winter vacation

When Shi Nannan asked Dong Liang what her mother had said to him, Dong Liang touched his ears unconsciously. Thinking about it now, he still felt his head buzzing.

Shi Nannan's mother said a lot of words to thank him, praising him to the sky without repeating a single word, and even said she would invite him to dinner or something.

How could Dong Liang dare to accept it? After all, he couldn't help Shi Nannan with her studies, so she still had to rely on herself.

If Dong Liang hadn't hung up the phone, Shi Nannan's mother could have continued talking for another hour.

Dong Liang said, "Go home and ask your mother. You should think carefully about how to continue working hard."

"Read less novels in the future and focus more on studying..."

Every time Dong Liang teaches a student who doesn’t like to study, he uses the same words.

Shi Nannan was tired of listening to this. "Okay, Teacher Dong, if you keep talking, this class won't be over until dark."

When Shi Nannan reminded him, Dong Liang remembered that he still had a lot of things to tell the students, so he quickly returned to the podium.

Shi Nannan held the report card in her hand and carefully placed it in her schoolbag, afraid that it would be wrinkled. She had finally gotten such a high score, so she must get more rewards when she got home.

Looking at Shi Nannan hiding a treasure, Shen Xuyang teased, "Is it that serious? It's just a piece of paper."

Shi Nannan said, "What do you know? This can be exchanged for a big prize. It's my honor, Shi Nannan."

"Eh? By the way, how many points did you get on the test?"

Shen Xuyang was asked suddenly, and he didn’t want to answer.

Shi Nannan said with a sly smile, "Why are you hiding? Needless to say, I knew you were last again."

Shen Xuyang said indifferently: "You know it and still ask."

After Shi Nannan did well in the exam, she began to persuade Shen Xuyang.

"Chen Xuyang, tell me about yourself, what about your brain? Although it's a little worse than mine, it's not nothing."

"I can even avenge my previous shame, so why haven't you made any progress at all?"

Shen Xuyang laughed and said, “You even used it to avenge your previous shame, and you still know that your previous results were a shame.”

Shi Nannan said, "Hey! I was talking about you, why are you bringing me up again?"

Shi Nannan took advantage of Shen Xuyang's inattention and snatched the report card from his hand and started reading it.

"If you had slept a little less in class, you wouldn't have gotten zero marks on every exam...anything!!!"

Shen Xuyang had no intention of hiding it, and he didn't care about his grades. To him, it was just a piece of waste paper.

Shen Xuyang smiled evilly and said, "I broke the record again, why are you reacting like this?"

Shi Nannan stared at Shen Xuyang's nonchalant appearance with a look of disappointment.

"Chen Xuyang, did you fall asleep during the exam? I think you didn't even look at the test paper, you just wrote your name correctly."

Shen Xuyang said: "You guessed this, when did you know me so well?"

Shi Nannan clenched her fists and tried not to get angry. "Even if you didn't know the answers to the previous exams, you could at least guess a few multiple-choice questions. You wouldn't get zeros on every subject. What's wrong with you this time?"

Shen Xuyang said nonchalantly: “I got zero points on the test, why are you angrier than my dad? Otherwise, why don’t you be my parent?”

Shi Nannan looked at Shen Xuyang's nonchalant expression and she didn't know what to say.

Although Shi Nannan didn't know why Shen Xuyang became what he was today, she knew that he had a reason, but he just didn't want to get over it.

Shi Nannan said: "Forget it, do whatever you want, your life is your own anyway."

Shi Nannan had never advised Shen Xuyang before. She knew that Shen Xuyang was fighting with his father, and maybe this would make him feel better.

But who could have thought that he would get worse and worse, from average grades at the beginning to now relying on his mood to take exams.

This made Shi Nannan start to worry about Shen Xuyang's future. Why should she consider him?

Shi Nannan turned around and wanted to talk to Chen Xing, but found that Chen Xing was absent-minded.

Shi Nannan asked, "Xingxing, what are you thinking about?"

Chen Xing had been in a trance for a long time. His mind was blank but he couldn't concentrate. It was as if everything in front of him was blurry.

Chen Xing was brought back to his senses by Shi Nannan, "Ah? What's wrong?"

Shi Nannan was confused by Chen Xing's reaction. "It's okay. I thought you were feeling unwell."

Chen Xing shook his head, and Shi Nannan felt upset and didn't ask any more questions.

Chen Xing was wondering why she cared so much about someone liking Wen Yu, and she seemed to feel very uncomfortable.

*

Winter vacation officially began after that day. With more than a week left until the Chinese New Year, Chen Xing's family had already started discussing when to return home.

At the dinner table, the family of four ate as usual.

Chen Hai first asked, "The New Year is almost here. Is it time to make plans to go back home?"

In the past, on this day every year, Chen Hai and Gao Yamei would always have a cold war for several days.

Gao Yamei said calmly, "I'm not going back to Zaozhuang County this year. I want to take the children back to Linhe Town to see my parents."

Chen Hai's hometown is in Zaozhuang County, and Linhe Town is Gao Yamei's hometown. The two places are not very close.

Every year, she would go back to Zaozhuang County to celebrate New Year's Eve and the Spring Festival, and then go to Linhe Town. However, Gao Yamei also wanted to accompany her parents. After all, she had not celebrated the New Year at home since she married Chen Hai.

Chen Hai said: "I didn't say I wouldn't go to Linhe Town. I'll go to Linhe after seeing my mom. This way I won't be in a hurry to come back."

Gao Yamei was unwilling to do so, and they quarreled about this almost every year, and in the end Gao Yamei always compromised.

She knew that Chen Hai was filial and the only promising one in the family. The old lady had lost her husband, and his brothers and sisters were all busy with their own things. They usually only brought meals to the old lady.

Chen Hai felt guilty and always secretly sent money home, and Gao Yamei turned a blind eye to it.

Gao Yamei said: "Chen Hai, I have parents too. It's not easy for my parents either. What's wrong with them just wanting to spend the New Year with me and the children?"

"Every year I go to Zaozhuang County with you to celebrate the New Year. When we went, you said you would stay until the second day of the New Year, but what happened? It was always something going on here or there. Is there no one else in your family except you?"

Chen Hai said: "Not this year, you can leave whenever you say so."

Gao Yamei didn't believe it. Chen Hai deceived her like this every year. It was just because she felt sorry for him. If she wasn't afraid that Chen Hai would be bullied by his older brothers and sisters, she would not have gone back to Zaozhuang County with him.

Gao Yamei asked, "Do you really have to go back for the New Year? Aren't you afraid that what happened last year will happen again?"

"Can't you see that your older brother and sister always want something from you? They try to curry favor with you when they need something, but then act all scornful and sarcastic when they can't count on you anymore. Is that what you call a family?"

Gao Yamei herself couldn't stand Chen Hai's family. If she didn't truly love Chen Hai, how could she have married him despite her parents' dissuasion?

Chen Hai could endure it, but Gao Yamei would not be bullied, so she had to fight back no matter what.

Chen Hai said, "Mom called me the day before yesterday and said she missed the kids. She didn't go back this summer. She kept saying that we should go back earlier this year so we can stay in Linhe Town for a few more days."

Gao Yamei glared and nothing tasted good anymore. When she was dating Chen Hai, the old lady had been making trouble and disapproving of her. She was dissatisfied with her in every way and even instigated her older brothers and sisters to find fault with her.

If Gao Yamei hadn't taken into consideration the fact that the old lady's husband had died and she was mistreated by her eldest son and daughter, she would never have wanted to go back to see her in her life.

Gao Yamei still remembers how they treated her back then. If it weren't for Chen Hai's sake, she would have broken up with them and separated from them as soon as possible.

Gao Yamei put down her chopsticks and said, "Will the old lady miss Chen Yue and Chen Xing? With her patriarchal attitude, hasn't she bullied me enough in her life?"

When Gao Yamei first got married, her relationship with the old lady was not that strained. After all, they became a family.

But after living together for a long time, there are always some things that make you feel uncomfortable. Fortunately, Chen Hai and Gao Yamei moved to the city later, and they didn’t have much contact anymore.

But even so, the old lady still made trouble a lot.

Chen Hai knew that Gao Yamei resented the old lady, and it was difficult for him to be caught in the middle.

Chen Hai said, "Hasn't Mom often asked about Chen Yue and Chen Xing in recent years? She's old now, and she apologized for what happened back then. It's all in the past, so don't mention it."

Gao Yamei also wanted to let it go, but every year, thinking of Chen Xing and Chen Yue, she didn't know how many times she had to endure it.

Gao Yamei said, "Yes, she's old now, so she can forget it easily. But I can't forget how she treated Chen Xing all those years."

Chen Hai couldn't help but said, "Okay, the children are still here, don't say anything more. I'm going to buy some New Year's goods tomorrow and return to Zaozhuang County the day after tomorrow."

Gao Yamei was so angry that she dropped her chopsticks and went back to her room.

Chen Xing and Chen Yue were both trembling with fear. Every time the two quarreled, they dared not breathe because they knew Gao Yamei's temper and no one dared to persuade her.

Chen Hai picked up some food for Chen Xing and Chen Yue and said, "It's okay, you guys eat yours. I'll make your mother a bowl of noodles later."

Chen Xing and Chen Yue both lowered their heads to eat. At this time, only Chen Hai could coax Gao Yamei, but in the end Gao Yamei would definitely compromise. Although she was angry, she felt sorry for Chen Hai.

After dinner, Chen Xing and Chen Yue went back to their rooms.

Chen Yue didn't slack off even during holidays, and Chen Xing didn't dare to disturb her.

Chen Xing wanted to paint in his room, but he couldn't paint when he was upset.

She flipped through her recent sketchbook. Since she started studying art with Aunt Wen Yu, she has made great progress. Chen Xing herself can see that there have been significant changes in the smoothness of the lines and the color matching.

Chen Xing suddenly turned to a page with a half-drawn portrait.

There was only the facial outline, and the facial features were not drawn yet. She was just drawing it for fun at the time. She originally wanted to practice portrait drawing, but unknowingly used Wen Yu as a template.

She stopped painting halfway through. She hadn't seen Wen Yu since the winter vacation, but Wen Yu's face always appeared in her mind.

Chen Xing was just about to fill in the facial features of the painting based on his memory when the phone beside him suddenly rang.

Chen Xing took a look and saw that it was Shi Nannan calling, so he answered the call directly.

[Hey, Nannan, didn't you go abroad with your parents to visit your aunt? How come you still have time to call me?]