Chapter 8 – Experience
Part 1
Ren Zhouyuan spent the first day of work bored to death.
Although, wherever he went, it seemed as people were discussing this very popular position. But from what he had observed from the interview until today, his job was actually a vase*.
*花瓶 / huā píng – just a pretty face, aka nice-looking but actually useless
Establishing this Chinese copywriting in a Science and Technology education company was mainly to deal with the related departments. He went to work one day and most of the doc.u.ments he handled were applications needing government approval. On the contrary, he received no notification regarding the promotional article he was originally hired to write.
But Ren Zhouyuan didn’t care much about these things. How the company developed was that man’s business. He only needed to work hard, get money and save enough capital to leave this place.
Yes, he was still planning on leaving.
Although Leonid looked like he didn’t recognize him, but when he thought of his face that had a 90% similarity with that of An-An’s, it made feel Ren Zhouyuan feel a sense of danger. He couldn’t make An-An hide at home and never go out for the rest of his life. It was also impossible to instigate Leonid to move out from his office. As long as they were in this town, there would be the risk that people would notice there was a mini-Leonid here.
After Ren Zhouyuan got off from work, he went to the kindergarten to meet An-An. As always, he saw his son sitting on the front row. On his back was a small bag, and he was looking at the door impatiently. Once he saw him, he immediately broke into a smile and hopped out. The speed was so fast the Ren Zhouyuan was scared witless. He was afraid that he would be reckless and fall down.
An-An rushed to Ren Zhouyuan’s arms. Teacher Chen followed behind him and stood next to the door, greeting Ren Zhouyuan with a smile. “An is really happy the moment cla.s.s is over, but not the point that he’d pull a small chair and wait.” She touched An-An’s head. “An-An is very fond of his Baba, Chen-laoshi is jealous.”
She said to Ren Zhouyuan: “Does An-An’s Baba have some spare time? I would like to talk to you briefly about An-An’s performance during this period.”
Ren Zhouyuan thought of the issue of An-An not making any friends. He was just about to talk to Teacher Chen about this. He squatted down, kissed An-An’s head and said: “An-An, go back first and play with the other children, okay? Baba wants to have a word with the teacher.”
An-An heard this and wrinkled his little face. He looked at Ren Zhouyuan and Teacher Chen, then pulled the straps of the bag he was wearing, pouting as he walked back. He kept glancing back while walking and walking, until he finally sat back down on his own little chair. His eyes were staring at Ren Zhouyuan, not intending to give any attention to his little cla.s.smates.
Ren Zhouyuan found the problem worse than he had imagined. Sure enough, Teacher Chen wanted to talk about this issue. She said: “An-An’s Dad*, I will not beat around the bush. You can see how An-An is doing now. Although lots of children have a great dependence on their parents, An-An is obviously much more serious. It can even be said that, except for you, he doesn’t care about anyone else. The same goes for the other children in the cla.s.s. If this goes on, it won’t be a good thing for the development of his character.”
*switched back from Baba since it’s a teacher talking
Ren Zhouyuan frowned and said: “Yes, yesterday he told me he didn’t make any friends in the kindergarten. I just wanted to talk about this matter today.” He looked at An-An and gazing at the other young students who were happily chatting. He sat on his chair, quietly watching them. Suddenly, he felt his heart sting.
He thought for a moment and hesitated: “An-An has been growing up with me since his childhood. You also know that we are a single-parent family. He is indeed very dependent on me, in this regard, I am also wrong. I spoil him, and before, when he didn’t want to go to kindergarten, I didn’t have the heart. I almost agreed to him.”
Teacher Chen nodded and said: “I understand.”
“When he told me yesterday that he didn’t make friends, I realized there was a problem.” Ren Zhouyuan said. “But just by watching him behave just a moment ago, I discovered that the matter was worse than I thought. Teacher Chen, you’re more professional in this area. What do you think I should do to get rid of the issue?”
Teacher Chen had encountered parents of all shapes and colors, but few of them were like Ren Zhouyuan who opened his heart and admitted his own shortcomings. From the first time he brought An-An into kindergarten, Teacher Chen felt like this pair of father and son had very profound sentiment. When she said those remarks, she hesitated. Some parents couldn’t accept the criticisms of other people’s children, even the words of teachers were difficult to listen to.
However, Ren Zhouyuan gave off the feeling of being amiable and well-educated. His purpose was to see his child grow better, so Teacher Chen said the words directly. Fortunately, Ren Zhouyuan performed as Teacher Chen thought, letting her feel relieved.
Teacher Chen thought a lot about An-An’s problem, so when Ren Zhouyuan asked her, she quickly answered. “An-An’s issue is mainly due to his contact with very few people. It might have something to do with your relationship before, when he followed after you and gradually formed a habit of recognizing only one person. This kind of dependence is established for a long time, and it might not be easy to open his hearts to others in the short-term. But you can take him to lots of other places, letting him come into contact with more people and also encouraging him to do so. It would be better if he interacted with children of the same age.”
“An-An is in kindergarten at the moment, and we as teachers also try to have him and his little cla.s.smates communicate as much as possible. But the teacher is different from the parent, after all. The child may listen to us, but it will only be done as a task. It is still up to the parents to guide them.”
Ren Zhouyuan and Teacher Chen talked a lot, gradually (gaining*) some direction. He thanked Teacher Chen and took An-An home.