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The bookstore near the market, in the past, has been a lottery. Since the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination came out, every time He Xiaoyun went out to buy groceries, she could see a long line of people at the door of the bookstore. It's said that many people began to line up in the middle of the night but many people still can't buy a book yet.
He Xiaoyun's textbooks and review materials were found in various bookstores and waste recycling stations one after another in the past two years. Although some of them are relatively old, they are at least complete, which saves her the pain of buying books with the others.
That evening, Huang Lizhen came to look for her.
Knowing that she was nervously preparing for the exam, Xu Lanxiang and the others didn't dare to bother her easily. Huang Lizhen came here now, asking for something.
Among the three people Xiaoyun gets along well with, Xu Lanxiang and Huang Lizhen are locals. They married their lover in the army. Li Xijin, like He Xiaoyun, came from a hometown with Lao Zhao, and both of them are southerners.
There's a younger sister in Huang Lizhen's family. After graduating from high school a few years earlier, she was assigned to the northeast. The family was able to return to the city last year because of her connections. Now, she wants to take the college entrance examination, but she can’t buy review materials.
With no one to borrow, Huang Lizhen thought of coming to He Xiaoyun to try her luck.
He Xiaoyun listened to her explanation, handed her a copy of Algebra on the table, and said with a smile: "There are too many people in the bookstore, but I was lucky enough to find this book in a recycling bin. Sister Huang can borrow it."
Huang Lizhen was a little embarrassed: "You have to use it too... I will ask her to quickly finish a copy, and I will pay you back in two days."
"No hurry, I can review other things first."
Two days later, Huang Lizhen returned the book as promised, together with a basket of twenty eggs.
This time, it was He Xiaoyun's turn to be embarrassed, "What is this? If nothing else, Jianwei's had a good friendship with Lao Zhang, if he knew that I had taken Sister Huang's eggs, he would definitely talk about me."
Huang Lizhen smiled and said: "That is our women's business. What does it have to do with our men? Plus, this is my mother's insistence. Your book solved our family's urgent needs. If my younger sister can really get admitted to the university, let alone 20 eggs, 200 eggs can be given to you."
He Xiaoyun said, "Then, let's wait until your little sister is admitted to the university before giving me these eggs. I will definitely accept it when the time comes."
Huang Lizhen laid down the basket of eggs to the floor and walked outside, saying: "No, we'll give this to you right now. You can keep the eggs. If you don't, my mother will personally bring them tomorrow."
"Eh...Sister Huang..." She soon slipped away, and He Xiaoyun couldn't help but get the eggs inside. She was afraid that Huang Lizhen's mother would really come over, and she couldn't deal with the elders, so she had accepted it.
As soon as the news about the college entrance examination was finalized, He Xiaoyun and Wei Jianwei wrote a telegram home and asked Wei Jianhua if he intended to participate. If so, He Xiaoyun could send him her review materials.
Today, Wei Jianwei got off work and brought Wei Jianhua's reply. The content was as expected by He Xiaoyun. Jianhua has no interest in going to the university.
He Xiaoyun folded the letter and glanced at Wei Jianwei’s face, and said, “It’s okay if Jianhua doesn’t participate this time. It’s still early this year. If he failed the exam, his confidence might be affected. It’s better to wait for him to think about it. He can still participate in the next summer."
Wei Jianwei coldly snorted, "What affected confidence? He's just lazy."
"Everyone has their own ambitions. Are all those who don't study slackers?" He Xiaoyun argued.
"I don't know about the others, but Jianhua? He's just lazy."
"All right," He Xiaoyun patted her man's hand. "You're like a stubborn feudal parent. Don't worry about Jianhua's laziness anymore. Just come and help me cut potatoes."
Wei Jianwei obediently entered the kitchen. He looked quite big as he sat on a small bench. He was slightly frowning as he peeled the potatoes with a serious face. The scene looked especially funny.
He Xiaoyun used her index fingers and thumbs of both hands to form a box, placed it in front of her, and framed Wei Jianwei into the box with a click on her mouth.
Hearing the sound, Wei Jianwei raised his eyes to look at her, "What are you doing?"
"Taking a picture of you," He Xiaoyun said with a smile, "After the little kid has a child, I will point to the photo and tell him, look at your grandpa, he looks so wronged while peeling the potatoes."
Wei Jianwei raised an eyebrow and looked at her without speaking.
Upon seeing him like this, He Xiaoyun suddenly remembered the incident called Dad a few days ago and the scene of being repeatedly tossed by him that night. She gave a chuckle in her heart and hurriedly said, "I'm just kidding. You wouldn't be so stingy, would you?"
Wei Jianwei only hummed through his nose. It's that tone. So, He Xiaoyun knew that he was just that stingy.
Xiaoyun hurriedly squatted over to his side and touched him with her elbow, "Why are you like this?"
Wei Jianwei didn't react, but said: "Stubborn feudal parent?"
He Xiaoyun rolled her eyes in her heart. This mean-spirited man, it turned out that he had been holding grudges.
"That means you're very serious." Xiaoyun talked nonsense with her eyes open.
"Peeling the potatoes while looking wronged?"
"Uh..." He Xiaoyun's brain turned quickly, "That means you're willing to make contributions to your family. You're a good father and a good parent!"
Wei Jianwei smiled but Xiaoyun didn't know whether he would accept this explanation. At this time, Wei Yuanhang came back from school, and He Xiaoyun breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and thought, whether he accepts it or not, he won't be able to deal with me in the bedroom. I'm going to sleep in the little kid's room tonight.
"Mom, I'm back!" Wei Yuanhang leaped in, humming some song in his mouth.
He put down his schoolbag, ran to the kitchen, and actively asked: "Should I peel some beans?"
"There are no beans today." He Xiaoyun said.
"Do I need to wash the radishes?" Wei Yuanhang asked again.
The reason why the child's so diligent is He Xiaoyun's reward system. Every time he does some housework, he can get one or two small red flowers. With more red flowers, he can exchange them for snacks or toys.
Yuanhang's red flowers have already been exchanged for a candied haw and a tin pencil box. The pencil box has made him famous among his classmates for several days. The little kid who tasted the sweetness now comes home from school every day. The first thing in his mind is not to go out and play but to help his mother work.
He Xiaoyun pointed to Wei Jianwei and said, "Your father already took care of today's work. You have no work to do today."
"Why did you do that, Dad?!" The little kid pouted and said dissatisfiedly.
He Xiaoyun hummed a song and turned around to cook. Of course, she lied to Wei Yuanhang. Even if Wei Jianwei didn't peel the potatoes, she wouldn't give the kid such a dangerous job. She just wanted to find something to distract Wei Jianwei and grind his bad thoughts away. (Hohoho, we all know what this means~)
Wei Yuanhang was still aggrieved, "Dad, you grabbed my little red flowers..."
Of course, Wei Jianwei can ignore the child, but this is his own son after all. So he had coaxed, "I'll fold you some Sifangbao at night."
Sifangbao is a kind of toy for children. Children will buckle two Sifangbao on the ground. If one of them can overturn the other, they will win. The winner can take the loser's Sifangbao as their own.
Wei Yuanhang's eyes immediately lit up, and he greedily stretched out two palms, "Ten!"
"Five." Wei Jianwei bargained.
"Huh?" Wei Yuanhang was dumbfounded, "That... eight!"
"Five."
"Seven!"
"Five."
"Six, six, or six!" The child sniffed.
Wei Jianwei glanced at his son and felt that if he cut the number down again, he might cry, so he kindly nodded, "Six."
Wei Yuanhang smiled all of a sudden, and ran to He Xiaoyun and said, "Dad said he will fold me six Sifangbao!"
After listening to the whole process of bargaining, He Xiaoyun spared no effort to rub the little kid's head, and tolerantly said: "Go to the next door to play with Rongrong for a while, I will call you back after the meal is ready, and then you can do your homework after eating."
The child ran out cheering, and across the wall, Xiaoyun could hear him showing off with Wang Derong about how his father was about to fold six Sifangbao's for him.
She couldn't help but look at Wei Jianwei. After Wei Jianwei had peeled and cut the potatoes, he washed his hands and walked over, "What are you looking at?"
Looking at her child's father who is ruthless, shameless, and unreasonable. He Xiaoyun sighed heartily. Although she usually bullies the little kid, seeing him being bullied by Wei Jianwei pains her heart.
Wei Jianwei is too bad.
He Xiaoyun secretly nodded to her conclusion.
Although she didn't say a word, Wei Jianwei saw his wife's expression and knew that she was probably slandering him again.
He leaned over and nibbled on her earlobe.
"Ah!" He Xiaoyun exclaimed, turning to stare at him, "Are you a dog?"
Wei Jianwei smiled and answered, "Not a dog, I just like biting you."
He Xiaoyun was so angry that she lifted her foot to kick his legs but was gently and skillfully avoided by him. The man then stepped forward to embrace her and kissed her twice at the place where he had just nibbled.
"Go away!" He Xiaoyun snorted.
Wei Jianwei didn't leave and kissed her twice.
The meal was delayed, and Wei Yuanhang was practically hungry.
After dinner, Wei Yuanhang wrote his twisted characters as usual. Wei Jianwei sat on the opposite side while doing origami, and He Xiaoyun was studying between the two.
Before long, the child was sleepy, so she took him to wash up and went back to the child's room to sleep.
After Wei Yuanhang lay down, He Xiaoyun leaned on the head of the bed, causing the child to ask her, "Does mom want to sleep with me tonight?"
He Xiaoyun teased him: "Yeah, we won't care about dad anymore, okay?"
The child frowned in embarrassment. His dad just folded a lot of Sifangbao for him. If he doesn’t care about him, will Dad ask for his Sifangbao back?
Seeing that the child took the question seriously with a distressed expression on his face, He Xiaoyun said happily: "It's just a joke. Don't think too deeply about it."
Wei Jianwei sat alone in the living room for a long time without seeing He Xiaoyun coming out from the child's room. He went in and found that she fell asleep while leaning against the child's bed.
Jianwei stepped forward to pick her up.
He Xiaoyun seemed to feel she was being lifted up, she opened her eyes in a daze, took a look, hummed, and said: "Sniff, I won't sleep with you..."
After speaking, she fell asleep again.
Wei Jianwei looked helpless.
The bookstore near the market, in the past, has been a lottery. Since the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination came out, every time He Xiaoyun went out to buy groceries, she could see a long line of people at the door of the bookstore. It's said that many people began to line up in the middle of the night but many people still can't buy a book yet.
He Xiaoyun's textbooks and review materials were found in various bookstores and waste recycling stations one after another in the past two years. Although some of them are relatively old, they are at least complete, which saves her the pain of buying books with the others.
That evening, Huang Lizhen came to look for her.
Knowing that she was nervously preparing for the exam, Xu Lanxiang and the others didn't dare to bother her easily. Huang Lizhen came here now, asking for something.
Among the three people Xiaoyun gets along well with, Xu Lanxiang and Huang Lizhen are locals. They married their lover in the army. Li Xijin, like He Xiaoyun, came from a hometown with Lao Zhao, and both of them are southerners.
There's a younger sister in Huang Lizhen's family. After graduating from high school a few years earlier, she was assigned to the northeast. The family was able to return to the city last year because of her connections. Now, she wants to take the college entrance examination, but she can’t buy review materials.
With no one to borrow, Huang Lizhen thought of coming to He Xiaoyun to try her luck.
He Xiaoyun listened to her explanation, handed her a copy of Algebra on the table, and said with a smile: "There are too many people in the bookstore, but I was lucky enough to find this book in a recycling bin. Sister Huang can borrow it."
Huang Lizhen was a little embarrassed: "You have to use it too... I will ask her to quickly finish a copy, and I will pay you back in two days."
"No hurry, I can review other things first."
Two days later, Huang Lizhen returned the book as promised, together with a basket of twenty eggs.
This time, it was He Xiaoyun's turn to be embarrassed, "What is this? If nothing else, Jianwei's had a good friendship with Lao Zhang, if he knew that I had taken Sister Huang's eggs, he would definitely talk about me."
Huang Lizhen smiled and said: "That is our women's business. What does it have to do with our men? Plus, this is my mother's insistence. Your book solved our family's urgent needs. If my younger sister can really get admitted to the university, let alone 20 eggs, 200 eggs can be given to you."
He Xiaoyun said, "Then, let's wait until your little sister is admitted to the university before giving me these eggs. I will definitely accept it when the time comes."
Huang Lizhen laid down the basket of eggs to the floor and walked outside, saying: "No, we'll give this to you right now. You can keep the eggs. If you don't, my mother will personally bring them tomorrow."
"Eh...Sister Huang..." She soon slipped away, and He Xiaoyun couldn't help but get the eggs inside. She was afraid that Huang Lizhen's mother would really come over, and she couldn't deal with the elders, so she had accepted it.
As soon as the news about the college entrance examination was finalized, He Xiaoyun and Wei Jianwei wrote a telegram home and asked Wei Jianhua if he intended to participate. If so, He Xiaoyun could send him her review materials.
Today, Wei Jianwei got off work and brought Wei Jianhua's reply. The content was as expected by He Xiaoyun. Jianhua has no interest in going to the university.
He Xiaoyun folded the letter and glanced at Wei Jianwei’s face, and said, “It’s okay if Jianhua doesn’t participate this time. It’s still early this year. If he failed the exam, his confidence might be affected. It’s better to wait for him to think about it. He can still participate in the next summer."
Wei Jianwei coldly snorted, "What affected confidence? He's just lazy."
"Everyone has their own ambitions. Are all those who don't study slackers?" He Xiaoyun argued.
"I don't know about the others, but Jianhua? He's just lazy."
"All right," He Xiaoyun patted her man's hand. "You're like a stubborn feudal parent. Don't worry about Jianhua's laziness anymore. Just come and help me cut potatoes."
Wei Jianwei obediently entered the kitchen. He looked quite big as he sat on a small bench. He was slightly frowning as he peeled the potatoes with a serious face. The scene looked especially funny.
He Xiaoyun used her index fingers and thumbs of both hands to form a box, placed it in front of her, and framed Wei Jianwei into the box with a click on her mouth.
Hearing the sound, Wei Jianwei raised his eyes to look at her, "What are you doing?"
"Taking a picture of you," He Xiaoyun said with a smile, "After the little kid has a child, I will point to the photo and tell him, look at your grandpa, he looks so wronged while peeling the potatoes."
Wei Jianwei raised an eyebrow and looked at her without speaking.
Upon seeing him like this, He Xiaoyun suddenly remembered the incident called Dad a few days ago and the scene of being repeatedly tossed by him that night. She gave a chuckle in her heart and hurriedly said, "I'm just kidding. You wouldn't be so stingy, would you?"
Wei Jianwei only hummed through his nose. It's that tone. So, He Xiaoyun knew that he was just that stingy.
Xiaoyun hurriedly squatted over to his side and touched him with her elbow, "Why are you like this?"
Wei Jianwei didn't react, but said: "Stubborn feudal parent?"
He Xiaoyun rolled her eyes in her heart. This mean-spirited man, it turned out that he had been holding grudges.
"That means you're very serious." Xiaoyun talked nonsense with her eyes open.
"Peeling the potatoes while looking wronged?"
"Uh..." He Xiaoyun's brain turned quickly, "That means you're willing to make contributions to your family. You're a good father and a good parent!"
Wei Jianwei smiled but Xiaoyun didn't know whether he would accept this explanation. At this time, Wei Yuanhang came back from school, and He Xiaoyun breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and thought, whether he accepts it or not, he won't be able to deal with me in the bedroom. I'm going to sleep in the little kid's room tonight.
"Mom, I'm back!" Wei Yuanhang leaped in, humming some song in his mouth.
He put down his schoolbag, ran to the kitchen, and actively asked: "Should I peel some beans?"
"There are no beans today." He Xiaoyun said.
"Do I need to wash the radishes?" Wei Yuanhang asked again.
The reason why the child's so diligent is He Xiaoyun's reward system. Every time he does some housework, he can get one or two small red flowers. With more red flowers, he can exchange them for snacks or toys.
Yuanhang's red flowers have already been exchanged for a candied haw and a tin pencil box. The pencil box has made him famous among his classmates for several days. The little kid who tasted the sweetness now comes home from school every day. The first thing in his mind is not to go out and play but to help his mother work.
He Xiaoyun pointed to Wei Jianwei and said, "Your father already took care of today's work. You have no work to do today."
"Why did you do that, Dad?!" The little kid pouted and said dissatisfiedly.
He Xiaoyun hummed a song and turned around to cook. Of course, she lied to Wei Yuanhang. Even if Wei Jianwei didn't peel the potatoes, she wouldn't give the kid such a dangerous job. She just wanted to find something to distract Wei Jianwei and grind his bad thoughts away. (Hohoho, we all know what this means~)
Wei Yuanhang was still aggrieved, "Dad, you grabbed my little red flowers..."
Of course, Wei Jianwei can ignore the child, but this is his own son after all. So he had coaxed, "I'll fold you some Sifangbao at night."
Sifangbao is a kind of toy for children. Children will buckle two Sifangbao on the ground. If one of them can overturn the other, they will win. The winner can take the loser's Sifangbao as their own.
Wei Yuanhang's eyes immediately lit up, and he greedily stretched out two palms, "Ten!"
"Five." Wei Jianwei bargained.
"Huh?" Wei Yuanhang was dumbfounded, "That... eight!"
"Five."
"Seven!"
"Five."
"Six, six, or six!" The child sniffed.
Wei Jianwei glanced at his son and felt that if he cut the number down again, he might cry, so he kindly nodded, "Six."
Wei Yuanhang smiled all of a sudden, and ran to He Xiaoyun and said, "Dad said he will fold me six Sifangbao!"
After listening to the whole process of bargaining, He Xiaoyun spared no effort to rub the little kid's head, and tolerantly said: "Go to the next door to play with Rongrong for a while, I will call you back after the meal is ready, and then you can do your homework after eating."
The child ran out cheering, and across the wall, Xiaoyun could hear him showing off with Wang Derong about how his father was about to fold six Sifangbao's for him.
She couldn't help but look at Wei Jianwei. After Wei Jianwei had peeled and cut the potatoes, he washed his hands and walked over, "What are you looking at?"
Looking at her child's father who is ruthless, shameless, and unreasonable. He Xiaoyun sighed heartily. Although she usually bullies the little kid, seeing him being bullied by Wei Jianwei pains her heart.
Wei Jianwei is too bad.
He Xiaoyun secretly nodded to her conclusion.
Although she didn't say a word, Wei Jianwei saw his wife's expression and knew that she was probably slandering him again.
He leaned over and nibbled on her earlobe.
"Ah!" He Xiaoyun exclaimed, turning to stare at him, "Are you a dog?"
Wei Jianwei smiled and answered, "Not a dog, I just like biting you."
He Xiaoyun was so angry that she lifted her foot to kick his legs but was gently and skillfully avoided by him. The man then stepped forward to embrace her and kissed her twice at the place where he had just nibbled.
"Go away!" He Xiaoyun snorted.
Wei Jianwei didn't leave and kissed her twice.
The meal was delayed, and Wei Yuanhang was practically hungry.
After dinner, Wei Yuanhang wrote his twisted characters as usual. Wei Jianwei sat on the opposite side while doing origami, and He Xiaoyun was studying between the two.
Before long, the child was sleepy, so she took him to wash up and went back to the child's room to sleep.
After Wei Yuanhang lay down, He Xiaoyun leaned on the head of the bed, causing the child to ask her, "Does mom want to sleep with me tonight?"
He Xiaoyun teased him: "Yeah, we won't care about dad anymore, okay?"
The child frowned in embarrassment. His dad just folded a lot of Sifangbao for him. If he doesn’t care about him, will Dad ask for his Sifangbao back?
Seeing that the child took the question seriously with a distressed expression on his face, He Xiaoyun said happily: "It's just a joke. Don't think too deeply about it."
Wei Jianwei sat alone in the living room for a long time without seeing He Xiaoyun coming out from the child's room. He went in and found that she fell asleep while leaning against the child's bed.
Jianwei stepped forward to pick her up.
He Xiaoyun seemed to feel she was being lifted up, she opened her eyes in a daze, took a look, hummed, and said: "Sniff, I won't sleep with you..."
After speaking, she fell asleep again.
Wei Jianwei looked helpless.
T/N: So...Sifangbao was just origami? Fine, another knowledge added to my knowledge vault.
I think the Sifangbao mentioned is similar to "pogs" here in the Philippines, or "ddakji" in south korea. But unlike pogs that are factory made, ddakji and sifangbao can both be made from scratch with a paper similar to origami...
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