02 Maoqiu

After dinner, Zhou Qi and Yang Xiao washed the dishes and wiped the table respectively.

Zhou Daye had no right to get involved, so he patted his belly and went out to play chess.

Yang Xiao rubbed the tablecloth with detergent several times and rinsed it repeatedly under the faucet.

Zhou Qi put the cleaned plates and bowls upside down on the bowl rack, turned his head and glanced at Yang Xiao: "Let's go, I'll take you to buy lychees."

Yang Xiao shook the water off her hands, her lips curled up but she didn't say anything.

The two of them went out one after the other.

Lu Town was particularly humid after the rain, and it seemed that raindrops were still hanging in the air. However, the uneven road surface was filled with pools of calm rainwater, reflecting the passers-by.

Yang Xiao followed Zhou Qi, turning left and right, carefully avoiding puddles and vehicles. Getting her shoes and socks wet was a common but extremely annoying thing for her.

Zhou Qi looked back at her from time to time, then stopped for a while to wait for her to catch up, and then walked towards the fruit stall with big strides.

The two of them arrived at the fruit stall. Zhou Qi was afraid that Yang Xiao didn't want to see Cai Xiaopang again, so he took her away from Cai's stall.

Who knew that Yang Xiao was a vengeful person. When she saw Zhou Qi's steps were wrong, she called him and walked towards Cai's stall.

Zhou Qi was stunned for a moment, then quickly followed up and asked, "Yang Xiao, why don't you buy it for Fatty Cai's family?"

Yang Xiao looked fiercely at Cai Xiaopang who was sitting in the rocking chair behind the fruit stall, shook her head, and did not answer whether to buy or not.

Aunt Cai came over, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan and speaking in a shrill voice. She greeted Zhou Qi and then Yang Xiao, "Waiter Yang, what are you buying? Lychees? Lychees are so sweet these days!"

Yang Xiao immediately picked two lychees from the bundle with a smile and tasted them. The red, prickly shell was peeled off to reveal the tender white flesh. As soon as she put it in her mouth, the sweetness came out immediately. It was neither astringent nor bitter, and it was the taste of fresh lychees.

Zhou Qi saw her pick two to taste, so he waited for Yang Xiao to give him one after she tasted them. However, Yang Xiao didn't give him any, which made Zhou Qi snort in anger.

Yang Xiao remembered him now, and smiled and told Aunt Cai that Zhou Qi wanted to try another one. She quickly picked another one, but did not hand it to him immediately. Instead, she grabbed the lychee stem and raised it above her head, looking provocatively at Cai Xiaopang who was gritting his teeth in the rocking chair.

After the provocation, he handed the lychees to Zhou Qi and winked at him. Zhou Qi immediately understood and decided that if he didn't buy anything after eating, he would take the blame.

Zhou Qi coughed, his facial features wrinkled immediately, and he waved his hands at Aunt Cai: "Ouch! Aunt Cai, this is too sour! I can't eat it anymore. Let's come back next time."

Yang Xiao was stifling a laugh, rubbing the lychee crumbs from her fingers. When Aunt Cai looked at her, she stared at the lychees and shrugged, as if to say that financial power was not in her hands.

After leaving Aunt Cai's stall, Yang Xiao bent over and laughed out loud.

He pointed at Zhou Qi and said with a smile, "Zhou Qi, your acting is terrible."

Zhou Qi was also having a good time, but suddenly he became unhappy when he heard her words. He was about to threaten her that if she continued to scold him, he would not buy him lychees. But Yang Xiao smiled and said to him, "Let's go back."

Zhou Qi was a little puzzled and gently pulled her collar and hat.

"Go look at other lychees."

Yang Xiao turned around and was not annoyed by him pulling her collar.

"Two is enough. I don't like more than that."

At 6:15 pm on Sunday evening, students in school uniforms began to appear in front of the gate of the town's junior high school.

Yang Xiao was also among them, and of course Zhou Qi was next to her.

Zhou Qi handed Yang Xiao some dry steamed bread slices and a box of pickled mustard greens that Zhou Daye had packed for her. At this time, the task Zhou Daye had given Zhou Qi of escorting Yang Xiao to school had been successfully completed.

Yang Xiao took the heavy bags and boxes with her left hand, and straightened the collar of her school uniform that was deformed by the shoulder straps of her schoolbag with her right hand.

Zhou Dashe paid for both her school uniform and her accommodation. Initially, Yang Xiao couldn't even afford a uniform. She'd missed out on the town's subsidy for impoverished students her first year because she'd started late. She'd originally planned to forgo a uniform for the first year and buy one when the subsidy came in the second year, but Zhou Dashe wouldn't agree. The very next day after he brought her home, he took her to buy her uniform and arrange for accommodation.

The Zhou family's home was only a few steps away from the school. Yang Xiao knew that Zhou Daye was afraid that people in the town would gossip about him, saying that an old man living alone under the same roof with a young girl had ulterior motives.

On the day Zhou Daye took Yang Xiao to check in for accommodation and buy school uniforms, Yang Xiao watched him take out a neatly folded envelope from the layers inside his thin clothes, and then opened the envelope and counted a lot of bills. She seemed to see Yang Guoqiang again.

Yang Xiao arrived late, and her lower bunk had already been taken by her roommates. The remaining vacant bunk was the upper bunk closest to the wall. Zhou Daye didn't care. He took off his coat and shoes and prepared to climb up to make Yang Xiao's bed.

Yang Xiao refused, saying she would make the bed herself. She then swiftly climbed up, spread out the thin cotton mattress, and covered it with the school's standard checkered sheets. The upper bunk was too small to move, and after finishing, Yang Xiao broke into a sweat.

Zhou Daye smiled and gave Yang Xiao a thumbs up, praising her one word at a time. Before Yang Xiao could clear the empty table, the dormitory manager came and chased Zhou Daye away.

Zhou Daye repeated the action of paying the money that time, counted out a few bills to her, and asked her to charge her meal card to buy some snacks. After saying that, as if he had predicted that Yang Xiao would want to return the money next, he turned around and followed the dormitory manager.

Yang Xiao clutched a few dazzling red bills and was overwhelmed with emotions. She was grateful, but also wished she could become an adult who could make money immediately.

The memory came to an abrupt end when Zhou Qi waved his hand in front of her eyes. "What are you staring at? Did you forget to bring something?"

Yang Xiao shook her head and said no, let him go back.

Zhou Qi suddenly half-knelt down and looked Yang Xiao in the eye. He said in a serious tone, "I'm leaving in a few days. You have to study hard. My dad is a heavy drinker. You have to keep an eye on him when you have time."

Yang Xiao was a little puzzled. Why did Zhou Qi go back home before her summer vacation? So she looked into his dark eyes and asked, "Are you going to start school?"

Zhou Qi smiled and then stretched his legs, which were numb from squatting. "Some odd jobs. Come in quickly."

Yang Xiao didn't ask any more questions, nodded, and walked into the school gate with her ponytail swinging.

When Yang Xiao arrived at the dormitory, she found that her roommates had put down their belongings and gone to evening study. So, she anxiously placed her belongings on the table, making a heavy clattering sound.

Upon hearing this, Li Maoqiu poked his head out, "Xiaoxiao?"

This sound startled Yang Xiao. She had just thought that no one was in the dormitory. "Mao Qiu, you scared me to death."

Li Maoqiu laughed heartily, opened the mosquito net again and jumped off the bed, "Let's go, let's go, it's time for evening self-study."

The two walked hand in hand on the way to the teaching building.

Li Maoqiu was awkward all the way, and when he saw that they were almost at the classroom, he asked curiously, "The one who just brought you here was Zhou Qi, right?"

Yang Xiao didn't find it strange. After all, Zhou Qi was as well-known in Lu Town as "Quiet Night Thoughts", so she nodded.

Li Maoqiu was a little excited now and shook Yang Xiao's hand: "Go ask him if he can help me with chemistry. I'll ask my dad to give him some pork ribs."

Yang Xiao suddenly straightened up and coughed in a fake manner: "I'll give you some food. Give me the ribs. He's leaving."

Li Maoqiu was also a straightforward girl. She agreed immediately and began to calculate a reasonable time for the two of them to have their private lessons.

Li Maoqiu was the first friend Yang Xiao met in junior high school. His family sold pork in the town. His mother had a high school diploma and spoke softly, which always made people feel warm and welcoming. But his father was a rough man. He was serious when chopping pork and was very scary.

So people in town often joked that Li Maoqiu's family was a family of "both civil and military talents." But there were also frequent scenes of the "civil general" scolding the "military general" in his gentle and gentle voice, while the "military general" remained silent and accepted the scolding. Whenever he heard these funny stories that sounded like storybooks, Yang Xiao stubbornly believed that they were not funny.

Mother Li can speak eloquently and leave Father Li speechless. This is the benefit of Mother Li's own knowledge and culture. Whoever is right is right, and the saying "women training men" is just an interesting story, which is put on for the whole town to hear, as if men training women is inherently right.

This also became the catalyst for the establishment of friendship between Li Maoqiu and Yang Xiao.

On her first day in the dorm, Yang Xiao overheard the daughter of another town vendor, a star anise spice maker, vividly describing the lives of Li Maoqiu's parents at their pork stall. Yang Xiao listened, noticing everyone was in high spirits. As soon as she finished expressing her opinion, Li Maoqiu slammed the table in support of Yang Xiao, then, with a red face and a thick neck, demanded that she stop bringing up their family's nonsense.

From then on, their friendship began.

Yang Xiao is not biased towards any subject and is smart, so she does well in all subjects.

Li Maoqiu is not good at chemistry, but he is willing to work hard, and the two of them always have the same test scores.

Once the special class started, the two of them would discuss chemistry in the dormitory, study their books, and prepare for the final exam.

This is the end of their second year of junior high school.