Chapter 12 first quarter

After listening to Gao Fengjun's crying, Lin Ling left the mourning hall and went to sleep at the noodle shop master's house.It was already 11:30 in the middle of the night, and she didn't dare to go to a fellow villager's house to spend the night rashly, but Zhangjia Village was poor and remote, and there were no tourist resources.And Lin Ling also greeted the village party secretary in advance, which was regarded as a "migrant population" registration. When the old party secretary learned that Lin Ling was a reporter and came to investigate Liu Yanfang's affairs, he was not too wary or disgusted. He also took the initiative to introduce the noodle shop master as an honest person, so he can rest assured to live in his house.

That night, the noodle shop master's two daughters were the last ones to kowtow to Liu Yanfang - this is what the noodle shop master asked the old branch secretary specially in order to wait for Lin Ling to go home together. Gao Fengjun's crying was persuaded by the old branch secretary, and Lin Ling saw the noodle shop master's two daughters yawning, knowing that they were sleepy.Although she wanted to see Gao Fengjun's performance, she knew that the noodle shop chef's family of three were waiting for her, so she ignored Gao Fengjun and went home with her father and daughter.

The noodle shop chef is holding the youngest daughter in one hand, and the eldest daughter in the other, and the family seems to be enjoying themselves happily.Their home is not far from the mourning hall, they will arrive soon after crossing two alleys. The home of the noodle shop master is a traditional rural courtyard system. After entering the door, you will see a tall door wall blocking your eyes. There is a large "Fu" character engraved on the door wall. You must bypass this wall , you can see the three main rooms, and on both sides are side rooms where sundries are piled up and used as kitchens.It can be seen that the noodle shop master's family is relatively well-off in Zhangjia Village, because their houses are all brick and tile structures.

There is a pomegranate tree planted in the middle of the yard, and the pomegranate flowers on the tree are already budding. On the window sill of the main house, there are strings of red peppers, which should be commonly used materials in their noodle shop. Under the bright moonlight, the yard looked extremely tidy, without any debris piled up. "How many children are there in your family?" Lin Ling never asked the noodle shop master's name. From the old branch secretary, he only knew that his surname was Zhang, and he was the head of the village. Master Zhang grinned and said: "Our family has a large population, two girls and one boy. We gave birth to these two girls before. No, my wife gave birth to a son for me a few days ago."

Only then did Lin Ling realize that the patriarchal concept in rural areas is still so serious. She took a closer look at Master Zhang's two daughters, who seemed to have reached the age of schooling. Judging from their kowtows to Liu Yanfang just now, they should be going to school in the village. primary school. The two little girls were very polite, auntie long and auntie short.Lin Ling actually wanted them to be called sisters, but thinking about her age, she seemed to be old enough to be an elder, so she didn't refuse the title. The hostess in the house never showed up, and there was no sound when the door was pushed open. Lin Ling only heard the crying of the baby in the house. The hostess should be taking care of the baby.

"My wife just gave birth, and she is in confinement, so it's not convenient to see people, haha, don't mind, comrade journalists!" Master Zhang explained honestly. "Where is it? Everyone knows the truth that you can't see outsiders during confinement! It's the same in the city." Lin Ling smiled lightly at Master Zhang in order to show that she didn't care. It was already very late at night, Master Zhang didn't say anything else, and led Lin Ling to rest in the room of the two daughters, and went back to sleep by himself, and the crying of the baby stopped shortly after he entered the room.

Master Zhang's two daughters have pretty features and are very juicy, but their accents cannot conceal their local flavor. Lin Ling looked at the place where they slept. The kang was so big that it wouldn't be crowded if ten people lay side by side.The two little girls took off their coats and lay on the kang covered with sheets. Then they pulled up the covers and looked at Lin Ling blinking. Lin Ling didn't mind either, and deliberately lay down between the two sisters, then smiled at the two sisters, and the two sisters also smiled at her. The light was turned off, Lin Ling didn't take off her clothes, and lay down with her clothes on.The moonlight shone through the window, and Lin Ling could still vaguely see the faces of the two girls.

It was rare for the two little guys to meet outsiders, and they were a little excited, asking about various problems in life in the city. "Auntie? Are there many beautiful clothes in the city?" "Yes! There are many shops with all kinds of clothes." "I really want to see it!" My sister said enviously. Lin Ling felt that she seemed to have said something wrong. She should not describe life in the city too much in front of these children, because it would make them think wildly and find trouble for themselves. "Auntie? Does every family in the city have only one child?" The younger sister's question seemed more straightforward.

"Ah? Why do you ask that?" "I heard what Teacher Liu said. In the whole village, there is only one child in Teacher Liu's family! She always said that this is family planning, responding to the government's call!" Lin Ling felt that this was a very difficult question to answer, but she seemed to have to tell the two little guys the answer, "Yes, most families in the city have one child, unless they have twins." "How wonderful it would be to have a child like Teacher Liu. My mother paid a fine of 3,000 yuan when she gave birth to my younger sister. This time, I spent a lot of money to give birth to my younger brother," said the sister.

"Really? It seems that your father is very rich!" "Father just wanted a boy, and he kept telling my mother that my daughter was a loser who lost money! Auntie, I never knew why we were losers?" The eldest daughter's question made Lin Ling more and more difficult to answer. "Dad is talking nonsense, the girl is expensive! How can she be a loser?" "Auntie, I always feel that after Dad has a younger brother, he won't love us anymore! I think my mother looks at us differently recently." "Don't talk nonsense, I saw it just now, your father loves you so much! One hugs and the other leads!"

"Auntie, are you a college student?" The younger daughter took the initiative to change the subject. "yes!" "I also want to go to college, but it seems that there is no hope." The youngest daughter was extremely depressed. "Why? As long as you study hard, you can go to college." "In our village, only Teacher Liu's son has been admitted to college, and the other children have gone to vocational schools outside the village at most. We probably have no chance to go to college." This is what the eldest daughter said. Lin Ling suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of sadness. She was born in the city and enjoyed a good education. It is not difficult or even a matter of course to enter a university. However, the huge contrast brought about by the differences in education in different regions , let Lin Ling really feel that the chances of the children in Zhangjia Village passing the college entrance examination are really very small. Lin Ling opened her arms and hugged the two girls, "Don't worry, everything will change, and you will definitely have the opportunity to go to college." "Auntie, don't comfort us. It turned out that Teacher Liu said the same thing, but now that she is gone, do you think there is still hope for us?" "Children, don't be discouraged. Teacher Liu's son can be admitted to university, so you can too." The eldest daughter shook her head vigorously and said, "It's different, it's different! Her children have been studying outside the village, while we are all in the village. It is said that the teachers outside the village will send them a lot of new ideas. to do the homework, but we have nothing here, and some students even borrow textbooks—how does it compare with others?" It was really difficult for Lin Ling to answer the children's questions, so she had to change the subject, "Ms. Liu is gone, is there a new teacher coming to your village?" "I don't know! Anyway, we haven't had class for two weeks. Teacher Liu suddenly said two weeks ago that there were some things at home and we had to go to the city. Before she left, she specifically said that she might go for a while this time and let us study hard. Later she said that if she could go out of the village to go to school, she would still go out. In fact, I felt that she might not come back, but I didn’t expect Teacher Liu to die!” The eldest daughter said with deep sadness. Lin Ling was very interested in what the eldest daughter said, "Do you know why Teacher Liu left?" The eldest daughter shook her head, but the younger daughter said: "Miss Liu suddenly received a letter that day—I saw it secretly that day——Miss Liu was reading that letter in the office, and she cried as soon as she read it! The next day she said she was going to the city to do business." "Are you both in the same class?" "There are no grades in our school here, because there is only one teacher, Mrs. Liu. Both the upper grades and the lower grades are in class together." The eldest daughter added. "What was written in that letter? Do you know?" "I don't know. There are very few telephones in the village. If people outside the village are not in a hurry, most of them contact the village by sending letters. I remember that the letter was brought by the postman Uncle San that morning." The youngest daughter continued. Lin Ling guessed: Who sent the letter?What exactly did the letter say?That's why Liu Yanfang gave up on these children and went to T City alone. "Have you met Teacher Liu's son?" "I've met him a few times. He is a tall and handsome brother. We all call him Brother Sun. Teacher Liu will laugh when he sees him." "Really? Hehe, what's the relationship between Brother Sun and Teacher Liu?" "Auntie, why do you ask this question?" "I just want to know, is that letter written by your elder brother Sun? Did elder brother Sun make Teacher Liu angry? Did Teacher Liu cry because of this?" Although Lin Ling's concealment was very clumsy, she used It is still effective in children. The two little girls were not suspicious, "We have never seen Brother Sun smile, especially in front of Teacher Liu." "Oh? Are you sure?" "Sure! Because he doesn't have much time to go back to the village, every time he sees him, he doesn't smile." The eldest daughter said first. "How many times have I seen him arguing with Teacher Liu?" The younger daughter continued to add more valuable information. "quarrel?" "Yes, it's just outside the walls of our school." "For what? Did you hear me clearly?" "No, no one dared to leave the classroom when we were in class. But I remember that the time they quarreled the most was before Brother Sun's college entrance examination. That time, Teacher Liu's eyes were red from crying when he came back to class, and all the students I’ve seen it all.” Although the youngest daughter was young, she described the scene very clearly. Lin Ling was very excited by the clues provided by the two girls. She asked, "Oh, really? What is the reason for the quarrel?" "If it was that time, I would have heard a little bit, because I happened to go to the toilet that day, and the toilet was next to that wall. Their quarrel seemed to have something to do with Grandma Sun's illness." The eldest daughter did it for her younger sister. Replenish. "Sick? What kind of sickness?" "Grandma Sun's eyes suddenly fell ill during the year when Brother Sun took the college entrance examination. I remember that Teacher Liu and Brother Sun quarreled over this matter. After that quarrel, we knew that Brother Sun was admitted to the university, and he never had any been back." Lin Ling suddenly had a big question in her heart, "Children, can you take me to Grandma Sun's house tomorrow morning?" Both children said loudly, "Good!" "Children, it's too late today, let's go to bed early, but you remember my words, no matter what happens, you must study hard, you will definitely have a chance to go to college, I promise!" As she spoke, Lin Ling hugged the two girls even tighter with both hands. Her words seemed to be comforting, but also like promises.