amaotonovel Chapter 1187 Ma Siyi
Chapter 1187 Ma Siyi
Chapter 1187 Ma Siyi
A week later, Liang Guixiang received the contract sent by Editor Wu. After signing her name, she checked it several times before sending it back.
"Guixiang, you won't run away this time, right?" Lucy Liu said with a teasing tone.
Li Yan and Liang Haihong were also covering their mouths and laughing.
Liang Guixiang was a little embarrassed: "The money doesn't matter, the key is that our Haozi's article can be published in a magazine, it's incredible to think about it."
"That's right. Our old Shao also finds it incredible and has been talking about it at home for several days."
Half a month later, Liang Guixiang finally received the first payment from Qin Hao. She was as happy as an elementary school student.
Qin Hao laughed: "Mom, this is just the first payment, there will be more and more in the future."
Liang Guixiang was moved but also felt sad. A ten-year-old child should not have to bear the burden of life.
"Haozi, you don't have to work so hard. Mom can earn money to support us..."
Qin Hao smiled and said, "Mom, I'm just writing. It's not hard work. But you should stop doing handicrafts at night when you set up a stall. You are already very tired during the day. You should rest well at night. We have enough money at home."
It is definitely impossible to ask Liang Guixiang not to set up the stall. Given her personality, it is already very difficult for her to accept not working part-time at night.
Seeing Liang Guixiang still hesitating, Qin Hao said sternly, "Mom, don't worry, I won't delay my studies. I made a bet with Teacher Li that if I can't get first place in the final exam, I will never submit articles to the magazine again."
"Well, my son is awesome." Liang Guixiang had tears in her eyes, but her tone was filled with immense pride.
With the support of Qin Hao's royalties, the family's conditions have become much better. At least there is meat in the meals every day. Liang Guixiang also knows that her son needs additional nutrition as he is growing up, but the family conditions did not allow it before.
Moreover, in Liang Guixiang's mind, the money her son earns should of course be spent on her son.
As the final exams approached, Xie Wang and the other three also felt the pressure from their parents.
Before Xie Tiancheng set out on the ship, he told Xie Wanghe that if he ranked last in the class in the final exam, "Stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork" would be waiting for him when he returned.
Xia Fenghua was better. Li Yan never had any expectations for her academic performance. As long as she was not the last in the grade, she would accept it.
Zhou Haikuo's grades were already good, and as the final exams approached, he studied much harder than usual, and the time he spent hanging out with the other three after school was also decreasing.
When it comes to Shao Xingchi, things are even worse. Shao Bingyi claims to be a cultured person and has always been very strict with his grades. If Shao Xingchi works hard, he can rank in the top of the grade, but if he slacks off, he will fall directly to the same level as Xie Wanghe. During this period, Shao Bingyi has given Shao Xingchi a lot of extra lessons, which made Shao Xingchi miserable.
Finally, the final exam results came out. Qin Hao undoubtedly ranked first in the grade and got full marks in both mathematics and Chinese. As for English, it was not included in primary school textbooks in 2000. It was not until 2001 that English courses were required to be offered from the third grade, and it was stipulated that there should be at least four English classes per week.
Zhou Haikuo also scored well, ranking among the top 20 in the grade, and Xia Fenghua was very consistently ranked among the bottom . Fortunately, her parents no longer had high hopes for her academic performance and just nagged her a few times.
Xie Wanghe and Shao Xingchi were in a miserable state. These two brothers performed disastrously and their results were only slightly better than Xia Fenghua's. Xie Tiancheng and Shao Bingyi were so angry that they executed family rules on them one after another. The courtyard was filled with their screams, one after another, like a symphony.
"How did your Haozi do in the exam?"
Taking advantage of the lack of business at the snack stand, Lucy Liu sat down to rest. She suddenly remembered that she had asked her son this question last night, but her son refused to answer it.
Lucy Liu was modest but a little proud: "I've improved a lot compared to the midterm exam."
"Why don't you just say that you got first place in the grade?" Li Yan joked. This is what her daughter told her last night.
In Xia Fenghua's words, God is so unfair. Qin Hao rarely listens in class and is either writing papers or playing after class, but he got the first place in the grade.
"Really? I told you Haozi is a promising kid. Guixiang, just wait and see how happy you will be in the future." Liang Haihong was extremely envious. Her head ached whenever she thought of her son Xie Wanghe's grades. If you say he was stupid, this kid had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He needed to study hard and he could understand a lot of knowledge points at a glance. If you say he was smart, he had never been in the top 20 in an exam.
Liang Guixiang was about to say something modest when Lucy Liu suddenly took out a magazine in a mysterious manner.
"Guixiang, what pen name did Haozi give you? Why can't I find Haozi's articles in this magazine?"
Liang Guixiang took it and saw that it was actually a Zhiyin magazine. The cover was of a very hot beauty. It was obvious that this was not a magazine for children to read.
"I think her name is Banjiang Sese."
Li Yan asked in confusion: "Why did you choose such a pen name? It's weird."
Lucy Liu had listened to some ancient poems with Shao Bingyi before: "This should be a line from Bai Juyi's poem: Half of the river is green and half is red."
Since there was no business at the moment, they just got together and started looking for it by flipping through magazines.
"Oh, I found it."
"Where is where?"
Liang Guixiang also wanted to know what article her son wrote, but she was stunned when she saw the title.
"The title may be chosen by the editor. The magazine is for sales. Let's see the article. Maybe it's good."
As a result, it would have been better if she hadn't looked at it. Once she looked at it, Liang Guixiang's face turned red. What sister-in-law and brother-in-law...
"Hehe, Haozi's writing style is really good. I was fascinated by it just now." Seeing Liang Guixiang's embarrassed face, Liu Yuling took the initiative to make up for her.
Li Yan also agreed: "Yes, the story is really well written."
Liang Guixiang was both sad and helpless. Her son wrote such articles to earn royalties and reduce her burden...
Seeing that the atmosphere did not ease, Liang Haihong suddenly had an idea to change the subject.
"By the way, Grandma Ma didn't set up her stall today. Do you know where she went?"
Grandma Ma rarely takes a rest unless it rains heavily and she really can’t set up her stall.
Li Yan understood and said mysteriously, "I heard he went to pick someone up."
Liang Guixiang's attention was indeed diverted: "Who are you picking up?"
"Grandma Ma's granddaughter." Li Yan lowered her voice and said, "Grandma Ma's son was also unlucky. He passed away suddenly a few years ago, leaving behind an orphan and a widowed mother. Later, the girl remarried, but the man disliked her for bringing up a burden. I heard that she was planning to give her daughter to Grandma Ma to raise."
Liang Guixiang's eyes widened: "How could she bear to let someone else raise her child?"
Liu Yuling said: "Guixiang, not everyone is like you, caring so much about the child. Maybe in her eyes, this daughter is just a burden."
"I'm not saying anything bad about her, but this former daughter-in-law, Grandma Ma, is really a tough person. Guixiang, you don't live in the same courtyard with us, so you don't know that all the money that Grandma Ma earned from the stall was taken away by her with various excuses."
……
On the other side, next to the Huajie River.
Xia Fenghua, Xie Wanghe, Shao Xingchi and Zhou Haikuo were working as a gang to steal watermelons from boats along the way. The four of them had a clear division of labor: Xia Fenghua was in charge of keeping watch and directing, Xie Wanghe and Shao Xingchi were in charge of jumping into the cabin and throwing the watermelons into the water, and Zhou Haikuo was in charge of receiving them.
Soon, Xie Wanghe and his four companions arrived ashore dragging a bag full of watermelons. The boat captain was so angry that he jumped up and down, and threatened to complain to Xie Tiancheng and ask him to break Xie Wanghe's legs. Most of the boats along this route knew Xie Tiancheng, so they gave him some face and did not chase him ashore or call the police.
"What do you think? We are good at swimming. We can even catch a watermelon. It's more than enough for us to teach you how to swim." Xie Wanghe proudly showed off his trophy.
Qin Hao smiled, then in the shocked gazes of several people, he took off his coat and sandals and dived into the river. The weather was really hot and it was still comfortable to soak in the water even without air conditioning.
"Qin Hao, you...can you swim?"
Qin Hao leaned his back against the water, lying on it with only his head exposed, and said slowly, "Who said I can't swim?"
"Then the last time my dad saved you..."
"Last time, I suddenly had a leg cramp."
Xie Wanghe was so embarrassed that his toes were about to dig into his slippers. He had boasted before about how good he was at swimming, but just looking at Qin Hao floating on the water for so long without sinking, he realized that he himself could not do that.
"Shall we take the watermelon back and eat it frozen?" Xia Fenghua swallowed her saliva, her mind was completely focused on eating the watermelon.
Zhou Haikuo and Shao Xingchi's eyes lit up: "That's right, watermelon needs to be chilled first to taste good."
Xie Wanghe looked at Qin Hao, a little hesitant: "Qin Hao, do you want to go with us?"
"You guys go ahead, I'll be back after swimming for a while."
"Then you should be careful and watch out for the boats going upstream and downstream. Don't get close to them." Xie Wanghe reminded before leaving.
"Ah."
After a while, Xie Wang and the other four came back. There happened to be a couple getting married on a boat on the river, and they were throwing candy onto the shore. Even Qin Hao, who was in the water, got a portion.
Xia Fenghua looked at the newlyweds on the boat with envy on her face: "If I get married in the future, I will also hold my wedding on a boat."
Shao Xingchi complained: "Then you have to get married first."
Xia Fenghua turned her head and glared at him, then looked at Xie Wanghe and said, "If I can't get married, I'll marry Xie Wanghe."
Xie Wanghe laughed and scolded: "I don't want it. You greedy daughter-in-law can bankrupt my family."
Xia Fenghua was so angry that she chased after Xie Wanghe and started fighting with him.
Qin Hao ignored the four noisy people and his eyes were attracted by a figure carrying a violin case on the bridge. Her long, slightly curly golden hair glowed golden in the sun. Her nose was very high when viewed from the side, and she obviously had foreign genes. She was wearing a white princess dress and was as delicate as a doll.
Xie Wanghe also noticed two figures, one big and one small, on the bridge, running all the way up the bridge.
"Grandma Ma."
"Grandma Ma."
Grandma Ma stopped on the bridge and said to the little girl beside her kindly, "Siyi, these are the kids from the neighborhood that I often mentioned to you. Oh, and there's also the one called Qin Hao. He's a very good student. You can ask him if you don't understand something in the future."
Ma Siyi was obviously not used to the enthusiasm of Xie Wang and the other three, and felt a little awkward standing aside.
Xia Fenghua let go of Grandma Ma and finally found Ma Siyi: "Are you a foreigner?"
"I am not a foreigner, I am Chinese," Ma Siyi emphasized in a firm tone.
"Then why do you look different from us?"
Facing Xia Fenghua's questioning, Ma Siyi was obviously unable to resist. Qin Hao said to Ma Siyi: "If you don't want to answer, you don't have to say it."
"But wouldn't that be very impolite?" Ma Siyi was slightly stunned and asked hesitantly.
"Which is more important, politeness or happiness?" Qin Hao asked back.
Ma Siyi finally showed some expression on her face, revealing a faint smile: "It seems that being happy is more important."
However, he turned around and explained to Xia Fenghua: "Grandma's father is a foreigner. They say this is called intergenerational inheritance."
Xia Fenghua was naturally outgoing. When she saw Ma Siyi carrying her violin case, she reached out to take her violin. Ma Siyi subconsciously hid behind Qin Hao.
Xia Fenghua tried to chase after him but was stopped by Qin Hao.
"It's just a look, why are you so stingy?"
Qin Hao ignored Xia Fenghua's complaints and said to Ma Siyi, "You don't need to care so much about other people's feelings. When you encounter something you don't want to do, you must be firm in your tone when you refuse, so that others can see your attitude."
"Oh." Ma Siyi nodded, and then said to Xia Fenghua: "This violin was left to me by my father. I don't want to show it to you."
Grandma Ma's eyes were full of surprise when she saw this scene. She had kept a certain distance from her granddaughter before she came, but she actually trusted a child of the same age so much.
Xia Fenghua wanted to say something but Xie Wanghe patted her back: "I said I don't want to show it to you. Have you got any manners?"
Suddenly, Xia Fenghua's hatred was completely diverted and she started quarreling with Xie Wanghe.
Ma Siyi was always wary of these noisy neighbors, but she would steal a glance at Qin Hao from time to time. It wasn't that she was obsessed with him, but she felt that this boy had a maturity that didn't belong to children of the same age, just like herself.
The group walked towards the courtyard on Hua Street and happened to pass by Liang Guixiang and her friends' snack stand along the way.
Liang Guixiang felt a tightness in her heart when she saw Qin Hao’s hair was wet.
"Mom, I have learned how to swim. People must learn to overcome their inner fears."
After listening to Qin Hao's explanation, Liang Guixiang sighed helplessly: "Just like your father, both are stubborn and refuse to admit defeat."
While complaining, she had already taken out a towel to wipe Qin Hao's hair.
After Grandma Ma introduced Ma Siyi to everyone, she took her granddaughter home to rest.
Xie Wanghe invited Qin Hao: "Let's have dinner at our house tonight."
"No, you guys go ahead, I still have to write a manuscript tonight."
Xie Wanghe's face was filled with disappointment, his purpose of inviting Qin Hao home was not simple. Today, he stole so many watermelons from the captain of the boat, and the other party would definitely complain to his father. If Qin Hao was a guest, he would at least be able to avoid a few more beatings from the soles of shoes.
After Grandma Ma left, Li Yan shook her head and said, "See, she asked Grandma Ma to help her raise her daughter, but she never showed up. She sent her daughter to the station and asked Grandma Ma to pick her up herself. She wasn't afraid of any accidents on the way. What kind of person is she?"
"Okay, don't let Grandma Ma and Siyi hear it. Maybe she has her own difficulties." Liu Yuling sighed and advised.