Chapter 28
When Zhao Xiaopeng saw her coming back, he immediately smiled and asked her, "Xiao Li, aren't your parents home?"
Jian Li's inner alertness reached its highest level.
She smiled, but the corners of her lips were not completely curved: "Uncle Xiaopeng, what do you want to talk to my dad about?"
"Nothing, I just want to talk to your dad."
Jian Li felt more and more that this person was sneaky.
"My dad is very busy. Uncle Xiaopeng, if you have something urgent, please tell me and I will tell my dad."
Tell Jian Li?
Zhao Xiaopeng smiled and said, "Forget it. It's not a big deal. I just wanted to take advantage of your father's free time."
Jian Li stared at Zhao Xiaopeng's back, but what she was thinking was——
She will definitely keep her dad busy even before the New Year!
Jian Feng, who was in the market, shuddered.
Wang Mengmei asked, "Is it cold?"
Jian Feng gathered his clothes and said, "It's no problem."
Wang Mengmei said to herself: "It's getting cold soon. When it gets cold, fewer people will come at night."
Lunch was fine, the hot meals were well kept warm, but at night it was a different matter, we couldn't let all the guests sit out in the northeast wind.
Jian Feng sighed: "How about...using the money to expand the store first?"
When the time comes, we can expand the store and light a coal stove indoors at night, and the business will continue.
The winter in Taocheng can be cold for four months, so the business at night cannot stop for that long.
Wang Mengmei was also hesitant. Should she give the money to her husband to get a driver's license, or expand the store first?
If I use it to get a driver's license, how can I do business during the winter months? If I expand the store...
She wasn't sure whether many people would come because of the cold weather.
"Let's wait a little longer."
I've been working harder lately, opening earlier and closing later in the evening. If I can make more than a hundred dollars a night, maybe I can earn both sums of money before winter comes.
****
When the autumn wind blew, Jian Li faced the first exam of this semester - the midterm exam.
Jian Li has undoubtedly made progress. Except for some liberal arts content that she has not memorized yet, Jian Li has done very well in other subjects.
When the results came out, Xia Liu was shocked.
"You actually got second place!"
Second in the class.
Xia Liu grabbed her arms and shook Jian Li back and forth.
"Tell me! Are you Jian Li? You must be a monster! Spit out my good friend!"
Jian Li felt that if she were an egg, she would have been shaken to pieces and turned yellow by now.
Xia Liu covered her head and said in pain, "It's over, it's over. My mother will definitely use you as a reference for me."
I guess the motto from now on will become "Look at Jian Li."
We clearly agreed to walk together, how come my little friend has suddenly made such progress?
In Teacher Fang's opinion, Jian Li's good performance this time means she has "opened the door".
If Jian Li had not spoken under the national flag not long ago, Teacher Fang would have used her as an example and asked her to stand on the flag stand again this time.
Teacher Fang was very pleased and praised Jian Li in front of the whole class.
"Everyone is already in the second year of junior high school, and it will soon be the third year. The transition from the third year of junior high school to the third year of high school is even closer. You don't study for others, but for yourself. As long as you work hard from the bottom of your heart, you will definitely get results."
"It's obvious that Jian Li put a lot of effort into her studies during the summer vacation, which is why she was able to achieve such good results."
Jian Li lowered her head feeling a little guilty. The thing she did most during the entire summer vacation was to go to the river to catch crabs, and to go out at night with a flashlight to catch forks.
I don't know if it's cheating to restart the game.
Jian Li shamelessly accepted the teacher's compliment, but she put the certificate under her desk.
I'm a little embarrassed.
Jian Li got second place in the exam, so this time when they changed seats, it was not Xia Liu who saved the seat for her, but Jian Li who saved the seat for Xia Liu.
Jian Li went two rows forward and still sat by the window, but was closer to the blackboard and could see more clearly.
She was sitting next to the aisle, while Xia Liu was leaning against the window.
Xia Liu hugged her arms with emotion: "You are so good."
Xia Liu has a very good nose, and she can smell the smells in the class very clearly. Because of her good nose, she suffers a lot in winter.
As soon as you walk into the classroom from the cold outside, the warm smell of puffed noodles mixed with various flavors can be smelled.
Xia Liu called it "human flavor."
The colder the weather, the stronger the human smell became, and Xia Liu felt like vomiting after smelling it for a while.
Jian Li left a seat by the window for her, so Xia Liu could open the seat a little to get some fresh air. Otherwise, she would have to lie down when she got home after a day of stuffiness.
Jian Li was just about to chat with Xia Liu when a shadow appeared in front of her.
Suddenly, the top student in the class moved in front of her without saying a word.
Xia Liu stuck out her tongue and whispered to Jian Li, "She must be dissatisfied with you."
Jian Li: "If you don't accept it, then don't accept it."
Xia Liu looked very disappointed: "You should do better than her next time and beat her!"
Xia Liu gets along well with most of the girls in the class, except Xu Yanan, who ranks first.
But that's normal, there are not many people in the class who get along well with Xu Yanan.
Xu Yanan is an outlier among the girls in the class.
When she saw others skipping rubber ropes, tumbling ropes and throwing sandbags, she sneered.
What we often say is: "What's the point of this thing?"
"I don't like playing with girls. They are so feminine."
At the beginning of the school year, Xu Yanan got close to several good-study boys in the class. Later, those boys were unwilling to play with Xu Yanan anymore.
One of the boys complained to others: "Xu Yanan is sick. She always asks me what I have learned, and then she insists on explaining the questions to me. She is just like my mother. She has nothing to say unless she talks about studying. It's so annoying."
Gradually, no one in Xu Yanan's class interacted with her anymore. She started to keep to herself and ignored everyone.
Fortunately, Xu Yanan had good grades and had only lost first place once since she entered the school.
She ranked second in the exam that time, and the next day she came to school with her hair cut so short that her scalp was almost visible.
For the rest of the semester, Xu Yanan studied frantically every day until she regained the first place, and then she regained her arrogant look.
Xia Liu has a lot of opinions about Xu Yanan, not only because Xu Yanan is aloof and arrogant, but more importantly, Xu Yanan is also the son of a cotton textile factory.
As long as we are students of the same grade, we will always hear our parents talking about Xu Yanan when we go home.
"Look at how successful Xu Yanan is, and then look at you!"
"We are both studying, but they bring home first place certificates every year. What are you doing all day long?"
"Other people's Xu Yanan" is Xia Liu's nightmare.
Xu Yanan is good at everything. She can do housework, read books, and even stand on a stool to cook for her parents when she was a child.
Xu Yanan can do anything.
Xia Liu feels annoyed whenever she mentions Xu Yanan. Xu Yanan is like a huge mountain pressing down on her head.
It just so happened that Xu Yanan had been in the same class with her from elementary school to junior high school, and Xia Liu had been compared to her like this until now, which led to her being full of prejudice against Xu Yanan.
Xia Liu whispered to Jian Li, "Xu Yanan must have a mental problem. She will sit in front of whoever gets second place."
For more than a year, there has not been a stable second place in the class, only a stable first place, Xu Yanan.
Jian Li covered her mouth and whispered to Xia Liu, "She is probably coming to see me."
As expected, Xu Yanan, the class monitor, turned around and said to Jian Li after class: "You are not allowed to gossip in class. If you do this again, I will tell the teacher."
Xia Liu gasped angrily: "You are the class monitor, not the discipline committee member."
The Disciplinary Committee members won’t complain every day!
Xu Yanan: "Your gossip affects me and others."
Jian Li held Xia Liu: "Okay, I get it."
Only then did Xu Yanan turn her head, leaving Jian Li with a stubborn look on her back.
Xia Liu had a lot to say, but was really afraid that Xu Yanan would go and complain, so she could only wait until after school to tell Jian Li.
The two of them bought two cups of flavored milk tea at a store opposite the school.
The non-dairy milk tea made with milk tea powder is thin and bland, with a cloyingly sweet industrial aroma, which is exactly the taste in Jian Li's memory.
Jian Li ordered a cup of taro flavor and Xia Liu ordered a cup of chocolate flavor.
Xia Liu bit the straw so hard that it made her limp: "Is she sick?"
"Why is she so annoying? Is it so great to get the first place in the exam? It's as if everyone is inferior to her! As a class monitor, she complains all day long. It's so annoying!"
"She must be targeting you and picking on you on purpose."
Jian Li knew, of course, that Xu Yanan was looking for trouble, but what could she do?
"Either we talk to the teacher and ask her to move her to another seat, or we can switch."
When you are around people like this, you don’t even have the freedom to gossip.
Jian Li spread out her palms: "I don't think so."
In her palm was a small note, which Xu Yanan had slipped to her just before school was over.
[I know you got your second place by cheating. I will keep an eye on you in the next exam.]
Xia Liu was dumbfounded: "No, she is really sick!"
How can she accuse someone of cheating? She and Jian Li sat next to each other. Although they moved further apart after the exam, they were still in the same row. Even if Jian Li cheated, how could she get a second place?
"She must be ill."
Jian Li: "I guess she will follow us wherever we go."
Xu Yanan was certain that she had cheated to get the second place, so she could only wait until the next exam to find out the result.
Jian Li: "It doesn't matter. I will definitely be second next time."
She might make one or two mistakes because she was not careful enough, but her overall score would not drop, and Xu Yanan would not keep a close eye on her then.
Xia Liu felt very sympathetic towards Jian Li and gave her half of his spicy noodles.
"Then you must study hard and get first place in the exam."
*****
After the midterm exam, the school will hold a parents' meeting.
Jian Li made significant progress, so Teacher Fang asked her to go home and tell her parents that she should go on stage and share her experience.
Wang Mengmei and Jian Feng discussed it and decided that Wang Mengmei would go.
Wang Mengmei has attended so many parent-teacher conferences, but this is the first time she is looking forward to it so much.
She gritted her teeth and bought herself a scarf, ready to wear it over her best outfit.
"I never thought that I would have such an honor one day."
Jian Feng was a little envious; he also wanted to go.
In the past, he and Wang Mengmei took turns attending Jian Li’s parent-teacher meetings.
"You have to speak nicely when you go there. There are so many parents in the audience."
Wang Mengmei waved her hand: "I know this."
She wrote and drew in her account book and made a rough draft.
The central idea is how to cultivate children's interest in reading. Teacher Fang said that she should also talk about how to cultivate children's interest in reading.
Wang Mengmei was very happy: "When Jian Li was little, I always read storybooks to her and asked her to repeat them after I finished reading!"
Jian Feng: "Why are you talking about what you did when you were a kid? The teacher originally wanted you to say something that can be used as a reference by parents now."
Wang Mengmei racked her brains: "I have enrolled her in a composition class!"
Jian Feng: "...You're not going to say that I was the one who was deceived."
More than a year ago, when Jian Li was still in elementary school, her Chinese teacher told the class that there was an essay writing competition and Jian Li's essay had entered the preliminary round.
Wang Mengmei was very excited at that time, and in order to make a breakthrough, she signed Jian Li up for a 20-yuan composition class recommended by the teacher.
After ten classes, Jian Li entered the semi-finals and won third prize in the final.
If you win the third prize, your essay will be included in an anthology, but Jian Li's teacher also said that you have to pay a printing fee of 100 yuan.
Wang Mengmei gritted her teeth and handed it in, and in the end she received in return a collection of her essays with a very simple binding.
Later, Wang Mengmei realized that this was a scam.
What kind of essay writing competition is this? In fact, it is just a competition organized by the training class from beginning to end. At the end, they randomly select some people and say their works will be included in the essay collection, and then collect printing fees.
The essay collection was never sold in bookstores. They just randomly printed a few hundred copies and gave them to parents. Now the book is still in Wang Mengmei's kitchen, used as a pad on the bottom of the pot.
Wang Mengmei was a little embarrassed after her past was exposed: "Well, at least I tried my best. What about you?"
Jian Feng: "I took her to the zoo. Wasn't the first essay her teacher read to her when she was little a "A Day at the Zoo"?"
Jian Feng was very proud: "I still have some merit."
Wang Mengmei rolled her eyes: "How dare you say that? At that time, you were squatting at the door and refused to go in, saying that you wanted to save your ticket money."
Jian Feng: “…”
He actually forgot that he didn't go in at that time.
Wang Mengmei looked at the award certificate that Jian Li brought back and said, "Let's go there again when we have the chance. I didn't take any photos the last time I went there."
…
On the day of the parents' meeting, Wang Mengmei arrived first, and then she saw Sun Yan sitting in front of her seat.
Sun Yan didn't look very happy.
Her daughter Xu Yanan ranked first in the exam, so how could Jian Li be ranked second?
As soon as Wang Mengmei sat down, Sun Yan said in a gloomy tone: "Our Yanan's grades are all genuine, not the dishonorable good grades that others get by cheating."
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