Knight of the Blue Lagoon (The Past of Tao v)

26. Qinqin (The Past of Tao i)

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Every year at the beginning of the school year, various promotional posters are posted at the school gate. One of the large posters attracted many people to watch. Li Qinqin went in and took a quick glance. The content was to introduce exchange programs between the school and foreign universities. In China, Going abroad in the last year of her 3-year undergraduate study was an unattainable dream for her, so she took a casual look and left.

During the two years of college, I often saw photos of my classmates posting photos of traveling abroad. Seeing how happy they looked, Li Qinqin also wanted to have this kind of happiness. One night, Li Qinqin read the words on the yellow poster carefully alone, not missing even the smallest punctuation mark.

In elementary school and middle school, the family backgrounds of my classmates in my hometown were all about the same, and the good ones were not much better. When I arrived at university, the environment changed. My classmates came from all over the world, and their families were also different. Some rented houses outside for comfort, and some drove to school. In comparison, my own conditions seemed so limited. The shopping cart is filled with pain. The new phone has to wait until it wears off. Apple makes people feel unhappy. They cannot get together in groups of three or five to find delicious food. They are unwilling to discuss idols with others. They buy tickets for idol concerts in groups and never go out. Play, let alone go abroad to play at every turn. In her life, clothes have no brand, bags are just school bags, cosmetics are unnecessary, skin care products are a waste, and fashion accessories are a burden. She found that her interests were gone, and she had no joy in sharing them. She had fewer friends and was closed in the depression of loneliness, leaving only an uneasy heart.

Classrooms, dormitories, and cafeterias are Li Qinqin’s main university life. When there are no classes, she doesn’t know where to go. She can only go to the library alone. She can’t help but look at Moments. With curiosity, she gets depressed. After her classmates left during the holidays, she went to work. As her name suggests, she was a hard-working girl, but her life was hard, and it was even harder now. At night, she often kept asking herself, why, why, she was so hardworking but had a bumpy road. In her heart, she despises those who get something for nothing, and the happiness that comes without hard work. She thinks that these are not real happiness, but she still longs for happiness, which becomes the fulcrum of her hard work. She always believes that hard work should be rewarded by hard work. Li Qinqin's grades were not good when she first entered college, but now her grades are above average.

One day in the second semester of sophomore year, on a beautiful and peaceful afternoon, Dao Zhi talked about the poem"The Inferior Student" by French poet Jacques Prévert (Le Cancre/Jacques Prévert/1954/translated by Wei Zhen Will Nox) in class. The poem describes a weak and lonely person. As a student, he was made things difficult by his teachers and laughed at by his classmates, but he fought hard and persisted in his dreams. The author expresses social injustice through weak students and encourages the weak to pursue more. Then Daozhi mentioned Western society, their development of science, technology, culture and art, and finally extended to dreams. The poem unintentionally hurt Li Qinqin's heart. She always felt that society was unfair to her. She found out that she was the"bad student", and she also wanted to build her own dream. She wants to leave this unhappy real world and go to the place where she dreams of happiness.

That day, Li Qinqin came to Director Lai's office. After knocking a few times, he opened the door. Director Lai was sitting alone at his desk and didn't hear the knock on the door. The sudden opening of the door made him panic.

"Didn't anyone at home teach you to knock on the door?"Director Lai yelled, which was baffling.

"I knocked."Li Qinqin replied aggrievedly.

"Did I let you in? Get out, get out, get out."Director Lai yelled and hurriedly turned off the computer sound.

The shouting frightened the girl and made her want to cry. When she was working outside, her boss would often yell at her like this, but she endured it in order to make money. Today's frustration, Still, he could only endure it.

After Li Qinqin went out, he stood at the door and tried to calm down. He mustered up the courage to knock on the door again. Then he put his ear to the door and listened carefully. After a few minutes, Li Qinqin knocked on the door again. Hearing an impatient voice inside, Li Qinqin carefully opened the door.

"Director Lai, can I come in?"

"Come in, what do you want?"Director Lai's tone was calmer.

"I would like to know about the school's international program."Li Qinqin

"Isn’t there an introduction and process in the brochure? Didn't you see it? Director Lai said impatiently

"After reading it, I want to know more about it."Li Qinqin

"Everything is done in accordance with the above regulations. As long as you study well and do not violate school rules, you will have hope."Director Lai

"Is there hope? Even if you meet these conditions, you may not be able to go?"Li Qinqin

"We will recommend a group of students based on their circumstances for them to screen. They decide based on their requirements, not us."Director Lai

"What are their requirements?"Li Qinqin

"They, they look at grades and family circumstances. Director Lai thought for a moment before answering.

"family situation? Doesn’t the school provide scholarships?"Li Qinqin

"Yes, there is, but it is only a half-scholarship, which can only exempt part of the tuition fee. There are also living expenses and the upfront expenses of going abroad, which all require money."Director Lai

"What else is needed upfront?"

"There are also fees for the IELTS test and visa. Are these free of charge? You thought it was free."Director Lai

"Aren’t the IELTS scores submitted first as materials to the school?"

"There is also a fee required before leaving the country."Director Lai

"What's the cost?"

"Do you need to add a lot of extra courses a year before going abroad, as well as service fees, material fees, etc.? It also depends on the security of your family assets."Director Lai said impatiently.

It was obviously different from what Li Qinqin knew from the poster. It was much more complicated. Director Lai didn't expect that she would ask these questions. The answer was a bit vague, or Director Lai had other purposes.

Li Qinqin was sad. After leaving the office, when closing the door, I heard Director Lai say angrily:"Nowadays, everyone wants to study abroad."Li Qinqin felt that she had been humiliated again and couldn't stop her tears from flowing down. She hid alone on a remote bench and felt that Director Lai was targeting her, just like the boss when she was working. She couldn't figure out why everything was happening here. They were always targeting themselves.

It took a long time for me to gradually calm down. I recalled the voice that sounded faintly on the computer when I first entered Director Lai's office. It sounded like a woman's cry. I also thought of Lai. The director hurriedly took out one hand from under the table to turn off the computer volume, and the other hand was also under the table. Could it be that he was... secretly watching that kind of thing in the office? It turned out that the reason why his reaction was so violent was because of himself The sudden intrusion caught him off guard, and he got angry in panic. Thinking of this, he found that Director Lai was actually like this......, which is really different from the image a teacher should have.