Chapter 244 Getting Angry
"So how are you doing academically? Study hard, and you'll be able to go to junior high school in the commune in the second half of next year. Then we can keep each other company."
Zhou Dongmei smiled: "My God also told my father this. I think I can get into junior high school, and my father said that as long as I can pass, he will let me go." It's so good to go to school. You can play in school, and at home you can do nothing but work.
"That's great! You still need to study hard. You're quite smart. Just try to get into high school. Then, find a way to get a job. That'll make things easier." Technical secondary schools guarantee job placement, but high schools are different. Competition is fierce, and everyone has to compete for a job. Wen Wan felt that Zhou Minghong had some foresight. If the child could do well, he wouldn't let him down.
Zhou Dongmei said, "It's not that easy. In our team, only two girls, Lu Dongfu and Lu Chun'e, have passed the exam over the years. I'm only in fifth grade now, but I'm already fifteen. After finishing junior high school, I'll be seventeen or eighteen, which is about the time to talk about in-laws. I'm just thinking about going to junior high school and then finding an easy job in the team. There aren't many girls going to junior high school these days, so if I do, I'll definitely be looked up to."
Without anyone else, Wen Wan could already look up to her.
She felt that Zhou Dongmei was a very mature girl. At the age of fifteen, she knew nothing and had not thought about anything. And Lu Chun'e, at that time, all she did was study.
Zhou Dongmei is a girl with a very cheerful personality. Wen Wan has taught her before and they were in the same team. Even though Wen Wan no longer teaches her, they are still very familiar with each other. She kept talking all the way. After talking about her studies, she started talking about the trivial matters in the production team.
Wen Wan taught in the commune, running back and forth morning and night, and rarely went out during holidays. She only occasionally heard about the team's affairs from Zhang Hongying and Gao Xiulan's casual conversations, and she didn't know much about many things.
For example, Zhou Lanhua. She had only seen Zhou Mingqing a few times since the incident. But her child, Zhou Dongshuang, was grown up now and could run around. She had seen him a few times, but he was skinny and never looked clean. His eyes looked particularly prominent.
Zhou Lanhua, Wen Wan still remembers when she first came. She was wearing a worn but clean dress, with her hair neatly braided. She stood at the edge of the field with a notebook and recorded work points. Her voice was soft, and there was always a gentle smile on her face. That was probably the best look of her that Wen Wan had ever seen.
Zhou Dongmei continued, "My eldest uncle and aunt are gone. She was married before, and separated from my cousins, but at least we still live in the same courtyard. My eldest cousin's wife came to look for my mother several times, saying that she had found a widower whose wife had died in another brigade. The conditions were not bad, and she could take her daughter with her, but she refused to accept it. If she didn't want to, then she didn't want to accept it. But she was restless, flirting with the men in the brigade all day long. Someone even saw her sneaking through the haystack with the scoundrels in the east end. She's really shameless. My father was almost mad at her to death."
Wen Wan didn't respond. She couldn't imagine Zhou Lanhua doing such a thing.
When I arrived at the team, I saw Xu Qingming and Liu Changqing coming down the mountain with pickaxes.
Wen Wan called out, "Seventh Brother!" After both of them stopped, she called out to Liu Changqing.
"Didn't you go to the mountain?" The team had already distributed their rations and started hibernating, but the laborers were still busy. They all had to go up the mountain to chop firewood, and they still left early and came back late.
Xu Qingming said, "Something happened on the team, so we came back early. Is the final exam today?"
Wen Wan nodded: "The exam is over."
Xu Qingming smiled and said, "It's good that the exam is over. You can have a holiday now, so you don't have to run to the commune before dawn every day. Okay, go back quickly, I'll come talk to you later."
Wen Wan waved goodbye to him and left.
When they reached the fork in the road, Zhou Dongmei called out to her, "Teacher Wen, I'm going back first. I'll come and play with you later."
"Okay, I'm here!"
As soon as I arrived at the door, I heard a child crying. The sound was so deafening.
By now, the rations have been distributed and they have started to hibernate. They are doing chores such as chopping wood and pulling grass for pigs. Today, because Wen Wan didn't take care of the children, Zhang Hongying didn't go to the fields and stayed at home to take care of her grandson. Even so, she couldn't take care of him.
Dandan was used to being with Wenwan. There were many children in school who always teased him. It was lively. He was not used to it at home. He couldn't find his mother. He started to make a fuss and cry after breakfast.
He cried for a long while and fell asleep. When he woke up, he peed and was hungry. He looked for Wen Wan everywhere but couldn't find her. He continued to cry with his little mouth pouting.
Zhang Hongying gave birth to three children, and Lu Dongping was the least troublesome. The older one helped take care of the two younger ones, as long as they were not hungry or cold. It really felt that the three together were not as difficult to take care of as this one.
I only fed the pigs twice, morning and evening, and went to the private plot, and spent all the rest of the time with him.
Seeing Wen Wan arrive at the entrance of the yard, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "Don't cry, look, look, isn't she back?"
Dandan's eyes were red. Seeing Wen Wan reaching out to her, she cried even more pitifully and even more excitedly. She felt so sorry for Wen Wan that she hurriedly hugged her.
Zhang Hongying was so angry that she almost laughed. She reached out and tapped his forehead: "He was quiet for a while during his nap at noon. He whined all day. It's because he got used to you and became dependent on you."
Wen Wan lifted the child up and said, "Then take him with you. After the exam is over today, you can get the notification letter."
Zhang Hongying went inside and found a basin to peel radishes under the eaves. As she worked, she said, "It was okay before and after the New Year, but after the spring, he might not be able to sit in the car anymore. If you turn around, he'll flip out. When he grows up, he'll run around everywhere and disappear in the blink of an eye. So now you can't get hurt every time he cries. You have to be tough when you need to. At least during the day, let him follow anyone. Otherwise, what will happen later?"
Wen Wan didn't think that far: "Let's talk about the rest later, there's still some time anyway!" As she said that, she stuffed Dandan into the car and planned to dilute water to wash his face and apply some cold cream, crying like a cat.
Dandan held her tightly and refused to let go, as if she would disappear again if he let go. She gasped in pain and hissed.
Zhang Hongying had just sat down when she stood up again: "This little brat is really excited today. Hold him for a while, and I'll get you whatever you want."
"Mom, please help me mix some water so I can wash his face and put some vanishing cream on it. I'm afraid his face will crack."
Zhang Hongying went into the house with a basin and quickly brought out some water.
Wen Wan washed his face, then went into the house to apply some cold cream, and carried him to the entrance of the yard where she squatted to help him urinate.
Dandan is now very calm about the matter of peeing. Just let him pee, no one can stop him.
Zhang Hongying finished peeling the radish and called Wen Wan, "Come inside. It's getting chilly once the sun goes down."
Wen Wan carried Dandan into the house, and Zhang Hongying brought the car inside. "It's better to put him down and let him lean against the inside of the car. He's quite heavy, and it's hard to hold him like this all the time."
Dandan refused to let go and hooked Wen Wan's hair, almost pulling her scalp off. Wen Wan got angry and stuffed him into the car.
My goodness, that sound was like someone was cutting flesh. His crying could be heard on the street outside.
It’s not that Wen Wan doesn’t feel sorry for him, but she really feels exhausted.
She hadn't been able to get a good night's sleep since Dandan was born. Although she'd been feeding him at night at first and didn't need to get up to feed him, she was always worried about him wetting the bed, so she woke up at least three or five times a night. During the day, she worried about him making noises in class, and after class, she had to take care of him eating, drinking, and defecating. Just today, someone was free at home, and she had been helping students copy exams, leaving her with the whole day. When he came back, he acted like a spoiled child and wouldn't let go, and her long-suppressed anger suddenly flared up.
He stuffed the child into the car, patted the counter in front of him with his hands, and said with a stern face: "Stop crying, or I'll really not want you anymore!"
It was rare for her to speak so seriously. Not only Dandan, but even Zhang Hongying was stunned by her.
If adults are confused, children will be even more confused.
Dandan seemed to realize that she was angry. His mouth pursed, tears welled up in his eyes, and he hummed softly, not daring to cry out loud anymore.
Zhang Hongying was about to say something, but when she saw this, she immediately swallowed the words back.
It works, it seems we still need to deal with it, otherwise it will really go to hell. This boy should learn to be afraid of people since he is young, otherwise he will be lawless when he grows up.
Seeing that he had restrained himself, Wen Wan breathed a sigh of relief. She was really in so much pain from being pulled.
Zhang Hongying started cooking, stewing half a pot of radish and cabbage, adding some lard for flavor. It was the end of the year, and the oil tank was almost empty.
When Dandan calmed down, Wen Wan went to help light the fire behind the stove. Then she heard Zhang Hongying say, "The one in the cowshed, Zhang's wife died last night."
Wen Wan paused as she gripped the firewood. "Why did he die out of the blue? Zhang Yongmin was ill, and she... I haven't heard she's ill, too."
Zhang Hongying said, "A place like the cowshed is no place for people to stay. It can make even the best people sick. Day after day, there was no end in sight. With her husband gone and her unable to leave the house, she felt she was a burden to her sons and grandchildren. Just like Wang Pan'er, she ripped off her belt and hanged herself in the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep."
"She's in trouble. Her whole family is here for reform. If they get sick or die, that's fine. But she's just being unreasonable. If people find out, they'll think she's resentful of something, and then maybe even implicate Zhang Huaiqing and the child."
If she hadn't said it, Wen Wan wouldn't have known that there would be such consequences after someone died: "Then, then can't we just report it as deceased?"
Zhang Hongying sighed, "Who knows? I don't understand either. I've only seen this kind of thing happen before. Reporting it or not is Lu Mingqing's business. What can we do?"
Wen Wan was not familiar with the people in the cowshed, but she still felt uncomfortable after hearing about this, as if a stone was pressing on her heart. Zhang Huaiqing and the child's current situation was already difficult enough, and if it were to get worse, could they still endure it?
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