Erhua hurried home to pack his things. Master Tang was willing to accept him again, and the whole family was happy for him.
Before leaving the next day, Liang Genfa patted Erhua on the shoulder without saying anything.
The old man frowned and didn't know where to start.
Erhua knew in his heart that there were some things that he couldn't let his father say.
"Dad, don't worry. If I don't learn anything from this trip, I'll be a waste. I'll just go home and farm."
Dad nodded and took out ten dollars from his pocket.
"Dad, I don't want it."
Erhua refused to take it, clenched his palm into a fist and said, "Save this money. We will use it to build a house for Dahua during the New Year."
Liang Genfa felt a lump in his throat. He had never expected that his luck would really change after he turned fifty.
This is not about good fortune in terms of money, but good fortune in terms of children.
Honest people never covet money. They only hope that their children will be sensible and that the family can live a down-to-earth life.
Liang Genfa stuffed the ten yuan into Erhua's big cloth bag no matter what. It was not for any other reason, but because he was a grown man now and how could he not have some money on him?
From then on, Erhua settled down in Tang Sannan's house and learned the craft well.
The master still treats him well from the bottom of his heart, and Erhua feels comfortable learning the craft here.
But he knew that he had to endure hardships in order to achieve success in his studies.
Every day he would get up before dawn to make breakfast, and after cleaning up the breakfast he would sit down to carve wood. It would be lunchtime once he sat down. Lunch and dinner were prepared by Aunt Sun next door. In the evening he would still think for a while by the kerosene lamp, and would not go to bed until he had cleaned up the table.
Aunt Sun is younger than Tang Sannan. Her husband passed away five years ago. She has a pair of children. Her daughter got married a long time ago and lives far away, so she doesn't come home often.
The son is a man of no opinion. He married a shrew who obeyed the mistress of the house and kicked his mother out of the house within a year of their marriage.
Aunt Sun now lives in the old house that they used as a firewood shed.
Auntie is old and not suitable for planting rice and farming alone. Besides, her one acre of land has been taken away by her son, so she can't see a grain of rice all year round.
Tang Sannan felt sorry for her and always gave her some rice. She was proud and didn't want to take it for free, so she often came to do some work.
Erhua worked from dawn to dusk every day. His master felt very distressed when he saw this, but he couldn't persuade him.
"Nannan, why don't you try to persuade Erhua? If he keeps doing this, he might end up ruining his health before he even learns the skill."
Luo Zhen looked up at Erhua who was cleaning the yard, his eyes rippled for a moment, then lowered again.
"Dad, Erhua is not a child anymore. He's a grown man with his own ideas. Why do you have to worry about this?"
"This kid, why is this worrying for nothing?"
Tang Sannan looked at his daughter worriedly, and after some hesitation, he asked, "Are you really not going to..."
"Dad, let's not talk about this anymore. Look, I carved it wrong."
"...Since you don't plan to...Matchmaker Zhou has come several times, but why haven't you come to see me..."
"Dad~I won't say anymore!"
Seeing that his daughter was pouting so hard that a bottle of oil could be hung on her, Tang Sannan had to stop.
Everything else is back on track, except Luo Zhen and Erhua, who have no idea what to do.
If Luo Zhen gets angry with him, scolds him or beats him, that's not a big problem, Erhua can handle it.
But no, Luo Zhen smiled at him when she should smile and talked to him when she should talk to him.
Isn’t that great?
No, not at all.
Luo Zhen treated him like the old dog who came to the village every few days to ask for wine, or like the little cat who came to their house to ask for snacks.
How should I put it? I'm not as affectionate as I am to Aunt Sun.
Erhua was able to enter his master's house again, and he no longer dared to have any improper thoughts about Luo Zhen.
Thinking that he could treat her as his senior sister in a proper manner, if she fell in love with someone, he would become her family member and send her off in a grand manner.
If that person dares to bully her in the future, she will bring her master to fight them.
He thought so, but when Luo Zhen was really distant from him, he felt like he was being pricked by needles in his heart, painful and itchy, extremely unbearable.
At dinner time, Aunt Sun cooked winter melon and pork ribs soup. Winter melons were in full bloom this season, so Master planted one in the yard, and the winter melon vines were climbing up the corner of the wall.
There are three winter melons on the vine. One winter melon is as long as half an arm and as thick as a small wooden basin. A thin slice of it can be used to make a bowl of soup.
Erhua served Luo Zhen a bowl of soup and placed it in front of her.
"Thank you, you eat too."
Luo Zhen was polite, with no extra emotion on his face.
Erhua had anticipated her reaction, but he still felt disappointed.
Tang Sannan would always invite Aunt Sun to stay for lunch and dinner. She felt embarrassed at first, but she got used to it after a while.
The family ate dinner under the light of a lamp. In addition to the pork ribs and winter melon soup, Aunt Sun also stewed an egg custard and fried a plate of loofah.
These dishes are not greasy or meaty, and taste very refreshing, especially suitable for summer.
Three dishes were perfect for four people, and we finished them all.
Just as everyone stood up to collect the dishes, an unexpected guest arrived outside.
"Hey, Mom, Uncle Tang and your family are having dinner!"
A shrill voice came from outside the house.
Aunt Sun was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted, dropped the bowl and rushed out.
"What are you doing? This is someone else's house, go back quickly."
Aunt Sun lowered her voice.
"Hey, are you afraid that I'll embarrass you? You're not afraid of embarrassment yourself, so you're afraid of what I'll say!"
Erhua walked out and saw a short, dark-skinned woman in the yard, with a short, but fat man standing next to her.
The man tried to pull her, but she slapped his hand away.
"Why! She's living so happily with someone else, and we're going to be poor!"
Erhua immediately understood that this was Aunt Sun’s son Sun Jianliang and daughter-in-law Zhang Xiaomei.
Erhua knew something about their deeds. When he saw them today, he thought to himself: They really live up to their reputation, they are so tough!
"Sister Xiaomei, stop talking nonsense. You guys don't even give Auntie rice to eat, and you're going to say something when she eats a meal with us?"
At this moment, Luo Zhen and Tang Sannan had already walked to the door, and Luo Zhen was so angry that he confronted them.
"You little bitch are talking nonsense. Even if I had a mouthful of rice, I wouldn't let my mother starve. We haven't had a single bite to eat from morning to night today. How can we support her?"
"Puff!" Erhua couldn't help but burst out laughing. "I said the sky was fine during the day, but how come there wasn't a single star at night? It turns out someone told a lie and the sky couldn't stand it anymore."
"Where are you from? Do you have the right to speak here?"
Sun Jianliang pulled Zhang Xiaomei's arm hard and whispered, "Hey, what are you doing? It's nothing. Let her eat. Hurry and leave..."
Although Zhang Xiaomei is thin and small, she has a very powerful aura. She turned around and glared at her man, and Sun Jianliang immediately stood aside and didn't say anything.
Wow, looks like we’re going to have a fight today!
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