Interview and Reading: The Missionary

My air conditioner is on, and the room temperature is 24 degrees Celsius.

Teacher Dong was speaking to me slowly and deliberately: "When I first came to this new environment after going abroad, I did all sorts of jobs in the first five years. I did everything: delivering food, washing dishes, moving, running a stall, taking care of the elderly, working as a butcher, working in a grocery store, cleaning, and so on. To increase my income, I sometimes even worked three jobs at the same time."

I feel like I'm undergoing a complete transformation, a "rebirth." In a foreign society, I'm striving and fighting for survival and my studies. And my dream continues to sustain me!

So you could say that during the years I was abroad, I lost the opportunity to make money in China…

When I heard that, I immediately thought to myself, "He's just another money-grubbing artist. I just don't understand, are artists born to make money?"

Yes, in this era, some singers can earn so much money just by singing a few songs, allowing some people to squander it and live a decadent life. Society still sighs at this!

It seems art still needs purification!

But before I could even utter a curse, he unexpectedly blurted out a typical Chinese "but." What he said next made me swallow back my "bullshit." So that's the kind of person he is!

He told me, “No! I have come to know God here. I have gained the air of freedom and the spirit of democracy. These are more important than money! They are the most worthwhile things to have in terms of being a human being.”

That last sentence made me realize that his level of thinking was quite lofty. It turned out that he was my type, and I had almost underestimated him.

Yes, he came to my house today. The total value of all his clothes was probably no more than $40. He wasn't wearing any designer brands. Only the pale yellow bag he carried suggested he was a visitor. He was indeed very unassuming in appearance, no exaggeration!

I suddenly remembered something and started asking him, "Why did you decide to come to my house today?"

The lady sitting next to me, who had come with us today, eagerly answered, "Teacher Dong is my son's teacher. I was the one who told him about you! I introduced you—"

At this moment, I interrupted her and turned to ask her, "Has your son arrived? Is he alright?" I knew these two questions were pointless. Ever since her arrival today, I had been unable to restrain myself from saying what I truly wanted to say: "Your son is simply unbelievable. How can he be so mature for his age... an extraordinary person, an extraordinary person!"

At this moment, Teacher Dong chimed in, "Yes! I think so too. It's incredible! This is exactly the type I like!"

With just a few words, Teacher Dong once again revealed some aspects of his personality, character, and values to me.

Now, let me share the most striking aspects of this eccentric child in my mind! Let's also see what kind of students Teacher Dong likes to take in, and let everyone know how Teacher Dong conducts himself as a teacher. This student is the best mirror reflecting his character!

Now, I'll introduce the lady who brought Teacher Dong here today using modern (big) data (the concept of time)!

In the past month and a half, I met several guests from Hunan. Their elite manners were simply awe-inspiring!

One of them, Mr. Zeng, manufactures 3D machines. When I first met him, it lasted a maximum of four hours, and we only exchanged less than twenty sentences!

Three days later, he brought a couple from his hometown. The man was an electrical engineer who had returned from Germany, and the woman was a lawyer (the lady I met today). They came to my house and only stayed for two hours. During that visit, the parent mentioned that they had a young boy who was currently studying in the third year of junior high school abroad. For some reason, the way they talked sounded like a graduate student in political economy at Harvard University! He had recently returned home for summer vacation. When I heard this, I found it very vivid. Wasn't this just like the other children that Teacher Niu Niu had introduced to me? Or even more unusual? I casually said that we could meet sometime!

A week later, I spent one night with these two men from Hunan at a five-star hotel in Kunshan. Our total contact time was no more than 12 hours! Then we returned and said goodbye.

A week later, the boy's father said he wanted to bring me some Nanhui peaches and brought his son along!

Okay! That's how we met for the first time!

When he saw me, he adopted a reserved attitude, remaining silent and ignoring me, but he listened to me!

From his father's description, this child has a very strong personality. He insists on choosing his teachers, otherwise he won't accept them. He wants to study logic-based math, not computational math. (This is similar to my son, Tao Tao.) So this time, his father chose the best overseas-educated math professor from East China University of Science and Technology at our school to give him private tutoring! Then I wondered, what kind of lessons can an eighty-year-old like me teach him?

Of course, by the end of the day, in his father's words, his inner knot had been untied a little, and he left with a smile. Moreover, I gave him a task to complete after returning to school!

Later, his mother sent me a message on her phone, telling me that her son's incredible behavior was like Qu Yuan from the ancient Chu state being reborn, and that the words he spoke at home were like: "Li Sao is like Li You!"

Her original text reads as follows:

"Hello, Mr. Yin"

Yang Jingtian just had a good, hard cry. He said:

People were dying in China xx years ago, and they were still dying xx years ago. He wept for this, for China—he wept for his relatives and friends, and he wept for his powerlessness to change anything…

Mr. Yin, this child has been compassionate and patriotic since childhood, which has burdened him with an extremely heavy mental load. His understanding of issues is far beyond his years, and I don't know how to help him.

A few days later, her mother sent me another short message:

"Yang Jingtian has arrived in the United States. Thank you for your guidance, and we hope he will always have the opportunity to receive your teachings."

Haha, the child's mother is here today, and the teacher the child chose for the course is also sitting here. I heard that this teacher is one of his favorite teachers, so doesn't that tell me what kind of person this teacher is?

The teacher just said that this child's maturity level is far beyond expectations!

The teacher who said this is 74 years old, and I am 80. As for facing a 14-year-old child, I believe that our ability to recognize the information should be more than enough!

I calculated the time data above. From beginning to end, from getting to know this group of friends from Hunan to getting to know Teacher Dong now, it was less than two months, but we all seemed to feel like we had known each other for a long time!

While this article appears to be about students and teachers, I was actually trying to interpret two lines from Mr. Zhang's poem by accident, wondering if they could be used to predict the future.

"A renowned teacher sows the seeds of new green shoots, and his students blossom and bear abundant fruit."

The clever use of ambiguity! (Part 2)