Years: Salted fish life since going to the countryside.

Chapter 1729 Trivial Matters Before the New Year (Part Two)

Han Li was exhausted from the meal at Principal Wen's house. His laid-back nature made it impossible for him to understand why anyone would constantly strive for improvement.
To be honest, President Wen is now a member of the Standing Committee of Yenching University, Vice President, and Dean of the School of Foreign Languages.

Moreover, he has only served as a member of the school's standing committee for about two years, so it's a bit too hasty for him to seek advancement now.

However, this has little to do with Han Li. He only comes back once a year and can't help much in this matter, nor is he forced to take sides.

However, Han Li can't do nothing, otherwise it will have a huge impact on his reputation and public image. Anyone who bears such a reputation will find it very difficult to make progress in the future.
Moreover, He Mi and Hou Yuhua will need Principal Wen's guidance in their future work.

Han Li also needs to establish himself firmly in the academy circle to lay a solid foundation for his future and for the children. This is the reality of being caught in the currents of life.

Therefore, when Principal Wen mentioned exchange students again at the dinner table.

After hesitating for a while, Han Li reluctantly agreed with a troubled expression that he would do his best to make the matter happen.

However, Han Li made this very clear to Principal Wen: given the current situation in Hong Kong, and the attitude of the Hong Kong University board of directors, school leaders, and faculty and students, exchange students have virtually no chance of pursuing official academic careers.

Currently, Han Li can only resort to underhanded tactics in his research projects. He uses his position as an associate professor at Hong Kong University to collaborate with a company in Hong Kong on joint research, studies, and cooperation projects, and then submits papers to Yenching University and President Wen.

They were instructed to send relevant students to Hong Kong to participate in this joint research project.

The duration of these people's stay in Hong Kong is uncertain, ranging from a minimum of one month to a maximum of three months.

Even for these exchange students, Han Li told Principal Wen that he had done his best, but he could only offer a maximum of three places next year, unless he received another research commission.

Principal Wen and Han Li both knew that the value of such exchange students was very low, so low that many schools did not recognize them.

The only thing on their application materials for this overseas exchange program that could barely be accepted by the school was the comment from Han Li, an associate professor at Hong Kong University.

But what does it matter? Would people who get such an opportunity at this time care about such a flaw?

And is this a flaw? This is clearly a dazzling resume.

To be honest, all they need to do when they get back is slightly polish their resumes.
Transforming this seemingly insignificant activity into a fundamental step of experiencing and exploring foreign learning environments, cultures, and work systems is essential.

It's even possible to elevate this matter to a higher level; the extent to which they can achieve that depends on their own talent and connections.

Han Li did everything he could, helping Principal Wen on his path to advancement; no one could criticize him for that.

With these three spots available, whether Principal Wen can achieve his goal of becoming the executive vice principal is up to him.
In any case, Han Li did everything he could, and he stood firm in terms of human relationships and morality.

How Principal Wen manages those three future slots is his own business, and whether he can use them to become an executive vice principal is also his own business.

Regardless, Han Li will gain gratitude for these three spots, which will enhance his reputation within the academy circle.

After finishing his meal at Principal Wen's house, Han Li went to his home in Tiger Cave Alley. Wang Chunhua opened the gate, but without closing it or waiting for Han Li to park his bicycle, she ran inside. Han Li parked his bicycle, locked the gate, and went inside. He saw Wang Chunhua sprawled on the kang (heated brick bed) like a frog. Most importantly…

Even if Han Li hadn't been drinking, presenting his favorite starting stance in the most straightforward and direct way today would still be...
-
(NNN words omitted here)
When Han Li and Wang Chunhua returned to Houhai's home, it was around four o'clock. By then, the sky in Beijing was already beginning to darken.

He Mi and Yun Yingying smelled the alcohol on Han Li and knew that he had drunk a lot at Principal Wen's place that morning, so they suggested postponing their visit to Teacher Zhang Yubo's house.

Today is the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. There are only five days left until Lunar New Year's Eve, and six days until the New Year itself.
Han Li had many relationships to cultivate and many trivial matters to handle before the new year, so he naturally disagreed with postponing his visit to Teacher Zhang Yubo's house.

Although Han Li did not agree, He Mi and the others still let him rest at home for a while and drink two cups of tea before taking the gifts out.

Han Li rode his bicycle with Yun Yingying on one side, and He Mi rode her bicycle with Hou Yuhua on the other. The front baskets and handlebars of both bicycles were loaded with gifts for Teacher Zhang.

However, apart from a few bottles of foreign liquor and two Parker pens, the other gifts were all things that could be bought in Beijing.

After the resumption of exams, every year when Han Li and her group came to Teacher Zhang's house, the teacher and his wife would never let them leave, insisting that they stay for dinner.

This year was no different; Han Li and his group ate dinner at Teacher Zhang's house before returning home.

However, after arriving at Houhai's house, Han Li did not go in. He told He Mi and the others to go back first, and then rode his bicycle to the black market.

Because Han's mother stewed all the meat in the house the day before yesterday to supplement her son's nutrition, Han Li really had to go to the black market. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to have a good New Year with the meat coupons his family had managed to get, let alone have a good feast to entertain his friends.

Han Li strolled around the nearby black market and found that the black market had a relatively abundant supply of goods and a wide variety of items this year.

However, people are more financially well-off than in previous years, so getting meat and other scarce items for the Lunar New Year still depends on luck.

Han Li bought a lot of meat in Hong Kong before returning. His visit to the black market today was just an excuse, so he left after taking a quick look around.

When Han Li was almost at the entrance of Houhai Family Street, he took out two large snakeskin bags full of beef from his disintegration space, which was about half a cow, and tied them to the sides of the back seat of his bicycle.

Next, he took out two halves of pork from the decomposition space, and then caught more than thirty large Northeast catfish and cowtails from the pond in the vast Peach Blossom Paradise, and tied them all to the back seat of the bicycle.

Finally, Han Li took out a large snakeskin bag containing more than twenty white-feathered chickens and placed it on the front beam of the bicycle, making it neat.

This is why the 28-inch bicycles of that era were so durable. If it were a regular bicycle, the wheels would likely be deformed under the weight of so much stuff.

However, since he was only twenty or thirty steps away from home and his bicycle was already overloaded, Han Li certainly wouldn't ride it.

Since it was already quite late, Mr. Han, Mrs. Han, and the Han sisters had already gone back to Mianhua Hutong.

So when Han Li pushed open the street gate and heard the sound, only the Yun sisters and He Mi came out to greet him.
(End of this chapter)