Chapter 14 to lobby

After my father passed away, I often, always think of the stories he told about himself and about others during his lifetime.These stories are an inexhaustible wealth that he left me.Some, I plan to expand them into novels, and some I don't plan to develop them, and honestly write them as prose or something in between prose and novels - forget it. This is about his teaching—my father had two brothers.Considering that his family was not in a good position, the grandfather could not allow both brothers to study, so he decided to make a policy preference: let one study and let the other not study.It was not my father who made me study, but my uncle.But my father had a strong desire to study, and he often secretly followed his uncle to learn how to read and write.My grandfather couldn't let my father have such thoughts, so he found the pen and inkstone hidden by my father and threw them into the river vigorously.

But this still failed to extinguish his father's desire to study, so his grandfather had no choice but to agree: let him study "cold study" every winter when the farm work is free.My father studied three Dinghan studies in total. Around 1953, when a small school was to be established in the local area, and no well-educated person could be found to be a teacher, someone thought of my father: "Cao Xiaohan (father's nickname) has studied in three low schools. An old man named Dexian, who was a "poor peasant leader" at the time, liked my father very much when he was playing around naked in the fields, so he said: "Let him be a teacher (the teacher was not called at that time)."

That day, my father was catching fish in the pond among the rice fields, when the old man Dexian, the "poor farmer's leader", came over: "Come up, Stop catching fish. "Father said: "I like to catch fish. " "I want you to be a teacher." My father didn't believe it: "I only read three junior studies, but can I still be a teacher? At that time, I only read, not read the size, up and down." "Anyway, you can read. You will go there tomorrow." Mr. Do. Let me call the children away. You know, the deputy head of the district is not happy that we run a school. I know what he has in mind. His nephew Liu is also teaching behind, only one class, yes Shan Xiao. We don’t run a school here, so the children have to go there to study, and his side becomes two classes, and becomes a double school, and Liu is promoted to the principal of the double school.” “I’d better catch fish. "The old man Dexian picked up his father's fish basket, turned around, threw it four or five feet away, and fell into the rice field.

Father did just that sir. As soon as the father got on the podium, the students pointed at him and whispered below: "Isn't this the one who caught fish in the ditch in front of my house?" "Cao Xiaohan who caught fish." "In the past it was the fish catcher, but now it is the master!" the father said in his heart, standing on the podium very solemnly.As soon as he opened the textbook and read a few lines, a student stood up and said, "You mispronounced that word." His attitude was very firm.The student had bald spots on his head, and his father recognized him and knew that his father could read a lot, but his composition was not good, so he taught him the characters one by one when he was free at home.His name is Xiaobazi.The father immediately blushed, feeling ashamed and ashamed that he had misunderstood his son, so he quickly turned his face to wipe the blackboard, but in fact there was not a single word on the blackboard.After rubbing for a while, he actually had an idea, turned around and smiled at Xiaobazi: "I just want to see who can find out that I mispronounced the word, it's Xiaobazi!"

He walked towards Xiaobazi, "You will be the class monitor from now on. Now, you continue to read the text to the end." Father learned a lot of characters from Bazi. My father is a smart man, and he is willing to work hard. After half a year, he is enough to deal with the students, and he starts to write couplets, plaques, and post posts for others. He even dares to use a pen to paint large slogans on the wall. People in the local area changed their mouths, no longer called my father "Little Han", but called him "Mr. Cao" or "Mr. Er". As a result, my father's chest was very straight, he liked to look up to the sky when he walked, and yelled the tune along the way.

Liu felt uncomfortable. At that time, the teachers practiced a meal rotation system. One day they went to the student Li’s house to eat, and the next day they went to the student Zhang’s house to eat.On this day, someone from Liu came to Zhou's house to eat. There is a plaque on the north wall of Zhou’s house, which was given by several nephews on the student’s grandfather’s 70th birthday.There are four characters written on it: Shoubi Nanshan.Last item: Jubilee of my uncle's 70th birthday.The next paragraph is the names of several nephews, plus the words "respect". It was written by my father.

Mr. Liu came into the room, looked up at the plaque, and smiled. The host was quite puzzled. Mr. Liu looked at the plaque again after lunch, and laughed again. The owner couldn't hold back anymore: "Mr. Liu, could it be that there is something wrong with the writing on this plaque?" Liu smiled again. "Just talk!" "I've said it, I'm afraid you will get angry, so let's not say it." "Say it!" Somebody Liu said: "You have been short for the rest of your life. You should be called uncle, how can you be called uncle? Zhang, husband, sister-in-law, are called peers."

When my aunt saw a few nephews, she blamed her: "I said I wouldn't celebrate your uncle's birthday, but you guys just want to do it. Just do it and send me a plaque like this." Several nephews came to my father together, and said "uncle" and "uncle" and so on: "You really don't know how to write, so just say you can't write." My father didn't know the truth in his heart, but he was very firm on the surface: "I will pay for the plaque. But I want to make it clear: I did not make a mistake in writing this plaque." However, one hundred people stood up, and ninety-nine did not believe my father's excuse, "the man who caught fish in the ditch in front of my house".

Some families don't let their children go to school.The deputy district chief took this incident as a joke (he is very good at mocking Mr., and there are several stories about mocking Mr.), and he had a great time talking about it. My father was very distressed. He stopped going to school and went to the ponds and ditches in the field to catch fish. The old man Dexian came over and called out "Mr. Cao". "I'm not sir," said the father. "You are sir." "I'm not sir." "I said you are a gentleman, you are a gentleman." "Sir, will the plaque be written wrong?"

"The plaque is wrongly written, but you are still Mr." "Then I'm not sir. Unless I've got the plaque right." The old man Dexian just shook his head: "You wrote the plaque correctly. Tomorrow, go to the district to hold a meeting of gentlemen." ) Respectfully ask for advice, and make a grievance. "Liu is too deceptive!" Among them, the gentlemen said: "Please treat us to a meal." Father invited Mr. Eight to a tavern in the town for a meal.After eating, wipe your mouth and say: "Let's go!" The four of them divided into two roads, along the two banks of the river (people here live by the river), lobbying from south to north.They go from house to house, never letting go of a house, and quote "father" and "zhang" when they see people: "Father and zhang mean the same thing. Father-in-law, isn't he also called father-in-law or father-in-law?"

Why the father is the father, and why the father is the father again, and the research on the "father" and "Zhang" will open the eyes of those villagers. Mr. Bamen are very famous: Mr. Zhang knows the entire Kangxi dictionary, and any new, uncommon, or uncommon characters can be read immediately as soon as they come to him. He usually likes to give correct pronunciation; Those who write pleadings are sharp in speech and imposing, and anyone who uses his pleadings to fight a lawsuit will not easily lose (he only writes pleadings for the weak); Nine is from him... Mr. Gao is a bit of a legend, saying that his husband's husband almost became the emperor's husband, but he was not hired because his left leg was slightly lame and he walked around in front of the emperor, which was indecent. People have to believe their words, so everyone believes that "zhang" and "father" belong to a bowl of tofu, and a bowl of tofu. Mr. Liu hid in the haystack when Mr. Bamen was lobbying. My father went back to elementary school and became a teacher. Someone Liu approached Mr. Li who was carrying the candy burden: "You have studied in a private school for four years, and it is a whole year. Cao Xiaohan has only been in a private school for three years, and he is still a poor student. You should be the teacher, but you are carrying the sugar burden. Walking around in a shabby place." It was raining this day—the two of them knew that there would be no pedestrians outside, so they broke into their father's elementary school and began to humiliate their father in front of all the students: "A fish catcher can also be a teacher!" It’s not bad, it looks like an earthworm crawling.” “That’s a typo, Mr. Bai.” “Look, look, why don’t you just wear a black padded jacket!” The students immediately looked at the black cotton jacket on their father with their eyes. Please get out! said the father. They smiled, each found an empty seat and sat down: "Listen to your class." The father suddenly discovered that he had dozens of students, and said to the little eight children: "Don't throw them out!" The students immediately stood up and walked towards Liu and Li.The students at that time went to school late, they were older, and they were all strong people.When the two saw each other, they hurried away. My father chased them out, and when he saw them going away, he turned and went back to the classroom, but after thinking about it, he chased them out again, and shouted loudly: "You have the kind, stop!" He made the footsteps louder, but he didn't catch up. People on both sides of the river came out to watch it, like watching a play. Afterwards, those gentlemen saw you chasing the two of them, and they fled in embarrassment. After the winter vacation, all students will be held in the district, and the cultural and educational officer will announce the deployment plan of the students (once a year).Some of the eight gentlemen were transferred from final minor to junior primary, some from double minor to shaved, and some from places close to home to places far away from home...Finally, it was announced: a few normal students came to the new division , There is no shortage of teachers, and Mr. Cao is no longer a teacher. Everyone is dissatisfied.The cultural and educational officer said: "This is decided by the district." When the meeting was over, none of the eight gentlemen came back. They went to their father who was sitting there motionless, and said, "The meeting is over." Father smiled at them: "I still like to catch fish." "Walk." "Where are you going?" "The tavern. Eight of us invite you today." After entering the tavern, my father sat still with a peaceful mind, smiling, watching the eight gentlemen scrambling to pay for the money.In the end, the eight gentlemen agreed: eight people share equally. They drank and sprinkled, and they all seemed very happy. Outside the window, the rain of early spring floats, thin and transparent, falling silently. "I want to eat fish in the future, gentlemen talk." My father clinked glasses with them one by one. speechless. Mr. Li got a little drunk first, squinted his eyes and sang.Several other gentlemen followed his rhythm with their chopsticks and tapped their wine glasses lightly.Father just looked at the eight of them with a smile, thinking that all of them were very respectable. Mr. Li sang tears, but suddenly stopped singing. Still speechless. The spring rain is getting heavier outside the window, and everything is hazy. Mr. Gao suddenly patted the table: "Brother Guisheng (my father's name)..." Father was startled.He has always treated them as elders, but he didn't expect them to be called brothers, so he quickly got up: "Don't, don't, don't, you're killing me." Mr. Gao stubbornly said: "Brother Guisheng, things are not sure yet!" "No-definite!" the crowd said. The next day, the eight gentlemen started another lobbying.This lobbying was extremely persevering and patient.They lobbied from the village to the township, from the village to the district, and from the district to the county.They dispersed and mobilized a group of gentlemen to lobby.They carried dry food, and even slept on the way, all covered in dust.Their expressions are extremely persistent. This move shocked the eighteen li radius. After a few months, the deputy district chief was transferred away.I wanted to change to another district, but I didn't want any district.He had no choice but to contact by himself and went to work at a grain purchase station in a neighboring county. Liu will be a good teacher from now on. Since then, my father and the eight gentlemen have formed friendships for many years. Since then, my father has been a teacher again.Until his death, people in this place called him "Mr. Cao" or "Mr. Er". —April 20, 1997, Yanbei Campus, Peking University