Fifty-seven. Those who are capable should do more work.
The next day, Li Wei went to class for half a day as usual. She didn't eat lunch at school. Instead, she rode her bike home, ate lunch with her mother first, and then changed into a light and breathable long-sleeved shirt, long pants, sneakers, and a sun hat. She also carried a pretty little water bottle, as her father's military water bottle had already been retired.
This whole outfit wasn't for beauty; part of it was to avoid getting a tan, but the main reason was to prevent some furry little elves from falling on her in the woods—that was her biggest fear.
When she arrived at school, she learned that only the first three classes (grades 1-6) were doing manual labor today because of the light workload. She was surprised that Li Lin and Li Lianhui didn't know about the manual labor yesterday, but she believed that Wu Feng wouldn't make a mistake.
After assembling on the school's main playground, the school's head teacher, as usual, gave a cliché lecture on safety awareness and obeying commands. Li Wei wasn't interested in listening and turned to look for Luo Da at the back of the boys' group. Seeing that Luo Da was talking to Xiao Hei and Xiao Huang, she felt relieved.
When Xiao Hei saw Li Wei looking in their direction, he grinned at her, a really smug grin. Li Wei frowned but ignored him. Although this kid was usually quite unruly, at least he hadn't told the teacher yesterday that she was skipping work, so he was still decent enough.
At the dean's command to set off, the students rushed to the bike shed to retrieve their bicycles. Li Wei, having gone home for lunch, had her bike parked further out, making it easy for her to get. She parked it to the side and waited for Wu Feng. After waiting anxiously for a while without seeing Wu Feng emerge, Xiao Hei, Xiao Huang, and Luo Da passed by Li Wei. Xiao Hei spotted her immediately and grinned, saying, "Hey, let's go together. Let me tell you, you didn't need to pretend to be sick yesterday. We could have helped you. It was just a few trees, no big deal. Look how scared you were! You're such a coward."
This is really like rubbing salt in the wound. How dare this little brat make fun of her? Li Wei frowned and looked at Xiao Hei: "I'm a mental worker, I'm meant to be a leader. Have you ever seen a leader do manual labor? Only simple-minded, physically strong, and uneducated people do manual labor, like you..."
Li Wei suddenly realized she had said the wrong thing. Luo Da, who was supposed to do the physical labor for her, was still standing there. If he got upset and refused to help her pull the weeds, the consequences would be serious. She quickly changed the subject: "Of course, a classmate as good at studying and capable as Luo Jianhua will become a higher leader in the future. He is a well-rounded person who is morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and practically developed..." Was this flattery a bit too much?
Xiao Hei and Xiao Huang's laughter was disgusting, but Luo Da, who was destined to be a big leader, didn't see a trace of joy in it.
Li Wei hurriedly rode away with Wu Feng, who had finally fought his way out of the fierce competition.
The nursery wasn't far, only about a 20-minute bike ride. Li Wei was dressed warmly, and the weather was hot, so she was covered in sweat. When they arrived, they parked their bikes in an open area. Because she and Wu Feng had left late and were riding slowly, the advance team had already started working.
Li Wei took off her hat, fanned herself, and said to Wu Feng, "Why don't we take a break first?"
Wu Feng was an honest child. Seeing that they were falling behind, she became quite anxious. She had no desire to rest: "No! Let's get to work! Look, others have already pulled up several saplings. We need to hurry!" With that, she plunged into the nursery and ran straight towards the poplar saplings.
Li Wei took off her water bottle to get some water and tightened the lid. She quickly followed, not because she was in a hurry to work, but because she was anxious to find Luo Da. She wondered if the young man still remembered his promise to help with the work.
Luo Da wore a white short-sleeved T-shirt and blue trousers today. But Li Wei found it difficult to find him in the dense forest. Everyone else was busy pulling and transporting saplings, while Li Wei was just wandering around, not doing anything productive. Finally, her homeroom teacher, Ms. Liu, couldn't stand it anymore: "Hey, Li Wei, what are you doing walking around like that instead of working?"
Li Wei's eyes were glued to the white T-shirts everywhere. Dazzled by the sea of white T-shirts, she didn't notice the teacher watching them. Hearing her homeroom teacher's displeased tone, she quickly forced a smile: "Teacher, um... cough cough... it's like this. I wasn't feeling well, and Luo Jianhua offered to help me. He said he'd be in my group. He helps me with chores, and I'll tutor him. Didn't you say it's one-on-one pairing? I was just looking for him to do chores with. Teacher, have you seen him?"
Someone is blatantly lying without batting an eye.
Teacher Liu looked at Li Wei's delicate skin and figure and didn't think she was a student who could do any work. Since someone was offering to help, she didn't bother to interfere. She looked around the nursery and said, "Look, over there, that one, Luo Jianhua—" Teacher Liu shouted at Luo, then waved to Li Wei to indicate that he heard her and was over there.
Without saying a word, Li Wei plunged into the dense grove of poplar saplings, which were over two meters tall. She ran up to Luo Da, looked down, and saw that he had already laid out a bunch of saplings on the ground. Li Wei hurriedly asked, "How many saplings is the task for each person?"
Luo Da glanced at Li Wei and continued working: "Fifty trees."
One, two, three, four, five… Li Wei automatically and consciously squatted down to count the saplings on the ground. There were twenty-four in total. This kid works pretty fast! It's only been a short while. Hmm, not bad. She only needs to plant twenty-six more saplings to complete her task. Having already claimed Luo Jianhua's hard-earned harvest for himself, he naturally had to show some appreciation to the laborer. He took out a water bottle: "Luo Jianhua, you're so capable! Why don't you have some water first? It's so hot today." A double gesture of appreciation, both spiritual and material.
Luo Da shook a small tree about the thickness of a fist, then suddenly lifted it up, and a sapling was officially sprouted from the ground, looking quite easy. He tossed the sapling into the pile, glanced at the water bottle Li Wei handed him, and although he hadn't felt thirsty, he found the small pinkish-green plastic water bottle quite pretty. He reached out, took it, unscrewed the cap, and gulped down more than half of it, leaving Li Wei speechless! He then screwed the cap back on and handed the water bottle back to Li Wei.
Li Wei took it and felt it was so light. This guy can really drink! Has he not had water for days?
Luo Da continued working, while Li Wei, bored counting the saplings, watched Luo Da pull them up with ease. She picked up a weaker sapling and tried to pull it up herself, shaking it for a long time without success. Feeling discouraged, she realized she'd have to pull like the other girls, like a rabbit trying to pull a carrot – she had to use all her strength. Just as she was bracing herself to finish the job, a dark hand reached out and easily lifted the sapling away with a single stroke, as if it were a cabbage.
Li Wei turned her head and saw Luo Da. His one hand was more than twice hers, and she couldn't help but admire him. Looking at his figure, he was at least half a head taller than her. She had to admit that Luo Da had grown much faster than her. Sigh, back then, she thought she could beat him a couple of times. Those good days are gone forever. Now she had to look up to him.
Li Wei's initial attempt failed, so she simply stayed to the side and watched the pile of saplings. Of course, she couldn't be idle either, so she gave Luo Da moral support: "Luo Jianhua, you're really strong! Luo Jianhua, you're really capable! Luo Jianhua..." The flattery was endless, but Luo Da didn't say a word as he pulled up and threw the trees, as if he hadn't heard anything.
Xiao Hei, who was not far from them, heard everything clearly. He moved towards them while working, and finally couldn't help but ask when he got closer: "Li Wei, I'm almost done. Do you need any help?" In our class, only Luo Jianhua is strong and capable. This Li Wei is too narrow-minded.
Li Wei glanced at Xiao Hei, feeling that the boy had ulterior motives. She glared at him and said, "Sure, I didn't expect you to be so helpful. I see Wu Feng over there is having a hard time. Could you go and help her out?"
Xiao Hei hurriedly said, "I haven't finished yet, I'm going to get back to work." With that, he picked up the sapling and ran off.
Li Wei looked down on him from behind, thinking, "He's all talk; he'll run away when it comes to getting serious."
Although Luo Da did the work of two people, he finished faster than most of the other students. Li Wei divided the saplings that Luo Da had finished into two piles, intending to take one pile each. Suddenly, she saw that Wu Feng had only a small pile like the other girls. Looking at Luo Da, who was covered in sweat, she quickly offered him a water bottle: "Why don't you take a break and help Wu Feng with some later?"
Luo Da drank the rest of the water without hesitation and handed the kettle to Li Wei, saying, "You won't even do your own thing, yet you're meddling in other people's business." Luo Da wasn't selfish, he just didn't like to meddle in other people's affairs. If the teacher hadn't asked the boys to help the girls yesterday, he wouldn't have bothered either. In his mind, he believed that he should do his own things and not rely on others. His father, Uncle Luo San, often said, "You have to fulfill your own dreams."
Li Wei delivered her pile of saplings to the teacher to hand in her task. When she returned, she saw that Luo Da was still sitting on the saplings, resting. He showed no intention of helping Wu Feng and didn't seem worried about breaking the saplings.
Li Wei went up to him and said kindly, "Luo Jianhua, look at Wu Feng, she and you are childhood sweethearts, why don't you go and help her out? Didn't you say this is weeding?"
Seeing Luo Da take off his T-shirt to wipe the sweat from his face because of the heat, Li Wei quickly took off her own hat and fanned him like Grandma Luo, as if serving an empress dowager, and continued to nag.
There's a caterpillar on your shoulder!
"How's your rest? If you're not tired anymore... Ah, what did you say? A caterpillar... on my shoulder!" Li Wei felt a chill run down her spine and her whole body trembled.
Luo Da calmly replied, "Yes, it's almost up to my collar."
Li Wei almost jumped up, her neck stiff and she dared not move: "Quickly, quickly get it down for me, hurry up!" Li Wei's voice was trembling a little.
Luo Da was annoyed by Li Wei's nagging and just wanted to scare her, but he didn't expect Li Wei to be so easily frightened. Wasn't she usually quite brave? He reached out and took the tiny caterpillar, which was no bigger than a grain of rice, from Li Wei's collar and threw it on the ground.
Li Wei looked at the little bug. She didn't think small bugs were any less scary; it was a caterpillar, not a vegetable worm! Just looking at it gave her goosebumps. She circled around, asking Luo Da to check carefully if there were any more. She practically showed him the sole of her shoe. After confirming several times, she felt around herself again, finally feeling a little better. She figured it had climbed up when she was carrying the sapling. It was really frightening! She should have let Luo Da carry it away. She had originally planned to go herself instead of Luo Da, since she and Wu Feng could probably do the work of one Luo Da. But now she was too scared to go. It was better to continue persuading that lazy Luo Da.
Luo Da had had enough of sitting and Li Wei's nagging, so he got up and went to Wu Feng. He pointed to his pile of saplings and asked Wu Feng to take them away to complete his task. Under Wu Feng's grateful gaze, he began to use Wu Feng's pitifully small pile of saplings to make up for the missing saplings. When he returned to the camp with a bundle of saplings, Li Wei and Wu Feng were already chatting and laughing by their bicycles.
Looking at them, Luo Da felt that his father's words made sense; the girls were chattering and timid, and really didn't know what to do.
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