Chapter 4 — The Path of Remembrance

But Ms. Ton only stopped in front of her for two seconds, said "very good" and then left. And in front of me, she stopped for nearly two minutes. This is the first time since changing schools that in any subject, I've had a teacher look at me a little longer. After class, Ms. Ton called me back. “Are you interested in joining the school's art club?” “What club?” "Every Wednesday afternoon there are two hours of club activities for painting. There will be a private instructor." I think. “Okay.” “So next Wednesday afternoon, I'll go to the art room to find you.” Back in class, I don't know who spread the story about Ms. Ton looking at my paintings for a long time during art class. Trieu Giai Giai said bitterly. “It's just a tree, who can't draw it?” Luc Uyen Dinh smiled gently. "Nien Niem draws quite beautifully. Everyone has their own forte." That sentence again. Each person has their own forte. Translated, it means: I only do painting. I didn't reply. But that day, when she came to tutor me after class, she casually said something. “Nien Niem, the art club is really good, but your current achievements are so poor, shouldn't you spend time studying?” “If you delay your tutoring time because of club activities, Ms. Phuong probably won't be happy.” Her tone was “I want the best for you”. But the content is "don't go". I looked at her for two seconds. “I will go.” She was stunned. “I mean…” “I know what you mean. I mean I want to go.” She didn't advise anymore and continued to lecture me about the math problem. But that day, while lecturing, she clearly wasn't as patient as before. There are some things that I don't understand, but I'm not familiar with the way they set the questions. I discovered this problem one afternoon. Father Luc took me and Luc Uyen Dinh to his company to participate in the family festival. In the company lobby, there is a fun Q&A area for parents and children. Questions appear on the electronic screen one after another, parents and children have the right to answer. All are questions that mix between "tricks" and "common knowledge guesses". Luc Uyen Dinh answered the first few questions as quickly as lightning, such as "how many weeks are there in a year", "at most how many right angles does a triangle have?" Then a question pops up: On a farm there are twenty-five cows, of which fifteen are female cows. The remaining one-third of the bulls wear bells. How many bulls do not wear bells? Luc Uyen Dinh is calculating in his head. I blurted out the answer. “There are none.” Father Luc looked at me. "Why?" "A bull will not obediently let someone wear a bell for him. If you get close, he will gore you. So in reality, no bull will wear a bell." The parents nearby burst into laughter. Luc's father also laughed. “Nim Niem, this is a math problem, not a question of experience raising cows.” “The question asked about cows, you answered the truth about cows.” Luc Uyen Dinh calculated the answer. "Probably seven. Twenty-five minus fifteen is ten. One-third of ten, rounded down, is three. Ten minus three is seven." The standard answer is also seven. The word “Correct” appears on the screen. But I'm still not convinced. Because the person asking that question has certainly never raised cows. Then there is another sentence: There is a basket of eggs, each time you take half away and put one egg back. Do this five times continuously, how many fruits are left in the basket? This time I calculated faster than Luc Uyen Dinh. “You have to see how big or small the egg is.” "What?" "If the eggs are from our free-range chickens, the eggs are large, one basket cannot hold much. If the eggs are from chickens raised with industrial feed, the eggs are small, one basket can hold a lot. The initial number of eggs is different, so the answers are also different." The whole hall was silent for a second. Luc's father hugged his face. Luc Uyen Dinh quickly read out the standard answer. But there was one uncle who patted Luc's father on the shoulder and said. “Old Luc, your little daughter's mind is no different, it's just her way of thinking is a bit different.” Father Luc considered this sentence to be polite. But I remember. Different way of thinking. It's not that the mind can't. That night, I secretly took a Luc Uyen Dinh math exercise book from the living room. I opened it to see. I understand what each means

The problem has text, but the way it is presented shocked me. It says "put vertical calculation", but in town I have never used vertical calculation, I just do mental math. It says "write the solution process", I can calculate the answer but don't know how to write the process. In other words, it's not that I don't know how to do it. But I don't know how to write the answer "according to their rules". This discovery made me sleepless for a while. Then I made a decision. I can't let Gray Gray see me like this. If Gray Gray knew that his master could not lift his head in front of a group of city children, his donkey face would certainly lose face. From the next day, I no longer relied solely on Luc Uyen Dinh's tutoring. In the evening, when I returned to my room, I opened the textbook myself. I start from the first page, going through each page: the presentation, the steps to solve the problem, and how the standard answer is written.