Farmer's Struggle

Chapter 92
They had a long phone call.

I didn't feel anything during the call, but after hanging up, looking at the string of numbers for the duration of the call, Ju Ling's flesh hurts.

Is this a simple string of numbers?No, it's money.

After feeling sorry for the money, she took out another stack of papers from her schoolbag.There are additional summer assignments from teachers of various subjects and a new set of final exam papers.

After picking out the final test paper, she went out to find Zhou Yan.

This semester, she had very little correspondence with Zhou Yan. She still mailed the test papers of the mid-term exams to Zhou Yan every month, but Zhou Yan never returned the papers to her, and never mentioned anything about learning in the letters.

Ju Ling found it strange, and just asked Zhou Yan what was going on on the pretext of delivering the papers.

The middle school at home had been on vacation a few days earlier, and Zhou Yan had been helping the family pull weeds. When Ju Ling passed by, he had just returned from the field.

I haven't seen Zhou Yan grow a lot taller in a few months, and his face is much darker. His face is more energetic than before, but his eyes are not as clear as before.

He didn't bring Ju Ling into the house to talk, but took her to the woods at the back of the village, and it was also a quiet place where he often came to hide when things went wrong.

The two sat side by side on two big rocks. Ju Ling handed the paper to Zhou Yan, and asked with concern: "Have you done all the papers I sent you before? If you don't send them back to me, you don't know if it's right or wrong." Doesn’t it mean doing it for nothing? You must send it back to me next semester, and I will approve it for you. If you make a mistake, I can also write you the detailed steps to solve the problem.”

Zhou Yan listened to her quietly, and finally only smiled wryly, and said softly: "Ju Ling, don't send me test papers in the future, I haven't done it yet."

"Why don't you do it? You don't want to go to high school or university?" Ju Ling asked in surprise.

Zhou Yan's gaze fell directly on a blade of grass not far away. It was obviously an ordinary leaf, but he seemed to have glimpsed his own life from the zigzag lines.

He said: "I think, I really think, but what's the use of thinking! You learn faster and deeper than me. I don't know how to do most of the test papers you send back. I'm already studying hard, but the teacher only teaches so much. What can I do! Even if I barely pass the No. [-] Middle School, do you think my parents will support me to continue my studies?"

He suddenly curled his lips into a sarcasm smile, and said with a faint cry: "In the winter vacation, I worked from dawn to dusk to make candied haws and sold them. I kept the money I saved, and I naively thought that if I saved like this, I would be able to save enough money to go to high school." , but who would have thought that all the money would be confiscated by my mother, and there was nothing left for me.

"High school? What high school are you going to! I have such parents. Even if I go to college and become a big shot, I will be dragged to death by them sooner or later. I will die sooner or later, so I might as well lie down early and let them drag me down." , At the end, Zhou Yan said with some despair.

Ju Ling felt very uncomfortable when she heard this, her nose was sour and tears rolled in her eye sockets.She wanted to comfort her good friend, but when she got to her mouth, she found that all the words were so pale, so painless.

No one can understand Zhou Yan's inner pain and struggle, neither can Ju Ling.

After a long silence, Zhou Yan adjusted his mood and turned his head to smile at Ju Ling: "Didn't scare you? I'm fine, so I complained to you. I can't study with you during the summer vacation. I have to find a way to save money." Some money, this time must be hidden, and my mother can't find it again."

He was obviously smiling, but Ju Ling felt that his expression at the moment was more worrying than crying.

"There are a lot of banquets in summer, so the restaurant must be very busy. If my parents hire someone to help, let them find you, how about it?" Ju Ling asked.

Zhou Yan smiled pleasantly and said: "That's a good relationship. Many people in our village want to work for your family. Your parents never delay wages, and you can bring leftovers home after work."

After deciding on this matter, the two of them sat for a while, and the sky gradually darkened, before they said goodbye and went back to their respective homes.

The banquet in the hotel has been finished, Ju Wenqi and his wife are cleaning up, and Ju Ling just happened to help.

"You don't need to do anything if you're oily." Zhang Yongmei stopped her and said, "You don't need to clean up the table. You can just sweep the floor. The table is covered with oil and it's not easy to wash your hands."

Zhang Yongmei is a meticulous woman. She has to clean up after every banquet for a long time. She has to pick out the oil stains in the crevices of the table and wipe them clean. She has to wipe the windowsills, window frames and door handles that are easily overlooked. Ju Wenqi, who can't do it, always said that she was looking for work for herself, and she had to do five to 5 minutes for a job that could be done in five minutes.

But Ju Wenqi didn't realize until now that the business of Ju's restaurant is getting better and better, attracting so many people from the countryside to hold banquets, it is because of Zhang Yongmei's meticulousness and seriousness.

One of the advantages of Ju’s Restaurant over others is its cleanliness. Even if two or even several restaurants in a row hold banquets here, there will never be a situation where the tables stick to the hands and there are melon seeds on the corners. Of course, if you spend money to do it, you want to look comfortable. It is clean and refreshing, which can make people feel good.

Ju Ling knew how strict Zhang Yongmei was on hygiene, so she was very careful when sweeping the floor, and even wiped and washed the rag a few times when wiping the floor, wishing to wipe the cement floor like a mirror.

It's strange to say that Ju Wenqi didn't think it was a big deal seeing his daughter-in-law busy tidying up, but seeing his daughter working like this made her feel distressed, so she came over several times and wanted the rag in Ju Ling's hand to wipe it for her.

"Dad, how long have I been able to do it? My mother is the most tired one. If you want to help, you can help her," Ju Ling said tactfully.

However, euphemistic words don't work well for Ju Wenqi, because he doesn't think in the right direction at all, he just follows his train-track thinking and replies: "It's okay, she's used to it all the time, and you didn't do it at school. After working hard, my whole body must be hurting, so let me do it."

Ju Ling was very helpless, and what was even more helpless was that Zhang Yongmei heard Ju Wenqi's words.

Zhang Yongmei couldn't hold back her petty temper. She flicked the rag and pinched her waist and said, "Ju Laosan, I should treat you like a cow or a horse? I'm used to it, so I should give you my strength." ? Don’t stand there and get in the way, wipe the two tables.”

There were only two tables left, and Zhang Yongmei wiped them again. There was really not much work left for Ju Wenqi, so he was the boss who didn't want to do it.

After a busy day, the drinkers dispersed, and the hired people left with the leftover food from the kitchen. In the end, only the Ju family was still hungry.

"There is one fish and one elbow left. I have done them all. I will mend our little one. I see that the little one has lost a lot of weight." Zhang Yongmei looked at Ju Ling carefully and said distressedly.

　Thank you for your support, thank you for voting and favorites, thank you.On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Anu would like to wish all book lovers New Year’s greetings. I wish you all the best in the new year. Eat more and not get fat. I love you all, okay ^3^

　　
　
(End of this chapter)