fool.

1998.

"William, are you looking for something?"

Si Zhao turned his head and saw Xiufen coming in with two golden bags from "Only Watch Shop". She was wearing a red short-sleeved T-shirt with traditional Chinese characters "Bate, we are on the move" with dark blue Black high-waisted jeans, a red patent leather belt tied around the waist, long brown hair coiled up high, the whole person looks capable and energetic.She turned around and closed the door. There was a large English "BETTER" printed on the back of the T-shirt, and there was a line of small words below it, which was also in English: Betterme, Betteryou.

Si Zhao said: "Oh, it's nothing. When the head came to the stage first, he hurriedly put the notebook into a gift bag, and told Yuanyuan to put it aside for me, and give it to me when she got off the stage. Maybe I was busy, so I didn't hear it carefully, so I went to ask her after I got off the stage, and she said that she put all the bags here."

"What gift bag?" Xiufen put the watch shop's bag on the ground, pretending to help Si Zhao find it, "Do you remember?"

"I just remember it was a red bag." Si Zhao couldn't remember too many details, and he was really distressed when he saw that most of the paper bags in the room were red, and the sizes were similar.In this room full of gift bags, only the bag from the high-end watch shop that Xiufen brought in just now looks so unique and unique.

Xiufen and Si Zhao searched separately, and she asked, "Is it that brown leather-covered notebook you've been holding in your hand?"

"Yep."

"Then we have to find it quickly, otherwise who can explain Teacher Shanlin's itinerary, or, do you remember it?"

Si Zhao said with a smile: "I'm not a machine, I can't remember so many itineraries." He and Xiufen searched for a long time in the sea of ​​gifts. There are many gifts, such as brand-name bags, brand-name clothes, expensive ties, Belts, millennium ginseng, top fish maw, shark’s fin tied with ribbons, dried abalone in glass jars, and nourishing bird’s nest.

Xiufen said suddenly: "You should be careful about what you want first, and I'll put it aside for you."

Si Zhao smiled: "Didn't you say that you'll seal up the bags later and make them about the same size, and everyone will play a lucky draw at the Christmas party tomorrow?"

"Hey, do you know, someone gave him a pair of Vacheron Constantins." Xiufen arched him, brought the two bags from the only watch shop over, and winked at Si Zhao, "Shh, I'll help you cheat, don't you?" Go out and talk nonsense."

She pouted at the square dial on Si Zhao's right wrist, the watch with a thin strap: "Your watch needs to be replaced, I have replaced that belt for you twice, it's something from so many years ago Already?"

Si Zhao said: "The older something is, the more valuable it is. Vintage, it will be a family heirloom in the future."

Xiufen rolled her eyes and was about to continue talking, when a melodious piano piece floated in from outside, Xiufen said: "Chorus?" She grabbed Si Zhao's wrist to check the time: "It's ten o'clock, is Teacher Shanlin going to gone?"

Si Zhao nodded, feeling a little anxious, rummaging through the gift bag faster, Xiufen said: "You should send Teacher Shanlin back first, I found it and brought it to you at school tomorrow."

Si Zhao said, "Let's look for it again."

"What's in it?"

"Secret documents."

"Passport?"

"ID card."

Xiufen laughed loudly, and the two bumped into each other suddenly, Xiufen was a little embarrassed, blushed, walked away, quickly found a topic, and said: "Today when Qiqi came on stage, we really witnessed a miracle. "

Si Zhao said: "In fact, the treatment has been done for a long time, how to put it, it will be a matter of course."

"Wow, your idioms have improved a lot, and your accent is not as strange as before."

"I have the standard Cantonese accent of second-generation Cantonese immigrants in the southern United States." Si Zhao joked.

Xiufen's voice suddenly choked up, and her tone was much lighter: "I am really grateful to Teacher Shanlin, if it wasn't for him, I would still be beaten by some stinky man..."

Si Zhao looked back at her, and saw Xiufen dug out a notebook with a brown cover from a paper bag, and screamed excitedly: "I found it!" Her eyes sparkled.

Si Zhao took the notebook, thanked her a few words, and left quickly.He took the elevator directly to the 1808th floor, found Room [-], and saw a young man standing at the door, wearing a T-shirt of the same style as Xiufen. He was standing like a security guard, and nodded to Si Zhao.

Si Zhao took out the room card and was about to open the door, but the young boy grabbed his arm and blocked the door with a distressed expression: "Mr. William, Mr. Shanlin is inside..."

Si Zhao thought it was funny: "Of course I know he's in there. I booked the room. I just sent him in after the speech was over."

"No...it's..." The young man tugged at the corner of his mouth, hesitant to speak.

Si Zhao asked him, "Who else is in there?"

"Kiki."

"How long have you been in?"

The young man smiled, and Si Zhao also smiled, patted his arm, and said, "Yes, I remembered, Qiqi does have a class tonight to consolidate the course of treatment, although we have made a breakthrough today She is able to walk on the ground, but she still cannot be too proud or complacent, pride and complacency will take away our confidence and make people degenerate, then all previous efforts will be in vain.”

The young man listened carefully and nodded frequently.Si Zhao said, "Then I'll wait next door and deal with some things."

Si Zhao went into the next room. Immediately after entering the room, he called room 1808 through the internal line.No one answered the first call, but someone answered the second call. It was a girl's voice, weak and lazy, just giggling.Si Zhao hung up the phone, the third call was connected, and Zhu Tianyun's voice came from the receiver.

"Teacher Shanlin." Si Zhao called him respectfully, "Please open the door, I have something to tell you."

Zhu Tianyun——Teacher Shanlin responded, and after a while, someone knocked on the door. Si Zhao went to open the door. The young man standing outside the door was the young man who was in charge of guarding the door of Room 1808. He said, "Shanlin The teacher is looking for you."

Si Zhao patted him and went to 1808.

There is a smell of pine incense in the huge suite, the room is smoky, the TV in the living room is on, and there are some red paper bags with "Betterme" printed on the sofa in the living room.Si Zhao went over to have a look, and saw that it was full of money.U.S. dollars, Hong Kong dollars, British pounds, Japanese yen... the foreign exchange center is nothing more than that.

Shan Lin came out of the bedroom wearing a silk nightgown, holding a cigar in one hand, and called Si Zhao: "Come, come, William."

He spoke Mandarin, walked slowly to the sofa and sat down, huddling with those paper bags full of money.There was news on TV, and he squinted his eyes, smoking a cigar, watching the news.

Si Zhao also spoke Mandarin to him: "It's almost time, I'll take you back."

"Aren't I still going to give a speech?"

"It has already been sent."

Si Zhao wiped off the white powder on the coffee table, wiped his hands on his clothes, and said, "Teacher Shanlin, let's go."

Shanlin shook his head: "Really? Wait a minute." He found the remote control and turned up the TV volume a lot.The news is reporting that during the Christmas period, the "Better Project" charity event is in full swing on this island. Groups of men and women in red T-shirts appear in the camera, and they hand over "Betterme" paper bags to some beggars and homeless people. , Still singing and dancing with these disgraced people in the open space.Shanlin smiled and pointed to the screen, looked at Si Zhao, but said nothing.

Si Zhao asked him: "Have you talked directly with Qiqi?"

"No, no." Shanlin patted his legs, picked up the handset on the coffee table, put it to his ear, and smiled at Si Zhao.

"Who are you calling?"

Shanlin rolled his eyes and hung up the phone.Boom, boom, someone knocked on the door outside, Si Zhao went to open the door, and the young man who was guarding the door said, "Mr. William, everything has been put in your car according to Teacher Shanlin's instructions."

Si Zhao nodded and closed the door. Shanlin got up at this moment. He walked towards the door barefoot, and sang Christmas carols with the young people on TV who comforted the homeless. Standing tall, directing the flying with both hands in the air.His hand touched Si Zhao's shoulder, he hugged him, opened the door, and led him out.

When he got outside the door, he was still humming, but he didn't sing the lyrics. With a gentle smile on his face, he nodded to the young man guarding the door.

The young man was immediately overwhelmed by flattery, and lowered his head, not daring to look at Shanlin.Shan Lin patted him and whispered to Si Zhao, and Si Zhao said to the young man: "Ajie, Teacher Shan Lin said that you performed very well today, keep working hard, the transformation will be at the next intersection."

Ajie wiped his eyes, and suddenly knelt down on the ground with a plop.

Si Zhao and Shan Lin walked into the elevator, but Ajie was still kneeling on the ground, motionless.The two entered the underground parking lot and got into a black Rolls-Royce. Shanlin asked Si Zhao, "Where is the Ferrari that Lao Fan gave me that day?"

Si Zhao glanced at the rearview mirror, there were quite a few brand-name bags and some paper bags on the back seat, among them were the paper bags from the watch shop.Si Zhao said: "It was sent to the auction house according to Teacher Shanlin's intention, and the money from the auction was used to support young people with congenital disabilities like Qiqi."

Shanlin smiled and pinched Si Zhao's shoulder: "I'm relieved to have you take care of this for me."

After driving for about ten minutes, Shanlin handed over a watch box from behind.Shanlin said, "It's been so hard for you all these years."

Si Zhao said, "My watch still works."

"Is your watch your father's gift?" Shan Lin said, "I saw it on the news. He came to study with a visiting delegation from the Mainland. If you want to see him, I will call Lao Zhong, who is from the University of Hong Kong. I can arrange a meeting for you right away. You can arrange whatever titles you want, what visiting professors, what scholars, I know your dad likes these, I know you followed me all over the world just to impress your dad, now take a look You, the person in charge of such a big school, such a big company, in the political and business circles, who sees you and doesn’t call you sir or teacher?”

Si Zhao stopped his car at an intersection and waited for the red light. Some beggars gathered under the nearby flyover were warming themselves around a tin bucket.A lame beggar took advantage of a red light and went to the road to beg from a car.

Si Zhao opened the window and gave the beggar a roll of money.Shanlin cleared his throat and said, "Remember to wipe your hands."

He urged in Cantonese: "The window is closed, what is the smell, it smells like ghosts."

Si Zhao asked him with a smile: "Who did you learn Cantonese from?"

Shanlin spoke Mandarin again: "Don't worry, these people believe everything I say."

"It's better to keep a little bit of mystery."

Shanlin patted his chair: "I'll introduce you to a writer."

"About the biography?"

"Joseph Murphy."

"Joseph Murphy?"

Shanlin said with emotion: "Si Zhao, I know what you are thinking. Are you wondering if what we are doing now has deviated from the original track? After all, we are running schools, teaching people, and putting those things in the wrong direction. People who go astray lead to the right way, we still start a company, just to make money, for these watches, for those luxury cars, villas? For appetite, to be admired?

"Si Zhao, this society is very realistic. If we hadn't built such a big and beautiful school, we wouldn't wear clean clothes when we went out, we didn't drive luxury cars, and we didn't entertain others with good things. , who will listen to us? Look, how many people we helped find jobs last year? How many victims of domestic violence were rescued, and how many children were freed to go to the UK and Germany for surgery? They all said that because our voice was heard, It’s all because others see us, have such a positive image, have such a good image, and are willing to listen to us. The idea of ​​the packaging is also your idea, don’t you think? You see, we have done so many good deeds, and we have helped so many Many people, I have been thinking, should we go back to the mainland, back to the place where we came from... drink water and think of the source, to help more people, Hong Kong has returned, and the development of the mainland will only get better and better, What does it mean to develop well and the economy to improve? It means that there will be more and more spiritually poor people, economic contradictions, and self-doubt caused by social inequality will cause more and more depravity. "Good Lin gradually became slurred, and his words didn't match up, but the more he said, the more excited he was, "Look at those homeless people, do you think they will get better if you give them money? They just want more money. Next time you pass by There will only be more people knocking on our windows when we stop! Si Zhao, we want to change this situation! We are going to a wider world to change more people! Let more people Life just got better!"

Si Zhao said, "Let's wait a little longer. Our identities haven't reached ten years. I'm afraid that the police will investigate strictly."

Shanlin said eagerly: "I have a friend who can help us settle the matter. He knows a lot of people. Do you remember? It's the boss Qian who is in the shipping business."

Si Zhao glanced in the rearview mirror, Shanlin was putting a watch on his hand, looking very focused.Si Zhao pressed the audio switch, and the voice of Teacher Shanlin came out from the audio in the car, persuading.

"Today we are going to talk about the relationship between people and mistakes..."

Si Zhao said, "It's new, listen to it."

"So clear? Don't tell me, in this world, there is really a price for a product." Shanlin asked him, "You think about it, okay, give me an answer tomorrow."

When the car reached the middle of the mountain, Si Zhao stopped the car in front of a brightly lit villa.Shanlin said, "Come in and sit down."

Si Zhao said: "Teacher, go to bed early, I'll go back and think about what you said."

Shanlin got out of the car, smiled at him, and waved goodbye.Si Zhao drove away, and he returned to the overpass where homeless people gathered. He stopped the car on the side of the road, and walked to the middle of the iron houses with the watch box given by Shanlin.There was only one homeless man warming himself by the fire in front of a tin bucket. He frowned, looked at Shi Zhao, and sucked his nose hard.The fire reflected on his face, burned his cloudy eyes, and burned his dirty hands.

Si Zhao gave him the watch box, and the homeless man opened the watch box, took out the watch and bit his teeth: "What are you doing?"

Si Zhao looked around, pointed to a newspaper on the ground and said, "Take a look at your newspaper, today's one?"

The tramp looked at him suspiciously, and Si Zhao said, "Newspaper."

The tramp picked up the newspaper and handed it to him, holding his watch to the rising flames.There was a red light burning on the dial, and the homeless man sniffed something earnestly.Si Zhao sat on the side of the road and read the newspaper.Professor Si Nian from the Chinese Culture University led a delegation to Hong Kong to discuss the third generation biological...

A gust of wind blew over, and Si Zhao's eyes were dazzled by the dust.He hugged the newspaper and rubbed his eyes. A bad smell approached him. When he turned his head, he saw the tramp picking up a piece of paper and trying to hit him. Si Zhao got up in a hurry, pushed the tramp away and ran away.

The next day, Si Zhao went to see his father.They met outside a laboratory building. His father was taken aback when he saw him, and Si Zhao took out his business card first: "I'm working in a school now, so I can be regarded as a teacher."

His business card read: Bate Lecturer in Mental Health.

The father said disdainfully: "I know, I can see your advertisements everywhere, isn't it just learning the American spiritual practice? What self-transcendence, self-improvement, people here are really crazy, really believe in listening to others Give a few lessons and life will change for the better.”

Si Zhao smiled.Father glanced at his wrist.Si Zhao still had that old watch with him.

The father and son said nothing.Si Zhao said, "Then I'll go first, and I won't disturb Professor Si."

Father still didn't speak.Si Zhao turned around, and he kept walking forward without looking back.He thought about going back to the mainland.

When he left college, he threw away his old watch.

The author says:

Suddenly found that there are no two protagonists in today's update, so it should be a new year when everyone sees Xiao Zhao and Xiao Man again:)