Chapter 10
Jinhan Private Elementary School ends at 4 pm and students will have a nap at school. For this, parents need to pay a lunch fee every month, and the accommodation fee is paid when registering at the beginning of the school year.
When Tu Chenglin picked up Tu Mian, he saw that the child looked depressed.
"You don't look happy?"
Tu Mian curled his lips and started to complain: "The food at lunch today was so sweet!"
"sweet?"
Tu Chenglin understood that in Suzhou, the food was varied and the tastes were different.
But the main thing is that they are divided into two factions: light taste and sweet taste. If Tu Mian, who likes light taste, meets a chef with a sweet taste, then the solution will be gone.
After all, this is a collective life. Some people like Tu Mian who like to eat light food, while others like to eat sweet food.
Tu Chenglin picked up Tu Mian and said, "Then you should study hard and try to skip a grade soon. Then you can eat in the cafeteria for a few years less. We can go to a middle school that doesn't require you to eat in the cafeteria at noon."
Tu Mian's face wrinkled up. "Then can I skip to sixth grade? It would be best if I could graduate tomorrow!"
Tu Chenglin was amused by her childishness: "As long as you can, Dad has no objection."
When they got home, Tu Mian went back to her room to read by herself. Because she was always curious about the world, Lin Mei took Tu Mian to buy a lot of books from the second-hand bookstore, enough for her to read for a while.
Tu Chenglin only had to prepare enough food for three people. When Tu Yin came back for a nap at noon, she told Tu Chenglin that she was quite satisfied with the food in the cafeteria. In addition, she had made some new friends, so in order to spend more time with her friends, she ate in the cafeteria at noon and in the afternoon.
After the dishes were ready, Tu Chenglin picked up the dishes with chopsticks and put them on an empty plate. Lin Mei came back late because she had to sign the bill, and Tu Mian was still growing, so Tu Chenglin prepared two meals, one for him and his daughter, and one for him and Lin Mei.
After calling twice, no one came out. Tu Chenglin opened the door and saw Tu Mian staring at the book intently. This child is always very focused. As long as she wants, she can always concentrate on reading.
This is undoubtedly a kind of ability. Tu Chenglin's eyes were filled with honey when he looked at Tu Mian.
He placed his hand in front of Tu Mian, blocking her eyes.
"Eat first, then watch after dinner."
Tu Mian had no choice but to close the book.
When Lin Mei returned home, Tu Chenglin was mopping the floor. When he saw her come back, he quickly put away the mop and went to heat up the food.
After Lin Mei changed her shoes, she didn't see her daughter, so she asked Tu Chenglin, "Is Guo'er asleep?"
"It's only seven o'clock, still early. How could she sleep? She's reading her book. Luckily I didn't let her bring it to school, otherwise she would have read it during class."
Lin Mei knocked on Tu Mian's door several times but received no response. Just as she was about to push the door open, it opened.
"Mother!"
When Tu Mian saw that it was Lin Mei, his eyes lit up.
Lin Mei picked up the excited Tu Mian and said, "You are so focused on reading. Mom was wondering if you fell asleep."
"The lights are on, how can I fall asleep?"
"That's not necessarily true," Lin Mei put Tu Mian down and tapped her nose. "Last time, there was a funeral at night with suona playing, and you were able to fall asleep. It's just that the lights are on, so if you want to sleep, you can't sleep anywhere."
Tu Mian was not convinced, but what Lin Mian said was indeed the truth and she could not refute it.
Lin Mei bought pears. Tu Mian always catches a cold easily when the seasons change. The first symptom of a cold is coughing and sore throat. At this time, Lin Mei always steams a bowl of rock sugar pears for her. Now that the seasons are about to change, Lin Mei always subconsciously prepares the pears first.
Tu Mian looked very healthy and lively now, so Lin Mei washed a few pears and took a knife to peel them for her.
The child knew that there would be something to eat soon, so he didn't go back to the room and circled around her like a little bee.
"How was your day? Did you make any new friends?"
Tu Mian nodded, then realized that her mother was peeling pears and not looking at her.
"certainly!"
"But I didn't take the initiative to look for him. He took the initiative to come to me to play. Actually, I don't like playing with him. He even cried today. He is too childish. I don't like playing with crybaby."
Lin Mei cried out inwardly. She whispered to Tu Mian, "Don't call your friend a crybaby, Guo'er. You shouldn't give your friends such derogatory nicknames. Think about it, every time you call them that nickname, you'll think of them crying. Do you like the way you cry? So don't do that."
Tu Mian agreed with what her mother said, but she wanted to speak for herself: "But I didn't come up with that nickname. Someone else called him that first. And I didn't call him a crybaby in front of him. I only told you because we have the best relationship."
Tu Mian is still young, but he already has the awareness of keeping little secrets with people he is close to.
Lin Mei laughed. This little rascal was almost fooled by her sweet words.
"Even if it's a nickname someone else gave him, you shouldn't follow suit. As a friend, you should stand up and defend him. Isn't our Guo'er always very good to her friends?"
Tu Mian scratched the back of his head, "I know what to do!"
Lin Mei was satisfied. She cut the pear into small pieces and put them in Tu Mian's mouth.
The next day when they went to study, Tu Mian brought a pear. She stuffed it into Li Qiming's hand. Li Qiming's face turned red immediately, and he shyly accepted it.
Tu Mian had read idiom story books and knew that one should use courtesy before force. Although this description was not very appropriate for what she was going to do, she had her own plan.
"Hey, Li Qiming, do you know that people have nicknamed you a crybaby?"
Hearing what Tu Mian said, Li Qiming curled his lips and wanted to cry again, "I'm sorry, I'm so stupid, I don't know why everyone calls me a crybaby?"
After he finished speaking, he couldn't hold back his tears any longer and they started to flow down his face.
Tu Mian's eyelids twitched. It was the first time she met such a child, but she was not annoyed.
"Don't cry, it's because you always cry that people call you a crybaby. If you stop crying, people won't call you a crybaby anymore."
Li Qiming paused, sobbing, "I don't want to cry either, but I can't help it."
If Li Qiming was not old enough, his family would not want him to go to primary school.
He was a premature baby and not in good health, so we didn't want to let him go to kindergarten. This was the first time he started to study away from home.
He always couldn't bear to leave his grandparents, his parents, and the little bird his grandfather raised.
He used to dislike the bird's unpleasant singing, but now that he can't hear it anytime, Li Qiming feels a little lost, but when he feels lost he will cry.
Because crying is his weapon to make his wishes come true, and it has never failed before.
"But crying won't solve any problems. Look, has crying solved the problem of people giving you nicknames?"
Li Qiming was silent for a while, he didn't dare to look into Tu Mian's eyes.
"But, as long as I cry, my requests will always be granted."
Is the world changing too fast? Li Qiming doesn't know.
Tu Mian turned Li Qiming's head, and Li Qiming saw his reflection in her light brown pupils. Tu Mian looked so serious.
"Because your family loves you very much, your crying can solve the problem, but now you are surrounded by classmates who are the same age as you, and no one will tolerate your crying. But I will call you Li Qiming in the future, and I will not call you a crybaby. As long as you stop crying, others will call you Li Qiming like me. So, don't cry, you cry..." Tu Mian paused. She originally wanted to be an honest child, but her mother told her that some words must be held back. For example, she wanted to say that Li Qiming looked ugly when he cried, but "ugly" was not a good word. She made a "tsk" sound and then said, "Like a little child, you are a first-grade student now!"
“Oh oh!”
Tu Mian's tone was high, and Li Qiming's mood followed hers and became cheerful. He blew his nose and said happily: "You are so nice!"
"Of course, we are friends."
Li Qiming was even happier. His parents watched him very closely, especially his mother, who took care of him so meticulously that other adults were afraid to let their children play with Li Qiming, fearing that if something happened to Li Qiming, they would be blamed.
He only has his cousins to play with him, and no one of his age to play with him.
This was the first time that Li Qiming had a real friend.
He held Tu Mian's hand tightly and said, "Yes, we are friends."
Those crying eyes looked like countless broken stars mixed in them, and only then did Tu Mian realize that Li Qiming's eyes were very beautiful.
It was a kind of beauty that she couldn't describe as a child, but she would express it directly: "Li Qiming, your eyes are very beautiful. If you cry too much, your eyes will go blind, and then they won't be beautiful anymore."
Tu Yin used to like taking Tu Mian to Su He's house to watch TV during her holidays. One of the plots involved the heroine crying so much that she went blind, leaving a psychological scar on little Tu Mian. She used to cry because her pride as a little adult was hurt, but now she's just been able to hold it in. She's a little adult now, and since adults don't cry often, she doesn't want to cry either. It's definitely not because she's afraid of going blind.
Li Qiming was frightened, "I will never cry again. I don't want to become blind!"
Tu Mian nodded, and she thought of how her parents would usually pat her head when she did something right.
So Tu Mian stretched out his hand, placed it on Li Qiming's head, and stroked his head from top to bottom, as seriously as if he was completing a ritual. Li Qiming sat in his seat and accepted it obediently.
When Lin Mei got home, she saw Tu Mian sitting at the table in the living room writing something, and Tu Chenglin was staring at her.
Only when she got closer did Lin Mei see that Tu Mian was practicing calligraphy.
"Is this what her school calls calligraphy practice?"
In the past, her family had no intention of asking Tu Mian to practice calligraphy. It was already very good for an ordinary child to be able to recognize words. What's more, Tu Mian was not an ordinary child, so Lin Mei had no requirements.
"No, I bought it at the bookstore. They say calligraphy should be practiced from a young age. It's too late to practice now."
"Then why didn't you ask Guo'er to practice before? She can write well now, it's good enough. Don't force her to learn."
"You are like a loving mother who spoils her child." Tu Chenglin muttered.
Lin Mei rolled her eyes. Who was the one who didn't even want Tu Mian to go to primary school, but now started to pay attention to the child's studies?
This family still needs her so much.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
