These two words were still unfamiliar to Wei Xu, who had just entered the second grade. But after Wei You wrote them down, in Wei Xu's eyes, these two words suddenly had a special color, as if they became familiar and intimate all of a sudden.
Wei You finally ran out of water from the old ballpoint pen. He picked up the pen and signed a beautiful name next to the score in the upper left corner of the test paper.
Wei Xu stared at the two clear and graceful words, and felt that the dark blue ballpoint pen handwriting had never been so beautiful.
"Okay, it's time to go to bed. It's almost ten o'clock." Wei You said as he helped him pick up his schoolbag and organize his things. "If you don't go to bed now, you won't be able to get up tomorrow."
Wei Xu nodded, carefully folded the test paper and dictation paper and put them into his schoolbag. At the same time, some subtle thoughts that were difficult for others to notice went through his mind.
·
The next morning, when Wei You got up to send Wei Xu to school, Wei Shaodong, who was sleeping on the sofa, was gone, leaving only a pile of dirty clothes on the armrest of the sofa.
Before going out, Wei Xu opened the drawer of the TV cabinet, took a look, and suddenly pursed his lips.
"What's wrong?" Wei You asked.
Wei Xu shook his head and closed the drawer silently.
Wei You remembered what was inside and asked, "Didn't he give you money?"
Wei Xu remained silent.
Wei You opened the drawer and took a look. As expected, the paper box containing change was empty, with only a few dimes left.
For a moment, he felt his anger level soaring.
How could there be a father like this!
If I were not here, did Wei Shaodong plan to let his son starve to death for the week?
Wei Xu seemed to be accustomed to this situation. When he found out that his father had not given him any pocket money this week, he resigned himself to walking to the door, putting on his shoes, and carrying his heavy old schoolbag to prepare to go out.
Perhaps he noticed that Wei You's face was not looking good, so he comforted him: "Guazi saved some pocket money last week, it's enough."
Wei You turned his head to look at him, and stared into those dark eyes for a while.
Finally, he let out a long breath, walked over, took Wei Xu's schoolbag and put it on his back, then took the key, went down the door, and went down the stairs holding the child's right hand.
"What do you want to eat for breakfast today?" Wei You asked as he turned out of the corridor on the first floor where old bicycles were parked.
Just now, he made a decision.
Since Wei Shaodong doesn't care about his son, then he will take care of it.
If he remembered correctly, around 2006, the country would begin to implement free nine-year compulsory education.
Prices were so cheap fifteen years ago, there was no tuition to go to school, and there were very few interest classes or cram schools. Raising a child would at most mean spending more money on food and clothing, or buying a few fewer pairs of shoes. He still didn't believe that he couldn't afford to raise a child.
"Glutinous rice." Wei Xu simply replied as Wei You was making plans for the future in his mind.
"Eating glutinous rice again?" Wei You came back to his senses and asked, "Don't you want to try something else?"
As they were talking, they just happened to come to a breakfast shop in the alley. Wei You stopped and said to the child, "Look, is there anything you want to eat here?"
It was time for school and work to start, and many early risers gathered in front of the store.
The boss opened the steamer and white mist rose up. The walls of the breakfast shop, which had been blackened by oil smoke all year round, were immediately tinged with a hazy smell of human life.
"Hey - the shaomai are ready, who wants some?"
"Steamed buns, four for one yuan..."
Wei You noticed that Guazi's eyes were fixed on the Shaomai and asked, "Do you want to eat some?"
Wei Xu asked curiously: "What is this?"
"Siomai, a kind of food made of glutinous rice wrapped in dumpling skin and steamed." Wei You replied, "How about I buy you two to try?"
Wei Xu pursed his lips and nodded shyly.
"Boss, give me two shaomai."
"Two for 1.50," the aproned boss quickly put two steamed buns in a plastic bag and handed them to him, "Anything else?"
Two steamed buns were definitely not enough, so Wei You asked, "What else do you want to eat?"
The child's eyes lingered on the dazzling array of breakfast for a while, and finally he ordered some fried dumplings in the frying pan.
"Boss, another box of fried dumplings please."
"Six for one dollar, how many do you want?"
"One dollar and fifty cents, and give me one serving of fried rice noodles and a cup of salty soy milk."
As Wei You was talking, his eyes inadvertently fell on the bags of fresh milk in the cabinet near the door. He glanced at the short Guazi and added, "Give me two more bags of milk."
The total cost of breakfast for two people was eight dollars and fifty cents.
Wei You thought it was quite cheap, after all, he bought so many things. However, Wei Xu looked worried at such a young age. Wei You asked him what was wrong, but he didn't say anything.
When the two of them arrived at the school gate and Wei You put the milk in his schoolbag and told him to drink it today, he suddenly frowned and said, "Milk is so expensive."
Wei You was stunned for a moment before he realized what he was thinking about with such a bitter and resentful look on his face.
He felt both amused and sad that such a young child was thinking about how to save money. He touched Wei Xu's head and said, "Don't worry, brother may not be very rich, but with your small appetite, you won't make me poor."
Wei Xu frowned, still looking a little worried.
Wei You had no choice but to use provocation: "If you really don't want to drink milk, then I won't buy it for you. But when you grow up and become a dwarf, don't blame me then."
Wei Xu's brows furrowed even more tightly, and he asked, "Will I not grow taller if I don't drink milk?"
"Yes, my brother is 1.8 meters tall now because he drank milk since he was young," Wei You said, "You don't want to stand next to me like a dwarf when you grow up, right?"
Wei Xu quickly shook his head.
Wei You pinched his bulging milk fat: "Since you don't want to, then promise your brother to drink milk and eat well in the future, okay?"
"Um."
"That's good."
Wei You stood up, transferred the schoolbag to him, and gave him the 1.5 yuan coin he got from buying breakfast as pocket money, then patted his head gently and said, "Okay, go to school. I'll pick you up after school. You have to get along well with your classmates in school, okay?"
Wei Xu responded softly, reached out and hugged Wei You before turning around, then strode towards the school gate with a fifty-cent coin in his hand.
Wei You looked at his back and suddenly thought that he should remind him again to learn how to communicate with his female classmates. Otherwise, when he grows up, it would be terrible for him to become a bachelor like him who can't find a girlfriend.
But it doesn’t matter. The child is still young and at the age where he should concentrate on his studies. It won’t be too late to remind him when he grows up.
·
"Wei Xu, why is there only half a sheet of your dictation paper?"
"And the test paper, why is there a corner missing?"
"Wei Xu, I'm asking you a question, did you hear me?"
Wei Xu put down his pencil, and his left hand seemed to cover what he was writing inadvertently. Then he raised his head and looked calmly at the girl with twin ponytails in front of him. After pausing for two seconds, he asked, "What's the matter?"
"What do you think? How come there is only half a sheet of your dictation paper left? It's different from ours."
"Wouldn't it be fine if you just handed it in?"
The girl was choked, and reluctantly slapped the test paper in front of him: "What about your test paper? Why is there such a big corner missing? And your parents' signature is too perfunctory. It's obvious that you signed it yourself with such a shabby hand."
"My dad's handwriting is just so ugly."
“…”
"Okay, you're awesome. Don't blame me for not reminding you if the teacher finds out." The girl said this awkwardly and angrily, then walked out of the classroom with her homework.
Wei Xu watched her go away, then picked up the pen and continued to slowly write the word "Wei" on the draft book.
However, his handwriting is so ugly and has a unique personal style. No matter how you imitate it, the words you write always have an awkward feeling. Every "Wei" character that comes out of his pen has its own strange and ugly appearance.
"Liu Weiwei is so annoying," Du Shao walked over to his table as soon as the girl left, "Why does she always bother you?"
Wei Xu shook his head: "I don't know."
"I signed it myself, too. She saw it all, but she didn't ask me." Du Shao muttered, and suddenly seemed to think of something, and said with a smile, "Could it be that she likes me?"
Wei Xu was puzzled: "What do you like?"
“Me!”
Wei Xu blinked.
He was still very ignorant about this kind of relationship between men and women. His only experience was with Nobita and Shizuka in Doraemon, so in response to Du Shao's shouting, he just responded with a calm "Oh".
The more Du Shao thought about it, the more she felt it was possible: "Last time I went to her place to recite, she reminded me when I couldn't recite it, but she didn't remind Zhang Xin when he couldn't recite it. And the time before that, I copied my homework and she saw it, but she didn't remember my name. Could she really like me?"
Wei Xu: “Maybe.”
Du Shao couldn't stand his perfunctory attitude and looked down at what he was writing: "What are you writing? Are you reciting ancient poems?"
"No." Facing Du Shao's question, Wei Xu felt a little nervous for some reason. He reflexively covered the notebook with his left hand and uttered two words in a calm manner: "Practice calligraphy."
"Wow, you are too self-conscious. Last time my dad bought me a copybook and asked me to practice calligraphy, but I wrote one page and threw it aside," Du Shao said. "Anyway, there will be special calligraphy classes in the future, so why rush?"
Wei Xu: "I want to practice early."
Du Shao didn't seem to be very interested in this topic. He responded casually and went back to his seat to continue wondering whether Liu Weiwei had a crush on him.
Wei Xu moved his hand away and looked at the lazy words on the paper, then looked at Wei You's name that he had torn off. Comparing the two, he couldn't help but frowned.
What exactly is different about it?
Wei Xu didn't understand, so he picked up a pencil and imitated writing a row of "游" characters. Sure enough, each one was ugly in its own unique way.
"Tsk!" Another page of draft paper wasted. He curled his lips and thought that he really should practice his handwriting.
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