Increase pocket money
After a long while, Wang Yao looked up again and realized that Niu Ling was still there. "Aren't you going to eat lunch?"
“I asked Cheng Hao to bring them for us,” Niu Ling said.
Wang Yao hadn't planned to eat lunch, but after hearing what she said, she could only nod and say, "He's a really nice person."
"It's alright. How bad can the person I like be? He was so worried about me not having time for lunch that he agreed." Niu Ling said proudly.
Wang Yao was speechless. Everyone in the class knew that between Niu Ling and Cheng Hao, the former was the one who was purely throwing herself at him. But Niu Ling was willing to live in her own imagined fantasy, and Wang Yao could only wish her well.
Whether the students were on high alert or completely unconcerned, the exams still came as scheduled. Since the first year of high school had not yet been divided into different subjects, they took the exams for three whole days. By the end of the last exam, everyone felt exhausted.
While others were exhausted and wanted to sleep forever, Wang Yao wanted to cook a big meal in the kitchen.
This Sunday, Liu Hai booked a banquet to entertain the leaders who were coming to inspect the area. Liu Hai had no other requirements, only one: it had to look expensive, the more expensive the better. He was willing to pay extra, and if the food couldn't be found at the market, he could even help find a way.
This was exactly what Wang Yao wanted to hear. She had been reborn for almost half a year and had never been exposed to any high-end ingredients. This was because the people of Zhou County were not wealthy at that time, and most of what was sold in the market was just to meet their daily needs. In addition, the restaurant's main customer base was still students and nearby tenants.
Now that she finally had the chance, she couldn't resist showing off her skills. With a flourish of her pen, she wrote down ten menus, along with the ingredients needed for each dish.
Liu Xiangmei took it and frowned deeply. What was all this? Why were there lobsters and oysters...?
“We’ve never even seen these things before, how are we supposed to make them? Some of these markets don’t even have them, and they look ridiculously expensive.”
"Uncle Liu said he can help us buy things that we can't buy ourselves!"
"The problem is we've never even seen one before. Even if we bought it, we wouldn't know how to cook it!"
"I can do it, Mom. Don't worry, it will definitely amaze you."
Whether it will be amazing or not, Liu Xiangmei doesn't know; she just hopes it won't be a shock.
I wouldn't say I was terrified, but I was definitely shocked.
Because this menu only focuses on quality, the portions of each dish are relatively small, and each dish needs to be prepared by Wang Yao herself, since no one else has even heard of them. So everyone watches as beautiful dishes are created under Wang Yao's hands in the kitchen.
Not to mention the people at Hao Zai Lai Restaurant, even Liu Hai and Wang Caihua, who had seen a lot since childhood, were very surprised.
Every dish, from its presentation to its taste, is incredibly appealing. Because it is so exquisite, everyone savors it in small bites, each bite so delicious that you almost want to swallow your tongue.
Just like last week, some people felt a little dissatisfied when they saw the restaurant's style of serving food, thinking it was disrespectful. However, once the dishes were served, their opinion immediately changed, and after the meal, all they could say was "delicious!"
After Sunday, the nightmarish Monday arrived, and this Monday was especially terrible because the midterm exam results that just ended last week would be released today.
Many students' results were as expected. For example, class monitor Cheng Ting was still first in the class. Niu Ling's crush, Cheng Hao, was still last. Wang Yao was still at the bottom of the class, but this time her ranking improved by two places compared to when she entered the school.
For every person who progresses, someone else regresses. After half a semester of study, the average score of Class 3 in the first year of high school dropped from second to second to last in the entire grade, much to the chagrin of their homeroom teacher, Fei Nan.
This was Liu Xiangmei's first time attending a parent-teacher meeting. She was initially very happy and even wore her recently purchased clothes, but she never expected to see her daughter's score, which ranked fourth from the bottom in the entire class. It was like a bolt from the blue.
Fei Nan was in a really bad mood. Not only did he invite the parents of the top three students to the stage to talk about how they raised their children, but he also asked the parents of the three students with the worst grades to reflect on the reasons why their children's grades were so poor.
This outrageous arrangement meant that the student who was second to last couldn't wait to go home and was immediately given a beating in front of the whole class.
Wang Yao grimaced as she watched, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief and slightly curled the corners of her mouth. Luckily, she was fourth from the bottom and had escaped a disaster.
Liu Xiangmei's voice drifted from the side: "What are you laughing at? You're fourth from the bottom, and you still have the nerve to laugh?"
Wang Yao immediately adopted a quail-like posture, sensing that judging from Ms. Liu Xiangmei's tone, she would probably be in for a beating when she got home.
Sigh, it's really not Wang Yao's fault that she ranked fourth from the bottom. Since the start of the semester, she has spent some of her energy catching up on junior high school knowledge. Moreover, she was second to last when she entered the class, and all her classmates had a better foundation than her. So, after decades of receiving exam-oriented education again, being able to make even a little progress can be considered proof of Wang Yao's hard work.
Wang Yao was thinking about how to explain things when she got home to avoid trouble when she heard Fei Nan say, "When a child's grades aren't ideal, parents can't always blame them. After all, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. We should try to discover their strengths. For example, Wang Yao in our class, although she ranked fourth from the bottom this time, she has already published two articles in our county newspaper..."
Wang Yao immediately looked up. She had submitted her article again last week, and the newspaper hadn't yet given her any news about whether it was accepted. Unexpectedly, Fei Nan found out before her.
Liu Xiangmei also turned to look at Wang Yao in surprise. Her daughter had published two articles in the newspaper. How come she had never heard of it before?
It has to be said that Fei Nan's words did save Wang Yao once. Liu Xiangmei was not so angry as to hit the child, but she did plan to give Wang Yao a good scolding when she got home.
However, because Wang Yao's article was published in the newspaper twice, she gained the envy of all the parents in the class. Some parents even came to ask her what composition books she usually bought for her children, which made her very proud.
Well, I wouldn't say I was smug, but... well, the corners of my mouth involuntarily turned up more than ten degrees.
Even so, Wang Yao inevitably received a scolding when she got home. Her fourth-to-last ranking was indeed a bit embarrassing, and Wang Yao humbly admitted her mistake.
Then I saw my mother take out a newspaper and ask, "Your article was published in the newspaper, why didn't you tell us when you got home?"
Seeing that the tense atmosphere had finally eased, Chen Xiu, who had been holding her breath and not daring to speak, immediately chimed in, "That's right, Yao Yao, your aunt got the newspaper from your homeroom teacher. I spent the whole afternoon reading it today and I still can't get enough of it."
Liu Xiangmei glanced at her and said, "It's not like there's an entire afternoon; it's only twice."
Chen Xiu nodded, "Yes, twice, but only twice per person. For the entire afternoon, no matter who passes by the restaurant, they will be pulled aside and told twice. Now everyone on Dingyuan Road knows that the owner of Haozailai Restaurant has a writer in his family."
Wang Yao hadn't expected her mother to be so exaggerated, and she laughed heartily beside her. She even tried to be modest, saying, "It's nothing, I just write whatever comes to mind, mainly to earn some royalties..."
She realized she'd given herself away halfway through her sentence, but it was too late to take it back. Just as Wang Yao was about to explain herself, she heard her mother say, "Isn't the allowance I give you enough?"
Before Wang Yao could answer, Liu Xiangmei said to herself, "That's right, now that you're studying in the county, you'll naturally have more expenses, so you should definitely increase your allowance."
Unexpectedly, Wang Yao immediately shut up and nodded, "Yes, all my classmates have a lot of pocket money. I'm so envious!"
Actually, she didn't lack pocket money; rather, she spent it all on random, miscellaneous things.
She eats all three meals at home, and Liu Xiangmei regularly stocks up on daily necessities and school supplies. Under normal circumstances, she has no need to spend money at all.
But teenage girls always love to look good. Wang Yao didn't have any other hobbies, except buying clothes, all kinds of clothes.
The next day at school, the students were all discussing how their parents had tormented them when they got home the night before. Niu Ling was a little worried about Wang Yao.
"Wang Yao, you didn't get scolded when you got home yesterday, did you?"
Wang Yao nodded: "Yes, I got scolded. I got a really bad scolding!"
They were both in the same boat. Niu Ling, who didn't usually study very hard, also didn't do well this time. However, thanks to her decent foundation, she ranked slightly better than Wang Yao. Hearing what Wang Yao said, she sighed heavily, "Me too. My mom punished me by not letting me eat dinner. What about you?"
"My mom gave me more pocket money."
Niu Ling was shocked! What? My grades are bad, so why am I getting an extra allowance?
"Class is about to start, stop talking!" the student in front of you reminded him.
The person sitting in front of me is no longer Guan Qian. The seating arrangement was changed again yesterday, and this time it's different from when school started.
To improve the grades of struggling students, the homeroom teacher created study groups in the class. Students in the same study group sat together. Wang Yao and Guan Qian were assigned to the same study group, so they are still sitting together, but the others have been reassigned.
Now, Wang Yao's table, the table in front of her, and the table behind her are all in the same study group, where everyone supervises and learns from each other.
Wang Yao quite liked this model, and what made her even more fortunate was that everyone in her group was quite nice, and she wasn't assigned to someone like Guan Qian.
Now, as the student with the worst academic performance in the group, she has become the group's main focus of support. As required by the homeroom teacher, she can ask the group members any questions she has about her studies.
Because everyone around her was focused on their studies, Wang Yao also put her mind on studying, and even Niu Ling, who usually only studied when she felt like it, was influenced by this atmosphere.
Whether it was the homeroom teacher's brilliant decision or the students' disappointment with their midterm exam results, the learning atmosphere in the class was very strong, which directly led to Class 3 of Grade 1 returning to third place in the grade in the final exam.
During this period, Wang Yao still relaxed by preparing banquet dishes every weekend, and also went back to her hometown with her mother on the day of the Great Cold.
The old family home was still the same as before, except that the Wang family seemed to be having a hard time. But Liu Xiangmei didn't bother with them. She didn't even go to see the old house. She just took a shortcut, hurriedly went to the cemetery to burn some paper money and set off some firecrackers before leaving.
When the Wang family heard the commotion at the cemetery and rushed over, they only saw Liu Xiangmei and Wang Yao's backs already far away.
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