to make children endure hardships and suffer hardships.
Fang is the master. I disagree with Mr. Zhou Hexuan's choice, because his son is in a critical period of development and should not be half-starved every day. But it is undeniable that this training method is very successful. My son, who was only 12 years old at the time, and I
Zhou Weilie had an in-depth talk, and his thoughts were more mature than those of many adults. He said that he used to only focus on mathematics, but after entering the Southwest Associated University, he began to pay attention to social and political issues. Perhaps it was the change in thinking during this period that led to
