Chapter 646 Change 1
As time slowly passes, the Siheyuan is like a carefully watered seed. With the nourishment of the years, the positive atmosphere becomes stronger and stronger, like the flourishing vines in spring, constantly spreading around. The influence gradually breaks through the small world of the Siheyuan, slowly seeps into the surrounding courtyards, and then spreads to the entire block silently but unstoppably like a gurgling stream.
People in nearby courtyards always hear all kinds of rumors about this courtyard in their casual conversations after dinner or when they meet in the streets. Those rumors are full of praise for the courtyard's vigor and vitality, as if there is a magical power here that can make everyone living in it glow with a different kind of brilliance. After hearing about such an amazing situation here, everyone's curiosity is like a ignited flame, burning more and more vigorously. They can't help but yearn for it and come here, eager to find out what kind of power, what kind of people and things make this courtyard so unique and enviable.
Whenever outsiders come to visit and learn with curiosity and expectation, everyone in the courtyard will show great enthusiasm, which is like the warm sun in winter, making people feel warm from the bottom of their hearts. Everyone will greet them with a smile, take the initiative to greet them, and then take the visitors around the courtyard to have a look, sharing their experiences along the way without reservation, those stories of laughter, touching, or hardship, as well as the valuable experience accumulated slowly in life and work, are all told by them like treasures. Every story contains traces of hard work, and every experience condenses the wisdom of everyone, which makes people moved and draws full of positive energy from it.
Xu Damao, with his outstanding performance in transportation work and his consistent serious attitude towards this job, has become the "spokesperson" for sharing transportation experience. He often receives enthusiastic invitations from surrounding units. The young people in the transportation department are full of admiration and curiosity for him, hoping to learn some practical skills from him. Whenever he stands on the podium of those units and faces the pairs of eyes full of thirst for knowledge, Xu Damao feels that he shoulders a heavy responsibility and is full of motivation to share.
He would describe in detail how he carefully maintained the vehicle in his daily work, like a baby, from the routine inspection around the car every morning, gently touching the body of the car to check for minor scratches, to squatting down to carefully check the tread wear of the tires, tapping the tires with a small hammer, and judging by experience whether the tire pressure is normal, to opening the hood and carefully checking every engine component, not missing any possible hidden dangers, as if every part of the vehicle was his most familiar friend and no small condition could escape his eyes.
When talking about how to deal with various complex road conditions, Xu Damao was even more vivid. He would mention how to carefully control the speed and the force of the steering wheel to prevent the vehicle from slipping and losing control when it rained heavily and the road was flooded; how to rely on his familiarity with the vehicle's performance to flexibly shift gears and brake so that the truck could drive steadily on the narrow and dangerous road; when encountering severe weather with heavy snow and thick snow covering the road, he would share his tips for installing anti-skid chains on the wheels in advance, and how to adjust the speed and distance between vehicles in time according to the thickness of the snow and the road conditions during driving to ensure driving safety.
When talking about how to maintain his passion and focus on work, Xu Damao's eyes would sparkle. He would talk about how he was confused and lazy when he first joined the transportation department, but when he saw that every time he successfully completed the transportation task, the goods could arrive at the destination on time and intact, bringing benefits to the unit and convenience to people's lives, he deeply felt the significance of this job, and from then on he made up his mind to do this job to the extreme. He would also intersperse and tell many small stories that actually happened. For example, once on the way to transport a batch of important materials, the vehicle suddenly broke down in the wilderness, with no village in front and no store behind, but he did not panic at all. Relying on the maintenance knowledge he had accumulated in his daily life, he checked the fault little by little, and finally successfully repaired the vehicle and completed the task on time. These stories made the audience in the audience feel as if they were on the challenging transportation road, and they could deeply feel the knowledge and skills behind the transportation work. It is not just a simple driving to deliver goods, but also a skill that requires careful study and love to stick to.
After listening to Xu Damao's sharing, many young people were deeply touched, as if they were injected with a powerful force. After returning to their posts, they began to treat their work more attentively with a new attitude. They no longer perfunctorily do things as before, but arrive at work early every day, carefully check the vehicles, treat each transportation task as an important test, and always stay alert during the transportation process, actively solving problems when they encounter them. In this way, in the transportation industry in this area, it seems that a small "learning storm" has been set off. Everyone communicates and competes with each other, hoping to become a leader in the transportation industry like Xu Damao, so that the entire industry will present a positive and progressive trend.
As for the brothers Liu Guangqi and Liu Guangfu, they have gradually gained a lot of fame among the neighbors with their superb cooking skills. Their names are frequently mentioned by people in this area. Whenever people talk about people who cook delicious dishes, they will naturally think of these two brothers. Sometimes, if there is a wedding or funeral in other courtyards, they need to find reliable people to help with the cooking, and the first person everyone thinks of is them. As for the brothers, they have always been enthusiastic and generous. Whenever they receive such an invitation, they never refuse it, always agree happily, and then quickly pack up their things and rush over.
In the lively atmosphere of a wedding, or the slightly solemn but busy scene of a funeral, the two brothers can always get into the state quickly. They first systematically check the food reserves on site, and according to the scale of the banquet and the general requirements of the dishes, they quickly plan in their minds which dishes to make and how to match them so that the dishes of the entire banquet are both rich and diverse and in line with the atmosphere of the occasion. Then, they began to display their cooking skills. With their skilled knife skills, cutting vegetables is like flowing water, and each piece of food is cut into uniform size and moderate thickness; when cooking, the heat is controlled just right, and the flames in the pot jump with their stir-frying movements, as if they are also playing a piece of food music with them.
At the same time, they also patiently explain the key points of each step to those who want to learn how to cook. From how to go to the market early in the morning to select the freshest and most suitable ingredients, to how to judge the freshness of the ingredients by observing their color, texture, and smelling them, and what parts of the ingredients are suitable for different dishes to maximize the deliciousness of the dishes; to the uniqueness of different cooking methods in various cuisines, such as the spicy Sichuan cuisine, which requires the clever use of the combination of chili peppers and peppercorns, and the timing and amount of adding ingredients to make the spicy taste both rich and mellow without being too irritating, and the freshness of Huaiyang cuisine, which requires the focus on extracting the freshness of the ingredients themselves, and locking in the original flavor of the ingredients through steaming, slow cooking, etc., so that the delicious taste slowly spreads on the tip of the tongue. Their explanations were clear and enlightened, as if they had found the key to open the door to cooking.
Gradually, more and more people around them were influenced by them and fell in love with cooking, which is fun and fulfilling. In their spare time, they no longer just get together to chat or play cards to kill time, but people often suggest getting together to exchange cooking experiences. Everyone will bring their own new dishes, taste each other, comment on each other, share the problems and solutions they encountered in the cooking process, and exchange new recipes and new techniques learned from different channels. The food culture of this area seems to have become more colorful because of them. The previously monotonous dining table has become full of dazzling things, and various novel dishes continue to emerge. The relationship between neighbors has become more harmonious because of this common hobby, and the whole block is filled with a strong breath of life and fireworks.
The children in the courtyard are like young seedlings bathed in the warm spring sun and getting sufficient nutrients. They thrive in this learning and communication atmosphere that is as thick as mellow honey.
Take the children of the Yan family for example. In the past, their grades in school were always at a medium level. Although they were not too bad, they did not have a very outstanding performance. They were like ordinary little stars in the class, not easy to be noticed. However, since they were influenced by the positive atmosphere in the courtyard, they seemed to be injected with magical power all of a sudden, and became particularly attentive in their studies. In class, they no longer occasionally slack off or lose focus like before, but stare at the teacher closely, and their ears are erected high, for fear of missing any knowledge points. Every time the teacher asks a question, they will actively raise their hands, their little hands raised high, their eyes are full of the light of eagerness to answer the questions, and their ideas for answering the questions are becoming clearer and more organized. After class, they no longer go out to play as soon as school is over as before, but take the initiative to stay in the classroom, complete their homework seriously, and when they encounter problems they don’t understand, they will take the initiative to ask the teacher or classmates with good grades for help. That eagerness to learn is like a burning little flame, burning more and more vigorously.
In this way, their grades in school improved by leaps and bounds, just like riding a rocket, from the original middle level to the top of the class steadily. Every time the test results were announced, they would be filled with proud and happy smiles when they saw their scores and rankings that were constantly improving. That smile was full of the joy of achievement and the affirmation of their own efforts.
Not only that, they also took the initiative to participate in various interest groups in the school, whether it is the painting group, calligraphy group, or the technology group, sports group, etc., you can see their active figures. In the interest groups, they fully demonstrated the positive and enterprising spirit learned from the adults in the courtyard. They are always enthusiastic to try all kinds of new things. When they encounter difficulties, they never give up easily, but try to overcome them. For example, in the painting group, they will take the initiative to study different painting styles, try to use various painting techniques, and also use the brush to show the beautiful pictures they see in life and share them with other students; in the technology group, facing those complex small inventions and small productions, they will consult materials with their friends, conduct repeated experiments, and constantly improve the plan.
Moreover, they also passed on this positive and enterprising spirit to the students around them, just like passing on a warm torch. During the break, they would sit together with their classmates, share their gains and insights in learning and interest groups, and encourage everyone to try new things together and bravely challenge themselves. Gradually, the whole class was driven by them, and a wave of learning and catching up was formed. The students no longer competed with each other to see who had more fun, but to see who studied harder, who had more knowledge, and who had achieved more significant results in the interest group. In the classroom, you can often hear the sound of everyone discussing problems enthusiastically, and on the playground, you can often see the figures of students training hard to achieve good results in sports competitions. The whole class is full of positive energy.
The children from other families also had their own gains, like a colorful painting, everyone is depicting their own wonderful things. Some children seem to be born with a keen sense of color, showing a unique talent in painting. When they pick up the paintbrush, it is as if they have entered a wonderful world of their own. Whether it is depicting the delicate and beautiful flowers in spring, the sparkling lake in summer, the golden rice fields in autumn, or the snowy scenes in winter, they can all be painted vividly, as if those pictures are about to jump out of the paper. Their works have repeatedly won awards in the school's painting competitions. Standing on the podium, holding the certificate of honor, their little faces are full of pride and joy. The honor is not only a recognition of their painting skills, but also a motivation to encourage them to continue exploring the road of painting.