The next day, she didn't even have breakfast and went out with the donkey again, leaving her third brother with a face full of envy.
I was going to visit the old principal and his wife today, but I didn't bring anything valuable with me. Halfway through the journey, I found a bag of radishes, cabbages, and potatoes on my donkey's butt.
After thinking for a while, she put another five pounds of millet in her bag. It was so heavy that she wrapped the strap around her neck and rested it on the donkey's butt.
The donkey didn't complain either. It had no right to kick the donkey because it had eaten the man's food.
She was not idle either. She took care of the donkey and also took care of herself.
By the time the man and the donkey arrived at the school happily, it was almost time for lunch.
Practice makes perfect. After tying up the donkey, she heard no more noise from inside the gate. She spat twice on her palms and was about to take a sprint when she saw the old principal coming towards her with a glare in his eyes.
"Are you pretending to have super hearing?" Qiu Yuling clung to the door and smiled flatteringly.
"You could at least yell. This isn't a school day. Even though the gate isn't open, there's someone inside. If you yell, I'll open it for you. You keep climbing over the wall. Aren't you afraid I'll hurt you without knowing it?"
"I'm just pretending. I definitely won't climb in. At most, I'll climb over the wall to see if you and Teacher Meng are there. If not, I'll climb over. If you are, I'll call for help."
Before Qiu Yuling finished her twisted reasoning, Meng Xian came out, wiping her hands. "Let me see who's here?"
"Oh, it's Yuling. What are you doing outside? Come in first. What a handsome donkey! Pull it to the other end of the playground. There's hay collected by your teacher Jia."
As he said this, he came over and pulled Qiu Yuling affectionately. When Qiu Yuling saw Teacher Meng, she was not as naughty as she was in front of the principal.
He stood still and said hello, then followed him to tie up the donkey, pick up his things, and go into the house.
"You came just in time. I baked some buns and we made some dumpling soup. It's filling and warm.
It’s so cold today. Did you get cold on the road? I feel like I’ve grown taller than during summer vacation…”
Meng Xian kept chattering, and Qiu Yuling answered every question. She said that she was wearing thick clothes and even showed her that she was wearing a vest over her jacket, and a coat over the vest.
"A student came that day, and he was wearing thin clothes. Your teacher Jia thought his family was in financial difficulty, so he found one of his own cotton-padded jackets for the boy to wear. But the boy refused to wear it, saying it was too cumbersome.
It's rare that you know how to wrap yourself up so tightly, without just elegance and warmth."
While his wife and his favorite student had endless things to say, Jia Honglin was not idle either. He stoked the fire, dug out the potatoes that had been buried in the ashes, and placed them on the stove.
"Yuling, eat quickly. They're freshly baked. The potatoes are very floury this year. Do you want some salt?"
"Teacher Meng, Principal Jia, please stop busying yourself. I just left after breakfast, riding my donkey. It didn't take much time, so I'm still full."
She came here not to save food for the principal and the others, but because she really wanted to feed herself. After several refusals, seeing that Qiu Yuling did not seem to be lying, Meng Xian ordered the old man to bury her back in the ashes to keep her warm.
"It will always be warm once you bury it, and it's just right to eat whenever you're hungry." This was explained to Qiu Yuling.
To be honest, based on Qiu Yuling's understanding of the couple, these potatoes were probably their afternoon meal. They always used their salary to support poor students and had always made ends meet themselves.
After all these pleasantries, the things she brought in were finally revealed.
"Why do you always bring things when you come? Your teacher Jia and I can't even spend our salary. You are such a fool."
It would have been fine if she hadn't looked at it, but Meng Xian got anxious as soon as she saw it. It wasn't summer, and this thing wasn't considered precious to farmers, but it was winter, and there wasn't even a hint of green on the ground, let alone these.
"I didn't pack much. The vegetables in the garden grew well this year, and I bought some more at the exchange meeting. The cellar is fully stocked. I'm just worried that you two old people will push and shove. Otherwise, I would have asked the donkey to carry more."
"That's enough, that's enough. It's just the two of us. We don't produce anything all day, so we don't consume anything. We sit here in this room and don't feel hungry. We can't finish eating any more."
Seeing that he couldn't refuse anymore, he ordered the old man to carry the sack of vegetables and the small bag of rice to the kitchen where there was no fire.
The cold house is a natural cellar, so the food will not go bad all winter long. But if it snows, you have to carry it to the sleeping room, otherwise the food will be frozen.
They wouldn't let anyone leave until it was mealtime, let alone when it was. The couple refused to let Qiu Yuling leave without eating and insisted on keeping her for a meal.
Before leaving, he forced four baked buns into Qiu Yuling's mouth.
After the couple sent the people away and went into the house, they found something sticking out from the edge of the kang where the students were sitting. Upon closer inspection, they found it was a big solid wood face.
"What a kid! He can't even figure out his own life, yet he's trying to help us. Look what he's done." Meng Xian took the big unity note and wanted to go out and catch up with the guy, but she knew it would be impossible to catch up in such a short time.
"Put it away first and save it for the baby. Give it to her when she comes back next time. Besides, the girl loves reading. It will be a win-win situation if we prepare some more books for her later." After Jia Honglin said this, he really reminded Meng Xian.
I guess the kid won't accept the money even if he wants to return it, but the kid's love for books is not a problem for her. She teaches Chinese and has collected books all her life, so she has the ability to get some books for the kid.
Qiu Yuling had no such intention at all. She simply wanted to thank her teacher for taking care of her over the years. She never expected that she would later inherit many of her teacher Meng's unique works.
After leaving the old principal, Qiu Yuling was not in a hurry to go home. She rode her donkey to her uncles' house.
As usual, it was a gift for the principal, one for each uncle, neither too light nor too heavy, just right.
The two cousins were very happy to see Qiu Yuling coming. They played rock-paper-scissors to decide whoever won would live at his house.
After they finished guessing the number of fists, Qiu Yuling said she wanted to live in her grandmother's room.
When the two sisters heard this, they realized it wasn't that easy. They had already cleaned it up during the Chinese New Year. Li Yingfen continued, "Ask my mother to light the kang. Wait."
Then he left his cousins behind and ran to find his mother.
Zhou Hongfang wasn't unhappy at all. It didn't matter which kang was heated. "Go play first, the kang will be warm in a while."
The three sisters gathered around the stove to roast some sand dates and eat them.
Qiu Yuling asked her two sisters how their studies had been going this year and how they were progressing.
Li Yingtao may be being modest, or he may be hiding his incompetence. In any case, he spoke conservatively and felt that he had little hope.
Li Yingfen was full of confidence and told Qiu Yuling to wait for her. "I'll go over and accompany you next year."
This caused her cousin to look at her sideways frequently. Is she really that powerful? Could it be that her cousin has a backup plan?
Qiu Yuling had no idea about all this. After listening, she just asked the two of them if they needed any service.
"No."
"have."
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