Reborn Scholar

Chapter 33

On the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Meng Qingshan and his wife came back from W City.

My own three-legged cat put a guardrail on the side and pulled a cart full of lotus root, about two thousand catties.

They are first unloaded in their own yard, sorted and then sold on the street.

Grandma, uncle, and uncle who had just returned from the south for a few days all came to help.Even Meng Xiangfei was not idle.

The next day was the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.

The other primary school students went to school to get the notice, while Meng Shi went to participate in the competition, that is, the competition for writing famous sayings and epigrams.

The test center is Zhenyi Junior High School next to Zhenxiao.

The junior high school students didn't come to pick up the notification until tomorrow, but they used the classroom as a test center today.

The students selected to participate in the competition from the primary and junior high schools in the town will be divided into two examination rooms according to the primary school group and the junior high school group.

Meng Shi took a look. The elementary school group was about 50 people, and the junior high school group was about the same.

After the test papers were handed out, Meng Shi looked at them and found that the questions were basically the most commonly used famous sayings.

If there is no foundation at all, it will take a lot of brains to memorize these things, especially if you don't understand many of them, but with Meng Shi's experience, she knows many of the sentences, and it is easy to understand the meaning of those who don't know, so the memorization is naturally fast.

In addition, she has the willpower and concentration that other students do not have, so these are not difficult for her.

After the exam, Meng Shicai went to get the notice.

Her brother is still waiting for her.

"Didn't I tell you to go back first?" Meng Shi looked at his younger brother whose ears were flushed from the cold, feeling very distressed.

"Sister, you finished the exam so quickly? It's amazing. I think you are the first one out." Meng Xiangfei was very excited.

Meng Shi smiled, "That's right, how can she be your sister if she's not good. Have you got the notice? How many points did you get?"

"95 in Chinese, 93 in mathematics. I even got the certificate." Meng Xiangfei took out the notification letter and the certificate in his schoolbag like a treasure.

Meng Shi took it and read it carefully twice, with a smile on his face.

"Xiao Fei is awesome, keep working hard, I am the master, all the lucky money for this year's Spring Festival is at your disposal."

"what?"

"It means that you don't have to hand over the New Year's money to your parents, you can buy whatever you want."

"Really?" Meng Xiangfei's eyes sparkled.

"Of course. When did my sister not count her words?"

Meng Shi also got the certificate without a doubt, and the results on the notice were even more blinding.

The siblings went home happily.

The lotus root has almost been sorted and is going to be sold tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the twentieth of the twelfth lunar month, and the annual collection has basically begun to be lively.

My aunt also came back from the city to buy goods.

In addition to the traditional couplets with black and red characters on red paper, there are also some wall calendars printed with star images, of course, they are single-page.There are also small notebook-like calendars, which are one page for a month, with a different image of a star on each page.

Grandpa and grandma are very suspicious of whether these things can be sold. The farmer’s favorite thing to buy is a Buddha statue or a Guanyin statue. Who would buy someone they don’t know and take it home as an offering?

But my aunt was full of confidence.

Anyway, it didn't cost much to buy the goods, so grandpa and grandma didn't care about it, and let her go about it by herself.

Meng Shi told Meng Xiangfei, "Xiao Fei, my aunt is going to set up a stall tomorrow, so you can help my aunt to watch the stall, in case there are too many people, my aunt can't see it alone. Also, by the way, I will also practice addition and subtraction, and see what people give me. Money, how much should you find. If you don’t make a mistake, my aunt will buy you delicious food.”

My aunt also smiled and said, "Oh, I'm just in need of someone to look after the stall for me, and remind my aunt not to make a wrong calculation."

Meng Xiangfei shyly agreed.

Twelfth lunar month twenty.

The cold air arrived as expected. Originally, these days were basically around zero degrees. When the cold air came, the temperature suddenly dropped to minus fifteen degrees!

Very cold very cold.

The water in the pond in the village is frozen solid, and children can skate and play on it.

In order to find a good place to sell lotus root stalls, Meng Qingshan and his wife got up at five o'clock in the morning. Pull carefully to the street.

When Meng Shi woke up, his parents were already on the street.

The purchase price of lotus root is [-] cents, and when you bring it back plus travel expenses, it is almost equivalent to [-] cents a catty on average.After sorting, the first-class ones are sold for [-] cents a catty, the second-class ones are sold for [-] cents, the second-class ones are sold for [-] cents, and the broken and tailed ones are sold for [-] cents or even [-] cents per catty.

It's very cold, and there are still ten days before the Chinese New Year. People tend to see more and buy less.

The sales of lotus roots were not very good on the first day.

On my aunt's side, a lot of star posters were sold. My aunt did the math, and she made a net profit of 20 yuan, but the Spring Festival couplets sold less.

My aunt was full of energy, so she quickly went to the city to approve more and more complete star calendars and came back.

And this morning, Meng Shi went to school and was notified that she was selected and went to the county to continue participating in the competition tomorrow.

Along with her, Qi Chuan from Tianying Village Primary School in Yangzhuang Town and two junior high school students were also selected.

The leading teacher is Teacher Ma from junior high school.

When I informed her, I also said that at seven o'clock in the morning on the 21st of the twelfth lunar month, we would meet at the crossroads in the town, and Teacher Ma would take the car to the county.

Meng Shi was woken up by his mother in the morning, "It's six o'clock, get up quickly, don't be late."

Meng Shi looked at the time and was speechless. It was only six o'clock, and it was still dark at six o'clock in winter.Besides, they don't meet until seven o'clock, and her house is no more than 300 meters away from the crossroad where they are going to gather. As for getting up so early!
After lying in bed for a while, Meng Shi slowly put on his clothes and got up.

Mom had already poured warm water for her to wash her face.

"Your father and your uncle have already gone to the street to sell lotus roots, and I haven't cooked, so you can go to the street and eat some fried dough sticks in spicy soup."

"Oh." Meng Shi agreed, but his mind hadn't fully woken up from his sleep.

"Why are you still confused? How about washing your face with cold water? Can you go to the competition if you are so confused?" Lu Caixia was very skeptical.

Meng Shi had no choice but to say, "Mom, don't worry. It's alright, alright, I'm leaving."

"Have you brought any money?"

"Bring it."

"Your father is not far from the crossroads. Check to see if it's Mr. Ma. Don't follow the wrong person."

"..."

Meng Shi had already run out the door.

The temperature seems to be lower today, and the sky is overcast. It looks like it is going to snow, but it hasn't.The northwest wind cuts people's faces like a knife!
Meng Shi was wearing a padded jacket made by his grandmother with this year's new cotton, which was very warm.

Grandma said that she writes a lot on weekdays, and made her a pair of cotton gloves, which are extremely warm.

Meng Shi was reborn from the era of global warming in later generations. He didn't know whether it was a psychological effect or what. He always felt that this winter was very cold and unbearable.

Also, with the current temperature of minus ten degrees below zero, who would have imagined that in this same place, the winter here will not exceed minus five degrees at most in 20 years, and even a single snowflake will not fall for several years in a row!

When Meng Shi reached the intersection, it was not yet 06:30.

I took a look at my own stall, and my father and uncle were tidying up the stall.

"Dad, Uncle, have you eaten yet? Shall I make you a bowl of Hu spicy soup?"

"We've already eaten. Go and eat quickly. When the teacher comes later, you haven't eaten yet. They can still wait for you. Go quickly." Dad said directly.

Meng Shi pouted, and turned to eat at the restaurant on the side of the road. She didn't believe what her father said that she had eaten.

Hu spicy soup, Meng Shi's most craving thing when he was a child.

Meat, day lily, vermicelli, vermicelli, bean gluten, gluten, and starchy water washed out of gluten... merged into a bowl of spicy and delicious Hu spicy soup. Eating a bowl in this weather will warm the whole person .

Although Hu spicy soup is not expensive, there are not many people who are willing to eat it every day. Often, the children are greedy every few days, and the parents bring a bowl to eat. Most of the people who come to eat are from the town. , those in the village were even more reluctant.

But now that it's the end of the new year, people are a little more willing to spend money than usual. At this time in the morning, there are already many people sitting in the restaurant.

When he was in a restaurant, Meng Shi didn't like to eat at the same table as others.But obviously, there is no single empty table here.

Instead, there was only a ten-year-old boy sitting at a table by the door.

Meng Shi walked over and asked for a bowl of Hu spicy soup, and made it opposite the boy with the soup.

There was a book next to the boy. Meng Shi glanced at it, and it seemed to be physics in the second year of junior high school.

Under this physics book, there is also a white paper book with four big characters of famous sayings and epigrams clearly printed on it.

Yes, this famous saying is not a book, but printed by the Board of Education itself, let the students memorize it, and then organize a competition.

When Meng Shi saw the word Qi Chuan written on the cover of the book, he understood it instantly.

"You're Qi Chuan? You also went to the county to participate in the famous saying competition, so you came early?" Meng Shi said with a smile.

The boy looked up, glanced at Meng Shi, nodded, and then went back to reading on his own.

The boy's skin was very white, his eyes were big, with double eyelids, and his eyelashes were long when he lowered his eyes, which made Meng Shi jealous because her eyelashes were not long enough.So when I see long eyelashes, I get jealous.Such a look really stands out among the rural children.

In Hulatang shop, people usually want a bowl of Hulatang, a few fried dough sticks or a piece of pancake, but the fried dough sticks and pancakes are served in a small bamboo basket made of bamboo strips for all the food eaten in the store.

In front of Qi Chuan, there was only a half-drunk bowl of Hu spicy soup, but there was no small bamboo basket. He probably didn't want fried dough sticks or pancakes.

Looking at Qi Chuan's clothes, they are clean, but they are a bit old, and they are relatively thin, so they are not warm at first glance.There were chilblains on his hands, which were red and scary.

Meng Shi sighed, in this day and age, many people really can't even do the most basic food and clothing.

Can she change her own situation, can she change everyone?Obviously not.

"Do you want fried dough sticks or pancakes?" the proprietress asked.

Meng Shi pursed his lips, then said with a smile, "You want fried dough sticks for two yuan."

The proprietress was taken aback, "Can you eat that much?"

"Hey, my dad and the others didn't eat either."

The proprietress didn't ask too much, and the seller naturally didn't mind the customers buying more, the more the better.

There are really a lot of fried dough sticks for two yuan, and there are three baskets in the bamboo basket, which are full.

In fact, with Meng Shi's food intake, she would be full if she ate deep-fried dough sticks for [-] cents alone, and with a bowl of Hu spicy soup, she would be full for [-] cents.

From the beginning to the end, except for the very beginning when she took the initiative to talk to her, Qi Chuan didn't pay her any attention, and didn't even look at her.

However, Meng Shi noticed that Qi Chuan's throat rolled when the fritters were brought up.

Hey, this kid can really bear it. If it were any other kid, he would have looked over eagerly.

Meng Shi completely forgot at this moment that he was also a child, maybe younger than Qi Chuan.

Meng Shi took the chopsticks to pick up the fried dough sticks, because the basket was small and there were a lot of fried dough sticks piled up, so she picked up one fried dough stick and accidentally brought it to the bottom, and immediately two fried dough sticks rolled down from the basket.

Meng Shi hurriedly reached out to catch it, but who knew he didn't catch the fried dough stick, but touched the basket instead, so the fried dough stick that was about to fall on the table happened to be pushed forward by her, and one end fell into Qi Chuan's bowl .

Qi Chuan, who was drinking hot pepper soup with a spoon, froze his hands.

Meng Shi breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly sighed, did he do anything unnecessary, just give it to him if he wanted to give it to him, and use such a "thrilling" way to take care of his self-esteem because of the wool?What if the fritters are not well controlled and fall to the ground?
She doesn't want to eat the things she picks up on the ground, and throwing them away is obviously not suitable for cooking, and it's even more inappropriate for Qi Chuan to eat them!

Thinking of this, Meng Shi's face twisted.

She simply and neatly grabbed several fried dough sticks and stuffed them all into Qi Chuan's bowl.

Then, the two stared at each other.

"You..." Qi Chuan's eyebrows could pinch a fly to death.

Qi Chuan's voice is very nice, the voice of a boy of this age has not changed, it sounds very crisp.

Meng Shi didn't know what to say, this Qi Chuan was obviously a person with strong self-esteem, and what she said was wrong, and it might hurt his self-esteem, so it's better not to say anything.

So, Meng Shi blinked at Qi Chuan, then bowed his head to eat without saying a word.

Qi Chuan looked at the extra fried dough sticks in his bowl, which had been soaked in the hot and spicy soup he drank, so of course he couldn't return it.

Qi Chuan was still touching the physics book with one hand, and the other hand was holding the spoon, but he was so stiff that he didn't know how to move.

Meng Shi finished the Hu spicy soup in two gulps, and then shouted at the boss, "The lady boss will serve me two more bowls, and I'm going to serve them to my dad."

"Okay."

The proprietress finished serving it, and seeing that Meng Shi couldn't handle it, she called her daughter, "Xiaoyan, take these two bowls of hot and spicy soup to the opposite side."

"Thanks." Meng Shi smiled, and then she took the basket of fried dough sticks and prepared to give them to Dad and the others.

Of the three baskets, she could only take two. She had already eaten a few sticks and stuffed a few sticks into Qi Chuan's basket, leaving six or seven deep-fried dough sticks.

Meng Shi didn't say anything, and stuffed all the fritters into Qi Chuan's bowl.

Just kidding, she was sure that if she didn't do this, Qi Chuan would definitely not eat the fried dough sticks she left in the basket.

After finishing all this, she directly paid the proprietress and left with two baskets!Just wait for Dad and the others to finish eating, and then send back the baskets and bowls. This is what all businessmen on the street do.

And Qi Chuan, who stayed where he was... his whole body was stiff.

After the meal was served, my father and uncle did not eat.

So what adults say, I have eaten, I am full, and I don’t like to eat, are all false.

Six fifty.

Teacher Ma came, and so did the other two junior high school students.

My aunt also came to the stall. Seeing that Meng Shi and the others hadn't left, she bought six apples and asked Meng Shi to distribute one to each of them. She also told Teacher Ma to take care of her.

Teacher Ma agreed with a smile, very politely.

Meng Shi shared one apple with each of them, and she kept two for herself.

When it was given to Qi Chuan, he didn't want it at first, but when he saw Meng Shi's face, he remembered the morning meal.

He finally ate all those fried dough sticks. He was very full. He had never been so full.

He silently took the apple and whispered, "Thank you."

Meng Shi smiled, "You're welcome."

At present, Meng Shi's hair only reaches below the ears, and it is neatly cut. This type of hair is called student head. The origin of the name is probably the same hair type as those female students in the Republic of China period.

She was wearing a red jacket, with her hands behind her back, her small face raised slightly, the corners of her lips curled up, a ray of sunlight that had finally torn through the gloomy sky hit her face, making her whole People seem to be coated with a halo.

Qi Chuan never thought that a girl could be so good-looking.

At [-]:[-], the car from X County to D County passed the intersection of Yangzhuang Town.

Teacher Ma got into the car with a few students.

The ticket is bought by the teacher and reimbursed by the school.

When I arrived at the county seat, the exam at the county primary school started at nine o'clock and ended at ten o'clock.

After the exam, Teacher Ma took them to catch the 10:30 bus. When they came back, it was past eleven o'clock.

Still at the intersection of the car.

Teacher Ma parted ways with his classmates.

As for the results of this exam, it is said that they will not come out until the end of the new year.

After getting off the car, Meng Shi went directly to his father's booth to help. Qi Chuan stood there watching for a while, then turned and left.

The next day, she was at home.When my mother came back from the stall, she brought her a thick booklet.

"A boy gave it to me. I asked him who he was, but he left the things and ran away without saying anything. He has delicate features and features, which is really good-looking." Mom's eyes were a little strange.

The corner of Meng Shi's mouth twitched, expressing his inability to understand the look in his mother's eyes.

But she was also curious as to who sent this booklet.

The booklet is very simple, the cover is made of waste cardboard, when you open it, there are newspaper clippings inside.

The content is some beautiful poems, prose, argumentative papers, and even political discussions, etc., with handwritten notes on the side.

The material is very simple, but the production is very delicate. It can be seen that the author made it with great care.

Meng Shi took a look. The booklet was a full ten centimeters thick and looked like bricks.

Such a thick newspaper clipping, and the time to read the first and last one, turned out to be three years ago.One can imagine the effort it took!

After three years, this booklet is still intact...

If the owner of this booklet was Meng Shi, she would definitely treasure it.

Others have to remind them to be more careful when they look at it, let alone give this thing directly to others.

"Mom, what did people say?"

"For you." Lu Caixia still had strange eyes.

The corner of Meng Shi's mouth twitched, and his eyes suddenly widened, "Is that boy a little taller than me, with fair skin, big eyes with double eyelids, and long eyelashes... Uh, haha."

Under the gaze of his mother, who was already on fire, Meng Shi resolutely hehe.

"Little girl, how do you remember her so clearly?"

"Yesterday he went to the county with us. We sat next to each other. I just gave him the few fritters that I hadn't finished eating. He probably felt embarrassed and wanted to thank me." Meng Shi said.

Lu Caixia snorted and ignored her.

Meng Shi was only beating drums in his heart, so why did Qi Chuan do this?

It's just a few fritters, he is willing to give this kind of treasure to her.

Tsk tsk, it can also be seen how strong Qi Chuan's self-esteem is.

Hey, she sighed, she didn't think about it anymore, but she was quite interested in this newspaper clipping.

She knew that if she returned it, Qi Chuan would not take it, and she didn't know how to return it.

Then keep it well, these clippings are the epitome of the times and are worth collecting.

The matter was simply left behind.

Twelfth lunar month 23, Xiaonian.

There is a tradition of 23 kang pot stickers here. In addition to offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God, Meng Shi, as a goddaughter, also needs to go to the godmother's house to give pot stickers.

The 24th of the twelfth lunar month.

The sales of lotus root started to boom, and the price went up by a dime.

The Meng family laughed from ear to ear. The whole family joined the battle, and they all participated in the camp of selling lotus roots.

On the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, the price of lotus root continued to rise.

Seeing the skyrocketing price of lotus roots, many people follow the trend and go to W City to buy goods. Who knows that there is no stock there, the lake mud is frozen, and digging is very difficult. Even the sales in W City cannot be supplied, let alone the lotus roots. It was sold outside.

Those who went to collect goods all returned empty-handed.

The price of lotus root has risen again.

On the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, the price of good lotus root has risen to [-] cents, and the lowest price is [-] cents.

There are not many goods left in the Meng family.

I kept enough for my own food, and sold the rest.

On the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, all lotus roots were sold out.The Meng family has also begun to prepare for the New Year.

After selling out, I did some calculations, and after excluding all expenses, these lotus root made a net profit of 700 yuan!

Pretty good grades.We must know that the salary of a teacher is only 50 yuan a month, and it is not paid on time.

Parents divided one hundred for the uncle and one hundred for the uncle, and kept it for grandma.

My aunt's Spring Festival couplets are also very popular. Those young people who have returned from working outside the city like the star posters the most, and they have money in their hands, and they are willing to spend it.When buying posters, they often also buy Spring Festival couplets.

My aunt has also earned more than 100 yuan these days, and she is very happy.

Meng Shi was undoubtedly the happiest when his family was thriving.

Last winter, she was reborn, but she couldn't bear it for a while, and she didn't have a good Spring Festival.

This year's Spring Festival is the most meaningful Spring Festival since she came back.

Originally, uncle Lu Yingpeng and Qin Xin were going to get married years ago.

Who knew that Qin Xin's mother died of illness two months ago, even though there is no such thing as keeping filial piety now, her grandfather said, let them get married after the new year, and respect the deceased.The Qin family agreed.

In this way, the Lu family doesn't have to be busy with the wedding before the Spring Festival, and can spend the New Year very easily.

On the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, all the necessities that should be bought for the New Year have been bought.

My mother steamed bean buns and vegetable buns at home. This was to be eaten until after the Spring Festival and before the Lantern Festival.

On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, fried dough sticks, fried fish, fried lotus root, fried peanuts, boiled beef and pork.

On the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Spring Festival couplets will be pasted after dinner early in the morning.

The rule in some places is to post after lunch, but the rule here in Mengshi is to post in the morning, not beyond lunch time.

Thirty in the morning is the last half of the day's market, and it's all gone before lunch.

After lunch, my mother began to prepare dumpling stuffing and make dumplings.

Because I have to wrap the dumplings for the first day of the Lunar New Year tomorrow, I will make more.

Dad helped chop the stuffing, mom pressed the dumpling leaves, and Meng Shi was playing with his younger brother.

After the dumpling leaves are pressed and the fillings are packed, the dumplings start to be made.

Meng Shi also went up to help, while his younger brother played with his friends outside the door, playing with wooden figurines and running wildly around.

At about four o'clock, the dumplings were almost finished, and the sky was getting dark, and the snowflakes began to fall.

"Sister, sister, Brother Han Cheng is here again!"

Meng Shi was about to go out and call his younger brother back, don't catch cold from running in the snow, who knew that his younger brother had already rushed in quickly, shouting out of breath while running.

Meng Shi was taken aback for a moment, with a look of astonishment on his face, "Xiao Fei, what are you talking about?"

"Han... Brother Han Cheng is here again."

"how is this possible……"

Before she finished speaking, she saw a Mercedes-Benz, not the Land Rover from last time.

In the eyes of others, this car is much more domineering than Santana, but in her eyes, this is a typical old car, the kind of car that often appears in European and American movies, with sharp edges and corners, unlike the cars of later generations, with sharp lines. Very sleek.

To be honest, Meng Shi didn't like this kind of car.

Well, it's not important, what's important is, why did Han Cheng come at this time?
He was dressed in a long down jacket, covering his whole body. The down jacket was blue, very flamboyant.

Wearing those high-rim Martin boots on the feet, waterproof and snowproof, very handsome.

"Why are you here?" Meng Shi was completely puzzled.

Seeing Meng Shi's gaze, Han Cheng's eyes widened, "What's your expression? I'm here to save you face. Others can't invite you. What's your dislike?"

"..." Meng Shi wanted to scratch the wall. Those who dislike the gods are really disgusted. The question is, why did you come here?

This is New Year's Eve, and the night is New Year's Eve, shouldn't the family be reunited!
At this time, Lu Caixia and Meng Qingshan had also come out. Seeing Han Cheng, although they were puzzled, there was a smile on their faces.

Although they didn't know about Han Cheng's family background, it was obvious that he was much stronger than their rural family, and they couldn't catch up even if they flattered them.

People don't think they are poor here, they have nothing, and they are willing to come from home to save face, of course they are very welcome.

Facing Meng Shi's parents, Han Cheng's attitude was much more serious.

"Hello, uncles and aunts. I'm sorry to bother you. I'm on a business trip in Linshi, and I can't leave until the Spring Festival is over. It's all on holiday, and I have no place to go, so I just come over to you. I'm sorry to disturb you." Han Cheng said politely.

Meng Qingshan smiled dryly, but Lu Caixia gave a hearty smile, and said directly, "What are you bothering me about? There are not many people. You are so lonely outside during the Spring Festival, but there are so many people. What kind of work do you have? You don't give people holidays during the Spring Festival." Go home, that boss is really stingy."

The corners of Han Cheng's mouth froze, and then he nodded and smiled, "Well, what you said is true. You don't know, the boss is so hateful, he made us work overtime all day long, and didn't even say that we didn't pay our wages, even during the Spring Festival. Go, or the wages will be deducted. If it weren't for the high wages he offered, I would have nothing to do with it."

"That's hard work, but it's not easy to make money now, and other jobs may not be easy to do. It's better to do this job well..."

Listening to Han Cheng chatting with his mother, Meng Shi's whole body was almost twisted to death.

Nima, who is that mean boss?Isn't it yourself?

Is it really okay to scold yourself like this?
Also, it's okay to scold yourself, and you still say it is so pitiful, why is this?

It has to be said that Han Cheng has excellent communication skills.

After these words, both Meng Qingshan and Lu Caixia felt very sorry for him.

How wonderful this kid is. He has a good family background, looks good, works well, and is hardworking and capable.

Hey, if I have a suitable girl in my family, I must marry such a guy.

Ordinary rural girls are definitely not good enough for others, unless they are as top-notch as their own.Cough, in Lu Caixia's eyes, her own time is the best.

Right now, she wished that Meng Shi would be born a few years earlier...

(End of this chapter)