After that long chat, Wu Dao and Kan Wenyuan both had the intention of seeing each other late. Since Zhao Wu and Jing Like, Wu Dao once again had the feeling of meeting a confidant, and since then the name Kan Wenyuan has been added to his friend list.

Two days after that conversation, Wu Dao brought Kan Wenyuan to Shidao Education, where he worked as a part-time tutor.

Kan Wenyuan's appearance made Wu Dao's peaceful life ripple, looking at the young Kan Wenyuan, Wu Dao felt more and more that he had changed, not only in his body, but also in his heart, and he even felt that his current self was not himself.

Although the relationship between Wu Dao and Shi Qingqing is peaceful on the surface, in fact, his life is shrouded in loneliness every day.

Shi Qingqing is busy with the tutoring school all day long, and Wu Dao is often distracted by this. Shi Qingqing is tired of this, she likes to be a boss lady, she likes the feeling of being on top, she wants to earn more money and live a better life.

Wu Dao often felt that what he was doing now was meaningless, and these things were eating away at his conscience little by little, killing him. He became more and more reticent, often standing alone by the window and looking into the distance.

Wu Dao originally liked Wu Yisheng very much, and the two of them were like biological father and son. Shi Qingqing's strength in educating children made Wu Dao often unconsciously think that this child was not his, and he couldn't help but feel a problem in his heart.

Colleagues, relatives and even kindergarten children also said that Wu Dao and Wu Yisheng, father and son, did not look alike at all, and the change in Wu Yisheng's appearance also became obvious in Wu Dao's eyes, and he felt more and more that he did not belong to this family of three.

Wu Dao and Shi Qingqing said less and less, because he felt that the two of them had nothing to say.

Shi Qingqing thinks about tutoring school and educating Wu Yisheng every day, and she didn't notice Wu Dao's changes, in her opinion, Wu Dao was originally a person who doesn't like to talk, and life is boring, and now Wu Dao is no longer against her, which proves that she is right, and she has become a veritable family member.

After another two weeks, after Wu Dao finished class, Kan Wenyuan came over with a letter and said very excitedly:

"Teacher Wu, Xiao Dongpo wrote back to me."

Wu Dao was very surprised, he didn't expect Xiao Dongpo to really reply to Kan Wenyuan.

Wu Dao took the letter and saw that the lower right corner of the envelope was printed with the emblem of Peking University and the words "Department of Chinese and Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University", this letter was indeed sent from Peking University, he had seen Xiao Dongpo's signature, the words on the envelope were a little sloppy, the font was not good, but it was indeed Xiao Dongpo's style. Wu Dao said to Kan Wenyuan:

"I didn't expect him to really reply to you, let's go, go outside and find a quiet place to see."

Wu Dao and Kan Wenyuan talked as they walked. Wu Dao said:

"When did you write to him?"

"For more than ten days, I thought he wouldn't write back to me. Yesterday afternoon, the squad leader said that there was a letter from me, and I immediately thought of Xiao Dongpo, but I didn't expect it to be his letter. Kan Wenyuan said.

"Xiao Dongpo is a warm-hearted person, especially likes to help young people, if you can really go to him for graduate school, it is also a kind of fate."

"But he doesn't want me to be admitted to Peking University."

"Why?"

"Just look at his letter."

The two of them sat down on the stone bench under the big tree, and Wu Dao took out Xiao Dongpo's letter from the envelope, which was written like this:

"Kan Wenyuan:

Hello!

Letter received. I understand your feelings very well, your yearning for Peking University and your love for literature are very precious. However, ideals are not the same as reality. Let me tell you, Peking University in reality is not as good as you idealize. If it does, you'll be miserable and disappointed.

Therefore, I think you might as well treat your ideal as an ideal forever, so that your ideal will not deteriorate and your dream will not be vulgar.

However, your pursuit of literature is still worth persevering, because it is up to you to grasp it. There are also many mediocre and bad people in Peking University, and a person who insists on the pursuit of literature is a happy person in himself.

Wishing you happiness! ”

After reading Xiao Dongpo's letter, Wu Dao unconsciously fell into thinking, this letter was written to Kan Wenyuan, but why wasn't it written to himself? Always treat ideals as ideals, so that ideals will not deteriorate and dreams will not be vulgar. A person who adheres to the pursuit of literature is a happy person in itself. Where are your ideals? Where did the literary quest go?

Kan Wenyuan saw that Wu Dao had not spoken for a long time, so he said to him:

"Mr. Wu, what do you think I should do, do I still have to be admitted to the graduate school of Peking University?"

"Xiao Dongpo is right." Wu Dao paused for a while and said, "Peking University is not as good as you think, not only Peking University, but no university in the world is perfect. Whether you want to be admitted to Peking University for graduate school or not depends on you. What did you say in your letter to Xiao Dongpo? ”

"I wrote about my love for literature, my dissatisfaction with the university I am studying at now, and my yearning for Peking University."

"I want to ask you, do you have any other dreams besides being admitted to Peking University?"

"Of course, last time the teacher said that he wanted to go to the west to teach when he graduated from university, I have also thought about this question in the past few days, and I also want to go, and it is also my dream to go to the west to teach. Maybe when you get there, you can find more creative inspiration. ”

"My opinion is that you have to prepare for both things. The two things do not conflict, if you fail the graduate school entrance examination, you will sign up for the western plan and go to the western region to teach. If you succeed in the graduate school entrance examination, you can still go to the western region to teach when you graduate from graduate school. ”

"But Xiao Dongpo's letter advised me not to be admitted to Peking University, and let me always regard my ideals as ideals."

"It's good to always think of ideals as ideals, but wouldn't it be better if ideals could become reality? It's like if you meet a girl you like, do you want to take her as an ideal and watch her marry someone else, or do you want to pursue her and make her your real wife, even if one day you will find that she is not as perfect as you think? ”

"Of course you have to pursue her."

"Xiao Dongpo doesn't want your beautiful ideals to be shattered, on the one hand, he is worried that Peking University in reality is not as good as you think, which will disappoint you, and on the other hand, he is actually worried that you are very likely to fail in the graduate school entrance examination, so you will still be disappointed, and the latter aspect is inconvenient for him to write."

"I see."

After separating from Kan Wenyuan, Wu Dao spent the whole day thinking about Xiao Dongpo's letter and Kan Wenyuan's postgraduate entrance examination.

He suddenly figured out that life is full of choices, and since his current life is not happy, why not change his lifestyle? Kan Wenyuan can be admitted to graduate school, he can be admitted to the doctorate, go to school in other places, and be separated from Shi Qingqing for a few years, maybe everything will be different in a few years.

As for why you want to take the doctoral exam, the reason is very simple, that is, to evaluate associate professors. A few years ago, Fangzhou College instituted a new policy that teachers could only be selected as associate professors if they had obtained a doctoral degree. Wu Dao's academic qualifications are master's degree students, and he is not eligible to apply for the selection of associate professors.

At this time, the time has also come to November, which happens to be the time to register for the doctoral entrance examination. As for which university to take the doctorate, Wu Dao has several choices, he participated in academic activities all over the country, and met a lot of doctoral supervisors in this major, and they all recognized Wu Dao's research ability, and two doctoral supervisors also said to Wu Dao that if you need to study for a doctorate, you can go to them to study.

After comparing several doctoral supervisors, Wu Dao felt that the doctoral supervisor of a university in Xi'an was the most suitable, and the reason why he came to this conclusion was that the doctoral supervisor was Tian Mowen's junior brother and Meng Yihong's senior brother, and he was also his elder, and second, he had a special good impression of Xi'an, because he and Meng Yihong had left good memories there.

That night, Wu Dao said to Shi Qingqing:

"Qingqing, I have something to discuss with you."

"What's the matter?" Shi Qingqing said.

"I want to get a PhD."

"It's a good thing to take the doctorate exam, you just go for the exam."

"After being admitted to the doctorate, if you want to go to other places, you may have to leave home for a few years."

"Can't the doctor be in Fangzhou College?"

"You still don't know much, Fangzhou University doesn't have a doctoral program, not even a graduate program, so you can't go here."

"Where are you going, to Jeju?"

"It's not Jeju, and Jeju University doesn't have a Ph.D. program in our major."

"And where are you going to get a doctor?"

"I want to go to Xi'an."

Shi Qingqing has also gained some knowledge in recent years, knowing that Xi'an is in Shaanxi and far away from Fangzhou, she said to Wu Dao:

"Isn't it okay not to go to PhD? It's good now, why do you suddenly want to do a PhD? ”

"I didn't think about it out of the blue, I've been thinking about it for a while. There is a rule in Fangzhou University that only doctors can be rated as associate professors, and I am only a graduate degree now, and if I don't study for a doctorate, it is impossible to be rated as an associate professor until I retire, let alone a professor.

If I get a doctorate, I can be rated as an associate professor or professor in the future, and my salary will increase by a large amount, which is also good for Shidao education. Think about it, when the time comes to publicize it, you can write that university professors teach in person, is it a notch higher than now? ”

Shi Qingqing thought for a while, and felt that Wu Dao's words were very reasonable, so he said:

"You're right, being a professor is a good thing for the counseling school. When are you going to do a PhD? ”

"Sign up this month, and I'll only go to it in September next year."

"Is it easy to get a doctorate?"

"I know a few PhD supervisors, that is, teachers who teach PhDs. The reason why I told you that I want to go to Xi'an to study for a doctorate is because there is a doctoral supervisor there who has a good relationship with me, and I can go to study for a doctorate with him. I'll tell you first, you support me to do my PhD, and I'll contact him later. ”

"Doing a PhD is good for you, for me, and for our family, and I support you. When you went to PhD, I asked my mother to help bring Yisheng. By the way, how many years does it take to graduate with a PhD? ”

"It's going to take four years."

"Have you been in Xi'an for four years?"

"It's not clear now, I have to ask the doctoral supervisor to find out."

"Then you should hurry up and contact the doctoral supervisor."

In the afternoon of the same day, Wu Dao called Professor Chen, a doctoral supervisor in Xi'an. Professor Chen was very supportive of Wu Dao's decision, and immediately agreed that Wu Dao would go to him to study for a doctorate, and he would also ask the university to allow Wu Dao to be admitted without examination.

Wu Dao didn't expect that his plan to study for a doctorate would go so smoothly, and there would be results with a phone call.

Fangzhou College is very supportive of teachers' further education, because it can improve the overall academic level of teachers. The day after the phone call with Professor Chen, Wu Dao submitted his application for a Ph.D. to the head of the department, who immediately signed it.

Everything was ready, and Wu Dao only waited for more than nine months to leave for Xi'an.