Chapter 104

Although in reality all the teachers knew that only the 20 students in the competition class would participate in the competition, but on the surface everyone still had to go through a process. Except for Class 1 and Class 2, the teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in the first year of high school selected four students with the best scores in each subject to participate in the competition examination for selection.

The students selected from Class 3 were Jiang Xi, Xu Xiuli, Shen Xirong and others. A total of 32 people were selected from the parallel classes. Anyone who wanted to participate in the two key classes could take part in this selection examination.

The exam was held on Saturday. Other students could go home on Friday night, but students who were taking the exam could not. Xu Xiuli was very worried about this: "I am not in the competition class. Why do I have to take the exam? I can't even bring food tomorrow."

Xu Xiuli was a typical mother's girl, very attached to her family. She was the most active one to go home after school every Friday. The first thing she did when the school bell rang was to go back to the dormitory to get her already packed backpack and go home. She was also the last one to go back to the dormitory every time.

He Xiaofang was very happy and said excitedly: "You two can go to take your exam without worry. I will take care of all the work of fetching food and water for you today!"

She knew that she could only do so much, so she tried to be more active when she was working. She was the one who took care of the hygiene in the dormitory on weekdays and weekends.

Jiang Xi goes running every morning. After running, she goes to the cafeteria to get breakfast and brings it to the store to eat with Grandpa Jiang. She takes this time to clean the dormitory, cleaning every corner, table and balcony, because if she doesn't clean at this time, Jiang Xi will come back and clean with her.

Although Jiang Xi and Xu Xiuli didn't say anything, they saw what He Xiaofang did.

It was the first time that Xu Xiuli stayed in the dormitory on Saturday. Now there are three people in the dormitory, He Xiaofang, Xu Xiuli, and Jiang Xi.

Xu Xiuli saw that He Xiaofang didn't go home every week, and asked her: "You stay in school all the time and don't go back. Won't your family worry about you?"

This sentence made He Xiaofang silent.

"Don't worry, there's nothing to worry about." She turned her back, lay on the bed, and looked up at the ceiling: "They won't worry about me."

They only care about my younger brother.

He's mother gave birth to three daughters in a row. In the middle, she aborted a daughter because of family planning. After a few years, she gave birth to a baby son. He's father and mother were full of their son. Everything in the family was earned for their son. They also taught the three sisters to treat their younger brother well. They didn't have a brother before, so her eldest sister was divorced and no one wanted her.

"If you had a brother, how dare that family treat your eldest sister like this?" Because they didn't have a son, He's father and mother couldn't lift their heads in the village and didn't dare to speak loudly. It was only after they had a son that He's mother spoke louder.

But He Xiaofang was puzzled. Her elder sister had given birth to a son. People said that having a son was important, but didn’t she get divorced after giving birth to a son? Didn’t the family want the son born by her elder sister?

She was confused, but the environment around her and everyone around her told her that a woman must give birth to a son, and only by giving birth to a son can she stand up straight. But her elder sister’s story was obviously contradictory to what they said, and it was wrong.

She didn’t know how to resist such an environment, and she just instinctively wanted to stay away.

She was very happy at school, and she didn’t want to go back.

At school, she could still set aside time to study, but when she got home, she would only have endless farm work to do.

Winter was not so bad, just some housework, just a little cold at most, but it was the busy farming season of summer vacation soon. Every day there was endless rice to harvest, endless seedlings to plant, endless meals to cook and endless pigs to feed. All the big and small jobs at home and outside were done by her and her elder sister.

Because her elder sister lived in her parents' home and had to take care of two children, she couldn't even lift her head at home. From morning to night, there was endless work to do.

She was not born dark, didn't she do farm work and be exposed to the sun from childhood to adulthood?

But she didn't want to tell others about her family's affairs, for fear that others would look down on her.

She turned around, lay on the bed, supported her chin with both hands, looked at Jiang Xi and Xu Xiuli, her eyes full of envy.

Her lips were thick, which made her look a bit earth-motherly. When she smiled, she showed her big white teeth. She said, "Just like you can't understand why I don't want to go home, I can't understand why you are so happy to go home every Friday."

Because she had never felt the love of her family as wholeheartedly as Xu Xiuli did.

She wished she could stay in school all her life, so that she wouldn't have to be trembling all the time, afraid that she would be married off in exchange for a dowry.

In response to her, Xu Xiuli grabbed a handful of pistachios and pecans for her.

Pecans and pistachios are very expensive. She had eaten all the ones her aunt brought her during the Chinese New Year. The ones she had now were specially bought by her mother from the market. She usually only shared them with Jiang Gui, and occasionally gave some to He Xiaofang. When there were many people in the dormitory, she would share some melon seeds and peanuts with them.

Especially Liu Ping, who was always taking advantage of others and was thick-skinned. She knew she was too shy. Whenever she shared food, she would take a handful with her hands. She was really scared by Liu Ping's taking advantage. When she was around, she didn't dare to take out snacks to eat.

He Xiaofang only knew from Jiang Xi that these dried fruits were more expensive than meat. Seeing that she took such a large handful for herself, she was shocked: "No, no, no, too much!"

Xu Xiuli smiled and said angrily: "Eat yours~ It's a pity that Liu Ping is not here, otherwise I wouldn't have taken it out!"

Thinking of Liu Ping's eating style in the dormitory, He Xiaofang couldn't help but smile. She carefully put the handful of pecans and pistachios that Xu Xiuli gave her into the paper box at the head of her bed, leaving them for her to eat slowly when she was hungry.

Jiang Xi said that this thing nourishes the brain. Whenever her brain is tired from doing exercises, she eats two pills to nourish her brain.

The next morning, Jiang Xi and He Xiaofang went out for a run. Xu Xiuli didn't like running, but she got up with them. While they were running, Xu Xiuli held a book and read quietly in the playground.

He Xiaofang can now keep up with Jiang Xi. The two of them can run ten laps together. Jiang Xi read quietly while running, and He Xiaofang read loudly while running. She can only use this stupid method, reading over and over again, saying it with her mouth and listening with her ears, and then memorizing these knowledge points by rote.

After running ten laps, the two can still walk a few steps easily.

Every time she saw Jiang Xiaofang's relaxed look, she was full of admiration.

She still had to do farm work at home, and her physical strength was not as good as Jiang Xiaofang's.

This was also normal. Jiang Xiaofang had a lot of meat, eggs, milk, vegetables and fruits every day, but she only had rice and pickled radish every day. After eating the pickled radish, she would eat boiled cauliflower or the cheapest lotus root slices. Even so, she was reluctant to finish them in one meal, so she ate them in two meals at noon and in the evening, and only had a steamed bun in the morning.

Even if Jiang Xi and Xu Xiuli were willing to give her some meat, she was too embarrassed to eat it often, and only ate a piece occasionally.

When she arrived at the cafeteria, she still had a big steamed bun with one or two meal tickets, Jiang Xi had salted tofu pudding with egg buns, and Xu Xiuli had wontons and eggs.

Jiang Bai had finished the college entrance examination, and now he was the one who delivered meals to Grandpa Jiang every day. After Jiang Xi and Xu Xiuli finished their meals, they went to the reading room on the upper floor of the teaching building to take the competitive exam.

There were not many people taking the competitive exam. In addition to the 32 people from the parallel class, there were more than 30 people from the two key classes.

Although there is no limit on the number of students in the key classes, it is the end of the semester and many people have used up their food coupons. Some choose to go home for a bite to eat on Friday, some bring rice and some bring vegetables. Only a few people who think their grades are good but were not selected for the competition class come to take the exam because they are not convinced and want to try the competition.

After the exam, everyone seems to have been hit hard and came out of the examination room in a daze.

Is the competition test paper really the same as the test paper they usually take?

Isn't this too difficult?

The top students who were a little unconvinced before, seeing Zhang Wenxue and Cheng Yufeng still coming out of the examination room with smiles on their faces, couldn't help but turn their heads away when they asked Jiang Xi from the parallel class how she did in the exam. They said that they were careless and they shouldn't have humiliated themselves by participating in this so-called school competition selection exam.

Xu Xiuli also had a shocked expression. She walked out of the examination room with some doubts about her life and walked out with Jiang Xi's arm.

Because her grades were balanced and there was no sign of bias in any subject, she was called out

in the three subjects of mathematics, physics and chemistry. Today was clearly a day for her to be at home, eating all kinds of delicious dishes made by her mother for her, and reuniting with her family. Why was she locked up in school to take the exam!

Did she take fewer exams than usual? There is a small test every week, a big test every month, and the final exam is coming soon. Why do I have to take a competition exam to torture me?

After two exams, she was pale and dazed. She said to Jiang Xi, "I shouldn't be allowed to take such an exam."

She looked at Jiang Xi with admiration!

How did she do such a difficult test so easily?

She missed her mother! She wanted to go home!

At this time, Xu Xiuli's parents were waiting anxiously at the gate of No. 1 Middle School.

Xu Xiuli didn't go home yesterday evening, so they were worried and didn't sleep well all night, fearing that something had happened to their daughter.

Before, a human trafficker kidnapped a female student at the gate of their town's middle school. The girl was 15 years old. She walked less than 500 meters home from school before she was dragged into a van and taken away. Later,

when the girl's family saw that she had not returned home for a long time, they went to the school to look for her. Only then did an eyewitness say that they saw her being dragged into a van and taken away.

In public, they dared to rob people on the street. The human traffickers were so rampant. When Xu Xiuli's mother heard about this incident and her daughter had not returned, she was so anxious that she went to the gate of the middle school early in the morning and asked the guard.

The guard said, "There are students in the school who haven't gone home. What kind of competition or exam are they taking? Which class are you girls in? I'll go and ask for you."

The exam was held in the reading room. The teaching building was now empty, but there were still teachers grading exams and homework in the office building. He went to the office building to find Teacher Wang, and after asking around, he found out that the students were indeed staying in school to take the exam.

After coming out to tell Xu Xiuli's parents, they were relieved: "If she can't go home, she should at least call us. Her father and I were almost scared to death!"

The security guard said with a smile: "The school only has a phone in the office. You can't leave the school, so they didn't call you?"

Xu Xiuli's family has a phone. Her family opened an electrical appliance store in the town, selling TVs and fans.

This year, Changhong brought their newly developed 25-inch large color TV to compete with Japanese brands in the market. Her family's color TV business is also very good. Saturday is the best time for business. If they were not worried about their daughter, they would never leave the store.

This day of delay is a day of profit.

By noon, the exam was over. The guard knew that Jiang Xiu was from Class 3. When he saw her leaving the exam room with a girl, he called her, "Is Xu Xiuli here?"

Xu Xiuli turned around and looked at the guard in surprise, "I'm Xu Xiuli, what's the matter?"

"You didn't go home yesterday, and your parents came to the school gate to look for you. They've been waiting for you all morning. Hurry up and check on them!"

When Xu Xiuli heard that her parents were coming, she was so happy that she almost jumped up. She took Jiang Xiu's hand and said coquettishly, "Xingxing Xingxing, please come with me~~~~"

Then he took her hand and ran to the school gate.

Seeing her daughter, Xu's mother burst into tears. She hugged her daughter and looked her up and down, fearing that she was missing a hair. "If you didn't come home yesterday, you should have called me and your father, right? There was no news at all. We waited until eight or nine o'clock in the evening and didn't see you come back. We were so worried. Your father drove everywhere to look for you, fearing that you were..."

She bit her lip and didn't say the bad words at the end.

Xu's father also reached out and touched his daughter's head. "Your mother was so worried that she didn't sleep well all night and came to the school to find you early in the morning."

Xu Xiuli embarrassedly hugged Xu's mother's arm and rubbed it again and again, saying: "I wanted to go home after the test today and come over tomorrow, so I didn't call."

The main reason was that the school only had telephones in the teachers' offices, and she was embarrassed to borrow a phone to make a call.

Xu's mother said to her, "Don't do this next time, okay? No matter where you go, you must call home if you don't go home!"

Xu's father said to Xu's mother, "Give her more pocket money next time, and don't be reluctant to spend money on phone calls."

Xu Xiuli was not reluctant to spend money on phone calls. She was shy and embarrassed to borrow a phone from the teachers.

She hugged Xu's mother's arm coquettishly and said, "I'll know next time~!" She stuck out her tongue at Jiang Xi a little embarrassedly.

Mother Xu then noticed Jiang Xi and said with a warm smile: "You are Xixi, right? You were still very small when I saw you last time. After a year, you are taller than Lili." She touched Xu Xiuli's hair lovingly and said: "Are you picky about food at school? You should eat well, don't you know? Look at Xixi, she is taller than you." She said to Jiang Xi: "Thank you for taking care of my Lili at school. Every time she comes home, she tells us that she has a good friend named Jiang Xi and wants to invite you to our house. Auntie has been waiting for you to come over. Come to our house if you have nothing to do during the summer vacation!" She said to Xu Xiuli: "You haven't had lunch yet, right? Come on, let's go to a restaurant outside to eat." She asked Xu Xiuli: "Do you have any other classmates at school? Invite them out to eat together."

Last year, when the couple sent Xu Xiuli to the school to register, they had met Jiang Xi. Jiang Xi left a deep impression on them. They also remembered the ill-fitting and worn-out clothes Jiang Xi wore at that time. They estimated that her family was not well-off, so they wanted to take her out to improve their diet.

She knew that the students were locked up in the school every day and could only eat in the cafeteria. Every time Xu Xiuli went home, she would complain that the cauliflower in the school was cooked like pig food. Every week, she would cook a big pot of her daughter's favorite dishes to take to school.

Xu Xiuli said, "There is another one in the dormitory. I will go call her!"

Because she saw her parents, she was very happy and she was jumping and skipping while holding Jiang Xi's arm.

Xu's father and mother were relieved to see the two girls getting along so well through the big iron gate at the school gate.

He Xiaofang was so scared when she heard Xu Xiuli say that her parents came to the school to find her and invited her and Jiang Xi to have dinner in a restaurant that she shrank back and said, "No, no, I won't go~"

Jiang Xi and Xu Xiuli always took her with them whenever they had something delicious, and she had nothing to return, so she felt very embarrassed.

Xu Xiuli was so happy that she was smiling. Seeing her refusal, she deliberately put on a stern face and stamped her feet, "Are you going or not?"

He Xiaofang was afraid of getting angry. Seeing Xu Xiuli's angry expression, she hesitated and said, "Okay then..."

She was taller and fuller than Jiang Xi and Xu Xiuli. Her face was dark and simple, but she followed Jiang Xi timidly and held her arm tightly.

Jiang Xi was like being kidnapped. He Xiaofang was on the left and Xu Xiuli was on the right. The three of them walked towards the school gate in a row like a mobile phone signal.

Mother Xu was afraid that her daughter would be bullied in school and the dormitory because of her temper and small stature. Now that she saw that she had such a good relationship with her classmates, she waved to them with a smile and shouted, "Come on, come on, come on. Your father has already gone to order food. It just so happens that we will have food when we get there!"

The small restaurant they went to was not far away. It was right next to Wu Middle School opposite No. 1 Middle School.

Today, not only No. 1 Middle School was holding an on-campus selection, but Wu Middle School was also doing the same.

Because it was Saturday, the curfew was not as strict as usual. Most of the students at Wu Middle School had wealthy families, so they did not eat in the school cafeteria at noon, but came to the small restaurant at the school gate to have a bite to eat. As soon as

Jiang Xi entered, he saw Song Peifeng and Jiang Hehua were there.

They were probably classmates who came out to eat together. They were sitting at two large round tables. There were only bowls, chopsticks and water on the table. The food had probably not been served yet, so they were all waiting for it.

She only knew Jiang Hehua and Song Peifeng in the group, so she smiled and nodded to them.