Chapter 6: This is called betrayal!
Chapter 6: This is called betrayal!
In early September, primary school started.
There was only one class in the entire grade. Fang Yuenian and Cheng Bing were inseparable from the moment they entered the school, so naturally, they were arranged to sit at the same desk again.
Fang Yuenian was extremely satisfied with this arrangement. The longer he spent with Cheng Bing, the more he felt that Cheng Bing was amazing.
How can someone be so patient? For a full forty-minute class, he can sit perfectly still, back ramrod straight, eyes bright and alert. Fang Yuenian couldn't do that; it always seemed like grass was growing on his chair, poking him and making him squirm endlessly. Cheng Bing's handwriting was also beautiful, neat and tidy, and his books were perfectly flat. In comparison, Fang Yuenian's books looked like they'd been dug by a dog, so worn out they were an eyesore.
He seems to be good at everything, even cleaning the classroom better than others.
Fang Yuenian suddenly developed a competitive spirit. In class, he imitated others, sitting very upright and writing very carefully, stroke by stroke. As a result, the teacher called his name and scolded, "Fang Yuenian! What are you doing, craning your neck to stare at your deskmate all the time?"
Fang Yuenian opened her mouth, but had nowhere to voice her grievances. She angrily put down her pen and continued writing, her hand still swaying precariously.
Cheng Bing has always been very taciturn.
When Fang Yuenian spoke to him, he would stare at him with wide eyes and occasionally reply with a word or two. When Fang Yuenian was scolded by the teacher, he would not say anything, but would quietly take out a piece of candy, a piece of cake, or a strip of hawthorn candy from his pocket and hand it to him. When Fang Yuenian was playing and fooling around with other classmates, he would sit properly in his seat and do his homework.
How can anyone not like this?
Fang Yuenian liked him so much that she couldn't forget him even after school, and she wanted Cheng Bing to be in every word she said.
Fortunately, he doesn't have many people to talk to at home.
Teacher Fang lives at the school year-round. Fang Wu is rarely home; even when he is, he's either arguing and fighting with Wang Jing or inexplicably drinking and singing like a madman. As for Old Mrs. Fang, although she adores her grandson, since Fang Yue started primary school, she has gradually considered retiring. On a typical day, she spends most of her time at the mahjong table and listening to gossip from the village.
He could only tell Wang Jing.
After repeating this a few times, Wang Jing solemnly instructed him: "You can only tell these things to your mother from now on. You can't tell anyone else, not even your grandparents or father."
How could Fang Yuenian remember?
After nearly letting it slip several times, Fang Wu finally heard Cheng Bing's name come out of his mouth one day. He immediately slapped him across the face and yelled, "What Cheng Bing? You damn bastard, get the hell out of here!"
This time, I remembered it perfectly.
Wang Jing was furious, but she didn't lash out at the moment. Her husband knew it was a small matter, but if they made a scene and Grandma Fang found out, there would be a lot of arguments. Fortunately, Grandma Fang was engrossed in playing cards, so there was no need to argue with her. As for who her son was with and who he was sitting at the same table with, Wang Jing continued to intentionally or unintentionally avoid her.
But even if she doesn't say anything, there are always people who can't keep their mouths shut.
That day, Grandma Fang got up early to work in the vegetable garden, thinking she would pick a basket of persimmons on the way. In September, the persimmons were ripe, and she would pick them and dry them under the window so that her children could have something sweet to eat.
Her old friend, whom the villagers called Granny Hongmei, wobbled over from the edge of her fishpond and called out to her from a distance, "Granny Hongya! Come and get some snacks! They're most plentiful on the persimmon tree!"
"I know! I know!" Grandma Fang replied, turning around to see her approaching, a basket with six or seven green pears hanging from her arm. "Where did you come from?"
“Oh, it’s all because of my little grandson,” Grandma Hongmei said with a straight face, but her face clearly revealed a sense of pride and joy. “Last time he came, he saw pears and wanted to eat them. His mother said they weren’t ripe yet. I saw that they were a bit ripe these days, so I picked two and sent them to him.”
Grandma Fang understood.
"Pick as many as you like," she said, forcefully cutting a persimmon branch. "The little one just loves these sour things. My son used to eat them a couple of years ago, but now he won't touch them at all."
Grandma Hongmei hurriedly said, "These pears in my house aren't sour. Last year, one of them got infested with worms and died, leaving only this one. I was worried it wouldn't bear fruit this year, but it actually produced a few. They're not as good as they were two years ago, but these fresh ones are quite nice." As she spoke, she nimbly crossed the ditch between the pond embankments, grabbed a pear, and stuffed it into Grandma Fang's arms: "Try it if you don't believe me."
"I won't eat them, let the little one have them," Grandma Fang declined, carrying two heavy persimmon branches. She casually hung one of the branches, which had four or five persimmons, on Grandma Hongmei's basket. "The persimmons aren't very ripe yet. Hang them outside the window to dry in the sun. They'll be ready to eat in a few days. They're snow-sweet. My little devil only eats a few, how can he possibly eat them all?"
Grandma Hongmei took the persimmons, and with some tugging and pulling, she insisted on throwing two pears into the basket on the ground beside her. Then she laughed and said, "Aren't you lucky? Little Niannian has grown up to be reliable and promising. Your Wang Jing is also capable. Yesterday I was telling my Hongmei that Wang Jing is feisty and hardworking. She's nothing like that little girl from the Cheng family, who is gentle and weak. She's raised the little ones to be more and more wooden than the next one."
This "little her" undoubtedly refers to Cheng Qiuyan.
The memory of a gossipy villager can rival that of the unparalleled internet decades later; no matter how many years ago the story is, they can always find it for you.
Old Mrs. Fang's face fell. She was using her hoe to reach a high branch, so she let it hang on the branch and turned around to say, "You talk too much."
Grandma Hongmei chuckled, "What's wrong with me? We sisters are just chatting. I saw your little Niannian and her little Bingbing coming home from school together the other day. They were both following behind that little girl." She craned her neck and raised her head towards the other side of the river. "Little Niannian is so lively and clever, while little Bingbing is so dull. I heard she doesn't talk much at school, just like her mother."
The speaker was probably unintentional, but to Old Mrs. Fang, it was a different story. Her eyes widened immediately: "Little Niannian came home from school with her little devil? With which little girl? Fang Junjun?"
"Oh dear, look at you," Grandma Hongmei said with an embarrassed smile. "What's the rush? I think Xiao Junjun is doing quite well with the two little ones, quite well."
Grandma Fang was so angry she almost fainted. She abandoned the hoe, the persimmons, and her old friends, and rushed home.
"This is outrageous! This is really outrageous!"
As she murmured this, her temples throbbed, and she felt her lifelong authority being challenged.
This challenge was even greater than when Cheng Qiuyan jumped into the river with her child, when Wang Jing first entered the family, and even when Fang Junjun insisted on staying at the Cheng family. Her precious grandson, the one she cherished so dearly, had actually become so close to the child of her arch-rival. What was this called? This was called spineless! This was called betrayal! She couldn't afford a third betrayal from her children and grandchildren in her life, otherwise, how could she continue to live in Shuibi Bay!
"This is terrible! Wait for me..."
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