One hundred and sixty-six is about to embark on a long journey.
Ding Anni didn't go to Li Wei's house empty-handed. She brought a lot of gifts from her parents. In addition to royal jelly, malted milk powder, and other easily digestible nutritional supplements for Grandpa Cheng and Grandma Cheng, she also brought a lot of cigarettes, alcohol, candy, and tea for Li Zhaoxing and his wife.
So while Ding Anni was being polite to Li Ma and Cheng Min, she secretly made a face at Li Wei. See? She wasn't here to freeload; she brought her own money for the meal.
Li Wei pretended not to see it, but the other side quickly packed it up. This task had to be done by the daughter of her mother's subordinate; otherwise, what would it look like to leave a table full of food?
After having dinner at Li Wei's house, Li Wei, Li Lin, and Ding Anni took Ding Anni's family's gifts to the old house. Li Lianhui lay down on the sofa and fell asleep after dinner, seemingly having an unusually long sleep, so the three of them didn't wake him.
Grandpa didn't come to work today. His daughter, Cheng Min, forced him to take a day off. After all, he's getting old. Although he doesn't want to admit it, he's old. Seeing him so busy every day makes Cheng Min feel sorry for him. If the old man hadn't been so stubborn, she would have let him stay home and retire long ago.
To Li Wei's surprise, Wu Feng and Erpangzi from next door were there. When Li Wei and her companion arrived, the four of them were chatting and laughing, having a lively time.
The elderly couple were quite happy to see their granddaughter, especially the maternal grandmother: "It's good that you're back. Why did you bring so much stuff? It's cold and the roads are slippery, be careful not to fall... By the way, where's Xiaohui? Hasn't he come back?"
Li Lin blurted out, "Oh dear, Grandma, these aren't things my sister and I brought. Ding Anni brought them. She didn't fall, so she took a taxi back. Xiao Hui fell asleep after dinner, so we didn't wake him."
The old lady listened with heartache: "Oh dear, the child must be exhausted from studying. Even though he's finally home, he probably won't get any rest at school. It's so pitiful. I remember when your aunt was in high school, those books were so thick! It took her ages to finish them..."
Li Lin couldn't stop laughing. She grabbed the old lady's arm and said sweetly, "Hehe...Grandma, you're talking about an English dictionary, right? You don't need to look at that every day, it's just a reference book. Xiao Hui isn't that diligent. I think he's just tired from boxing and playing games, it's not as serious as you're making it out to be, hehe..."
The old man and Li Wei invited Ding Anni to sit down and poured her a cup of hot water. Unlike the old woman, who only cared about her grandson, the old man was very polite to Ding Anni, saying things like, "Thank you for your trouble, in-laws."
In other words, Ding Anni was someone who had seen the world. Her responses were quite generous and appropriate. She didn't embarrass Ding Hong.
Li Wei glanced at her. Ding Anni's experience in gift-giving was probably very limited. It was quite a challenge for her. However, their families weren't strangers, so they weren't overly particular. After all, during holidays, she and her aunt had often given Ding Hong gifts privately. It was only natural for them to consider the elder's feelings.
Wu Feng, Erpangzi, and Ding Anni knew each other. They quickly struck up a lively conversation. Wu Feng and Li Lin went to the same high school, as did Ding Anni and Li Wei. They had a lot in common. Erpangzi, on the other hand, wasn't as articulate as Li Wei and the others. Besides, boys' lives, especially for honest boys like Erpangzi, were rather uneventful. So he became a listener, munching on sunflower seeds while listening to the four little loudspeakers broadcasting. It was quite pleasant.
Half a year had passed. Li Wei noticed that Erpangzi had grown taller and heavier. Although everyone used to call him Erpangzi, he was actually just a bit chubby and rather stocky. Compared to the group of little monkey-like children, he just looked a bit fatter.
Now, Fatty Er is quite mature, with a more honest and simple look. He even looks like a little man now.
Actually, compared to Li Wei and her group, Erpangzi might be slightly inferior. But in the Lin family, he was a remarkable scholar.
His father, Uncle Lin, had six or seven siblings. Among Erpangzi's generation of children, none of the older ones were good at studying. Several even dropped out of junior high school to learn a trade or work to earn money. This included Erpangzi's older brother, Dajunzi, who now works in a relative's factory.
Therefore, Erpangzi's status in the family is now unparalleled. His parents treat him like a treasure. Although the family is only slightly above average in the village, Erpangzi's food, clothing, and daily necessities are always prioritized in the family's expenses. They try to buy the best rather than the average. It's not difficult for three people to support him.
We're counting on Erpangzi to bring honor to the family and become a successful college student.
So now, Fatty Er is living a very comfortable life. Although he is quite low-key among Li Wei and her group, he is a person of very high status at home. Naturally, his temperament has changed, which is what Li Wei sees as maturity.
Seeing that Erpangzi hadn't spoken for a while, Li Wei, afraid of neglecting him, nudged him: "Hey, Erpangzi, why don't you tell us about your school? Don't just listen to us." Li Wei wisely refrained from asking about Erpangzi's final exam results. Apart from a few exceptionally good students, Li Wei figured that few kids would want to talk about it.
Li Lin also said, "Yes, yes, I heard from my classmate that your school is a bit chaotic. Is that true, Erpang?"
The fat guy chuckled and said slowly, "It's not that serious. Every school has a few troublemakers, but our school's dean of students is pretty tough. He catches troublemakers one by one and deals with them, or catches two and deals with them both. Basically, no one is afraid of him."
Ding Anni became interested: "Really? How does he deal with those boys? Aren't the troublemakers usually boys?"
The chubby boy glanced at Ding Anni and thought she was still as beautiful as before. His enthusiasm for talking increased considerably: "Of course there are more boys, but there are also girls, though the head of the teaching department doesn't need to lift a finger. Our head of the teaching department is really ruthless. If any boy commits a crime and falls into his hands, he won't let him go without beating him black and blue. I've heard that some have even had their teeth knocked out. All the boys in our school are afraid of him."
Li Wei and the others felt a chill run down their spines. Was this a teacher? It was terrifying, even more ruthless than a prison warden! If only that brat surnamed Tong were at Erpangzi's school, that would be better. If the dean of students was someone who wasn't afraid of evil forces, that brat would probably be in for a world of trouble.
Erpangzi then listed several more of their dean's glorious achievements, which Ding Anni and the others listened to as if they were watching a gangster movie. They were all relieved that their school didn't have such a fierce person; they guessed that dean must look menacing and be quite intimidating.
Erpangzi was speaking eloquently and enthusiastically when Li Wei interrupted him: "Erpang, let's talk about something interesting, like gossip or something. Let's not talk about your bad boy killer headmaster anymore." It felt too distant from them, and it even made her feel uneasy, since she had just experienced that kind of violence.
The good-natured Fatty didn't continue, but when it came to gossip, Ding Anni and Li Lin's eyes lit up, nodding repeatedly: "Yes, yes, tell us some gossip. Fighting is a boy's business, it has little to do with girls, right?"
Now Fatty was in a dilemma, scratching his head: "This... I didn't notice... How about I be more careful next time?"
Girls—
That night, Li Wei and her sister, along with Ding Anni, stayed at the old house. Seeing everyone having a good time, Wu Feng couldn't resist the urge to join them, so she told her mother and stayed with Li Wei and the others.
When the old man saw that the small kang (heated brick bed) was a bit cramped, he went to his daughter's house with his son-in-law, Li Zhaoxing, who was bringing him some grain and oil and checking if the children wanted to come home.
Li Wei and her three friends were even more excited now that their grandfather was no longer watching them. The old lady just watched with a smile, bringing them snacks and such. In the end, the four of them simply started playing cards, gambling for money, and played until well past midnight. Even their grandmother, who usually didn't sleep much, had gone to bed first.
Needless to say, all four of them slept in the next day.
Even Li Lianhui, who had already eaten breakfast, came to see his grandmother; Li Wei and the others were still asleep. Li Lianhui looked at the row of heads on the kang (heated brick bed) and deliberately counted them. One, two, three, four…wait, that's not right, shouldn't there be three?
He looked at them carefully one by one. Besides the two from his family, there was another one, Ding Anni. Upon closer inspection, he realized the other one was Wu Feng from next door. He said, "Why is this number wrong?"
Li Wei and the others had lunch together at her maternal grandmother's house, enjoying dumplings, before heading back to Li Wei's home together.
They discovered that Uncle Luo, Sixth Senior Brother, and Luo Da had also arrived. Li Wei inquired about Luo Da and learned that Sixth Senior Brother would be returning to Shandong in a few days, not returning until after the Lantern Festival. Little Black Hand and Li Hai stayed behind to look after the martial arts school, while Luo Da went back with them to see their master. They wanted the old man to assess how well he was learning.
I came today. It's partly to say goodbye in advance, and also to see if Grandpa Cheng has any instructions. After all, Grandpa Cheng and Sixth Senior Brother's master have a deep relationship, so Grandpa Cheng is Sixth Senior Brother's elder.
Sixth Brother and his group came over after lunch, stayed for the afternoon and then left. I heard that Third Uncle Luo will also be accompanying Sixth Brother and his son to Shandong.
The old man had been thinking that it would be inconvenient to have his sixth senior brother and the others carry the gifts, but now that Uncle Luo was driving, all these problems were solved. So after Li Wei and the others squeezed into Uncle Luo's car and left, the old man couldn't wait to go home and discuss the gifts with his wife.
Li Wei had originally planned to find an opportunity to talk to Luo Da again, so that for the sake of everyone's future sustainable development, it would be necessary to clean up their ambiguous relationship under the current rather dangerous situation. But now that Luo Da is about to leave, she thought better of it and decided to wait until he came back. Otherwise, if she got distracted and accidentally got beaten up by her senior brothers in that faraway place, she would be committing a terrible sin.
As usual, Li Wei and her three companions were taken to Luo Sanjiu's house by the enthusiastic Luo Sanjiu. Sixth Senior Brother got off the bus at the martial arts school halfway there. Luo Sanjiu always knew how to treat different kinds of people, so after consulting with Sixth Senior Brother, he decided that it was fine if he didn't want to go.
Ding Anni was visiting the Luo family's home for the first time. After getting out of the car, she looked around curiously. Her eyes lit up when she saw Luo Er tinkering with a model with Luo San in the living room. She nudged Li Wei and said, "Hey, remember when I said Luo Jianzhong was handsome? Look, it's only been a few years. I wasn't wrong, was I?"
Li Wei glanced at Luo Er. It had only been a few years, but Luo Er hadn't changed at all; he still looked like that monkey. Could it be that, as Luo Da had said, her eyesight and hearing had deteriorated to the point of being hard of hearing?
No one could tell that there was a handsome young man hidden under Luo Er's fur coat!
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