Rectification
It was mid-July and the weather was very hot. After Xu Nian thought he had become familiar with Xu Hongqi, he began to return to his original nature and showed some potential for laziness, such as sleeping in.
Farmers have no concept of sleeping until the sun is high in the sky. Everyone gets up quickly as soon as the rooster crows to start a new day of hard work.
If you sleep in, especially if you are a woman, the villagers will spit at you and you will be labeled a lazy girl, which will make it difficult for you to get married.
Xu Nian is not stupid. She has been following her family members obediently since they started working, and even took on the task of picking vegetables from their private plots. The effect is remarkable. Now when people talk about her, they say that she has grown up and has become sensible.
Don't underestimate these words. They are of great value in rural areas. For example, the injured Xu Hongqi also got up early.
But when there is no one around, Xu Nian does something different.
It's just now, after breakfast, when everyone has done their job, only Xu Hongqi and Xu Nian are left at home again. Xu Nian is very smart and goes to the kitchen to clean up after everyone leaves.
It took a very long time to clean up. Although Xu Hongqi didn't have a watch or clock, he still had a basic sense of time.
He held the notebook with the prepared questions in his hand and pondered for a while about his life plan. When the sun began to become scorching, he glanced out the window and smiled playfully.
The girl was probably going to take a nap again. To be honest, he had experienced a lot over the years, but he had never seen a girl as smart and lazy as Xu Nian, which made him feel powerless all the time.
But Xu Nian was lucky. In such a family, there would be many people who would take care of her in the future. He didn't want to be disliked, and he also needed to catch up on his sleep.
So the two people, who had the same idea, fell into a deep sleep.
Xu Nian woke up once in the middle of the night, mainly because she was worried that Xu Hongqi would scold her, so she slept soundly but not peacefully. As a result, she found that Xu Hongqi was more content than her, so the only remaining worry disappeared.
Xu Nian was woken up again by Xu Hongqi. He did not enter the room. After seeing her wake up, he said, "It's almost afternoon. Go wash your face."
Xu Nian nodded in a daze, which made him look cute. Xu Hongqi took one more look at him before going back to the house.
After Xu Nian tidied himself up, he went to find Xu Hongqi. The two looked at each other and there was no sign of awkwardness. Anyway, everything was self-explanatory.
As for the Xu family, they haven't been tired recently. They have planted what they needed to plant, and all that's left is weeding, chatting, and talking about random things. To sum it up in three words: slacking off.
As soon as everyone entered the house in the afternoon, they heard the sound of talking about the dish coming from the room. Xu's mother was so satisfied that she was not only in charge of the cooking herself, but also humming a song in ecstasy.
When it was time for dinner, Xu Nian took bowls and chopsticks for the family as usual, which earned her mother Xu's smiling, approving look. She also filled up her and Xu Hongqi's rice bowls.
Although Xu Nian didn't understand why, she was confident that it must be because she was too popular. She couldn't help but feel happy and showed off at the dinner table. Even the second brother and his wife, who had been in a bad mood recently, showed their rare joy because of her jokes.
Xu Hongqi saw everything, reached out to pick up some food with chopsticks, and saw that the people next to her were still laughing and talking. She couldn't help but think that she was really lively.
Xu Nian was joking with others, but that didn't stop her from paying attention to Xu Hongqi. When she saw Xu Hongqi actually taking the food on his own initiative, she couldn't help but open her eyes slightly, and then she seemed to understand something.
People are no longer living and eating for free. They have to pay three yuan every month. And if the Xu family refuses to pay, he will act as if he wants to leave immediately.
So she said, money is really a good thing. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but silently calculate her money. Hmm... it seemed that there were only two dollars and fifty cents left. She had to spend it frugally.
Just as she was thinking about it, she suddenly saw Xu Fengkai coming in from the gate with a bright smile on his face, as if he had won the lottery.
By the way, brother Kaikai seemed to have said yesterday that he would go to school to get his transcript today. From his expression, it looked like he had been admitted to high school.
Thinking of this, she turned around and looked at Xu Hongqi. Good, good. It seems that Xu Hongqi will grow up to be a good May Fourth youth in the near future!
Xu Fengkai, unlike yesterday's shy appearance, forgot to even greet the family when he saw them. He said to Xu Hongqi, "Hongqi, you got into high school, and you ranked first in Hua County."
Originally, Xu's mother wanted to find fault with her nephew for not even calling people uncle or aunt when they met them, but after hearing what was said, her attention was immediately diverted to the topic.
But Xu Qinghua was one step faster than her, "Feng Kai, are you talking about the first place in the high school entrance examination in Hongqi County?"
Xu Fengkai said excitedly: "Uncle, yes, Hongqi is number one. Our principal came to the class today to ask about Hongqi!"
As he spoke, he looked at Xu Hongqi, his chubby face flushed. "It's a pity that Hongqi isn't here today. The principal even told me to let Hongqi recover at home. His awards and other things are kept by the principal."
This is a great thing for the family. It is a joy and honor to have a worker in the family, but there will also be a lot of gossip. Those with severe conjunctivitis will call them vampires behind their backs, making others wait to see the joke.
Now that Hongqi has been admitted to high school with high scores, at least half of the people can be shut up and prove that their family is not lying and that the child just doesn't want to work and wants to go to school.
Xu's mother asked Xu Fengkai with a smile if he had eaten. Seeing that the child said no, she asked Xu Nian to get some bowls and chopsticks so that he could eat with her.
It was Xu Fengkai who stopped Xu Nian, "Aunt, I don't want to eat here anymore. My mother is waiting for me to go home."
Mother Xu pretended to be serious and asked, "What's the matter? You don't even want to eat at my house?"
Xu Fengkai waved his hands hurriedly. After years of studying, his demeanor already had the elegance of a scholar. "Auntie, I also passed the exam. My mother made me some delicious food at home and specifically told me to come home and eat as soon as I could after announcing the good news."
Her face turned red after she said that. You could tell she was both excited and shy. After all, it was rare to get into high school nowadays, let alone college, so this was enough to bring honor to the family.
No one asked Xu Fengkai just now because they were afraid that his family member didn't pass the exam, and it would be embarrassing to ask. But when he heard that his nephew had passed the exam, Xu Qinghua immediately asked the child's mother to go to the house to get money.
Xu's mother was not stingy either. She went in and counted out five yuan directly. This was a lot of money in the countryside, and the family didn't have much money at the time.
Thinking that although Xu Hongqi's family was not his own, they were now very close, he counted out five pieces of money with a painful heart and then left the inner room.
After she divided the money among the two prospective high school students, there was some pushing and pulling before they accepted it.
Seeing that Xu Fengkai was embarrassed and fidgeting, he said gently, "Fengkai, you've been busy all day. You haven't eaten yet. Go home and eat. Come back when you have time."
Xu Fengkai said "eh" and left shyly.
Xu Nian was watching the fun when she suddenly felt something stuffed into her hand. She looked down and found it was a roll of money, and the person who stuffed the money had not yet let go.
Xu Nian looked at Xu Hongqi doubtfully, his eyes asking, "What's this for?"
Xu Hongqi's eyes turned slightly, and he looked at her with a smile and said, "Has it been a while since you last had meat?"
Xu Nian may not be good at other things, but he is a professional when it comes to listening and hearing.
She said that it had been a long time since she had eaten solid meat, which was so tender and fragrant. She couldn't even think about it and could only nod vigorously to express her desire for meat.
Xu Hongqi was infected by her emotions and felt as if his mouth was also secreting saliva. He felt a little embarrassed and annoyed, but of course he blamed Xu Nian for being such a greedy cat. He glanced at her obscurely and said calmly: "If you can sell meat in the afternoon, buy it in the afternoon. If you can't buy it in the afternoon, get up early tomorrow morning to buy it."
Xu Nian just felt that the rich were really the boss. Look at the other person's attitude. Tsk tsk tsk tsk. However, she was a loser, so she still accepted it with a smile.
Normally lunch only takes a quarter of an hour, but today it took three quarters of an hour. It was so lively and bustling. Even three-year-old children now know to go to school well so they can have money to buy candy.
After the family was happy, they naturally talked about their younger son who had been working in the county town for a few days.
Xu Fengkai, who was worried about by his family, couldn't help sneezing several times. Who would have thought that he would catch a cold in such a hot day? Even the revenge plan discussed with him by Brother Hong had to be postponed.
He was holding the notebook with a feeling of holding back his anger. When he thought of how Liu Jun had just seen him with a smug look on his face in the workshop, his fists became really hard.
What a bastard, why is he so proud? Such a despicable bastard dares to provoke him. He must make him know what it means to hit a wall and what it means to regret.
Logically speaking, the disaster should not affect his family, but I heard from my younger sister that there is no good person in Liu Jun's family. People say that a bad bamboo can at least produce one good bamboo shoot, but there is not even one in his family, so it's no wonder that he is trying to get rid of the evil for the people.
Thinking of this, his mouth opened involuntarily again. Although the sneeze was late, it still came, accidentally pulling the wound on his body, and he grimaced in pain.
Bai Rongrong went to get a glass of water and came back. Seeing the strange look on the newcomer Xiao Xu's face, she thought something was wrong with him. Xu Fengkai smiled awkwardly and replied, "I got a stiff neck from sleeping yesterday. I'm trying to loosen up the muscles..."
——
Liu Jun was very proud at first. When he got home from get off work, he saw Xu Chunling cleaning the kitchen. Her face was a little gloomy because she didn't go to work. He asked his eldest son Liu Xuecheng if he had received his high school entrance examination report card today. When he heard her say she didn't know, he got angry all of a sudden.
"What do you know every day? You don't know when you're at work, and you don't know when you're not at work. Are you a fool? What can I expect from you?"
Xu Chunling didn't dare to talk back when being scolded. Seeing Liu Jun getting more and more excited, she couldn't help crying again. It would have been fine if she didn't cry, but when she started crying, Liu Jun slapped her directly, "Fuck you, you cry every day, our family is unlucky because of you crying."
Xu Chunling was slapped in the face, and her tears fell even harder. Fearing she would be beaten again, she trembled and said, "I... I can't help it."
Liu Jun's brows were furrowed so tightly that they could pinch a fly to death. He waved his hand and said, "Go out and cry."
Given the choice between being beaten and being humiliated, Xu Chunling chose to be humiliated. She walked slowly towards the door of her house, and when she opened the door, she bumped head-on into her eldest son.
When she regained her composure, she couldn't help but yell, "Xuecheng, what happened to your face? Who hit you?"
Liu Jun had just sat down on the stool when he heard the sound and looked over. The house was not big and he could see the door at a glance, but the vision was poor, so he took a few quick steps and walked over.
Seeing that his eldest son had a bruised face and tattered clothes, and was covering his wrist with one hand, he couldn't help but look anxious.
"Xuecheng, what's wrong with you?"
Liu Xuecheng had been enduring all the time and didn't want to speak at all when his mother asked. But when he heard his father's question, he burst into tears because he was only sixteen years old after all.
"I don't know. After I got my report card today, I wanted to go home quickly, but not far from the school gate, I bumped into someone. The person didn't say anything and just pulled me into the alley and beat me up."
"Later, a few more people came and each of them punched me and left."
Liu Jun narrowed his eyes and asked, "How old are those people?"
Liu Xuecheng made a rough assessment and said, "About the same age as me."
"About your age? Not much older than you?"
Liu Xuecheng shook his head.
Liu Jun thought to himself that this was not like him, so he looked at his son and asked, "Have you ever offended anyone at school? Who do you have a grudge against?"
Liu Xuecheng shook his head and couldn't help but hiss.
Xu Chunling watched the father and son talking, but she didn't know how to start. When she heard her son's painful voice, she quickly perked up, "Where does it hurt?"
Liu Jun gave her an annoyed look and looked at his son, "Your wrist hurts? That was also caused by those people beating you."
Liu Xuecheng had stopped crying. He knew his father hated seeing people cry the most. He said to his father, "It wasn't my wrist. It was too dark when I came back, and a cyclist bumped into me."
Then she pointed to her trouser pocket with her eyes and said to Liu Jun: "Dad, that man compensated me ten dollars."
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