Chapter 113: Thick-skinned and full of food
Wen Wan subconsciously turned around to look at Lu Dongping for help. She had never encountered such a thing before! How should she deal with it? Help!
Lu Dongping came out of the house and said, "This is given to you by your aunt, just take it. We are all family from now on, so don't be so polite!"
Gao Xiulan laughed and said, "That's right, you should learn from Dongping. Your skin is as thick as a wall. That way you won't suffer any loss wherever you go. You'll suffer enough with your thick skin!"
Wen Wan's face flushed slightly, and she finally stopped pushing her back and forth. She held the ticket in her hand and thanked Gao Xiulan: "Thank you, Aunt Xiulan."
Gao Xiulan smiled and said, "Why are you thanking me? Otherwise, stop calling me aunt and call me auntie so I can hear it."
It was obvious that he was teasing Wen Wan. She hadn't even called them parents yet, so how could he call her aunt first?
Wen Wan said, "It will be shouted sooner or later."
After saying that, he asked Zhang Hongying: "Aunt, I forgot to ask you, if we hold a banquet here, are there any particular rules about what to wear?"
She remembered how Lu Dongcheng looked in his military uniform in the middle of summer when they got married. He looked so handsome and imposing. She also had one like that, but she didn't bring it with her.
Zhang Hongying said, "Just wear whatever you like. We don't care about clothes here; anything goes." If you can't even afford food and clothing, what's the point of being particular? Some girls don't even have a patched dress when they get married.
What do you like to wear?
Wen Wan's eyes lit up. "I have a red blouse. I'll wear that." She had only worn that skirt with lotus leaf sleeves and a nipped waist once; it was something her third aunt had brought back from Guangzhou. She'd thought twice before leaving and decided to take it with her, but since she had to work here, it felt awkward to wear, so she kept it at the bottom of her bag.
"Bulaji? What is it?"
Who in the mountains has ever heard of this foreign stuff?
Wen Wan looked at Zhang Hongying and Gao Xiulan, both of whom were very curious, and said, "Wait a minute, I'll show it to you." After that, she ran into the house excitedly, put her backpack on the bed, took out everything inside, turned it upside down, and walked out of the house with the skirt.
"It's made of Dacron. It shouldn't wrinkle normally, but it got a little wrinkled when I put it at the bottom of my pocket." He shook it and showed it to the two of them.
The skirt reaches the calf, with an elastic waistband in the middle and a very delicate button at the collar, the color is eye-catching.
Zhang Hongying and Gao Xiulan had never seen such clothes before and were so surprised: "How can these city people think of such a thing? The clothes and pants are directly connected together."
Wen Wan smiled and said, "Ladies outside all wear this when it's hot. But it's not suitable to wear this here. We have to work, go up mountains and down rivers, it's not convenient. I only brought this one, and I thought I would never have the chance to wear it again. Fortunately, I could wear it again that day."
Zhang Hongying said, "Okay, then I'll wear this outfit later. It looks good."
A new house, new furniture, and my son and daughter-in-law also wore new clothes for their wedding. I feel proud no matter how I think about it.
Lu Dongping propped up the bed. Wen Wan said she wanted to paste newspapers on the walls, but after thinking about it, she didn't do it.
While the sun was shining brightly, I dried some wheat straw to use as bedding.
Just after finishing drying, it got dark.
In the middle of the night, the rain started to fall.
The rain had not stopped when they got up the next day. Lu Dongping and Lu Donglin got up together, took a piece of plastic sheet to cover Wen Wan, and also took out their usual hats and put them on her.
"You gave it all to me, how come you're going to the commune?"
Lu Dongping said, "It will take a while for me to get to the commune. Maybe it won't rain again. If it does, we have straw raincoats at home, and I can use my father's bamboo hat. They won't go to work on rainy days."
It was a rainy day and very dark. In the past, it would have been bright by this time, but today it was gloomy. Lu Dongping sent the people downstairs and said, "Did you bring your socks? Don't wear sandals barefoot when you get to school. The cold starts from your feet." The weather in the mountains is like this. Even in the hottest days of summer, it will still be cold in the morning and evening when it rains.
"I know, I know!"
Lu Chun'e chuckled on the side: "My brother has never been so nagging before."
Lu Donglin was also making faces at Lu Dongping. Lu Dongping glanced at him calmly, and he turned around quickly: "Let's go, let's go. If we don't leave now, we'll be late!"
After the three people walked away, Lu Dongping went back with a bamboo hat on his head and his body was mostly wet.
I was too lazy to change clothes, so I just carried the basket to the private plot, pulled some weeds, and picked half a basket of broad beans and cucumbers.
The peppers were starting to ripen, but it was still a little late. He had to pull through several rows of peppers before he could pick a handful that were edible.
The rain kept falling, and the chickens in the cage kept running under the eaves to avoid the rain.
Lu Dongping tossed some grass to the rabbit and stood there, watching it for a moment. He'd been feeding it for months, with grass every day and no food, and it was growing quite strong. It felt like it was ready to be slaughtered. There was only one of them anyway, and it wouldn't produce any pups if he kept it.
After adding grass to the rabbits, he went to chop grass for the pigs. Lu Mingjiang got up just as he picked up the knife.
Seeing him sitting there soaked, she was stunned for a moment: "Why are you so wet so early in the morning? Why don't you go change your clothes?"
"It's okay. I went to the vegetable garden and chopped some grass to feed the pigs. That way I don't have to wear a straw raincoat to wait on them later."
Lu Mingjiang sat down on the doorstep at the main hall entrance. "I don't know if we can still deliver the pigs this year like last year, right after the autumn harvest. It seems like neither of them are growing as fast as last year's."
Lu Dongping continued while chopping grass: "Why rush? The autumn harvest is still two months away. The grass will grow a little longer in two months. If things don't work out later, we can pick some pumpkins or something from the fields and chop them up to feed them. It will definitely add some fat."
Lu Mingjiang glanced at him and said, "Don't talk nonsense. Pumpkins are something people eat. People are not rich. How can we feed the extra pumpkins to pigs?"
Before Lu Dongping could say anything, Zhang Hongying came out with her hair disheveled and a wooden comb in hand. She and Lu Mingjiang and his wife sat on either side of the main hall, like door gods. While combing her hair, she said to Lu Dongping, "It's raining today, so we have some free time. We can sew the quilt."
Lu Dongping asked, "Have you almost finished weeding the fields?"
"The first weed was finished the day before yesterday, and now we're back to the second. You know, the weed roots that were dug up in the soil after the first weeding grow very fast, competing with the crops. The ones behind follow as the ones in front of us hoe away. It will probably be late July by the end of this second weeding, and we can finally take a break."
"That's almost time!" It's already the beginning of July, so it's only a matter of ten days or half a month. Not only is the farm work almost done, but school is also about to close. This week's over, and the final exams will be the week after that.
Lu Dongping stood up, gathered the chopped pig grass into the pig feed bucket filled with pot-washing water, mixed it, and carried it down the eaves to pour it into the stone trough for the pigs.
Then he went to the kitchen, took the shoulder pole and carried water twice to fill the water tank. He also placed a basin in the gutter under the eaves to collect the water.
Zhang Hongying urged him, "Hurry up and change your clothes. Catching a cold is no joke."
Lu Donglin went into the house and changed his clothes, then rinsed and hung up the clothes.
In the morning, I eat grits porridge, pancakes, chopped lentils and peppers, stir-fried with a little salt and then eaten.
Lu Dongping didn't scoop the grits into his lunch box, but instead filled it with several bread slices and some vegetables. He then filled the lunch box to the brim: "It's raining, and it's inconvenient to go back and forth. I'll go to the commune on my way and take the food over to them."
Zhang Hongying said, "Just eating that won't do."
"It's OK. There's boiled water in the office. It's a little watery and not easy to carry." After finishing it, he put it in his pocket and went outside. He took down the straw raincoat hanging on the wall and put it on himself. He put on his hat and carried the pocket and went down the eaves.
The rain became lighter and looked like it was about to stop but couldn't.
He was wearing straw sandals and his trouser legs rolled up above his knees. He strode towards the school on the muddy ground.
When I arrived at school, classes were in session. The campus was quiet, and the sound of reading could be heard from the classroom.
The office door was ajar, so he pushed it open and walked in, placing his belongings and pockets on the desk.
After closing the door, he went to the door of the second grade classroom and took a look. Wen Wan was standing at the podium writing on the blackboard and didn't notice him at all. But the children in the class noticed him and shouted, "Teacher, someone is looking for you outside!"
Wen Wan turned away. Slightly startled, she placed her textbook on the desk and left the classroom. "Why are you in school in such heavy rain?"
"I brought you some food on the way. Call Lu Donglin later and tell him not to go back at noon. Just have some pancakes. The porridge is too watery to carry, so I didn't bring any for you. Have some boiled water with some sugar."
Wen Wan nodded: "I understand. Please drive slowly!" On the way, the brigade and the public commune are not on the way, right? There is a fork in the road from Lujiazui. About a mile to the left is the brigade, and going straight on the right is the commune.
Lu Dongping waved and turned away.
The classroom was buzzing with activity. Zhou Dongmei and Zhou Jianming, both from Lujiazui, recognized Lu Dongping and were whispering to the desks in front and behind them: "That's Teacher Wen's boyfriend, he's on our team, the older brother of Lu Donglin from third grade. He's incredibly aggressive."
"Lu Donglin's brother is Teacher Wen's boyfriend!"
——
A group of kids who didn't even know what the subject was were engaging in a heated spontaneous discussion.
Wen Wan walked into the classroom and the voices stopped instantly.
"The discussion is quite lively!" She checked her watch. "Morning reading class ends in five minutes. I'd like to take a moment to say a few words. We have the final exam in a week, and classes are over. We've been reviewing lately. Whether it's math or Chinese, I'll copy the questions from the blackboard. Everyone should copy them into their notebooks, following the teacher's instructions and leaving space for answers later. I'll select the questions for the final exam from those that have been given recently. I hope everyone will work hard during this review period, strive for good grades, and have a comfortable holiday."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
