Chapter 12 But in the case of Chen Aiguo and Xu Chunhua...
"Panpan, come in quickly——"
After being called in, Chen Pan met Wang Qingshan's unusually kind teacher face on the sofa. "Panpan, these are some extracurricular books and past exam papers I bought for your sister Juanjuan when she was taking the high school entrance exam. Don't worry, I bought her a lot of things, and she hasn't touched any of these. And this Xinhua Dictionary, it's brand new. It's your uncle's New Year's and birthday present for you."
“…”
Chen Pan, who was suddenly called over, still didn't say anything.
Chen Aiguo's eyebrows jumped, and he immediately smiled and said, "Look at my Panpan, she is so happy that I don't know what to say. Anyway, thank you Qingshan."
"Yes, you and your wife are the only ones who always remember Panpan's birthday. It's like us—it's like us who forget it every year."
At this moment, Xu Chunhua suddenly thought that the Wang family seemed to give gifts to her daughter Panpan at this time every year.
This year it was the Xinhua Dictionary and study materials, last year it was a pair of insoles handmade by Wang's daughter-in-law, the year before last it seemed to be a pair of gloves, and the year before that it seemed to be a red scarf exactly like her daughter's...
Because the other party always gave gifts at this time every year, and the excuse they gave was that they prepared it for Panpan while buying New Year gifts for their daughter, they never doubted it.
Plus, the time they delivered the goods was usually during the last few days of their Chinese New Year shopping. Basically, if the Wang family delivered the goods to their family today, they would immediately prepare something for her two children when they returned to the market. It was considered a quick return of favor, so they didn't think much about it at all.
But now, thinking about the fact that their two families had quarreled not long ago, and the Wang family actually sent gifts to their granddaughter as they did in previous years, Xu Chunhua couldn't help but think more.
Moreover, in previous years, when the Wang family gave them gifts, they said they were bought for the Lunar New Year. But this year, Wang Qingshan said it was a birthday gift. You have to know that in the Chen family, no one celebrates birthdays. Even if they occasionally remember the date, they will at most cook a slightly more sumptuous dinner, but they don't specifically emphasize the birthday. So how could they remember their granddaughter's birthday so clearly?
"Teacher Wang, you are so nice to Panpan!"
"We're incredibly lucky to be neighbors with Teacher Wang. Last time, Teacher Wang told me to confiscate Ningning's extracurricular books and reward her with one or two extracurricular books every time she passed an exam. It really worked, and Ningning did quite well on the exam this time."
"Qingshan, you are the most promising one in our entire Wang family. I wish my Dazhuang had worked half as hard as you did. Then he and his wife wouldn't be unable to return home during the Lunar New Year."
Wang Qingshan is the only high school teacher in Qingshui Village. He, along with the village chief Zhao, the primary school principal Xiao Yike, and the director of the Jianguo Cement Factory, □□, are considered the most loved and respected special people in the village.
He had been away teaching for long periods of time and seldom returned to Qingshui Village. But whenever he did, he was always willing to help his neighbors and never put on airs.
Anyway, almost all the adults in Qingshui Village liked and admired him, while the children in Qingshui Village all respected him and were naturally afraid of him as a teacher.
Ever since Wang Qingshan arrived, he had become the center of attention in the room. They were no longer paying attention to the play about Emperor Qianlong that everyone had been enjoying.
Everyone praised the apples and asked for advice. In the meantime, Wang Qingshan even opened the box of fresh Red Fuji apples he brought with him.
Everyone cut the big apple into four parts, and everyone was smiling while holding the big red apple that they could hardly eat.
But everyone was smart and knew that Wang Qingshan came to the Chen family so late with gifts. He definitely would not just give Chen Pan a few books and a Xinhua Dictionary, nor would he really come to eat Chen's fried dough twists and fried dough sticks.
So when they had finished talking and eating, soon, whether it was the four people from the Yang family next door or Grandma Wang who came with her grandson, they all quickly left the Chen family, using the excuse that it was too late and they had to go to bed.
"Sister-in-law, do you really not need me to help you?"
When they were seeing the person off, Xu Chunhua and Chen Aiguo were subconsciously worried when they saw Grandma Wang holding a large bowl of fried dough twists and a large plastic bag in her hand.
"It's okay, it's okay, this is nothing—"
When Grandma Wang, who had bound feet, shook her head subconsciously, Chen Pan, who had already changed his clothes, took the large iron basin from her without saying anything: "Grandma Wang, let me do it!"
As she spoke, the big basin in Grandma Wang's hand had already passed to Chen Pan's hand.
"This child—"
Grandma Wang, who wanted to say that she was very strong, didn't force herself at this time. Looking at the old couple of the Chen family who sent her out and Wang Qingshan who followed them, she smiled subconsciously: "Chunhua, Aiguo, you have raised a good granddaughter."
"Yeah, these days, it's really rare to find a child as honest and hardworking as Chunhua." Thinking back to the entire day, Chen Pan had done whatever the adults did, barely complaining or slacking off. Chen Xiufen, also holding a bowl of fried dough twists next to her, couldn't help but praise her.
"Indeed, indeed, the child even went to the spring to fetch water today!" Chen Xiufen's husband, Yang Kai, was a man of few words. Seeing his wife praising Chen Pan, he thought of his own son and daughter, who were only three years younger than Chen Pan, but who often argued and refused to do any housework. He looked at his two children and Chen Pan and nodded sincerely.
The Yang siblings, who were suddenly looked at by their father, looked at each other tacitly, pretending not to hear their father's secret complaints.
"She's not as good as you say! Okay, Panpan, hurry up and deliver the fried dough twist to your Grandma Wang."
The corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up, and finally Xu Chunhua told Chen Pan to go and come back early. As for Chen Aiguo standing next to him, he raised his hand happily and beckoned Wang Qingshan next to him to go back to his house and sit for a while.
It took Chen Pan more than an hour to go to Grandma Wang's house.
It wasn't time to go to bed yet, but it was just getting dark. Since she rarely came over, Grandma Wang, whose son and daughter-in-law were both working away from home, dug out some goodies from home and treated Chen Pan to a good meal.
She took out the White Rabbit milk candy that she had treasured for a long time and two plastic bags of melon seeds and peanuts that she had bought two days ago to treat Chen Pan.
Chen Pan deliberately avoided Wang Qingshan, but after eating two candies and a few peanuts, he helped Grandma Wang, whose back was very bent, to carefully arrange the fried Sanzi and Mahua they had made today into a large vat that her family had prepared in advance.
"very nice!!"
Amidst the sighs and praises from his family members, Chen Pan persevered until nine o'clock.
Feeling that it would be wrong if he didn't go back at this time, Chen Pan said goodbye to the sleepy Grandma Wang.
After leaving Grandma Wang's house, Chen Pan looked up and saw the open door of his own house.
Realizing that Wang Qingshan inside definitely did not go back, Chen Pan secretly complained in his heart, but finally moved forward step by step helplessly.
"grandmother--"
Chen Pan had just returned home when she ran into her grandmother carrying a bucket of dirty water. She hesitantly called for help, and Xu Chunhua, who had already finished cleaning the house in her apron, burst into laughter when she saw her like that.
"Okay, I'm not here to cause you any trouble. I want to tell you something very important. Please go in quickly!"
"Something that's important to me?"
Chen Pan didn't believe this at all. She had always wanted to keep her distance from the couple opposite her and not interfere with them.
Even though he felt annoyed and puzzled at the moment, seeing that the other party had waited until this time, Chen Pan had no choice but to walk in step by step.
"Panpan, you are finally back. Your Uncle Wang has been waiting for you for a long time. Come in quickly."
Chen Aiguo had never expected that his granddaughter would be gone for an hour. Seeing that she had finally returned, Chen Aiguo concealed his curiosity and blame in his heart and quickly urged her to come back.
"I'm here, what's the matter——"
Chen Pan, who was originally very irritable, became as well-behaved as usual as soon as he entered the door.
"Panpan, our school will have a few more places for transfer students from other schools starting next semester. As soon as I got the news, I rushed over to tell you."
Even though he was getting a little impatient waiting, when the well-behaved Chen Pan came over, Wang Qingshan still put on his usual kind smile and quickly started talking again.
"As long as you transfer to No. 4 Middle School, you won't have to worry about the college entrance exam when you're ready for high school. You can go directly to our high school department. And if you transfer a year early, you'll be able to adapt to the academic environment at No. 4 Middle School a year earlier. By the time you reach your first year of high school, you won't be struggling to keep up with the students at No. 4 Middle School."
Wang Qingshan, who felt that he had brought good news to the Chen family, spoke quickly with a smug expression.
Chen Aiguo listened intently, and Xu Chunhua, who had finished cleaning the kitchen and reentered the house, subconsciously listened intently as well. Although neither of them had truly studied, they deeply envied and admired those who truly read. So, seeing the other person come specifically to tell them the good news, they were filled with heartfelt gratitude, yet also secretly regretted their impulsiveness of the previous few days.
"Then, Teacher Wang, how much do we have to pay for the tuition?"
After all, Chen Pan was not a child who knew nothing. After the other party sat on the big kang in her house and finished speaking proudly, she quickly got straight to the point.
"This—" Wang Qingshan had a vague feeling that something was amiss with the child's attitude, but having only just returned home this afternoon, he didn't dwell on it and immediately said, "The fee used to be 400 yuan, but starting this year it's only 300 yuan a year. If you had transferred starting in March of this year, our school would have charged you 450 yuan. But I was the one who introduced you, so I'll find a way to get you to pay only 300 yuan for a year and a half."
After all, the other party is his own child. Although they gave up on him due to policies and reality, now that there is an opportunity to help him, Wang Qingshan wants to do his best to help his child.
Wang Qingshan acted as if he would do his best to help his old neighbor.
But Chen Pan, who had experienced many ups and downs in his past life and had tasted the warmth and coldness of human nature, smiled and interrupted the other party's self-righteousness: "Three hundred yuan? That's about three months' salary for you, Uncle Wang, and about four or five months' income for a family like ours. If it's like Grandma Wang's family next door, three hundred yuan would require her son to work on the construction site for six months. Teacher Wang, do you think it's worth it for a family like ours to have my grandparents spend four or five months' income to transfer me to No. 4 Middle School in advance, when I'm sure I can get in on my own?"
"That's not what I meant. If it will help you in the future, we—"
Seeing that what his granddaughter said was wrong, Chen Aiguo, who attached great importance to knowledge and academic qualifications, immediately began to express his opinion.
But Chen Pan ignored her grandfather's words. She just smiled at Teacher Wang on the bed and continued, "Uncle Wang, you probably don't know that my grandparents have lent me all our family's money. My second cousin is getting married this year. Under such circumstances, even if I want to go to No. 4 Middle School, it seems there is no way. Uncle Wang, you are so kind. Can you and aunt help me with the three hundred yuan first? When my grandparents make more money next year, or when my second cousin's family pays us back, we will definitely pay you back immediately. What do you think?"
"How can this be possible? I only make 98 yuan a month!"
Chen Aiguo and Xu Chunhua, who were originally very excited and anxious, were stunned because they had never expected their granddaughter to suddenly talk nonsense. While they were stunned, Wang Qingshan, who had been sitting upright on the kang, suddenly changed his expression. "Panpan, you have always been a well-educated and polite child. How could you suddenly become like this? There are four of us in our family, and almost all of us depend on my meager salary to survive. Under such circumstances, you actually said such words. It's just—just—"
What? Wang Qingshan didn’t finish his words.
But by the time Chen Aiguo and Xu Chunhua realized what was happening, Wang Qingshan, who had just taken off his shoes and was sitting upright on the kang in his house, had already gotten out of bed, put his shoes on, and stormed off in a rage, his face flushed. It seemed as if Chen Pan's asking him for money had seriously insulted or irritated him.
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