◎ Third update ◎ 

“What are you looking at?” Liang Baozhen approached and saw Xu Shengwei peeking into the room. 

“Sister-in-law.” Xu Shengya turned around first and complained to her sister-in-law, “My second brother is watching others play table tennis.” 

Liang Baozhen also looked over curiously and saw that it was the table tennis training room. There room was 30 square meters and there’s six table tennis tables inside, and a banner on the wall that say, ‘Be Brave and Strive to Reach New Heights.’ 

“Xiaowei, why are you looking so absorbed in it?” 

Xu Shengwei came back to his senses when he heard Liang Baozhen’s words. He had just seen two boys training in the table tennis training room. They were hitting the ball back and forth. It was amazing! He was dazzled and didn’t know why he was so engrossed in it that he didn’t even hear the people talking next to him. 

“Sister-in-law, let’s go.” Xu Shengwei went out with his sister-in-law and sister, but after walking a few steps, he looked back. He still didn’t know who would win between the two. 

Liang Baozhen found him looking back every few steps and found it even funnier. She thought that he still wanted to play. “Next time, you should play at school too.” 

“My racket is broken.” 

Xu Shengwei’s table tennis racket wasn’t a proper one; he and his classmates from the State Cotton Factory affiliated school made it from a wooden board. It had no rubber or sponge, so it lacked elasticity and was barely functional. It only relies solely on brute force. 

There was no other option. Table tennis rackets were too expensive, and no one was willing to buy them. Even the table tennis balls were costly. The six of them pooled their money to buy a plain white ball for eight cents. However, the ball would often flatten after a few hits and needed to be soaked in boiling water to regain its shape. 

Eventually, he stopped playing. Although table tennis was fun, it was expensive and tiring. 

But when he watched the students in the table tennis class at the Youth Palace, it looked completely different from how he played with his friends; it looked so impressive. 

“Do you want a table tennis racket?” Liang Baozhen rarely saw Xu Shengwei looking a little disappointed when talking about playing table tennis. It seemed that this guy really loved it. 

“No, they’re too expensive.” 

“Let’s buy it if you like it. Playing table tennis is a healthy sport. It’s a good thing to exercise more and keep fit.” Liang Baozhen now controls the family’s finances. She thinks it’s okay to buy a pair of rackets for her brother-in-law. However, in order to treat everyone equally, she also asked Xu Shengya what she liked and decided to buy that too. 

She took them back to the supply and marketing cooperative. Xu Shengwei’s excitement was evident as he stared at the bright red table tennis rackets with glowing eyes. A pair of rackets started at five yuan and fifty cents, with individual rackets sold from three yuan. They were pricey and required regular maintenance for the sponge’s elasticity, and the balls were consumables—cheap balls had insufficient bounce, while the expensive ones were very costly. 

“Comrade, we’d like one racket and two table tennis balls.” 

“Which brand of rackets do you want? Shield is three yuan fifty, Rooster three yuan, and Lianhuan and Glory are four yuan each.” The salesperson placed four rackets on the glass counter and then took out a tray with four types of table tennis balls. “Which type of balls do you want? Rooster is ten cents, Shield is nine cents, and plain white is eight cents.” 

Liang Baozhen had never played table tennis, so how could she understand these things? There were piles of different brands, but she remembered that there was a very famous brand later. “Don’t you have any Hong Shuangxi?” 

The salesperson looked a bit disdainful, thinking that this person was talking without understanding the situation. “Hong Shuangxi is used by the national team for training. You can’t just buy it casually. Being able to get these is already quite good.” 

“Sister-in-law, let’s buy the cheapest one.” Xu Shengwei didn’t know the family’s financial situation, but he just wanted to buy the cheapest one. 

“No need. If you like playing, get a better one. It’s not that much more expensive,” Liang Baozhen said with a bit of regret for not being able to get Hong Shuangxi. “So we’ll take a Lianhuan racket and two Rooster balls.” 

Expensive ones are definitely good. 

“Four yuan twenty cents,” the salesperson was surprised at how readily the payment was made, thinking that this person was quite generous. 

After all, few families are willing to spend more than four yuan to buy a table tennis racket these days. Wouldn’t it be better to use the money to buy meat or make some clothes? 

“What about Xiaoya? What do you want?” 

Xu Shengya shook her head. “I haven’t thought about it yet, sister-in-law. Can I let you know later when I think of something?” 

“Okay, then tell me when you think about it.” 

The three of them walked home, and Xu Shengwei’s mind was already flying high with thoughts of the new table tennis racket and the bouncy table tennis balls! He walked with a spring in his step, and he couldn’t wait to show off to his friends! 

Xu Shengjie had no problem with his wife buying a table tennis racket for his younger brother, but Zhou Yun felt that his granddaughter-in-law was spoiling Xiaowei too much. “This is too expensive. How can you spend so much money on just a racket and two balls?” 

After all, pork costs 90 cents per pound, and this racket can buy more than 4 pounds of pork. Zhou Yun, who is used to saving money, felt pain. “If Xiaowei pesters you to buy things, you should not spoil him too much. Children should not be spoiled too much.” 

“It’s not like that, Grandma. It’s my idea to buy it for Xiaowei. It’s rare for him to like something so much. You should have seen him at the Youth Palace, staring at the table tennis training room with his eyes wide open, not blinking at all,” Liang Baozhen said, then turned to Xu Shengjie. “As for Xiaoya, she hasn’t decided yet. We still owe her a gift.” 

“Alright,” Xu Shengjie wasn’t too concerned and told his sister to get whatever she wanted. 

Ever since Xu Shengwei got the table tennis racket, he transformed completely. The first time he used a proper racket, he felt like a master, his skills seemed to improve dramatically! 

His strokes were smooth, and his serves were seamless. Without formal training, he practiced with the popular direct grip technique. 

With the help of his new racket, Xu Shengjie became addicted to it and was invincible in the Affiliated School of State Cotton Factory. Soon, the news that there was a table tennis master in the Affiliated School of State Cotton Factory spread throughout the school. 

Then, Xu Shengwei’s teacher came to the door. 

*** 

The first time Zhou Yun met her grandchildren’s teacher at home, she politely made tea for her, but her face turned red after hearing just a few words from the teacher. 

Xu Shengwei had started skipping classes! And he was doing it frequently! 

Teacher Fan graduated from a normal school this year. She was lucky enough to catch the last college entrance examination. After graduation, she was assigned to teach at the Affiliated School at the State Cotton Factory. She is a Chinese teacher and also serves as a class teacher. 

“Grandma Zhou, Xu Shengwei was actually quite good when he just moved up to the first year of junior high last year. Although his test scores were average, he was very smart and responsible. When his classmates were making noise in class, he would help the teacher organize classroom discipline. He was also popular in the class, and they often exercised together as a group.” Teacher Fan spoke softly and slowly, as if she were not making a complaint during a home visit but more like having a heart-to-heart talk with Zhou Yun. 

“But recently, for over a month now, he has been skipping classes constantly. He’s often missing from his seat. At first, I thought it was just the child being playful. Some of the mischievous boys in the class often do this, and we manage them, but Xu Shengwei is different. His skipping has increased, and when I asked him, he answered well, but soon after, it started again. I think it’s necessary that I communicate with you his current actions right now.” 

“Oh, Teacher Fan, my grandson really troubles you!” Zhou Yun was distressed. Her grandson was found by her teacher for skipping classes. It was so embarrassing. She had respected scholars the most in her life, especially teachers who taught and educated people. Now she just felt ashamed and just wanted to grab Xu Shengwei and beat him up! 

At this time, everyone in the family had finished dinner and gone out. Xu Shengjie and his wife went to Liu Nianhua’s house to help. She wanted to redecorate the house, and large pieces of furniture would require more labor. Xu Shengya went to Widow Chen’s house to play with her two daughters. As for Xu Shengwei, no one knew where he had gone. 

“Binzi.” Zhou Yun looked around at the door and found someone who knew about the situation. 

Fang Zhibin heard the neighbor’s grandmother call out loudly, “Grandma Zhou, what’s going on?” 

“Have you seen Xiaowei?” 

“He went to play table tennis.” Fang Zhibin knew this, of course, and not only did he know it, but he also felt very frustrated. Recently, Xu Shengwei stopped playing with the children in the courtyard. Whenever he had free time, he would play table tennis instead of rolling hoops or playing marbles. The other children in the courtyard did not have regular table tennis rackets at home, and Xu Shengwei thought their skills were not good enough, so he played with the second-year junior high school students. 

“Where does he play?” 

“At the school.” 

Zhou Yun sighed heavily, “Binzi, do Grandma Zhou a favor and go to the State Cotton Factory Affiliated School to find Xiaowei. Tell him that Grandma wants to see him for something urgent.” 

“Okay.” 

At this moment, Xu Shengwei was playing fiercely on the table tennis table at the State Cotton Factory Affiliated School. He was playing with students one grade higher than him. They also had expensive table tennis rackets, and it was so much fun playing against them! 

Xu Shengwei was celebrating after scoring a beautiful dribbling goal when he suddenly saw Fang Zhibin coming over. He excitedly showed off to him, “Binzi! You came at the right time, come and watch me play!” 

“No, your grandma asked me to find you and said it’s urgent.” 

Xu Shengwei looked confused. Why would his grandma need him urgently at this time?

“Wait, I still have three more balls to play! I’m about to win!” 

“Xu Shengwei, stop bragging. Who said you’re going to win?” His opponent was also unwilling to lose. The score was 18 to 13, and Xu Shengwei still needed three more points to win. 

As a result, the match lasted for more than ten minutes. Perhaps because he was too anxious, or perhaps because he wanted to show off too much in front of Fang Zhibin, Xu Shengwei made several mistakes in succession, and the score between the two went from 18 to 13 to 20 to 19. 

In the end, Xu Shengwei made a decisive shot and won narrowly with a score of 21 to 19! 

Zhou Yun and Teacher Fan were waiting at home, and they waited for nearly forty minutes. Zhou Yun became more and more embarrassed. She kept adding water to Teacher Fan’s cup and putting peach cakes and egg cakes bought from home on the table. But Teacher Fan was polite and only drank water and refused to eat anything. 

When Xu Shengwei and Fang Zhibin came back in a hurry, they saw Teacher Fan sitting in the room. Xu Shengwei was stunned and thought it was all over!