Chapter 80 Chapter 80 Confused

The red sun slowly sets in the west, and the rays of light fall on the camphor trees on Guanghua Street, making the backs of the pedestrians returning home look very long.

Shi Shuwen and Xia Wei played by stepping on each other's shadows. When they reached the door of their home, they raised their necks as usual to smell the aroma of food in the air.

"I guess there will be fish today." Xia Wei said what Shi Shuwen wanted to guess first, so Shi Shuwen could only change his guess and said, "Then I guess there will be potatoes."

This is a bet the two of them make before entering the house every day. The loser has to carry the other's schoolbag after school the next day.

For example, neither of them guessed correctly yesterday, so today each of them has their own backpack.

"I will definitely miss the meals Aunt Wang Nian cooks during the summer vacation." Xia Wei sighed.

Shi Shuwen pulled out the house key from his collar, inserted it into the keyhole, and sighed as he turned it: "If I were you, I would also miss the meals my mother cooked."

"What if you get admitted to a university in another city?"

"Then I will test... Sister Yuehua?"

Shi Shuwen was surprised to see the people sitting in the yard. Then he saw the injuries on their faces. He was so shocked that he forgot to say hello to Shi Jun.

"Shuwen is out of school." Shi Yuehua wanted to smile, but the corner of her lips twisted and her face moved. She immediately grimaced in pain, and her expression looked extremely ugly.

"Hmm... Hmm." Shi Shuwen nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the steam coming out of the kitchen and immediately turned around and called out, "Mom."

"You and Xia Wei should do your homework first. It took some time to make brown sugar today, so dinner will be later." Wang Nian's voice came from afar.

“Homework is done at school.”

"Then come and help mom pick vegetables."

"Oh..." Shi Shuwen put down his schoolbag, and a figure beside him walked into the kitchen.

It’s my eldest cousin Shi Jun.

"Aunt, what vegetables do you want to pick? I'll do it."

Shi Shuwen was a little surprised. In his memory, Shi Jun was either arrogant and domineering, or bossing his grandmother and aunt around.

As long as they stayed away, their cousin would basically ignore him and his sister.

Anyway, no matter what kind of person Shi Jun is, he is not the kind of person who would take the initiative to help with housework like he did today.

When Shi Shuwen walked into the kitchen, Shi Jun was already sitting on a small stool picking celery. Although his movements looked clumsy, he was indeed helping.

"You two watch the pot and don't let the soup spill out." Wang Nian assigned tasks to the two children without even raising his head.

The chicken soup cooked in a beehive coal stove is basically the same as a low fire as long as the lid is put on, and no one needs to watch over it.

Shi Shuwen understood that his mother was simply trying to fulfill their wish to help.

"You watch the fire, I'll go help Brother Jun pick vegetables." Shi Shuwen decided.

The two brothers had nothing to say to each other when they lived under the same roof before, and now that they were sitting face to face, Shi Shuwen didn't know how to start a conversation.

I wanted to ask him how his face got hurt, and why he came home...

After thinking for a long time, she finally looked up and smiled awkwardly at him, then quickly looked away and picked up the celery.

"I heard from Uncle San that you are going to take the high school entrance exam soon this year, right?"

Unexpectedly, it was Shi Jun who started talking first. Although his tone was still a little dry, it could be heard that he had deliberately lowered his voice.

"I have passed the independent enrollment of No. 2 Middle School."

"What is independent enrollment?" Shi Jun didn't even graduate from junior high school and had no exposure to this aspect.

So Shi Shuwen explained to him in detail the difference between independent enrollment and the high school entrance examination. He spoke very seriously and had no intention of just passing it on.

This personality...is similar to Shi Xiangming's.

Wang Nian watched quietly, and waited until Shi Shuwen finished speaking before asking, "What does your teacher say about the high school entrance exam? Will you still participate?"

"The teacher hopes that Xia Wei and I can both take the high school entrance exam."

Shi Shuwen had originally intended to talk about this with Wang Nian when he came back today, but he immediately forgot about it when he saw Shi Jun and Shi Yuehua.

Although they have passed the independent enrollment of No. 2 Middle School, the high school entrance examination is related to the calculation of the school's admission rate. As students of the older age group, they are responsible for raising the school's reputation.

Moreover... this also involves the issue of bonuses.

"The teacher said that if we can get first place in the city's high school entrance exam, we can get a bonus of 5,000 yuan, and the second to fifth place will get 3,000 yuan... Xia Wei and I are both going to participate."

As long as No. 8 Middle School can produce two students in the top ten in the high school entrance examination, it will greatly help to enhance the school's reputation.

"Even if you don't want to get into a good school, you can't let your guard down."

The three children in the family all grew up in Changshenggou and have become accustomed to the spicy food there, so all the dishes have to be a little spicy.

When Wang Nian went to visit her parents-in-law during the Chinese New Year, she found that most of the food at her parents-in-law's house was salty and sweet, so she specially prepared two extra dishes without chili for Shi Jun and his sister for dinner tonight.

Sweet and sour spare ribs is a representative sweet and sour dish of Anhuai.

Wang Nian was chopping pork ribs while talking to Shi Shuwen, and at the same time he had to pay attention to the chicken soup in the pot.

"Mom, after the exam, I want to go to the market with Xia Wei to buy some dried vegetables."

Shi Shuwen told Wang Nian about the plan he had discussed with Xia Wei.

After the high school entrance exam, there was a full two-month vacation without any homework. The two of them couldn't stay idle at home and discussed what to do during the summer vacation on the way home from school every day.

With the experience of selling cherries last time, the two of them thought of reselling vegetables.

"Selling vegetables?" Wang Nian smiled and said the name of the market across the street without thinking: "Go to Guanghua Agricultural Market to sell?"

"Do you think it's feasible?" Shi Shuwen nodded and asked Wang Nian for his opinion.

He thought his mother would definitely support him unconditionally, but Wang Nian shook her head and said, "Not feasible."

"Why?" they both asked at the same time.

"The stalls in the market are all fixed stalls that you have to rent for a fee. You definitely can't rent one..."

Just add ginger and scallions to the fresh ribs and marinate them for a while. Wang Nian turned around and took the chopping board down from the wall, and continued explaining while cutting tomatoes.

There are at least 20 to 30 small stalls selling vegetables outside the market. Selling vegetables can be said to be the least competitive form of business.

What's more, their wholesale sales cannot compete with the vegetables freshly picked from their own vegetable gardens, so the cost is much higher.

"Then we'll go to the cinema and polish shoes for people." Shi Shuwen immediately made another decision. Xia Wei nodded: "We can polish shoes or run errands. As long as we can make money, we won't be ashamed..."

Don’t—think—it’s—embarrassing.

These four words pierced Shi Jun's heart word by word. He stared blankly at his two younger brothers who were several years younger than him, and a bitterness that he couldn't explain welled up in his throat.

Even a child could understand this truth, but he didn't finally take it to heart until he was eighteen years old.

"Then Auntie will find you a job." Wang Nian raised her eyebrows, raised her knife and pointed at the hole in the kitchen that had just been dug in the morning but had not yet been installed with a door: "Do you see our shop?"

"Mom, you want to open a shop!" Shi Shuwen immediately understood.

"How about you help me with the store business for the next two months and I'll pay you a salary?"

"I will definitely come to help. How can I ask Auntie for money?" Xia Wei patted his chest and promised: "Just provide meals."

After eating at Shi Shuwen's house for three months, Wang Nian only charged a symbolic amount for the meal, and Xia Wei was always grateful.

Now is the chance to repay his gratitude, so how could he ask his aunt for money?

"We'll talk about the wages when the time comes." Wang Nian originally wanted to ask Shi Jun to give the celery to Shi Shuwen to wash, but when he turned around and saw it, he was speechless.

No one knew what Shi Jun was thinking, he actually tore the celery into strips.

Looking at the celery rolls scattered all over the floor, I have been distracted for quite some time.

"Shuwen, go to the backyard and pick some more celery."

This is the consequence of being careless.

Wang Nian quickly glanced at the clay pot on the Fengfengwo stove, thought about it and decided to lift the lid and stir it himself.

***

"Let's eat!"

The last dish of stir-fried loofah was served on the table, and Wang Nian called on the people who were all watching Shi Xiangming's eyes to start eating.

Without Shi Feiying asking questions during meals and Shi Wanying and her brother's laughter, the kitchen always felt chilly.

Shi Yuehua hadn't seen meat for a month, so as soon as Shi Xiangming started to eat, she immediately picked up the sweet and sour pork ribs with chopsticks and put them into her mouth.

Since the third uncle's family left after paying New Year's greetings, grandpa announced that the living expenses would be increased to 60 yuan per month, and the rent for the room where Shi Yuehua lived would also be 10 yuan.

Shi Yuehua was sure at the time that her parents were reluctant to spend that money.

Sure enough...they started cooking at home and Shi Yuehua moved back home to sleep in the living room.

In the past, Shi Yuehua always felt that her parents were partial to her eldest brother, but after returning home to live, she found that they were either partial... or selfish.

After eating at home for a month, Hu Xiumei found that 60 yuan was far from enough to cover the food expenses for a family of four, or to be exact, for a family of three.

Because my eldest brother eats nine out of ten meals out, there are only three of us at home.

After discovering this problem, Shi Xiangqian and Hu Xiumei came up with an idea to let Shi Yuehua go back to her grandparents' house for dinner. There was no way the old couple would kick their granddaughter out.

Shi Yuehua was so proud that she would rather go hungry than go to her grandparents' house for a meal.

Shi Xiangqian then forced Shi Yuehua to hand over the money she had saved from work as living expenses... If the money was not handed over, the family would not be able to eat meat.

Even the neighbors who lived only across a wall could not imagine the lengths to which the parents would go to force their own daughter.

The sweet and sour spare ribs taste sweet and sour, with the meaty aroma and sweet and sour sauce filling the gaps between the teeth.

As she was chewing, Shi Yuehua suddenly felt a sour nose, as if the sour taste of the meat rushed to her eye sockets, and gradually she could not even see the dishes on the table clearly.

When she was little, she thought her cousin was a poor person, but today she suddenly realized that she was the most pitiful one.

"The ribs don't taste good?" Wang Nian glanced at the food and immediately noticed that Shi Yuehua lowered her head and shed big tears into the bowl. He quickly added a piece of chicken: "If the ribs don't taste good, eat chicken."

"I just...I just don't know what to do next."

The crying expressed the child's complete disappointment in his parents as well as his confusion and helplessness about the future.

At the saddest and most confused moment, she never thought that she would cry out loud in her uncle's house, but the table full of delicious dishes clearly told Shi Yuehua that this was just a short resting place.

"Didn't your uncle say he would send you to learn hairdressing?" Wang Nian put down his chopsticks and patted her shoulder to comfort her: "As long as you study hard, you can open a barber shop in the future... Aunt San will definitely take care of your business first."

"But I want to..." Shi Yuehua sobbed, the flame of wanting to be a singing star in her heart had not yet been extinguished.

"Forget about singing." Shi Jun interrupted her coldly, interrupting her sister's dream: "As long as you can sing a sentence in tune, I will support you to continue to participate in the singing competition. Tell me honestly...how do you sing?"

Shi Yuehua remained silent.

I am usually very confident when practicing at home, but once I pick up the microphone, the sound coming out of the stereo is really harsh.

It was so harsh...even Shi Yuehua herself found it unpleasant.