Chapter 436 Extra: Wang Cuimei 2
The Zheng family has been quarreling for the past few years, which has had a significant impact on the two children's studies.
Especially Zheng Hongxia, who was not a gifted person to begin with, and her academic performance was acceptable only because she was diligent.
When the Zheng family's old couple were not here, Wang Cuimei hardly let her get involved in family affairs and told her to just study.
Wang Cuimei herself suffered from the lack of education, and she didn't want her daughter to be the same as her. Moreover, there were examples of Su Mo and Lu Xiaolan who were admitted to university and had great prospects, so Wang Cuimei naturally paid more attention to her children's studies.
However, Mr. Zheng and Mrs. Zheng had been lazy in their hometown for so many years, so they naturally could not be diligent in the family compound. Every day they just chatted with other old men and women who came to the family compound to follow the army. At home, they did nothing.
The two old guys favored boys over girls. In their opinion, it was enough to raise a girl. It was a waste to spend money on her education. It would be better to let her work early to earn some money for the family, and when she was old enough, she could get married and get a dowry.
But the girls in the family compound all went to school, so the couple could not say anything to make others think that they were backward. The two of them couldn't say anything openly, but when Zheng Hongxia came home from school, they always ordered her to do this and that. Even lunch had to be made by Zheng Hongxia.
Zheng Hongxia was also an honest person. Filial piety was very important in that period. She didn't want to make a scene and let others laugh at her. She did the work when the old man asked her to do.
Zheng Hongfei couldn't stand it and wanted to tell Wang Cuimei, but Zheng Hongxia felt sorry for her mother and thought it was better to have less trouble than more, so she didn't let him do it.
She didn't want the family to quarrel every day. After the grandparents came, there were enough jokes in their family. It was just cooking, washing clothes, and doing housework. It wasn't a difficult thing.
Girls of this age are very sensitive. They have their own self-esteem and pride. They always want to gloss over the truth and show that their family is happy and that they are loved by their elders.
Wang Cuimei is busy with work and goes out early and comes back late every day. If the children don’t say anything, she won’t find anything unusual. Not to mention Zheng Guosheng, he has always been hands-off. Even if he found out, he wouldn’t care as long as it doesn’t involve him and the family’s image to the outside world is good.
By the time Wang Cuimei found out, Zheng Hongxia’s grades were at the bottom of the class.
At the beginning, Zheng Hongxia’s grades declined. Wang Cuimei asked the teacher, and the teacher said that it is normal for some children who have just entered high school to decline in grades due to not adapting to the new environment. They just need to adjust their state and work hard to catch up.
Therefore, Wang Cuimei did not pay much attention to it and just asked Zheng Hongxia to study harder.
But later, Wang Cuimei found that Zheng Hongxia's test scores were getting worse and worse. After asking about the situation, she learned from Zheng Hongfei that Zheng Hongxia had to cook every day after school at noon. After eating, she had to help the two old guys wash clothes. There
was only a short time at noon. After doing all this, Zheng Hongxia had no time to take a nap. It was hot in Guangzhou. If you don't take a nap at noon, you will definitely not be energetic in the afternoon, which will naturally affect your learning state.
The learning tasks in high school are already heavy. If this continues for a long time, it will form a vicious cycle and your academic performance will naturally decline day by day.
After Wang Cuimei found out, she was furious and had a big fight with Mr. Zheng and Mrs. Zheng. Then she sent her two children to live in the school.
Zheng Hongxia lived in the school during the second semester of her second year of high school. Wang Cuimei hired a tutor for her every Sunday. After more than a year of hard work, her grades improved. As long as she works hard, it will not be a problem to get a bachelor's degree.
Originally, most elders would be proud of having a college student in their family. But Mr. Zheng and Mrs. Zheng had different ideas.
In recent years, with the reform and opening up, the prices in Guangzhou are no longer comparable to those a few years ago. Although there is still no tuition fee for studying in college and the state subsidizes living expenses, the subsidy is not enough in the face of soaring prices. Most of the students who study in Guangzhou need their families to pay for their living expenses.
There was an old lady in the family compound whose granddaughter also passed the entrance exam to Guangzhou University the year before. Mrs. Zheng learned from her that her family had to pay her granddaughter 20 or 30 yuan a month for her living expenses.
This was big news for Mrs. Zheng and her husband.
In order to force his parents to return, Zheng Guosheng said that living here would cost money for water, electricity, coal and food, so he cut off the 20 yuan he gave them. After Mr. Zheng and his wife had a fight, they only gave 10 yuan a month, and it has been like this for many years.
10 yuan is better than nothing for people in Guangzhou today. Outside, you can't even have a good meal. In the past few years, Mr. Zheng and his wife have spent a lot of their savings.
Although the salaries of civil servants have increased in the past few years, the increase is not large. Zheng Guosheng's level is only a little over 200 yuan per month. With
such a small salary, it is still not easy to support a family of six in Guangzhou, especially with two men who smoke and drink, and two junior and senior high school students, to maintain a certain standard of living.
Mr. Zheng and his wife also know this situation, and they are worried that their granddaughter will be admitted to university, and then the 10 yuan they have in their hands will be cut off.
As for Wang Cuimei's salary, because they knew what kind of people Zheng Laohan and his family were, the couple tacitly did not tell them, so Zheng Laohan and his family always thought that Wang Cuimei was still earning 60 or 70 yuan as before.
The old couple were extremely selfish people, and they would not allow the benefits they had obtained to be damaged. The couple decided to make sure that Zheng Hongxia could not get into college.
So, on the day of Zheng Hongxia's college entrance examination, Mrs. Zheng was rarely kind and said some proud words about Zheng Hongxia being the pride of the old Zheng family. She also fried two poached eggs and cooked a bowl of noodles.
Mrs. Zheng secretly put croton powder in the noodles. After Zheng Hongxia entered the examination room, she started to have diarrhea soon, and naturally failed the first subject.
Wang Cuimei took two days off for Zheng Hongxia's college entrance examination and borrowed a motorcycle from Su Mo for easy pick-up.
Seeing her daughter coming out of the examination room in a daze, Wang Cuimei felt a pang in her heart.
After hearing Zheng Hongxia crying and saying that she had diarrhea all morning, Wang Cuimei was also anxious, but she still tried her best to comfort her daughter and let her calm down and do well in the next exam.
Even if she couldn't get into an undergraduate program, it would be good to get into a junior college.
Wang Cuimei quickly took Zheng Hongxia to see a doctor. After asking about the situation, the doctor said that it might be because the food she ate in the morning was not clean enough and prescribed some medicine.
Wang Cuimei also regretted it very much. If she had known earlier, she would not let her child eat the noodles cooked by her grandmother.
At that time, Wang Cuimei did not think that Mrs. Zheng had done something wrong. She just thought that Mrs. Zheng was not hygienic and might not have cooked the food thoroughly.
After all, who would harm their granddaughter?
Wang Cuimei learned her lesson and cooked Zheng Hongxia's meals herself.
Sure enough, Zheng Hongxia did not have diarrhea in the exams she took afterwards, and Wang Cuimei was relieved.
But on the last afternoon, something went wrong. Zheng Hongxia started vomiting and having diarrhea not long after she lay down to rest after lunch. Wang Cuimei rushed her to the military hospital. Naturally, she could not take the last exam.