amaotonovel Chapter 1043: Close to the face and open up
Chapter 1043: Close to the face and open up
Chapter 1043: Close to the face and open up
"Is this Teacher Zhuang? Your house is over here." Qin Hao casually pointed to the door next door.
Zhuang Chaoying was about to say thank you when Song Ying came out after hearing the noise. She said enthusiastically, "Teacher Zhuang is back from grading the papers."
"Oh, you're back. You must be Song Ying, right? We'll be neighbors from now on. Please take care of me."
"We should take care of each other."
After a few greetings, Zhuang Tunan and Zhuang Xiaoting hurried out when they heard their father's voice and helped him with his luggage.
After returning to the house, Zhuang Chaoying asked curiously, "Who is getting married in the alley?"
"Wu Jianguo from Workshop 2, the trade union saw that it was not easy for him to raise two children by himself, so they introduced him to a street worker who also brought a girl with her, so they could live together."
Zhuang Chaoying nodded and asked again: "Is that child Song Ying's child?"
"No, Song Ying's son is Lin Dongzhe. The man who just greeted you is Qin Hao. He was originally the son of Qin Jianguo from the steel mill. Later, there was a production accident and Qin Jianguo died in order to save the state assets. His wife Huijuan also passed away within half a year, leaving behind an orphaned child. As a result, Qin Jianguo's younger brother and sister-in-law took over their job and abused the child. His body was covered with bruises. Song Ying felt sorry for him and became his guardian." Huang Ling said in a low voice.
Zhuang Chaoying was surprised when he heard this: "So although Song Ying is a troublemaker, she is still kind-hearted."
"Yes, with more children in the family, even if there is a place to live and subsidies, you still have to spend the necessary effort. Look at how well Qin Hao has been taken care of in Song Ying's house over the past month. You didn't see it before. He was so thin that his bones were just skin and bones."
Zhuang Xiaoting suddenly interrupted and said, "Brother Qin Hao is very smart. He has only been in school for more than a month, and he has already ranked first in the grade. The teachers all asked us to take him as a role model."
"Oh, is it so amazing? That's worth learning." Zhuang Chaoying didn't care too much. It was only the first grade of primary school, and there wasn't much content. The difference would not be noticeable until at least junior high school.
Zhuang Chaoying suddenly remembered: "Oh, by the way, how did Song Ying know that I was marking the papers? Did you tell her?"
Before Huang Ling could speak, Zhuang Xiaoting explained: "The principal said it on the loudspeaker. He said it was an honor for the school for Dad to grade the papers."
At night, many people came to the courtyard. They all heard that Zhuang Chaoying had returned from grading papers and wanted to ask him about the college entrance examination.
Just after dinner, Zhuang Chaoying's house was full of people, even more lively than an open-air movie.
Song Ying also took her family to the next door to eat melons, and Qin Hao was no exception.
Although Zhuang Chaoying was a high school teacher before, due to the suspension of the college entrance examination for ten years, high school students had no promotion path and were less popular than secondary technical schools and vocational schools. Now that the college entrance examination has been resumed, Zhuang Chaoying, a high school teacher, can be said to have held his head high.
Zhuang Chaoying, who is usually not good at speaking, seemed to be back in a high school classroom at this moment. He was so energetic and eloquent that he really stole the show.
When the group dispersed and they returned home, Song Ying said to Lin Wufeng with envy: "This teacher is different. He speaks very well."
Qin Hao shook his head and said, "There is always a price to pay for being in the limelight."
Lin Wufeng and Song Ying were both stunned.
"Aunt Song, Uncle Lin, you might as well think about it. The college entrance examination, which has been suspended for ten years, is suddenly resumed. How many people who want to go to college will come to Uncle Zhuang for tutoring? By then, Uncle Zhuang's house may not be able to accommodate them."
After hearing what Qin Hao said, Song Ying suddenly stopped envying Zhuang Chaoying for being in the limelight.
The next few days also confirmed Qin Hao's prediction. More and more students came to Zhuang Chaoying for extra lessons. At first, it was only children of the cotton mill in the alley. Later, many educated youth from society also came to take lessons, which made Zhuang Chaoying's family very annoyed.
Huang Ling could only let Zhuang Tunan and Zhuang Xiaoting go to Song Ying's house to do their homework so that they would not be disturbed.
As the year draws to a close, every household is busy preparing for the New Year, but the Qin family is in a gloomy mood. Although Qin Jianjun and his wife are both working, they both joined the job as replacements and have limited professional skills, so they can only get a basic salary. In addition, there are two elderly people in the family and their two children are growing up. Their salary can only cover their daily expenses at best, and they have no surplus at all.
Early in the morning that day, Qin Hao was blocked by Qin Jianjun as soon as he got up.
"Haozi, the Chinese New Year is coming soon. After all, you are a member of the Qin family. You have to come back for the Chinese New Year even if your bones are broken."
Qin Hao raised his lips with a sneer: "Oh, you're inviting me to your house for New Year's Eve dinner? Is there such a good thing in the world?"
Qin Jianjun said angrily: "Food is definitely not a problem, but my family is almost unable to make ends meet. Do you think you can get the subsidy back..."
"I thought so. So this is your idea." Qin Hao was so angry that he said, "Don't even think about it."
Qin Jianjun's nose was crooked with anger. His wife pointed at Qin Hao's nose and cursed: "You ungrateful bastard, you have been eating and drinking for free for so long. The subsidy should have been ours, but you gave it to outsiders instead of giving it to us..."
Before she could finish her words, Qin Hao interrupted her impatiently.
"That's right, Aunt Song Ying and I are indeed not related by blood, but I know how she treated me. You are related by blood to me, but you know how you treated me. Don't use blood relationship to make excuses in front of me in the future. You don't deserve it!"
Qin Jianjun and his wife were furious when they heard this, and they blocked Qin Hao's way. Qin Hao said coldly, "Just try to touch me."
In an instant, Qin Jianjun and his wife became intimidated and obediently made way.
The old couple of the Qin family didn't say a word from beginning to end. They definitely knew that Qin Jianjun and his wife wanted to get back Qin Hao's subsidy. Twenty more yuan a month would greatly improve their quality of life. But when they saw Qin Hao's firm attitude, they knew that this would definitely not work, so they pretended not to know. Otherwise, they would become cunning as time goes by.
But after Qin Hao left, the Qin family fell into chaos. It was almost New Year and everyone wanted to have a good meal, especially the two brothers Qin Yu and Qin Hong, who shouted: I want to eat meat.
The natural result was that they were used as punching bags by Qin Jianjun and his wife and were beaten severely. The neighbors around them were no longer surprised by the couple beating their children.
When Qin Hao arrived at Song Ying's courtyard, he saw Huang Ling happily cutting pork ribs. It was a very big piece of pork ribs.
"Good morning, Aunt Huang."
"Good morning, Haozi."
Although Huang Ling had a good impression of Qin Hao, there was only a little meat at home and she had to feed her two children first, so she had no intention of inviting Qin Hao.
As a result, Huang Ling's good mood lasted less than half an hour before she heard bad news. Her in-laws heard that she had bought meat and wanted to come over for dinner.
After Zhuang Chaoying entered the house, Huang Ling cursed at his back, "You son of a bitch! Your whole family is full of son of a bitch."
Then, Huang Ling changed the recipe and changed the stewed meat into stir-fried pork with carrots.
That night, Qin Hao heard a fierce quarrel coming from next door. Although both sides deliberately suppressed their voices, it could be heard that the fight was very intense.
Zhuang Chaoying accused Huang Ling of being rude to his family. They had originally agreed to eat meat, but in the end all the dishes were vegetarian, which was a slap in his face.
Huang Ling was also furious and angrily accused Zhuang Chaoying of only caring about his parents and brothers and never caring whether she and her two children had enough to eat.
After a fierce quarrel, Huang Ling took her two children and the spare ribs she had just bought and returned to her mother's home in Changzhou early to celebrate the New Year.
Now Zhuang Chaoying is in a miserable situation and can only eat instant rice at home alone.
It happened that Lin Wufeng and Song Ying came home from get off work to cook, so they invited Zhuang Chaoying to eat with them.
At the dinner table, Zhuang Chaoying complained to Lin Wufeng: "My brother wanted to send his two children to my house for the winter vacation, but Huang Ling couldn't bear it and took the children back to her parents' home."
Song Ying was puzzled when she heard this: "What about your nephew? Sister Ling took Tunan and Xiaoting back to her parents' home, and your nephew didn't come either."
Zhuang Chaoying was speechless for a moment, hesitating for a long time: "They went to the public toilet that day, saying it was too far away and too cold in winter, so they refused to come."
Qin Hao, who was listening at the side, laughed out loud.
Lin Wufeng gave Qin Hao a look, indicating that he should give Zhuang Chaoying some face.
Qin Hao directly exposed it: "The real reason is that Aunt Huang Ling is not at home. Teacher Zhuang, you can't even take care of yourself, let alone take care of two children, right?"
In an instant, Zhuang Chaoying's old face turned red.
Lin Wufeng was about to say something, but Qin Hao motioned for him to listen to what he had to say first.
"Teacher Zhuang, actually our family's situation is similar to yours. My father also subsidized my uncle and aunt's family in this way. But you saw the result. As soon as my parents left, my uncle and aunt started to abuse me."
Seeing that Zhuang Chaoying wanted to refute, Qin Hao spoke first.
"Are you trying to say that your second brother won't be like my second uncle? People are selfish. You are the only one who doesn't know which one is more important, a biological son or a nephew. Others know it very clearly."
"In this world, the people who hurt you the most are often the ones closest to you, because they are the ones who know you best in this world."
Song Ying held Qin Hao in her arms with heartache, her eyes red. If such words were uttered by a man in his seventies, no one would be surprised. But Qin Hao was only eight years old, and he would not even be nine after the Chinese New Year. For such a child to say such words, it could only be his personal experience and understanding. It was conceivable how badly the child was hurt.
Zhuang Chaoying opened his mouth and wanted to refute, but he had to admit that Qin Hao was right. Didn't he know that the old couple of the Zhuang family favored his younger brother? He was not stupid, he just didn't want to admit it.
Since he was young, the old couple of the Zhuang family have been constantly instilling in him the idea that as the eldest son of the Zhuang family, he should respect his elders and take care of his younger brothers and sisters. In his heart, his parents and brothers are more important than his wife.
So he watched his wife Huang Ling being wronged time and time again, and not only did he not support his wife, but he thought that this was all natural. Once his wife resisted, he would think that she was committing a rebellious act.
After a long pause, Zhuang Chaoying said softly, "We grew up in a poor family, but our parents insisted on letting us go to school. Before school started, my mother went door to door to borrow rice from relatives for us to take to school. A Ling's family was well-off since she was a child, and she didn't understand the friendship between us brothers and sisters who grew up together through hardships."
Song Ying was dumbfounded, but didn't know how to refute for a moment.
Qin Hao was immediately amused: "Uncle Zhuang, you said your family has had a hard time. Did it become so difficult after Aunt Huang Ling married you?"
Zhuang Chaoying blinked and said nothing.
Qin Hao would not indulge his bad habits: "The difficulties of the Zhuang family were not caused by Aunt Huang Ling, so why should she sacrifice for the difficulties of the Zhuang family? Uncle Zhuang, you keep saying that your parents have a hard time, so why don't you learn to cook and do housework to serve them? Why do I always see Aunt Huang Ling busying around while you all sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor? In the end, Aunt Huang Ling often doesn't even have a place to sit and can only eat in the kitchen with Zhuang Xiaoting?"
Seeing Zhuang Chaoying's face becoming increasingly ugly, Lin Wufeng quickly whispered to Qin Hao, "It's almost done."
For Lin Wufeng's sake, Qin Hao was too lazy to "get close to Zhuang Chaoying" and said, "I'm full. Aunt Song, Uncle Lin, I'm going to do my winter vacation homework."
"Teacher Zhuang, children are ignorant, please don't mind it."
Zhuang Chaoying went back to the house without saying a word, leaving Song Ying's family looking at each other in bewilderment.
While clearing the dishes, Lin Wufeng whispered to Song Ying, "Why do I feel that Haozi's personality is a bit like yours?"
Song Ying glared at him and pretended to hit him: "Lin Wufeng, what do you mean!"
"What's the meaning!"
"I'm just kidding. I just think that the way Haozi confronted Teacher Zhuang is very much like you." Lin Wufeng begged for mercy quickly.
Song Ying snorted: "Don't flatter me, Haozi's words just now were well-reasoned and clear, I can't say it."
"Alas, this kid is good in everything, but he is a little too mature. Sometimes when I talk to him, I feel like I am the junior." Lin Wufeng sighed.
"Yes, if Huijuan were still alive, he wouldn't have suffered so much, nor would he have to understand so many things. Look at Lin Dongzhe, he is so heartless, all he does all day is eat and play." Song Ying looked at her silly son. It's easy to be compared to others.
Before the Chinese New Year, Zhuang Chaoying went to Changzhou to bring Huang Ling and her two children back home, so that they were finally not alone in spending the New Year.
From the first to the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, people visit relatives and friends. Song Ying is no exception. She brings her family to visit relatives and friends, including Qin Hao. However, every household is having a hard time these days. The red paper package that Lin Dongzhe received as a New Year's greeting contained change and treasury bonds, while what Qin Hao received was basically an empty package.
Although Qin Hao didn't care, Song Ying gave Qin Hao a big red envelope of twenty yuan, which was two big unity bills.
At first, Qin Hao said he wanted nothing, but Song Ying said that this was the money he had not spent from his subsidy.
"Brother Hao, just accept it. We can go buy some plum blossom cakes later."
Song Ying glared at Lin Dongzhe in annoyance and said, "Eat, eat, all you know is to eat. If you can get half the grades of your brother Qin Hao, I will buy you plum cakes every day."
"Really? Haoge scored 100 and I scored 50, so I can eat plum cakes every day?"
"Only if you score 50 will you be eligible for the bamboo shoots fried with meat!"
Everyone burst into laughter, and amid the sound of firecrackers, 1977 became history and the brand new year 1978 came.