Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 82 (Part 3)
Translated by Pure
Chapter 82.3 The Scared Witless Zhou Haitang
Zhou Haitang almost shed tears at this painful stab. "What should I do then? I really, really tried hard to study, I swear! Gao Sheng skipped class every day, but I haven't skipped a single class since the beginning of the year.”
Gao Sheng, who had been unintentionally outed, received Lin Jingzhe's warning gaze and kicked Zhou Haitang. "Don’t listen to his nonsense, how can I score a 92 if I skipped every class? I tell you he is just stupid, there’s no saving him."
Lin Jingzhe was worried to death by these two boys. After the establishment of the Haitang Food Factory, the family originally planned to let Zhou Haitang transfer his major to business management during his sophomore year. Zhou Haitang himself had no objection to this as he found the profound theory of computer and programming principles being taught during the sophomore year rather uninteresting. However his scores were more chaotic than a glitter mess, it was very worrisome—Wutong University had very strict requirements for changing majors, not to mention the required courses, just looking at the grades of Zhou Haitang's liberal arts classes, asking him to meet the basic requirements was really more difficult than touching the sky.
Lin Jingzhe gloomily said after a long moment of silence, "This is not going to work, starting tomorrow, I’ll have someone to tutor you."
Zhou Haitang felt that the joys of his youth had already come to an end before it even began, but he really didn't have the courage to confront Lin Jingzhe, so he could only consent tearfully.
"Heh, I mentioned it to him a hundred times and he refused to agree. Sure enough, as long as it’s you, he’ll listen." Gao Sheng, who was on the side, happily watched and helped advise Lin Jingzhe, "Find a more fierce teacher, he is afraid of the fierce ones."
Lin Jingzhe asked, "Like my dad?"
Zhou Haitang was so scared by that notion that he almost pissed his pants. Although he was still held on the ground, he shook his head wildly, blatantly showing his refusal.
When Lin Runsheng walked in just now, Zhou Haitang was completely frightened, it was as if he had come face to face with the chairman of his department. In the entire Wutong University, he was most afraid of his department chairman. Whenever he saw the department chairman in public, Zhou Haitang would always take a detour just to avoid him. Moreover, Lin Runsheng's majesty was not to be inferior in any aspects.
At the mention of Lin Runsheng, Gao Sheng immediately lost his initially playful mood. His expression gradually became serious as he asked, "I heard that your father is now teaching at Hanhai University. Isn't his condition quite good? What happened back then?"
He was asking about Lin Jingzhe's childhood when no one in his family except his elderly grandfather had cared for him. Everyone in the Gao and Zhou family, including himself, found it difficult to accept the fact that Lin Jingzhe was interacting with him again. In their view, such an irresponsible father was already left off easy without having given a revenge beating; Lin Jingzhe really didn't need to give him any more face.
Lin Jingzhe sighed. He did resent Lin Runsheng when he was a child, but the older he grew up and the more he experienced, the harder it was for him to easily judge right from wrong, so he only answered. "It's hard to describe in one sentence. It's a long story, but don't worry, I’m doing well now.”
Gao Sheng stared into his eyes for a while. He then sighed and pinched his face. "Whatever you say, as long as you are happy."
After saying that, Gao Sheng estimated that Mother Zhou, who had silently signaled to him before, should have finished speaking by now. He stood up and said, "Let’s go, my mother stewed beef bone soup, and let’s get you a bowl."
Lin Jingzhe nodded without any suspicion before giving Zhou Haitang two more blows in the stomach. As soon as he stood up, he received a call from Xiao Chi.
Xiao Chi: "I'm off work. Uncle Dai just informed me that the Alliance will be holding a meeting in thirty minutes. Where are you now? I'll pick you up."
"Now?" Lin Jingzhe glanced at his watch and hurriedly told Xiao Chi the name of the Zhou Family's residential community. After exiting Zhou Haitang’s room and just about to bid goodbye when Lin Jingzhe keenly noticed the strange atmosphere in the living room.
He paused for two seconds, looking at Lin Runsheng's somewhat red eyes, and then at the indescribable expressions of the Zhou and Gao Family's parents, who were curled up by the edge of the sofa.
Lin Jingzhe: "......"
He suddenly understood and looked back at Gao Sheng.
The elders obviously had some unpleasant conversations during the time when he left, but Lin Runsheng managed to hold back his tears. He didn't have the face to cry, nor did he have the face to feel aggrieved. Mother Zhou's questions were all very politely asked, she only wanted to know why he hadn't visited Lin Jingzhe back in Liyun Town for so many years.
Ever since they had reunited, Lin Jingzhe never expressed any dissatisfaction towards him. He seemed to accept this abrupt appearance of a father figure in a very mild manner. Lin Jingzhe never asked for any compensation, nor did he blame him, and he even treated Shen Juanying and her daughter, who had no previous contact with each other, very gently.
In such a ‘normal’ process of assimilation, Lin Runsheng had never once been asked such explicit questions. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have gradually dropped his original qualms under Lin Jingzhe's concession and tolerance, but such a thing was abnormal. His debt to this child should never be erased because of Lin Jingzhe’s placid attitude; this was something that should never cease to exist.
In Mother Zhou’s memory, little Lin Jingzhe always went to school alone, with his backpack strapped behind his back. His grandfather was old and had pains in his legs, so he could not always pick and drop him off. Thus, like a conspicuous tower, he would always walk alone on the sidewalk where other children were holding the hands of their parents. He was often ridiculed by his cousin's family for being an orphan. He was gloomy, reclusive, rebellious, bullied, and unwilling to interact with others. Until fourth grade, little Lin Jingzhe would subconsciously curl up in the arms of his friends during nap time.
Lin Runsheng struggled to adjust his choked throat, and for a moment he didn't know what attitude he should use to treat this child whom he owed so much to.
Although Lin Jingzhe didn't know what they talked about, it could be limited to a few topics. Looking at the expressions of Mother Zhou and Hu Yu, he was afraid that Lin Runsheng would completely frighten them if he were to really cry, so he hurriedly took two steps forward and stuffed the things in his hands into Lin Runsheng's arms——
"Dad, look at this."
Lin Runsheng buried his head, full of guilt, and didn't even dare to look at his son. With his eyes lowered, he sluggishly flipped through the papers. After a few seconds, he stopped his mechanical movements immediately.
"What is this?" He frowned. Although his voice was still a bit incompressible, he seemed to have finally returned to his normal self.
"Outrageous!" He focused on the test papers, with his brows increasingly furrowed, his face became more tense and unsightly. His nose no longer felt sour, and his throat was no longer choked up; Lin Runsheng just looked in disbelief at the ugly words that seemed to be scratched out by a dog's paw and the bunch of wrong answers. "x1+x2+x3=0, what was the person playing at to come up with such an answer!? Who wrote on this test paper? Say it now!"
The whole family:"……"
Lin Jingzhe: "..."
"..." Zhou Haitang knelt on the ground with a plop.
Lin Jingzhe gave his friend a look that read ‘you dug your own grace’, and said, "Dad, this is the Haitang I told you about last time. He is going to change his major at the end of the semester, but his grades in liberal arts courses are really bad, so when you have time, can you tutor him a bit?"
When it comes to academic issues, Lin Runsheng immediately put the whole world behind him. He tremblingly stared at the unprecedented results on the test papers, and then looked at the senseless child kneeling on the ground with a disappointed look. "Come here!"
If this was the one of his students that had gotten such a result, he would have had to drag the other person to his home and stay up for three days to make up for the exam so that the other person could pass the exam! How outrageous!
Zhou Haitang felt his bladder tighten, he was scared witless. Immediately, Lin Runsheng's stern scolding resounded in the Zhou Family's living room——
"Where's your pencil?!"
"What does variable ‘a’ equal to? Say that again?!"
"Can you write that expression any more beautifully? I think your brain is no longer necessary!"
"What is the valve of this? What is the valve of this!"
"If you fill in this matrix wrong again, don’t even think about having dinner today!"
Zhou Haitang cried bitterly and dutifully changed a single answer seven times under Lin Runsheng’s guidance, but the results were still incorrect. His feelings of devastation were beyond indescribable. Everyone present felt distressed for him, and even Lin Jingzhe subconsciously took a few steps away.
After a moment of silence, Mother Zhou quietly crawled out of the sofa. She seemed to have finally realized that Lin Runsheng was not a normal person at all.
When she had spoken about Lin Jingzhe's childhood, this person's eyes turned increasingly red the more she talked. Lin Runsheng’s appearance of holding back his tears frightened Mother Zhou so much so that the serious accusations she was about to denounce at him were immediately swallowed back. However, this man’s change of expression now flipped a full one-eighty, fortunately, it was Zhou Haitang who was the unlucky target. At the moment, Mother Zhou had no intention of worrying about whether her son had passed the exam or not; she just wanted, no, needed to leave and calm down first.
She said to everyone in the room, "It's almost dinner time, I'm going to buy a bottle of wine."
After saying that, Mother Zhou gave her son a ‘dispising iron for not becoming steel[1]’ look. Although she was also somewhat sympathetic to her son, Mother Zhou randomly grabbed a bag and left in a hurry.
Only after hearing the sound of the closing door did Lin Jingzhe remember that he had to leave early. After saying goodbye to several elders who had not yet come to their senses, he pulled Lin Runsheng and said, "Dad, something came up at work, we have to leave now."
"You go first! I'll wait until he rewrites all these test papers!" Lin Runsheng didn't have the extra time to pay attention to what his son was saying at the moment. His sharp eyes stared closely at Zhou Haitang's answer that was still not correct even after revising it for the eighth time. Oh my God! How could there be such a student in this world? He just wished he could grab the pen and help him finish writing, or open this child’s head to see if his hair follicles were stuck in his brain!
Wrong again!
He shook off his son's hand that was on his shoulder, and hit the coffee table several times with his hand. "9? 9? What is the rank of matrix P? Recalculate it again according to the formula I’ve written down!?!?!"
Zhou Haitang frantically immersed himself in the topic!
Lin Jingzhe said: "..."
Gao Sheng: "..."
Gao Sheng secretly hid himself in a room.
While making her way downstairs, Mother Zhou recalled Lin Runsheng's crying expression and angry face and couldn't help trembling. She quickly gathered herself and walked downstairs calmly— Lin Jingzhe hasn't been here for so long, she had to cook something delicious for him.
When she left the community gate, a dark sedan parked on the side of the road. The car was very beautiful. She subconsciously looked up and saw a handsome and tall young man getting out of the driver's seat.
Oh wow, so handsome, like a Hong Kong star.
Mother Zhou was recently following a TV series and was rather sensitive to the appearance of handsome men. She couldn't help but look at him again, and was soon shocked by his height after he stood up straight.
He must be over 1.9 meters! The man was standing on the curb, at least half a head taller than the pedestrians passing by. My God, northerners could really grow.
She sighed and lamented. After passing by, she turned back to take one last look at this tall and handsome young man. He was holding a large brick phone, speaking into it while looking at the buildings in the community. His back looked steady and reliable.
"I'm at the gate, are you coming down, or should I pick you up?"
Wow, his voice was also very nice.
Sigh, why do everyone else’s children all look so reliable? Just like Jingzhe. Mother Zhou felt that if she had a daughter, her ideal son-in-law would look like this.
But the reality was that she only had an unlucky son who scored 20 points and was currently being scolded by Lin Jingzhe's father until he was reduced to a ball of piss. Her useless son only knew how to sit at home, waiting for food to be delivered into his mouth.
Alas, did I forget to worship Bodhisattva before he was born?
Mother Zhou thought regretfully.
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Footnote:
[1] dispising iron for not becoming steel (恨铁不成钢) - to feel resentful towards somebody for failing to meet expectations and impatient to see improvement (idiom)