Chapter 150: The Endearing Teacher Liu (Bonus for 660 Monthly Votes)

The issue of Da Jiang going to Beidaihe was resolved, but things did not go smoothly on the Little Uncle's end. The Stinking Eldest Sister's family stubbornly refused to let their daughter travel with a boy's family members. Even when the Stinking Eldest Sister used Hong Tao's Little Aunt as a shield, it still didn't work. As a result, the Little Uncle decided not to go either; he was determined not to leave his girlfriend behind to enjoy himself alone. If he didn't show his loyalty now, when would he? Hong Tao did not interfere with the Little Uncle's choice. At this point, the Little Uncle seemed as though his brain had been washed. If he said too much, it would definitely reach the Stinking Eldest Sister's ears. In the off chance that the two of them actually ended up together in the future, the Stinking Eldest Sister would hold a grudge against him for the rest of her life. Why bother?

Besides the Little Uncle not going, the Little Aunt was not going either. She had now become a disciple of Madame Liu Bai. Although there was no formal apprenticeship ceremony, they already addressed each other as master and disciple. Recently, she had been obsessed with learning how to make *qipao*, and had zero interest in any ocean or sea. Consequently, her classmate Juanzi was forced to stay behind to keep her company, pouting and looking very unhappy all day long.

Apart from Juanzi, the rest of the girls were thrilled to death. For children who grew up inland, being able to see the legendary ocean was a very exciting and rare event. Not to mention these youngsters, even people who had lived for more than half their lives like Grandpa, Grandma, and Second Uncle had never seen what the real ocean looked like.

To prepare for this intimate encounter with the ocean, these girls cast aside all their shyness and jointly requested Hong Tao to take them to the Friendship Store to buy pretty swimsuits. Their standards were higher now; they looked down upon the bubble-cloth swimsuits sold on the regular market and knew how to dress themselves to look a bit unique.

Hong Tao didn't have the superpower to freely enter and exit the Friendship Store at will, so he had to ask Ms. Jiang and her colleagues again to take the girls inside to pick and choose for themselves. Hong Tao had no interest in participating in such flagrant shopping activities. He only liked to surprise people and play practical jokes.

From the results of this swimsuit shopping trip, Hong Tao could roughly discern each person's different personality. Han Xue was as reckless and carefree as ever; she chose a two-piece swimsuit. Although it wasn't as lacking in fabric as the bikinis of later generations, it was definitely heading in that direction. Tang Zhengdong and Wang Mei were also quite bold, favoring brightly colored fabrics. Although their swimsuits were one-piece, they featured quite large cutout backs. On the contrary, Elder Sister Daling and Han Yan went to the Friendship Store for nothing. The swimsuits they ultimately bought were almost identical in style to the ones on the regular market, differing only slightly in fabric and color.

"You two went all the way there just to buy these? And you spent Foreign Exchange Certificates on them? You might as well have let the Little Aunt make you a set!" After they returned, Hong Tao inspected each person's shopping spoils one by one, expressing severe dissatisfaction with Elder Sister Daling and Han Yan's aesthetic sensibilities.

"I wouldn't dare wear the kind they got. If I wore that home, my dad would break the sole of his shoe beating me!" The older female cousin's reply was very practical.

"I... this one was the cheapest... and the style is passable..." Han Yan's answer left Hong Tao not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"You actually spent Foreign Exchange Certificates, yet you were still thinking about which was cheaper? Those Foreign Exchange Certificates weren't exchanged at a one-to-one rate!" Hong Tao was quite indignant at Han Yan's tradition of hard work and thriftiness. Wasn't this like cutting a hole in a new piece of clothing just to patch it?

"Well... it's still cheaper than theirs!" Feeling that she had lost face, Han Yan actually shouted back at Hong Tao.

"Right... right! Just keep hoarding your money! Hoarding so much money to raise piglets with? The day you get married, all the money you worked so hard to save will end up benefiting someone else. Then, after you give birth, wrinkles will appear on your face, and your body will get fat. You won't look pretty in anything you wear anymore. By that time, you'll be thinking: I was young once too, so why didn't I ever think about treating myself a little better?" Hong Tao used sharp words to ruthlessly suppress Han Yan's rebellion.

"You... you only know how to pick on me! I'm not talking to you anymore!" Hong Tao's words made Han Yan feel as though she had been shown a glimpse of herself transformed into one of those middle-aged women who came in for perms. She was so angry that tears were almost welling up in her eyes. Unfortunately, she didn't possess her older sister's quick tongue, so she could only sit and seethe in silence.

"Tomorrow I'll take you secretly! I'll pay for you to buy the prettiest one, definitely prettier than theirs, and I'll buy you a swim ring too!" Hong Tao still took care of the most capable and worry-free girl in the shop. Seeing that she was genuinely angry, he quickly had to coax her.

"What about this one then?" Han Yan still couldn't bear to part with the money.

"Return it, of course!" Watching the involuntary smile blooming on Han Yan's face, Hong Tao felt a rather strange mix of emotions. Girls of this era were truly far too easy to satisfy. No wonder bosses all liked to have female secretaries; working alongside some light teasing was indeed a mood-boosting pastime.

At the end of July, his father had already set off for the South. Before leaving, his father had entrusted Hong Tao to a physical education teacher named Liu at his workplace, asking him to help look after his son and the group when they went to Beidaihe. Hong Tao had an impression of this Teacher Liu from his past life; he had met him precisely during that trip to Beidaihe. At that time, Teacher Liu was only around forty years old, quite tall, slightly bald, spoke with a booming voice, and was cheerful all day long.

Back then, specifically for playing in Beidaihe, he had run all the way to the Capital Steel factory and asked the worker artisans to forge a large fishing spear for him! This fishing spear left a deep impression on Hong Tao: the spearhead had five prongs, with the middle one being the longest and the flanking ones progressively shorter, each featuring a barb. The shaft was even detachable, divided into several sections that could be screwed together when needed.

At that time, this Teacher Liu was Hong Tao's idol. Every day, Hong Tao would trail right behind this P.E. teacher, carrying a plastic bag responsible for holding the fish, and watch him brandish a fishing spear as he chased fish all over the beach. Although the final harvest wasn't particularly bountiful, it didn't diminish his towering image in Hong Tao's mind one bit.

"Line up! Open your bags! I'm going to inspect them!" Early in the morning on this day, a row of gorgeously dressed girls stood lined up outside the barbershop. Each of them wore a white sun hat and a pair of frog-eye sunglasses. Hong Tao wore a red T-shirt and jeans, standing at the front of the line to maintain discipline while conducting a final inspection.

"Why are you bringing long johns? We're going to the seaside, not Mount Changbai! Throw it back!"

"Why are you bringing so much toilet paper?! Didn't I buy sanitary napkins for you all? You're still using toilet paper! Throw it back!"

"Are you planning to defect to South Korea or something? Not coming back? Even if you were defecting, you wouldn't be able to withdraw money with a Chinese bank passbook over there! Hand this over to the Little Aunt and let her keep it for you!"

"You... you can forget about it..." Hong Tao managed to fish out contraband from almost everyone's bag, but when he reached Han Xue, he didn't dare reach his hand into her bag to rummage around. This woman had severe violent tendencies; he would have to wait a few more years until his own body was strong enough before he could keep her in check.

Before 7:00 AM, the big coach bus from his father's school arrived. Hong Tao led his trailing train of women onto the relatively uncrowded bus and waved goodbye to Second Uncle and the others.

"Hello, Uncle Liu! Hello, uncles and aunties!" After boarding the bus, Hong Tao first greeted the P.E. teacher sitting right behind the driver, then shouted greetings to the other adults, who were either teachers or family members, before leading the line of girls to sit in the back. Those girls still felt quite a bit of pressure facing more than a dozen teachers; their smiles vanished, and they didn't dare say more than half a word.

"How do you know who I am?" After Hong Tao had settled the girls in, Teacher Liu walked back to sit in the rear. He was baffled as to how Hong Tao could recognize him, since he had never met Hong Tao before.

"My dad said you were the coolest guy around. As soon as I got on the bus and looked up, I recognized you instantly. There's no mistaking that!" Hong Tao directly lobbed a heavy dose of flattery. As for whether the other teachers liked hearing it or not, who cared? As long as he massaged this Teacher Liu's ego into a comfortable state, this trip was as good as won!

"Hahahaha, your dad definitely didn't say that. I might not know much else, but those words could never come out of your dad's mouth! They always say a genius was born in Teacher Hong's family, and it turns out to be true—so young and you already know how to butter up your teachers! Hahahaha..." Teacher Liu truly had the personality from Hong Tao's memory—fond of talking and laughing, and very bold and uninhibited. Hearing Hong Tao's words, his laughter made the bus windows hum.

"You must be popular with teachers at school, right? If I had a student like you, I'd be smiling every single day on my way to work!" Teacher Liu reined in his laughter and began asking about Hong Tao's studies.

"You guessed wrong there. I've practically become public enemy number one at school; not many teachers like me, and they all frown when they see me." Hong Tao had thick enough skin not to care about being disliked by teachers, and bluntly spoke the truth.

"Oh, why is that? Are your grades bad? That shouldn't be the case; I've heard other teachers talk about you, saying you can even do middle school math problems... Ah, is it because you're too mischievous?" Teacher Liu was also puzzled as to why Hong Tao wasn't favored by the teachers at school.

"Not really. It's mainly because none of the teachers at our school are as handsome as you. If they aren't handsome, fine, but they also pull poker faces all day long, so naturally I don't have anything nice to say to them. If they all looked like you, it would definitely be different!" Hong Tao had opened fire with all guns blazing; he intended to completely win Teacher Liu over before arriving at Beidaihe.

"Hahahaha, Old Fang... Old Fang... did you hear that! Out of the mouths of babes! Now that's the honest truth!" Teacher Liu had been spun into a mild daze by Hong Tao's flattery. If an adult had said those words, he definitely would have assumed they were mocking him, seeing as he was still young yet entirely bald on top. But when such words came out of the mouth of a kid whose usual speaking habits you didn't know, you couldn't help but ponder: maybe this kid was actually telling the truth? (To be continued...)