The children of the Qiao family

Chapter 9

He has such a selfish father, he can only survive if he learns to be more selfish and ruthless than him.

1
Qiao Yicheng thought disrespectfully, what people said, dogs can't change eating shit, probably refers to people like his father.

After being detained for two days and fined some money, Qiao Zuwang stopped for a while.

He is obsessed with bathhouses.

Not far from their home, there used to be a bathhouse. At first, it was called Lianhuachi. During the "Cultural Revolution", it was changed to a bathhouse for workers, peasants and soldiers. Now, it was renamed Youxin, and it was renovated before reopening.

It is said to be decoration, but in fact it is just re-pasted white tiles. The original concrete floor has been replaced with non-slip small red bricks. The lockers with mottled paint have been newly painted in light green.The price has risen from the original ten cents to thirty cents.

Almost every night Qiao Zuwang spent [-] cents in it and spent the whole night in it. After soaking comfortably, he drank some tea, bought a small dish of water radishes, listened to and chatted with people, and then went to sleep in the narrow room. He fell asleep directly on the bed.In this way, I made three friends and four friends, and lived a very nourishing life. My face was not as gloomy as before, and my expression became a little more peaceful.

When those friends were chatting, they heard that Qiao Zuwang was the father of five children, and his wife was gone, so he was still so leisurely, and they were very envious in words.The Youxin bathhouse may be the first bathhouse to resume pedicure and back rubbing business. Of course, Qiao Zuwang followed the trend and enjoyed it again and again.

However, it was still annoying.

The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the bathhouse is almost unbearable. It's hot and stuffy. At that time, there was no air-conditioning. There were only a few big fans on the tall roof, whirring and whirring, blowing out like a tractor. It's all hot wind, and the towels on my body can't cover it, it's damp, and there's a strange smell coming out of it.

Such a sweltering summer made Qiao Zuwang's restlessness stir again.

In that year, a picture of the calendar was popular. In the picture, a beautiful woman with a tall bun, white teeth and red lips, raised orchid fingers, in the shape of a number "three", was pasted on the wall of the bathhouse. .Everyone said that this gesture means, without 3000 yuan, don't even think about marrying me!So everyone joked with Qiao Zuwang that a daughter-in-law needs 3000 yuan, and the three sons of the Qiao family need to prepare tens of thousands of yuan!

It doesn't matter, some people say that there are two daughters in his family. Marrying one daughter will receive 3000 yuan as a gift, and marrying two daughters will cost [-] yuan. If you add more, it will be enough for three sons to beg for wives.

Someone else laughed and said, "Where is it enough? You don't think about it. Brother Qiao is not old. He might meet a suitable one someday. He will also ask for a wife. It will cost three or two thousand."

Someone whispered: Yes, if the wife brings two more sons over, it will be even more serious.That's kissing in a straw hat, it's a big deal!
Qiao Zuwang laughed and scolded, and said: What kind of wives are you looking for, sons and daughters, I will raise them up, when they come, they will be like foreigners, kick them all out!I still control them begging for wives to marry!

Three friends and four friends said: Don't foreigners ask for a wife for their son?
Qiao Zuwang said: Our neighbor is a seafarer who traveled all over the world and went to several foreign countries.As he said, for foreigners, they only need to raise their babies, and they don’t care about anything else. They don’t give them a penny, which is very worry-free.

Three friends and four friends said: That’s because foreigners are hard-hearted, and we Chinese can’t do it. Don’t talk about sons and daughters, even grandchildren and grandchildren must be controlled to the end.

He also said that in the future, the Chinese will also develop to the point where no matter whether they have sons, daughters or grandchildren, it is always good to earn two extra dollars and live a more comfortable life.

Qiao Zuwang took it for granted.

He felt that his life was too bad!Lack of mouth, lack of clothing, never even been out of Nanjing City, and a tricycle ride has to be calculated for a long time, life is really not worth it!
So he decided to get some money and do some business with the friends he met in the bathhouse.

I heard that, going further south, some people started their business in full swing, and they made a lot of money. Some people took advantage of the high tide at the seaside to hold some hair vegetables, and they could sell them for a good price. It was simply nothing!
But where can I get some money?

Qiao Zuwang remembered something at home.

That night he rummaged through boxes and chests to find that thing.

The things belonged to Qiao Yicheng's mother, and they were well wrapped in fine check cloth. After a long time, the cloth was stuffy, and there would be a hole if it was pulled.However, the things inside are not afraid of getting old, the older they are, the more valuable they are, Qiao Zuwang thought.

When he walked out of the bedroom with his things, he bumped into his eldest son, Qiao Yicheng.

Qiao Yicheng stood there looking at him. He must have heard him tinkling around in the back room just now.

Qiao Yicheng stared at his father.

Yicheng's eyelashes are short and sparse, making his gaze even more serious, unobstructed, piercing Qiao Zuwang's face, almost as if poking a hole out of it.

Qiao Zuwang found out that since the incident last time, he actually frightened this child, what a thing!There is no reason in the world for me to be afraid of my son!

Qiao Zuwang entrusted that kind of thing to that friend, which was regarded as the capital of the business, and the friend fully agreed, and immediately went to the south to buy the goods, and also brought some seafood to sell. He also wrote a receipt to Qiao Zuwang.

Qiao Zuwang's dream of getting rich didn't last long, and soon, the friend said that the business was lost.

That thing, because it was exchanged for money to do business, it is impossible to get it back.The friend said that among the few partners, he was the one who lost the most. Anyway, everyone agreed at the beginning that it would be beneficial for everyone to share. You have 100 yuan, you can take it.

Qiao Zuwang took the 100 yuan and realized after one night that he might be cheated.I went to look for that friend again, but I couldn’t find him. Some people said that he went to the south again, and he was determined to make a fortune there, and he would not come back within a few years.

This is true, dogs can't change eating shit, dogs can't change eating shit!Qiao Yicheng thought bitterly.

Let Second Aunt and the others know about this matter.

This time it turned out that the second uncle Qi Zhiqiang ran over, closed the door, and had a good argument with Qiao Zuwang.

Qiao Yicheng heard his second uncle Qi Zhiqiang ask Qiao Zuwang, "How can I move that thing? It belongs to Shuying. I agreed not to move it. I will leave one for each of my two daughters in the future."Why do you move that!

Shuying is the name of Qiao Yicheng's mother.

Qiao Zuwang said: That pair of bracelets was given to Shuying by your family, but she brought it to my Qiao family to marry, so the bracelet will be named Qiao instead of your surname, you have to be clear!Besides, your family didn't live in a mansion in the past. To be honest, those pair of bracelets are street stalls, and they can be sold for a hundred or so yuan, which is not bad!I'm ashamed to pass it on to my daughter as a family heirloom!
Qi Zhiqiang was trembling with anger: "Whether it's worth it or not is one thing. It was given to Shuying by my mother back then. Shuying is gone. At least I will leave a memory for the children. You, how can you...

Qiao Zuwang laughed instead: It's better to keep a souvenir for your child than for yourself. You just married her when you were so reluctant!Eating in the bowl and looking at the pot, thinking about my sister and thinking about my sister!Thanks to the new society, you can't have three wives and four concubines, otherwise you would really think of yourself as the emperor, and even get both of them back home!

Qi Zhiqiang was an honest man, he was so angry that he could only clenched his fists and gasped for breath but didn't know how to refute, so he stammered after a while and said: You, you, you have the nerve to say it!You bastard who takes advantage of others!If it weren't for you, if it weren't for you...

Qiao Yicheng secretly retreated into the bedroom of himself and his siblings, clenched his hands tightly, his nails hurting his palms.

It turned out to be so!he thinks.

No wonder my second uncle often came to my house after being demobilized from the army, no wonder my second aunt and mother sometimes get awkward, no wonder the neighbors gossip, no wonder!

In fact, Qiao Qiqi didn't look like Qi Zhiqiang either, but they said that illegitimate children are always very beautiful.This kind of beauty is really evil, Qiao Yicheng thinks so.

The young Qiao Yicheng thought that he had unraveled a secret in the family and confirmed some of his previous suspicions. Since then, he looked at the little Qiao Qiqi's photo that was not quite similar to him or his brothers and sisters. Pretty face, even more disgusted.

The knot formed in Qiao Yicheng's heart because of this cognition separated him and Qiao Qiqi for many, many years.

The days passed like water, and Qiao Yicheng entered a formal middle school.

Very average middle school.

But his cousin Qi Weimin, who was only two months older than him, entered a very good middle school.

This has nothing to do with grades. At that time, middle schools did not need to take exams, and they were assigned nearby.

Qi Weimin's family belonged to the school district of that good middle school, and Qiao Yi got married two streets away, and was zoned out.

Qiao Yicheng has always been brooding.

Why does Qi Weimin have such good luck?Where is that guy better than himself?From the outside to the inside, it looks like a potato, or as the old saying goes, the fool is always the happiest?
Although the school was unsatisfactory, fortunately, Qiao Yicheng entered a fast class in this not-so-good school. The teachers were not bad, and the teaching was serious and level.

Qiao Yicheng still studies very hard and is deeply loved by the teachers.

In fact, he is not very smart, but his diligence can make up for his little lack of intelligence.He didn't have money to buy reference books and review materials, so he copied the whole book. Soon, Qiao Yicheng became short-sighted and put on the most common pair of black-rimmed glasses. Qiao Zuwang nagged him, saying yes It costs money to wear glasses, and it's not from a family of big intellectuals. It's like a family wearing glasses like a dog!

Qiao Yicheng gave him a cold look.

As soon as Qiao became myopic, he was very happy. He just wanted to save money so that he could buy a new pair of glasses during the Chinese New Year, like the wide-rimmed glasses worn by Mr. Wen back then.

He felt that one day he would jump out of this home, this dilapidated school, and this quagmire-like environment.

Will do.

The teachers all feel sorry for this child, and the Chinese teacher especially likes him. Once, seeing that he copied the book late, he even gave him a small piece of the cake bought for his daughter.

That's not an ordinary chicken cake, it's a piece of milk-oil-egg-cake!

A thick white layer of margarine, sweet to greasy, but to Qiao Yicheng, it is a rare delicacy.

He swallowed it in three or two bites.

After eating, Qiao Yicheng remembered that this was the first time he had something delicious, so he didn't expect to leave some for his younger siblings.

For the first time, Qiao Yicheng was selfish.

He faintly feels that selfishness has selfish happiness, everything belongs to you alone, full and rich, no one will steal from you, no one will look at you eagerly, that kind of satisfaction mixed with guilt , making Qiao Yicheng a little ashamed and a little scared.

Qiao Yicheng's younger sisters also went to school.

The eldest sister, Sanli, is a bit like Qiao Yicheng in temperament, quiet, sensible, good grades, no need to worry about her, and she also takes care of a lot of housework, buying oil and noodles at the grain station, buying a bottle of soy sauce for a bottle of vinegar , Washing her own and sister Simei's little clothes and so on, doing it in style.Qiao Yicheng liked this younger sister very much, and always felt that she would learn well in the future and become a girl who was different from the girls in the neighborhood.

Qiao Erqiang and Qiao Simi are another matter entirely.

These two children are also very similar, fun, dull-witted, heartless, and stupid. Their grades in school are ponytail string tofu. Qiao Erqiang has already left the first grade and is only in the fourth grade , Qiao Simei is in the first grade, and she is about to repeat the grade.

(End of this chapter)