Chapter 33

Xu Wen was very surprised, “You snuck out?”

Dongsheng nodded like a small child who had done something wrong, “I wanted to come and wait for you”

Xu Man wrinkled his eyebrows and was about to admonish him when he heard Dongsheng’s stomach growl

His annoyance dissipated, and he put Dongsheng on the bike, “Let’s go home first!”

Xu Man was afraid that his aunt and uncle would not be able to find Dongsheng, and wanted to ride his bicycle to his aunt and uncle’s home to say hello and pick up Dongsheng’s change of clothes

When he arrived, he found the door locked

Xu asked Dongsheng, “Your little grandpa and grandma aren’t home?”

“Uh-huh They went to work in the fields”

“Then who’s at home with you?”

“I’m by myself”

Xu asked, “”

“You mean Little Grandpa and Grandma left you home all by yourself to work?”

“Uh-huh Little Auntie goes to school too, so I’m home alone”

Dongsheng was willing to choose his aunt and uncle’s house because the aunt and uncle’s youngest daughter was a few years older than Dongsheng The two of them could be playmates

Xu Wen frowned, “Didn’t your little aunt never go to school before?”

Nowadays, children generally went to school late, and it was normal for them to be nine or ten years old

The aunt’s youngest daughter, Wenwen, seems to be only seven years old this year?

This question was a bit difficult for Dongsheng, and he shook his head

Xu Wen got back on his bike and drove Dongsheng as he walked, asking, “Then how did you get out of your grandparents’ house?”

“There was a hole in the fence, I snuck out” Dongsheng whispered, “Ma Ma, I won’t climb next time, don’t be angry”

Xu Wen which still want to be angry with Dong, drive him to the supply house first bought some snacks to let Dongsheng pad stomach, and then drive him to buy some vegetables, meat and fruits

“Are you not eating today?” Xu asked Dongsheng, who was frowning and shoveling cookies into his mouth

Dongsheng nodded, “My grandparents weren’t home when I woke up I can’t bite the cold dumplings at home”

Dongsheng’s teeth weren’t very good, Xu Wen knew, and his upper teeth were all blackened and mutilated

He also knew that many people, in order to save time, would make do with cold dumplings in the morning, pickles, and some plain water

This is normal

But she brought Dongsheng living expenses ah?

Xu Wen brought Dongsheng home, called the magic mirror out to find a two simple recipes to make the meal, let Dongsheng eat first, he went to the aunt and uncle’s home to say hello in case they could not find Dongsheng worried

This time, the door of the aunt and uncle’s house was open

When Xu Wen arrived at the door, he heard the sound of his aunt and uncle’s conversation from inside

“Dongsheng this brat usually waits for Xu Man at the intersection, today he came back and didn’t see anyone, I don’t know where he went wild!” The aunt complained

Little Uncle said impatiently, “Alright! Don’t talk about it He’s still a three year old kid, how am I going to explain to Zhengzi if something happens to him when you leave him at home?”

“What could happen? Wasn’t our Wenwen always at home alone when he was four or five years old? Besides, I have to earn labor credits Do I have to be a nanny to serve Dongsheng for the five dollars Xu asked for?”

“Is five dollars not enough? How can we send Wenwen to school without five dollars? Besides, five dollars for five and a half days, twenty dollars a month isn’t less than earning labor credits, is it? My last full day’s work was only 70 cents!

If you ask me, don’t be so blind as to focus on this amount of money in front of your eyes! How can Dongsheng be like Wenwen? Wen was born and raised here How long has Dongsheng been here? If he gets lost, he’ll be in trouble!”

“It’s not like we get five dollars every week! Next week Dongsheng will go to your big brother’s house You don’t mind me, I at least cook two meals at noon and night, and the kid eats what we eat, so I don’t treat him badly! It’s him who doesn’t like to eat Moreover, your sister-in-law is a person who can’t even spend a dollar on Dongsheng for five dollars She’s not as good as I am”

“Okay, you do not chatter quickly go to cook! I’m going out to look for the child”

Xu Man hurriedly took a few steps back and shouted, “Is Uncle and Auntie home?”

Just in time, Little Uncle pushed open the door and saw Xu Man’s face a little uncomfortable, “Ask? Why are you back?”

Xu Man reminded him, “It’s Saturday I’m on vacation”

Little Auntie heard the commotion and came over with her spatula, “Aigoo! Look at how busy we are, we forgot all about this You’re here for Dongsheng, aren’t you? Dongsheng and Wenwen went out to play and haven’t come back yet Your uncle is trying to call them back for dinner Why don’t you wait at home for a while?”

The younger uncle also quickly agreed, “Ask, you go inside and sit down for a while, I’ll go get the kids back”

Before Xu Man could even open his mouth, Wenwen entered the courtyard with a brand new school bag on his back, “Mom and Dad? Is Dongsheng not back yet? Why didn’t I see him at the intersection? He waits for his stepmother at the intersection every day?”

Uncle and aunt looked at Xu Man at the same time, their faces embarrassed

The more Xu Wen heard, the more angry he became, but he still had to bother his aunt and uncle before he got into college, so he could only grit his teeth and grin, “I was just about to say this, but when I came back, I saw Dongsheng standing at the intersection by himself, his stomach growling with hunger, so I picked him up and brought him home Originally wanted to talk to you guys first, but ended up coming to see no one at home, gave Dongsheng a good meal before coming over, let you worry”

Xu Wen’s tone was calm, not annoyed or angry, but the accusation in his words was also obvious

Uncle and aunt looked at each other, both snapping

The younger aunt explained, “Today, the team has a lot of work, and one person took a leave of absence, so I took over for a while, and I’m usually at home watching over Dongsheng”

Xu Wen couldn’t hold back after all, “Really? Then thank you, Auntie!” She touched Wenwen’s head, “Wenwen, your new clothes and bag look great, unlike our Dongsheng who looks as if he just crawled out of a mud pit and is filthy!”

The little uncle and aunt were even more embarrassed, and wanted to retort, right? Xu Wen didn’t accuse them, and his heart was really weak Do not refute it! And feel that he took care of the child does not fall good some aggrieved

They do not speak, does not mean that Xu Man has nothing to say, “Uncle, aunt, I am not giving enough living expenses ah?”

The aunt was busy saying, “Enough is enough! It’s already a lot Dongsheng is so young, how much can he eat? We’re all family, so don’t give money next time! It’s not fair”

Xu Man nodded, feigning confusion, “Is it enough? Strange, I haven’t seen Dongsheng for a week, but I feel like he’s lost weight I thought the living expenses weren’t enough! If it’s not enough, you have to tell me A family can’t always eat and drink for nothing, right? As you know, I’m a stepmother I’m afraid people will say I’m a stepmother who treats her child poorly because she lost weight just after the expedition left I’m afraid people will say that I’m a stepmother who treats her child badly I’ll ask you to be more attentive in the future”

Junior Uncle was busy saying, “I should, I should”

Xu Wen nodded and thanked, “Thank you, auntie and uncle, you’ve worked hard these past few days I’ll take down Dongsheng’s clothes”

Xu Man left the courtyard and heard his little aunt pooh-pooh: “She’s a stepmother, who is she talking to? We’re no closer to Dongsheng than she is, can we still abuse the child?”

“Don’t say too much! Don’t you feel embarrassed if she hears you again?”

“Hmph! Look at your nephew’s daughter-in-law! She looks like a demon, and her eyes are dark and scary”

“That’s because you’re weak, isn’t it?”

“Lu Duguo, who are you talking for?”

Xu Man went home with a sullen face

Dongsheng squatted at the door with his cheeks in his hand, and when he saw her from afar, he smiled, “Ma Ma!”

Xu Wen’s eyes immediately sour

She went forward and picked up Dongsheng, asking him, “Are you waiting for me at the intersection every day?”

Dongsheng nodded

“Why? Didn’t I tell you that I won’t be back until Saturday?”

Dongsheng lowered his head and stirred his fingers uneasily, “But I don’t know which day is Saturday”

Xu Wen then remembered that Dongsheng was only a three and a half year old child, how could he tell the days of the week from the days of the week

She pressed Dongsheng into her arms and hugged him tightly

Mother and son back home, Xu Wen bolted the door, first Dongsheng clean and carry back to the house, and then took a shower, changed into a cotton short-sleeved shorts home clothes

When she entered the house, Dongsheng was already asleep

Xu Wen had just given Dongsheng a bath and was sure that he had really lost weight

She lovingly sat on the edge of the bed and fanned Dongsheng, calculating in her mind how to resolve this

In the end, it was because she hadn’t thought it through

She had thought that paying five dollars would allow her to take good care of Dongsheng, but she had forgotten that no one minded too much money, which didn’t prevent her from continuing to earn labor credits

Moreover, as the aunt said, everyone has come to the same place, and children of four and five years old are already running around the team without adult supervision

Some of the six and seven year olds have already started to look after their younger siblings

This situation is also very common in the Taoyuan brigade

But Dongsheng is not in his own home, the child is not comfortable, but also in a relatively unfamiliar bad situation

Dongsheng wants her to be true, but it must also be the heart of the aggrieved will be so babbling looking forward to her back

Without resolving this matter, Xu Man could no longer study at ease

After waking up in the afternoon, Xu Man took Dongsheng back to her mother’s home

Grandma was the only one at home, and Xu Che had gone to earn labor points

Xu Man was surprised that Sang Xiaoqing wasn’t at home to earn work credits

Grandma said that the family had advised her, but she had to go

“Grandma, have you finished with the homestead?”

Grandma nodded: “It’s done! I bought it for a hundred dollars Originally, there were many other people in the team who wanted to fight for the homestead The captain had a hard time and said he’d draw lots, but when the members of the community came to see what they had to do to fill in the bay, they all refused to take it and gave it to our family”

As soon as Xu Man heard this, he ran out to see

The new house base had just measured the boundary, and the wooden deed was still there It’s a square piece of land, but a large part of it is under water

I can see that Xu Qiu Shi and Xu Wen have not been idle, in just a few days has poured in a lot of soil

Grandma trembled and followed out, “Now your father and your brother only sleep three or four hours at night Every night, they come back from work and start working, working until one or two o’clock in the morning, squinting for a while before getting up to go back to work”

Xu Man frowned, “Can my father and brother’s health stand this?”

“We commoners have no other skills, we rely on our strength to make a living Who hasn’t suffered like this? Besides, a few days of hard work to build the house will save the family a heartache”

Xu Man also knew that the family was in such a situation, and thought for a moment, “Then I’ll go buy some vegetables to make up for Dad and my brother”

Xu Man went to buy half a kilogram of pork and bought some plate oil

Incidentally, he hit two pounds of bulk white wine

There were vegetables in the homestead, but there was a lack of oil and water

Xu Man boiled the oil into oil and separated it from the dregs, and fried a plate of eggplant with dregs and bean curd with dregs

He also cut a handful of leeks from the garden, chopped them up and mixed them with the oil residue to make dumplings

The recipe is useless even if you have a recipe for making dumplings, this requires practice, Xu Man does not know how to do it, but it is still Grandma who is the main dumpling maker, and Xu Man who rolls out the skin

“You child!” Grandma looked at the densely packed oil residue in the filling, swallowed her saliva, and disliked it in her heart, “You’ve got some money in your hand, but you’ve got to save it! You can eat several meals with this much dregs, but you’ve made most of it in one meal Let’s see if your mom will miss you when she comes back”

Xu Man hehehe laughed twice, knowing that his grandmother was not really complaining, but just felt that she could not afford to eat so much

Sure enough, when Zhu Meizhen came back from work at night, she nagged Xu Man in pain, saying that Xu Man was not living

After reading for a while, she suddenly stopped talking and stared at Dongsheng and said, “Why do I see this child has lost weight?”

Xu Man sighed softly and summarized the conversation with Lu Yuanzheng’s aunt and uncle that he had asked from Dongsheng’s mouth: “Uncle and aunt charged me five dollars to send my daughter to school so that Dongsheng could stay home by himself The two families have different eating habits, Dongsheng is not used to eating the aunt’s cooking, often hungry The child is bored at home and misses me every day to get out of the fence and run to the intersection waiting for me”

Zhu Meizhen was so distressed that she took Dongsheng onto her lap and picked the easily chewed pork from the plate and fed him, “Good boy, you’ve suffered a lot, eat more!”

Dongsheng only opened his mouth to bite the meat, Zhu Meizhen and clip over a dumpling

Xu asked: “”

You just scolded me for being a loser

“Ask” Zhu Meizhen looked at her while feeding Dongsheng and said, “I know you are upset about Dongsheng But when it comes down to it, your uncle and aunt have not gone too far You know, we eat a big pot of rice to see that a little bit of labor points Xiao Che’s eight or nine year olds go to work on the weekends to earn labor credits, and Dongsheng is almost four years old, so it’s not a big problem for him to play at home by himself Isn’t that the way it is with everyone? When you were little, you still had Wangwang to watch over you, but when Xiao Che was small, Grandma was too old to catch up with him or watch him, so she let him run around in the mud Little boys don’t have to be so delicate”

Xu Man did not say anything

Grandma felt sorry for Xu Man: “Why don’t you let Dongsheng stay with us? There’s still Xu Che to keep him company”

“Mother, you can stop now! Xiao Che has to go to school on weekdays, so Dongsheng will still have to stay home by himself Besides, it was just last week, but this week ” Xu Qiushi glanced at Xu Wen, “I gave her aunt five dollars This is the time to get Dongsheng to our home, you let other people’s uncles how to think? They will think that we have pocketed Xiaozheng’s money When the time comes, if we ask at the Lu family’s house, we’ll get a faceful of it”

Xu Man shook his head, “Grandma, mom and dad, don’t worry, I’ve already thought of a good solution! We’ll try to see what’s going on on Big Uncle’s side next week”