Xu Zhuo and his group followed Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie all the way to the compound gate before leaving. They did not rush home, but rode their bikes to play somewhere else. Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie had no time to waste, so they naturally went home on time.
When they got home, dinner was not ready yet, so they went straight upstairs to call Ruan Qiuyue, sat down in the room, and continued working on the unfinished questions. Read the book after finishing the questions, and learn each knowledge point thoroughly.
Ruan Qiuyue had nothing else to do with them, so she just read books and did homework every day. The amount of books she read, homework she did, and exercises she did with Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie in the past six months was more than the total of the previous two or three years of schooling.
Downstairs, Feng Xiuying was busy cooking dinner in the kitchen.
It was rare that Ruan Changfu got off work early today. He went straight into the kitchen after he came back. When he washed his hands and wiped them with a dry towel, he saw that Feng Xiuying's eyes were a little red, so he asked, "What's wrong with your eyes? Who bullied you when you went out?"
Feng Xiuying continued to cut vegetables. "I have lived in the same compound for so many years. Who would bully me if I go out?"
Ruan Changfu listened to the voice and asked, "Did you get bullied at home?"
Feng Xiuying said, "Your good daughter went crazy again at home when you were not there at noon. Not only did she make Qiu Wen and I lose face, she also slapped Qiu Yang. Qiu Yang's face was swollen and it took a while for the smear to go down. After a long quarrel, the family didn't even have time to eat. They left halfway through the meal."
Ruan Changfu frowned when he heard this. "What are you crazy about?"
After asking myself, I answered, "You must have provoked her again. She has a quick temper and speaks harshly. If you don't provoke her, she's fine. Just be quiet and don't say anything. But if you provoke her, she will be unreasonable and will definitely not let you off easily."
Feng Xiuying put down the knife in her hand, "How dare I mess with her? I almost worship her as my ancestor, serving her food and drink every day, and never asking her to wash a bowl or sweep a floor. I just gave her a few words of advice, don't I have the right to do that? I'm just afraid that she won't learn her lesson and do something wrong outside, and then we as parents will lose face."
Ruan Changfu asked: "What did she do outside?"
Feng Xiuying turned on the gas to cook. "Why did you go to school dressed like that today? It's obvious that you are trying to show off. When you get to school, you'll attract a bunch of boys. They say the commander's son even went to the classroom to look for her."
Ruan Changfu continued to ask: "Then what?"
Feng Xiuying said, "What else do you want? Isn't that enough for me to say a few words to her? I didn't dare to say anything, I just told her in a nice way not to think about things she shouldn't think about, and to focus on the right path."
Ruan Changfu: "I think you're overthinking it. Qiuwen has been in the spotlight since she was a child and has always been the focus of the school. Xiaoxi is just pretty and has attracted the attention of a few boys. Isn't this normal? At their age, which boy doesn't like pretty girls?"
Feng Xiuying: "How can it be the same? Qiuwen is not trying to show off. She is excellent and should be paid attention to and praised. Do you really think it's okay for Xiaoxi to just show off with her face?"
Ruan Changfu thought for a moment and asked again: "Where is she? Hasn't she come back from school yet?"
Feng Xiuying said as she cooked, "I'm back, just like my ancestors, I went upstairs and into the house as soon as I came back."
Ruan Changfu heaved a sigh of relief and said nothing more. He called Feng Xiuying, "Hurry up and finish cooking and eat."
After Feng Xiuying finished cooking, the family members came back from outside or came down from upstairs, and quickly gathered in the kitchen and dining room, served themselves rice, picked up their bowls and chopsticks, and sat down at the table to eat.
While eating, Ruan Changfu looked carefully at Ruan Qiuyang's face and found that there were indeed some faint marks of being beaten on her face. After the incident had passed, he naturally did not ask about it, so as to avoid causing any more trouble.
He was not worried about other people in the family, as he could keep them calm. However, he found that he could not control Ruan Xi.
This girl is either not right, or if she is right she won't let people have an easy time.
He didn't mention the quarrel and fight at home at noon, but just asked as if chatting about family matters: "Xiaoxi and Xiaojie, today is your first day of formal school. How do you feel?"
Ruan Xi didn't want to answer, so he touched Ruan Jie with his arm.
Ruan Jie usually didn't talk, but Ruan Xi wanted her to deal with Ruan Changfu, so she spoke seriously: "Uncle, it's quite fresh and exciting. In the morning, I will take the books and clean up, and in the afternoon, I will attend the opening ceremony."
Ruan Qiuyang couldn't help laughing when he heard this - bumpkin.
Ruan Changfu looked at Ruan Xi and asked, "I heard that the commander's son went to the classroom to look for you?"
Ruan Jie pursed her lips and glanced at Ruan Xi. Before she could say anything, she heard Ruan Qiuyang say, "Not only that, I sent them back from school just now. I sent them all the way from school to the gate of the compound and watched them enter the compound before I left."
After listening to what Ruan Qiuyang said, Ruan Changfu asked Ruan Xi directly: "Xiaoxi, are you friends with Xu Zhuo?"
Ruan Xi looked at him and said directly, "Don't beat around the bush. I don't care if he's the commander's son or the deputy commander's son. In my eyes, he's just a little thug. I don't like him at all."
puff……
Ruan Qiuyang almost spit out the food in his mouth.
What did Ruan Xi say just now?
She said she looked down on the commander's son?
Seeing her reaction, Ruan Xi turned to look at Ruan Qiuyang and said, "You don't have to laugh. I mean I don't like him. You think he's good, but he won't say a word to you. How about that? Are you jealous to death?"
Ruan Qiuyang's face turned green after hearing what she said, and he gritted his teeth in anger.
Ruan Xi reached for his chopsticks to pick up some food, then sighed and said, "Some people are only worthy of the son of the commander's adjutant."
As soon as these words were spoken, Ye Qiuwen, who was sitting next to Ruan Qiuyang, suddenly turned her head and looked at Ruan Xi. After taking a look, she realized that her reaction was wrong, and quickly lowered her head to eat, but her face had turned completely red in an instant.
Of course she didn't say anything, otherwise it would seem that she was trying to hide something.
Ruan Qiuyang didn't understand what Ruan Xi meant by this. She just thought that Ruan Xi was just saying whatever she wanted to say, saying that they were not worthy of the commander's son, so she said angrily: "The commander's son is just playing with you!"
Ruan Xi laughed, "It's so funny, you can't eat the grapes and say they're sour."
Ruan Qiuyang was so mad at her that he wanted to find more words to shut her up, but was stopped by Ruan Changfu's glare.
Ruan Changfu said to Ruan Xi again: "Since you said so, I have nothing to say."
After saying that, he looked at everyone at the table and said sternly, "The school has a clear rule that no dating is allowed, just like in the army! I won't allow any of you to violate school rules and regulations. You must abide by the rules wherever you are!"
Seeing no one responded, he had to forcefully ask again: "Do you understand?!"
So I got a mixed response: "I know."
After dinner, Ruan Xi did not stay downstairs for long and went back upstairs to study.
Not long after closing the door and sitting down, Ruan Qiuyue opened her homework book and pressed it under her palm. Suddenly she looked at Ruan Xi and asked, "Sister, is Ye Qiuwen in love with the son of the commander's adjutant?"
Ruan Xi was stunned after hearing this - is his observation ability so good?
You can't talk nonsense about things without evidence. Even if she hates Ye Qiuwen, she won't frame Ye Qiuwen in such a matter, so Ruan Xi shook her head and said, "No, I just said it casually, saying that they are not worthy of the commander's son, deliberately to make them unhappy."
Ruan Qiuyue said: "But from Ye Qiuwen's reaction, it seems to be true."
Ruan Xi glanced at Ruan Jie, then looked at Ruan Qiuyue, "I didn't pay much attention to this."
Ruan Qiuyue thought about Ye Qiuwen's reaction at the dinner table, and then said affirmatively: "It's true. After you said that, she looked at you as if she was poked, and then her face turned red."
Ruan Xi cleared her throat and said, "Don't worry about it. Just do your homework."
Seeing that Ruan Xi didn't want to care about these things, Ruan Qiuyue had to collect her thoughts and picked up her pen to do her homework.
Because Ruan Xi was targeted by Xu Zhuo on the first day of school, it was as if Xu Zhuo had stamped her body, and no one else dared to get close to her, which allowed her to gain more peace and tranquility.
Xu Zhuo usually didn't come to harass her at school, he just waited for her at the school gate after school. Sometimes it was just Chen Weidong and I, sometimes it was a group of people, sometimes with cigarettes in their mouths, sometimes riding bicycles.
Because Ruan Xi refused to take his car, he later walked more often.
As they got to know each other more and more, they became familiar with each other unconsciously. Ruan Jie was no longer nervous or afraid when facing Xu Zhuo and his gang, and she could even say a few words to Chen Weidong occasionally.
Chen Weidong liked to tease her and usually called her "little devil."
Ruan Jie didn't know why he called her a little devil, and she didn't dare to ask at first. Later, when they got to know each other well, she asked Chen Weidong: "Why do you keep calling me a little devil? I'm only two years younger than you."
This kind of address sounds like adults calling children "little devil".
As a result, Chen Weidong said: "Because you are a coward, you should be more friendly and call me little devil."
Ruan Jie: “…”
Suddenly I am speechless.
After one week of enrollment, Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie had completely adapted to the life of the new semester, and their daily study and life were gradually getting back on track. I use the daytime classes at school as review and use my spare time to learn new knowledge.
Ruan Xi still guides Ruan Jie to learn new knowledge, because Ruan Jie’s self-study ability is not very strong.
Due to limited time, Ruan Xi did not want to waste another year on the college entrance examination. She could not leave Ruan Jie alone here to face Ruan Changfu and Feng Xiuying, so she took Ruan Jie to study every minute.
Every day, my life is all about studying.
You are learning whether you are in class or not.
There are slightly different times every day. The first is when I go home from school, Xu Zhuo, Chen Weidong and others will follow me. The second is when I return home to eat, and I need to face other people at home and occasionally deal with them.
The days pass quickly after they repeat mechanically, and it seems that the sunrise and sunset are the same every day.
During many sunrises and sunsets, the position of the sun changes from north to south, and the temperature on the ground slowly changes from the cold winter to the hot summer.
Although Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie study every day, the main content of school is not studying, and even learning book knowledge is not an important thing. Compared with learning knowledge, learning about industry and agriculture, ideological and political education is the most important.
From time to time, the school would organize everyone to go to suburban farms to work and study, and would also have ideological and political classes very frequently. Teachers and students would study the Communist Manifesto and Marxism-Leninism together, and ask everyone to report on their thoughts.
Another thing is to hold a meeting to recall the past and think of the present, and gather all the students together to eat coarse food.
Today is the day for another meeting to recall the past and cherish the present, and the school started cooking wild vegetables and rice bran early in the morning. When school is over in the morning, teachers of each class asked the students to go home as usual and each student should bring a bowl and a pair of chopsticks to school.
After lunch, when it was almost time for school, Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie went to the kitchen to get the dishes and chopsticks.
Ruan Hongbing is now in the first grade and has to participate in activities like everyone else, so the eight children in the family all went to the kitchen to ask Feng Xiuying for bowls and chopsticks. Feng Xiuying directly took the smallest bowl for Ruan Hongbing and put it in his schoolbag.
Ruan Hongjun reached out to her again, "Mom, mom, give me a small one, give me a small one."
There are only two small bowls at home, neither of which is as big as half the size of a palm. They were given to Ruan Hongbing and Ruan Hongjun, and the rest were the bowls used for eating at home, so Feng Xiuying took out these bowls and gave one to each of them.
When it was Ye Qiuwen's turn, she asked as usual: "How about using this?"
Ye Qiuwen shook her head and said, "It's better to go bigger."
She has always been a role model in school and has to eat a lot.
Feng Xiuying had no choice but to go to the cupboard to get a large bowl and hand it to Ye Qiuwen.
Ruan Xi, Ruan Jie and others took their bowls and didn't stay for long. They packed up their bowls and chopsticks and walked out with their schoolbags on their backs.
Ruan Hongjun started wailing as soon as he walked out the door, saying that he didn't want to go to school to eat pig food.
Every time I recall the good old days, what I eat is indeed the things that Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie used to cook when feeding pigs in the countryside - crushed rice husks mixed with chopped wild vegetables picked from the fields, boiled in water, and cooked. It was as disgusting as it could be.
Ruan Xi also wanted to wail - she never expected that she would have the experience of eating pig food again in her lifetime!
Not long after we sat down at school, the bell rang. The class monitor organized the classmates to line up outside, gather at the playground with their bowls and chopsticks, and go to the big iron bucket one by one to get the bitter memory rice.
If the bowl is too small, it will inevitably be criticized, while if the bowl is big, it will naturally be praised.
Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie's bowls were neither big nor small, so they received neither criticism nor praise. After receiving their meals, they followed the class team to one side, where they held their chopsticks and struggled with the pig food in their bowls. They felt a churning discomfort in their stomachs.
No matter how uncomfortable you feel, you cannot fall down. You must finish eating everything under the supervision of the teacher and class leaders.
Ruan Xi would always drag it out for a while, preparing herself mentally for the rice bran and wild vegetables in the bowl for a long time, then close her eyes and hold her breath, forcing herself not to think about anything, and then she would put the food to her mouth and eat it quickly in one breath.
If you feel stomach discomfort and want to vomit after eating, just endure it. If you can't help it, all your efforts will be wasted.
And every time after finishing this bowl of rice and watching the teacher on the podium praising Ye Qiuwen and those who ate a lot, Ruan Xi squinted his eyes, resisted the urge to vomit and thought - it is really not easy to be an excellent student, amazing!
She decided not to compete to be such an excellent student. She would just be an ordinary student.
Just be an ordinary student and help Ruan Jie study. She would not fight for opportunities to earn performance, such as eating the bitter memory meal like today, or rushing to work and carrying sacks on the farm like other days.
I really don't have the ability to fight for it.
After eating the bitter rice, they went to the faucet to wash the dishes and chopsticks. Ruan Xi washed the dishes and rinsed her mouth with water. Seeing that there was no one around, she suppressed her nausea and twisted her face and suddenly said, "Pray for the Gang of Four to fall quickly. I can't stand it anymore."
Ruan Jie was startled by her and almost jumped up, and quickly whispered: "Sister, don't talk nonsense!"
Ruan Xi spat out the water in her mouth and smiled, "It's okay, no one heard it."
Ruan Jie breathed a sigh of relief, "Let's go back quickly."
After washing the dishes, they returned to the class and then listened to a half-day lecture on topics related to recalling the bitter past and thinking about the sweet past. There were still waves of people taking the floor to speak on the rostrum, and Ye Qiuwen and Lu Yuanzheng were always present at such times.
After the meeting was over, we returned to the classroom to rest for a while, and it was almost time to go home from school.
Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie went home from school with their schoolbags on their backs. They felt that the food they had eaten in the afternoon was still in their stomachs, with no signs of digestion at all. Now I can’t vomit even if I want to, I can only wait for it to be digested slowly.
As soon as the two walked out of the school gate, Xu Zhuo and Chen Weidong came towards them. Xu Zhuo and Chen Weidong each held two popsicles in their hands. They walked closer and Xu Zhuo handed one to Ruan Xi, and Chen Weidong handed one to Ruan Jie.
"Eat something sweet to calm you down."
Ruan Xi looked at Xu Zhuo, took a deep breath and took the popsicle, "Thank you."
Ruan Jie took the popsicle from Chen Weidong and walked side by side with him beside Ruan Xi, while Xu Zhuo walked on the other side of Ruan Xi. The four of them walked forward while eating popsicles and talking, and then they occupied a row of seats on the side of the road.
Every time Ruan Qiuyang and Ye Qiuwen saw this scene, they felt sad.
I don’t know what’s wrong with Xu Zhuo. After such a long time, he still follows Ruan Xi around every day, either buying her food or drinks, without caring about her face at all!
Isn't he very cool?
Why are you not so cool with Ruan Xi?
So annoying.
After becoming familiar with Xu Zhuo, Ruan Xi no longer refused the food Xu Zhuo bought for her. Mainly because it was too difficult to refuse, so she simply accepted it. Of course she would also return things to him, such as buying him a pack of cigarettes or something.
I said I didn't want to be friends with him, but after a long time, we became almost friends.
Today is Saturday and the school is closed for one day on Sunday. When they walked to the gate of the compound after eating popsicles, Xu Zhuo asked Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie to go out and play on Sunday. Of course, not surprisingly, Ruan Xi still refused.
It’s not that she didn’t want to go out and play with Xu Zhuo and the others, but time was precious and it was rare to have a whole day, so she naturally had to use such a large amount of time on studying and help Ruan Xi learn the knowledge that she had not yet learned.
Seeing that Ruan Xi was not going, Chen Weidong said to Ruan Jie, "Little ghost, then you come."
Ruan Jie quickly shook her head, "If you don't go, I won't go either."
Seeing that they were impossible to get together, Xu Zhuo and Chen Weidong gave up again.
After sending Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie for a walk in the courtyard, they did not hang out and went home.
Every spare time for Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie is boring, especially the weekend. After getting up in the morning, washing and having breakfast, I go upstairs and sit down to study. I study until noon, then go downstairs to eat and then go upstairs to study again.
Just as Feng Xiuying complained, they never went downstairs except at mealtimes.
But there are special times and exceptions. For example, there is a movie showing in the square of the compound tonight, and Ruan Jie is sitting at the desk reading a book. She watches for one minute and then gets distracted for five minutes while listening to the sound of the movie. In this case, there is no need to force herself to study anymore.
It seemed that Ruan Jie's mind had already flown away, and she couldn't concentrate on learning even if she was pressed at the table. This state was the worst, so Ruan Xi closed the book and said to her, "Let's go watch a movie."
Ruan Jie knew that she was caught distracted, so she said embarrassedly: "Sister, I didn't mean it."
Ruan Xi just smiled at her and said, "It's time to relax and take a break. Let's go."
Ruan Jie then relaxed and felt happy. She closed the book and went downstairs with Ruan Xi.
But they came out a little late and the movie had already started for a while, so it was impossible to get seats in the front. So they could only squeeze at the back of the crowd and see a little bit of the movie screen through the gaps between people's heads.
It's a movie I've already seen, so watching it this way doesn't affect anything.
There were a lot of people in the square, crowded together, but there was no noise.
When Xu Zhuo was getting bored, Chen Weidong, who was sitting next to him, suddenly bumped his arm and asked him to look behind the row of people next to him. He followed Chen Weidong's gaze and saw Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie.
The two of them had a tacit understanding and stood up and carried the long bench out.
After coming out, he found Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie behind him. Xu Zhuo raised his hand and patted Ruan Xi's shoulder. Chen Weidong shouted, "Little devil!"
Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie turned around, and when they saw it was them, they raised their hands and casually greeted them.
Xu Zhuo put down the long bench in his hand and motioned Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie to stand on the bench and watch.
Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie stood up and instantly became much taller than the people in front of them, so they could naturally see the entire screen.
Seeing Xu Zhuo and Chen Weidong also squeezed up, Ruan Xi thought for a moment and whispered in Ruan Jie's ear, "I don't really want to watch the movie. You watch it here with them. I'll take a break and wait for you, okay?"
Ruan Jie knew that Ruan Xi was not that keen on watching movies, especially movies he had seen before, so she nodded.
Ruan Xi then carefully stepped down from the bench, intending to find a spacious place to sit down and rest.
After studying in the room for a whole day, I feel really tired.
Xu Zhuo had been bored of watching the movie and wanted to sleep. When he saw Ruan Xi suddenly leave, he quickly jumped off the bench, leaving all the space for Ruan Jie and Chen Weidong, and followed Ruan Xi.
When he caught up to her, he asked Ruan Xi, "Why don't you watch it anymore?"
Ruan Xi turned to look at him, "I've seen it twice, I don't want to see it again."
She came to watch it with Ruan Jie, and since there was someone else with her, she decided not to watch it.
Xu Zhuo said: "I'm tired of watching it too. I can even recite the lines by heart. What do you want to do? I'll go with you."
Ruan Xi did nothing but find a place where no one was around to sit, empty his mind and take a rest.
So she walked around the square and found a place to sit down.
Xu Zhuo naturally followed her. After she sat down, he sat down next to her, relaxed his muscles, and suddenly asked, "You have been in the city for so long. Have you seen any performances?"
Ruan Xi turned to look at him curiously, "What performance?"
The crescent moon was above her head. Xu Zhuo looked at her and said, "Ballet, female militiamen on the grassland, model operas, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, The Red Detachment of Women... and singing and drama... The programs are different every week, depending on what's playing in the theater."
Ruan Xi was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No."
The original body hadn't seen it, and neither had she. It sounded quite interesting.
Xu Zhuo looked at her and smiled, "Do you want to go and see it next week?"
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