Chapter 290: What Are You Trying to Do?

"What do you mean I look down on you? My point is that a person needs to see their own strengths and weaknesses clearly. You are a talented young gentleman with a good physique and a good brain, so stop fighting others for that bowl of rice."

Ling Feng was overjoyed to hear this.

He then asked, "Then have you thought clearly about the matter I told you about yesterday?"

"You mean the matter of staying here to teach the children?" Mou Lili thought of the apartment in Beishi, wondering if Mou Dafu and his girlfriend were still there.

She said, "I have thought it through. I can stay and help you teach the students, but my apartment in Beishi is still being rented. It's very expensive, and it would be a waste to leave it empty all the time."

Ling Feng said, "That's easy to handle. I can have someone help you cancel the lease on the apartment and take out the things inside."

"Would that be too much trouble?"

"Of course not. I've done even more troublesome things for you." Ling Feng accidentally let it slip.

"What is a more troublesome thing?"

"N-nothing."

"You had better be honest," Mou Lili said, tapping her chopsticks.

Ling Feng had no choice but to say, "Well... when you left Beishi, didn't I go look for you once? Seeing your younger brother living in your apartment, I thought he must have been the one who forced you away, so I..."

Ling Feng briefly explained what happened afterward.

Mou Lili said, "I was wondering why he left so quickly; it turns out he was afraid of ghosts. But he's come back now."

"He isn't afraid of ghosts anymore?"

"He brought his girlfriend here for a trip, probably thinking about saving money. Besides, with another person around, maybe he isn't as scared. Otherwise, he must have gone back, thought about it, and realized he had been duped."

Ling Feng immediately took out his phone and made a call to a friend, asking him to cancel the lease for Mou Lili and saying that Mou Lili's things should be kept with a friend who was going abroad.

Mou Lili was with him while he made this call. After he finished, she asked, "Then here is the problem: after canceling the lease on this apartment, where will I live when I go back to Beishi?"

Ling Feng said, "Live at the home of that friend of mine who went abroad. He won't be returning to the country for the next few years. The house is empty anyway, so you might as well live there; otherwise, the house will lack human presence."

"That makes sense." Mou Lili finished the last steamed bun.

She took a tissue to wipe her hands and added, "Let's go, time for class."

Ling Feng said, "I can also help you pay for the guesthouse, if... you are afraid of wasting money."

Mou Lili shook her head: "Forget it, the guesthouse is where I'm staying myself, I don't need you to pay."

"Then you have no salary, where will you get the money?"

"Don't look down on me. Although I don't have as much money as you, I can earn it myself."

"Alright then."

Mou Lili went to teach that day. When she reached the podium, she saw a few mugwort rice cakes on it.

She couldn't help but look at the children below, "Who brought these over?"

Nini raised her hand and said shyly, "Teacher, this is for you to eat. My grandfather made them; he said to give them to you."

Mou Lili quickly said, "So that's what it is. Then Nini, thank your grandfather for me, and thank you too."

Nini lowered her head, feeling a bit shy, and blocked herself with a book.

After class, Mou Lili looked at these mugwort rice cakes and fell into deep thought.

How should she eat these rice cakes?

First, she was certainly very grateful that a student had brought her something.

Second, now that one student had given her something, would the other students who hadn't given her anything feel embarrassed?

If she accepted this rice cake, should she pay more attention to Nini?

Mou Lili suddenly understood the concerns of modern teachers.

These few rice cakes already made her feel uneasy; for those teachers facing dozens of parents, all of whom wanted to give them food or gifts, were they having an even harder time?

Ah, she just wanted to teach earnestly.

At noon, the other children all went home to eat.

Mou Lili called out to Xiaozhu: "Xiaozhu, is there anyone at your home?"

"No." Xiaozhu shook his head.

"Then what are you going back to eat?"

"There are leftovers and some pickled vegetables," Xiaozhu said.

Mou Lili said, "Then why don't you eat these few rice cakes? That way you won't have to go home."

Xiaozhu shook his head: "These were given to you by Nini. If I eat them, she will definitely be angry."

"How about this: Teacher will eat one, and you eat the rest, because Teacher is going to eat at Jin Shu's house in a little while. If Teacher eats the rice cakes, I won't be able to eat my meal, and Jin Shu will be angry too."

Only then did Xiaozhu nod.

His home was on the other side of the mountain; not to mention the long distance, the mountain road was also difficult to walk.

While Xiaozhu sat down to eat the rice cakes, Mou Lili asked him again: "Xiaozhu, what do you want to do when you grow up?"

Xiaozhu shook his head: "I don't know."

"You don't know, or you don't dare to think about it?"

"Maybe like my dad, go move bricks," Xiaozhu said.

Mou Lili asked with a smile: "Moving bricks is very tiring."

"It's alright. I can move ten bricks at a time now, and when I'm bigger, I can move 30 at a time like my dad."

Mou Lili knew that this child had never seen the world; the only adults he had contact with were those around him.

Mou Lili smiled and said: "Xiaozhu, don't be in such a hurry to define it. You should decide this when you are older and understand more."

At the same time, Mou Lili was also thinking about how she could take the children to see the world outside.

……

Mou Lili was going to Jin Shu's house for a meal, which required walking along a village path.

There was a stretch in the middle of this path with no houses, just a vegetable patch, and at noon, there was usually no one in the vegetable patch.

But on this day, several motorcycles were parked beside the vegetable patch, and a few young men dressed in a ruffian-like manner were chatting there.

As soon as they saw Mou Lili approaching, they stopped chatting and all looked at Mou Lili.

Mou Lili was different from the local women; even though she was dressed simply, just a T-shirt paired with jeans, one could tell at a glance that she was a city person.

Moreover, she had spent a few years singing in bars, so her personality was somewhat unruly, and her posture when walking was upright, with her chest held high, unlike the women in the village who were always accustomed to hunching their shoulders and backs, afraid of attracting anyone's attention.

As she passed by, two of the men on the motorcycles whistled at her.

One of them asked in the local dialect: "Who is this? Does anyone know?"

"I know, it's that what's-his-name's girl from Jin Shu's place."

"She looks quite pretty."

"What do you want to do?"

The one wearing a gold chain with a cigarette dangling from his mouth said: "Let's have some tea, grab a meal, and make friends."

Mou Lili had been here for a while and could understand the local dialect; she couldn't be bothered to provoke these people, so she pretended not to understand.

She also ignored the whistle.

The one with the big gold chain started his motorcycle, drove up in front of Mou Lili, and blocked her path with the motorcycle: "Little sister."

Mou Lili ignored him, and he said again: "Beauty?"

Only then did Mou Lili give him a cold look: "What is it?"