amaotonovel Chapter 1188: Strong limbs and simple mind
Chapter 1188: Strong limbs and simple mind
Chapter 1188 Strong Limbs and Simple Mind
The next morning, there was still a thin layer of mist on the surface of the canal. A few egrets flew over the reeds, causing ripples.
Ma Siyi was still sleeping in. The window of the room was roughly pushed open. Xia Fenghua, who had short hair and looked like a boy, shouted excitedly: "Siyi, don't sleep anymore, get up quickly."
"It's only what time now, Dahuazi, let me sleep a little longer." Ma Siyi turned over and planned to continue sleeping in.
"Don't sleep anymore, Haozi, Wanghe and the others are waiting outside."
Xia Fenghua climbed in through the window without saying a word and lifted Ma Siyi's quilt.
Ma Siyi was so annoyed by her that he could only go to wash up in a daze.
While Ma Siyi was washing up, Xia Fenghua chattered on and on about the purpose of this operation.
"Qin Hao discovered a bay. There are not only water chestnuts but also many river clams. We have to hurry. If we are late, they might be stolen by others."
"water chestnut?"
Ma Siyi, who grew up in the city, knew about river clams, but had never seen water chestnuts.
"There are many ways to eat water chestnuts. You can boil them or stir-fry them."
At the entrance to the courtyard, Shao Xingchi complained to Xia Fenghua, "You two are too slow. We have been waiting here for nearly half an hour."
Ma Siyi was about to apologize when Xia Fenghua glared at him, "It wasn't half an hour, it was at most a quarter of an hour. Everyone else is fine, but you are the only one who can say that."
Xie Wanghe subconsciously glanced at Ma Siyi and quickly tried to smooth things over: "Okay, there's no time to argue here anymore, we're already here."
"Let's go, let's go quickly."
Only then did Shao Xingchi follow Qin Hao carrying the plastic bucket.
After walking for nearly half an hour, Huajie had long been left behind and disappeared. Shao Xingchi wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked suspiciously.
"Haozi, why haven't we arrived yet? How far is it?"
Qin Hao rolled his eyes at him: "It's still early, we still need at least half an hour to walk."
"Ah, so far?"
Xia Fenghua also wailed.
"There are still so many water chestnuts and clams near residential areas for us to pick, but they have already been taken away by others."
Xia Fenghua and the others thought the same thing and had no choice but to follow Qin Hao and continue on their journey.
Finally, after walking for more than twenty minutes, a river bend appeared in front of us. A large patch of water chestnut leaves was floating in the shallow water of the river bend, and pointed water chestnuts were hidden under the green leaves.
"Wow, so many water chestnuts."
"Quick, Shao Xingchi, get the bucket."
Zhou Haikuo and Shao Xingchi rushed out first. Xia Fenghua turned around and asked Ma Siyi: "Siyi, can you swim?"
Ma Siyi shook his head and looked at the water nervously: "I... don't really know how to do it."
"It's okay. The water isn't deep. We're in the shallow water." Qin Hao handed her a small bamboo basket. "You're responsible for picking up the water chestnuts we throw up on the shore."
Shao Xingchi couldn't wait to take off his shirt and jumped into the water with his bare chest: "Watch me!" As a result, he stepped into the mud and fell forward, splashing a large amount of water and making everyone laugh.
"So stupid!" Xia Fenghua curled her lips in disdain, but she stepped carefully on the mud on the river bank and reached out to grab the water chestnut leaves.
Qin Hao skillfully pushed aside the leaves and groped his fingers underwater. He soon felt a few hard water chestnuts, which he picked with a light snap and threw to Ma Siyi on the shore.
"Wow, there are so many!" Ma Siyi caught it with surprise. The sharp thorns of the water chestnut pierced her palm, but she didn't feel any pain. Instead, she felt it was novel.
Shao Xingchi and Zhou Haikuo were responsible for picking up river clams. They bent over and groped in the mud at the bottom of the water.
"I touched a big one!" Zhou Haikuo excitedly held up a palm-sized river clam with mud still on its dark brown shell.
"I touched it too!" Shao Xingchi was not to be outdone. He pulled out a bigger one from the water and shook it proudly.
Seeing this, Xia Fenghua took two steps towards the deep water unwillingly. As a result, his foot slipped and he fell into the water, scaring Ma Siyi so much that she screamed.
"Haha, Dahuazi, you are still criticizing me." Shao Xingchi saw the opportunity for revenge and would never let it go. He laughed at Xia Fenghua.
Xia Fenghua was furious. She climbed out of the water, her wet hair sticking to her face. She angrily grabbed a handful of mud and threw it at Shao Xingchi: "I'll make you laugh!"
The two of them immediately started a mud fight, water splashed everywhere, and even Qin Hao was affected.
"Hey, you two, stop making trouble. We haven't picked all the water chestnuts yet!" Qin Hao wiped the water off his face helplessly.
Ma Siyi couldn't help laughing as she watched them having fun. She squatted on the bank and put the water chestnuts into the bamboo basket one by one, feeling warm in her heart.
The sun gradually rose higher, the mist on the water surface dissipated, and the river surface was shimmering. Qin Hao looked at the harvest, and had already filled half a basket with water chestnuts and a few plump river clams, so he suggested calling it a day, but Xie Wang and the other four refused to work and stayed in the water until noon, filling several plastic buckets with water chestnuts and catching a dozen river clams, and then went home with a sense of unfulfilled desire.
It was the first time for Ma Siyi to participate in such an outdoor activity. The indifference on his face was no longer there. A faint smile was on the corners of his mouth, and his arms were swinging as he walked.
It was already noon when he returned home. At the gate of the courtyard, Qin Hao was planning to separate the water chestnuts and clams and then go home, but he was stopped by Li Yan and Liu Yuling.
"Haozi, your mother is helping us look after the stall. You can eat at our house from now on, so you don't have to cook for yourself when you get home."
In the past, when he was in school, Qin Hao brought lunch from home to school at noon. The school cafeteria could steam rice. Since the summer vacation, Qin Hao cooked at home to save Liang Guixiang from running back and forth.
Qin Hao was indeed hungry. It would take at least half an hour to go back and cook, so he did not refuse and stayed.
"Grandma." Ma Siyi immediately went up to her when he saw her.
"Wow, Siyi, you picked so many water chestnuts and clams today. That's great." Grandma Ma was not like other parents who wanted to tie their children to a belt. She was happy to see her granddaughter integrate into the small group.
Ma Siyi was a little embarrassed: "Grandma, I can't swim so I didn't go into the river. Qin Hao and the others caught the water chestnuts and clams."
Xie Wanghe said in a flattering tone: "Siyi also contributed. If she hadn't helped to pack the water chestnuts on the shore, we wouldn't have been able to find so many."
Xia Fenghua pouted: "Obviously I contributed more than her."
As a result, Xie Wanghe acted as if he didn't hear anything and just looked at Ma Siyi stupidly.
Qin Hao laughed secretly. In fact, it was no wonder that Xie Wanghe ignored Xia Fenghua. Xia Fenghua's current dress that was indistinguishable between men's and women's and her tomboyish personality made her look difficult to distinguish between men and women and she looked like a tomboy. Compared with a gentle mixed-race beauty like Ma Siyi, anyone would choose Ma Siyi.
Xie Wanghe patted his chest and said to Ma Siyi: "Siyi, let me teach you how to swim, so that next time we can go into the water together to pick water chestnuts and touch river clams."
"Well, thank you." Ma Siyi felt a little embarrassed when he thought that he had not been able to contribute much today.
Soon, Qin Hao divided the picked water chestnuts into six portions, and gave the river clams to Zhou Haikuo as usual. Zhou Haikuo's father, Zhou Yanlin, opened a canal restaurant. The restaurant often purchased river seafood such as river clams, fish and shrimps. This was also the best way for them to earn pocket money during the summer vacation.
With the addition of Qin Hao and Ma Siyi, Liu Yuling suggested that each family cook a dish and everyone eat together. The staple food is porridge made with freshly picked water chestnuts.
Waves of fragrance wafted out from each kitchen, and the courtyard became particularly lively.
"Dahuazi, please stop making trouble and sit down to eat." Li Yan shouted.
Xie Wanghe and Shao Xingchi then stopped. Ma Siyi took a sip of the water chestnut porridge, her big watery eyes full of surprise.
“This porridge smells so good.”
"If it tastes good, eat more. We don't have anything else here but plenty of fresh river food." Liang Haihong said with a smile.
Xie Wanghe looked at Ma Siyi's silly smile. Xia Fenghua couldn't stand it anymore and asked, "Didn't Uncle Xie say he would be home yesterday? Why hasn't he come back today?"
In an instant, the smile on Xie Wanghe's face froze. He almost forgot about this matter. His father didn't come home last night, which made him nervous the whole day. He was not afraid of being beaten, as he had been beaten before. The main thing was that the whip didn't fall hard, and he didn't know how hard his father would use. He felt very nervous.
Qin Hao's mind moved. When Xie Tiancheng comes back this time, he will probably ask to change boats, which will undoubtedly change the fate of several families.
The Beijing-Shanghai Expressway will be fully opened to traffic by the end of 2000. The original situation of insufficient transport capacity will be completely reversed. The once invincible shipping captains will be the first to be affected, and deteriorating business is an inevitable result.
After lunch, Qin Hao did not leave immediately, but hesitated whether to remind Xie Tiancheng to repay him for saving his life.
But on second thought, Zhou Yanlin also mentioned that the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway had been fully opened. As a result, with the support of Zhou Yipu, Xie Tiancheng and several other families raised 100,000 yuan to buy a boat.
Even Zhou Yanlin couldn't persuade him, let alone a ten-year-old child.
Thinking of this, Qin Hao did not stay any longer and went home with his portion of water chestnuts.
The next day, Xie Wanghe was still happily imagining whether his father would give him more pocket money after he earned money from exchanging his father for a thousand-ton ship. Little did he know that from this year on, the fate of their families would begin to decline with the decline of the canal.
However, the full opening of the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway will not take place until the end of the year, so it will not affect them now. For these ten-year-old children, summer vacation is the most wonderful holiday in the world.
Ma Siyi's arrival made the already lively atmosphere in the courtyard even more active.
Ma Siyi, who was originally very introverted, gradually began to integrate into the life of Huajie under the leadership of Xie Wanghe and Xia Fenghua, two social experts.
Compared to living under the care of her stepfather all day, here she has a grandmother who treats her wholeheartedly and a group of friends who are very enthusiastic towards her, which gives her a new vision for life.
Unfortunately, happy times always seem too short, and soon the two-month summer vacation will be over.
For Xie Wang and the other four, a painful moment was about to come, because they had hardly done any of their summer homework.
"Haozi, Haoge, please copy it for me, just once."
Shao Xingchi clasped his hands together and was almost kneeling on the ground.
Qin Hao was unmoved: "Your answers are the same as mine, aren't you afraid that the teacher will see through it?"
"It's better to see it than not to do it, Brother Hao, from now on you are my real brother..."
Xie Wanghe curled his lips and said, "You are useless. It's just that you didn't do your summer homework. The worst that can happen is that you will get a beating."
Shao Xingchi rolled his eyes and said, "Your father is away from home every day, so at most you will get a beating from Teacher Li. If I don't write it, not only will Teacher Li beat me, but my father will also beat me."
It is not worth it to get beaten twice for one wrong thing.
After hearing what Shao Xingchi said, Xie Wanghe suddenly felt that there was nothing wrong with his father's job as a ship captain.
"Okay, since you are so sincere, I'll give it to you. Don't make it dirty for me."
"okay."
Shao Xingchi got what he wanted and quickly started copying the homework. Seeing this, Xia Fenghua also came over.
"Go, this is something I begged for with great difficulty."
Xia Fenghua pretended to bite Shao Xingchi's hand: "You are so stingy. You copied Chinese and I copied math. It doesn't interfere with my study."
Shao Xingchi then let go, turned around and saw Zhou Haikuo still watching TV, and asked curiously: "Haikuo, have you finished your summer homework?"
"Oh, I've finished writing it." Zhou Haikuo replied in his busy schedule.
Shao Xingchi and Xia Fenghua suddenly felt betrayed.
"No, when did you write it? We are together every day, how could I not know it?"
Zhou Haikuo chuckled and said, "I wrote it at night."
Xia Fenghua looked unwillingly at Ma Siyi who was sitting next to Qin Hao watching TV: "Siyi, have you finished your summer homework?"
Shao Xingchi tapped her on the forehead and said, "Are you stupid? Siyi is a transfer student, where does she get summer homework?"
Xia Fenghua was struck by lightning.
Looking at Xia Fenghua's exaggerated expression, Ma Siyi covered his mouth and chuckled.
After working hard, Xia Fenghua and Shao Xingchi finally finished writing, or rather copying, their summer homework on the day before school started on September 1st.
As a result, he was publicly executed by his homeroom teacher, Mr. Li, on the first day of school.
"Xia Fenghua, Shao Xingchi, can you both explain to me why your summer homework essays are exactly the same."
There was a burst of laughter in the classroom, especially Sun Sanliang, who seemed to be gloating.
Qin Hao was speechless. These two reckless men were indeed strong in body but simple in mind. They even copied the composition word for word. Couldn’t they just make some minor changes?
"What are you laughing at? Xia Fenghua, Shao Xingchi, go back tonight and rewrite all these essays for me and hand them in tomorrow."
Xia Fenghua and Shao Xingchi wailed.
Xie Wanghe laughed secretly when he saw this, but his joy turned into sorrow as Teacher Li roared in anger.
"Xie Wanghe, you still have the nerve to smile. They at least pretend to smile. You just hand me a blank paper, right? Fine, I'll wait for your dad to come back before visiting your home."
Xie Wanghe suddenly felt like the sky was falling. Why was this different from what he had expected?
After punishing the students who had problems with their summer homework, Teacher Li waved towards the outside of the classroom.
"This is the new student who transferred to our class - Ma Siyi."
"Ma Siyi, please introduce yourself."
Ma Siyi's appearance immediately caused a sensation in the classroom. The delicate little girl who looked like a doll directly increased the charm attribute by +100 for any age group, regardless of gender.