Chen Xihua felt much better after a nap, but why was it so hot? She felt sticky all over. It was the hottest time of the year, and there was no air conditioning. It was so hot!
I turned around and looked, but I didn't see any of my sisters; none of them were in the room.
Did I sleep too long? What time is it? But looking out the window, the sun is still quite strong!
Never mind, she still had things to do. She took out a pencil and paper from her schoolbag, lay on the bed and scribbled for a while, then left the room!
When we got to the dining room, we saw the whole family sitting together, all with the ceiling fans blowing on their heads.
Hearing the door open, Chen Lao Er and the others all turned to look at her.
Chen Xihua didn't feel uncomfortable at all. She wasn't socially anxious. She walked straight over, sat down at the table, and didn't greet anyone. She smiled, but immediately changed back to a stern face.
She plans to maintain the original owner's persona for now, as she'll need it to cover up her impending confrontation.
She glanced around again. Chen Xiaoliu wasn't there; he must still be asleep. Good!
At this moment, Chen Xiuhua, the fourth sister who was sitting in the corner, wanted to speak and call out to her fifth sister, but when she found that no one was speaking, she immediately closed her mouth and even raised her hand to cover her mouth!
Chen Xihua didn't pay close attention to what the others were doing. She placed a few sheets of paper on the table, opened them, and then cleared her throat.
Seeing that she seemed about to speak, the Chen family members all sat up straight, except for Li Yumei, who was still lazily leaning on the dining table. However, Chen Meihua's expression was somewhat dismissive!
"Dad, Mom, I have a few things I want to say!"
"Xiao Wu, what's up? Tell me!" Old Chen was very obliging and was also bored. He wanted to see his youngest daughter, who had always lived in the countryside, and find out what she wanted to say.
"Little brat, what's the big deal? Speak up!" Li Yumei said impatiently. There was another person eating at the house, and she was acting like a boss giving a speech!
“I started learning to read and write with my maternal grandmother when I was three or four years old. I also learned from the village's old headmaster and studied the textbooks for the second and third grades. I also read some of the textbooks for the higher grades and often listened to the radio news.”
What I mean is, even though I'm only eight years old, I understand a lot of things, and I want to have a family meeting to talk about some things!
Chen Xihua paused for a moment, and seeing that no one wanted to ask any questions, she continued, "It might also be because it's the middle of the afternoon, and everyone is feeling dizzy from the heat!"
"The first thing is that now the law stipulates nine years of compulsory education, and families are required to support our children's education. My siblings and I are required to study until we graduate from junior high school!"
My four older sisters and I will definitely go to junior high school, and maybe even high school and university. Whether you two go to sixth grade is up to you!
Don't even think about having your eldest and second eldest sisters come home to help with chores after graduating from elementary school. What kind of business are you planning to start or become self-employed? If you can't manage all the work, hire people. There are a lot of laid-off people these days!
Big sister, you came in third place in your junior high school entrance exam, right? You can go to the county's top high school without worry. Your family will support your studies. As long as you get in, you can continue studying. If your family doesn't support you in high school, I will.
I've heard on the news and read in the newspapers that you can earn money by contributing articles to newspapers or setting up a stall, and that you can eventually earn enough to cover your tuition fees.
Once you get into university, there will be various subsidies and awards. If you get accepted, you won't need your family to pay a single penny!
Upon hearing that she could continue her studies at the No. 1 Middle School, the eldest sister Chen Chunhua's face immediately lit up with joy. She had vaguely sensed before that her mother didn't want her to continue her studies, and she had been sad for a while. However, as the eldest sister, it was only right for her to take care of her younger siblings!
"Read, read what..." Li Yumei was displeased upon hearing this and stopped lying down, about to shout it out. Suddenly, she met the gaze of Wu Yatou, whose expressionless eyes were staring at her, eyes that resembled those of her recently deceased mother, and the words caught in her throat.
That brat, how did she know what she was planning? I was just about to tell my eldest daughter, Chunhua, to drop out of school and come home to help.
A few days ago, after learning that I was going to be laid off, I discussed with my husband about opening a restaurant. My eldest daughter would also help out at home, taking care of our baby.
Zhou Jia Zhao Yuqing, that woman, her family can run a private restaurant, Li Yumei thinks she can too!
"Well, is there anything else you want to ask? Then let's move on to the second thing, Dad. Do you think you can find someone to make it?"
Chen Xihua handed one of the sheets of paper, which contained a structural diagram, to Chen Lao Er, and then continued,
"This is a bunk bed structure. I often watched the carpenter uncles do woodwork in the village, and I came up with this idea after asking them a lot of questions."
Have someone make two 1.2-meter bunk beds for your home and replace the original two 1.5-meter ones.
That way, we'll have four beds. My older sister and the others can sleep separately. We'll also make another small bed—not a bunk bed—and put it against the wall by the window for me. I guess my older sister and the others don't want to sleep by the window anyway!
Upon hearing this, Chen Jinhua and Chen Meihua were both very excited, their faces full of anticipation as they looked at Chen Lao Er, finally able to have their own bed and sleep by themselves.
Chen Xiuhua was also excited, but she didn't show it so obviously. The thirteen-year-old Chen Chunhua just smiled and was much more composed!
"It should be possible. There's a pretty famous furniture store in the southern district of the county! I'll go ask them later! I... I... why didn't I think of that before!" Chen Lao Er was a little surprised. Xiao Wu's idea was pretty good; she might even be able to make a little money, hehe!
Chen Xihua noticed that everyone was looking at her, waiting for her to speak, so she pushed out another piece of paper. "This paper shows a folding desk. It has six panels. It's for doing homework. You can unfold it and put it on the bed. After you're done, you can fold down the four legs to make a wooden board that can be put under the bed without taking up much space!"
And this folding sofa bed, let's make it 1.2 meters long and put it in the dining room where the long bench used to be. Then, put up a screen cabinet to separate the space! The dining area is in the front, and the small room is in the back. When Xiao Liu is a little older, he can sleep here. We can unfold the sofa bed, put in a blanket and pillow, and it'll be a bed!
"You've gone too far, Chen Xihua! Make your brother sleep in the dining room! He's the only boy in the family, everything belongs to him!" Li Yumei finally couldn't hold back anymore, her anger flaring up, her hands trembling as she pointed at Chen Xihua and yelled at him!
"If he doesn't sleep in the dining room, where will he sleep? On the street? He's the only younger brother in the family, a real man. Shouldn't he give way to his older sisters?"
Don't even think about sending me and my sisters to work in a shop or something when we're older, and then letting Xiao Liu sleep in our room!
Let me put it this way: Xiao Liu might be sleeping in the dining room for over ten years. I can't make that decision for you sisters, but for me, I don't plan to get married before I'm twenty-four. So I'll be living in this room forever. Xiao Liu is determined to be the 'living room manager' unless you all make some money and buy a house to move out!"
However, Chen Xihua estimates that the Chen family will not be able to afford a new house for at least five or eight years, and supporting six children through junior high school is no small amount of money!
For ordinary families in small counties, even if they are self-employed, they can earn some money, but they won't get rich overnight; they have to accumulate wealth slowly!
She was still too young and didn't plan to do anything that was inappropriate for her age before graduating from elementary school.
Moreover, she didn't really want to be a career woman; she hadn't enjoyed the carefree, leisurely life of a rich second-generation in her previous life!
In this life, she will probably have to work hard to become a self-made millionaire. In the original book, she was just a nobody who wasn't even cannon fodder. The chances of her meeting a big shot and making connections were almost zero.
And now that we live in a real world, it's even more realistic!
The jewelry my grandmother left behind was meant to be a keepsake. She didn't intend to sell it for money. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't find anyone willing to pay a high price for it now. Selling it for a few hundred or a thousand yuan wouldn't be worth it!
"You, you..." Li Yumei was so angry that she couldn't speak. She felt a lump in her throat. How did she find out that she was planning to let Xiaobao move into the daughters' room and send all the maids away when he was a little older!
"Let's do as Xiao Wu says!" Chen Lao Er spoke up at this moment. Although it seems that Li Yumei usually makes the decisions in the family, Chen Lao Er rarely changes the decisions he makes!
Chen Lao Er also favored his youngest son, but there was nothing he could do for the time being. After all, his son was a boy, so he could sleep in the dining room. His daughter was all grown up and married, so she would have her own room!
"Finally, the third thing is not very important to you, it's my own business. School starts in September, and I'm going to take the exam to skip a grade and go to the third grade instead of the second grade!"
"Fourth sister, do you want to skip a grade and go to fourth grade too? Otherwise, you'll be in the same class as me!" Chen Xihua knew that her fourth sister was very capable of learning. Besides, she didn't want to be in the same class as the female lead, Zhou Qingqing, who would be in second grade in September!
"Can I skip...skip a grade?" Chen Xiuhua was a little tempted. She took her older sister's third-grade textbook, which she had already studied. It wasn't difficult, and she would sometimes ask her older sister for help. She had basically learned everything!
"Fourth sister, you can do it! Come with me to take the grade skipping exam at the end of August!"
Chen Xihua glanced at her second and third sisters, who were whispering amongst themselves, and said something meaningfully.
"Second sister, third sister, you are in sixth grade and fifth grade, right? Whether you study hard in the future is your business. However, after fourth sister and I skip a grade this time, if we skip another grade, we will be in the same class as you. Skipping two grades at once is not impossible!"
"If you're in the same class and your younger sister, who skipped a grade, surpasses you academically, have you thought about how people will laugh at you?"
The two sisters, who were whispering to each other, suddenly stopped and were startled. Didn't they have any pride? Their grades weren't that bad, were they?
Chen Jinhua pretended not to care and said, "We'll talk about it after you pass the grade skipping exam!" But in her heart, she was already thinking that she would pay attention in class next semester. She had originally planned to skip class!
"It's just studying, who's afraid of who!" Chen Meihua was a little annoyed with her younger sister who had just returned, acting like she was in charge! But she was also spurred on by the news that her sisters were going to skip a grade, and secretly decided that she would study hard and become the best among her sisters!
Chen Xihua's reason for confronting the Chen family and expressing her attitude was that the Chen family did not know what kind of person the original owner was, so they would not have any doubts and would only think that it was taught by her recently deceased grandmother, who was a rich young lady from a landlord's family!
When Li Yumei heard that Chen Lao Er had agreed to everything Wu Yatou had mentioned, she knew that it was useless for her to object, as she knew it couldn't be changed. However, she still wanted to vent her anger. Her position as the head of the family could not be threatened. "Doesn't education cost money? Doesn't furniture making cost money? This family is not for a little girl like you to make decisions!"
Chen Xihua wasn't intimidated by Li Yumei. No money? She knew that Li Yumei had several thousand yuan in her hands, representing years of wages earned by the couple. Who would she leave it to?
They lived frugally and didn't buy any appliances like televisions. The house they lived in was allocated by the textile factory.
Fortunately, laid-off workers can still live in their homes. If they couldn't, the laid-off workers would have torn the roof off.
She is not like the fourth sister Chen Xiuhua, who was scolded into being timid and afraid of her mother, a pushover who dared not argue with her parents. Hopefully, the fourth sister can gradually change in the future!
"Yes, you and Dad are definitely the heads of the family! So, as the heads of the family, shouldn't you provide for the six of us siblings, including food, clothing, shelter, and education? You gave birth to six of us, so you have an obligation to support us until we are eighteen years old. Of course, we will also support you in your old age!"
Besides, if you don't have money, just go earn it! You all have junior high school educations, which makes you more educated than the six of us siblings. You are all promising young and middle-aged people. These days, self-employed individuals can make a lot of money!
Comrade Chen Jianshe, Comrade Li Yumei, as the heads of the family, you two keep up the good work, you can do it!
The Chen family members were a little taken aback when they heard her say "head of the family." Was that really true? It didn't seem wrong!
Li Yumei, in particular, was at a loss for how to refute Wu Yatou's words! That Wu Yatou is really good with words!
Li Yumei always considered herself a scholar, feeling that she was quite accomplished to have completed junior high school at that time, and that she was a cultured person, even though she didn't get into university later.
Chen Xihua should also thank her, this cultured woman, for not giving her five daughters names like Zhaodi, Laidi, or Pandi.
Actually, Li Yumei felt ashamed. She had given birth to five daughters and was already ashamed. If she gave them such rustic names, she would be even more inferior than that woman Zhao Yuqing!
"Mom!" At this moment, Chen Baohua woke up, came out, poked his eyes with his little fist, and swayed from side to side as he walked towards his mother!
"Oh, Xiao Bao is awake!" Li Yumei immediately put on a smiling face and didn't argue with Wu Yatou!
"Xiao Liu, come here!" Chen Xihua raised her hand and beckoned Chen Xiao Liu over. He obediently rushed towards her, ignoring his mother, mainly because the novelty hadn't worn off yet!
"Alright, Xiao Wu has said what he wanted to say!" Chen Lao Er picked up the two blueprints and walked out the door.
Chen Xihua didn't care what the blueprints might reveal; a carpenter could make it after seeing it once!
Seeing that Xiaobao wasn't coming to see her, Li Yumei went out to buy him something nice to eat. She'd been away from home for several days and he'd gotten thinner!
The other four older sisters looked at their fifth sister with admiration. When did their mother become so easy to talk to? She had given in so easily.
Chen Xihua ignored the starry-eyed sisters, pulled Xiao Liu into the kitchen, fed him half a glass of cold water, and then took him into the room to play.
She wanted to take advantage of the fact that the little one was still young, his values were not yet formed, and he had not yet gone astray, to first cultivate the affection and tacit understanding between the two of them, so that he would listen to her more in the future, and then teach him to distinguish right from wrong!
Otherwise, Li Yumei will spoil him rotten, and he won't be able to change his ways!
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