Chapter 7 Mother's Simple Education

Different from the rigid military impression given to ordinary people, my father treats his family very gently, and he will write poems and paintings for his mother when he is free.One summer when I was on vacation with my family, my father drew a sketch of Zhiwan in the car, and the scene at that time is still vivid in my memory. "This is the back of Zhiwan's head, how is it? Doesn't it look similar?" The whole family burst out laughing after seeing the painting.Although his father didn't reveal it, he especially loved Zhiwan.The youngest Zhiwan is the baby of our family. Jinling and I have loved Zhiwan since we were young. The two sisters would argue with each other to take care of Zhiwan and secretly regard each other as competitors.Zhiwan was smart and well-behaved since she was a child. She liked to laugh very much, and often won the love of people around her.In the restrained and dull life of the Blue House, Xiao Zhiwan played the role of bringing us vitality.

Hibiscus has outstanding artistic talent and has a unique aesthetic view since childhood.Because of my duty and sense of responsibility as the eldest daughter, I became a typical model student.Geunling is a creative girl, relatively eager for freedom. Among the three siblings, Geunling especially can't stand the dull life full of constraints and restrictions at Cheong Wa Dae. When we lived in the Speaker’s Mansion before we moved into the Blue House, our three siblings hardly had any toys, and our parents rarely gave us toys, because even if there were no toys, there was enough space for us to run, jump and play.For young Zhiwan, the only toy he had was a football.Once a relative bought a toy puppy dog ​​in the United States that would automatically walk when it was wound up, and the three of us got together curiously and played with it all day, but my mother looked at us worriedly. .The secretary who was with her at that time said:

"Why worry about children playing with a toy or two?" But the mother insisted: "That's not a toy that you can get easily. It's not good for a child's education to have expensive things that others don't have. Even without that kind of toy, our children already have a large yard to play in." Then she added: "If everyone hears the rumor that the Speaker's house has no toys, many toys will definitely be delivered to the door, but if they hear that the poor family has no food, will they be so enthusiastic? Many people love to follow others, So please don’t tell others about the lack of toys in our house. It’s not that I’m reluctant to spend money on buying toys for them, but it’s more valuable than my home in Xindangdong because it has a wider yard for them to play in. toys are just unnecessary luxuries for them.”

We had a lot of fun even without toys.Zhiwan often makes everyone laugh with toy air guns, archery, and wrestling regardless of the occasion; at night, he will obediently stay next to his sisters and draw in a sketchbook.Our three brothers and sisters would often have competitions on who could draw better and invite their father to be the judge. At this time, Zhiwan would draw his father's face first and insist that he was the first.In fact, he just painted his father's face big, and added crooked eyes, nose, and mouth.Looking at the painting, the whole family didn't know what to say, and they laughed so hard that they couldn't help but laugh.

One day when I went to school, it was pouring rain outside.I stepped out of the gate with the umbrella in my hand, but the umbrella was blown over by the wind, so I had no choice but to run back and tell my mother that the umbrella was broken, so my mother helped me get a new plastic umbrella.At that time, the office officer standing aside said to his mother: "The wind and rain are so strong, and the plastic umbrella will be blown to pieces again. Let Jinhui go to school by car today." ?” Looking at me with eyes, I said loudly, “I’m going to school”, and stepped out of the gate with my head held high.

After a while, although my body was soaked by the rain, I happily stepped on the water on the ground wearing rain boots, and even forgot the time to go to school.When I walked near the school, I saw more and more students coming to school. Everyone held umbrellas and formed a long line on the street.As soon as I entered the classroom, everyone was in a hurry to squeeze the rainwater off the clothes, and it was very lively. If my mother had agreed to let me take the car, I might have been able to go to school more comfortably than other students, but I would not have been able to experience the joy of being one with my classmates.My mother insisted that I live an ordinary student life like the rest of my classmates, and she did.

Although we lived in the Speaker's Mansion, which everyone envied, we didn't have any special things that other children could envy. We lived a very simple life, even after we moved into the Blue House.For us when we were young, Cheong Wa Dae was a painful place full of restrictions.