Film and Television World Life Record

Over the next two days, Li Mu accompanied Yan Liang and Pu Pu around the docks and construction sites in Ningzhou, and finally found Yan Liang a job carrying bricks at the construction site.

The salary was paid every two weeks, fifty yuan a day, which adds up to 1500 yuan a month. Don't think it's too little; in 06, this salary was already quite high for a minor.

Yan Liang was very excited after finding a job, and Li Mu specially found a small restaurant to celebrate with him.

Seeing his happy expression, Li Mu thought to himself, "You're getting too excited. This is a construction site job, not a trip. You'll regret this."

……

Just as Li Mu had predicted, two days later, when he saw Yan Liang again, he was completely different from his usual lively self. He lay motionless on the bed in the rented room, and had no mood to go out shopping or have fun.

Moving bricks is a physically demanding job. Not to mention minors, even adults who are not used to it need a long time to adapt.

These days are going to be tough.

Li Mu laughed and said, "Yan Liang, how about it? Now you know whether studying is harder or carrying bricks is harder. Why don't you just give up and stop carrying bricks?"

Yan Liang really wanted to agree. He had never done such heavy physical labor before and couldn't even imagine it. Now, every day when he returned to his rented room, all he wanted to do was fall asleep. He was completely exhausted from carrying bricks.

Moreover, I simply couldn't adapt to doing such heavy physical labor all of a sudden. In the past few days, not only have my legs and arms been aching, but I've also developed several blisters on my hands and feet.

He had already considered giving up several times.

However, he gave up on the promise he had just made after only two days, which was not his style; he just stubbornly held on.

He regretted it in his heart, but he was stubborn and said, "It's okay, I'm just not used to it these past few days, I'll be fine in a few days, you'll see!"

Li Mu stared at him for a while, and seeing that he was serious, he stopped trying to persuade him: "Alright, you can do it first."

"Here, I bought you some food. Take good care of yourselves and don't overwork yourselves."

As he spoke, he threw a large bag of vacuum-packed cooked food and snacks onto the bed.

You don't know the cost of firewood and rice until you're in charge of the household. With only a little money for living expenses, Yan Liangpu has been very careful buying food these past two days, not even touching meat. He's really scared of living without a penny.

Upon seeing so much delicious food, Yan Liang immediately sat up, took out a chicken leg, two braised eggs, and several duck necks from the bag, and began to eat them heartily with plain water.

Seeing how much he enjoyed his meal, Li Mu became a little hungry. He chatted with them for a while before leaving.

Starting tomorrow, he'll have more things to do; he'll be going to the Children's Palace in the morning to audit an Olympiad math class.

This was the most natural and reasonable opportunity for him to make contact with Zhang Dongsheng, and he couldn't miss it. He could have gotten to know Zhang through other means, but those would have seemed too purposeful and easily aroused unnecessary suspicion.

Only by becoming familiar with and understanding him can we find a way to reform and guide Zhang Dongsheng.

On his way home, Li Mu passed a lottery shop and spent another 40 yuan to buy 20 lottery tickets, which was the key to completing his mission.

Money is a good thing. Zhang Dongsheng went to extremes because he had no money and his life was too unsuccessful.

If Zhang Dongsheng had a high-paying and stable job, even if he lost his love and marriage, he would have had a way out and wouldn't have gone down that path of no return.

To reform Zhang Dongsheng, the most effective and thorough approach is to start with his ideology and reshape his values.

However, Li Mu could not do it; he lacked the ability and knowledge to do so.

The saying "It's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature" is not just a saying.

Moreover, he was just a minor, a middle school student. It would be too difficult to reform Zhang Dongsheng, who was in his thirties, through his thinking.

The only option was to settle for second best and approach the problem from another angle, allowing Zhang Dongsheng to have an excellent career, utilize his intelligence and ambitions, and realize his life's value.

With a good career and a high salary, although the person is still the same, in a worldly sense, they can be considered a moderately successful person.

When one door closes, another opens; though love and marriage may be lost, a successful career and considerable wealth remain.

Would Zhang Dongsheng, given his current situation, still go to extremes? Obviously not.

No one would take this step unless they were forced into a corner or a desperate situation; it's a one-way street.

Zhang Dongsheng was no exception.

With a career and wealth as a foundation, a person has confidence. Even if Xu Jing is gone, there are still Wang Jing, Liu Jing…

As Zhang Dongsheng's career took off, his confidence naturally grew, his posture straightened, and his overall demeanor changed.

The Zhang Dongsheng who is busy with family matters all day long, whose career has failed, whose life is bleak, and who lacks self-confidence is different from the Zhang Dongsheng who is successful in his career, full of confidence, high spirits, and upright.

Xu Jing did love Zhang Dongsheng, but she loved the spirited Zhang Dongsheng of yesteryear, not the mediocre Zhang Dongsheng of today.

When the gap between ideals and reality widens, love will naturally fade away.

The transformed Zhang Dongsheng will achieve worldly success, rediscover his unique charm, and perhaps even make Xu Jing fall in love with him again.

This is the most perfect ending.

However, good dreams are easily shattered, and no one knows how the future will unfold.

Chapter 47 Contact

The following morning, Li Mu took a bus to the Children's Palace to audit an Olympiad math class.

Quite by chance, I ran into Zhu Jingjing and Wang Yao, who had come to see her off, outside the Children's Palace.

Li Mu suddenly remembered that Zhu Jingjing had died today, which had become Zhu Chaoyang's nightmare. Previously, he had been hesitant to help Yan Liangpu extort Zhang Dongsheng, but after this incident, he became much more proactive.

Wang Yao and her daughter probably didn't remember Zhu Chaoyang at all. They had only met a few times, so it was normal that they wouldn't recognize him, and Li Mu didn't seem inclined to go up and greet him.

Some tragedies were destined to be avoided the moment Li Mu arrived.

Although Zhu Jingjing is willful and capricious, she is just a child and is more influenced by adults, so we can't be too harsh on her.

Some tragedies are too heavy and cruel for children to bear.

Now, everything has vanished.

Li Mu didn't plan to have much contact with them. Even though they were his half-sisters, it was fine for them to live their own lives.

Li Mu didn't actually harbor any resentment towards Zhu Yongping. The previous generation had its own grudges, and it was hard to explain clearly.

To be realistic, if you put him in Zhu Yongping's position, with Zhou Chunhong on one side and Wang Yao on the other, which one would he choose as his wife, and which one would he love?

I think most people would choose Wang Yao. Putting aside other aspects, her youth and beauty alone give her an absolute advantage, not to mention that she is also a virtuous wife.

What about Zhou Chunhong? She doesn't have a good temper. Look at how she disciplines Chaoyang; it's all coercive. When she gets angry, she just gives him a lecture, and the atmosphere at home is always oppressive.

Zhu Yongping's choice of Wang Yao cannot be considered a mistake; they are both ordinary people without such lofty ideals or awareness.

Since he chose Wang Yao, it's understandable that he would dote on his daughter even more after spending so much time with her.

As for Wang Yao, Li Mu only met her once. Although she didn't like him, she still treated him politely and bought him several thousand yuan worth of clothes, readily paying with her card.

From this perspective, there's nothing to blame.

After all, he's the son of an ex-wife, not even a stepmother. Expecting her to treat you well is wishful thinking.

In the real world, you can't really say that they're that bad; it's just a very common practice.

So, that's it. Li Mu won't go looking for them or disturb their family's life anymore. It's good for them to live their own lives.

Besides, with him around, it's uncertain who will have a better future!

……

Li Mu's mind raced, but his feet didn't stop. He quickly left Wang Yao and her daughter behind, entered the Children's Palace, and found the summer math Olympiad class.

There were quite a few students inside. After choosing a seat and sitting down, a few minutes later, Zhang Dongsheng came in with a stack of documents.

"Hello everyone, I am Zhang Dongsheng, a math and Olympiad math teacher. First of all, welcome to this trial class. It is my greatest wish to see more people fall in love with math."

"The greatest contributor to the tremendous leap in human civilization in just one or two hundred years is the progress of mathematics, which is the foundation of all sciences."

Does anyone know who invented the earliest Cartesian coordinate system?

Seeing that everyone was not in a good mood during the lecture, Zhang Dongsheng wanted to guide them, so he stood on the podium and asked with a smile.

There was only silence below; no one answered.

At this moment, Li Mu raised his hand.

"It's the famous French mathematician Descartes." He wanted to take this opportunity to make a deeper impression so that they could have further contact.

Seeing that there was no awkward silence, someone finally answered. Zhang Dongsheng looked at Li Mu and nodded with satisfaction.

"Yes, it was Descartes. That's why the rectangular coordinate system is also called the Cartesian coordinate system. There are many versions of the story about Descartes inventing the coordinate system. Some say he dreamed about it, others say he did it to pursue a young and beautiful princess..."

On the podium, Zhang Dongsheng was calm and composed, as if no problem could trip him up. He drew a heart-shaped coordinate axis on the blackboard and told Descartes' story in a gentle and detailed manner.

After rambling on for a while, perhaps because it was summer vacation, seeing other classmates playing while being forced to attend math olympiad class, they were all half-hearted and whispering to each other.

Only a few people, such as Li Mu, were listening attentively to the lecture.

Overall, Zhang Dongsheng's teaching level was extremely high, but unfortunately this was a trial class, and most students had just started their summer vacation and were thinking about having fun! They had no interest in listening.

Having taught math olympiad for so many years, Zhang Dongsheng had a very good grasp of his students' psychology. After lecturing for a while, he stopped, opened the document bag, and pulled out a stack of test papers.

"There's not much to cover today, let's get a feel for each other first! We'll start with a mock test. The purpose of our math Olympiad classes isn't just to improve math scores and get you into math Olympiad competitions, but more importantly, to cultivate a mathematical way of thinking. This will benefit your future and your entire lives."

"Here's a little hint: the last big question requires using the method of combining numbers and shapes..."

As the exam papers were handed out, Li Mu began to read the questions. It must be said, Zhu Chaoyang's learning talent was truly exceptional, especially in mathematics.

The test paper in front of him was well-designed, falling between easy and difficult. Li Mu read it through from beginning to end, and 95% of the questions were not difficult for him.

His logical thinking, analytical and memory abilities are outstanding. If Li Mu had had this talent back then, he would have been guaranteed a place in a top university.

Unfortunately, in the real world he's just an ordinary person.