Little girl, You’re Very Talented (2)
Fortunately, it was just the foundation class. There was a group of children of similar level. They didn’t need to practice any skills, all they needed to do was run a few laps, stretch their legs and play-kick some wooden planks.
For the children, they were just there to play.
Contrary to the bigger kids, the younger kids’ training was pretty much just this. They were not exposed to any dangerous tools.
It was really boring and meaningless. This was not fun at all.
Xiaoman was also bored.
She didn’t even want to come anymore.
But thinking about her uncle crying to her about how expensive the hobby class was, she tried to persevere through it.
Not only did she persist, she also ran two more laps compared to other kids. She kicked two more planks, and tied two more sandbags than the others! She worked really hard, trying not to let Uncle’s money go to waste!
Because of the hobby class, Xiaoman felt very tired and hungry every day. All she wanted to do was eat and sleep.
She started eating more, and her body also grew up faster, almost as if someone were pulling her body up vertically. Everyday after going home from school, she would eat dinner, do her homework then go to bed; everything was done very punctually.
After a few quiet days, Yu Qingshi couldn’t sit still anymore.
Jiang Xiaoman had been so busy recently, and didn’t come to his house anymore.
When their families lived far away, Xiaoman would come to visit him on the weekends. But now that the two families lived close by, she didn’t come at all.
Yu Qingshi was very lonely.
He took the initiative to go to Jiang Xiaoman’s house to find her, but Jiang Xiaoman was very busy. Every time he came, she was either doing homework or sleeping.
In the end, Yu Qingshi could only do homework together with her, and go home after it was completed.
He waited until the weekend and came to ask her, “Xiaoman, do you want to go on an outing with me?”
Yu Qingshi looked very restless.
Actually, he didn’t like outings at all. Usually, his father had to coax him before he would go. But this time, he actually took the initiative to invite Xiaoman.
He felt that she was very curious and wanted to play with all kinds of things, so she would definitely agree if he asked her to go on one.
Xiaoman’s eyes were beaming, and she asked, “What do you do on an outing?”
“It’s… just finding a place with nice scenery. Eat something, play, take photos…” Yu Qingshi’s voice became smaller and smaller. In fact, he didn’t find it fun at all! “If you want to go, we can also bring Fragrance!”
The two of them could watch it together.
Miaomiao could not be taken out, otherwise they would also bring Miaomiao.
“Wow!” Jiang Xiaoman exclaimed with a look of longing. She almost nodded, but she suddenly seemed to remember something; she pouted and started sobbing, “But, I can’t. I don’t have the time.”
“Why?”
Jiang Xiaoman wanted to cry again. She imagined going to a beautiful, sceneric place with Yu Qingshi, playing together while bringing candies, biscuits and Fragrance.
It would be very wonderful!
She hadn’t played for a long time.
But she couldn’t go.
Wuu wuu wuu…
Xiaoman felt very conflicted, as if two Xiaomans were fighting inside her head.
One was saying, “Just go, it’s fine to skip hobby class for one day.” The other was saying, “Don’t go! Did you forget that Uncle can’t even afford to eat beef noodles now? Don’t you feel guilt towards Grandma and Uncle bla bla bla?”
As Xiaoman thought about it more and more, her tears started falling.
She said while crying, “I still have to go to school. This weekend, the hobby class teacher said that he would show us how to break bricks with our bare hands. I want to go and see it wuu wuu wuu… I’ve already studied for a long time but I still haven’t learnt how to do this. Grandma said that if you avoid suffering now, you will suffer later on instead. If you don’t eat the tears of study, you would eat the tears of life instead. Wuu wuu wuu, I can’t go. You should go home now!”
Jiang Xiaoman ran away.
She didn’t want to see Yu Qingshi at all. She was afraid of being too excited, to the point where she would lose control and go with him.
She didn’t want this at all.
Yu Qingshi stared blankly at the sight of her back running away from him, as if he was thinking about something.
Jiang Xiaoman still went to class in the end.
But she was studying while crying, and even sat down obediently while crying in class.
Her heart felt so painful, so sad. She wanted to give up, but she was a good girl.
She had already come, so she continued learning. But she still wanted to cry.
The teacher looked at her and thought to himself, was the child finally unable to hold on?
Coming here for class was so painful and exhausting, none of the other children could persist like her.
Finally, this one couldn’t stand it anymore and even cried. Well, it wasn’t strange.
Sigh, children nowadays couldn’t bear hardships. Oh well.
Xiaoman followed the teacher, and with a ‘ha!’ sound, she took a deep breath to her dantian1 and got into a stance.
Then she continued to cry.
Teacher: “……”
She stretched her legs…
And afterwards, she continued crying.
They took a short stop to rest a while.
The teacher said, “Student Jiang Xiaoman, if you have something to do, you can take a break first.”
Xiaoman shook her head, “Teacher, please continue. I will not say anything.”
Her tears flowed to her heart!!
The teacher looked at her face that was full of tears, but she didn’t make any sound. After hesitating for a while, clapping sounds suddenly rang in the air. The students were surprised and looked at the teacher.
The teacher pulled her aside and praised, “Everyone should learn from Xiaoman. We don’t know what she had experienced, but we can see her perseverance. Is she not miserable? She is! But did she give up? No. This is an example you should follow in the future.”
“Student Jiang Xiaoman can persevere in the class with such an unyielding spirit. You have paid the tuition but you only come here to sleep. Don’t you feel ashamed? Don’t you feel guilty? Alright, the two boys in the back. Get up and run two laps.”
Footnote:
1. A point below the navel where Qi is gathered, often comes up in martial arts and cultivation novels.
Little girl, You’re Very Talented (2)
Fortunately, it was just the foundation class. There was a group of children of similar level. They didn’t need to practice any skills, all they needed to do was run a few laps, stretch their legs and play-kick some wooden planks.
For the children, they were just there to play.
Contrary to the bigger kids, the younger kids’ training was pretty much just this. They were not exposed to any dangerous tools.
It was really boring and meaningless. This was not fun at all.
Xiaoman was also bored.
She didn’t even want to come anymore.
But thinking about her uncle crying to her about how expensive the hobby class was, she tried to persevere through it.
Not only did she persist, she also ran two more laps compared to other kids. She kicked two more planks, and tied two more sandbags than the others! She worked really hard, trying not to let Uncle’s money go to waste!
Because of the hobby class, Xiaoman felt very tired and hungry every day. All she wanted to do was eat and sleep.
She started eating more, and her body also grew up faster, almost as if someone were pulling her body up vertically. Everyday after going home from school, she would eat dinner, do her homework then go to bed; everything was done very punctually.
After a few quiet days, Yu Qingshi couldn’t sit still anymore.
Jiang Xiaoman had been so busy recently, and didn’t come to his house anymore.
When their families lived far away, Xiaoman would come to visit him on the weekends. But now that the two families lived close by, she didn’t come at all.
Yu Qingshi was very lonely.
He took the initiative to go to Jiang Xiaoman’s house to find her, but Jiang Xiaoman was very busy. Every time he came, she was either doing homework or sleeping.
In the end, Yu Qingshi could only do homework together with her, and go home after it was completed.
He waited until the weekend and came to ask her, “Xiaoman, do you want to go on an outing with me?”
Yu Qingshi looked very restless.
Actually, he didn’t like outings at all. Usually, his father had to coax him before he would go. But this time, he actually took the initiative to invite Xiaoman.
He felt that she was very curious and wanted to play with all kinds of things, so she would definitely agree if he asked her to go on one.
Xiaoman’s eyes were beaming, and she asked, “What do you do on an outing?”
“It’s… just finding a place with nice scenery. Eat something, play, take photos…” Yu Qingshi’s voice became smaller and smaller. In fact, he didn’t find it fun at all! “If you want to go, we can also bring Fragrance!”
The two of them could watch it together.
Miaomiao could not be taken out, otherwise they would also bring Miaomiao.
“Wow!” Jiang Xiaoman exclaimed with a look of longing. She almost nodded, but she suddenly seemed to remember something; she pouted and started sobbing, “But, I can’t. I don’t have the time.”
“Why?”
Jiang Xiaoman wanted to cry again. She imagined going to a beautiful, sceneric place with Yu Qingshi, playing together while bringing candies, biscuits and Fragrance.
It would be very wonderful!
She hadn’t played for a long time.
But she couldn’t go.
Wuu wuu wuu…
Xiaoman felt very conflicted, as if two Xiaomans were fighting inside her head.
One was saying, “Just go, it’s fine to skip hobby class for one day.” The other was saying, “Don’t go! Did you forget that Uncle can’t even afford to eat beef noodles now? Don’t you feel guilt towards Grandma and Uncle bla bla bla?”
As Xiaoman thought about it more and more, her tears started falling.
She said while crying, “I still have to go to school. This weekend, the hobby class teacher said that he would show us how to break bricks with our bare hands. I want to go and see it wuu wuu wuu… I’ve already studied for a long time but I still haven’t learnt how to do this. Grandma said that if you avoid suffering now, you will suffer later on instead. If you don’t eat the tears of study, you would eat the tears of life instead. Wuu wuu wuu, I can’t go. You should go home now!”
Jiang Xiaoman ran away.
She didn’t want to see Yu Qingshi at all. She was afraid of being too excited, to the point where she would lose control and go with him.
She didn’t want this at all.
Yu Qingshi stared blankly at the sight of her back running away from him, as if he was thinking about something.
Jiang Xiaoman still went to class in the end.
But she was studying while crying, and even sat down obediently while crying in class.
Her heart felt so painful, so sad. She wanted to give up, but she was a good girl.
She had already come, so she continued learning. But she still wanted to cry.
The teacher looked at her and thought to himself, was the child finally unable to hold on?
Coming here for class was so painful and exhausting, none of the other children could persist like her.
Finally, this one couldn’t stand it anymore and even cried. Well, it wasn’t strange.
Sigh, children nowadays couldn’t bear hardships. Oh well.
Xiaoman followed the teacher, and with a ‘ha!’ sound, she took a deep breath to her dantian1 and got into a stance.
Then she continued to cry.
Teacher: “……”
She stretched her legs…
And afterwards, she continued crying.
They took a short stop to rest a while.
The teacher said, “Student Jiang Xiaoman, if you have something to do, you can take a break first.”
Xiaoman shook her head, “Teacher, please continue. I will not say anything.”
Her tears flowed to her heart!!
The teacher looked at her face that was full of tears, but she didn’t make any sound. After hesitating for a while, clapping sounds suddenly rang in the air. The students were surprised and looked at the teacher.
The teacher pulled her aside and praised, “Everyone should learn from Xiaoman. We don’t know what she had experienced, but we can see her perseverance. Is she not miserable? She is! But did she give up? No. This is an example you should follow in the future.”
“Student Jiang Xiaoman can persevere in the class with such an unyielding spirit. You have paid the tuition but you only come here to sleep. Don’t you feel ashamed? Don’t you feel guilty? Alright, the two boys in the back. Get up and run two laps.”
Footnote:
1. A point below the navel where Qi is gathered, often comes up in martial arts and cultivation novels.
