Cheng Hao didn’t realize that the yellow man he met by chance was really a Chinese, so he was in a good mood, while the one who was in a better mood was the Chinese: “I can’t believe I heard Chinese, I haven’t heard Chinese for a long time! Brother, you speak better than the announcer!”
Cheng Hao: “……” He always thought his body was handsome, but his voice was just like that, right? And to say that his voice was as good as an announcer’s was a bit of an exaggeration. ……
No, it wasn’t necessarily an exaggeration.
Cheng Hao suddenly thought, this was 1980, in a large number of places in the country, the teacher still used dialect to give students lessons.
At this time, there were not many people in China who could speak standard Mandarin.
In his previous life, he was born in 1992, and his teachers had been speaking Mandarin to him since he was in kindergarten, when there was a school rule that deducted points for speaking in dialect in order to make sure that everyone spoke Mandarin in elementary school.
His Mandarin may not be perfect, but it was definitely standard.
“Are you here to study abroad? Is there a new international student here now? You’re in this city, you’re going to the same university as me, right?” The man with glasses got even more excited, and as he spoke, he took out a pen and jotted something down in his notebook.
“I’m not an international student.” Cheng Hao said, “You are an international student?”
“Yes, I am an international student! If you’re not an international student, you ……” The man looked at Cheng Hao suspiciously.
Cheng Hao said, “I’m from Hong Kong.”
“I see ……” The man who spoke to Cheng Hao was a little lost, but still excited, “Don’t you Hong Kong people speak Cantonese? How come your Mandarin is so good?”
Cheng Hao said, “I like China, so I specially learned Mandarin.”
When the man heard Cheng Hao’s words, he looked at Cheng Hao with a more affectionate gaze.
“Cheng Hao ……” At this time, Lin Yuxun walked over and looked curiously at the man who had the same skin color as them.
“Surprisingly, there are two of them!” The man said excitedly.
Lin Yuxun was unsure, Cheng Hao smiled and continued to chat with him.
After chatting, Cheng Hao realized that the man’s name was Shi Wenzheng, and he was one of the first international students who came to the United States after the opening of China.
He and some others, in December 1978, before the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, transferred from Paris to the United States, and so on January 1, 1979, during the the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, they made a speech on behalf of China, and then learned English for three months, and then separated into different universities to study.
Some of them studied medicine, some of them studied chemistry, some of them studied physics …… and whatever they studied, and Shi Wenzheng, who studied electrical engineering, studied at a university right here in the neighborhood.
The only Chinese international student who entered this university was Shi Wenzheng, and although he exchanged letters with the other international students and occasionally made phone calls, everyone was so busy with their studies that the time they spent communicating was few and far between.
Because of this, he was very excited to suddenly see Cheng Hao.
“Some of the classmates who came together have already returned home, but I haven’t studied enough.” Shi Wenzheng sighed.
Cheng Hao was already in awe of him.
Shi Wenzheng said that he hadn’t learned enough, but Cheng Hao knew very well that in terms of learning, Shi Wenzheng could definitely crush many of him.
His grades had never been good, and if he had been allowed to take the exams at an ordinary high school, he would have been in the bottom half of the exams, and would have been a proper scum!
Shi Wenzheng was different, he was one of the smartest people in the country!
Cheng Hao was very happy to talk to Shi Wenzheng, even though he didn’t understand some of the things he said.
Shi Wenzheng was also happy to talk to them, and both sides left addresses for each other.
The address that Shi Wenzheng left was a student apartment in a nearby well-known university, and the address that Cheng Hao left was Old George’s home, and they also left each other’s phone numbers.
Shi Wenzheng said, “I shouldn’t call, the phone bill is a bit expensive.”
“You don’t have much money on hand?” Cheng Hao asked.
Shi Wenzheng said, “It’s much better now! When we first left the country, we didn’t have enough foreign exchange, each of us only had fifty dollars, and we really didn’t have any confidence standing on the street! Luckily, after we came over here, the Liaison Office gave us funds again, and they send us checks every month.”
“Then how ……” Cheng Hao looked at Shi Wenzheng with some hesitation, Shi Wenzheng’s clothes, should be worn out from the country, the material was good, but the style was really not good, and he probably didn’t know how to wash them himself. The clothes were also washed out, and there were many balls on them.
“I like to buy books, but I’m just a little short of money.” Shi Wenzheng said, “You don’t know, there are too many books here that are not available in the country! Some years ago, some people in the country destroyed all the books and materials that the predecessors had worked so hard to bring back from abroad and worked so hard to translate, and now there is a shortage of everything in the country! Fortunately, the country now supports the introduction of a variety of books, a variety of talent, but sometimes can not take care of all aspects of …….”
In the early years, various activities were carried out in China, and even a translated foreign novel could be criticized. Talent and materials were destroyed, and in addition, the United States had developed rapidly in recent years, adding many books and materials. Shi Wenzheng wished he had tens of thousands of yuan to buy books.
However, he did not.
Cheng Hao listened to him and had mixed feelings.
From the time he was small, his motherland was taking off, and by the time he grew up and left his own country to come outside, he would no longer be looked down upon and belittled.
But he didn’t know what his predecessors, for that matter, had done.
After chatting for a while, Shi Wenzheng looked at her watch and said, “I can’t chat anymore, I’m going to pick a few books.”
Cheng Hao didn’t bother Shi Wenzheng anymore, and then he saw Shi Wenzheng writing something in a book, and then reading.
Shi Wenzheng read very carefully and finally picked ten books in one breath.
Cheng Hao and the others bought even more books, Lin Yuxun bought eighteen books, his book bag couldn’t even fit, Danny even bought more than twenty books …… but his books were thinner and lighter in weight.
By the time they paid, it was already one in the afternoon.
Cheng Hao asked Shi Wenzheng, “Mr. Shi, have you eaten yet? Do you want to go eat together?”
Shi Wenzheng looked at his watch and jotted something down in his own notebook before saying, “I brought food, so I won’t eat with you.”
As he said this, he pulled out a sandwich wrapped in tin foil from his own shirt, “A lot of things are expensive in this America, but eating in the cafeteria still isn’t expensive, I’ll ask them for a little bit more every morning, and I’ll have it for lunch.”
Shi Wenzheng was quite happy when he said this, he was really very satisfied with his current life.
He should know that when he was in China, it was almost impossible to eat white rice and white flour every meal, but over here, he was able to eat bread every meal, as well as meat, sausages and whatnot.
A lot of food he had never seen in advance!
Cheng Hao had traveled over from forty years later, and although he felt that America at this time was more developed than he had imagined, because he was in a slum, he was sometimes quite disgusted.
Shi Wenzheng was different.
He came here from a place where many people couldn’t even ensure that they had enough to eat and wear, what he saw after he came was still a big city, a university campus, and what he came into contact with were still university students and renowned professors, his feelings were very different from Cheng Hao’s.
Cheng Hao said, “Mr. Shi, let me treat you to dinner!”
Shi Wenzheng thought about it and agreed.
Although Cheng Hao had a windfall, he wasn’t someone who would spend money freely …… He chose a fried chicken restaurant to treat Shi Wenzheng to dinner.
During the meal, they chatted again, and Cheng Hao even asked about the university where Shi Wenzheng studied.
Shi Wenzheng said quite a bit.
The university where he studied was a very good school that had produced many celebrities, and more importantly, it wasn’t as racist as some schools were.
Cheng Hao’s heart stirred as he listened to Shi Wenzheng.
It would be great if Lin Yuxun could study at this school ……
Of course, it was a bit difficult.
As for letting Shi Wenzheng instruct Lin Yuxun …… Cheng Hao could see that Shi Wenzheng was really busy, a talent like him, who was sent abroad by the country after a lot of hard work, his time was all precious, even though Cheng Hao felt that teaching Lin Yuxun wasn’t a waste of time, he would never ask Shi Wenzheng to help with such a favor.
After dinner, Shi Wenzheng took his leave.
Probably because he met Cheng Hao and the others, he was in a good mood and walked with light steps, and as a result, he walked so ……
He just walked out not much far, the bottom of his leather shoes suddenly fell off, and the front of his leather shoes opened up to reveal his feet.
Cheng Hao: “……”
Shi Wenzheng was also a bit embarrassed, “I don’t know if there are any shoe repairers over here ……”
Cheng Hao walked over and took out a pair of sneakers he had just bought and compared them, finding that his sneakers were about the same length as Shi Wenzheng’s leather shoes, so he gave his sneakers to Shi Wenzheng: “Mr. Shi, you wear my shoes.”
Shi Wenzheng was a bit hesitant, Cheng Hao reached into his innermost shirt pocket again, then pulled out roughly half of the money he had hidden there, the money he had won, and gave it to Shi Wenzheng: “And here’s some money, take it.”
“How can this work?” Shi Wenzheng frowned.
But Cheng Hao said, “It’s fine! I’m not giving this money to Mr. Shi either, think of it as supporting education in the country! There’s also the fact that Mr. Shi should have quite a few books over there, I hope that Mr. Shi can lend books to my brother.”
Cheng Hao said, and pulled Lin Yuxun to himself.
Lin Yuxun was probably too poor in the past, and liked to make money, and read books on economics, but Shi Wenzheng was studying electronic engineering, and they didn’t really read the same books.
But finding a reason for Shi Wenzheng to accept the money was also good.
Moreover, Shi Wenzheng’s place might also have books that Lin Yuxun liked.