Chapter 134: Gu Xiaoxia's suitor

Coming out of the department store building, Li Long returned to the big courtyard, rode the bicycle, packed the chickens and eggs, pushed the bike out and locked the door, then got on the bike and rode back.

Late March, the headwind in spring was still a bit cold, but for Li Long, this was already a small matter, much more comfortable than smashing ice holes to catch fish in minus twenty or thirty degrees before, or wading through knee-deep snow to cut wood in the mountains.

He hummed a song all the way, carrying a gust of wind out of the county town. On the road, he could occasionally see people walking, people driving horse-drawn carriages. Although there were ruts on the road, he didn't see any trucks.

Li Long rode his bike to the township middle school. There was no one watching at the school gate, so he turned in. It was class time now. He remembered that Gu Xiaoxia taught Chinese for the first year of junior high.

Before he turned to the classroom, Li Long was stopped by a person in his fifties. Li Long vaguely remembered that this person was the school worker of the middle school. He stopped and took the initiative to say:

"I'm here to find Gu Xiaoxia, from the same village as her, bringing her some things."

Looking at Li Long riding a bicycle—people who could ride a bicycle in this era were not ordinary—the school worker kindly said, "Teacher Gu's morning class is already over, she's in the dormitory now. You ride forward, turn left at the end, ride to the end, the third room in that row of bungalows is it."

"Thank you!" Li Long said, and rode the bicycle toward the teacher's dormitory.

Before Li Long reached the teacher's dormitory, he heard a man's voice over there.

"Teacher Gu, it's very inconvenient for you to live here alone, right? My home is in the township, so how about this, I'll bring you some meat and vegetables tomorrow. You eat these mixed-grain buns and pickles every day, no nutrition!

Now we need to teach and educate people well for the realization of the four modernizations, it won't work without a good body!"

"Teacher Lin, thank you for your kindness, but I don't need it, I can eat this. Now I need to prepare lessons, trouble you not to disturb me, okay?"

Li Long heard it, this Teacher Lin had "ulterior motives."

He saw Gu Xiaoxia standing at the dormitory door, and that Teacher Lin was not far in front of her, obviously not intending to leave.

Li Long shouted from afar:

"Xiaoxia, I'm here to see you."

Gu Xiaoxia saw Li Long, a touch of surprise appeared on her face, and then there was some blush—she was shy.

"Li Long, why are you here?"

Li Long arrived at the dormitory door, got off the bike, propped up the bicycle, took out an item from his bag and handed it over:

"Went to the county to handle things today, saw this scarf was quite beautiful in the department store building, thought you would look good wearing it, so I bought it. Come, try it!"

Gu Xiaoxia wanted to refuse, but seeing Li Long's eyes, and then thinking of Teacher Lin's attitude, she took it and said softly:

"Thank you!"

Teacher Lin suddenly felt a bit awkward here.

But he was a bit unconvinced, forced a smile on his face, took the initiative to reach out and said:

"Hello, I'm Teacher Gu's colleague, my name is Lin Bingwen, you are..."

"I'm Xiaoxia's fellow villager, from the same village." Li Long shook hands with him and said with a smile, "Teacher Lin should have been teaching in the school for a long time, right? Thank you for taking care of Xiaoxia. She just arrived at the school, if there's anything she doesn't understand, please help her more..."

Li Long said "you all" because he saw a female teacher about thirty years old in the dormitory next door walk out after hearing the movement.

Gu Xiaoxia lowered her head, looking at Li Long facing the middle school teacher with ease and composure, she felt a bit magical. He is a villager! Those students' parents came to see these teachers from the city, which one was not very cautious, and even spoke with a bit of flattery.

Li Long now, however, was like there was no difference in identity at all, and even spoke with the initiative all the time. When did he become like this?

But thinking about what Li Long had done in the past two months, it seemed so natural.

Lin Bingwen didn't expect Li Long not to treat him as a "rival in love" at all, and the whole process was in the capacity of Gu Xiaoxia's own people, leaving him nowhere to start.

A dignified teacher like himself, eating public food, actually couldn't do anything about a mud-legged person!

"It's almost noon," Li Long looked at the sun and said, "Let's go, let's go to the township canteen to eat, I'll treat, and also thank you all on behalf of Xiaoxia."

He turned his head to look at the female teacher at the door of another dormitory and said:

"This teacher, let's go together."

"No, no." The female teacher waved her hand with a smile, "You go, I won't go. Xiaoxia has been quite hard recently, she really should supplement."

As soon as she said this, Li Long looked into Gu Xiaoxia's room, saw a small stove and the mixed-grain buns on the table next to it, and said pretending to be angry:

"Xiaoxia, you can't just eat these? How about this, I'll bring you some meat tomorrow, you need to eat nutritiously. Just now I seemed to hear Teacher Lin speak, he's right, you need to take care of yourself to teach and educate people well, and contribute strength to the early realization of the four modernizations!"

Seeing Li Long speak such old-fashioned words, Gu Xiaoxia couldn't hold back and almost laughed out loud.

"You go, I still have class, I won't go." Lin Bingwen also wanted face, left a sentence, turned and left.

In the end, Li Long still couldn't go to the township to eat with Gu Xiaoxia, but he insisted on taking Gu Xiaoxia to the township store to buy some things.

"You are here alone, the relationship between your family and mine is like this, you say I see you eating buns, can you think about how I feel?" When Gu Xiaoxia wouldn't let Li Long buy things, Li Long put the words there:

"I'll bring you some fish and meat tomorrow, and leave you a few eggs. I won't leave the chicken, you won't know how to cook it if I leave it.

!.

I'll come early tomorrow, and you can share some of the fish I bring for you with the teacher next door, just say it's a little bit of heart. Living outside alone, you must learn to take care of yourself, don't muddle through."

Sitting on the back seat of Li Long's bicycle, listening to this young man about the same age as herself chattering similar words that her father once said, at this moment, Gu Xiaoxia wanted to laugh, and felt sweet in her heart.

Li Long bought two large bags of sponge cakes for Gu Xiaoxia in the store, and also bought a jar of chili sauce and a jar of red bean curd. If it weren't for Gu Xiaoxia's refusal, he would have wanted to buy more things.

Sending Gu Xiaoxia back to school and leaving her six eggs, Li Long felt that he had to prepare the things he brought back when he returned. Thinking about it, it was normal. Gu Xiaoxia had never traveled far since she grew up, and she was worried about her father's health. It hadn't been a month yet, and she definitely hadn't received her salary, so naturally she would save on food and clothing.

He suddenly realized, was he treating Gu Xiaoxia as his object?

Is it?

Is... it?

It seems Gu Xiaoxia is not that resistant... then, continue?

Li Long didn't think much, let it be, actually... it's also quite good.

Returning home, Liang Wenyu was cooking lunch. What surprised Li Long was that Tao Daqiang had already organized the four nets.

Li Long put the roosters, hens, and eggs into the kitchen, and couldn't help but be complained about by Liang Wenyu. Li Long said with a smile:

"The two children need to supplement their bodies. This hen might be able to hatch a nest of chicks in a few days, keep it."

Liang Wenyu actually wanted to raise chickens, but the family conditions didn't allow it before. Now that Li Long bought them back, then raise them. The younger brother-in-law was becoming more sensible, spending so much money for the family, making Liang Wenyu feel a bit guilty.

Tao Daqiang and Li Jianguo came back together. But what surprised Li Long was that his shoes and hair were wet.

Did he fall into the water?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 135 =====