Chapter 92: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 92

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

In one go, Wang Xiaohua took down the Chinese and math textbooks for grades two through six, and also asked for a Xinhua Dictionary and a copy of One Thousand and One Nights.

The books Wang Xiaohua took down were piled high, taller than his own height.

Seeing this, Li Xiulan felt a pang of heartache inside.

After all, she didn't have much money on hand right now; with so many books, she didn't know if it would be enough to pay.

"Little kid, what do you want all these books for?"

Even the bookstore boss was astonished at the sight.

"I want to study!"

Wang Xiaohua answered in a very childish yet very determined tone.

"So many books, that costs a lot of money!"

The bookstore boss glanced at Li Xiulan.

Li Xiulan smiled bitterly:

"You calculate how much it totals."

The bookstore boss calculated for a moment, then said:

"86 yuan 5 mao in total."

Li Xiulan fished out a tightly rolled red plastic bag from her pocket, opened the plastic bag, took out the wrinkled money, counted it; she only had forty-some yuan on her, far from enough to pay for these books.

"Boss, can you make it cheaper?"

Li Xiulan's face carried bitterness, her tone carried a humble plea.

The bookstore boss knew she didn't have much money, so he kindly reminded her:

"You don't need to buy these textbooks at all; if the kid wants to read, you can just borrow from others. Lots of families with school-age kids have textbooks. For example, my son is in third grade now; the first and second grade textbooks are all there, sitting at home unused."

Li Xiulan heard this and thought it made a lot of sense.

So she hurriedly thanked him:

"Thank you, Boss. If you hadn't said so, I wouldn't have thought of that!"

Actually it wasn't that she couldn't think of it; subconsciously she just didn't want to trouble others, and even more didn't want to borrow others' things. She felt borrowing would owe a favor, and would make her very embarrassed.

In the end, Li Xiulan only bought Wang Xiaohua a new dictionary and a copy of One Thousand and One Nights, and didn't buy any other books.

Although Wang Xiaohua's face was full of reluctance, when Li Xiulan told him she would help him borrow the other books once back in the village, he nodded obediently in agreement, neither crying nor making a fuss.

After buying the books, Li Xiulan took Wang Xiaohua to the market to buy some daily necessities, also bought tofu, bought a fish, bought some fruit jelly, then went to the street entrance to catch the small four-wheeler home.

Returning home, it was already noon.

Li Xiulan let Wang Xiaohua stay home alone reading, while she didn't even cook lunch, rushing non-stop to borrow books from other households in the village.

"Sister-in-law Xianghua, isn't your son in fourth grade now? Do you have any leftover unused books? I want to borrow them for my Xiaohua..."

"Uncle Jianjun, I remember your daughter is in fifth grade; does she have any leftover unused books? Can you lend them to my Xiaohua to read..."

Li Xiulan carried a snake skin bag used for fertilizer, running door to door to borrow books.

She asked many households in a low, submissive voice, even went to ask Liang Yuanchao's family, but uniquely did not ask Zhu Rou Rong and Yang Xiaocai.

Not asking Zhu Rou Rong was to avoid suspicion.

And not asking Yang Xiaocai was because she and Yang Xiaocai had a bad relationship.

The villagers of Shangou Village were still quite enthusiastic.

Although some villagers mocked Li Xiulan, thinking her borrowing so many books for her youngest son was completely overreacting — a five-year-old child who barely recognizes a few characters, could he really read that many books?

But mockery aside, most villagers were still willing to lend the books to Li Xiulan.

Anyway, those textbooks their kids had used, sitting at home had no use; selling as scrap paper wouldn't fetch much money.

So after one round, Li Xiulan not only borrowed all the Chinese and math textbooks from second to sixth grade, but also borrowed quite a few study reference books.

She didn't know which were useful and which weren't.

As long as villagers were willing to lend, she was willing to take.

And she also promised that once her own son finished using them, she would definitely return them.

Around twelve noon, Li Xiulan carried a snake skin bag of books back.

Carrying so many books made her just-recovering waist ache faintly again.

But she was still happy inside.

Teacher Lin Xiaofang had said her Xiaohua was the studious type, and would definitely be promising in the future!

Now let him study hard; when he grows up and becomes promising, she as his mother will have blessings to enjoy in her old age.

When she returned home, Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai had already returned from school and taken the initiative to cook lunch.

Seeing their mother carrying so many books back, they were nearly scared half to death, thinking their mother would use these books to torment them.

Wang Xiaohua, in contrast, smiled foolishly at the sight of the books, face full of satisfaction.

Li Xiulan told Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai these books were borrowed for their younger brother, but if they wanted to use them, they could too.

Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai immediately declared they absolutely didn't want to use these books; making them read these books was worse than letting them go herd cattle and feed pigs!

Li Xiulan didn't force them on this attitude.

Because the family indeed lacked hands to herd cattle and feed pigs; Dashan and Erhai being able to help share some housework was actually a good thing.

For example, today at noon, when she returned from borrowing books, Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai had already cooked lunch; she came back and had lunch to eat — that was a pretty good thing.

Over the next few days, Wang Xiaohua stayed at home reading books.

He had an extraordinary obsession with books.

Ordinary children his age were all restless and playful, but he was quiet and still, able to read for an entire day once he started.

Li Xiulan was greatly relieved by this; Wang Xiaohua being like this was good, sparing her too much worry.

In the blink of an eye, the day to go to Town to start work arrived.

Li Xiulan felt her waist injury had improved considerably compared to before, so she ultimately decided to continue going to work; as for Zhong Jianguo's suggestion, she did not heed it, because she needed to earn money to support the family.

She thought that at the Construction Site, instead of carrying a full load of cement and sand at once, she would split it into two trips, doing small quantities multiple times and being careful, so there should be no problem.

Today happened to be Market Day, so she very smoothly took a Small Four-Wheeler to Town.

However, when she arrived at the Construction Site and worked in small quantities multiple times, she found her efficiency could not keep up.

Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei were laying bricks, and they often found the cement and sand ran out while Li Xiulan had not yet finished preparing a new batch to carry up.

"Xiulan, your efficiency just won't do; you need to speed up preparing the cement and sand! We run out and can only stand around waiting, delaying the project schedule!"

Lin Dajun couldn't help but complain in one sentence.

He did not know Li Xiulan was protecting her waist injury, and thought she was deliberately slacking off, which was why he said such things.

Li Xiulan revealed a bitter smile on her face:

"Uncle Dajun, I'm very sorry, I will speed up the progress……"

She very much wanted to explain, but those words were almost at her lips when she swallowed them back.

Then she silently increased the intensity of her work.

Her waist began to ache faintly again……