“童话大王”儿子的另类成长故事

“童话大王”儿子的另类成长故事

 

Zheng Yaqi, son of Zheng Yuanjie, the “King of Children's Tales,” looks like his peers in appearance, but his experience of growing up was different from others.

Homeschooling
Right after he finished his middle school entrance exam, Zheng Yaqi dropped out of school forever. After that, his father turned a spare room into a classroom and taught him at home.

His father wrote some interesting textbooks for him, like rearranging1 the 419 crimes in Chinese Criminal Law into 419 fairy tales. They had three classes every afternoon. At dusk, his father always took him for a walk along the riverbank, and discussed with him various topics from TV or books.

Zheng Yaqi finished the six-year middle school education in three years, and graduated from this special “school.”

“Black hole” in communication
His father once worried that, he might not be able to get along well with his peers. But at a cyber acquaintances'2 gathering, his father became confident of his social ability.

“The first gathering with cyber acquaintances happened a half year after I left school, and it was fantastic. They were all men, and a lot older than me. We talked about computers and discussed designing a website together. They pointed at me, saying that when I was 18, we would establish a company together, and I could be the boss.”Recalling things that happened, Zheng Yaqi can't help being excited, “That's more fun than staying with peers.”
Cyber acquaintances are the most important tie between him and the outside world, so 80% of his contacts listed in his address book are cyber acquaintances.

Grown up
When he was 16, his father “warned” him by saying, “I'll give you whatever you want before you turn 18. But after, I won't care much about you, and by contrast, you should give me whatever I want.” When his 18th birthday was approaching, he began thinking about applying for a job. Therefore, he sent resumes to many posts he favored via the Internet. “But, most got no reply,” he said. “Maybe they were surprised about my elementary school education.”
By chance, one of his friends was looking for someone, who could work as an egg porter at the supermarket, for 0.5 yuan per box. Facing lots of difficulties in job hunting, Zheng Yaqi said, “I'll take this job. At least I can earn some for my petrol.” Then every day, he drove his Audi A6—his 18th birthday gift—to work in the supermarket. He did that for three months.

Later, he heard that, a newspaper was looking for a network technician3, so he applied for it. But they were also worried about his elementary education. He practiced his technique right in front of the computer, and showed the employers web pages he had designed. He promised to make a website for the newspaper for free. He started work the next day, and was promoted to the director of network department in less than a year.

But now, 23-year-old Zheng Yaqi is a boss. In January 2005, he made an investment4 with his savings, and launched Pi Pilu, with himself as the editor in chief. And the only writer—his father, Zheng Yuanjie.

郑亚旗是“童话大王”郑渊洁的儿子。他外表与同龄人无异，但在成长的过程中却有着与别人不同的经历。

私塾生活
小学毕业考试刚结束，郑亚旗就永远退了学。此后，他爸爸把一间空房改为教室，在家教他。
他爸爸给他编撰了一些有趣的教材，如把中国的刑法的419项罪名编成了419个童话故事。每天下午上三节课。傍晚，爸爸会带他到河边去散步，和他讨论电视上或书里各种不同的话题。
三年之后，郑亚旗学完了中学六年的课程，从这所特殊的“学校”毕业了。

交往“黑洞”
他爸爸曾担心他可能不合群。但一次网友聚会上，他爸爸对他的社交能力有了信心。

“第一次见网友好玩极了，我那会儿辍学刚半年。那些人全是男的，都比我大很多。我们聊计算机，还商量了合伙设计网站。他们指着我说，等我18岁了，我们就成立公司，我来当老板。”回忆当年的情景，郑亚旗还止不住兴奋，“比和同龄人在一起好玩多了。”

网友成为他连接外界最重要的纽带，他通讯录中百分之八十的联系人都是网友。

长大成人 
他16岁时，爸爸就“警告”他说，“18岁前你要什么我给你什么，18岁之后，我就不管你了，相反我要什么你给我什么。”18岁的生日很快到了，他想到了求职。于是他就在网上对自己喜欢的许多职位投了简历。“但大部分都没有回音，可能是被我的小学学历给惊呆了。”他说。
刚好有个朋友找人到超市扛鸡蛋，一箱5毛钱。寻找工作四处碰壁的郑亚旗说：“那我去吧，好歹能挣个汽油钱。”他每天开着那18岁的生日礼物奥迪A6去超市扛鸡蛋，这一扛就是三个月。
后来，他得知一家报社招网络技术人员，于是他就去求职了。可人家也担心他的小学学历，他就在电脑前演练了一下自己的技术，翻出制作过的网页给招聘人员看，并承诺帮报纸建一个网站，不收费。第二天，他就去上班了。不到一年，被提为了网络技术部主任。

而如今，23岁的郑亚旗自己做起了老板。2005年1月，他拿出了所有的积蓄投资，创办了《皮皮鲁画册》，任主编，爸爸郑渊洁是惟一的作者。