Chapter 174: No Leniency for Confession
It really takes courage to confess this matter. Lu Donglin was worried. He thought that if he said he was in trouble, he would definitely have to eat the bamboo shoots and human flesh. He deliberately chose the time of dinner when the whole family was around to call Lu Mingjiang: "Dad!"
Lu Mingjiang still had a mouthful of rice in his mouth when he heard him yell. He didn't even have time to swallow it before he looked up at him. After a long moment, he said, "What's the matter?"
"Dad, have you ever heard a saying? Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be treated severely."
Zhang Hongying frowned, "No, Lu Donglin, what did you do again? Did you get into trouble?"
"No, of course not. I just said that. We're eating and chatting for a while."
Zhang Hongying sneered, not even eating, and looked at him with her bowl in her arms: "You take me for an idiot? You came out of my belly, and the moment you stick your butt out I know what shit you're going to do!"
Lu Donglin looked at everyone holding their bowls and looking at him, and suddenly felt guilty. He glanced at Wen Wan eagerly, but Wen Wan didn't show any reaction. With no one to ask for help, he could only bite the bullet and go ahead.
"Today, I bumped into a classmate on my way to class." He then raised his voice to emphasize, "But he was the one who rushed over and bumped into me."
Lu Mingjiang remained silent, waiting patiently for his next words.
"Then, he knocked over the baking basket I was holding, and the charcoal fell into his neck."
Lu Mingjiang stood up suddenly, grabbed the stick beside him and was about to beat someone.
Lu Donglin was always on guard against him and ran away with the bowl before he could grab the broom.
Lu Mingjiang was so angry that he cursed, "Lu Donglin, you son of a bitch! Run away! If you run away, don't come back! If you come back, I'll skin you alive!"
Zhang Hongying then asked Wen Wan, "What's wrong with him? Did he burn anyone?"
Wen Wan put down the bowl, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and replied, "I got burned. Luckily I was wearing thick clothes in winter, so most of the charcoal fell on me and onto the ground. Some of it got stuck in my neck and caused a big blister. I took it to the clinic right away for a cold compress and some medicine, but the blisters still appeared. The medicine wasn't expensive, only ten cents, but the burn left two holes in my clothes. I thought the family was going to come to the school that afternoon to make a scene, so I waited all afternoon but nothing happened."
Zhang Hongying asked again: "Do you know which one it is?"
"The student's name is Li Xiaohu. I only know he's from the Hujiawan Production Team, but I'm not sure which family he belongs to. He's in the second grade."
Lu Dongping said, "I know which family it is. You don't need to worry about this matter, whether the family comes to look for you or not. Pay the money for the medicine. If they come to look for you, at most give them two shicun cloth coupons. Then the second and fourth grade teachers will naturally handle it. If they really don't want to make a fuss, I will solve it."
"Solve it? How are you going to solve it? The money and the ticket were all blown by the wind?" Lu Mingjiang disagreed: "It has nothing to do with us in the first place. He hit Lu Donglin, and I'll pay for the medicine. If he wants to cause trouble, then let Lu Donglin hit him back. Whether he can burn Lu Donglin or not depends on whether he has the ability to do so."
Lu Dongping chuckled: "Old man, I didn't realize you were so good at lying. Just now, I saw that you looked like you were going to eat someone. Do you think he is not wrong?"
Wen Wan stood up, placed the bowl on the stove, and sat down by the fire again. "It's not that he did nothing wrong. The bell rang and everyone went inside, but he was still swinging it around like it was about to fly. He should still be more careful. However, at the meeting this afternoon, Principal Wang said that bringing fire isn't prohibited, but swinging it around is prohibited. If you find it, it will be confiscated and you'll be made to run laps on the playground."
Zhang Hongying took over the conversation, "That's great. Tomorrow, don't let him bring any more fires. He's wasting charcoal. I wonder if he'll freeze to death."
Wen Wan didn't say anything else. She had given the gloves to Lu Donglin during the Chinese New Year the year before, but she didn't see him wearing them. The cotton-padded jacket was also finished, but the buttons had just been made, and she hadn't had time to sew them on. She had originally planned to finish it together with Lu Chun'e's and give them together, but she decided to finish it and sew it on today so that he could wear it tomorrow.
As the weather got colder, it got dark earlier. Lu Chun'e took a fire scissors and pushed the fire in the fire pit into the room. The flames suddenly shot up high, and the room became brighter than before.
No one knew where Lu Donglin had gone, and Lu Mingjiang and his wife also went out for a walk after dinner.
The wind was howling outside, and Wen Wan couldn't think of anything good to do outside in such weather. The kerosene lamp was on in the kitchen, so she simply took her needle and thread and continued working. Lu Chun'e took a book and sat beside the lamp.
"Sister-in-law, you're sewing under the oil lamp. My brother will tell you something if he sees you."
Wen Wan tied a knot with her hands neatly: "It's okay, just a little bit, just sew the button on. It's too cold today, if you don't bring a fire in the morning, you must wear something thicker."
Lu Chun'e said, "How could he not bring fire? That's what my father said. He always makes a lot of noise but does little. If you don't believe me, just wait and see. Lu Donglin will definitely bring it again tomorrow."
Lu Chun'e was right. The next morning, Lu Donglin was like a normal person. He made a fire when he needed to and brought charcoal when he needed to.
Wen Wan called out to him, "If you want to bring more, take more. By the way, use your pocket. I'll need it in the office too."
Lu Donglin responded and filled the black pocket without saying a word.
Wen Wan wanted to help him carry it, but he refused: "No, no, this thing will get you black if you're not careful. It's not heavy." He was used to being dirty, but his sister-in-law was different. She changed clothes frequently. Anyway, the bamboo pole for drying clothes in their house was rarely empty.
Okay, Wen Wan didn’t really want to mention it, it was so dark, she was just being polite, really.
Li Xiaohu's mother came quite early, probably because she was afraid of being late for work the day before. Now that it was still early, she probably wanted to ask the school for an explanation before breakfast so as not to delay either.
Li Xiaohu didn't intend to complain, but the burns on his clothes left two finger-sized holes, and a few smaller ones, making it hard not to notice. Once he did, he noticed the red patch on his neck, the back of his neck, and the truth was finally revealed.
Running to school early in the morning and making a lot of noise.
Wen Wan thought about what Wang Xiannian and Lu Dongping had told her yesterday, so she said nothing, pretended not to know them, and went straight into the office.
As soon as he entered the door, he was stopped by Li Xiaohu's mother: "Hey, is that the teacher surnamed Wen from your school? Is that Lu Donglin's sister-in-law? What's the meaning? Your child got into trouble and you don't want to admit it and want to avoid seeing people, right?"
Wang Xiannian didn't expect that Li Xiaohu's family knew the situation in the school so clearly. Not only did they know that Lu Donglin had a sister-in-law who taught at the school, they even knew her last name.
Wen Wan had no way to avoid it this time. Since she had already entered the office, she simply took off her pocket and put it on the table before going out.
Li Xiaohu's mother looked to be in her thirties, thin, but with a broad frame and face, not much shorter than Wang Xiannian. Her hair was cropped short and uneven, and she wore a navy blue double-breasted cotton jacket, bleached from washing, with several pieces of other colored cloth sewn into the cuffs.
Li Xiaohu was dragged by her, with his head hanging.
Wen Wan came over, glanced at her, and said, "My last name is Wen. I'm a substitute teacher in the third grade and also Lu Donglin's parent. I'm very sorry for scalding Li Xiaohu yesterday. I was waiting for you yesterday afternoon, waiting for your family to come and take care of this matter, but you didn't come. Also,"
Before Li Xiaohu's mother could speak, she suddenly raised her voice, "Please take back what you just said. Our family doesn't deny the responsibility for injuring Li Xiaohu, but the word 'cause trouble' doesn't really apply to him. As everyone saw yesterday, Li Xiaohu wasn't paying attention and knocked Lu Donglin down. The burn was an accident. Teacher Hu and Teacher Wang immediately rushed him to the volunteer infirmary. I paid for the medicine yesterday."
"Looking at what you said, my son's burn was in vain, and the pain was in vain? Look at his neck, there are so many big blisters. Look at his clothes, there are so many big holes. How can he wear them?"
Wen Wan looked at her without saying anything, nor did she ask what she wanted. She just watched her make a fuss quietly.
The students in the school watched them from afar and didn't even dare to play around.
Lu Donglin was standing at the door of the classroom and wanted to come over, but Wen Wan glanced at him and he didn't dare to move.
Wen Wan glanced at Hu Gaoquan and said, "Teacher Hu is on duty today. It's time for the bell to ring."
"Is it time?" Hu Gaoquan didn't care about this anymore and hurried to the classroom door. Li Xiaohu's mother called him hurriedly: "Hey, things haven't been dealt with yet, Hu Gaoquan, where are you going?"
Wang Xiannian said, "We can handle our own affairs, but we can't ignore the other students just because of you. It's very cold outside. Ask Li Xiaohu to do morning exercises with the teacher, and we'll go to the office to talk."
Li Xiaohu's mother didn't move. She held Li Xiaohu tightly and looked at Wen Wan with burning eyes, as if she wanted to stare a hole in her face. There was an emotion in her eyes that Wen Wan couldn't understand.
Wen Wan glanced at her class team. The whole team was still looking over here, not being obedient. She suddenly lost her patience and said, "I have to go to class. Morning exercises are only a short while away. You should also go to work. Let's talk about it directly. What do you want?"
"What do I want? Pay me money. You burned my son and his clothes, and you won't pay me?"
Wen Wan nodded: "How much do you want."
"Two dollars, not a cent less!"
Wen Wan nodded: "Two dollars? You really dare to ask for it. But I'm really sorry, I won't give you a cent." After that, she called Lu Donglin: "Come here!"
Lu Donglin had thought about this a long time ago. Everyone has their own responsibilities, and he didn't want to see his sister-in-law being embarrassed because of others.
Wen Wan looked at Li Xiaohu's mother and said, "He's here. Yesterday, Li Xiaohu bumped into Lu Donglin and got burned by the fire he was holding. Today, let Lu Donglin bump into him back. Whether he can get burned depends on Li Xiaohu's ability. If he gets burned, we'll consider it bad luck and won't ask you for a penny. If he doesn't get burned, there's nothing I can do. It's tit for tat, and we're even."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
