Chapter 477

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

In the blink of an eye the banquet ended, but Niu Chunsheng did not leave immediately; he was still rushing about, seeing the leaders off and exchanging contact information with the other entrepreneurs.

Even if those leaders did not give him a good face, he still had to make himself familiar to them.

As for how Niu Chunsheng conducted himself in the world, one could say he had done so to the utmost.

His wife and children were going home early, but he did not go to see them off; instead, he had them take a taxi back.

As for Wang Xiaohua, he went back to the rental house together with his parents in Zhang Zhongtian's small sedan.

Zhang Zhongtian and Wang Changgen took a look at Wang Xiaohua's narrow rental house, then rushed off without stopping to look at the new house Zhang Zhongtian had bought, while Li Xiulan stayed behind and killed the live rooster they had brought down together with Wang Xiaohua.

The rental house was very crude, not even having a place to boil water and cook.

Wang Xiaohua had not bought an induction cooker or anything like that, after all he was only staying here for one summer vacation, not living here permanently, and besides he often freeloaded meals at Niu Chunsheng's home; buying one would waste money and offer poor cost performance.

"Mom, why don't you take this chicken back and raise it? I usually don't cook in the rental house."

Wang Xiaohua said this to Li Xiulan.

Li Xiulan sighed, unable to help but feel heartache:

"How can you always eat outside? The things outside are not clean."

Wang Xiaohua said:

"It's just one summer vacation, not a very long time."

Li Xiulan still sighed without stopping:

"It's Mom who is incapable, making you suffer."

Wang Xiaohua was made quite speechless by his mother's sighing.

"Later I'll go buy an induction cooker to cook with; I'll go boil water and kill the chicken right now."

"You don't even have a pot, how are you going to boil water?"

Li Xiulan asked doubtfully.

Wang Xiaohua smiled:

"Isn't there a 'Re Sheng Yuan'?"

A "Re Sheng Yuan" was a threaded metal electric heating rod; this rental house was not equipped with a water heater, so Wang Xiaohua had gone outside to buy one of these things to use when bathing.

Fill half a bucket with cold water, then put the Re Sheng Yuan in, plug in the power, and soon the water could be heated to sixty or seventy degrees, even close to boiling.

After the water was heated, Wang Xiaohua and his mother killed that rooster together.

Because there was no cutting board or kitchen knife, Wang Xiaohua found a small knife used for sharpening pencils, and used it to cut the rooster's throat to bleed it.

After bleeding the rooster, Wang Xiaohua had Li Xiulan pluck the chicken feathers at home, while he himself went to the small supermarket outside.

He bought a cutting board, kitchen knife, induction cooker, spatula, range hood, and bowls and chopsticks, and many other daily necessities, and brought them back.

This one purchase cost over a hundred yuan.

To eat this chicken, he bought a whole pile of things that might only be used once and never again.

Wang Xiaohua was also helpless about this, feeling it was completely unnecessary.

His home was not far away; taking the bus back took less than an hour. If he really wanted to eat a local chicken from his hometown, he could just go back and eat it. He really could not understand why his mother had brought a whole live rooster down to him.

Although he did not understand, he did not want his mother to be sad or disappointed because of it. Fortunately, he now had quite a bit of money on hand and did not need to weigh the pros and cons just to save this hundred-odd yuan.

After buying the daily necessities and returning to the rental house, his mother had already plucked the chicken feathers and used the small knife to remove the innards, and had cleaned the intestines and chicken kidneys; all that remained was to cut the chicken into small pieces.

After using the new kitchen knife and cutting board to cut the chicken into small pieces, Li Xiulan busied herself cleaning the bathroom for Wang Xiaohua.

Killing the chicken had made a mess, with a chickeny smell, so it needed cleaning.

After cleaning the bathroom, she cleaned the outside.

After cleaning the outside, seeing that Wang Changgen and Zhang Zhongtian had not yet returned to pick her up, she busied herself washing some clothes and socks for Wang Xiaohua.

Wang Xiaohua originally did not need her to do these things, but he could not stop her.

Li Xiulan was like this; toward this family and toward her children, she had worked hard for a lifetime and had long since formed the habit.

Wang Xiaohua saw this in his eyes and could not help but feel moved in his heart.

In this life, his mother had suffered too much bitterness.

When he had the means in the future, he must let her enjoy blessings properly.

Wang Xiaohua thought this in his heart.

At this time, Wang Changgen and Zhang Zhongtian finally sauntered back.

Then they took Li Xiulan and went back to Shanggou Village together.

As they were leaving, Wang Changgen suddenly said to Wang Xiaohua:

"By the way, I just discussed it with Party Secretary Zhang and set your university entrance celebration for the 20th of this month; come back then."

Wang Xiaohua was stunned, somewhat surprised, and could not help muttering:

"Wasn't it said before that it wouldn't be held?"

Wang Changgen said:

"I originally planned not to hold it, but Party Secretary Zhang insisted on holding it for us; what could I do?"

Zhang Zhongtian said with a smile:

"Xiao Hua, you finally got into Tsinghua University after all this trouble, so of course there must be a big celebration. Don't worry, you don't need to spend money; I will take care of everything for you."

Wang Xiaohua hurriedly said:

"How can that be? This is our family matter; how could I let Party Secretary Zhang spend money on it?"

Wang Xiaohua knew in his heart that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, nor a free banquet; now that he had accepted Zhang Zhongtian's kindness, it was equivalent to owing Zhang Zhongtian a favor, and if Zhang Zhongtian ever wanted him to help with something in the future, he would have absolutely no reason to refuse.

It was a pity that his parents had not thought of this layer; they only saw the superficial benefits and, without consulting him at all, agreed to the matter.

Zhang Zhongtian answered with a smile:

"It's fine, it's fine, we're all from Shanggou Village, and can be considered like family, no need to be so polite with me; you are the glory of our Shanggou Village!"

Wang Zhanggen saw Wang Xiaohua frown and scolded him:

"Don't put on an unwilling look in front of me; you don't need to spend money or effort, just come back when the time comes, this time you'd better not give me a sour face!"

Wang Xiaohua felt depressed inside, but could only agree:

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll go back for a trip when the time comes."

Wang Xiaohua dared not anger that old man again, fearing he would feel he had lost face and that it would make him so angry his old illness would relapse.

"That's right, I'm your father, how could I possibly harm you? Just be obedient and listen!"

Wang Zhanggen saw Wang Xiaohua agree, and only then nodded in satisfaction.

He also said:

"If you're always this obedient, maybe your college entrance exam score could be a few points higher than it is now."

Wang Xiaohua cried and laughed helplessly:

"Right, right, right, whatever you say is right; hurry back home, if there's going to be a banquet, don't we still need to notify others to attend? You'll have plenty to do!"

Wang Xiaohua hurriedly urged Wang Zhanggen and Li Xiulan to go home.

He felt that communicating with Wang Zhanggen was like a cow's head facing a horse's mouth; they simply could not communicate, and neither could understand the other's true thoughts.

Perhaps this was what was called the generation gap.

……