Another week passed in a flash, and the children had their holiday a few days after New Year's Day.
Zhou Jiaming brought the children home and said to his mother, "Grandma, my mom said we can go to their place during the holidays. We will go with our dad tomorrow morning."
Zhou's mother didn't answer him. She stretched out her hand to the others and said, "Today is a holiday. Bring me your transcripts. How did you do in the final exam?"
"Grandma, you can't read, so you wouldn't be able to understand even if I show it to you!" Zhou Jiakang looked at her and smiled, as if he wanted to be beaten.
"You want to be beaten!" Zhou's mother patted him. "It's just 0, 1, 2, 3. Your grandma also attended literacy classes for a few days, so she knows these numbers. Stop talking nonsense and start with you!"
"Ding ding ding ding ding!" Zhou Jiakang put the report card in her hand with a smug look on his face. "Grandma, look carefully, it's a perfect score. I got the five-dollar reward from dad this year. The teacher also gave me a reward!"
Zhou's mother couldn't read other things, but she could recognize the 100 points written in red pen. After reading it, she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. "Okay, okay, I'll tell my father when he comes back."
"Grandma, we also got 100 points, and we won a prize too!" Zhou Xiaowen and Zhou Xiaoru happily put the report card in her hand.
"Oh my!" Zhou's mother laughed happily, and even her tongue was visible. "Great, great, my family is going to have a female number one scholar."
Zhou Xiaowen and Zhou Xiaoru also grinned happily, "Grandma, we want to ask Dad for a reward too!"
"Take it, take it all!" Zhou's mother kissed everyone happily, "There will be a reward for milk too!"
Zhou Jiakang pulled her in dissatisfaction, "Grandma, you are biased. I got 100 points on the test, but you didn't praise me as the male champion and give me a reward!"
Mother Zhou rubbed his head happily, "You have it too." Then she looked at Zhou Xiaoqian and the other two, "Jiaming and Jialiang are lucky to have passed, Xiaoqian, how about you!"
The Zhou Jiaming brothers looked at their happy siblings and felt uncomfortable. Thinking of their own report cards, they lowered their heads in inferiority.
Zhou Xiaoqian took out her report card and handed it to her mother. "Grandma, I got 99 in math and 95 in Chinese!"
Mother Zhou looked at her with a smile, "What place?"
"Alas!" Zhou Xiaoqian sighed, "I'm second, Li Xiaoping is first. When I go to junior high school, I will never be in the same class with him. As long as I'm in the same class with him, I'll always be second!"
"It's okay. There's also a reward for second place." Mother Zhou looked at Zhou Jiaming and his brother. Seeing them standing there listlessly, she felt a little distressed. "You two didn't fail, did you?"
"I passed. The teacher said if I work harder, I can get into the junior high school in town." Zhou Jiaming handed her the transcript. "Chinese 69, math 65. The teacher said there is progress."
"Chinese 62, Math 66." Zhou Jialiang handed over the crumpled report card.
"It's good that you passed!" Zhou's mother thought that since she had failed before, it was good enough that she passed. "Go back and pack up your homework, your shoes, scarves, jackets, and clothes for changing.
Jiaming and the others will leave with your father tomorrow morning, and Xiaoru will leave with Uncle Yiding in the afternoon."
"Oh oh!" Several children ran out with their schoolbags.
The next day, several children followed the two men to their parents' homes. When Zhou Huaijun saw his daughter and son's report cards, he grinned with joy and never closed his mouth.
Seeing that both brothers passed the exam, Zhao Huifang did not scold them. However, when she saw Zhou Xiaowen's results, she happily hugged her and kissed her hard several times.
Finally, someone in the family scored 100 points in the exam, so Zhou Huairong directly rewarded him with five yuan, which made the two older children extremely envious.
With two 100 points in one go, grandpa, grandma, and dad got a reward of 15 yuan, and aunt also got some delicious candy as a reward. Now it's another 5 yuan. This money is too easy to earn!
Zhou Yiding sent Zhou Xiaoru to the fork in the road. The little girl got off the tractor and ran over with her schoolbag when she saw Zhou Huaishan. "Old man, I'm here."
Zhou Huaishan happily hugged her and said, "Dear girl, did you pass the final exam?"
Zhou Xiaoru smiled happily, her eyes curved like pea pods, "I passed the test, and I even won a prize."
Zhou Huaishan asked in surprise: "What award did you win? Did you get first place in the exam?"
Zhou Xiaoru nodded her head quickly, "Yeah! We have three first place winners and one who is always the runner-up!"
Zhou Huaishan looked at her in surprise, "Three first places, and a perpetual second place, what is this?"
"Alas! Sister Qian's first place was taken away by Li Xiaoping again. Xiaowen, Xiaokang, and I all scored 100 points. The teacher said we tied for first place and were rewarded with notebooks and pencil cases. Dad..."
"Good girl!" Zhou Huaishan happily took out five yuan from his pocket, "Grandpa and grandma have all been rewarded, and I will also reward you five yuan. Go into the house and talk to your mother."
"Yeah!" Zhou Xiaoru jumped into the yard with her schoolbag on her back, "Little sister, here I come!"
"Sister~" Zhou Xiaolin saw her and happily rushed over to hug her legs, "Sister, I missed you."
"I miss you, too." Zhou Xiaoru took out a handful of candies from her bag. "These are the candies Auntie gave me as a reward. They are very sweet!"
"Oh!" Zhou Xiaolin peeled off the candy wrapper and handed it to her, "Sister, have a bite."
"No, I still have some." Zhou Xiaoru looked around the yard, "Where are Mom and Xiaolong?"
"In the back yard, picking vegetables."
Zhou Xiaolin took her to the kitchen, only to see the back door wide open. Li Qiuyue and Yao Xiaohui were standing by the vegetable patch, talking about something with smiles on their faces.
Zhou Xiaoru stepped forward and pulled her, "Mom, I'm here."
"Here we are!" Li Qiuyue was very happy to see her eldest daughter. She rubbed her head and said, "Take the basket back and get some water to wash the radishes. Mom bought the spareribs you like and will cook them later."
"I understand!" Zhou Xiaoru felt a little disappointed, but she still picked up the basket and walked towards the backyard.
…
In Funiusi Village, after the children left, Zhou's mother and Yang Chunyan felt a lot more relaxed.
In a blink of an eye, it was the beginning of the twelfth lunar month. The truffle production in several villages near Funiu gradually decreased. When the harvest was good, they could harvest six to seven thousand kilograms a day, but when the harvest was bad, they could only harvest three to four thousand kilograms a day.
That day, Zhou's mother came back with chickens and ducks, and happily said to Yang Chunyan: "The butcher came to the village to collect pigs. I asked around and was told that the price of live pigs has risen to one yuan per catty this month. I told the butcher to come and collect the pigs when he is free.
Also, the Chen family is also going to decide on the piglets, are you still going to raise six this year?"
"Six is fine!" Yang Chunyan paused, "But I think, after the big fat pigs are sold, you won't have to raise any more at the old house next year, right?"
Zhou's mother shook her head repeatedly. "It would be a shame not to raise them. At the current price, six big fat pigs can be sold for thousands of yuan!"
"Mom, why don't you just not move?" Yang Chunyan pulled her to sit down, "Look, next year Jiuer will be able to run around, Huai'an and I have to take care of things in the mountains, and we still have to rely on you to help take care of the baby.
When the time comes, the pigs, chickens, ducks, etc. that I raise here will also depend on you to take care of them. You have to raise so many animals, how can you handle it?"
Mother Zhou smiled and said, "Don't worry, just send Jiu'er to our place when you are busy."
Yang Chunyan looked at her with a smile, "It's so troublesome to deliver it back and forth! Didn't you say last time that the empty rooms in the old house that we moved out of have started to leak, and only the main room and the room you live in are not leaking.
I'm worried that when the rainy season comes next year, the room you live in will start leaking. I think you should just not move out after the New Year. Wait until you have some free time and find someone to renovate the old house."
"It's an old house, why spend money to renovate it?" Zhou's mother glared at her in reproach. "I think you and the youngest brother just want to keep us old bones here to help you with the work!"
"Hehe!" Yang Chunyan laughed flatteringly, "If you don't help us, who will help us?"
Mother Zhou patted her with relief and said, "Mom knows that you and the youngest are filial. We are still strong now, and we want to earn more money to save. In case we get sick and in pain in the future, you will have less burden."
Yang Chunyan pointed at the chickens and ducks in the chicken coop and said, "Even if we don't raise pigs in our old house, you are still making money! Besides, it's not like we can't afford to support you now.
If you feel bad about not having big fat pigs to sell next year, we will pay for two of the six piglets, and you will pay for the other four. The money from selling the big fat pigs at the end of the year will also be yours. We will keep two to slaughter for the New Year."
Zhou's mother looked at her lovingly, "Mom knows that you can support us old people even if we don't do anything. But there are some things you are still young and don't understand.
The family is too busy, so if we stay here to help, no one will gossip. But if we officially move in to live with you permanently, we have to discuss it with your husband and the three older brothers, after all, your husband and mother are not your family members. "
The children are all filial, but they feel most comfortable living in the youngest's home. The old man is also willing to live here, but if he lives here permanently, he has to consider the thoughts of the three older children. If he moves here like this, the brothers will feel uncomfortable.
Yang Chunyan felt that what Zhou's mother said made sense. "Mom, you are still thoughtful. It's better to wait for my eldest brother and the others to come back and discuss it with us."
Zhou's mother held her hand and said, "You and the youngest are both simple-minded. How could you expect so much?"
Yang Chunyan felt a little embarrassed by the compliment, "What about the piglets?"
"Please put the chickens and ducks in the chicken coop and lock them up. I will go to Old Chen's house first to decide on the piglets for your side. I will not decide on any for the old house yet."
"Mom, there's one more thing. Huai'an said that we'll kill two pigs for the New Year this year. The main reason is that we have a lot of social interactions at home. We need to send some fried meat, stuffed sausages, pickled bacon, cured pig's trotters, cured spareribs, etc. to the county and provincial capital. Even 10 or 20 kilograms is not enough to show off."
"That's right. The things they gave us were all high-end. Even if we bought them as gifts, they wouldn't be interested. So we just gave them something they don't have, so they can try something new."
"When my sister-in-law was there, she said they wanted to kill a pig for the New Year this year as well."
"Yes, they told me when they left that they would come back to help on the ninth day of the lunar year, otherwise we would not be able to hold them down." (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com