Chapter 30
After school, Sun Zhaodi walked with her classmates for a while and then went home by herself.
Sun Zhaodi's father is a worker in a food factory. She is the oldest child in the family. Besides her, she has four younger brothers and sisters, her second sister Pandi, her third brother Zhiguo, her fourth sister Caixia, and her newborn little brother Hongxing. There is only one kiln in the family, and they all live together. There are also several other families living next to them, and the yard is also shared by several families.
The house was still a mess. Mom was still in confinement after giving birth, and grandma was chopping corn bones while scolding Tian Meixiang inside. She didn't have enough milk, and her little brother, who was just twenty days old, was crying with red face due to hunger.
Seeing Sun Zhaodi coming back, Old Lady Sun glanced at her and asked, "Is school over?"
Old Mrs. Sun originally didn't agree with her going to school. Education costs money. Zhaodi is a girl. She can help with housework at home for a few years and then she will belong to another family after she gets married. Why waste the money? Besides, the second daughter, Pandi, is five years old this year. If Zhaodi goes to school, Pandi will also want to go to school next year. How can the family have so much spare money to pay for the tuition of these two daughters?
But the children of several nearby families all went to school, and Zhaodi insisted on going to school, so her father relented and let Zhaodi go to school.
"Let him go."
"What are you still standing there for? Why don't you help light the fire and cook, and wait for the food to be ready?"
Sun Zhaodi looked at the patch on her clothes. Her mother had sewed small flowers on it as decoration, and if you didn't look carefully, you couldn't see any trace of the patch.
"Grandma, I'm going to go in and look for my mom. I'll be right out to cook."
After saying that, Sun Zhaodi walked in with her schoolbag on her back.
Tian Meixiang was holding her little son in the house. There were faint dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she had not slept well the night before and her face was very haggard.
"mother."
“I’m back.”
"I went to school today and met a few new classmates. The teacher gave a lecture today and taught us to recite an ancient poem..."
Tian Meixiang said calmly, "Well, the diaper in the basin is your brother's diaper that he changed today. Remember to wash it after dinner."
Sun Zhaodi was interrupted before she finished speaking. She paused and said, "I..."
"Go out and help your grandma cook."
Sun Zhaodi walked out with her head down.
She scooped out two large spoonfuls of cornmeal from the jar and put it into the dough kneading bowl. She poured hot water into half of the cornmeal and stirred it with chopsticks, and added cold water to the other half of the cornmeal. When the dough was no longer hot, she started kneading the flour into dough.
Take out another small bowl, put two spoons of alkaline flour in it, dilute it with warm water, add it into the dough and knead evenly, cover it with a wet cloth and let it rise for a while.
While waiting for the dough to rise, Sun Zhaodi picked out two potatoes from the sack, peeled them, washed them, and cut them into shreds on the chopping board. The family usually ate mainly cabbage and potatoes, and meat was not often eaten. Although Sun Zhaodi's father was a worker, there were many children in their family, and he had to support a large family with that little salary.
Children from poor families have to grow up early. Sun Zhaodi is seven years old this year, but she can already help share a lot of work at home.
The corn bones had already stewed out a fragrant aroma. Sun Zhaodi could not help swallowing her saliva when she smelled the flavor of the bone broth. The children in the family were standing by and watching. The bone broth was almost done, so Old Lady Sun filled a large bowl and placed it next to the stove.
This was left for Sun Zhaodi's father, Sun Jianye.
Old Mrs. Sun loved her son so much that even when she was having porridge, she would scoop a bowl of thick porridge from the pot for her son.
Tian Meixiang walked out of the house and added a lot of black medicinal herbs in.
The expressions on the faces of several children were instantly replaced by disappointment. They already knew that there was no share for them in the bone soup.
For dinner, we had corn steamed buns and steamed potato shreds seasoned with salt, and there was not a drop of oil on the table.
After dinner, Sun Zhaodi washed her younger brother's diaper and then helped take care of him.
At night, when Sun Zhaodi was lying in bed, she suddenly thought of her female classmate named Lin Jiangjiang. Lin Jiangjiang's mother was so kind to her. She would take her to eat shepherd's purse wontons and prepare a hearty lunch for her. She was also a doctor in the county hospital. It would be great if that was her mother.
When Sun Zhaodi arrived at school the next morning, she saw other students handing in their homework. Then she remembered that Teacher Tian had assigned them homework before school ended yesterday afternoon.
Sun Zhaodi became flustered in an instant. She glanced at Li Yanhong who was collecting homework, and hurriedly took out a pencil and notebook from her schoolbag, recalling what homework Teacher Tian had assigned them yesterday.
Sun Zhaodi's movements did not escape the eyes of her deskmate Liu Weihong. She stared at her and said in a sharp and exaggerated voice, "Oh my God?! Didn't you do your homework when you got home yesterday?"
Several classmates gathered around instantly, as if they had discovered something extraordinary. The commotion here also attracted Li Yanhong's attention. Their eyes fell on Sun Zhaodi's head. She felt her cheeks burning and she was filled with shame.
Sun Zhaodi felt some resentment towards Liu Weihong. Why did you say it out loud?
Seeing that the class time was almost up, Li Yanhong was also organizing the collected homework. The more anxious Sun Zhaodi became, the worse she wrote. They had just learned to write with a pen, and she exerted too much force, and the pencil broke with a "snap".
Sun Zhaodi was really about to cry.
It was like a house leaking when it rained all night. Sun Zhaodi was frantically trying to find a pencil sharpener, and then she saw Lin Jiangjiang in the front row handing her a pencil, "Use mine first."
Sun Zhaodi wiped away the tears of anxiety, took the pencil and continued to write. She saw that she had written a wrong word, and with a "swoosh", a big hole was torn in the thin homework paper.
“Woo woo…”
Sun Zhaodi couldn't help but lie down and cry.
The commotion attracted more people to come and watch. This group of six or seven-year-old elementary school students looked at her as if they had discovered something new, but most of them were just there to laugh at her.
By the way, I reminded myself in my heart that I must remember to do my homework on time in the future, otherwise it would be too embarrassing to be watched by so many people.
"Student Sun Zhaodi, please stop crying. I will help you write it."
As soon as Jiang Jiang said this, all the students present fell silent. No one expected that a classmate would stand up to help Sun Zhaodi at this time. A few students even lowered their heads, reflecting on whether they had gone too far in mocking Sun Zhaodi just now.
Sun Zhaodi looked up and found that it was Lin Jiangjiang who was speaking. She wiped her nose and tears and nodded as if she had seen a savior.
"good."
Jiang Jiang took her notebook, gently erased the wrong word on it with an eraser, and continued writing.
In fact, Teacher Tian didn't assign much homework, but Sun Zhaodi was too anxious and excited and kept making spelling mistakes. Plus, she was not used to holding a pen to write, which wasted time. It took about ten minutes for Jiang Jiang to help her finish the homework.
Li Yanhong glanced at his watch, and only after Jiang Jiang put down her pen did he walk over to collect Sun Zhaodi's homework.
Jiang Jiang looked up at him and said, "Thank you."
"Teacher Tian just told me to hand in my homework to her office before class."
Sun Zhaodi looked at the homework books collected by Li Yanhong. She finally handed them in on time. She felt relieved but also a little worried. Would Teacher Tian find out that the homework was not written by her?
——
After school in the morning, Teacher Tian called the anxious Sun Zhaodi to his office alone.
The office is on the far left of a row of cave dwellings. Inside is a large table surrounded by several small desks. The layout is very simple. Teachers sit here to prepare lessons and correct homework.
When Sun Zhaodi entered, Teacher Tian was the only one in the office.
Teacher Tian had a sullen face, and in front of her was the homework she had handed in this morning.
Sun Zhaodi's heart sank. It seemed that Teacher Tian had noticed that this homework was not completed by her.
"Sun Zhaodi, did you complete the homework by yourself?"
After Teacher Tian asked this question, Sun Zhaodi suddenly panicked. She bit her lower lip, couldn't help but let her tears flow out, and shook her head like a rattle.
Teacher Tian sighed and said, "Forget it, you go back first."
"Complete your own homework from now on. Teachers don't like dishonest children."
Sun Zhaodi didn't know how she walked out of the office.
Tears streamed down my face.
She couldn't help but blame Jiang Jiang in her heart.
Why did she bother to help her with her homework? Teacher Tian must think she is a dishonest and bad student now.
"Sun Zhaodi, are you okay?"
When Jiang Jiang saw Sun Zhaodi being called out by the teacher, he realized that something was wrong, so he waited at the door without eating the meal he got from the cafeteria.
When Sun Zhaodi saw Jiang Jiang, she suddenly became furious. She did not answer Jiang Jiang's question and even nudged her with her elbow as she walked past her.
Jiang Jiang staggered after being knocked around.
She looked at Sun Zhaodi's back without turning back, sighed, and took the initiative to go to Teacher Tian's office.
"Teacher Tian, I am here to admit my mistake. I am primarily responsible for what happened to Sun Zhaodi. She is innocent. If you want to punish me, please punish me."
"Did you help Sun Zhaodi write her homework?"
Although Teacher Tian asked this, she had already noticed that Sun Zhaodi's homework was written by Jiang Jiang. Jiang Jiang's handwriting was very easy to recognize. Most of the students wrote stiffly when they first started writing. Except for Li Yanhong, Jiang Jiang did the best homework in the class. His handwriting was clear, neat and beautiful. However, Teacher Tian did not expect Jiang Jiang to come forward and admit it, and take all the responsibility on himself.
Teacher Tian pondered for more than ten seconds and said, "Then you will stand at the door of the office for half an hour as punishment."
After all, everyone has to pay the price for their mistakes.
"I understand, Mr. Tian."
Jiang Jiang then went to stand at the door as a punishment. It was now time to go home from school and there were still a lot of people outside. Some students saw someone being punished and came over to join in the fun.
Although Jiang Jiang felt ashamed of being punished by standing, she felt even more uncomfortable with her stomach. After a whole morning of classes, she was already starving. She had not eaten before coming here, so she felt very hungry. She felt that this half hour was particularly unbearable.
She lowered her head and silently counted in her mind to divert her attention. Who knew that just as she was counting, she heard someone calling her name, "Jiang Jiang?"
Jiang Jiang looked up and saw Xie Jinyan.
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