Chapter 4: Being a caring little cotton-padded jacket
In the past, because her parents spoiled her, she never got involved in household chores. After dinner, she would just leave the dishes on the table waiting for her parents to clean up. Her family never said anything to her, and she took it for granted. It was not until she went to the school dormitory that she realized how useless she was.
After making fun of herself, Zhang Wanwan got up, washed the thermos and dishes, tidied the room, and familiarized herself with everything in the house. She mopped the floor and cleaned the kitchen stove inside and out. She also washed the clothes that her family had taken off yesterday. After finishing all this, Zhang Wanwan looked up at the clock. It was exactly half past eleven.
Her father usually comes home around twelve o'clock, cooks, and waits for her mother to come back around twelve forty-five, just in time for the family of three to have dinner. As for her brother, after he entered the second year of high school, because the school had evening self-study sessions, he simply lived in the school dormitory. The high school workload was heavy and the conditions at school were better than at home, so her parents did not let her brother come back.
Zhang Wanwan couldn't help getting excited at the thought of seeing her father who was several years younger than her. She went back to her room and opened her textbook, but she couldn't read it at all. She looked up at the clock from time to time. At 11:55, she heard the sound of a key unlocking the door. Zhang Wanwan immediately put down her textbook and ran out.
As soon as the door opened, Zhang's father saw his daughter leaning against the door of the room, breathing heavily. He smiled as he changed his shoes and said, "You must be hungry, girl. Dad will cook for you right away. Is your head still burning? If the fever hasn't subsided, we'll go to the clinic later."
As he said that, Zhang's father put his bag on the ground and walked directly to Zhang Wanwan. Without saying anything, he put the back of his hand on her forehead, tested her for a moment, and said with relief, "It's okay, the fever is gone. Go play, Dad is cooking."
Father Zhang turned around and went directly to the dining room. The refrigerator was placed next to the kitchen door. The old-fashioned refrigerator was only as high as Father Zhang's chest. The upper layer was the freezer, and the lower layer was the refrigerator. He had to bend down to find something.
While Zhang's father was getting the ingredients, Zhang Wanwan went to the kitchen and put the rice that had been soaked in the morning into the rice cooker, then quickly walked out.
Father Zhang carried some things into the kitchen. He was stunned for a moment when he saw the brand new kitchen. His eyes fell on the rice cooker with the light on. He subconsciously opened it and was instantly shocked. He poked his head out and asked, "Girl, did you cook the rice?"
Zhang Wanwan came running over happily, looking like she was asking for praise, and nodded in a cute way.
Father Zhang asked again, "You didn't clean the stove, did you?"
Zhang Wanwan nodded again.
"Great! My girl has grown up and can work!" Father Zhang gave Zhang Wanwan a thumbs up, picked up the celery and quickly picked off the leaves. It was obvious that he was an old hand in the kitchen.
Zhang Wanwan asked tentatively: "Dad, please teach me how to cook. I will cook for you in the future."
"No way!" Father Zhang said without thinking, "The high school entrance exam will be in three months, you should concentrate on studying, your parents will take care of the rest. By the way, if you feel better, do your homework. Tomorrow is the weekend and your mother is off. She said she would take you back to her hometown to worship your ancestors and ask them to bless you to get good grades. It will take a whole day to go back and forth, and you have to go to school the day after tomorrow, so you don't have much time to do your homework."
"Yeah!" Zhang Wanwan responded obediently, and went back to her room without saying anything else, and directly opened the exercise papers. Because the high school entrance examination was approaching, the teachers of various subjects gave them exercise papers. There were two papers a week for mathematics alone, and there were also various papers for physics, chemistry, etc., a total of eight papers.
Zhang Wanwan took inventory and found that she had finished three liberal arts papers, and the remaining five were all science papers. She immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She liked science more than liberal arts, and doing liberal arts papers was like a death sentence to her, so every time she was assigned homework, she would finish the liberal arts papers first, so that she would feel less pressure. There were only so many knowledge points in junior high school, and although so many years had passed, the ideas for solving problems were nothing more than those, so it was easy for her, and a math paper could be finished in about one class period.
Zhang's father, who was cooking in the kitchen, came out and saw Zhang Wanwan concentrating on doing her homework. A fatherly smile immediately appeared on his face, and he continued to cook for Zhang Wanwan in a good mood.
After Zhang Wanwan finished a math test paper, her mother came back.
When she heard the door open, Zhang Wanwan immediately threw down her black fountain pen and rushed to the door, shouting excitedly, "Mom is back!"
Zhang's mother was startled by Zhang Wanwan's enthusiasm. "No, no, no, Mom is dirty. What's wrong? And you have a fever?"
Zhang Wanwan: “.” Can there still be some mother-daughter love?
Father Zhang brought out the dishes and joked, "The fever has subsided, but it's a little abnormal. I cleaned the stove this morning. Lunch was also made by your girl. You should show your support whether you can eat it or not. It's rare that the girl is so willing, and we can't discourage her enthusiasm, hehe."
Zhang's mother was shocked. She looked at Zhang Wanwan in astonishment and exclaimed, "Don't tell me you burned your brain! You can cook?"
Zhang Wanwan: “.” Why is it so difficult to be a filial and considerate daughter?
Seeing Zhang Wanwan looking depressed, Zhang's father stopped teasing her and said in a loud voice, "Okay, wash your hands and eat!"
Only then did Zhang's mother go to the bathroom to wash up briefly.
The family sat at the dinner table.
Mother Zhang took a bite of the rice and nodded vigorously, "Not bad, it's cooked well! I didn't expect my daughter to be so talented in cooking!"
"I think it tastes good too, and it's softer and more glutinous than the one I make." Father Zhang gave a fair evaluation.
Zhang Wanwan rolled her eyes and said, "That's because I put the rice in there to soak early in the morning!"
Mr. Zhang was not annoyed when his daughter confronted him, he just smiled foolishly.
After dinner, Zhang's mother asked Zhang Wanwan, "Did you do your homework today? Can we still go back home tomorrow?"
Although Zhang's mother thinks that ancestor worship is important, Zhang Wanwan's studies are more important. If she can't finish her homework, she won't go back home tomorrow. At most, she can go back again before Zhang Wanwan takes the high school entrance examination.
"Sure, I just finished another math test. I still have four more tests to go. Give me four or five hours and I can finish them. I will definitely finish them before the evening."
After getting Zhang Wanwan's assurance, Zhang's mother felt relieved instantly. She touched Zhang Wanwan's bangs with satisfaction and went to wash the dishes.
Zhang Wanwan wanted to help, but then she thought that his and her mother would prefer to see her sitting at the desk and working hard, so she obediently went back to her room.
In the afternoon, Zhang's father and mother went out to work, so Zhang Wanwan finished the remaining papers in one go and reviewed the important knowledge points of each subject. At around six o'clock, Zhang's father and mother came back one after another. Zhang Wanwan had already cleared out all the papers on the desk and sat in the living room with her English textbook, memorizing words and phrases.
Father and Mother Zhang were extremely relieved to see this. Usually, the couple would talk for a while when they came back, but today they just kept silent tacitly. One went to the kitchen to cook while the other went to the balcony to do the laundry.
(End of this chapter)
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