Chapter 96 After having a late-night snack, Zhou Weifang was in a hurry to return to the shop...
After having a late-night snack, Zhou Weifang was in a hurry to go back to the store to hand over the shift to his employees, so he left first.
Luo Hong changed the brake pads for a customer, and the brother and sister lingered for a while before going home.
At this hour, the streets were nearly deserted, so quiet that only the chirping of insects could be heard, and the breeze carried no heat. Luo Yan's wisps of hair fluttered across her forehead as she sang contentedly all the way.
The song they sang was "I Love the Great Grassland of My Motherland," and they kept repeating the first line of the tune.
Luo Hong got annoyed and said, "Why don't you say something else?"
Luo Yan: "I only need to sing the first line well."
She could do it, but Luo Hong couldn't: "You have to sing it for me the whole time, until it's driving me crazy."
I always feel like there are bumps and lumps around my head.
"And I must," Luo Yan snorted, "Who are you ordering around!"
In other words, Luo Hong said, "I'll listen to how the rest of the singing goes. You can't just muddle through the crowd."
Luo Yan cleared her throat and started singing from the first line again, but she didn't skip the rest.
After the song ended, Luo Hong commented, "No wonder the cultural troupe didn't accept you back then."
When Luo Yan was in her third year of junior high school, her school recommended her to audition for a performing arts troupe. She was tone-deaf when asked to sing, and she couldn't bend over no matter what when asked to dance. In the end, the interviewer looked at her face and thought for a long time before putting an X next to her name.
She said, "Luckily I didn't go, otherwise I almost wouldn't have been able to take the college entrance exam."
At that time, the college entrance examination had not been reinstated, and everyone felt that being able to join a performing arts troupe was already a good way out, but it paled in comparison to going to university.
Speaking of which, many of life's turning points seem to hinge on just this one small step. Luo Hong: "I was about to go to Factory No. 8 to complete the replacement procedures."
Although the slogan of "going up to the mountains and down to the countryside" wasn't as loud as it had been in previous years, it was still considered acceptable for every family to have a child who became an educated youth.
The parents went to great lengths to bring their son back from northern Shaanxi, fearing that another daughter might be involved. Therefore, their initial plan was for one child to take over the father's job, while the other would use all their savings and connections to find another job.
However, before they could even get started, rumors began circulating in the city that the college entrance examination was about to be reinstated. After all, it was the capital city; even a small mistake could lead to a major incident, and news spread much faster than in other places.
However, it didn't make it into the newspapers; it was all just gossip.
Luo Yan felt disappointed every day while reading the newspaper and listening to the radio, and it wasn't until October that she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Looking back now, time really flies.
She said, "Sometimes I feel like the college entrance exam was something that happened a long time ago."
Just as they arrived at the courtyard gate, Luo Hong gripped the brakes and laughed, "How old are you? How long ago could it be?"
He speaks in a condescending and old-fashioned way, yet he has the nerve to criticize others.
Luo Yan lifted the handlebars and stepped over the courtyard gate: "You're allowed to force yourself to write new poems and feign sorrow."
Luo Hong: "That's right, and you're not allowed to nitpick over the words."
Luo Yan clenched her fists, not wanting to make too much noise in the yard late at night, but as soon as she entered the house, she punched her brother: "Let me show you what it means to be both literate and martial."
Luo Hong simply said, "Hurry up and get your pajamas."
Luo Yan quickly grabbed her things and barely made it to the bathhouse before it closed. Aunt Wu kept urging her to hurry while scrubbing the tub, making Luo Yan so flustered that she even put her clothes on inside out.
She didn't notice anything wrong, and Luo Hong didn't seem to notice anything either when he first looked at his sister. After walking a few steps, he suddenly clapped his hands and said, "Your neck is too short."
Luo Yan reached out and touched it, then said blankly, "Ah, I'm wearing my clothes inside out."
No wonder Luo Hong mocked mercilessly, and further discovered: "The inside and outside are reversed too."
"Hmm?" Luo Yan looked at the location of the thread and tugged at her brother, saying, "Hurry up, hurry up, don't run into anyone."
But in the summer, there are still quite a few people who sleep and cool off in the alleys.
The brother and sister did stop and greet each other several times along the way.
Fortunately, the streetlights were already off, and with only a little moonlight, no one could clearly see Luo Yan's embarrassment.
But she knew in her heart that once she got home, she should quickly go into her room and put her clothes back on before going to the yard to brush her teeth.
Luo Hong was ready to go to sleep.
His room was stuffy, so for the past two days he's moved his recliner to the yard and surrounded himself with mosquito coils.
Luo Yan felt a little guilty and spat out the toothpaste in her mouth: "How about we switch rooms?"
Luo Hong ignored her completely, turned over, and said, "Hurry up and go inside."
As Luo Yan passed by her brother, she poked him lightly. Back in her room, she looked at her small but perfectly sized space, lay down contentedly, and slept soundly until dawn.
As dawn broke, Luo Hong could no longer stay in the courtyard.
He yawned and walked into the house, where he met his mother.
Liu Yinfeng was startled by her son and said, "If you're hot, just turn on the fan. You've been feeding mosquitoes all night."
Luo Hong yawned again: "It's comfortable sleeping in the yard."
Liu Yinfeng patted him on the shoulder: "The mosquitoes have had their fill too."
Luo Hong chuckled twice, went back to his room, turned on the fan, lay down for another nap, and didn't even notice that he had swept the flashlight off the bedside table.
But Luo Yan heard it.
She jolted awake, groggily pulled out her watch to check the time, rolled over and covered her head with the blanket. She became more and more awake, slowly sat up, changed her clothes, and got out of bed.
Looking at her daughter's outfit today, Liu Yinfeng asked, "Why did you decide to wear a skirt today?"
Luo Yan wasn't against wearing it, but it was really inconvenient to ride a bicycle normally, so she said, "You just bought it, let me wear it for a while."
Liu Yinfeng circled around her daughter and said, "The changes are just right."
Luo Yan lifted her skirt and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Mom."
Oh my, she really has grown into a young lady.
Liu Yinfeng looked left and right and said, "They've all grown so big in no time."
Luo Yan: "Mom, you're making it sound like you're raising pigs."
"Nonsense," Liu Yinfeng glanced at her sideways and asked, "What do you want to eat for breakfast?"
Luo Yan patted her belly: "Anything is fine."
"Then I'll bring you two meat buns."
After Liu Yinfeng finished speaking, she walked out and, before the sun came up, took her basket and headed to the vegetable market.
She met Yu Shuilan halfway there and naturally traveled with her, chatting as they went: "Yu Yao got married too, so next it'll be Yu Ying's turn, right?"
Yu Shuilang waved her hand: "I need to take it slow. If I were to hold another wedding, I would have to borrow money from loan sharks."
They're all neighbors; everyone knows each other.
Liu Yinfeng teased her, "You're about to become a grandmother again, shouldn't we have some more excitement?"
Speaking of this, Yu Shuilang said, "Have you read the newspaper? It says that in the future, each family can only have one child."
In previous years, the slogan was "One is too few, two is just right, and three is too many." Neighborhood committees, family planning offices, and various government agencies would mobilize and encourage young couples who already had two children to undergo sterilization.
But this year the trend is different, with rumors of a one-child policy gradually emerging.
Liu Yinfeng had no idea about these things and said, "Let's just follow the rules."
Indeed, Yu Shuilang said, "I've realized now that it's better to have fewer children; it's simply too much to raise if you have too many."
Many people are angry with her.
Liu Yinfeng: "Too few won't do either. I think two is just right, so they can help each other out if something happens."
"Still trying to help her," Yu Shuilang said. "My daughter hasn't given me a kind look in the past year or two because of the matter of giving the job to Pingzi."
Liu Yinfeng loved her daughter dearly and always treated her daughters equally. She thought to herself, "If the adults don't do a good job themselves, what can the children learn?"
But since we're neighbors, there's no need to hurt their feelings. She just said a few meaningless things like, "You'll understand when Yuyao has a child," and then they went their separate ways at the market.
——
Luo Yan was reading a book in the living room while waiting for her mother. She would look up whenever she heard the slightest footstep.
She saw that it was the third person she wanted to see, and she slammed the book face down on the table and skipped out to greet them.
Liu Yinfeng handed the lunchbox to her daughter: "Eat quickly, it's hot."
Luo Yan opened the bun, pinched the folds of the bun with two fingers, put it in her mouth, and only after taking a bite did she remember to call out, "Brother! Get up!"
This didn't wake Luo Hongxian, but Luo Xinmin opened the door with a panicked look on his face: "I overslept."
"What do you mean, 'slept in'?" Liu Yinfeng asked. "You even forgot you were off today?"
Luo Xinmin was already half asleep.
He only heard the word "get up" before he realized what was happening: "That startled me."
Luo Yan said guiltily, "Why don't you sleep a little longer?"
Luo Xinmin rubbed his back against the door frame: "If I don't get up, your mother will start nagging me."
Who are you talking about? Liu Yinfeng: "Get up or not, it's up to you."
Perhaps as retaliation, she scratched her husband's back with her paw and asked, "Is it itchy here?"
Luo Xinmin dared not say anything, and gasped, "Yes, yes, yes."
Luo Yan chuckled to herself and went to bang on her brother's door again.
Luo Hong responded loudly, "I'm up, I'm up," as he opened the door: "Luo Yan, if you break the door, get me a new one."
Luo Yan gave him three words: "Dream on!"
Luo Hong didn't argue with his sister. Instead, he rubbed his hair and asked, "Why are you wearing a skirt today?"
Luo Yan spun around proudly: "Mom bought this for me!"
Luo Hong looked past his sister and cried out that it was unfair: "Mom, why don't I have any new clothes?"
Liu Yinfeng: "Buying this for you to wear to work? It's just a waste of things."
Luo Hong used to have a day off when he worked in the factory, and he could occasionally pamper himself. But now that he runs a shop, all he sees when he opens his eyes are costs, and there's no time to stop.
He said, "If business is good, I'll hire an apprentice in a couple of months."
Liu Yinfeng laughed: "What did you say when you were someone else's apprentice? You said that if you became a master in the future, you would definitely not let them do too much work."
Luo Hong: "I don't have that much work for others to do, they're just helping me share the burden."
After saying that, he felt it was an ominous sign, so he slapped his face and said, "There's definitely work to be done."
He'd said both the truth and the sarcasm he wanted, so Liu Yinfeng couldn't be bothered with him anymore.
Luo Yan, however, took a big bite of her steamed bun and urged, "Hurry up, I can't ride my bike too fast today."
After washing up, Luo Hong packed his breakfast into a lunchbox: "Is this alright?"
The brother and sister went out together and almost collided with Zhou Weifang's bicycle at the entrance of the alley. Fortunately, both of them braked in time and stared at each other with wide eyes.
Luo Hong asked in surprise, "Where are you going so early in the morning?"
Zhou Weifang hurriedly said, "They said my mother tripped and fell at the market, but I don't know the specifics yet."
Falling down? That could be a big deal or a small one. Luo Hong turned the car around: "I'll go with you."
No need, no need, Zhou Weifang: "It's inconvenient for you to go. I'll call you if anything comes up."
He seemed quite anxious, and Luo Hong didn't try to refuse him: "Okay, then we'll be going now."
Zhou Weifang waved his hand, his gaze lingering on Luo Yan's skirt for a second, and he couldn't help but wonder: Is she going to meet someone important today?
However, he had no time to think about it at the moment and could only rush home first.
The Luo siblings walked towards Jiaotong University and parted ways at the school gate.
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Author's note: I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! [Cracks]
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