CHAPTER 287: 287. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL UNDERACHIEVER IN THE STUDY GROUP

The eldest son is so filial and capable, Lianshan is practically walking on air out of joy.

No matter how much he thought about it, he felt it was necessary to celebrate Lian En with grandeur, to boast about his incredibly amazing eldest son.

We won’t accept a penny’s worth of gifts, just purely showing off.

It prevents those who can’t see beyond their noses from secretly muttering some nonsense gossip.

Close their gossipy mouths and blind their snobbish eyes.

Our father is hard-working, the son is promising, and the whole family is united, happy, harmonious, warm, and sweet!

Whether blood ties are connected or not doesn’t really matter. What’s important is that emotionally, they are a close father and son pair.

Even though Shuzhen felt that living their own lives well was completely unnecessary to listen to what others say.

But since her stubborn husband insisted, she could only actively cooperate!

Just think of it as spending money to buy some happiness for him.

He especially hired a film projection team from the county, and for three days, they screened open-air movies for free in all the villages under Luohe Town.

It was all because the eldest son of Expert Lian, Lian En, won the first prize in the National Youth Painting and Calligraphy Competition at the age of fourteen, so the delighted Expert Lian paid out of his own pocket to let the entire town celebrate together?

Word of mouth spread, and more and more people came to know about the National Youth Painting and Calligraphy Competition and this year’s champion, Lian En.

The fourteen-year-old national champion quickly linked the name Lian En with the term "young talent."

When the young man’s nearly perfect scores were revealed, the term "young talent" was further amplified.

Having bad luck with an ungrateful father like a heartless cad or good luck with an even better stepfather than a real father doesn’t matter anymore.

The amazing thing is this child started first grade at four and finished second grade at twelve.

Immediately after, he went on a sketching trip with his mentor Feng Ju for two whole years, and his painting of the Mountain Tai sunrise won the first prize in the national competition.

Upon returning, he skipped a grade and at fourteen became a freshman in Number One Scholar Village High School...

I’ve heard he also knows calligraphy, several musical instruments, and even military boxing impressively.

Wow, this kid is incredible!

Being a jack of all trades seems to be tailor-made for him.

And the couple Lianshan, who raised such a talent, weren’t they praised endlessly by the folks in the village?

Look at them, six consecutive successful ones, each smart and filial.

Starting from Lian En to Chenchen, Xinzhi, and Xinyue, they are all top students.

No matter the big or small exams, they always rank at the top.

Even Lian Xi, who has an extreme subject bias, is self-taught in arithmetic with excellent mental calculation skills.

Although he often fails Chinese and sometimes even gets zeros.

But in mathematics, he always achieves perfect scores, right?

He’s never scored less than a hundred in math!

As the only poor student among the top students, Lian Xi just wants to tear up without saying a word.

He’s clearly trying his hardest, focusing as much time as he can on Chinese.

Mumbling and wishing he could keep a, o, e on his lips, truly reading and writing everywhere at all times. Where other kids used one four-line grid notebook, he had already gone through at least three.

Copying until he knew them by heart, but when it came to reciting, dictating, or rearranging, he was bound to mess it up!

Without even looking, his math is always a hundred, while Chinese, which he studied daily, was hard to pass; little Lian Xi was helpless.

Fortunately, although his dad was crazy about showing off his kids, he remained loving.

Upon confirming he wasn’t lazy, just that his efforts weren’t showing results, he patted his head and explained how people have different innate talents and are good at different things. Saying something like, being so good at math, my third son isn’t dumb at all, etc., offering a lot of comfort.

He seemed afraid of hurting his fragile self-esteem, never criticizing him for being a poor student or having any intention of forcing him to succeed like his older siblings.

Little Lian Xi felt warm inside, feeling that big brother was indeed right, his dad was truly an extraordinary good father!

But as the extraordinary good father let his children grow up as long as they were happy and didn’t go astray, Lian En and the others quietly got anxious, worried that if this continued, little Lian Xi would walk further down the path of a poor student.

Lian En, Xinzhi, Chenchen, and Xinyue, the four siblings, voluntarily formed a special tutoring group for Lian Xi. They were busy from the start of school until winter vacation before they finally taught Lian Xi Chinese Pinyin.

Although his grades hovered around sixty or seventy points, no matter how close to the pass mark, he at least passed, didn’t he?

Yes, keeping up the efforts, the next target is eighty to ninety points, taking one step at a time, and we’ll surely catch up.

After being drilled by his brothers and sisters for half a year, Lian Xi wanted to cry: We already have so many brilliant people in our family, isn’t it possible for me to happily be the underachiever?

Who said two top students must naturally produce a bunch of little top students?

Who said that the younger brother of top student siblings must also be a little top student?

Can’t we occasionally have a case where things turn out differently!

Lian En and the others raised their brows and repeatedly told their little brother the story of how "not working hard when young leads to regret in old age."

Developing calluses in the ears wasn’t the issue; the most troubling thing was that after listening, he still needed to do Pinyin dictation!

The more correct ones meant more treats, fewer correct ones meant fewer treats or even none. For a foodie, this was the harshest punishment. What made it even worse was that his wicked brothers and sisters would savor the delicacies taken away for his wrong answers right in front of him!

If it wasn’t for the fact that he stood no chance against four, Lian Xi felt he could have staged a sibling feud over the delicious food they smacked their lips over being taken away.

At the end of the year, Grandpa Wu and the two families of uncles and aunts came back home for the New Year, and the family started early with various preparations to happily spend a reunion year together.

The brothers and sisters were called to help move things, buy things, tidy up rooms for uncles and aunts.

Like little spinning tops, busy with all kinds of chores.

Assigned to focus on entertaining the little sister Xinqing, the underachiever Lian Xi happily smiled, as he finally had some breathing time to catch a break! Finally, he didn’t have to look at those Pinyin letters that made him slightly dizzy!

Although Lian Hai and Lian Yue didn’t stay in the village for four years due to university, they still helped by providing the stocks. So the Liu family village residents enjoyed the housing and dividend benefits they deserved, with Lian Hai and Lian Yue’s families receiving just as much.

Now, the heating in the house was turned on a few days in advance by Lianshan, and everything was cleaned thoroughly.

The basic decor and furniture provided, along with the firewood, rice, oil, salt, vegetables, and fruits that Shuzhen’s family prepared. It ensured that when both families returned, they could comfortably spend time without any issues.