A few biting autumn winds accompanied by the autumn rain packed up the few remaining leaves on the trees in the courtyard and sent them away. Before Dong Qiangqiang could take out his winter clothes, a moderate winter snow came quietly again, and the temperature also dropped. It suddenly dropped by nearly 10 degrees overnight. The last month of 2002 was marked by a solemn white and the German media advertised "This is the coldest winter in Germany".
Dong Qiangqiang had already experienced the long and cold German winter when he was in Hannover, but maybe because there were not as many windy days as BJ, compared to the dry cold of BJ, Hannover showed more of a delicate dampness. Trier has a lower latitude than Hannover, and it is guarded by the warm and long Moselle River, so the temperature is much warmer than Hannover. Only after it snows, Trier will feel cooler in the morning and evening.
Dong Qiangqiang originally thought that the old lady would provide heating when Germany entered winter time (usually the last Sunday in October). Unexpectedly, from the end of October until the first week of December, it took two months to replace the winter tires on the pickup truck. , the row of old-fashioned radiators under the window in his room were still cold to the touch. He told the old lady that the heater was broken and needed to be repaired. Unexpectedly, the old lady calmly told him that the central heating of the whole house had not started yet.
Seeing Dong Qiangqiang's astonished face, the old lady smiled and explained that she had spent winters like this since she was a child. This lifestyle would firstly reduce the waste of fuel, natural gas or tree resources, which is more environmentally friendly. Secondly, it would make people unable to covet indoors. Because of the warmth, he chooses to spend more time outdoors, which directly increases the contact time between people and nature, strengthens the body's resistance and immunity, and especially comforts him. Although his room is large, the windows are all triple-layered glass. The sealing is good, the heat loss is low, and living on the second floor is much warmer than the first floor.
The old lady’s theory made Dong Qiangqiang dumbfounded: Even if Germany has a temperate maritime climate and Trier is warmer than Hannover, it is still winter in the northern hemisphere. Christmas is just around the corner. The weather is getting colder and colder. How much can normal heating cause? waste? Is it necessary to be so exaggerated? It seemed that the previous landlord, Sasha, had never said anything like this. Besides, one of the disadvantages of a large room is that it gets cold easily in winter, especially in the morning, and getting up becomes the only criterion for testing your willpower. In addition to the morning, after returning from the library in the evening, he often continues to study until late at night, and a room that is too cold is not conducive to studying.
Seeing that Dong Qiangqiang was hesitant to speak, the old lady continued to explain apologetically: Almost 20 years ago, she used the natural gas heating facility in the basement to centrally heat the entire villa in winter, but later because she lived alone in the villa all year round, With a few more animals at most, I unknowingly developed the habit of spending most of my time in the kitchen with the fireplace, and the central heating started later and later, sometimes not until mid-January of the following year. Turn on the heater every day.
The sadness and loneliness in the old lady's words suddenly touched the softest part of Dong Qiangqiang's heart: when the once happy family becomes a lonely man, the coldness in his heart is probably as cold as the coldness that his body can feel.
He suddenly remembered Lao Bai he had seen in the hospital at the beginning of the year.
Dong Qiangqiang didn't know that he had unknowingly developed empathy for the old lady, but he also roughly understood that the reason why the old lady didn't want to turn on the heater too early might be because she was afraid of offending the situation.
Since it was impossible for the old lady to change her habits because of him, he wisely put down her insistence and chose to end the awkward conversation with a few words: "What, I'm still young, so it's up to you whether you have fever or not. "
It’s easy to talk cheaply, but Leng Helang has to bear it by himself. Thinking that he will take the exam in two months, Dong Qiangqiang did not dare to ask for help. After dinner at the university, he did not go to the library to read for the first time, but went to Germany. At the electrical appliance supermarket Satur, I am going to buy myself a "little sun", an electric heater, an electric oil heater and other electrical appliances.
But what surprised him was that in addition to air conditioners, the electrical appliance supermarket also did not sell these popular domestic heating equipment.
Dong Qiangqiang was depressed.
In the end, he followed Du Lan's suggestion and spent 400 euros on a "wolf's claw" sleeping bag that was said to be able to withstand temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius. After sleeping on it a few times, he found that the effect was far better than expected. He also solved the problem of cold hands when reading at home at night. The solution was also found: underneath the hot water bottle and laptop, the heating issue was finally solved.
However, the cold in the room was not the only problem he encountered. He would stay up late at night reading and would often feel so hungry after 22 o'clock that he would be so hungry that he could not sleep. Before, he would sneak into the kitchen and make himself a bowl. He would like to have a poached egg next to him, but now he can only eat snacks. After a long time, Dong Qiangqiang also felt boring, so he simply changed his biological clock to go to bed at 22 o'clock. After getting up early like this, he would simply clean up the yard, then run around the path outside the forest, and help the landlord walk the dog. When he came back from the run and had breakfast, the old lady usually finished working in the vegetable field, so he would give it to the old lady. Read a newspaper or magazine before going to college.
To his surprise and joy, walking the dog every day deepened his familiarity with "Radar". "Radar" began to sneak into his room at night, sometimes sleeping at his feet, sometimes simply lying next to his face. He even You can count how many whiskers the "radar" has.
Seeing that "Radar" had Dong Qiangqiang's tacit approval, the rescued cat also took the initiative to find it. Most of the injuries on its body have healed, and its coat is becoming smoother and smoother. It followed suit and lay not far from Dong Qiangqiang's sleeping bag. Occasionally it would step on Dong Qiangqiang's face unscrupulously in the middle of the night, but usually at this time Dong Qiangqiang was huddled in the sleeping bag and unable to move like a mummy. , and the sleeping bag cannot be covered over the head like a quilt, so you can only watch the cat helplessly and do nothing.
Sometimes after reading for a day, he would feel extremely tired. He didn’t want to do anything at night, so he would lie down in his sleeping bag early, turn off the lights, open the curtains, look at the stars outside the window, talk on the phone with Du Lan, and imagine himself after graduation. What he might do is fall asleep while holding the phone. Sometimes he would directly play the recording of the public law class. The hypnotic effect has always been tried.
Of course, these bits and pieces are just asides and highlights, his real focus is still on his studies.
Although Dong Qiangqiang's public law class was successful, he still couldn't understand it even after carefully previewing and listening to the class recording repeatedly. He remembered Du Lan's advice and decided to follow her advice and stop studying in lectures. He also consulted Zheng Chunhua for advice, and then gave the highest priority to studying practice questions and old test papers, 3-5 sets per week. Old test papers and classic law questions that appeared frequently in old test papers were regarded as small stage goals that must be completed. For large paragraphs of essay questions that needed to be memorized, he also began to read aloud repeatedly every day to promote the formation of short-term muscle memory.
Although public law is incomprehensible and boring, to be fair, it doesn't take a lot of brain work. He just needs to stick to the questions step by step. If he doesn't understand something, he first looks up the lecture notes and then reads the book. Instead, it is a Pro Seminar seminar, which is much more troublesome than he expected. .
"I Have a Picture Book of Ghosts and Gods"
Because his seminar report was mainly based on the content corrected by the preparatory teacher, he prepared it quickly. He also paid a German to help polish and revise it, so there was no problem in completing it as required before the end of December.
The trouble is with the big seminar report.
Seminars were not held every week, and in the limited number of classes, the three of them never saw Ellen.
According to the teacher's request, the big report was completed through teamwork. The three people successively determined the outline of the paper and the content they were responsible for writing. However, until all three people started writing, the Germans still did not contact the three people.
Among the three, only Joanna had Ellen's phone number, but no one responded when she called her. None of the three had encountered this situation before, so they had to go to the assistant coach.
The teaching assistant was a tall German girl. She happily promised the three of them that she would communicate with them after understanding the situation. As a result, she gave the three of them feedback before noon: the Germans had joined before the second class. The other study group is no longer a member of their group.
The three were shocked and asked the assistant: "I said before that I couldn't change teams casually, and that team changes must be approved by other team members. How could Ellen change teams without the three of them knowing?" Don’t each group need four people? Eren left the group and didn't find anyone to replace him in the group, so what?
The teaching assistant said: Ellen was transferred out of other groups by the teacher when he was first grouped. After class, he told the teacher directly that he wanted to return to the original group because he could not adapt to the learning atmosphere of Dong Qiangqiang's study group. And they doubted the learning ability of Dong Qiangqiang and the other three. The teacher agreed to his request to change the group, but asked him to find another person to join the group instead of him. Judging from the feedback from the three people, Ellen, whether intentionally or unintentionally, neither found his replacement nor notified the other three people, and left Dong Qiangqiang's group without even saying hello.
The assistant's explanation made the three of them feel unheard of and unbelievable.
Dong Qiangqiang carefully thought about what happened before, and became more and more convinced that Ellen most likely didn't say anything on purpose, and the teacher also forgot to remind him for some reason. Now that the semester is halfway through, blaming the teacher and Ellen will not help, and it will definitely be too late to find someone to join in. Then the three of them can only write Ellen's part. In fact, he is not worried about writing, he is just disgusted and disgusted by the Germans' practices. I don’t understand, and it’s up to him to make the final speech difficult.
After leaving the teaching assistant's office, the three of them bumped into each other, and what happened next was exactly as Dong Qiangqiang had guessed: Although Dong Qiangqiang believed that the two girls' spoken German was better than his own, Sofia and Joanna thought that his spoken English was also fine. Both of them had other primary-stage master's courses to prepare for exams, so they had no time to attend to the final speech. The important task of the speech fell on Dong Qiangqiang.
Originally he only had to write a small part, but now he not only has to write more content, but also prepares speeches, which means he has to devote more time and energy. If he had encountered this kind of situation before, Dong Qiangqiang would have complained to some extent, but now he is no longer willing to waste time and emotion on complaining about such things. As the only male in the group and a Chinese student, he feels Not only did he have the responsibility and obligation to give a good final speech, but he also had to get high marks for his speech, so that he could slap Ellen in the face who looked down on him.
Christmas is only half a month away. The sun still disappears every day. The weather is cold and humid. There are fewer people on campus and in the classrooms. Even the people eating in the cafeteria have become deserted. The only thing that has not changed is probably the books. Those students in the library who can't stop reading.
In addition to meeting regularly with the two girls to discuss the contents of the big report, Dong Qiangqiang was busy studying questions and copying reference books designated by professors to prepare for the exams in the next semester. His life was monotonous and regular. After some research, he found that the university's audio-visual education center could make copies cheaper than other places in the university, saving hundreds of euros. Although he was sponsored by Duanmu, Lao Bai and others, he still remained diligent and frugal. At the same time, he also asked Dong's father for help, asking him to buy some Chinese reference books in China and send them to Germany, so that he could read Chinese first and then read German to speed up his understanding.
Many times, after he and his father had just finished talking on the phone, Dong's mother would grab the phone and greet him before he could hang up, and the content of the conversation was always the same.
"Qiang Qiang, when will you finish your exams this semester? Can you go back to China during the holidays?" Ever since Dong Qiangqiang entered college, Dong's mother always paid attention to when he would return to China. "That Xiao Qin from my friend's house, do you see him?" Well, that girl in Paris can come back during the Spring Festival.”
Dong's mother is like many parents in the world. She looks forward to her son going abroad every day before he goes abroad, and looks forward to his return to the country every day after he does go out.
"Hey, you are such a person. Your son has just started to get on track. Why did you ask him to come back?" Dong's father lectured him with a straight face, "I am not telling you, but you are just holding your son back. Can the universities in France and Germany be the same? ? It's just like playing the piano randomly." Father Dong is most afraid of/annoying Mother Dong to summon her son to return to the country. Whenever this happens, the two of them will get into arguments with each other.
Dong's mother didn't care about that: "I haven't seen my son for a year and a half, and I still miss you if you don't want me to. Qiang Qiang, (2003) New Year's Eve is the last day of January. Can you come back?"
"Mom, I hadn't started the exam at that time."
"Then when will you take the exam?" Dong's mother felt distressed and unhappy.
"The time hasn't been set yet, I think it might be February or March." Dong Qiangqiang felt guilty for some reason.
"It's so late..." Mother Dong sighed in disappointment, "The Lantern Festival has passed. What about April?"
Although Dong Qiangqiang also missed his parents and knew that his mother wanted him to return to China, he actually did not want to go back. Firstly, he wanted to use the winter vacation to study intensively, and secondly, he planned to use the winter vacation to work more. From the summer vacation to now, he has only spent money but not recorded it in his account. Although there is a lot of money in his account, he does not want to sit back and have nothing. To increase revenue and reduce expenditure, we must first increase revenue and reduce expenditure.
"School will start in April..." Dong Qiangqiang was quite helpless.
Dong's mother chatted about family matters on the other end of the phone, but Dong Qiangqiang heard a voice chanting in his ear: If your parents are here, if you don't travel far, you will have a good trip.
Would I be too selfish if I didn't go back during the winter vacation? He asked himself softly, but found sadly that, like many things, he didn't have the right answer.
