Chapter 8

Li Ye's home was a single-family courtyard with three main rooms and three side rooms, and the living conditions were quite good.

Just as he pushed the bike into the gate, Li Ye smelled the fragrance of sour and spicy shredded potatoes.

It was late autumn and early winter, and all kinds of fine vegetables were basically off the market. The dining tables of every family were basically the three big items: radish, potato, and cabbage.

Li Ye pushed the bike in and saw three figures, one big and two small, busy in the kitchen shed.

The big one was naturally Li Ye's stepmother, Han Chunmei, and the small ones were the two daughters she brought with her, who had changed their surnames to Li following Li Kaijian, called Li Juan and Li Ying.

Speaking of Han Chunmei, she was also a bitter person.

When she was young, Han Chunmei was a flower recognized by everyone in the ten miles and eight villages. After marrying a carpenter, she gave birth to two girls in a row and could never give birth again.

If this were in later generations, a man with two daughters would be beautiful.

No need to save money to buy a house or land, no need to worry about cars or dowries. When the holidays come, lie on the sofa, and the daughter will obediently send cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, and tea. The son-in-law has to smile and curry favor: "Dad, let's have a drink?"

When you get old and have illness or disaster, the two daughters will pay money and contribute effort. You can live a carefree life with money for a lifetime.

But it didn't work in this era. Every family had a throne waiting to be inherited! If you couldn't give birth to a guard with a knife, the gossip could crush you to death.

Han Chunmei's parents-in-law were very strong, forcing their son to divorce his wife and remarry, driving Han Chunmei out of the door.

Han Chunmei took her two daughters back to her mother's house, suffered through several years of hard days, and finally married Li Kaijian, who was eight years older than her.

Then, she felt like she was in heaven.

Her parents-in-law no longer pointed at the mulberry and scolded the locust because her daughter ate half a steamed bun more, and her man wouldn't pull out his leather belt because she broke a bowl.

And after marrying over, the Li family first found Han Chunmei a temporary job, twenty-two yuan and five cents a month. It didn't look like much, but it made the bitter woman cry with joy.

No one understood better than her the bitterness of watching other people's children eat candy while she didn't have a cent in her pocket.

No one understood better than her the bitterness of her child crying from hunger in the middle of the night while she could only feed her a bowl of cold water.

So after entering the Li family, Han Chunmei treated the Li family with a grateful heart, doing all the laundry, cooking, and housework, so much so that Li Ye's grandmother often complained "I'm not old yet, and I'm useless."

"Sigh, Xiao Ye is back?"

Seeing Li Ye enter the door, Han Chunmei was also stunned for a moment, then hurriedly took out two cents and handed them to her daughter.

"Xiao Juan, hurry up and buy a piece of tofu on East Street. Xiao Ying, hurry up and wash a cabbage."

Grain was precious in this era. The amount of food cooked in every meal was fixed, and there would absolutely be no waste of leftovers. So Li Ye's sudden return made Han Chunmei afraid that the food cooked wouldn't be enough.

"No need to be so troublesome. I had a little something outside, just mix a cabbage heart."

Li Ye stopped Li Juan, who was about to go out, took the malt sugar he hadn't eaten from his schoolbag, and handed it over.

"Malt sugar I bought on the way, try it with Xiao Ying."

"..."

Li Juan looked at the malt sugar handed to her and was at a loss.

She had been in the Li family for a year with Han Chunmei, and she had never seen a good face from this brother Li Ye. What happened today? Was his head kicked by a donkey? Or did a sow climb a tree?

"I... I won't eat... You eat it!"

Li Juan resisted the saliva in her mouth and refused the malt sugar, lowering her head and slipping behind Han Chunmei.

"Eat it! I have half a pack left!"

Li Ye took out the half pack of malt sugar he had eaten and stuffed the whole pack of malt sugar into Li Juan's hand.

"Oh."

Only then did Li Juan take it, walked behind Han Chunmei with her head lowered, and looked at her sister Li Ying, revealing hidden joy.

Han Chunmei frowned in displeasure and scolded her two daughters: "Oh, oh, oh, can't even call your brother? You're so big and don't know anything?"

"..."

"Brother."

"Brother."

The two girls hurriedly called Li Ye brother, timidly, like a mosquito humming.

"It's okay, it's okay, I didn't know anything before either. You'll get used to it later. I'll go into the room first."

Li Ye hurriedly persuaded them and turned to the north room. If he didn't leave, the two sisters wouldn't be comfortable.

After Li Ye left, Han Chunmei rubbed the corners of her eyes and scolded her two daughters sternly: "Is it so difficult to call your brother? And you still have the nerve to eat candy? Get a plate, serve it, and put it on the table."

The children's mouths immediately pouted long, and Li Juan whispered: "He doesn't even call you Mom!"

"I..."

Han Chunmei reached out to hit them, but raised her hand halfway, then sighed and put it down.

It's hard to be a stepmother!

The two children were unhappy, but they still obediently took a plate, put the malt sugar on it, and brought it to the dining table as a snack.

And the remaining malt sugar was divided into three portions by Li Juan, one for her sister Li Ying, and one for her mother Han Chunmei.

Tears finally fell from the corners of Han Chunmei's eyes.

Li Ye's sudden return home made everyone in the family very happy.

Grandfather and grandmother hugged their eldest grandson and asked about his well-being, calling him thin and so on.

The eldest sister pulled her brother's coat, measured it, and felt it was small, saying that she would buy Li Ye a new one after she got her salary.

Li Kaijian, who had a disharmonious relationship with Li Ye because he had beaten him with a leather belt, also said with a straight face while taking out money: "Coming back on this day, is it because you have no money again? Take ten yuan first, spend it sparingly."

Originally, Li Ye was still worried about how to get along with the family members of this world, but the strong family warmth and sincere family affection made him not feel any spiritual barrier at all, and he integrated into it naturally.

"No, I still have money. Mainly because I have something to say, so I came back to tell you."

"What's the matter?"

"I took back that 26-inch Phoenix today."

"..."

Everyone was stunned for a moment. After a long time, Li Kaijian asked in a deep voice: "What are you thinking?"

"I'm not thinking anything," Li Ye said: "The day before yesterday, Lu Jingyao sent me 45 yuan. I think since people look down on us, let's not stick our hot face to their cold butt. Let's break up peacefully and stop causing trouble."

"Slap~"

Li Kaijian slapped his thigh and said: "Wouldn't it have been fine if you thought so earlier? If I hadn't cared about you, I would have..."

"What are you muttering about?"

Grandmother spat at Li Kaijian and asked Li Ye worriedly: "Little Ye, have you really thought it through?"

Li Ye nodded: "Thought it through. But there might be some unpleasant rumors recently. Don't take them to heart. They will fade away in a few days."

"Rumors? What rumors?"

Li Kaijian was about to ask carefully, but Li Ye's grandfather, Li Zhongfa, said: "All right, eat first. The child is hungry, what are you muttering about endlessly?"

"I'm not muttering..."

Li Kaijian muttered and lowered his head to eat.

If the previous Li Ye was educated by Li Kaijian with a leather belt, then Li Kaijian was cleaned up by Li Zhongfa with a stick. "A filial son is born under the stick" was the tradition of the Li family.

Just as they were finishing their meal, Li Zhongfa suddenly asked Li Ye: "Have you had a class division exam recently?"

Li Ye replied: "The exam was held, but I don't know if it's for class division. Grandfather, how do you know?"

Li Zhongfa said: "This morning, your school called me and said that your test score wasn't too good or too bad, and it was a bit difficult to get into the special express class..."

Li Ye understood what was going on as soon as he heard it.

County No. 2 Middle School originally had fast and slow classes for repeating classes. Now that they were adding a special express class, it was naturally a radical measure taken to impact the admission rate.

And with Li Ye's test score and ranking, it was impossible to get into the special express class. The reason the school called Li Zhongfa was naturally because they had something to ask for.

"Grandfather, don't worry about my studies. I can get into university without getting into the special express class, so don't agree to anything that doesn't comply with the regulations."

"What doesn't comply with the regulations? It's just a favor. You just focus on reviewing, and don't put too much pressure on yourself. Whether you get into it or not, the family has no requirements for you."

Fine, they still don't believe in him.

Li Ye looked at the expressions of everyone at the dining table and could feel everyone's mood.

Whether it was grandfather, grandmother, father, or sister, they didn't dare to put pressure on Li Ye, and were carefully protecting the self-esteem of the "family's number one brother."

"All right, I know. It would be good if I could get into it, but if I can't, I'll just rely on my family!"

Li Ye didn't swear to let everyone believe him. Anyway, he would give them a big surprise when the time came. *** **Chapter 9: Useless Things**