Chapter 247 Symposium
Xu Shihua suffered from insomnia for the first time.
In the past, when he and Lu Hehuan had conflicts, he was the only one who went on a cold war, and Lu Hehuan shamelessly ignored his cold war and pestered him until he gave her a good face.
This time, Lu Hehuan and he were both in a cold war.
The next morning, Xu Shihua woke up with dark circles under his eyes, looking very haggard, but Lu Hehuan didn't seem to be affected much. She looked in good spirits and was obviously sleeping soundly.
Xu Shihua walked past her, trying to stimulate her and let her take the initiative to show her goodwill, but the result disappointed him. Lu Hehuan acted as if she didn't see him and didn't intend to pay any attention to him at all.
After Lu Hehuan finished washing herself, she wiped her son's face, and then lit a fire for Xu Xiaoyou to wash.
When breakfast was ready, Lu Hehuan brought out some egg custard, scooped out a bowl to cool it down, and gave half a bowl to Xu Xiaoyou, and half a bowl to Kuai Kuai.
When Xu's mother saw that there was no breakfast for Xu Yaoyao, she immediately started to yell.
Lu Hehuan glared at her, "Don't you eat enough at home every day?"
Xu's mother: "What are you doing? Are you scolding us for cheating? Every day I..." "
Shut up, it's annoying enough to keep complaining every day." Lu Hehuan didn't give Xu's mother any face at all.
Xu's mother's eyes widened as if she had seen a ghost. She turned around and cried to Xu Shihua, "Shihua, look at her."
In the past, Lu Hehuan had always respected her and would not be rude to her. It was Xu Xiaoyou who had a fight with her directly. She did not expect Lu Hehuan to openly provoke her now.
Xu's mother asked her son to hold his back.
Xu Shihua glared at Lu Hehuan in dissatisfaction and wanted to say something to her, but Lu Hehuan turned around and gave him a slap on the back of his head, ignoring him.
Xu Shihua: "..."
He felt like he was going to be mad to death.
During the whole breakfast, Lu Hehuan ignored Xu Shihua. After the meal, she gave Xu Xiaoyou a few words and went to work.
Looking at Lu Hehuan's back as she left, Xu's mother wiped her tears and said, "Shihua, look at her. I've said she's not a good person. Back then..."
Xu Xiaoyou slammed the bowl on the table and said loudly, "Look at yourself. You're always complaining about others behind my back! You've torn apart any family!"
After saying that, she glared at Xu Shihua angrily, as if to say, "If you hit me again, I'll burn down my house and make you sleep on the street. "
Xu's mother naturally started scolding her again and encouraged Xu Shihua to hit her, but Xu Shihua was so angry that he couldn't eat and didn't hit the girl again.
He was also very angry last night, and it was the first time he slapped the girl. He felt bad but couldn't bring himself to apologize.
Xu Yaoyao hid behind the door frame of the east room, feeling a little guilty, because he knew that his father and stepmother quarreled because of him.
Although his father still protected him, he could feel that this time the matter was a bit serious.
He just wanted to catch a wasp to sting his brother. In the past, he not only caught ants to bite his brother, but also picked up chilies and threw them at his brother.
In the summer, there are many chilies on poplar trees and other trees. They are yellow-green in color and have poisonous stings. If you touch them, they will sting the hairy parts and cause a big swelling.
He took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention and picked up one with a small stick and threw it at Kuai Kuai. As a result, the little fool picked it up and stuffed it into his mouth, stung his mouth and swollen.
He just wanted to catch a few wasps and throw them to the little fool when he came back, so that he wouldn't be stung and his head would be covered with swelling.
Who knew that the wasp was not so easy to catch, and it stung him twice.
It hurt so much.
Xu Shihua saw him trying to look around, and asked him to come out to eat with a stern face.
Xu Yaoyao carefully sat down next to Xu's mother and glanced at Xu Xiaoyou quickly.
Xu Xiaoyou snorted heavily, she stood up, put on her schoolbag, and led Kuai Kuai to Lu's house.
Kuai Kuai turned around and waved to them, "Bye, bye."
But Xu Xiaoyou ignored them.
Xu's mother: "I can't live like this anymore."
Xu Shihua turned her head and looked at Xu Yaoyao, "Don't bully your brother anymore."
Xu Yaoyao felt very aggrieved, "I didn't, it was my sister who bullied me."
Xu's mother also protected him, "Don't listen to their nonsense, Yaoyao is a very honest child, how could he bully others?"
Xu Xiaoyou led Kuai Kuai to Lu's house, walked for a while on the way, carried him for a while, and met Lu An and Hou Bo at the intersection. They directly took Kuai Kuai and helped to send him home.
Panpan, Tiantian, and Hou Wei were also waiting for Xu Xiaoyou to go to school together.
Xu Xiaoyou saw that there was still some time, so he quietly told Lin Shu about the quarrel between his parents.
Lin Shu didn't take it seriously, after all, Lu Hehuan and Xu Shihua often quarreled and made up in the blink of an eye.
However, when Xu Xiaoyou said that this time it was because Xu Yaoyao wanted to hurt Kuai Kuai and Lu Hehuan were very angry, Lin Shu's expression became serious, which was different from before.
Lin Shu: "Xiaoyou, do you have evidence or... guess?"
Xu Xiaoyou: "I have evidence that he caught ants to bite Kuai Kuai, but there was no wasp this time, but I suspect he just wanted to sting Kuai Kuai."
Kuai Kuai was chewing a fat peach, and when he heard his sister say his name, he thought he was calling him, so he looked up and smiled at them.
"Kuai Kuai, Youyou, Panpan, Tiantian, Houhou, Mianmian."
Hou Wei: "Brother!"
Kuai Kuai: "Brother Houhou."
Sister Lin was also surprised to hear Xu Xiaoyou say that, and she couldn't believe it, "How old is that child? He can't be so..." bad.
Fang's mother said, "Look at his grandmother who is always complaining about everything. She has really taught a good child blindly. If she continues like this, the child will really be taught badly by his grandmother."
Young people have little experience and don't feel it. Fang's mother has lived for 90 years and has seen the endings of many people from birth to death. She feels like she is standing on a high place and watching others slide into the abyss.
Many children are also simple and cute when they are young. They may be a little naughty and naive and cruel. They have no sense of right and wrong and don't know what is right and wrong.
If adults guide them correctly and let them know what is right and wrong, even if they can't explain it rationally, they will use a serious attitude to let them know what is right and wrong, and even use a bowl of fried twigs to force them to remember what is right and wrong, at least tell them that they can't do this again next time, and they will be beaten if they do this.
But Xu's mother always protected Xu Yaoyao. No matter what mistakes he made, she not only did not criticize him, but also blamed those who criticized him. He even felt that his stepmother and sister were biased and deliberately bullied him.
How can this be good?
This child will definitely be crooked in the end.
When Grandma Fang heard this, she felt sorry for her grandson. She held Kuai Kuai, who was juicy and full of peach juice on his face and hands, in her arms, not minding the child's dirtiness at all.
She wiped Kuai Kuai with a handkerchief and said with a sullen face: "What does Xu Shihua do for a living? How can she be so used to children? If this goes on, we dare not let Kuai Kuai live with his brother."
Children are defenseless, who knows when they will be harmed by their own brother?
Sometimes ignorant children do even worse things.
Fang Dihua is also so old, so she has naturally seen a lot.
When she was a child, there were two little sisters in the village who took care of their younger brother. In order to prevent the younger brother from wetting the quilt, they tied up his penis with a thread, and ended up suffocating the younger brother to death.
A few years ago, there was a boy in another village who was angry that his mother favored his younger brother. When his mother was not paying attention, he covered his younger brother with a diaper, and his younger brother suffocated to death. When his mother asked him about it, he cried and said he wanted to play hide-and-seek with his younger brother.
Adults can't blame them at all, because they are only five or six years old, seven or eight years old.
The key is that these children don't regret killing their younger brothers and sisters, just like killing an ant or a chicken.
Fang Dihua thinks it is too terrible and too hateful.
If Xu Yaoyao really kills Kuai Kuai, it will be useless for adults to cry and scold.
Xu Xiaoyou just wants her grandmother and aunt to help mediate. She intuitively feels that she can't solve this problem by herself.
She can lose her temper with her father and grandmother, but she can't solve the problem of her eldest brother. Her father must take it seriously.
If she wants her father to take it seriously, her grandmother and her younger aunt must step in.
Lin Shu frowned slightly, but she didn't want to meddle in other people's business and correct Xu Yaoyao. She said to Fang Dihua, "Mom, why don't you let Xiaoyou and Kuai Kuai live in our house and don't go back."
Since Xu Shihua values his eldest son more and doesn't care about the life and death of his youngest son, then they shouldn't live together.
From the perspective of the Xu family and outsiders, she might be making a fuss. After all, Xu Yaoyao is just a child. He just threw ants at his younger brother, and he didn't do anything too extreme. Moreover, this time Xu Yaoyao caught a wasp and stung himself, and he didn't explicitly want to hurt his younger brother. They just concluded that Xu Yaoyao was a bad child, which was a bit too arbitrary.
But Lin Shu and Fang Dihua didn't want to reason with others. They wanted Kuai Kuai to let the child live here, and there was no problem. After all, Xu's mother hated the whole family. If she didn't like her daughter-in-
law, she wouldn't like this grandson either. Xu Shihua didn't seem to like her youngest son very much. Fang Dihua
nodded and agreed. She said to Xu Xiaoyou: "Xiaoyou, come here after school in the future, don't go home."
Whether Xu Yaoyao was naughty or really bad, Fang Dihua didn't want to gamble on the child's humanity, and didn't want to wait until something terrible happened and then cry and say "I knew it earlier."
Now the Lu family has enough food and drink, so there is no problem in raising Xu Xiaoyou and Kuai Kuai.
Xu Xiaoyou nodded, "Grandma, little aunt, then my brother and I will move in."
Although she couldn't say anything harsh, she had seen the look in Yaoyao's eyes when he looked at Kuai Kuai, and that look scared her.
Tiantian and Panpan were very happy, holding her hand, "Sister Xiaoyou, that's great, we can go to school together every day to do homework and play together in the future."
At this time, Cuicui ran out of the house with her schoolbag in her mouth, still holding a steamed bun in her mouth, and shouted vaguely, "We're late!" Tiantian
and the others heard it, and they also grabbed their schoolbags and ran away.
Hou Wei also lost his sandals and ran away. He picked them up but couldn't wear them, so he ran away with them.
Seeing this, Kuai Kuai pushed Fang Dihua's arm away and ran out, "Get up, get up..."
"Pah!" He ran too fast, and his left leg tripped and his right leg fell to the ground, and his head hit the ground first.
Lin Shu hurried over to pick him up, "Let me see if you have a big bump?"
Kuai Kuai covered his forehead with his two little hands, but he didn't cry. Instead, he shouted in horror, "Ha, dead."
Fortunately, he held his head with his little hands, so when he fell, his head didn't fall, but only a little oily skin on the back of his hand was broken.
Grandma Fang quickly took the ointment to apply on him.
Xu Xiaoyou and several children went to school, rushed into the classroom when the bell rang, and the head teacher standing at the door glared at them.
After class, Xu Xiaoyou ran to the office to find Lu Hehuan and told her that he and Kuai Kuai were going to live in his grandmother's house.
Lu Hehuan: "Why?"
Xu Xiaoyou: "My grandmother and my aunt let us live here, saying they were afraid Yaoyao would hurt Kuai Kuai again."
Kuai Kuai is stupid now. Even if others don't hurt him, he will hurt himself. For example, he would go to the well, lean on the edge of the water tank to look at his reflection, and dare to pick up the bugs and dried chicken shit on the ground and stuff them into his mouth.
Xu Yaoyao could push him into the water tank with a push, or deliberately give him messy things and he dared to eat them.
Lu Hehuan was angry this time because Xu Yaoyao hurt Kuai Kuai before but Xu Shihua didn't care. She was not very angry at first, but she was angry because Xu Shihua beat Xu Xiaoyou.
Even her stepmother had never beaten her daughter, so why did he, a biological father, beat her?
Besides, your son is born bad, why don't you beat him? For
some reason, all those things that she didn't care about in the past suddenly exploded this time, causing her and Xu Shihua to have a cold war.
She nodded, "Okay, then I'll go and stay for a few days."
So the three of them stayed at Lu's house. Kuai Kuai was the happiest, because he had someone to play with him all the time, which made him so happy.
The brothers and sisters also tied ropes to two trees in the yard, wrapped them with straw curtains, and everyone took turns to sit on the swings.
No child can refuse to swing!
Kuai Kuai especially likes it!
Every day at home, he would yell, causing the big white geese in Aunt Li's house next door to respond to him with their heads held high.
Xu Shihua wanted to ignore Lu Hehuan at first, thinking that he would have to teach her a lesson when Lu Hehuan came to make peace with him, but Lu Hehuan never came to him.
Xu Shihua stood on the street outside Lu's house several times, wanting to go over but couldn't bring himself to do so.
He even heard the clear laughter of his son, daughter, Panpan and Tiantian and wanted to go over to see them, but when he saw Lu's family, he hurriedly hid.
He was afraid that Fang Dihua or Lin Shu would scold him and he would lose face.
Fang Dihua, Lin Shu and others did not persuade Lu Hehuan, nor did they ask her how she planned to solve the problem. They just treated her as living in her mother's house.
Anyway, it was so close, so she could live there if she wanted.
Six or seven days passed in a blink of an eye. After a nap, Lin Shu and Grandma Fang took Lu Cuicui to make pickled eggplants.
The vegetable garden at home grew so well, especially the peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants, which were fruit-bearing. There was no way to eat all the fruits.
Lin Shu distributed a lot to the villagers and educated youth, but they still couldn't finish eating.
She picked a large basket of eggplants, washed them, cut them open, and steamed them in a pot. After steaming, let them cool and dry them in the shade to shrink the moisture, and then put the seasoned ingredients on them.
The ingredients are minced garlic, chopped coriander, chopped chili, etc.
Finally, put a layer of eggplant and a layer of salt in the pot, and you can eat it in two days.
If you like this, it will be delicious.
At this time, the phone rang. Lin Shu's hands were occupied, so she asked Lu Cuicui to answer the phone.
Lu Cuicui ran over quickly, picked up the phone, said hello, and turned back to shout: "Auntie, it's reporter Wei calling."
Lin Shu rubbed her hands and walked over, asking Lu Cuicui to help her hold the phone. Wei
Ling smiled and said, "Lin Shu, what delicious food are you making? I can smell it over the phone line."
Lin Shu also smiled, "You can smell it, but you still don't know what it is?"
After joking for a while, Wei Ling told her that she wanted to invite Sister Lin and Lu Hehuan to Qizhou for a literary and artistic symposium, and by the way, participate in the "grasp the revolution, promote production" field trip that will last for half a month to a month.
Lu Hehuan and Sister Lin would not receive invitations to such provincial activities, but Wei Ling asked the newspaper for two places.
As long as they are invited this time, they will be invited to similar activities in the future.
Gradually, the two will have a higher status and popularity in the circle.
Lin Shu called the elder sister in the west room, who was painting a task painting in the room.
Sister Lin also hurried over to answer the phone.
Wei Ling smiled and said, "During this meeting, I would like to recommend you and He Huan to join the Provincial Writers Association and the Artists Association. In the future, everyone should participate in more activities like this."
Sister Lin was very grateful to Wei Ling and said happily, "Thank you, reporter Wei. I, we will definitely go."
They are different from Lin Shu. They like to participate in such activities.
Wei Ling told them the time and place of the meeting, "You can come two days earlier. I will introduce a few friends to you and you can chat."
Such seminars, trainings, and field trips are all provided by the government with food and accommodation, and you only need to pay for your own travel expenses.
After hanging up the phone, elder sister Lin still couldn't believe it. She said to Lin Shu, "Little sister, do you think I am really qualified to attend this kind of meeting?"
Lin Shu: "Of course! You are very qualified!"
Since her sister wants to eat this bowl of rice, Lin Shu thinks that she should join organizations such as the China Artists Association and the Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
When Xu Xiaoyou and the other children come back, Lin Shu will ask them to call their sister-in-law to discuss things.
Lu Hehuan was writing an article at school. When she heard the children say that her sister-in-law came to talk to her about Xu Shihua, she thought she wanted to talk to her about Xu Shihua. She was a little resistant, wondering why her sister-in-law wanted to be a lobbyist for Xu Shihua?
When she got home, she heard Lin Shu talking about going to Qizhou for a meeting.
Lu Hehuan was also surprised, "Invite me?"
Lin Shu: "Yes, do you want to go?"
Lu Hehuan: "Of course I will!"
Nonsense, what is there to hesitate about?
But...she looked at Lin Shu and whispered: "Sister-in-law, are Xu Shihua going?"
Lin Shu glanced at her, "Do you still want to take him there?"
Lu Hehuan immediately looked upright and awe-inspiring, "No, I just want to see him. "Have you been invited?"
Lin Shu: "Then I don't know. Reporter Wei didn't invite him."
Lu Hehuan immediately showed a proud expression. He didn't expect that he would participate in the provincial meeting and Xu Shihua was not qualified to participate.
Xu Xiaoyou looked at her rippling expression and reminded, "Mom, this opportunity was given to you by Reporter Wei for the sake of my aunt. You must study hard and not waste the opportunity."
She could see clearly that if it weren't for her aunt, her stepmother would never have such a good opportunity.
Lu Hehuan coughed, "I know." She smiled at Lin Shu flatteringly, "Sister-in-law, don't worry, I will definitely perform well and won't embarrass you."
Lin Shu rubbed her arms, feeling nauseous.
When Lu Hehuan heard that she could go earlier, she immediately ran home to pack up.
Xu's mother was feeding the rabbits at home and preparing dinner. When she saw Lu Hehuan coming back, she immediately moaned loudly, "Oh, oh, my legs..."
Lu Hehuan ignored her and went into the house to pack up.
Xu's mother immediately chased after him, "What do you mean? It's over, right?"
Lu Hehuan: "Don't make trouble for no reason. Don't you dislike us? Aren't you satisfied when we are not at home?"
Xu's mother denied it, "I'm not! Where is Xiaoyou? She is not at home all day, who will feed the rabbits?"
Lu Hehuan didn't respond. She hummed a little tune while packing clothes and daily necessities, put them into a bag and ran away.
Xu's mother: "Lu Hehuan!"
Lu Hehuan ignored her completely, and Xu's mother stomped her feet in anger.
Unfortunately, no one paid attention to her. Even Xu Yaoyao ran out to play and didn't come home.
Lu Hehuan was more anxious than Lin Shu thought. Anyway, someone helped to look after the children. She only needed to ask for leave from her unit and ask others to help substitute for the class.
After Lu Hehuan left, Lin Shu also discussed going to Qizhou with her eldest sister.
My brother-in-law is now obsessed with agricultural infrastructure construction in various communes and brigades, not only limited to hydropower, but also including hydropower and solar energy.
Recently, he went to a poor mountainous area, where the mountains were bare and there were almost no plants, and the farmland was tight, so the farmers lacked effective fuel for cooking and heating.
In order to save firewood, the locals often chose to drink raw water!
Drinking raw water made them more susceptible to illness, and many people even got schistosomiasis.
Hou Jianwen and his technical team were stationed there to study what methods could be used to better solve the plight of local farmers.
Don't even think about coal. They don't have any. If they want to use it, they have to
spend money to buy it from other places. The cost of coal plus transportation is too expensive for them. They can't afford it, and there are not so many indicators.
So they can only think of ways to use those energy sources that don't cost money, such as hydropower, solar energy, and wind energy.
They are researching a simple solar power plant.
He is obsessed with research, so all the things at home are decided by the eldest sister.
The eldest sister wants to go back to Qizhou with Lin Shu first. She wants to take the children back with her, but Hou Bo and Hou Ying are not very willing to go back.
They are older now, and they don't have to stick to their mother. They are now more willing to get along with friends they get along with.
Hou Bo got along well with Lu Ping and Lu An, and also made other good friends. They exercised, climbed trees, and went to school together every day. They
also went to look for cicada monkeys and swam at night. They lived a very happy life. Hou Ying was very happy to follow Xiuxiu. She taught Xiuxiu how to read, and Xiuxiu taught her how to make clothes. Now many girls have joined, including Sister Hongdou, Daya and Erya, and many others.
Although they don't like to go out and join in the fun, they are not at all opposed to girls who take the initiative to approach them to learn things, and they get along very happily.
Seeing them like this, Sister Lin didn't force them. Now she and Lin Shu have learned to be very Buddhist, and they also listen to Grandma Fang's belief that children and grandchildren have their own blessings.
So Sister Lin took Hou Wei over, and Lin Shu took Tiantian and Panpan over.
If Panpan and Tiantian didn't go, Hou Wei didn't want to go either, and Panpan and Tiantian were partly tricked by Chen Yanming to go.
Because they had to help their godfather court their godmother, and also help prepare for their godfather and godmother's wedding.
After the discussion, Lin Shu called Lu Shaotang and asked him to pick them up when he had time. Taking
the train was too troublesome, and Lin Shu felt that she couldn't bear the hardship, so it was more convenient to let him pick them up.
Lu Shaotang made an appointment with her to go home and pick them up the day after tomorrow.
They were going to stay in the province for a while. Panpan, Tiantian and Hou Wei started to say goodbye to their friends. In the morning, they said goodbye to their teachers and classmates such as Huzi, Huahua and Honghong. In the afternoon, they went to their grandmother's house to say goodbye. In the evening, they came back and asked Xu Xiaoyou to help them take care of their great-grandmother and grandpa.
That was so thoughtful!
Xu Xiaoyou: "Don't worry, I will definitely take good care of them for you. I will go to the infirmary to help after school."
Father Lu was naturally reluctant to leave them. During this time, the children went to his place to help in the afternoon. He also taught a few children to identify herbs and acupuncture points when he was free, and taught them to recite some simple and interesting soup songs.
Children have good memories, especially Panpan, Tiantian and Xu Xiaoyou. They are really smart. They learn while playing, and they can memorize a lot of things without realizing it.
Old Man Lu gave Panpan and Tiantian a wooden acupuncture point figurine from the infirmary, "Take a look at it more often, practice makes perfect, don't forget it."
Tiantian took it and put it in her linen backpack, "Grandpa, don't worry, we won't forget you."
The three grandparents and grandchildren began to perform a cheesy farewell.
Fang Dihua bluntly exposed them, "You performed too early, you will leave early the day after tomorrow, it's not too late for you to perform the day after tomorrow."
Old Man Lu wiped his eyes, "This is a true expression of feelings, how can it be called acting?"
Grandma Fang laughed, "Now you know who the two children take after, right?"
I used to wonder who it was, Lu Shaotang was definitely not like this, Lin Shu was not so cheesy, and Fang Dihua was even less likely, after looking around, it was this old son-in-law.
While they were in deep love, the other one was running home from outside, yelling, "Help, help, I...ah——"
The big white goose from Aunt Li's house was flapping its wings and chasing him.
Panpan, who was originally performing a reluctant farewell scene with Old Man Lu under the shed, rushed out in a flash, raised his hand and slapped the big white goose hard, and then beat the big white goose left and right, making it scream with pride. Tiantian and Hou Wei
also quickly joined the battle and beat the big white goose so that it fled.
Everyone in the Lu family: "..."