Siheyuan: Banggeng and I are classmates

More than a week has passed

Nothing new happened in the compound. Of course, this was thanks to Li Muhua not making trouble behind the scenes and just writing books and chatting with Liu Xu during the day.

When I come home at night, I annoy my two older brothers, try to please my mother and third sister, and read the various books I borrowed.

Li Muhua, who was living a fulfilled and comfortable life, didn't want to continue to struggle in the courtyard. It would be nice if the courtyard could continue to live in peace.

The other families in the courtyard were also peaceful, except for the Jia family—

Internal conflicts within the Jia family had been piling up more and more these days. When the family sat at the dining table, often no one said a word for the entire meal.

Originally, the Jia family had a hard time, but with the canteen chef Sha Zhu providing meals every day, and other neighbors giving away food rations from time to time, the Jia family has had a good life in terms of food over the years.

Now Shazhu, the pillar of the Jia family, is still imprisoned in the police station, and other neighbors dare not help Banggeng again because of his reputation as the toilet god.

The Jia family really ate sweet potatoes, boiled cabbage, corn porridge and potatoes for more than a week.

The Jia family has never suffered such a crime.

Now that the weather has turned cooler, charcoal is lit in the house, and the doors and windows are almost never opened all day. There are three small fart-making machines in the house, and Jia Zhang's big fart-making machine which is more powerful than six.

Under the 24-hour bombing, the Jia family's home was always filled with the smell of sweet potatoes and cabbage feces.

So now, sitting at the table, even though their stomachs were almost empty with hunger, they looked at the two large plates of sweet potatoes on the table and didn't want to touch them.

Qin Huairu didn't indulge them, she peeled the sweet potatoes and asked:

"Bang Geng, you've been off school for more than a week. You've been staying indoors all day without even leaving the house. When are you going to go back to school?"

Bang Geng shook his head and shrank his neck.

He said, "I won't go to school even if you beat me to death!" Banggeng picked up a big sweet potato on the table, quickly went into the inner room and hid on the kang.

"Snapped!"

Seeing that Banggeng had rested at home for a week and was still unwilling to go back to school, Qin Huairu slammed the table and stood up when she just asked him a question and he hid in the inner room.

"Bang Geng, stop right there. You are a student. What do you want to do if you don't go to school?"

"Ho~"

Jia Zhang not only did not join in the discussion, but instead sneered and said disdainfully:

"What does it matter if students don't go to school? Even if all the students in the world don't go to school, the sky won't fall and people won't starve to death."

"But if someone works but doesn't earn money, and lets his family eat sweet potatoes every day, and then they starve to death, that's a big deal!"

"mom--"

Qin Huairu complained to Jia Zhangshi and could only talk to her about this first.

"Isn't this month a special situation? If we can just hold on for another ten days, our lives will be better by the time next month comes to an end!"

Jia Zhang glared at him and started to calculate the accounts directly:

"Next month it's time to stock up for the winter. Even if we only buy the cheapest cabbage, it will cost 3 or yuan to buy or kilograms. You and Banggeng have to spend money on food every day, which is more than yuan a month. Next month we have to buy coal. Even if we use it sparingly, it will cost or yuan to buy or kilograms. It will cost more than yuan to buy medicine for me, and there are also water and electricity bills. Just these expenses that cannot be saved will cost more than yuan."

"This doesn't even include rice, flour, oil, salt, vegetables, and other unexpected situations. Your monthly salary of 27.5 yuan, the remaining five yuan is not enough for our family of five to eat sweet potatoes."

"If you ask me, our family will only be in a worse situation next month. How can we be better off?"

After saying this, Jia Zhang looked at Qin Huairu's worried expression with a twinkle in her eyes, and then suggested, "It depends on what mom thinks. Anyway, our family can't pay back the two hundred yuan that Lao Yi owed us now, so why don't you ask him to borrow some more."

"Let our family survive this winter, and then find a way to pay him back, okay?"

Qin Huairu was already worried just by listening to Jia Zhang's account. When she heard that Jia Zhang wanted her to borrow money from Yi Zhonghai, she quickly shook her head and said:

"Mom, I just borrowed 200 yuan from an old man, and you said I haven't paid back a penny yet, and I want to borrow money again, how can I ask for money?"

Seeing that Qin Huairu refused to borrow money from Yi Zhonghai, Jia Zhang clasped her hands and said shamelessly, "Okay! Then I'll do whatever you say. Who makes you the head of the family?"

"But don't blame me for not reminding you. Granny Wang raises geese - the more she raises them, the smaller they get. Look at these kids who eat sweet potatoes and cabbage every day. Not only have they become thinner, but their faces have also turned yellow!"

"Children are growing up, don't refuse to borrow money from Lao Yi just for the sake of your face. If you do, it will ruin the lives of Banggeng, Xiaodang and Huaihua!"

Qin Huairu fell silent after hearing what Jia Zhang said. She turned her head to look at Xiaodang and Huaihua who were chewing sweet potatoes, her eyes full of heartache.

"Mom, I get it. I'll find a way to deal with this. At the very least, we have to have steamed bread for our family to eat next month!"

"Ho~"

After hearing that Qin Huairu's ambition was just to eat steamed corn bread, Jia Zhang snorted disdainfully.

Qin Huairu was secretly angry when she saw Jia Zhang's behavior, but thinking about Bang Geng, she whispered, "Mom, I promised you this, and you have to promise me about Bang Geng as well."

"You need to let him go out more during the day, and then we can find a way to get him to go to school."

"You said he can't study now, his grades are poor, and it will be difficult for him to even go to junior high school in the future. If the street office doesn't assign him a job, our family will be ruined!"

Seeing Qin Huairu's earnest words, Jia Zhang nodded and said, "I have an idea about this matter and have even thought of a way, but you have to give me a dollar first, otherwise I won't be able to use my idea!"

Hearing this, Qin Huairu looked at Jia Zhang with a wary look, fearing that she would find an excuse to restore the pension policy.

However, Qin Huairu felt a little relieved when she remembered that Jia Zhang had just calculated that her income was not enough to cover her expenses.

Confused, he asked, "Mom, what on earth is the solution that requires money?"

Jia Zhang glared at Qin Huairu and said unhappily, "Why did you let Banggeng go out when you have no money? It's freezing cold, and you're going out to starve when you haven't eaten all the sweet potatoes in the house?"

Qin Huairu frowned, but thought that what Jia Zhang said made some sense, so she took out a stack of banknotes from her inner pocket, counted a few and handed them to Jia Zhang.

He also reminded: "Mom, you know the situation of our family. I paid this money for the good of Banggeng, otherwise -"

Before Qin Huairu finished speaking, Jia Zhang snatched the money from her hand and said, "I know, I know, stop talking nonsense. I am Banggeng's grandmother. Don't I want him to be better than you do?"

Qin Huairu was speechless after hearing this, so she stood up and said, "Mom, you guys continue eating, I'm going to go wash the clothes first!"

"stop!"

When she heard Qin Huairu say she wanted to do laundry, Jia Zhangshi shouted, looked at Qin Huairu suspiciously and said, "Why do you come back so late recently?"

"You're not fooling around with someone outside, are you?"

When Qin Huairu heard Jia Zhang's question, she started to unbutton her shirt. Her eyes turned red as she said, "You can bring this up with everything!"

"Don't you think I'm that worried? It's because I have too many days off this month. I stayed after get off work to clean the workshop and warehouse. I want the director to give me full credit for my work!"

"Who am I working so hard for? It's all for the good of our family!" Qin Huairu wiped away her tears and took off her coat and threw it on the ground.

"Not only do I have to work hard during the day, but I also have to stay and work overtime after get off work. After overtime, I have to cook and wash clothes. As soon as I close my eyes, I have to get up and make breakfast. I work non-stop every day and don't even have time to think about what to eat next!"

"You are so good, you just sit at home and daydream all day long!"

Seeing that her words had caused such displeasure, and seeing that she had already started to take off her inner garment, Jia Zhang quickly stood up and held her hand.

"What are you doing? The children are watching!"

Just after she finished saying something soft, Jia Zhang blamed her again, "Mom was just asking casually, I didn't mean to blame you. Why didn't you tell me in advance that you were going to stay in the factory to work overtime?"

"Really!"

Qin Huairu then stopped and said with a sob, "Mom, I'm so busy all day long, how can I have time to remember this little thing? I thought I told you!"

Jia Zhang thought so too. Qin Huairu had been very busy at home recently, so she finally felt relieved. She picked up the coat on the ground and put it on Qin Huairu.

"Okay, okay, it's all Mom's fault. I was just imagining things, okay?"

"You are a busy person. You just put down the dishes and then you start washing clothes. After washing clothes, you have to come back to wash dishes. Mom can't waste your time!"

As she spoke, Jia Zhang had already put a coat on Qin Huairu and pushed her out of the house.

After going out, Qin Huairu let out a long sigh, looked up at the moon, and then walked to the pool.