Chapter 21 Washing dishes won't delay your studies
Li Hongbin put down his chopsticks when he saw Xiaoxi had almost finished eating. "Honesty is the basic principle of being a human being. I can't control other people's children, but my children, Li Hongbin's, must be honest. You all remember this, do you understand?" His voice was sonorous and powerful.
Xiaoxi and Li Wenhua both hurriedly replied that they heard it. Li Wenting nodded with her head down.
Qin Lan listened and hesitated to speak. Li Hongbin ignored Qin Lan and continued, "I don't want such things to happen in our family in the future. Li Wenting, you have to apologize to Xiaoxi."
Li Wenting was stunned for a moment, and then buried her head in Qin Lan's arms.
Qin Lan quickly hugged Li Wenting's head, "Okay, Hongbin, let's do this today, and don't do it this way in the future. If you keep talking, how can Tingting face people in the future?"
"You, you will hurt her like this." Li Hongbin was furious. He only knew that Qin Lan doted on Li Wenting before, but he didn't know that it was this way of doting.
Before he could say anything else, he heard someone walk into the yard, "Your family is here, eating?" The person
who came was a neatly dressed middle-aged woman in her forties. When she came in and saw this scene, she was stunned, but soon her face returned to normal. When she saw Xiaoxi, she immediately reacted, "This is your little girl, oh, this little girl looks exactly like you, Qin Lan. It's good that she's back now." She smiled and sighed.
Li Hongbin called her sister-in-law when he saw her, and then said to Xiaoxi, "This is the auntie who lives next door, call her auntie."
Xiaoxi stood up and called her auntie.
"Sister-in-law, why are you here?" Qin Lan finally reacted and let go of Li Wenting.
"I went to the sea today and caught a lot of fish and shrimps. I brought some for you." Sun Ying said as she put down the bamboo basket in her hand, "Bring a big porcelain basin to put them in."
Li Hongbin heard this and hurried to the kitchen to get a big porcelain basin.
Sun Ying walked over and touched Xiaoxi's head, "This little lady is so pretty. I really envy you two ladies. Unlike my family, there are three bad boys. Come to your auntie's house some other day, and your auntie will make you delicious food."
Xiaoxi felt close to Sun Ying when she saw her. She smiled and nodded.
Li Hongbin poured out the fish and shrimps in the basket. They were still alive and kicking, making clattering sounds in the basin, and looked very fresh.
"Use water to keep them fresh and cook them tomorrow." Sun Ying left after giving her instructions.
After being interrupted by Sun Ying, Li Wenting's apology was left unresolved.
However, Li Hongbin and Qin Lan entered into a cold war.
That night, no one knew what Li Hongbin said to Qin Lan, but Xiaoxi heard a quarrel coming from the master bedroom.
On the other hand, Sun Ying returned home and said to Teacher Chen who was sitting on the sofa watching TV, "Mr. Chen, have you seen the daughter of the Li family? They look exactly like her." Teacher Chen
took a long time to react to what Sun Ying was saying, and became interested, "Oh? Have you seen her?"
"That's right. That girl has grown up really well. She has all the good qualities of Xiao Li and his wife. But she is so thin that it makes people feel sad just looking at her. There is even a wound on her forehead. I guess she had a hard life in the past. If it were me, I would be heartbroken." As she spoke, tears welled up in Sun Ying's eyes. "You didn't see that her little face was swollen, and there was a slap mark."
Commander Chen was shocked when he heard it. "Who beat her? Was it that brat Xiao Li? How could a grown man like that beat a child?"
"I think the child and Xiao Li are very close. I'm afraid it was Qin Lan who beat her." Sun Ying thought.
"Qin Lan doesn't look like someone who would beat a child." Teacher Chen was very puzzled. "Hey, you should take care of the child more often. This child is pitiful."
"Need you to tell me that? We can't interfere in other people's family affairs. We can only take care of him more often."
******
The next day, Xiaoxi got up early as usual and washed herself by the well in the yard.
The swelling on her face had subsided a lot. Maybe the ointment that Li Hongbin gave her last night was very useful.
Xiaoxi brushed her teeth carefully, avoiding the wound on her face. Then she saw Sun Ying in the yard next to her on the left waving at her.
Xiaoxi quickly brushed her teeth and ran over, "Good morning, Auntie."
Sun Ying looked at Xiaoxi lovingly and handed her a bowl of fried scallion pancakes, "Auntie, I fried too much this morning, you can eat it, eat more to grow taller."
The courtyard wall was very low, just up to Xiaoxi's waist. Sun Ying had already handed the bowl to this side of the wall.
In Xiaoxi's original world, a bowl of scallion pancakes was a gift that could not be accepted casually. She was a little at a loss.
Sun Ying seemed to see Xiaoxi's embarrassment, and smiled, "Take it quickly, I'm tired of holding the bowl."
After hearing this, Xiaoxi could no longer hesitate, and hurriedly stepped forward to take it, "Thank you, Auntie."
"That's right, this pancake should be eaten while it's hot." Sun Ying smiled and said and went into the house.
The aroma of scallion pancakes penetrated Xiaoxi's nostrils wantonly, and Xiaoxi swallowed her saliva.
As she was walking into the house with the bowl, she saw Qin Lan walking down the stairs. "Where did this come from?"
Xiaoxi paused and pointed to the left. "The aunt next door gave it to me."
Qin Lan nodded, and felt a little uncomfortable when she saw the wound on Xiaoxi's face. "I'll steam some corns later, and you can take them with you when you return the bowl."
Xiaoxi looked at Qin Lan in surprise. She didn't expect that she would understand these interpersonal relationships. She was worried that she would be embarrassed to return an empty bowl later.
Qin Lan lit the fire to cook, and Xiaoxi helped wash the corn and rice. She didn't want to help Qin Lan, but she was just in habit and did the work unconsciously. Of course, another reason was that she wanted the corn to be cooked quickly so that she could send it to the aunt next door.
With Xiaoxi's help, the Li family had breakfast earlier than usual today.
Li Wenhua went downstairs smelling the fragrance, with a head of hair like a chicken's nest. When she saw the hot scallion pancakes and corn in the nest, her eyes lit up, "Is the sun rising from the west today? Second sister, did you make this scallion pancake?"
"The aunt next door gave it to me." Xiaoxi shook her head.
Li Wenhua's eyes lit up even more.
Xiaoxi carefully picked up the corn in the pot with chopsticks and put it into the Chen family's bowl. A total of six corns were cooked, and there was no room for four. Xiaoxi gave up, said something to Qin Lan, and went out.
The gate of Chen's house was open. Xiaoxi stood at the door and called out "Auntie".
Sun Ying was cleaning the house. When she heard Xiaoxi's voice, she hurriedly called her in.
Sun Ying took the bowl and smiled, "Your mother is so polite."
Xiaoxi put down the bowl and prepared to leave, but was stopped by Sun Ying. Something was stuffed into her pocket before she was let go.
Xiaoxi went out of the yard and saw that it was White Rabbit Candy. During the Chinese New Year last year, the richest family in Xia Village had set it out to entertain guests. Xia Hui showed off the candy she got in front of her. When
she got home, Qin Lan, Li Wenhua and Li Wenting were already sitting at the table eating.
The scallion pancakes and two corns on the table were gone, leaving only white porridge, eggs and buns.
Xiaoxi touched her pocket and decided that she would keep all the candy for herself.
She sat down quietly and saw Li Wenting's slightly proud look. She calmly took a bun and ate it slowly. Even without scallion pancakes and corn, egg buns were still good.
Xiaoxi ate two buns, two eggs and a bowl of porridge without changing her expression. She understood that she should not be deprived of food.
Li Wenhua looked at Xiaoxi in amazement.
Xiaoxi ignored Li Wenhua and prepared to go upstairs to read after eating.
As soon as Xiaoxi stepped onto the stairs, she heard Qin Lan say behind her: "Xiaoxi, please help clean up the table and dishes. I want to braid Tingting's hair."
Xiaoxi paused. She turned her head to look at Li Wenting, who was already sitting on the sofa and looking at her proudly, and Li Wenhua, who was about to slip out.
"My dad told me to study hard."
Qin Lan frowned, very unhappy: "I asked you to wash the dishes and you want to study. It takes you so long to wash the dishes?" She saw Xiaoxi helping her make breakfast this morning and thought she would agree to do the housework, but she didn't expect her to say that.
Xiaoxi smiled and said, "Then you can wash the dishes after you finish your hair, or wash the dishes before you do your hair. Washing the dishes won't delay your hair, and hair-tying won't delay washing the dishes."
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