Chapter 75: The Zhao Family's Situation, Strolling in the County Town

Zhao Xiaojun at the side chuckled and said jokingly, "Mom, do you think the number one scholar is like cabbages everywhere on the street? If a family can produce a number one scholar, it would be a blessing for their ancestors to have green smoke coming out of their graves. Our family doesn't have this blessing!"

Zhao Xiaojun shrugged, looking helpless. Li Meili was so angry that she slapped him, "Don't hurt your mother. I'm counting on your brother and sister to go to college!"

Zhao Xiaojun laughed even louder, "Mom, my younger sister still has a chance to go to college if she works hard, but you don't have to think about it. He's already in the sixth grade and still can't figure out addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. He's always playing with cats and dogs and going into the ground and rivers. You can't count on him to get into college, I don't think it's possible!"

Zhang Wanwan couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Li Meili stroked her forehead, looking like she was about to faint. She caught a glimpse of Zhang Wanwan, who seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw. She stepped forward and took her hand, begging, "Wanwan, auntie knows that you are very good at studying. There is no one more capable than you in Pu City. Do you think your cousin can be saved?"

Zhang Wanwan looked at her mother at a loss.

Zhang's mother quickly stepped forward to help her daughter out. "Sister, how many times does Wanwan see Xiaojun in a year? What can she say if you ask her? If the child's grades are not good, find him a cram school. If he is not self-disciplined, send him to the cram school and let the teacher supervise him and watch him every day. Maybe his grades will go up. In short, as long as the child is willing to study, it will never be too late!"

Li Meili sighed, "I understand the truth. Although my family is not well-off, if the child is willing to study, I will be willing to work hard. But that brat doesn't care about it. He can't be persuaded, and he is not afraid of pain when beaten. He is too tough. I can't do anything about him. I can only intimidate his father, but his father works outside every day and rarely rests for two or three hours when he comes home at night. I don't want to bother him with the child's affairs all the time. Sigh~"

Zhang's mother sighed and asked, "You should earn a decent income from the land you contracted now, right?"

"How do you think it's OK?" Li Meili's expression became even more depressed. "We have a lot of land under contract. Last year, we planted cabbages all over it. We harvested it three times. When the buyers came to buy it, they paid 1.5 cents per pound. About 60 tons were taken away by big trucks at a time. My whole family, young and old, worked hard in the fields for a whole year, but in the end we only earned more than 50,000 yuan. Fortunately, there are not many places to spend money in the countryside. We grow and raise our own food, so it doesn't cost much. Otherwise, I really can't afford to support these three children!"

Zhao Xiaojun was dissatisfied when she heard this, "Mom, I've already gone out to work. Now I'm the one who pays money home every month, but I don't ask you to support me!"

Li Meili refuted with a frown: "I have raised you for so many years, is it just 500 yuan a month? You eat my food and live in my house now, and I will prepare a dowry for you when you get married. Which one doesn't cost money?"

Zhao Xiaojun was so speechless that he just shut up and ate some snacks.

Li Meili's expression became more and more miserable, and she sighed, "When the children were young, I didn't think so much. I always thought that if we worked harder, we could always make things happen. But now that the children are getting older, I feel more and more powerless! You don't know, our house is still the old house when I got married. People in the village who have some ability have started to build houses. Even the poorest can get a piece of land to lay a foundation or something. We have land but can't even lay a foundation. Xiaojun is already in his teens. If he is not a good student as his sister said, he will probably have to go out to make money early so that he can get married when he is old enough. It will take only ten years at most. I feel so headache just thinking about building a house for him in ten years!"

Zhang's mother felt very upset when she heard this. The sisters had a good relationship. When she borrowed the money, Li Meili had only been married to the Zhao family for a few years. In addition, she gave birth to a daughter, so she couldn't hold her head up in her husband's family. Even in this situation, Li Meili still gritted her teeth and lent her the 10,000 yuan she had saved for many years. Zhang's mother really hoped that her sister could live a prosperous life.

The atmosphere was therefore a bit dull. Even Zhao Xiaojun, who had been arguing with Li Meili, remained silent. Zhao Xiaoqin was an introverted person who was never able to say a word. After calling out "elders" a few times after entering the door, she hadn't said a word, and she would be even less willing to say a word at this time.

Men like Zhang's father would never interfere in women's conversations.

At this moment, Lu Cui came from the kitchen and greeted us warmly as soon as she entered the living room: "The food is ready and can be served. After eating, do you want to go to the county town for a walk? The county town has changed a lot in recent years. We don't feel much here. My sister-in-law only comes back once or twice a year. It would be a pity if we don't go for a walk!"

Thinking of her second son who had not yet visited her, Zhang's mother agreed vaguely.

After a group of people sat down at the table, the men started drinking and bragging, while the children fought hard with the seafood on the table. Rural people are thrifty. Although Qingpu is close to the coast, villagers usually don't spend money to buy expensive seafood. You can only see it on the dinner table when entertaining guests during festivals or New Year.

The children enjoyed the meal and the elders were happy to see it.

During this period, Lu Cui specially asked Li Qingqing and her son Li Zhijie to take Zhang Wanwan and others out. Li Qingqing and Li Zhijie are older than Zhang Wanwan. They are older brothers and sisters and can take care of people. Zhang's mother and others don't have to worry at all.

After a lively meal, bursts of firecrackers were heard outside. Zhao Jun couldn't stay and insisted on going out to play. Li Zhijie simply borrowed a few bicycles from his neighbors, and everyone rode their bicycles to the county town for a stroll.

When Zhang's mother's second sister-in-law Chen Yuelan came over to call people, only Zhang's father and his three children were left. None of the children were seen. Chen Yuelan was very upset and insisted on dragging Zhang's mother and the others to their home.

Li Yongfu's house, which had been bustling with noise just now, suddenly became quiet.

A group of children were having fun riding their bicycles on the county road.

There was not much traffic in the county town at this time, and as it was New Year's Day, there were even fewer cars. Looking around, there were only a few motorcycles speeding past on the road.

Li Zhijie held the money given by Lu Cui in his arms and suggested, "How about I take you to the commercial street to eat? The commercial street is newly developed in the county, right next to the park, and the scenery is pretty good."

Everyone had no objection and followed Li Zhijie towards the commercial street.

When Zhang Wanwan arrived at her destination, she found that it was not as lively and prosperous as she had expected. Perhaps it was because it was the second day of the Chinese New Year, most of the shops on the street were closed, and the few shops that were open did not look like they were doing business. However, there were quite a few tourists entering and leaving the park, and there were many snack stands outside the park, and business was pretty good.

With their current economic level, they can only afford this kind of street snacks. Zhang Wanwan didn't mind it. She walked around the snack street and bought some skewers and pancakes with her own money. She filled her stomach with just three or five yuan.

(End of this chapter)