Chapter 95 Reconciliation
At this moment, Yao Yao ran out from the inner room, holding a piece of wheat cake in her hand: "Brother, here you go. Last time I snatched your wheat cake, you didn't hit me, and you even shared half with me."
Leilei looked at his younger sister, suddenly smiled, took the pancake, broke it in half, and handed it back: "I know, Mom. I won't fight next time. I'll talk to my classmates nicely first."
Huo Zheng smiled and patted his head: "That's right. Tomorrow we'll try to go to school with you and talk things out with the teachers and classmates. Our Leilei is a reasonable child."
In educating their children, Lu Mingyue and Huo Zheng are somewhat in sync. They don't resort to beating or scolding their children for certain reasons, but instead choose a more friendly and gentle conversational approach to education.
When Lu Mingyue and Huo Zheng followed the teacher into the office, Lei Lei's deskmate was snuggling up to his mother.
When the woman saw them come in, she immediately frowned, her tone clearly showing displeasure: "Was it your child who pushed my kid? Look, there are still red marks on his arm!"
Lu Mingyue first had Leilei stand beside her before speaking gently: "Comrade, the children had a small conflict, and we're here to resolve it. Leilei was indeed wrong to hit her yesterday, and we've already taught him to admit his mistake."
As he spoke, he gently patted Leilei on the back.
Leilei immediately stepped forward and whispered to his classmate's mother, "Auntie, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed him."
But the woman didn't respond. Instead, she turned to the teacher and said, "Teacher, look! If we hadn't discovered this in time today, he might have suffered even more! He has to promise that he'll never bully anyone again, or we won't agree!"
Huo Zheng stepped forward, his tone calm yet polite: "Comrade, we understand your concern for your child regarding the friction between them."
But the issue involves both parties. Your child grabbed Leilei's pencil first, which led to the argument. We're not here to shirk responsibility; we just want both children to understand the situation and get along better in the future.
"What's wrong with taking a pencil? You can't just resort to violence!" the woman raised her voice. "My child has always been well-behaved; it must have been your child who started it!"
The atmosphere in the office instantly froze, and the teacher quickly tried to smooth things over: "Parents, please don't get agitated. The children are still young. Let's talk this out."
Lu Mingyue tugged at Huo Zheng's arm, signaling him to calm down. She then squatted down and looked at her deskmate: "Little friend, tell Auntie, did you want to play with Leilei's pencil yesterday, which is why you took it from him?"
The child nodded timidly, and the woman's expression immediately became somewhat unnatural.
Seeing this, Lu Mingyue took out two brand-new pencils from her cloth bag and handed them to the two children.
"Look, these two pencils are the same. Auntie knows you all like pretty pencils, so I prepared them especially for you."
She took one of the coins and handed it to her deskmate: "Here, take this as Leilei's apology for pushing you yesterday."
Another pencil was handed to Leilei. "Take this one and give it to your deskmate to thank him for forgiving you."
The two children's eyes lit up instantly. They reached out and took the pencils, and the classmate even quietly tugged at Leilei's sleeve.
Lu Mingyue stood up and smiled at the woman whose expression had softened slightly: "Comrade, children's hearts are the purest. A pencil is enough to make them forget their awkwardness."
As parents, we shouldn't let small things escalate into major conflicts. After all, they'll be deskmates in the future, and we can't let them live with resentment forever.
Huo Zheng added at the opportune moment: "If you're still worried, you can have the two children supervise each other. When the children are together, it's more effective than any amount of talk from us."
Looking at her child clutching the pencil with a happy expression, and recalling how the child had just admitted to taking the pencil, the woman's tone finally softened.
"Actually, I don't necessarily want to be serious, I just feel sorry for the child. Since your child has admitted their mistake, let's just let it go."
Seeing this, the teacher breathed a sigh of relief and clapped her hands with a smile: "That's right! Come on, let the two children shake hands, and they'll still be good friends."
Leilei took the initiative to reach out and hold hands tightly with his deskmate's hand, and smiles appeared on both of their faces.
The tense atmosphere in the office finally dissipated slowly with two pencils and a few casual words.
When it was time for school to end in the afternoon, Leilei ran out happily.
"Xiaoman and I agreed that he would play marbles together during the break, and he even said he would bring his glass marbles with him!"
Xiaoman is Leilei's deskmate. He lives in a nearby village, not far from the family compound.
Lu Mingyue smiled and helped him brush the dust off his trousers: "You've already made plans so quickly? Looks like you two are definitely going to be deskmates."
Huo Zheng ruffled his son's hair, his tone full of praise: "My son is quite capable. Not only did he make up with his classmates, but he can also arrange to play together."
Praised by his father, Lei Lei puffed out his chest even more, and carefully took out the pencil from his schoolbag, clutching it in his hand like a precious treasure.
"I'm going to keep this pencil safe and use it to write in class tomorrow."
The family of four walked towards the school gate, the sunlight falling warmly on them.
Leilei walked in the middle, holding his younger sister's hand. He would tell Lu Mingyue that his deskmate liked malt candy, and then he would tell Huo Zheng that he wanted to teach his deskmate how to play with a slingshot. His chattering words were full of childlike innocence.
As Lu Mingyue and Huo Zheng listened, they would occasionally exchange glances, their eyes filled with knowing smiles.
What pleased them even more than the ease of resolving the conflict was seeing their child learn to reconcile proactively and gain genuine friendship in the process.
With the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, Lu Mingyue dug out her saved-up sugar and sesame seeds, thinking about making some mooncakes for her family.
But after staring at the earthen stove in the kitchen for a long time, he was stumped.
Without a dedicated oven, the mooncakes won't bake through, resulting in a less desirable texture.
"How about we build a small oven ourselves?" Huo Zheng suggested, pointing to the empty space in the corner of the yard when he heard Lu Mingyue nagging after he got home from get off work.
He had learned how to build stoves from the old squad leader in the camp when he was young, so this kind of work was not difficult for him.
As she frowned and pondered, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she slapped her forehead.
How could I forget about that!
I've seen people build simple ovens out of loess and bricks when I was watching short videos before. They're easy to use and convenient.
She quickly pulled Huo Zheng, who had just gotten off work, aside and gestured to recall the scene from the video: "Look, just use the yellow clay blocks from the yard, leave ventilation holes at the bottom, build a rack in the middle to put the baking trays, and cover the top with an iron plate to block the smoke, it'll definitely work!"
Huo Zheng became interested upon hearing this. He had learned how to build stoves in the camp in his early years, and combined with the method Lu Mingyue had described, he quickly came up with an idea.
The next morning, he took Leilei to the back mountain to collect refractory loess blocks, while Lu Mingyue and Yaoyao stayed at home to make mud, and even added some chopped straw to the mud to increase its stickiness.
As the father and son squatted in the corner of the yard building the stove, Lu Mingyue would occasionally come over and talk about the details in the video: "Remember to leave a small opening on the side to add firewood, otherwise changing the fire will be too troublesome!"
Leilei, holding a small shovel, helped his father pass mud, his face covered in mud, but he lingered by the stove, refusing to leave: "Mom, when the oven is ready, can we bake mooncakes and sweet potatoes too?"
Lu Mingyue smiled and gently pinched his little nose: "After the mooncakes are baked, I'll bake you sweet potatoes!"
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