Chapter 70 is a bit ungrateful.
Hearing Jiang Yuren's words, Gu Yin laughed in anger. "Wait, who is this guy? He's always asking people to apologize. Do they even know each other?"
Gu Yin ignored them and walked over to Li Mengxin, saying helplessly, "Mom, we came here to pay respects to Grandpa and Grandma, not to clean. Can't we go back as soon as possible?"
Li Mengxin nodded. She had overheard the conversation. Although Gu Yin didn't do nothing at home as she claimed, it was true that not just anyone could order her child around. What did it mean to ask someone to do chores with such a condescending tone? Who was she trying to belittle? Whose child wasn't precious?
After washing the table, Li Mengxin called Gu Qinglang back and then looked at her aunt: "I've washed the table and put it there. We have other guests visiting, so it wouldn't be good for us to stay here too long. I've also brought the offerings for my parents' memorial service. We'll go to the back mountain to get busy first. Aunt, you all go ahead and get busy." After saying that, she waited for Gu Qinglang to come in, took the things, and prepared to leave.
"Your temper is exactly the same as your mother's. I didn't agree to her being with your father, but she wouldn't listen. She would get angry if I said anything more. Alright, I haven't been here for so long, won't you have a meal with me?" After saying that, Grandma Jiang looked at Secretary Wang: "You are not as old as me. I can sweep the floor. Why can't you move? All you can do is order the children around?"
Jiang Yuren was already annoyed that Gu Yin ignored him. He thought the child was stubborn, disobedient, impolite, and terrible. Now, being lectured by his mother in front of so many people, his face darkened even more. He had never been so humiliated in his long-standing position. He couldn't say anything to his mother, so he turned to his wife and said, "Go wash the vegetables. You handle all the things at home. You know better than me."
Madam Jiang was originally from the city. Although her father's official position was not as high as her husband's, she was still spoiled as an only child. The housework was basically done by the nanny. Even after she got married, the housekeeper still did it. In the past, the dishes that she said she cooked herself were actually prepared by the housekeeper. She just added salt and that was it. Asking her to wash vegetables in the freezing cold! What a joke.
Seeing that Deputy Director Jiang and his wife looked displeased, Secretary Wang and Village Chief Wang stood up shrewdly and said, "No need, no need, Mrs. Jiang, you don't need to do these things. We can do them! You've come all this way, just sit down! We'll do it, we'll do it!" After saying that, they took the vegetables and went to the well to wash them.
Seeing them like this, Madam Jiang breathed a sigh of relief, and Jiang Yuren also breathed a sigh of relief.
The old lady didn't care who did the washing, as long as they didn't disturb her.
Li Mengxin, who originally wanted to leave, hesitated and looked at Gu Yin after seeing her face, which looked so much like her deceased mother's, and hearing what she said. Seeing her like this, Gu Yin pulled Gu Le to find a stool to sit down.
Seeing her like this, the old lady found her quite amusing and asked with a smile, "Are you in junior high school yet?"
Gu Yin pointed to herself, and seeing the old lady nod with a smile, she nodded as well: "First day of the lunar month."
How's your studies?
When Jiang Yuren saw that her mother was asking her about her professional field, she also looked at Gu Yin.
Gu Yin didn't think much of it: "It's okay, I can keep up."
Jiang Yuren curled the corners of his mouth, clearly not believing it. In this place, with this educational environment, how good could her grades be? Gu Yin's unruly demeanor didn't seem like the type of student who excelled academically!
Seeing his reaction, Gu Le became displeased and raised her voice, "My older sister has excellent grades; she's always been first in her grade!"
When Grandma Jiang heard him speak, she laughed and said, "Your older sister has such good grades, what about you? How are your grades?"
Gu Le praised her older sister for her expertise, but felt embarrassed to praise herself: "Me too, I'm number one, but I'm a primary school student. Primary school is easy to learn, unlike my older sister and the others who are in junior high school, where good grades are the only measure of success!"
Jiang Yuren snorted: "Good grades in junior high school don't mean anything. Only good grades in high school are truly good. Some people excel in junior high but are at the bottom in high school and can't even get into university. Others are bad in junior high but suddenly have a breakthrough in high school and can still get into university. Besides, your sister's school isn't even ranked in our county. So what if she gets first place? And that's only in the first year of junior high. Who knows what will happen in the future?!"
Gu Le was annoyed and was about to stand up when her older sister pulled her back.
Gu Qinglang couldn't stand others talking about his daughter like that. He frowned and looked at Jiang Yuren: "According to my cousin, all the schools in the county are garbage? No matter how hard they try, it's useless?" After saying that, he looked at Li Mengxin: "Which department does our cousin work for? The way he said that makes it sound like he got there through connections."
Li Mengxin also looked dissatisfied: "From the Education Bureau."
Gu Qinglang looked at Jiang Yuren with surprise, seeing him looking over with a superior posture and an arrogant expression.
"This is unbelievable! How could someone from the Education Bureau say something like that? How did you get there? Did your father-in-law help you?" He then looked at Madam Jiang.
Madam Jiang pursed her lips and remained silent.
Grandma Jiang spoke up: "He's just a brainless idiot, don't worry about him. But although your cousin's words are a bit rough, what he said makes sense. Getting first place in such a bad environment might not even rank her in the county. If she were in a different environment, she might have a better chance. Anyway, she's only in the first year of junior high. Why don't you think I'll ask your cousin to arrange something for her and get her into the county's top high school? If she works hard for another two years, maybe she can get into a top university. What do you think?"
Before Li Mengxin and the others could speak, Jiang Yuren objected, frowning and saying, "Mom, don't always plead for others. I won't do this. If her grades were within the top 1,000 in the county, I might help. But No. 2 Middle School has always been at the bottom. If we get her into No. 1 Middle School, everyone will know it's because of connections, and it won't reflect well on me!"
Upon hearing this, the old lady retorted sharply, "Back then, your father-in-law's relative was expelled from school for assaulting someone, right? How come you could get him into No. 1 Middle School, but my great-niece can't?"
Jiang Yuren's brows furrowed even more deeply.
Gu Yin laughed: "What are you all doing? When did I say I was going to the county's No. 1 High School? Our town's No. 2 High School may be trash in your eyes, but in my eyes, it's a treasure. Don't make things difficult for me. I never even thought about going to the county. As for whether I can go to university, that's a matter for the Gu family."
Gu Yin didn't mention that she was ranked in the top 100 in the county. She didn't say that she didn't want to go to the county, and even if she did, she wouldn't need Jiang Yuren's help.
Grandma Jiang looked at Gu Yin with displeasure: "You are still young and do not know how important a good learning environment is. This is a big deal about your future, so don't act impulsively."
Li Mengxin stood up: "Thank you for your kindness, Auntie. It's not Ayin's problem, it's my problem. I can't bear to see her go to school in the county, and neither can our family. No matter what happens in the future, whether she gets into university or not, we will respect any decision she makes. It's getting late, so we'll skip dinner and go up the mountain first. We can talk again when we have a chance."
After saying that, he grabbed his things and left. It's true what they say, there's no point in wasting time when you can't see eye to eye.
After paying their respects to their maternal grandparents, the group realized that the family had not yet left, so they did not return to Li Mengxin's house but instead rode their bicycles back to Lijia Village.
Grandma Jiang had originally planned to wait for them to return from offering incense before trying to persuade them, but after waiting for a long time without seeing anyone come down, and when they went to pay their respects, they were nowhere to be found. She was furious. "So unambitious and ungrateful! They'll regret it later!"
Whether Gu Yin and the others regretted it or not, they didn't know. At this moment, they had just returned to the Gu family and saw Gu Shu and the others, along with Li Dalong, Li Xiaoming, and Li Li, having a barbecue in the yard.
Upon seeing them return, Gu Shu quickly waved, "I just finished making beggar's chicken, come and have a taste!"
Gu Yin and the others were also hungry after their trip, so they parked the car, washed their hands, and went over.
Gu Yin took the chicken leg that Gu Shu handed her. Seeing that Li Dalong had given the other one to Gu Le, she didn't stand on ceremony and asked while eating, "Uncle and the others haven't come back yet?"
Gu Shu shook his head as he tore the chicken: "Not yet, but I came back around noon. The bag I brought in the morning was sold out, so I brought another bag back. There were so many people on the street today! Mostly kids! I even got a few dollars stolen! Then I came back, and when I came back, that bag hadn't sold much yet."
Upon hearing this, Gu Qinglang quickly finished a few pieces of meat: "I'll go to the street and see them."
It wasn't until 6 PM that Gu Qinglang and the others returned. Gu Yin looked at the back of their bicycles and saw that they were all empty. She smiled and said, "They're all sold out?"
Gu Qinglang nodded: "The remaining amount was taken by the people at the convenience store."
Since I returned from selling the goods, I've already sold three packs of radios (including those sold to villagers) and over a hundred tape recorders. The rest should be sold out by the Lantern Festival.
Seeing this, Gu Yin had nothing to worry about.
After the end of the third year of junior high school, Gu Yin stopped going out and stayed at home reading all day. Gu Shu and Gu Hua were also kept from going out to play by her. When the other family members saw them like this, they walked very carefully.
After the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the seventh day quickly followed. After the seventh day, people who were going to work left with their luggage. Xiao Shiyi also called, saying that she had received a lot of orders during the Spring Festival, but the dates for those orders had all been postponed until the start of the school year. She wanted to promote some more at school and also see how the mobile phone market was doing.
So after the Lantern Festival, Gu Yin stopped caring about it because school started.
If Xiao Shiyi had something to do, she would ask her father to contact Gu Qinglang. After the Lantern Festival, Gu Qinglang got busy with what? He was busy looking at houses.
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