Su Lei panicked a little and clumsily wiped away her mother's tears. "Mom, don't cry. If you don't want me to go to school, I don't have to..."
Those last few words sounded so disheartening.
“Go! You must go to school. How could your mother not let you go? Silly child,” Li Juan said with heartache.
"Really?"
Su Lei's drooping face instantly broke into a bright and surprised smile, as if he couldn't believe it.
Su Yan put down her brush and said to him, "Xiao Lei, come here."
Su Lei let go of his mother, ran to Su Yan and looked at her obediently, "Sister."
"Tell me, when did you start wanting to go to school?" Su Yan gently stroked his stray hairs.
Su Lei lowered his head and thought for a moment before slowly answering, "Da Niu and Da Chun started school last year, and I want to go too, but all the money in the house is in Grandma's hands. I asked Grandma if I could go to school, but she scolded me, saying that going to school would be a waste of money, and that I should stay with Dad and toil in the fields, and not be allowed to even think about going to school..."
"Bang!"
"That old hag! Xiao Lei is also her grandson, how can she be so biased?"
Li Juan was so angry her liver hurt!
I really can't understand why Granny Su treats Xiao Lei like this. She treats Zhang Yu's daughter, Su Yue, better than Xiao Lei!
She didn't understand before, but now she sees it all clearly. The Su family treats Su Changcheng like an ox that never dies, exploiting him whenever they can. Naturally, they look down on her and her child. If it weren't for Ayan suddenly realizing her mistake and insisting that she get a divorce, she and her child would have spent their lives working for the Su family, just to benefit them!
Su Yan thought it was good that her mother had seen through it all, so she wouldn't have so many reservations when she made her move in the future.
"Mom, all of that is in the past. Once we move to town, I'll find Xiaolei the best primary school so he can study in peace."
Su Lei hugged her tightly, saying emotionally, "Sister! You are the best sister in the world!"
"You little bear!" She pinched Su Lei's cheek, pretending to be fierce. "If you don't study properly, I'll throw you back to farm and buy you a cow to herd."
"No! I will definitely study hard and surpass my sister!"
"Fine, if I can't beat you, I'm done for."
...
The initially tense atmosphere gradually warmed up because of the childish words of the siblings.
Li Juan felt she needed to learn from her daughter quickly, so that she wouldn't have to shoulder all the burdens.
Before going to bed, Grandma Li suddenly called Su Yan into her room.
"Grandma, what's wrong?"
Su Yan followed her grandmother inside.
It was her first time entering her grandparents' room. There were quite a few things, but it was clean and tidy, with no unpleasant smells at all. There were also two potted aloe vera plants by the window. Her grandmother seemed to be different from other elderly people; she was a clean and particular person.
Grandma Li didn't say anything, but silently opened the wardrobe door, rummaged around inside, and finally took out two palm-sized wooden boxes.
Su Yan noticed the exquisite patterns carved on the wooden box, which looked quite old and definitely had a history.
Grandma Li gently rubbed the patterns on the wooden box, seemingly lost in thought. Her face, etched with the marks of time, constantly shifted between longing and pain.
After a long while, Grandma Li snapped out of her thoughts, turned around and stuffed the box into Su Yan's hands, "Grandma is giving this to you as a small reward for taking care of Hu Zi."
Su Yan's expression changed, and she opened her mouth to refuse, but the old woman interrupted her: "Don't rush to refuse, let Grandma finish speaking. I used to be the daughter of a landlord, but during the great upheaval, my family was wiped out, and I was the only one who survived. The place I was sent down to was Lijia Ping. At that time, everyone despised me, but your grandfather didn't care and kept coming to me."
His parents died early, and he was an only child, dirt poor, but I still married him. Later, after his name was cleared, all my family's possessions were gone, except for this wooden box my father buried. Inside was a pair of imperial green jade bracelets, my final dowry. Grandma doesn't know how many years she has left to live. These are suitable for you; please cherish them. Grandma has only one request: after your grandpa and I are gone, please help Hu Zi and don't let him suffer so much. He's a pitiful child too.
Su Yan was shocked to learn that her grandmother had gone through such a thing. She hugged the old woman tightly, her voice choked with emotion, and said, "Grandma, you've suffered so much. Don't worry, even if this hadn't happened today, I would have taken good care of Hu Zi. You don't need to worry too much."
"You're a good child." Grandma Li released Su Yan, quickly wiped away her tears, and smiled. "Tiger doesn't have a proper name yet. You can give him one. You're his sister and his benefactor."
"Huh? I'm choosing a name?"
Su Yan was stumped; she was terrible at naming things.
"Just pick one you think is good. Your grandpa and I aren't very educated," Grandma Li said.
In reality, she wanted Tiger to grow closer to Su Yan, his older sister, from a young age.
Although the years have taken their toll on Grandma Li, she still has a keen eye for people.
Su Yan has changed so much that Grandma Li can tell. She is not as easily fooled as Li Juan. The current Su Yan is definitely not the weak and incompetent Su Yan of the past. But no matter what, as long as she looks like her granddaughter, she is her own granddaughter. Whether she has a different soul or something else does not matter.
At least this one can stand up for itself, and will definitely amount to something in the future.
"Then let's call him... Qingnan, Li Qingnan."
"The path leads south to a clear stream, where green bamboos grow by the stream. 'Clear' means pure and clean, and 'south' is a directional word. 'Clear south' implies smooth sailing and a peaceful life, which is what Grandma hoped for."
This name wasn't something Su Yan came up with randomly. In her previous life, she came across this name while surfing the internet and liked it at first sight. At that time, she planned to adopt a child from an orphanage after she retired, and the name she chose was Qingnan.
"good!"
Grandma Li could tell from the name that it was carefully chosen, proving that Ayan truly cared about Huzi.
...
Su Yan returned to her room, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
After lying down for a few seconds, she got out of bed, lit a candle, and picked up the wooden box on the table and opened it.
There was a very soft white handkerchief inside the box. She held the box up to the light, and at first glance, she was attracted by the pair of imperial green jadeite bracelets.
The texture is delicate and translucent, the color is bright and pure, the shape is simple and the material is thick. Upon closer inspection, the inside shimmers with a faint green glow. When rotated under candlelight, it changes differently from every angle, making people unable to resist being moved and intoxicated.
This is the purest imperial green jadeite bracelet she has ever seen!
Su Yan took one out and put it on her hand, which made her skin tone seem to brighten by one shade.
This is a treasure!
If this were in later generations, these bracelets would probably be snapped up by top-tier wealthy women! Not to mention in the past, it's almost impossible to find bracelets of such high quality now.
Su Yan felt incredibly lucky!
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