Chapter 20

Zhu Yanshu came back at four in the afternoon, Zhang Ma was still surprised to see her enter the door, “Ma’am, you’re not playing so early today?”

Zhu Yanshu changed into her usual clothes and came out, saying, “Mrs. Wu will be here in a while, I need to meet her.”

Zhang Ma brought out tea: “Is this Mrs. Wu the one who rented our house before?”

Zhu Yanshu picked up the tea cup: “Exactly. They moved away because Mr. Wu found a better job, but in fact they owed money and couldn’t pay the rent, so they moved away for a cheaper place to live. I have long since stopped contacting them, this is still Mrs. He on the first floor, she has always been in contact with Mrs. Wu, I was entrusted to her to find this job for big sister.”

Zhang Ma gathered her hands and stood beside her, “This is fine, first occupy her spirit, lest she always think of the outside world!”

Zhu Yanshu nodded and said, “I don’t expect her to make money either, it’s just for her to learn some experience. She has always lived at home, never worked outside, and doesn’t know the difficulties of making a living. This time around, let her do some simple work first, so that she knows that even simple work is not good.”

Zhang Ma laughed, “How can being a governess be that easy? Our family’s second young miss knows so much and has pissed off three or four teachers.”

Zhu Yanshu smiled and said, “You can’t blame the teachers for this, they can’t help it if they meet parents who love their children. Yan Yan’s temper is a little strange, the situation was different, I was afraid that she would be aggrieved, the teachers came to me to complain I was worried that they would treat Yan Yan badly, so I had to find a reason to quit.”

She originally did not expect to hire a home teacher to teach Yang Yuyan into a great writer, a great scholar, just want her to have someone to talk to, those teachers complained that Yan Yan does not study seriously, memorize books bad, she can not say straight to the face, and afraid of teachers teach children, in turn, her guts scared even smaller, so she had to resign.

In the end, it was Mr. Su, the most hopeless person, who got along with Yan Yan the best. He was able to control Yan Yan so that she could study, and usually talked with her, and she saw Yan Yan become more and more lively after studying with him, although she talked a little bit more and was still a bit blind and unintelligent, but she was much better than before. For this, it is worthwhile for her to give Mr. Su a big red packet, not to mention that he also saved Yan Yan this time.

Zhu Yanshu remembered Su Chunjun’s life-saving kindness, and regarded him as half of her family.

She asked Zhang Ma, “How many things have been prepared for dinner? If it’s not enough, go buy some more now and invite Mr. Su to the house for dinner in the evening.”

Zhang Ma said, “I bought two cages of siu mai, and some lo mei, it should be enough.”

Zhu Yanshu: “Steam another pot of rice.”

Zhang Ma worriedly said, “No one eats at home at night, what if we can’t finish it? There’s no freezer at home either.”

Zhu Yanshu: “If you can’t finish it, let Mr. Su eat it tomorrow morning!”

Upon hearing that she asked Mr. Su to eat the leftovers, Zhang Ma was happy and said, “That’s good! Ouch, then I won’t have to buy him any more buns in the morning! Two cages!”

Yang Yuyan got up from a nap in the house, and Mrs. Wu and Miss Wu came. When she heard voices outside, she changed her clothes in the house and re-brushed her hair before coming out neatly.

Mrs. Wu was wearing dull old clothes, patches were in inconspicuous places, white hair, full of wrinkles, her back slightly torso, she should be a little younger than Zhu Yanshu’s age, now she looked anti older than her.

Her hands nervously grasped the cloth bag, holding the skinny Miss Wu, her hands are red and swollen, joints are thick, also slightly shivering.

Miss Wu’s clothes are better than Mrs. Wu’s, clean and dry, no patches, but it can be seen that it is old clothes, may still be second-hand clothes, because it does not fit well, some too big.

She stood behind Mrs. Wu in a constrained manner.

Zhu Yanshu warmly invited them to sit down, called Yang Yuyan over to greet her, and Zhang Ma brought tea.

Mrs. Wu nervously said, “I haven’t been coming to greet you, I’m really sorry for being taken care of by you so much in the past.”

Zhu Yanshu’s eyes looked her up and down, secretly sighing. The former Mrs. Wu could look much better than she does now, alas, she has suffered a lot in these years.

“Don’t be polite, we are also old acquaintances. This is your eldest daughter, right? So cute, a dozen years old?”

Mrs. Wu pushed Miss Wu to stand up and made her bow to Zhu Yanshu.

“Fourteen, my husband wants her to go to a girls’ high school and has been pushing her to study. But the place where we live now has no one to read, she uses old textbooks from the past, and now she doesn t know …… how much she is capable of, which is why she wants to find a teacher to give a look.” Although Mrs. Wu was full of sadness, she was still very positive when talking about her daughter.

Zhu Yanshu said, “You’ve seen my big sister before, she’s now a student at Nanjing University. There are a lot of people who ask her to be a tutor, I heard Mrs. He mention it and thought of helping you out. One lesson is one dollar, but today is the first time, so I won’t charge you first, my daughter wants to test your daughter’s ability, if it’s too bad, she won’t teach it.”

Mrs. Wu hurriedly said, “One dollar is very good! We are willing to pay it! My Little Ping studies very hard, she knows all her textbooks by heart!”

Zhu Yanshu said, “Then you can put the child down, and come back to pick her up when you get off work at night, don’t worry, there are always people at my house, I won’t lose your child.”

Mrs. Wu thanked her repeatedly and told her daughter to be obedient and not to get into trouble before she left.

After Mrs. Wu left, Wu Xiaoping became even quieter.

Zhu Yanshu sat on the sofa and flipped through the pictorials, waiting for Yang Yucan to come back. Yang Yuyan then led Wu Xiaoping to the dining room, where she was studying, and told Wu Xiaoping to take out her textbooks and read them as well.

Wu Xiaoping’s textbook no longer had a book cover and was wrapped in a cloth cover. She took out her textbook and read it carefully.

Yang Yuyan realized that she was reading the Analects of Confucius, and then looked at the other textbooks, there were also English and math, a thin book.

Seeing that Wu Xiaoping was too formal, she brought her some snacks for her to eat.

Although it was a cheap snack, Wu Xiaoping ate it happily.

After eating the snacks, Wu Xiaoping dared to speak to her, she looked enviously at Yang Yuyan’s textbook and asked, “Can I have a look at your book.”

Yang Yuyan had never cherished her textbooks so much and said, “Yes, I’ll get a hand towel for you.”

Wu Xiaoping seriously wiped the dessert crumbs from her hands, picked up the English textbook she had placed on the table, and after opening it, she carefully and painstakingly identified the words on it.

Yang Yuyan was very embarrassed, but also felt guilty. Although she knew that many people could not afford to study, and she was very happy to be able to study, but all along, she had always regarded studying as a pain, and she was even reluctant to go to school because of her fear of studying, and even pretended to be sick to scare people.

In contrast to Wu Xiaoping, she couldn’t help but blush with guilt.

Zhu Yanshu’s unconditional love and Su Chunjun’s past guidance surfaced.

She had the best conditions, but she did not cherish them.

Wu Xiaoping didn’t dare to look at it for too long and put the book down after reading a few sentences, when she saw Yang Yuyan surrounded by many textbooks with lots of well-written notes, she assumed that she was a high achiever who was serious about her studies, and whispered, “You must be very good at your studies, can I ask you some questions?”

Yang Yuyan thought to herself that if you ask about English and math it’s okay, but forget about Analects, Teacher Su didn’t take her to make up for her Analects either.

She didn’t dare to show her face, so she pushed that she had to write her homework, buried her head and became more serious, and for a while she forgot about things until the door slammed and Yang Yucan came back!

Yang Yucan almost forgot that a student was coming today, and it was already half past five when she rushed home. She saw the two figures in the dining room, one was Yang Yuyan and the other was a little girl she didn’t recognize, and said in a panic, “I’m late back! I’m going to change my clothes!”

Zhu Yanshu pulled her and pushed her into the dining room, “Don’t change, hurry to meet your student, thanks to your sister accompanying people, the little girl has been waiting for you for an hour!”

As soon as Yang Yuchan went in, Yang Yuyan knew she was relieved and immediately stood up and packed her books to leave.

Wu Xiaoping also stood up, tightly.

Yang Yuyan then introduced the two sides, seeing that Wu Xiaoping was still nervous and sat down again to accompany her.

Yang Yuyan was also a first time teacher and was no more relaxed than Wu Xiaoping. She cleared her throat, asked Wu Xiaoping to sit down, and also borrowed Yang Yuyan’s textbook.

Wu Xiaoping hurriedly said, “Teacher, I …… haven t learned there …… Second Miss s textbook, I can t even read it.”

Yang Yucan froze and said blankly, “Aren t you going to take the test for Church Girls Middle School?” When she saw Wu Xiaoping s face turn red, coupled with the wink that Yang Yuyan gave her, she realized that Wu Xiaoping had brought her textbook with her, and brought it over to take a look, she froze.

Yang Yuyan took the opportunity to hook her head to take a look and also froze.

The three textbooks Wu Xiaoping brought were Analects, English and Math. Apart from Analects which was the full text, English was the International Phonetic Alphabet, and math was the abacus!

She hadn’t read it wrong! The schematic drawn in the math book was an abacus!

Yang Yucchan flipped through the three textbooks and her head suddenly grew big.

When Zhu Yanshu said that Wu Xiaoping was fourteen this year and was going to a church girls’ middle school, she assumed that Wu Xiaoping’s level was sufficient. But now, looking at her textbooks, she has only been enlightened for a short time, and she will definitely not be able to get into a church girls’ high school!

How could she teach her? Does she have to teach from scratch?

Yang Yucchan was at a complete loss as to what to do.

She turned her head to Yang Yuyan and said, “Yan Yan, you can sit with Ping for a while, I’ll go and change my clothes.”

After saying that, she left.

Yang Yuyan was watching the fun, might as well be pushed the pot, not waiting for her to react Yang Yucicang had already disappeared, Wu Xiaoping looked even more nervous, Yang Yuyan hurriedly pushed the snacks in front of Wu Xiaoping, “Come on, have another piece ah! Don’t be polite!”

Yang Yuchan ran to the living room and whispered to Zhu Yanshu, “Mom, I can’t teach this student! She’s too shallow!”

Zhu Yanshu slowly flipped through the newspaper, “It’s understandable that you can’t teach a student who is too advanced, but I’ve never heard of a teacher who can’t teach a student who is too young. She is a shallow learner, so you can teach her slowly.”

Yang Yucchan said anxiously, “But she will never be able to get into the Church Girls’ Middle School with her current level! It’s impossible! Do you know when her textbook was? It was used when Yan Yan started her education! Yan Yan used it when she was eight, and she’s still learning it! How could she be admitted to the Church Girls’ High School a year later?”

Zhu Yanshu was stunned, followed by putting down the pictorial and letting out a long sigh, “Alas, Mrs. Wu is really tough.”

She then told Yang Yucan about the Wu family’s past.

Mr. Wu was an accountant, and although he didn’t make much money, he was able to support his family. At that time, Mrs. Wu didn’t have to go out to work, but stayed at home to serve the elderly, take care of the children, and do housework. At that time, they rented the Zhu family’s house and never defaulted on their monthly rent.

Then Mr. Wu was taken by bad friends to play poker at his place of work and lost so much money that he had to borrow from loan sharks. There was no way the Wu family could afford to pay back the money. Afraid that the loan sharks would find him, Mr. Wu quit his job and moved away with his family.

Wu Xiaoping was able to go to school and read like Yang Yuyan before, but after this incident, she was never able to go back to the schoolhouse. The torn textbooks were her only spiritual support.

After that, Zhu Yanshu didn’t inquire anymore. It was only this time when she wanted to find a student for Yang Yucan that she heard about the later events of the Wu family again.

“Mr. Wu had a skill, so he was able to find work to support his family even after he fled with his family. His mom and dad also happened to pass away, so the burden on the family wasn’t so heavy. Mrs. Wu went to work in a laundry, getting up early and late every day, and I heard that she gave birth to two more children.” Zhu Yanshu said, “Right now Mrs. Wu is still willing to hire a home tutor for her eldest daughter, but in two more years I don’t think she will have the spare money.” The younger one has not grown up yet, so she can only invest in the older daughter first, and when the younger one grows up, Wu Xiaoping will have to go to work if she is still not talented, and will never be able to get the same opportunities and conditions again.

Yang Yucan’s heart of justice was touched.

Zhu Yanshu knew that this matter had come to pass when he saw her move.

Now Wu Xiaoping’s life happiness depended on Yang Yucan, it was impossible for her to leave this student behind.

“If you teach her one point, you are saving her one point. No matter how much she learns from you, she will remember your kindness to her in the future.” Zhu Yanshu spoke in a serious tone, “It doesn’t matter whether or not we can get into the Church Girls’ Middle School, what matters is that Wu Xiaoping wants to use her own hands to change her destiny, we can’t give up on her!”

Right, she couldn’t give up on her!

Yang Yu Cicada turned around and went back to the cafeteria majestically.

As soon as she entered, she snapped, “Yan Yan, find your old textbooks and bring them over, so that Little Ping can use your textbooks first.”

Yang Yuyan got up blankly, “Oh, okay.” She slowly walked outside, shocked at the drastic change in Yang Yucan’s attitude.

Yang Yuchan had already poured all her spirit into her student Wu Xiaoping, “Xiaoping, your level is poor, but it may not be hopeless! I will use my best efforts to teach you, you must study hard so that you can change your fate and fight against your destiny!”

Wu Xiaoping was so excited that she immediately swore, “Teacher, I will definitely learn seriously! If I can’t learn you can beat me!”

Yang Yuyan was frightened by this pair of chicken-blooded teachers and students and quickened her pace to avoid it.