Break out of the courtyard

Chapter 35 Tat for Tat

The eldest sister Zhang Zhaodi stood at the door of the house anxiously, and said to her mother Ma Xiuzhen, who was washing clothes by the sink, and Zhang Heping, who was reading a book outside the door: "Mom! Brother! The eldest uncle's family and the second aunt's family really can't open the pot, so I took it upon myself to take the responsibility. The two little girls are back."

Grandma Xie Ermei wanted to speak, but Zhang Zhaodi held her back.

"Mom!" Zhang Heping looked at Ma Xiuzhen, who looked complicated, and said, "Take grandma and the others to get a haircut and take a shower first. The kindergarten will open soon. You must not bring lice to school."

Zhang Heping emphasized the word "lice" to express his dissatisfaction.

This is enough to embarrass them, any more would be uncomfortable.

Mainly, if I don't say anything, I'm afraid that they will continue to call relatives over.

Zhang Heping asked his eldest sister to leave the transfer application materials and the remaining emergency money.

A letter of introduction to transfer to another school, two twenty-two national food stamps, four dimes...

The letter of introduction was very simple, praising the two sisters for their hard work, bravery, and excellent academic performance, and hoping that your school would accept them.

However, the remaining 4 cents and 4 taels of national food stamps contained too much information.

The eldest sister followed her mother to her grandfather's place to transfer her household registration. It was reasonable that the eldest sister and her grandfather were estranged and did not lend the emergency money.

On the uncle's side, the two sisters have lived in the uncle's house for many years, and they can be said to be dependent on others.

When the eldest sister had 5 yuan and 3 kilograms of national food stamps as emergency money stamps, Zhang Heping gave her another 3 yuan and 3 kilograms and 6 taels of national food stamps as the second emergency money stamp without telling her grandma. I have a temptation in mind.

Whether the uncle was good to his two sisters in the past depends on how much emergency money the eldest sister Zhang Zhaodi is willing to lend when she returns. This is related to Zhang Heping's attitude towards the uncle and the others in the future.

From the current point of view, the eldest sister is grateful to her uncle, but she is also rational. She did not give away all the food stamps, but at least kept some for her own use!
  The problem is, the two little girls she brought back with her extraordinary performance are a little troublesome, and school is about to start!

Put aside the fact that my two sisters have been fostered in my uncle's house for many years.

Even if it's a normal walk between relatives, two little girls should be entertained when they come here. This is a small matter.

When Zhang Heping was a child in his previous life, he often visited relatives with his grandparents, and he never saw anyone who didn't want to see him. Why?
  "Phew...everything is going to be fine!"

Zhang Heping looked at the sky outside the window, thinking about his family's reserve of meal tickets, the dozens of kilograms of emergency food reserved every month, and the fishing arrangements after the spring...

Reflection: Mastery (65%).
  Too lazy to think about it, Zhang Heping put the transfer letter of introduction on the cabinet at home and pressed it with the two cans of yellow peach given by Xu Damao.

Then, he went to boil water and prepare some corn paste to satisfy the stomachs of the two little girls.

There is only one quilt in the house, which cannot even cover the earthen bed. Instead, there are two quilts, which Zhang Heping and his parents used to cover separately.

After burning the kang at night and covering themselves with some clothes, the six of them could barely sleep in the east wing, and the other two wing rooms couldn't be used.

There are also toothbrushes, clothes...

Just when Zhang Heping was sitting in front of the stove, thinking about what he needed and how he would make money to support his family after school started in a few days, Yi Zhonghai came back with his aunt, followed by Qin Huairu and the deaf old lady.

"Heping, I heard that no one is in charge of Kunming Lake. Can you go there and catch some big fish? I'll give you 5 cents a pound, how about it?"

Okay! This is for the sake of Silly Zhu’s pension partner, regardless of my life and death!

When Zhang Heping saw Yan Bugui going out, he called him over loudly.

"Third uncle!" Zhang Heping closed the fire door, restricted the air from entering the stove, and slowly boiled the water. Then he turned around and stood with the third uncle Yan Bugui. Zhang Heping said:
  "The elder wants us to go to Kunming Lake to catch big fish and sell them to him, but we are afraid of falling through holes in the ice, so we might as well take the elder there. We will put a long line on the shore to catch big fish, and the elder will drill holes in the ice. Help us set the hook and collect the fish, he is very brave anyway."

As soon as Yan Bugui heard Zhang Heping's words, he understood that this brat had bad intentions. It was probably because Lao Yi said something that offended this brat.

He couldn't help but take off his glasses, lowered his head to clean them carefully, and said casually:
  "Lao Yi, the ice has become thinner and it's very dangerous!" "If you insist on doing what he said, we can only help you once for the sake of our neighbors."

"However, we are the first to make scandals. If something goes wrong, you can't blame us."

"You'd better find a lifebuoy. If you fall into an ice cave, you have to get up by yourself. We, the whole family, don't dare to risk our lives to save you!"

"Or, you can find a long rope and tie it to your armpits, and tie the other end to the shore. If you fall, we can pull you up."

"Lao Yi, don't go!" The aunt was frightened by the two "what ifs" and quickly grabbed the thoughtful Yi Zhonghai.

The deaf old lady also quickly tried to dissuade her, "Zhong Hai, you are too heavy to go!"

At the end, the deaf old lady glared at Zhang Heping and said, "Young kid doesn't know how to respect the elderly. You are light and there will be no danger if you go down."

"Hey!" Zhang Heping laughed angrily, "Old lady, who are you looking down on? When did I ever catch a fish on the ice that was lighter than the old man? According to what you said, I can't go either!"

Since they were cowarded, Zhang Heping didn't bother to talk nonsense with them, and sat at the door reading a book and hanging up.

Yan Bugui shook his head, and finally understood how Yi Zhonghai and the others had offended Zhang Heping. They were treating the brat as a fool and throwing them into the fire pit... No! Push into the ice hole!
  Is Zhang Heping stupid?
  Yan Bugui felt that his intelligence had been insulted. Would he settle for a 50-50 split with a fool?
  Yan Bugui was also annoyed, "Lao Yi, if you are ready to go fishing in Kunming Lake, tell us at any time. We will work hard on the shore and the fish caught will be divided equally without charging you any money."

……

After grandma and the others came back, Yi Zhonghai and the others left.

Her mother, Ma Xiuzhen, was confused as to what the first man was doing again. Zhang Heping briefly explained what had just happened. The whole family was filled with indignation. They all said that Zhang Heping had done the right thing and that the first man should be allowed to go to the ice.

Zhang Heping let them into the already hot east wing. After bringing the corn paste inside, he took out several people's coats and patted them outside the door.

"Mom, if you are all right tonight, take apart the quilt I covered with the previous mattress and sew it into a thinner quilt that is as big as the earthen kang." Zhang Heping kneaded the two pieces. The little girl wore a thin cotton coat and said towards the room:

"We are burning the kang now. As long as we remember to add firewood at night, we won't need such thick quilts. The saved cotton can be used to add some to the clothes of the two little girls. Their cotton clothes are too thin."

"Also, I took out the threads of the sweater and trousers I changed into and knitted a pair of trousers for them both."

"When did you take off your sweater and pants?" Mother Ma Xiuzhen suddenly rushed out, opened her son's clothes and pants to check, and then touched Zhang Heping's face and hands.

"I've eaten enough recently, so I'm not cold anymore! Hehe..." Zhang Heping quickly covered his waistband, but he didn't dare to say that he wanted to improve his self-healing skills from a cold.

He didn't tell anyone that he took a shower with cold water in the bathroom of the ward at night. As a result, he became less and less afraid of the cold, but he just got hungry easily.

"It's really not cold anymore?" Ma Xiuzhen hugged her shoulders and stamped her feet. She couldn't believe it. After all, it was the coldest time during the thaw season.

Zhang Heping smiled and pushed his mother Ma Xiuzhen back into the house and joked: "I have been taking off my clothes for several days. It makes me so sad that you don't care about me so much."

"Where did you take it off? Why didn't I see it?" Ma Xiuzhen was confused. She had been sorting things at home recently and had not noticed anything unusual.

"Put the stick noodles under your pocket, hehe!"

Ma Xiuzhen hammered Zhang Heping on the head and went back to rummage through the cabinets to find something.

By the time Zhang Heping finished taking pictures of his clothes and entered the house, his grandmother, mother, and eldest sister had already taken down the quilt, and the two little girls were helping to tear apart the cotton.

"Mom, I'm going to take those two canned peaches as gifts tomorrow and take my two sisters to transfer schools."

"I got it! Tomorrow, your grandma and the two girls will guard the hospital. From now on, when we go to school, your grandma and the others will have to guard the hospital during the day."

"One more thing, regarding the study of these two little girls..."

　Thanks to "If we talk again in a thousand years" for the reward
  　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)