After reciting, Xiao Shuangning held her head high, looking very proud. "Brother, did you hear it clearly? Is there a typo?"
"I knew that Ningning was the best. Now do you know what a Huangli is?" Xiao Youchen did not forget to praise Xiao Shuangning.
"Oriole? Oriole? Two orioles singing in the green willows? Huh? Brother, why are you calling me a bird? I'm a human being, and I don't want to be one of those chirping birds, like the sparrows outside our house, whose chirping is so annoying."
Xiao Shuangning pouted, as if she was not happy that Xiao Youchen compared her to an oriole.
When Xiao Youchen heard this, he covered his mouth and laughed.
"Ningning! It seems that when we go back later, I will have to give you some good tutoring. I am not comparing you to a bird, but the oriole's voice is beautiful, so I use this as an analogy to say that your voice is beautiful. This is a very simple metaphor, and it is not a bad thing."
"Oh!" Xiao Shuangning nodded awkwardly. Only then did she realize that the teacher seemed to have explained it before.
This little Shuang Ning wasn't actually stupid, and Tianzi wasn't bad either. It was just that, compared to little Youchen, she was a bit more playful and less self-disciplined. If it weren't for little Youchen's supervision, she'd probably have wasted her brilliant brain.
"Okay, Ningning, don't be unhappy. If you don't understand something in the future, just come and ask me. I'm hoping you can catch up quickly so we can study in the same grade and get into the county's key middle school together."
"Um!"
"Okay, you play first. I'll fill up the water and catch you some shrimp, crabs, and snails. I'll have Mom fry them for you to eat in the evening."
"Great! Great!" Xiao Shuangning clapped her hands and cheered, "Brother, are you tired? How about I add the rest of the water?" Xiao Shuangning said, walking to Xiao Youchen, ready to hide from the ladle in his hand.
"No need. This kind of hard work is for boys. How can I let you do it? Go and have fun."
"But why - Mom does all the work. Isn't she a girl? Why are there no boys to help her?" Xiao Shuangning pouted and lowered her head unhappily.
"Because Daddy is not around! If he were here, he wouldn't let Mom do so much heavy work. So, we have to study harder. When we have money, Mom won't have to do all this heavy work anymore. Of course, if we can get into the key middle school in the county soon, Daddy will come back, and then Mom won't have to do heavy work anymore."
Although Xiao Youchen's logic seemed far-fetched on the surface, it was what he really thought. He took Shumei's words to heart, believing that if he could get into the county middle school sooner, his father would be able to return home sooner.
Xiao Shuangning nodded vigorously, squatted down by the river and slapped the water with her hands.
Xiao Youchen continued to add water from the river to the fields one scoop at a time.
No one knew who gave him superhuman consciousness, but he actually thought of skipping grades to get into the county middle school faster so that he could see his father earlier and save some tuition for his family.
But he didn't want to distance himself from Xiao Shuangning, so he forced Xiao Shuangning to study hard with him. He found a higher-level book from the scrap yard and started to study on his own. When he didn't understand something, he would ask the teacher for help.
As the sun set, Xiao Youchen finally filled the rice paddy with water, just as he had promised Xiao Shuangning. He rolled up his trousers and went down to the river, catching shrimp, crabs, and snails in the grass along the bank and on the riverbed for Xiao Shuangning.
He dug out big, red shrimps from the mud holes, and soon filled a big bag with them.
Little Shuangning looked at the rich harvest with a happy smile on her face. She picked up the things that Xiao Youchen had found in the river and put them into her pocket one by one.
"Ningning, be careful, don't get caught."
"Brother, why are you nagging me like mom? It's not the first time I've touched these things, so it's not that easy for them to hurt me!"
Xiao Shuangning grabbed a large, red shrimp, tightly gripping its back and holding it high in the air, laughing as she spoke. The shrimp struggled in her hands, its two large red claws waving frantically.
She was so proud that she didn't pay attention when putting the shrimps into the bag, and the shrimps in the bag took the opportunity to pinch her fingers.
She cried out in pain and threw the bag she was holding in her other hand.
Xiao Youchen, who had just buried his head, was startled when he heard Xiao Shuangning's voice. He raised his head and saw that Xiao Shuangning was trapped. He quickly climbed out of the river.
"Ningning, are you okay?"
"Brother, it hurts, it hurts."
The shrimp claws were very tight, and the harder she pulled, the more painful her fingers felt. Her fingers were pierced by the thorns on the shrimp claws during the pulling.
Xiao Youchen stumbled over to her, grabbed her fingers, and swiftly controlled the shrimp. In order to prevent the shrimp from pinching Xiao Shuangning, he broke the shrimp clamp with force and successfully removed it from Xiao Shuangning's fingers.
When the shrimp claws were taken away, a few blood beads instantly appeared on Xiao Shuangning's fingers.
Xiao Youchen felt heartbroken when he saw this and wiped the blood off Xiao Shuangning's fingers with the back of his clothes.
"Look! I just told you to be careful, and in the blink of an eye it's turned out like this. Does it hurt?"
"Brother, you are a jinx. Why didn't I get pinched before? It's all your fault." Xiao Shuangning pouted angrily, blaming Xiao Youchen for scolding her, which caused her to get pinched.
"Okay, okay, blame me now! Let's go home and stop catching them. This much is more than enough for you to eat."
Xiao Youchen doted on Xiao Shuangning. No matter how unreasonable or unreasonable she was, he always gave in. It was also because of Xiao Youchen's doting that the timid and submissive Xiao Shuangning became lively and cheerful.
Xiao Youchen scratched Xiao Shuangning's nose and took all the blame on himself. Only then did Xiao Shuangning stop pouting and smiled instantly.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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