As soon as Yang Chunyan and Li Qiuyue entered the yard, Zhou Xiaoqian and others came over, "Aunt, I want to watch TV."
Li Qiuyue looked at them and asked, "Have you finished your homework?"
After Li Xiaoping was admitted to the junior high school in Huashi, the villagers of Funiu Village also began to pay attention to their children's studies. In the final exams of the first half of the semester, except for Zhou Jialiang who passed, the other children of the Zhou family all did well.
In particular, Zhou Jiakang, Zhou Xiaoru and Xiaowen, who are in the second grade, all scored 100 in the final exam.
Each of the three elderly people in the family was rewarded with five yuan, Zhou Huaian also rewarded him with five yuan, and even Li Qiuyue began to pay attention to her child's grades.
"It's done!" Zhou Xiaoru responded, and the others nodded.
Yang Chunyan then said to them, "Your father also bought you a new baby book. Do you want to watch TV first or read the baby book?"
Zhou Xiaoqian said: "I'll read the baby book first."
"I'll watch TV first!" Zhou Jialiang and others ran towards the TV room.
Yang Chunyan went to the main room and gave Zhou Xiaoqian the doll book tied with a rope. When the little girl saw the title of the book, she shouted in surprise, "Brother Liang, come and see what this is?"
Yang Chunyan picked it up and saw that it was the recently published "Huo Yuanjia". Zhou Jialiang and the others stopped watching TV and ran to the main room to squeeze on the sofa to read baby books, leaving Li Qiuyue alone watching TV.
After everyone had ground the tofu pudding, they heard the sound of a bicycle bell outside. They thought it was Zhou Huaian coming back from fishing, so they went out and saw that it was Zhou Jiaming.
Zhou Jiaming stepped on the ground and wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve. "Aunt Yao, are my mom and the others at your house?"
"Yes!" Yang Chunyan looked at him with a smile, "You're back from school! Did you go with Mina?"
"We left together!" Zhou Jiaming hesitated for a moment, "Aunt Yao, I don't want to wait for her to come back tomorrow."
Yang Chunyan saw that his face was red, "What's wrong? Are your classmates laughing at you?"
Zhou Jiaming scratched his head in embarrassment, "Well! They finished school late in the third year of junior high school, and I was waiting for Mina outside. Some kids from Fangtian Brigade said that Mina and I were looking for a partner!"
Yang Chunyan thought of the children these days, who would even draw a 38th parallel with their deskmates, and said with a smile: "Tell them that I asked you to wait. If they keep talking nonsense, Auntie will go find their parents."
"That's right. If they dare to talk nonsense again, I'll tear their mouths apart." Zhao Huifang said to him, "You said boy, Mina is a little girl, and it's late after school. If you don't wait for her all the way home, what if there are bad guys hiding in the woods?"
Zhou Jiaming thought of his aunt and father. It was because some bad guys wanted to bully Mina on the street last time that they asked him to accompany her to and from school. He nodded gloomily, "I understand."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "There are pears in the bamboo basket in the main room. Eat them and then do your homework."
"I finished writing it at school." Zhou Jiaming went into the house, took the pears, and went to watch TV.
…
Zhou's mother ordered the tofu pudding, and Zhou Huaian rode his bike into the yard. Zhou's father hurried forward to help take the bucket hanging on the back seat, "So much!"
"Ding Ding Mao even took half of it." Zhou Huaian said with a smile, "The people who built the power station have blocked the water. The water level in the river is as high as during the rainy season. We can catch dozens of fish with one net."
Father Zhou said happily: "I'll go get the porcelain basin, pick out the small fish and put them in the fish pond to raise them."
When Xiao Jiuer heard there were fish, he stopped playing with the train and walked to the bucket with his short legs. He saw that the bucket was filled with fish of all sizes, "Wow! Big fish!"
Before he finished speaking, he opened his arms and hugged a fish. The fish's tail swung and hit his face, and the fish fell to the ground and bounced non-stop.
The little troublemaker was stunned for a moment, then chased the big carp on the ground and laughed.
Zhou Huaian, who originally thought he was going to cry, picked him up and laughed, "Little rascal, your face is already red, and you still want to do it!"
Xiao Jiuer pointed at the big fish and said, "Fish, shake it!"
"Go wash your face!" Zhou Huaian carried him to the kitchen. Yang Chunyan saw that his clothes were wet and hurried forward to take them. "What's wrong?"
Zhou Huaian said proudly: "When I wasn't paying attention, he picked up a fish from the bucket. He didn't even cry when the fish's tail hit him in the face."
Zhou's mother was anxious after hearing this. "Take him to wash his face quickly. If fish scales stick to his face and he grows a fish, it will be troublesome in the future."
"Oh oh!" Yang Chunyan hurriedly carried Xiao Jiuer to the backyard. Zhou's mother brought a basin of hot water, and the two of them washed his face and gave him a bath.
"Yan'er, we're going to the forest farm tomorrow morning. Will you come with us?"
"I'll go for two days, but not for four or five days."
Zhou Huaian knew that she was reluctant to leave her son, so he smiled and said, "If you want to go, we can stay for two days and go to the pine forest to see if there are any matsutake mushrooms?"
Yang Chunyan nodded and said, "I also want to go and dig in the ditch that runs past the bead on my head. If there is one, I can dig it up and plant it in the big pit."
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian picked up Xiao Jiuer, who was sitting in the basin and didn't want to get up. Yang Chunyan wrapped him in a towel and carried him back to the house to put on clothes.
Seeing that his father had already picked out the small fish, Zhou Huaian took them out and poured them into the fish pond. He went to the vegetable garden and plucked a basin of ramie leaves and threw them into the fish pond. Seeing that the fish all gathered around to grab the food, he carried the porcelain basin back to the yard.
He went back and picked out two big grass carps from the bucket and killed them. He kept the rest in the pond. Zhou Huaishan will take them to Ning'an tomorrow and give them to Wang Zhen and Huang Yongcai.
After the tofu pudding in the pot solidified, Zhou's mother placed a colander on it and pressed it gently a few times. When she took it out, the originally smooth and white tofu pudding immediately grew dense pockmarks.
She picked up the kitchen knife and cut a dozen times in the pot, then picked up the spatula and scooped three pieces into the enamel pot. "Youngest, take some tofu pudding to Yiding's family."
"Here I come!" Zhou Huaian picked up the enamel pot and rode his bicycle to deliver the tofu pudding.
Zhou's mother cooked fish with pork intestines, Yang Chunyan took a ceramic bowl to scoop out the tofu pudding, and she and Zhang Xiuxiang brought it to the table set in the front yard. Zhou Huairong's three brothers and the old man also came back from the back mountain.
Zhang Xiuxiang picked up the dipping sauce dish and saw that the prepared dipping sauce had sesame seeds added to it. She smiled and said, "The dipping sauce that Mom made today is a little different from before!"
Yang Chunyan: "Xiaomei said this is simple and delicious. She said she would come back and try it. It looks like it tastes good."
Zhao Xiuxiang came out with a rice steamer, "Compared with the old tofu pudding, the young tofu pudding from Aunt San's house is still better than the old one!"
After Zhou's mother finished cooking the fish with pork intestines, Zhou Huaian also came back, and the whole family sat together and started eating happily.
The family had just finished eating and put down their bowls. Mrs. Xu was holding the child, and Ma Chunhua came with her three children. "Your family is so lively!"
Zhou's mother said cheerfully, "We're going to have tofu pudding today, so let's eat it together."
Mrs. Xu looked at Yang Chunyan's sisters-in-law with envy, as they were chatting and laughing while cleaning up the dishes. She thought of her own children, who only got together for a meal during the New Year and other festivals throughout the year.
Every time, he would start to bring up old scores halfway through the meal, asking, "When did you do something wrong to me again? How much did I suffer?"
Sometimes she couldn't understand why they couldn't just talk things over and get along like the four brothers from the second branch of the Zhou family did?
Zhou Jiakang took out a baby book and showed it off to the three Lin siblings, "Look, this is the Huo Yuanjia that my father bought for us. My aunt said it was just printed!"
The three Lin siblings gathered around him and said, "Xiaokang, show us."
Several kids gathered together, flipping through the baby books and talking about it. A few boys looked at the pictures and gestured from time to time.
Xiao Jiuer found it very interesting and went over to join in the fun, squeezing in between the crowd.
Zhou Huaian moved the TV to the door. Xu Erchun, Yang Hui, and Wang Chunhua also came with their children. Yang Chunyan brought the benches and straw stools from home to the yard, and everyone sat down.
Zhou's mother said to Wang Chunhua, "It will be finished in less than half a month, right?"
Wang Chunhua said happily: "It will take about half a month. The roof will be finished tomorrow, but the doors and windows are not ready yet."
Zhou's mother asked quietly, "The new house is ready, are we going to have a wedding banquet?"
Wang Chunhua shook his head a little embarrassedly, "No. This time, I rely on the support of my brother and his family to renovate the house. It's hard for them to make money, so I'll save as much as I can and pay them back as soon as possible."
Zhou's mother comforted him, "Take your time. Once the house is fixed, raise a few fat pigs, and have better luck picking mushrooms, you'll have enough."
Granny Xu took over the conversation, "Xiao Wang, move here and live in a bright and elegant place. Your luck will definitely get better and better."
Wang Chunhua said gratefully, "Thank you for your good words, ladies."
After the news was over, the TV series began. Everyone stopped talking and stared at the TV intently.
Xu Erchun pulled Zhou Huaian, and the two of them went to the gate of the courtyard. "I met Dakuan today, and he asked me to ask him about the income from growing mugwort."
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian became more and more disgusted with He Dakuan's way of dealing with people. "What's there to ask? My four brothers have planted them. Didn't he see it?"
"He has been to your mountain land and wanted to come and ask you for advice in person, but he is too embarrassed to come." Xu Erchun said with sympathy, "He said he married a spendthrift wife who doesn't care about the family at all, only her parents' home. She would move to her parents' home if there was anything good at home.
Even the money that the family had saved to repair the house was secretly taken home by her to pay for her brother's engagement. He went to his mother-in-law's house to ask for the loan agreement, but was scolded by her. He said that if it wasn't for the children, he would have divorced her on the spot. "
"Does he have a girl or a son?" Zhou Huaian didn't know that He Dakuan already had a child.
"Just like my family, a daughter of a rich family!" Xu Erchun curled his lips, "Guess what Dakuan's mother-in-law scolded him for?"
"Some old ladies have many ways of cursing people, how can I guess?"
Xu Erchun pinched his throat and said, "Dakuan, the government does not allow more than one child. You and Xiaoying only have one daughter. Why build a brick and tile house? Instead of building such a nice house and saving it for others to buy later, you might as well get your brother's wife home first."
Zhou Huaian's worldview was shattered. "What the hell~ What kind of people did he meet? How could he say such disgusting words?"
"Youngest!" He Dakuan came out from the corner, "They are clearly cursing me, He Dakuan, for being a bankrupt in the future. No matter how much money I earn, it will be earned for others in the future. It is better to use it to help my brother-in-law." (End of this chapter)
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