【Historical Live Broadcast】Watching videos and being seen by our ancestors

[Back then: "Why did you call me a top student?"]

Later: "Why did they call you a top student?" "Heh...it's all in the past."

"Grandma, when I become successful, I'll definitely buy you shoes just like the ones on TV, so your feet won't hurt anymore."

"Manager, could you give me the employee price for these unsold shoes? I want my grandma to wear them."

Son, Mom sold all your awards and certificates from when you were little. I got 2.68 yuan for them.

How many people have lived in this room, how many dreams have they fulfilled? Have their stories crumbled? Last night before going to sleep, I almost burst into tears when I heard this lyric from the song "Rent and Buy".

In elementary school, I was in the middle to upper range of my class; in junior high, I was the absolute number one in my class, scoring 60 points ahead of the second-place student in the high school entrance exam; in high school, I climbed step by step from the bottom to within the top 100 in the grade, and got into an ordinary non-985/211 university. I thought my future was bright, but now I'm sitting in the study room doing past exam papers over and over again, my mind is full of worries about the future. If I pass the exam, I'll be afraid of where I'll find a job after I graduate; if I don't pass, I'll have to compete with so many undergraduates for those few positions.

I've never liked competition since I was little. I've always been pushed to move forward. The thought that all my parents' efforts over the years have resulted in me struggling to make a living in a tiny rented room after graduation suddenly makes me not want to grow up.

I'm like a dull stone, stuck in an inconspicuous corner, unable to bloom or grow into a tree. I can only be moved from one corner to another by the occasional blows of fate, and then continue to remain inconspicuous.

Looking at the people on the stage, I remembered where I used to stand. I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. I too had once been glorious, but now life had worn away my pride, and I was just an ordinary person worrying about daily necessities.

"What is mediocrity? It's the north-facing apartment I rent. My bed sheets and duvet covers got moldy three times in a month, and I was either washing them or drying them. It's the clothes I dug out that were covered in mold, so I washed them, dried them, and continued wearing them."

"I'm saying that I spent over 3 yuan a year in college to become an art student, and now my monthly salary is only 3000 yuan [facepalm]. But how should I put it, I'm much more laid-back, and I admit my mediocrity."

Because it's the kind of job that's really stressful, I can't do it. I did it for a while before, right after I graduated this year, and I cried every day, I was on the verge of a breakdown. This job is also tiring, and I make mistakes and get scolded, but I feel much more at peace [smirk]

"What happened to me can't be called mediocre, it's just a pity. One of my classmates in junior high school was a girl who was very good at studying, and she was the kind of girl who was very talented. Later, we went to the same high school. She was in the best class. In our senior year, I heard that she was under too much pressure and could no longer come to school normally."

A classmate from junior high told me that she was under a lot of pressure in junior high. Once, in winter, she woke up thinking it was time to go to school (because it was still dark when she went to school in winter), so she put on her schoolbag, rode her bike, and set off. Halfway there, she realized there was no one on the road. She looked at her watch and it was past 2 a.m.

In the end, it seems she only got into a private third-tier university... It's such a pity, she's such a smart person..."

"Someone like me, I wouldn't say I was particularly hardworking when I was in school, but I did try my best. After graduation, I wouldn't say I was extremely dedicated to my job, but I did my job efficiently and effectively."

I'm the kind of person who hasn't played well enough, hasn't studied well enough, is neither particularly capable nor particularly competent—just average. I earn 3200 a month, barely enough to support myself, let alone my parents who don't have social security. They're even working in illegal factories and don't dare quit. Society is too cruel to ordinary people.

"I imagined writing a long, rambling piece of melancholic literature, just like the people in the comments section, but when I looked up at my rented room, I realized there was nothing worth writing about."

"The first time I heard Mao Buyi's song was in the car, like someone like me. I laughed when I heard the first line, but fell silent from the second line onwards. After listening, I found a shoulder, turned on my hazard lights, got out of the car, lit a cigarette, and calmed down for a while."

"I used to think of myself as a dreamer, but my dreams were shattered, and all I'm left with is homesickness."

"Actually, just accept yourself completely. Life is your own, and no matter what, it's still your life. Accept your ordinariness and live the life you want within your limited time. [drinking milk tea]"

My family is ordinary, not rich but okay. I'm just a useless person with no special skills [facepalm]. I'm graduating soon and probably won't find a good job, but I think it's fine as I am, eating what I like, reading novels and chatting with friends.

Most people are like that, but so what if I'm ordinary? I am who I am. I acknowledge my ordinariness, but I still think my life is wonderful. [drinking milk tea]

"A nobody on the fringes of society, but the pride of the family. It's okay, they're still the pride of the family."

The ancient ancestors under the sky sighed: Aren't we the same?

The burden of the family will fall on our parents' shoulders in the future. Even though we are not as smart as them, they all hope that we will be better off and more successful than them in the future.

But aren't most people in the world just living mediocre lives?

There aren't that many phoenixes that fly out of remote mountain valleys, and that you can expect your child to become a dragon just by working hard to cultivate them.

Why can't we accept our mediocrity and enjoy life to the fullest within our means?

As the saying goes, contentment brings happiness. I've accepted my ordinariness; life is short, so as long as I'm happy, that's enough. But my family hasn't accepted it, haha!

I keep saying how much money I spent raising you, and yet you... Haha, am I not a genius because I don't want to be? Am I not a genius because I'm unwilling to be one?

I have tried and struggled, but what use is my effort alone when faced with matters of principle?

Can I, alone, revive a declining family from the dead? My life is a true reflection of trying my best but always dancing with failure.

Du Fu looked at the sky and felt sad: I was once full of vigor and ambition, wanting to serve the court and share the country's burdens, but now I am old and gray and still unable to fulfill my ambitions, living a poor and miserable life.

Even so, I hope that in the future I will write poetry, recording the suffering of the people, so that future generations can hear that this world is not only about poets and nobles, about romance and nature, about mountains and snow, but also about the suffering of the people in times of chaos. Their lives are not remembered, so let me write about them.