Xing'an Mountains 1984: Starting from climbing mountains to support the family

Chapter 177 Grandpa Li, my name is Chen Shuwan

"Dad, I'm also very sensible! I can take care of my sisters, too."

When Si Ni heard Chen Weidong praising her third sister, she immediately spoke in a baby voice.

"Forget about it! Just play by yourself and don't make trouble."

Chen Weidong said unhappily. Last time, she let Liu Ni take a look at her, and she could let Liu Ni ride the dog, but she usually just rode it herself.

"Woooooo~"

"Weidong, do you think this piece of meat is enough?" Liu Xueting came over at this time, carrying bear meat.

"enough!"

"Da Ni, Er Ni, you two come with me to Grandpa's place. You guys stay at home and listen to your mother."

Chen Weidong explained.

"it is good."

The little girls nodded one after another, wanting to be good kids at this moment.

~

Chen Weidong drove a donkey cart and brought Chen Guangtian, Dani and Erni to Li Guomin's home.

There are only three teachers in the primary school in Yushugou. Li Guomin is both a teacher and the principal, teaching fifth grade.

"Is Old Li at home?" Chen Guangtian knocked on the door and shouted when he arrived at the gate of Li Guomin's yard.

"Brother Guangtian is here! Come in quickly. Lao Li drank a lot of wine yesterday and just got up."

Li Guomin’s daughter-in-law said with a smile.

"Sister Chunlan, this is the bear meat my son killed. I'm bringing it for you to try."

"Hey! You guys are already here, why did you bring so much meat? You're so polite."

"Aunt Chunlan!"

Chen Weidong greeted him.

"Hello grandma!"

The two little girls also shouted obediently.

"Good boy! Guomin, come out quickly, Guangtian is here!" Zhou Chunlan shouted into the house while warmly welcoming Chen Weidong and others into the house.

"Guangtian is here! Weidong is here too, what rare guests." Li Guomin came out and greeted them.

"These are my two granddaughters, what do you think?"

"Grandpa Li!"

Da Ni and Er Ni shouted, but their voices were much lower than before. Many children were afraid of their teachers, and the two little girls seemed to be no exception.

"Hey, good boy."

Li Guomin responded and his eyes stayed on the two little girls for a moment.

Then Zhou Chunlan brought a bowl of peanuts and melon seeds, and they ate while chatting. Da Ni and Er Ni stayed beside Chen Weidong very obediently, listening to the adults chatting.

When Li Guomin heard that Chen Weidong was going to send his two daughters to school, and even planned to send all six daughters to school in the future, he immediately laughed so hard that his eyes almost disappeared. "Weidong, you are right! What's wrong with girls?
It’s not much worse than boys! In fact, in some aspects, it’s much better than boys!”

"By the way, your two children have never been to school. Why don't you wait until autumn to send them to school? Wouldn't it be a bit difficult for them to keep up if they go now?"

Li Guomin was worried that the two little girls would not be able to keep up, after all, they had already attended one semester in a year.

"The children are getting older, so it's better to let them go to school earlier. As for whether they can keep up, their mother often teaches them at home, so they should be able to keep up. If they can't keep up, they can learn from them next semester."

Chen Weidong smiled and said that tuition fees were very cheap these days, and the tuition fee for a semester was about one or two yuan. Chen Weidong certainly would not be reluctant to spend the money, and he also roughly knew the level of Da Ni and Er Ni, so the first grade should not be a problem for them.

"I forgot, Weidong, your wife was once an educated youth from our area. So I'll give you some arithmetic questions to test you."

Li Guomin said with a smile.

"Okay! I don't know about other things, but my eldest granddaughter is better than me."

Chen Guangtian said with a smile.

"Well, do you know what one plus one equals?"

Li Guomin asked. In the first grade, we only learn addition and subtraction within 20 in the first semester.

Chen Weidong: “…”

Chen Guangtian: “…”

Dani, Erni: "..."

"How come you don't even know how to do this?"

The reason why Li Guomin made the questions so simple was to give the children some confidence. Secondly, he was afraid that Chen Guangtian would brag. It would be embarrassing if Chen Guangtian didn't know any of the questions.

"We will, two!"

The two little girls said in unison.

"Well, three plus four!"

"seven!"

"Eighteen plus thirty-two"

"..."

After a round of questions and answers, Li Guomin found that the two little girls could basically answer fluently, especially the eldest Ni, who could answer immediately when he asked a question, while the second Ni was a beat slower.

"Now let me ask you a difficult question. What is three times seven?"

Li Guomin asked, "Even though multiplication seems simple, it is not something that children learn until the second semester of the second grade of primary school. It is not simple at all for children aged seven or eight, and many children don't even know multiplication."

"twenty one!"

Dani said without hesitation.

Er Ni thought for a while and decided not to do so. She wanted to say the same thing as her elder sister, but her mother taught her to be honest, so she shook her head in disappointment. Then Li Guomin asked Dani a few more questions. The more he asked Dani, the more satisfied she became, as if she had found a treasure.

"Guangtian, your eldest granddaughter can definitely be upgraded!"

"upgrade?"

Chen Guangtian was surprised and said that he didn't understand this.

Li Guomin explained: "Yes, she was supposed to be in the first grade, but because of her excellent grades,

She can skip the first grade and go to the second grade. I heard that there are some other places where students can take the college entrance examination at the age of 14 or 15! Your eldest granddaughter is a talent. From the perspective of math, she can go directly to the third grade now!"

Li Guomin said happily.

Hearing this, Chen Guangtian said proudly: "Guomin, don't you see whose granddaughter she is?"

Li Guomin said: "After school starts, you can send your child here without worry. I will definitely have someone teach him well."

"By the way, your child is called Dani, Erni? There is no big name."

"Grandpa Li, we have a full name. My name is Chen Shuwan. I'm the eldest sister. You can also call me Dani. That's what my parents call me."

Dani answered fluently and now she became bolder. She raised her head and looked at Li Guomin, not shy at all.

"Well, Chen Shuwan, I'll remember you. I won't ask me directly if I have anything in the future!"

Li Guominhe smiled and looked at Erni again: "What about you?"

"My...my name is Chen Shuyao."

Erni was a little nervous because she didn't answer the question just now, and she even stuttered when she spoke.

Li Guomin nodded and then just ignored her. Erni was a little depressed. She didn't answer the question just now and now she was stuttering. She felt that she had embarrassed her father. Her eyes turned red and tears filled her eyes.

Dani quickly held her hand and gave her an encouraging look.

After confirming the two children's education, Chen Weidong chatted with Li Guomin at his home for a while before driving the donkey cart back with the children. Chen Guangtian did not go with them as he stayed at Li Guomin's home for lunch.

"Dad, I didn't answer the question just now. Does the teacher dislike me?

"Dad, am I stupid?"

As soon as she came out, Erni couldn't help but ask about buying it.

Chen Weidong had already felt that Erni was in a bad mood, but he didn't know what was going on. After hearing his daughter's question, he finally knew the reason.

"This silly girl!"

Chen Weidong's heart melted when he saw Erni's tearful eyes!

But girls are sensitive. Nowadays, teachers like students, and when they see Dani, they naturally ignore Erni. Of course, Erni is also good, although not as good as Dani, and there is no problem for her to go to the first grade.

But Erni was still young and couldn’t think of this at all. She thought that since she didn’t answer well, the other party didn’t want her!
In fact, among the six daughters, Chen Weidong was least optimistic about Si Ni in terms of schooling! This little girl would get fidgety when asked to write.

Chen Weidong smiled and said: "Er Ni, you are already great! Even if the teacher doesn't like you, it's enough for your parents to like you.
And what the grandfather just asked was about second grade content, you are not normal, look at your sister at home, she admires you, besides your sister, you are the best!"

"My daughters are awesome. The eldest is amazing, and the second is amazing too!"

After Chen Weidong said this, the little girl immediately laughed happily.

The child's schooling was finalized, and all the relatives who were supposed to visit had visited. Chen Weidong also had some free time, so he fed the chickens and the dog, made a bench, repaired a chair, etc.

The days passed one by one, and soon it was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. This year, the Lantern Festival in Hesong County lasted from the fourteenth day of the first lunar month to the sixteenth day, a total of three days.

Starting from the fourteenth night of the first lunar month, every household lit up their red lanterns again.

I went through the New Year snacks prepared before the New Year and ate whatever was available.

In Jiuqutun, people usually stop lighting lanterns at night after the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Of course, wealthy families in the city will keep lanterns lit until after the Lantern Festival.

Liu Xueting prepared breakfast early in the morning and called the little ones to get up.

"Mom, what do you want to eat?"

Si Ni asked in a baby voice.

"On the Lantern Festival, of course we eat Yuan Xiao (Chinese Yuan Xiao)!"

Liu Xueting said with a smile.

People in Northeast China eat Yuanxiao in the morning on the Lantern Festival. Yuanxiao in Northeast China and Tangyuan in the South may look similar, but there are differences between them.

The Yuanxiao in Northeast China is made layer by layer, which is called "Guan Yuanxiao". The principle is the same as snowballing.

After eating Yuanxiao, the little girls all ran out to play, but before long,
Plop, plop. Dani came back with her five younger sisters, running back with her short legs and looking very happy.

"What's wrong? Didn't I just go out?"

"Dad, the Yangko dance is coming soon, let's go and have a look!"

"There are so many people!"

"Mother……"

Chen Weidong understood why the children were so happy. What the children called "big yangko" was actually the yangko team. These days, farmers in Northeast China did not have many entertainment programs, but the yangko team was considered a kind of entertainment in Northeast China. Everyone, from the elderly in their eighties to children who could just walk, liked it.

However, in Jiuqu Village, the big yangko team usually comes to perform the yangko only around the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

The Yangko teams usually come from other villages. Many people know about the Yangko teams before they even enter the village.
Because they were far away from the village, the Yangko team would have the band play gongs, drums and suona, and they could be heard very clearly from far away from the village entrance.
Therefore, the little ones got the news as soon as they went out and immediately went to inform Chen Weidong and Liu Xueting.

Seeing the children's happy faces, Chen Weidong called Liu Xueting and the children to go watch the yangko dance together.

As soon as Chen Weidong and his family went out, they saw many people in the village walking towards the village entrance. The children in the village heard the sound of gongs and drums, and ran in groups to greet them.

While running, they shouted, "The Yangko is coming, the Yangko is coming."

When the five little girls saw their little friends, they ran over together.

Chen Weidong followed behind holding Xiaoliu and Liu Xueting. After a while, he saw his elder brother, elder sister-in-law, and parents all watching the fun.

The yangko team rides on a sleigh pulled by a mule. Everyone in the team wears red, green and yellow costumes and wigs, with red cheeks, red lips and thick black eyebrows. Regardless of gender or age, the majority of the team members are elderly, with thick white rouge powder on their wrinkled faces, which form gullies on their faces.

(End of this chapter)