Chapter 112

Gu Yin got first place in this term exam, at the school level, and earned one point. Gu Yin doesn't plan to allocate this point yet because she received news that junior high students are not allowed to participate in this year's sports meet. In other words, Gu Yin won't be able to get those eight or nine points.

001 was unhappy for a long time after hearing the news, but there was nothing they could do. It was a notice issued by the principal, and the teachers couldn't make a decision either. However, they were quite satisfied with the principal's decision. The sports meet would last at least a week, and what if they went too far with their play and neglected their studies? The teachers generally agreed with the principal's decision.

After the midterm exams, the late-season rice on our two acres of land was ripe.

Gu Qinglang is not home. Gu Qingming and Li Xiang are busy with construction work in the city. Li Mengxin is looking after the shops in town. Gu Shu is in school. So, at present, only the old man and the old woman, as well as Gu Yin, Gu Hua and Gu Le are at home.

The two elders originally decided that they could do it themselves. It was just two acres of land, and they could finish harvesting in three days and then threshing in another day. They didn't need anyone else.

My family disagreed and decided to harvest the rice on the weekend.

In that case, Gu Shu and the others can come back to help.

After two busy days, we finally finished harvesting the millet. After drying it for a while and storing it in the warehouse, the weather started to get cold.

When Gu Yin came home from school, she saw the old lady sewing and fixing the quilt in the main room. Every winter, she needed to fix the quilt cover and the cotton batting together to prevent the quilt cover from being kicked to one side while sleeping at night, which could cause her to catch a cold.

Li Mengxin also returned from the street, carrying two bags of pig head bones.

She handed a bag to Gu Yin: "Take this bag to Grandma Li. It's getting cold. Use this to make soup or porridge. One sip will be nutritious and warming! Ali isn't here, so she probably won't want to eat it. This stuff isn't expensive. I specially asked someone to save it for her. Take it to her."

Gu Yin nodded. Ever since Li Li and Gu Qinglang went to S City, Gu Yin and the others would visit Grandma Li's house from time to time. At first, when they saw that she only ate sweet potatoes and taro, and occasionally some oily bits, they would ask her and she would say that she had eaten too much meat a few days ago and couldn't digest it, so she ate these to cleanse her intestines. Gu Yin and the others didn't say anything.

Later, when they brought gifts to her during the festival, they discovered that she hadn't prepared any meat at all. Only then did they realize how frugal she had become. She wouldn't listen to reason, insisting that eating meat was healthier and would save money for Ali's future marriage.

Later, Gu Yin and the others would bring over any good food they had, but she wouldn't take anything expensive no matter what. Seeing this, Li Mengxin would occasionally buy some pork bones with meat so that she could make soup.

When Gu Yin brought the meat to Li Li's house, Grandma Li was sewing a quilt.

Seeing her coming over with things, he said helplessly, "You don't need to keep bringing me things. I can't eat much. Ali has already told me to eat well. If I lose weight when he comes back, he will never go out to work again. So, whenever it's market day or someone comes to the village to sell meat, I buy some. There's still some in the cupboard!"

The old lady wouldn't listen, so she had to tell Li Li and ask him to take care of her. Li Li would call back from time to time, and only then would the old lady buy meat to eat.

Gu Yin smiled and put the things on the table: "These are pig skull bones. We can use them to make porridge. The porridge will be sweet and delicious. We can also gnaw on the meat on the remaining bones and eat them as snacks. My mom brought back two big ones, and we still have some at home!"

Pig head bones aren't expensive, and the old lady knew that. She pointed behind the door: "There are taro roots I grew myself there. Take some back and stew them with meat; they're very starchy!"

Gu Yin didn't stand on ceremony. This year, her family didn't grow this kind of taro, only small taro. Her grandmother didn't grow the large taro that weighs a pound anymore, so Gu Yin picked three.

"Take more! I still have some in my field! I can't eat it all by myself!" The old lady got up, put on her shoes, came over, and filled a bag to the brim, giving it to Gu Yin.

When Gu Yin returned home, she was carrying a heavy bag full of taro.

The old lady rushed over to take it, and when she saw what was in the bag, she smiled.

"Did Grandma Ali give you this? I saw her digging for it in the back hill a few days ago. It's huge. I'll buy some meat later and we'll make some braised pork!"

"Grandma, you know how to make braised pork belly?" Gu Yin's eyes lit up. She had eaten it at banquets in her past life, and now that she heard the old lady could make it, her mouth watered.

"Yes! I'll make more when Ashu comes back from his monthly break. I'll make a lot so he can take a bowl to school!" The old lady put the fish heads in the warehouse to prevent them from spoiling.

The weather is gradually getting colder, and it's getting dark faster. Now, Gu Hua and Gu Yin spend most of their time living at school.

As soon as get out of class ended, Gu Hua took Gu Yin's lunchbox, got up and ran to the cafeteria. Gu Yin also got up and went back to the dormitory, picked up her and Gu Yin's water buckets, and went to the hot water room to get water.

This was something they had agreed upon. If they didn't do it this way, and waited until they finished eating to get hot water, they might not be able to shower until class started. There are eight shower rooms, and there are a lot of students living on campus in the cold weather. Before, the two of them didn't know this and waited until they finished eating to get hot water. As a result, when it was their turn, class started right away. Luckily, it was a self-study period and the teacher didn't come, otherwise they would have been criticized. Later, they learned their lesson and each went to a different place, which only took half the time!

Gu Yin filled the water container and waited a moment before seeing Gu Hua come over with two lunchboxes.

"I'll take the lunchbox to your dorm, and then I'll bring your clothes over too. Have you put all your clothes on your bed?" Gu Hua looked at the shower room, which was already occupied. Gu Yin was waiting in line for the person in front of her to finish showering.

Gu Yin nodded: "Everything's all set up, go quickly!"

After Gu Hua walked away, the two people in the shower room came out. Gu Yin quickly carried the tub inside and then waited outside for a while.

"If you're not going to wash, let us wash first!" someone behind couldn't help but say.

Gu Yin looked towards the dormitory and saw that Gu Hua had already come out. She quickly smiled and said, "She's already here. We'll shower quickly."

It wasn't that she was unwilling, but by the time they finished washing up and came out, the food would be cold!

When everyone turned around and saw that Gu Hua had indeed come over, they didn't say anything more.

After taking her clothes and entering the bathroom, Gu Yin noticed that the cracks in the walls, doors, and roof tiles were all stuffed with used sanitary napkins, which immediately made her feel nauseous.

"Ah Hua, do you have sanitary napkins stuck in the cracks in the wall of your bathroom?"

Hearing this, Gu Hua looked around and said helplessly, "Yes! I don't know how they can be so inconsiderate! Don't they even take their clothes to the toilet to throw them away?! It's disgusting! Hurry up and wash! Let's get out of here as soon as possible!"

Having no other choice, Gu Yin finished washing as quickly as possible, not wanting to linger for even a second longer, and immediately ran out. If it were summer, the smell would be unbearable!

"I think I'll just go home to shower at noon from now on. My stomach is churning!" Gu Yin said to Gu Hua, her face pale.

Gu Hua also had this idea, but he hadn't paid attention to it before.

A few people were washing clothes in the shower room. Overhearing their conversation, they also complained: "I discovered it a few days ago. Wow, you guys don't know, that wall was originally for putting soap or clothes, but now it's covered in that stuff! I don't know who put it there! Especially in the last shower room! I couldn't stand it and took the trash can down to clean it up. Otherwise, how are we boarding students supposed to wash when there are bugs? You guys are lucky, you can go home!"

Gu Yin didn't even dare to think about that scene. She picked up the bucket and walked out of the bathroom: "Let's go back to the washbasin in the dormitory to wash our clothes, not here." The washbasin there is cleaner, and although there are more people there, it's still better than here.

Back in the dorm, the two quickly finished their meal while it was still warm, then grabbed their clothes and went to the washbasin.

After washing up and resting for a while, it was time for evening self-study.

Tonight, both classes are Chinese language classes. Wen Tianming is quite old. After the bell rings and the students come in, he distributes the test papers.

"Tonight we'll do this test paper. It's from the No. 1 Middle School in the city. We don't need to write an essay. We should be able to finish it in one class period. We'll go straight to the explanation in the next class. After you finish, you can exchange papers with your deskmate to correct each other."

After the test papers were handed out, Gu Yin looked at the questions. They were all basic questions, not difficult at all, but the reading comprehension questions would take some time.

No one was talking; everyone was doing practice problems.

When get out of class ended, Gu Yin and Gu Hua had finished their test papers and went to the restroom together.