"You this child." Zhang Hualian felt her daughter’s closeness and was even happier, reminded Tang Yue to study hard, then went back to the store and continued to be busy.
After the first day’s success, the second and third days beca unusually smooth.
On Friday, taking advantage of the lunch break, Tang Yue told her parents that she was going back to pick up Xiao Jun, and took the shuttle bus to Shuanghe Town that afternoon.
Last weekend, Tang Jun was alone in Qianjin Village, and this weekend, Tang Yue was not at ease with Tang Jun staying alone in Qianjin Village.
When Tang Yue arrived at Shuanghe Town, Tang Jun had already returned to the village from school, so she went straight to Qianjin Village.
Besides picking up Tang Jun, she also had to take bedding to town, as well as bring a set of clothes for each of her parents.
Originally, Tang Zhengde was supposed to carry the bedding back, but Tang Yue said that she and Tang Jun could manage it, as Tang Zhengde already had a hard enough ti every morning. If he had to hurry back in the afternoon and then rush out again, he would definitely be very tired.
Qianjin Village.
Tang Jun had just brought his things ho, seeing that his parents and sister had not returned and it was just him alone in the quiet house, he felt a bit down.
"Xiao Jun, how co your parents haven’t co back this week either?" Auntie Wang Aihua saw that Tang Jun had returned, so she made a special trip over.
Tang Min still rembered the last ti Tang Jun hit her, so she imdiately said: "Mom, Uncle and Auntie said they opened a store, maybe they lost money and are afraid to co back?"
"You’re the one who lost money." Tang Jun glared at Tang Min and said gruffly, "Auntie, what ti is dinner? I’m starving."
"Seven o’clock." Wang Aihua looked at Tang Jun and said, "Xiao Jun, it’s really sothing how your parents can be so assured."
"I’m old enough, what’s there for them to worry about?" Tang Jun took out his howork. After Tang Yue’s corrections during the sumr, his first thing after coming ho now was to do howork. Once the howork was done, he could play with peace of mind.
He also wanted to go to high school and then to college. After college, it will be easier to get a job, and he would earn more money.
Tang Jun was ambitious and proud; he wanted to attend the best university.
Wang Aihua took Tang Min to the vegetable garden. When they encountered other villagers asking why Tang Zhengde and his wife weren’t at ho and weren’t working at the lumberyard, Wang Aihua vigorously spread the word that they had gone to town to open a store.
Once the villagers heard about opening a store, they imdiately started gossiping.
"Can Tang Zhengde really leave his job at the lumberyard to open a store?"
"What if the store loses money? That would be such a bad deal."
"Yes, and who knows what they were thinking, opening a shop. Tang Jun seems to be eating at your house all the ti, right?"
Wang Aihua nodded and said, "Exactly, my mother-in-law promised to take care of it. After all, Zheng Yuan is his only nephew, so we can’t let a twelve-year-old boy cook for himself, right?"
"Sigh, he’s at school during the week and at ho it’s just a cold and quiet place for a kid." Wang Aihua, looking concerned, said, "I feel sorry for Xiao Jun. He’s a sensible child, but now his parents have both gone to the county and left him alone at ho."
Imdiately another woman followed up, "Speaking of which, I don’t know what Tang Zhengde is thinking, not caring for his own son but treating his stepdaughter even better than his own child."
"Who said it wasn’t, the last ti at the hospital certainly wasn’t cheap."
Everyone was talking, one after the other. As Tang Yue turned around the corner of the road, she wasn’t yet in sight but could already hear their conversation, especially Wang Aihua’s sympathetic words, which infuriated Tang Yue deeply.
If Xiao Jun heard this, what would he think?
Xiao Jun was only twelve, right in his rebellious phase.
"Auntie, my parents definitely didn’t neglect Xiao Jun. Xiao Jun is their son, my little brother. As his big aunt, how can you say they left him alone at ho?" Tang Yue said angrily, "If others don’t know, that’s one thing, but Auntie, how could you not know?"
"Ladies, last weekend, Xiao Jun ate at Grandma’s but stayed over at Mo Weidong’s house, so the two had each other’s company." Tang Yue explained, then quickly walked towards her own ho.
She was thankful for her insistence; otherwise, if Xiao Jun heard this talk, who knows how upset he would be.
When she got ho, Tang Jun was doing his howork in the courtyard, so focused that Tang Yue could hardly rember the Tang Jun from her previous life with his ssy dyed hair and smoking cheap cigarettes.
"Xiao Jun."
As soon as Tang Yue’s voice sounded, Tang Jun excitedly looked up and dashed towards her, asking, "Sis, why did you co back?"
"If I didn’t co back, you’d be all alone," Tang Yue said with a smile, "How did you do on your recent exams? I brought back so goodies today."
"I scored ninety," Tang Jun said proudly. Considering how he struggled to even pass sixty before, ninety was extraordinary for him. He took out his paper from his bag, grinning as he asked for praise, "Aside from the snacks, what else did you buy, sis?"
"Good stuff." Tang Yue teased, first taking out the candies and a bag of popcorn.
Tang Jun imdiately cheered up. He opened the bag, grabbed a handful, then left more than half for Tang Yue, saying, "Sis, you have so too."
"Alright." Tang Yue also grabbed a handful, then handed him the comic books she brought back. There were seven or eight of them this ti.
Tang Jun hugged the books, kissing them excitedly, blurting out, "Sis, you really are my blood sister."
Tang Yue: "..."
Xiao Jun, can’t you change your expression of excitent?
When Tang Yue returned ho, she found that the wardrobe in her room was still there. The one missing was in her parents’ room; their clothes had been arranged on a bamboo bed by her mother Hualian and covered up with sothing.
Tang Yue sorted out a set of clothes each for her parents, then checked the kitchen. No food had been cooked at ho for a while, and the stove was quite dirty. After a brief cleaning, thinking that Tang Jun might be getting hungry, she went back to the room and took out the oil and salt her mother had stored away. She decided to make a simple dinner with the noodles she had brought back, planning to go to the county early the next day, so tonight it would just be so noodle soup.
Although Tang Yue’s noodle soup was no match for Tang Zhengde’s expertise, she went to the garden and picked a cabbage to put in, then fried two eggs into sunny-side-ups and finally sprinkled so green onions on top. While it was still light out, two steaming bowls of egg noodle soup were ready.
Tang Jun had finished his howork, and his appetite grew imnsely upon seeing the egg and cabbage noodle soup. He happily said, "Sis, so you can cook noodles too."
"Of course. Did you think that you were the only one who could eat but never cook?" Tang Yue glanced at him, then instructed, "Xiao Jun, let’s go to the county together tomorrow, and next week, don’t co back to the village. Just take the shuttle bus directly to the county’s bus station."
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