1977: It all started with a wrong love

Chapter 69 Learning English

Settle down my brother-in-law Xu Erhe.

The hundred or so yuan in cash and food coupons that the family asked them to bring back were all left to my brother-in-law Xu Erhe. The only things he took away were the admission letters from Yan University and Tsinghua University.

The neighbors in the compound were quite enthusiastic.

Some people with sharp eyes recognized Lu Yifan.

Immediately, there was a burst of noise and commotion.

The old residents in the compound, such as those with the surname Yan in the front yard, those with the surnames He, Yi, and Jia in the middle yard, and those with the surnames Xu and Liu in the back yard, all ran over to see what was new upon hearing the news. They praised Lu Yifan crazily, and everyone looked excited and proud of him.

After all, he has been on the front page of newspapers and on TV news recently, and has become a big name.

He knew that Xu Erhe was his brother-in-law and that he was arranged to go to Beijing to study and pursue a bright future.

The neighbors in the courtyard were so warm and welcoming that my brother-in-law Xu Erhe quickly became familiar with them. This will help him avoid a lot of trouble if he lives here for a long time.

"My dear neighbors, my brother-in-law Xu Erhe has just come to the city from the countryside and does not have much experience. If he does anything wrong or offends you in the future, I beg you to be magnanimous and tolerate him. I, Lu Yifan, would like to apologize to you in advance. I am sorry to bother you..."

Said some scene words.

I chatted with the neighbors about family matters, which delayed me for a few minutes.

Amidst the cheers of farewell, we left the slum and left Nanluoguxiang.

Watched my brother-in-law leave.

Xu Erhe felt somewhat uneasy and panicky.

He didn't want to be abandoned by his brother-in-law so easily. He just wanted to follow his brother-in-law and serve him at his beck and call.

But now, when I entered Beijing and met people, I was only given a place to live, some money and food, and a ridiculous task, which was to learn 900 foreign words in the next three months...

What is this called!
He didn't understand. He really couldn't understand what his brother-in-law meant by this!

But now, there is nothing I can do if I don’t understand.

He returned to his residence, picked up the booklet his brother-in-law had thrown to him, and began to flip through it.

After all, I could recognize all the Chinese characters, so I compared them with the Chinese characters and began to try hard to learn the foreign language:

"Hey, you're so lucky..."

This foreigner's words mean to ask where the devils came from. Hmm, I remember it. It doesn't seem that difficult to remember!

"Hey, wow, motherfucker, where's that..."

This is to welcome foreigners to China.

"Hey, hey, Wu Kangmu spit BJ..."

This is to welcome the foreigners to the capital.

"Hey, Woji-chan..."

This is asking what the foreigner's name is.

"Hey, Wai Ayou Wang Te has vomited enough..."

This is asking the foreigners where they want to go.

Xu Erhe read out the words stiffly, sentence after sentence.

He soon understood that his brother-in-law was really teaching him a skill, which was to teach him how to deal with foreigners.

Thinking of my brother-in-law, he got full marks in mathematics, physics, chemistry and English in the college entrance examination.

It was obvious that the brother-in-law wanted to teach himself his ability to get full marks in English.

Yes, my brother-in-law really wants to teach me math, physics and chemistry.

You have to develop that brain yourself.

On the contrary, this foreign language is just a dialect spoken by people.

As long as you are willing to work hard, there is no reason why you cannot learn a language.

Yes, yes, my brother-in-law is forcing me to master the survival skills so that I can truly gain a foothold in the city!

Suddenly, everything became clear in my mind.

Then, as I learned more, the fear in my heart also began to fade away quietly.

It seems that the foreign language is not that difficult to master.

Master ten sentences a day.

It should be totally possible.

Fight!

Anyway, my brother-in-law would never harm me... The next day, Lu Yifan rode a 28-inch bicycle to the slum in Nanluoguxiang.

Xu Erhe's eyes immediately filled with tears at the arrival of his brother-in-law.

He also thought that his brother-in-law would really just dump him in this slum and not set foot there for ten days or half a month, leaving him to fend for himself here.

Anyway, it's quite disappointing.

"Had breakfast?"

Xu Erhe shook his head. Ever since he was sent here yesterday, except for going to the public toilet outside, he never stepped out of the compound again. He had been locking himself in the room, reciting English sentences frantically.

"Fanwa, I have memorized almost 50 foreign words, really, really, if you don't believe me, I will recite them to you right now..."

Lu Yifan was startled.

Hey, is it so sharp?
For someone who has no English learning foundation.

Just relying on the Chinese character phonetic notation booklet that I compiled myself, it only took a little while, and I was able to memorize fifty sentences overnight?

"Don't worry, have breakfast first. I won't have time to come to see you every day. You have to learn to take care of yourself. Why are you standing there? Eat something quickly. There are soy milk, fried dough sticks and steamed buns for sale at the Youth League Cooperative on the street outside. I've left money and food coupons for you..."

Lu Yifan was chattering.

Xu Erhe grabbed the fried dough sticks and buns and gobbled them up voraciously.

The soy milk was packed in a glass bottle used for milk. You had to take it back and return it after drinking it. There was a 2-cent deposit!

After a gust of wind swept away everything.

Xu Erhe filled his stomach and listened to his brother-in-law's nagging, which sounded like the sound of nature.

Watching his brother-in-law eating, especially when he was drinking soy milk, he was waiting to see his brother-in-law frowning and looking very uncomfortable, which was a joke!

As it turned out, that was not the case at all.

"Is soy milk delicious?" Lu Yifan asked unwillingly.

"Ah? I have no taste, but that should be ok..." Xu Erhe grinned foolishly, "Fanwa, then I will recite it to you now! I really have memorized at least 50 foreign words..."

Lu Yifan nodded.

Xu Erhe became more and more excited. He immediately coughed and began to recite 900 spoken English sentences in Chinese phonetic notation in a clear and correct voice.

Maybe it was to avoid disappointing my brother-in-law too much.

Xu Erhe even deliberately imitated the accent of a radio announcer.

The pronunciation of each Chinese character is particularly clear and accurate.

In this case, it would really be like creating another language out of thin air.

After hearing a few words, Lu Yifan could hardly hold back his laughter and burst out laughing.

This was his own mistake, a huge blunder, and he neglected the fact that his brother-in-law Xu Erhe had never been exposed to English and had absolutely no basic knowledge and no cognitive ability.

In this case, one must be able to learn some foreign language with proper accent.

That's what it means to see a ghost.

However, he resisted the urge to laugh out loud.

Instead, he was listening very seriously to whether his brother-in-law Xu Erhe was reciting the content accurately - well, at least it had to be accurate enough to read the pinyin Chinese characters completely.

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye...

By the time my brother-in-law Xu Erhe had recited the 55th sentence, he still wanted to continue reciting fluently.

Lu Yifan was really impressed. "Stop! Alright, you have recited 55 sentences. Brother-in-law, you have already exceeded the recitation task of yesterday. So, you must believe in yourself. According to your current progress, I believe that maybe in less than three months, you will be able to master it and communicate with foreign guests on the street. Not bad, not bad, brother-in-law, you really impressed me!"

He didn't hesitate to praise him lavishly.

This made my brother-in-law Xu Erhe very happy.

As long as I didn't disappoint my brother-in-law, I, Xu Erhe, can finally accomplish something perfectly. It's so easy for me, Xu Erhe, to learn to speak foreign languages ​​now. There's no reason why I, Xu Erhe, can't accomplish other things in the future...

Look!
A completely zero foundation.

Before yesterday, I believed deep down that I was only fit to be a typical old farmer digging manure in the city. But now, after one night, my mentality has undergone such a shocking change.

Things that I never dared to think about before.

Now, I am more confident, willing to complete the challenges myself.

After Lu Yifan praised others, he made a new request.
"Brother-in-law, now, let's try again. Connect the sentences you have memorized and speak them at three times the speed. Foreigners normally speak at a relatively fast speed. You can give it a try..."

Xu Erhe looked embarrassed. What does it mean to speak three times faster?

Lu Yifan then demonstrated it in person and read a few sentences, "Try to speak it again at my pace..."

(End of this chapter)