Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

"Why didn't you come to class yesterday?" He Lai saw Zhang Xinran as soon as he arrived at school.

"Something happened at home." Zhang Xinran lowered his head and answered He Lai perfunctorily.

Although she lowered her head, He Lai still saw the slight slap mark on Zhang Xinran's face from the side. He Lai was silent, thinking that it must have been a family member who beat her.

He silently pushed his notes to her, along with a candy.

……

"Guangtian, give me the hook in your bag, and give me the bait."

"Ah, why?" Liu Guangtian thought, could it be that Brother Lai knew that he and Xiao Huzi sometimes went fishing secretly at noon.

"Hurry up. Be careful or I'll beat you. Don't think I don't know about you and Xiao Huzi. I can use those things. I'll return two to you tomorrow." He Lai didn't have time to waste on him.

"Oh, here you go." Liu Guangtian was relieved. It didn't matter if he was not allowed to fish. He quickly took out the things.

He Lai picked up his things and left.

……

"Come on, follow me out for a while."

"Where to go!"

"You'll know when you go there."

In this way, Zhang Xinran followed He Lai to fish for eels by a river.

"Have you learned it?"

"Ah."

"Then remember the other words as well. Don't let anyone find your stuff. Catch a few every day, but don't catch too many. This way your parents won't beat you."

"Thank you."

"Why are you being so polite? Aren't we friends? Let's go back quickly. Class is about to start."

"Yes, we are friends." Zhang Xinran smiled and looked at He Lai who was walking in front of him.

With this thing, I can study peacefully.

……

"You can't not eat wowotou."

"Then what should I eat?"

"Didn't I teach you the method? If you go to the market and sell a pound of it occasionally, you'll have something to eat."

"Oh, you didn't say that before."

"You are so stupid!"

"Humph."

……

"Is there no one to cook at your house?"

"Ok?"

"You've been eating cabbage stew for days."

“The cabbage is good.”

"Where is the eel you took back?"

"My mother sold it."

"What about the money from the sale?"

“I saved it.”

"Can't you sell more and buy yourself some food? I feel a headache when I see cabbage steamed bread now."

"Oh, I'll switch to potatoes tomorrow."

"Can't you bring some meat?"

"My family has no money."

"What do your parents do?"

"My father is a porter in a machinery factory, and my mother stays at home to take care of my younger brother and do odd jobs."

After Zhang Xinran finished speaking, she glanced at He Lai, fearing that He Lai would look down on her. But He Lai remained the same.

"How about I lend you some, and you can pay me back double when you make money later?"

"Are you rich?"

"That is, assets worth hundreds of millions."

"I do not believe."

"How can you study if you don't eat well? With your brain, it's good enough that you can graduate from junior high school. Do you want to borrow it?"

"borrow."

"20 yuan, here you go. Hurry up and write a note. If you don't pay me back in 10 years, I'll sue you!"

……

"I feel like copying it ten times is not enough. How about 15 times?"

"Ok?"

"Can't you check it yourself? You clearly got this question wrong a few days ago, and now you got it wrong again."

Zhang Xinran took it and looked at it without thinking, then started to check his mistakes from the past few days. He saw that they were almost the same. He felt uncomfortable, wondering why he was so stupid. He also learned to lie on the table like He Lai.

He Lai took out a plastic bottle from his cloth bag and pushed it to her.

"what?"

"Milk powder, remember to drink it in the morning, and don't take it home. Otherwise it will be too stupid, and I will be a little tired of teaching you."

Zhang Xinran quickly put it in the drawer. Although He Lai's words were a bit harsh, she didn't care. She had heard them so many times that she was immune to them. This guy just had a bad mouth.

……

"He Lai, why are you so good at studying?"

"Because I eat well! And of course a little bit of effort on my part."

"I don't believe it. I see many people eating the same thing as me and their grades are also very good."

"Is it okay to have me?"

Zhang Xinran took a look at He Lai's smug look and finally understood why his deskmate used to be like that.

Time always goes by quickly at school, and half a semester has passed in a flash.

"Aren't you enough to look at it? Isn't it just that you did well on the test paper? There are still so many mistakes." He Lai was speechless as he saw Zhang Xinran staring at the test paper and smiling.

Zhang Xinran ignored him and was very happy. She had made so much progress, and now her parents would not object to her studying.

Seeing that she didn't respond, He Lai gave up the idea of ​​continuing to talk. He Lai lay on the table and took inventory of the things in his space.

My little space is almost full, piled with all kinds of things.

Fortunately, things in this space can be controlled by mind control, otherwise it would be quite difficult.

I bought a lot of milk powder, after all, it will be hard to buy and handle in the future, so I bought a little more. I asked strangers to buy it for me by relying on my eloquence.

I also bought a lot of cooking oil. I heard that each person would only have a few ounces of oil per month. That's not okay. Without oil, I would be hungry easily.

I also had some flour, which I bought little by little from the grain station. I also had some cloth and other miscellaneous items. It was piled up completely.

It will be 53 years soon. My father should be back soon, the era of bills will also come, and a series of reshuffles will come soon.

Come on! I'm ready.

……

Soon the semester was over.

"See you next semester."

"Goodbye! Thank you, He Lai."

"Don't thank me, my ears are calloused. I have to return things, all written down in the notebook! Double the amount!"

"Hmph, I get it. I will definitely return it to you!"

……

"It's rainy day again. Chinese New Year is coming soon. Are you happy?"

"I'm not happy. Come on, brother, can you take me to your grandfather's house to play?"

The others also looked over instantly, their eyes implying that they wanted to go too, especially Liu Guangtian, who had been in the compound every day and had long wanted to go out.

“Uh… stop messing around, your dad will come back to see you after the Rainy Year, so you can’t run around.

Let alone you, Xiaohu, can you bear to let your grandma stay at home alone?

There is still broad daylight, just think about your father's belt."

Several people turned off the fire instantly.

"Okay, there's nothing in the countryside. It's boring to stay in bed every day. If my grandparents weren't there, I wouldn't want to go!

Let’s go quickly, it’s too cold.”

After saying that, He Lai took Yu Shui's hand and started running. Everyone followed.

"Mom, we're back." He Lai called out and walked into the house. He saw Wu Juan and Qin Huairu, mother and son, sitting around the stove, warming themselves and chatting.

"Now that you're back, you must be hungry. Mom will go heat up some food for you." After saying that, Wu Juan got up and went to the kitchen.

He Lai and Yu Shui quickly took off their gloves and hats, hung them along with their schoolbags on the hooks on the wall, and went to the stove to warm themselves by the fire.

"Sister-in-law, where is my brother Zhuzi?" He Lai asked, rubbing his hands.

"Your brother Zhuzi has gone to prepare a wedding banquet. He probably won't be back until the afternoon." Qin Huairu also smiled as she watched the two people breathing out air and rubbing their hands beside the stove.