Chapter 182 What's wrong?
Su Laosan laughed heartily, only managing to suppress his laughter when Fang Erniu slapped his arm and looked at his eldest son's wife.
“Sister-in-law, I learn slowly from Erniu, and you are pregnant. Teaching students is already tiring enough. I can’t let you have no free time after work. Let’s talk about it after you give birth.”
Fang Erniu nodded repeatedly.
The eldest daughter-in-law sighed with some regret, "Alright, then after I give birth... Erniu, don't be afraid, we teachers will teach according to individual aptitude, I have a way to teach you."
Fang Erniu almost cried, "Thank you, sister-in-law."
After they finished eating, as the two of them squatted by the hand pump to wash up, she secretly asked Su Laosan, "What does 'teaching according to aptitude' mean, sister-in-law?"
Su Laosan: "...yin? I haven't memorized any that start with Y yet, I don't know."
The two stared at each other, their shoulders slumping.
Fang Erniu looked dejected, hugging her knees, her eyes lifeless. "Ah, how can someone be so stupid? How am I supposed to walk around with my sister-in-law in the future? I'll go out and chat with people, and she'll open her mouth and say, 'Hey, my sister-in-law! She teaches English, she can speak gibberish, she sounds incredibly impressive!' How will she know my sister-in-law can barely read a few words when she goes out and chats with people?! People will laugh at her to death..."
Su Laosan couldn't help but chuckle, but seeing his girlfriend looking troubled, he washed the dishes while keeping her company and helping her figure things out.
"Why don't you try learning from your sister-in-law? What if you can learn it?"
Fang Erniu looked at him blankly and said, "You haven't even eaten any peanuts, how come you're drunk? If I can learn this... then a pig can too."
Su Laosan couldn't help but burst out laughing.
He found talking to Fang Erniu so enjoyable that he shook the water off his hands, put his arm around her shoulder, and said, "It's okay, if you can't learn it, you can't learn it. Don't make things difficult for yourself. Your sister-in-law likes you, so she definitely won't mind if you can't learn it. And those who don't like you, even if you've studied abroad, they still won't like you, right?"
Fang Erniu thought about it for a moment, "Oh, right."
That's what she said, but she still felt a little disappointed.
When Su Laosan took her home, she was sullen the whole way. Before they parted, she took the initiative to say to Su Laosan, "I want to give it a try. At least I can't let others talk behind my sister-in-law's back, or say anything bad about her to her face... It's too much to be sisters-in-law with someone who can't even read properly..."
She glanced at Su Laosan, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke her mind, "Your eldest brother and sister-in-law are such capable people. Their lives will definitely get better and better in the future. If we are left behind by them, you brothers will gradually drift apart, and your relationship will slowly fade."
"...My dad and my eldest uncle were like that. When we were little, our two families were very close, and my aunt and uncle treated me like their own daughter. But after my grandfather retired and my eldest brother became the village party secretary, my uncle and aunt would only come to our house twice a year. If we needed their help, they would always say they were too busy. It wouldn't even take them ten minutes to walk around the whole village..."
Fang Erniu looked dejected. Su Laosan rarely saw her like this, and he was stunned for a moment.
He had never considered the perspective she took. He assumed that brothers, even if their bones were broken, would no longer be brothers because of this or that.
But being strangers to brothers and being close brothers are two completely different things.
Su Laosan suddenly thought of Su Xiaosi and Su Hongmei, who had followed Su Youfu. Since they moved away from the auto parts factory's residential area, they hadn't seen each other once.
When Su Youfu brought his mother to make a scene, he said that Xiao Si's admission to Tsinghua and Peking Universities was such a glorious thing for the family, but he didn't feel happy at all.
He also complained that his younger sister couldn't do this or that, and that she had starved herself to the point of being skin and bones. He said that his eleven-year-old sister did all the housework, and he didn't care at all.
And then there's Su Hongying, who was pregnant but still suffering at the hands of her in-laws, and he didn't even think of standing up for her.
On the other hand, when he sees children's things, he thinks of his unborn nephew or niece. He also feels sorry for his sister-in-law who is heavily pregnant and wants to lend a helping hand whenever she needs it.
Su Laosan fell silent for a moment.
"……What’s wrong with you?"
Seeing that he didn't react for a while, Fang Erniu nudged him.
Su Laosan snapped out of his reverie, opened his mouth, and said, "I suddenly remembered something, about my mother before..."
His mother taught him that it was wrong for him to watch and egg on his brothers when they argued. She told them that if they wanted help from others, they couldn't just stand by and watch the show. They had to step in when necessary. People would help each other, and that's how brothers would grow closer. Otherwise, their relationship would only drift further apart.
He initially thought his mother was overthinking things.
Thinking about it carefully now, I actually feel a chill down my spine.
If he doesn't listen to his mother, will he end up like Erniu's father and her uncle, barely exchanging a few words even when they're right in front of each other?
Another thing Erniu is worried about is that her older brother and sister-in-law want to take the postgraduate entrance exam. She wonders what the contrast will be like when they climb higher and higher in their careers while they're still struggling at the bottom, barely making ends meet.
Even though his older brother and sister-in-law were kind to him, he still shamelessly went over every now and then to freeload. What about the children?
Su Laosan's breathing became rapid as he stared blankly at Fang Erniu.
Suddenly, she spoke up, "Erniu, you're right. We can't let our elder brother and sister-in-law leave us too far behind. If your sister-in-law is willing to teach, then we'll learn! I'll learn with you, and once we've learned, we'll sell our products overseas."
Fang Erniu glanced at him and raised her hand to touch his forehead.
"No fever? How can you sell it from so far away? It would take years to ship it there, and flying it there would be incredibly expensive. A chicken only costs a few dollars? You're really dreaming..."
Old Su shook his head, "If foreign food can be sold here, then our own products can definitely be sold too. Our country is developing rapidly right now. In a few years, once we learn foreign languages, maybe we'll be able to..."
Fang Erniu looked at him and suddenly smiled.
"What's wrong?"
Su Laosan touched his face, feeling somewhat bewildered by the laughter.
Fang Erniu shook her head and said, "Even though you're not as good-looking as your older brother, or as eloquent, and can make people furious without swearing, I still like you."
Su Laosan was so taken aback by this sudden confession that his mouth stretched to his ears, and he chuckled.
He followed up with, "Right? I also think that even though you're not as pretty or capable as your cousin, I still like you."
Fang Erniu was laughing when she heard this, and her smile instantly vanished. She glared at Su Laosan, stomped on his instep, and spat at him, "Don't come looking for me tomorrow!"
He ran away angrily.
Su Laosan: "...What's wrong?"
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