1990, autumn.
Jiangning University Heyuan Restaurant.
Twenty-three seventeen.
The curfew time in Jiangda dormitory is 10:30 in the evening. In this era without night life, it is actually a school that closes relatively late. So at this time, all the students in the school have stayed in the dormitory, and the campus is almost empty. No one.
However, at this time, two dim chandeliers were still on in the Heyuan Restaurant. The lights shone on a table against the wall. On the table was a hot copper pot, with several plates of meat and vegetables beside it. There is also a bottle of Niulanshan on the table.
"Mr. Ji, Principal Li, you two also know that with the current financial situation of the school, it is not easy to squeeze out a bottle of Niulanshan for you two."
Beside the dinner table, an older man touched his head honestly, with a somewhat embarrassed look on his face.
"Hahahaha, Principal Li and I originally came to the restaurant to eat after work. It's good to have something to eat and drink for the two of us. What more could you ask for?" Ji Zhong laughed. He said, waving to the man and saying: "Old Wang, why don't we sit down and have something to eat together?"
Lao Wang quickly waved his hand, "You two are here drinking so late. You must have something to talk about. It's very inappropriate for me to be here.
In this way, you two eat and drink first. After you have eaten and drank enough, just go back and rest. I will put these here and tidy them up when I come tomorrow morning. "
Ji Zhong smiled and nodded, "Then I won't keep you here. Principal Li and I do have something important to do. You should pay attention to safety on your way back alone at this late hour."
"Okay, I'll leave now, Mr. Ji, Principal Li, see you later."
After greeting the two people at the table, Lao Wang put on his peaked cap and walked out of the restaurant.
After watching Lao Wang leave, Li Chenglong first filled a glass of wine for himself, then filled a glass for Jizhong, raised the glass, gestured to Jizhong, and drank it all in one gulp.
Jizhong was so frightened that he quickly stretched out his hand to stop him and said, "Lao Li, what are you doing? We are all this age and we are not as good as those young people. How can we drink like this?"
Li Chenglong stretched out his hand to indicate to Ji Zhong that he was okay, then sat there and calmed down for a while, then whispered, "Old Ji, thank you very much for this incident."
Ji Zhong smiled and said: "Are you talking about Han Min? What's there to thank you for? Even if it's not for your sake, Han Min is also a teacher in the school. If something happens, I, the principal, can't No matter what."
Li Chenglong shook his head, "Everyone has his own discussion, plus you have given the Han people two chances this time, and you have done him such a big favor.
At that time, our family was poor and could only afford to send one child to school. My father hesitated between my brother and me for a long time, and he could not bear to ask anyone to give up their studies.
Later, without my father and I knowing, my brother secretly went to school to apply for withdrawal from school, and the next morning he went to work in the family fields alone.
In fact, my younger brother's grades in school are much better than mine, but in order to take care of me, my elder brother, he willingly put his future in that field.
It was also from that time on that I vowed not to disappoint my younger brother, so I started studying hard. In the end, I did not disappoint my family and was admitted to Jiangnan University. "
Ji Zhong listened carefully to Li Chenglong's narration, poured another glass of wine for the two of them, and raised the glasses.
After Li Chenglong and Jizhong clinked their glasses, they drank the wine in one gulp again, with a painful expression on their faces. He lowered his head and continued: "When I was in college, the harvest at home also began. It became worse and worse, agricultural development began to stagnate, and the country began an era of large-scale steelmaking.
In order to earn my college tuition and living expenses, my younger brother left home and went to work in a factory in the south.
Before he left, he came to school to take a look at me. At that time, I took him walking on the university campus. Seeing the curiosity and freshness on his face, I just felt very sad. This is obviously the life he should have. But now it was taken away from me.
I still remember when he left, he told me: 'Brother, college life looks really wonderful, but it's a pity that I am not so lucky. You must study hard, be a useful person to society in the future, and strive to let more children have access to books. '
These were the last words he said to me in his life. After saying that, he got on the train to the south. "
Ji Zhong looked at Li Chenglong's somewhat red eyes and was secretly surprised.
He has worked with Li Chenglong for more than 20 years. In his impression, Li Chenglong has always been a very rigid and serious person, whether in formal work or in daily interactions with colleagues offline. This is still It was the first time he saw Li Chenglong's mood swings.
"The factories in the south were running 24 hours a day at that time, so he worked three shifts every day after he went there, and sometimes he would work day shifts and night shifts for 16 hours in a row.
But he was just a young man under the age of twenty. Such high-intensity work soon made him very tired, until one day on his way to get off work..."
At this point, Li Chenglong's voice was obviously choked up and his head lowered.
Ji Zhong patted his shoulder without saying a word. He knew that not talking now was the best comfort.
Li Chenglong calmed down and continued: "One morning, he had just finished his night shift. On the way to get off work, he was too tired and distracted. When he was crossing the road, he didn't notice a large truck on the other side of the road. It's coming at a fast pace, and then..."
At this point, Li Chenglong couldn't help but stop again, his voice trembling.
This was the third time tonight that he had an emotional breakdown.
"In those days, the news was too late. When my father and I got the news and rushed there, we still couldn't see my brother for the last time.
The truck driver paid our family 100,000 yuan, which was a huge sum of money at the time. But neither my father nor I chose to use the 100,000 yuan, but left it all to my brother's widow. The only requirement for her was to raise her brother's son, a Han citizen.
Maybe it was the death of my younger brother that inspired me. Later, I worked to earn living expenses while studying. The school also found out about my situation and specially exempted my tuition fees. I quickly graduated from college smoothly and got a master's degree and a Ph.D., and finally Successfully stayed in school to teach.
Although my career was considered successful at that time, my brother's death will always be a heartache for me, so Hanmin's child became my only thought of my brother.
Later, my wife and I gave birth to a daughter and we never had another daughter. Han Min became the only male in our family. He will definitely shoulder the important task of supporting the family in the future. This is also what my father asked me before his death, to teach Han Min well.
It's a pity that I had just started working at that time, and I was still in a confused stage. Hanmin had grown into a teenager. I really didn't know how to deal with such an old child in order to teach him well.
After thinking about it, I decided to only show him my sternest side. After all, he had never felt the teachings of his father since he was a child. No matter how strict his mother was, he never had the same feeling as his father, so I simply replaced his late father. to discipline him.
Maybe it was my first time to discipline a child, so I had no experience. I grew up in a rural area as a Han Chinese, so I had all sorts of bad habits. Especially lying! Every time I see him lying, I get very angry and punish him very severely.
One time, I forgot what happened. When I came home, I found that he had lied to me, so I punished him by kneeling on the ground for two hours. After that, he never dared to lie to me again.
I originally thought this method of discipline was correct, after all, he had indeed corrected himself. But until what this kid said to me tonight, I didn't know how much resentment he had been holding against me for so long.
Lao Ji, do you think I am a failure? "
"How could you fail? You, Mr. Li, did not rely on others. You relied on yourself to get a doctorate and enter Jiangnan University to teach. It only took more than 20 years to become the vice president of Jiangnan University. It can be said that in most cases, In the eyes of others, you can already be said to be a successful person." Ji Zhong comforted: "If you do good management at work, you will inevitably neglect the management of your family. This is normal.
Moreover, Han Min, a child who grew up in a single-parent family, his mother's teachings to him are inevitably limited. He will easily have a character flaw, which will make him become very extreme in his future life. This is the fundamental reason. "
Li Chenglong shook his head, "You don't need to comfort me. In fact, I have already reflected on it tonight. If I had not been busy with work and only wanted to use severe punishment to correct this child's mistakes, I would have spent more time. , understand his thoughts, his interests and hobbies, support him more in what he wants to do, and patiently reason with him when he makes mistakes, maybe he won't hate me so much now."
Ji Zhong took a chopstick of meat from the pot and gave it to Li Chenglong, and said softly: "Old Li, it's not too late for you to think of this now. This Hanmin kid is only in his twenties now, so he can still At the age of guidance, since you know what to do, it must be okay to do so.
In the future, you should pay more attention to him in life, and don't beat and scold him every time he makes a mistake. He is also an adult and has reached the age where he can understand the truth.
As for me, I will try my best to take care of him in study and work, and together we will guide this child back to the right path as soon as possible. "
Li Chenglong raised his head and looked at Ji Zhong gratefully, "Old Ji, please give me the five thousand yuan IOU that Han Min owes. Han Min is my nephew, and I will never ask you to pay back the money. Logically speaking, if you were able to help him solve this problem at that time, you have already done your best to be kind and righteous. If you are asked to pay back the money for him, it is really unjustifiable. In the future, I, Li Chenglong, will no longer be able to live as a human being."
Ji Zhong nodded, and without being polite to Li Chenglong, he took out the IOU signed with Chen Hao from his pocket. He understood Li Chenglong's temper. He was very principled in this matter and would not give in even a step.
Li Chenglong took the IOU from Jizhong. He was a little dazzled because he drank two glasses of wine in succession, so he got closer to the IOU and looked at it. Then he took out his pen and seal, signed and stamped Zhang, collected the IOU.
"Old Ji, you helped solve the issue of the women's dormitory last time, but the Han people reported it to the Discipline Inspection Commission for revenge. In the end, you rescued him from those gangsters regardless of past grudges. To be honest, you I admire Li Chenglong’s broadmindedness.”
Li Chenglong raised the cup again, and Jizhong was so frightened that he waved his hands and said: "Slow down, slow down, we are not young people anymore, why are we drinking so fast!"
Li Chenglong laughed, but this time he only took a small sip.
"Although you have done me a big favor, there are some things I still want to say." Li Chenglong continued, "You are too kind-hearted and not suitable to be the leader of the school because you cannot be tough.
If Li Hanmin was not his nephew and only had the status of a school teacher, and if I were the principal of the school, then I would definitely expel him directly in the girls' dormitory and not give him any chance to stay in the school.
Work is different from family. Children in the family are children after all. If they make mistakes, it is because their parents do not discipline them well. The parents can bear the consequences for them.
But at work, whether they are colleagues or superiors and subordinates, they are all adults who can bear the consequences for themselves. If they make a mistake and do not bear it themselves, they will have you, the head of the school, to wipe their butts and solve their troubles. Nothing happened to me, and I could continue to work confidently the next day.
You will make them think that as long as they stay in school, their mistakes will not have any big impact. They will not realize their mistakes at all, and will make them again and again. "
Ji Zhong was silent for a while and nodded, "Old Li, I admit that what you said is indeed correct.
But one thing you forget is that mistakes come in different sizes. Big mistakes, such as breaking the law and committing crimes, violating principles, etc. have irreversible consequences. Then I will definitely not meddle in others' affairs and let them bear the consequences.
If it is a small mistake, just because of some of my own desires or a momentary deviation from the path and greed, there is still room for recovery, and I will not give up on such people.
Many teachers in our school have passed the exam step by step, from the countryside, rural areas, and mountains, and so did you, Mr. Li. Such teachers have spent more than ten or twenty years to finally have such an opportunity to stand out. He can have the opportunity to bring his whole family out of the mountains. In other words, their entire family will undergo a qualitative change in his generation. .
And at this time, if I directly sentence them to death on behalf of the school because they just made some reparable mistakes, then their future life path will be very difficult.
After more than ten or twenty years of hard study, all the results have come to nothing. How much time, manpower and cost will it take for the family to train the next college student? This will be a big blow to a family.
Lao Li, you yourself came from the mountains. You should know how much energy it takes for the entire family to train a college student. In addition to their own efforts, other members of your family must also contribute and contribute to your success in entering college. Sacrifice something.
When these children come from a small place to a big city, they will inevitably be dazzled by the flowers and plants in the big city. If we beat him to death with a stick at this time, his life would be really ruined.
So I still think that as leaders, we should be more tolerant to these young teachers. In addition to work, we should also pay more daily attention to them in life, so that they can feel the warmth of the school, so that they can Really regard the school as your home and work hard for the school. "
Li Chenglong looked at Ji Zhong in surprise, and after a long while he shook his head, "I finally know why the old principal appointed you to take over his class. Now I admit it, I am indeed not as good as you."
"Actually, the old principal had a drink with me before he retired. After drinking too much, he told me that he liked you more than me."
Li Chenglong raised his head again in surprise, "Is this really true?"
Ji Zhong nodded seriously and recalled: "I remember that the old principal was drunk too much, I sent him home, and he told me while lying on the bed.
He said that he admires your serious work attitude and meticulous spirit very much, as well as the stubbornness that can penetrate from the bones. He often thinks of himself when he was young, working steadily and climbing to his current position step by step.
Compared to you, I seem to be much lazy, neglecting the management of the school, and being too loose in dealing with people and things. And I often don't know where to go as soon as people run away, and I don't stay for ten days and a half. School.
Hahahaha, I still remember the old principal said, I can see you in newspapers from major news agencies in the past two years, but I can’t see you only in our school.
But later the old principal still chose me as principal. Do you know why? "
Li Chenglong smiled bitterly and said, "If I had known, I wouldn't have targeted you intentionally or unintentionally for so many years."
"Well, Li Chenglong, you finally admitted it today, and I won't be able to forgive you in the future." Jizhong pointed at Li Chenglong with his finger and laughed.
Li Chenglong simply acted rogue and said: "Anyway, it's so late and there are only the two of us. Just think it's just drunken nonsense. I won't admit it when I wake up tomorrow."
"I didn't expect that Principal Li, who has always been serious, would start telling jokes one day."
Li Chenglong also found it interesting and couldn't help laughing.
"The old principal told me that Xiao Li is indeed more dedicated than you at work, but when he has to manage an entire school, his character is still too strict. If he doesn't know how to be tolerant, it will lead to school leaders and teachers The relationship between them is prone to rifts.
Since the founding of Jiangnan University, the atmosphere between teachers, students, and colleagues has been very harmonious, so in terms of overall direction control, let you, a good old man, do it. As for Xiao Li, let him cooperate. You do specific tasks so that you, the hands-off shopkeeper, can take care of the school for you when you are not at school.
However, once this decision is made, you must be mentally prepared. Xiao Li may be dissatisfied with you for a long time and target you intentionally or unintentionally.
When the time comes, I hope you won't care about this with him. After all, even if Xiao Li becomes a leader, he is still a child at heart. "
