Chapter 9 He Really Meant It

Chapter nine is really thoughtful.

It was almost five o' clock when she got home. She pushed open the door and walked into the house, feeling a little tired. She found that there was an extra quilt on the wooden bed with only a mat. There were wires and light bulbs hanging on the beam of the roof, a small desk and a half a new chair by the window sill, and a thermos bottle on the table.

She put the food and schoolbag on the desk, walked to the bedside and opened the quilt. Looking at the color of the quilt, she immediately guessed that Li Jianguo had sent it to her.

Her nose ached and she folded the quilt again. Only then did she realize that there was still twenty yuan under the quilt. She sighed deeply."

After collecting the money, Li Haitang went to the kitchen to get a bucket of water and prepared to bring it back to cook. He found that the rice jar beside the bucket was full of rice, and there was a pile of vegetables tied up with straw on the ground. There was a small pot of oil and a bag of salt on the stove.

With rice, vegetables, oil and salt, she would naturally be able to live a good life. He was really thoughtful.

Li Haitang walked briskly to the side of the well with the bucket in his hands. He walked back and forth three or four times and filled the tank before stopping.

In the evening, she stir-fried two meats with cucumbers and ate two large bowls of rice with the soup. I haven't used firewood to stir-fry vegetables for a long time. It's still a little rusty when I stir-fry vegetables. The dishes I stir-fry actually taste a little burnt, but when I eat them, I feel more satisfied than I have ever felt before.

After dinner, she washed the dishes, then went into the room to take a bath. After she was dry, she turned on the lights, read and study.

The next day was saturday, so there was no need to go to school. Li Haitang woke up at dawn. After she got up to wash up, she cooked some porridge in the kitchen and continued reading after eating.

After watching for two hours, she went to the neighbor's house next door to borrow a firewood knife and went to the mountain behind to cut two loads of firewood back. She was not strong enough to go deep into the mountains to cut down big trees. She could only cut up some small branches at the foot of the mountain. Fortunately, he used to work a lot, and he was quite healthy. He didn't find it particularly hard to chop down two loads of firewood.

In the summer, the temperature was extremely high, and there were no ceiling fans at home. She had to use well water to cool herself down, and then she used a pu fan to fan and read in the house.

At noon, she stewed a pot of thick soup with the bone of a stick and ate two big bowls of rice. Then, she knitted the bracelet in the room for two hours. She had nine percent confidence that sister-in-law Wang Li's shop would buy the bracelet.

Sure enough, around three o' clock in the afternoon, wang li came over excitedly to tell her the good news under the bright sun.

As soon as she entered the room, she began to speak in a crackling voice, "Haitang, let me tell you that my sister-in-law's relative is willing to buy it. She said how much she wants, and the price is fair. The price is twenty cents each."

The price was about the same as Li Haitang's estimate, and she said happily, "That's great. This bracelet is not difficult to knit. If you are proficient, you can make up more than ten pieces every day. It will not affect our studies at all."

More than two yuan could be earned for a dozen, and seventy or eighty yuan could be earned in a month, which was higher than other people's wages. Wang Li jumped up in joy. Although her family conditions were not bad, she had a brother above her and a brother below her to go to school. If she could earn extra money, she would not be despised by the city people when she went to school in the county.

Wang Li grabbed Li Haitang's arm and urged, "Haitang, you can teach me how to knit now. These two days are saturday and sunday. I'll hurry up and learn."

"Okay. I don't have any extra chairs at home. Let's sit on the bed and knit." Li Haitang took out the extra thread from the drawer.

Wang Li was so focused on learning how to weave bracelets that he did not even look at the furnishings in the room. He sat down on the clean and tidy wooden bed, listening to Li Haitang's story and working on it.

Girls were obviously very talented in this area. It only took half an hour for Wang Li to weave a pattern on her own. When she saw that the bracelet she had knitted was still decent, she smiled and revealed two small tiger teeth. "Haitang, it's not difficult to weave this bracelet. It's easy to earn two cents."

Li Haitang smiled and said, "Make up another one. I'll teach you a new style later."

"Okay."

Wang Li stayed at her house until half past five. Li Haitang went to the well to pick up two buckets of water and came back. He finished his dinner early and began to read and study.

When it was dark, Li Yuanhua came over and told her that the account was settled. A new account book was handed over to her and that she needed forty yuan to buy the house.

Li Haitang paid him twenty yuan on the spot and told him that the teacher in charge of the class had helped her find a job. She would pay twenty yuan a month later and then make up for it.

Li Yuanhua naturally agreed to such a small matter and went home after a few more small words.

The days passed calmly, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye. This day finally ushered in the first preliminary exam before the middle school examination.

The preliminaries were scheduled for saturday and sunday, and the students of the first and second year of junior high school were all on holiday. Almost 400 students of the third year of junior high school were divided into two teaching buildings to take the exams.

Li Haitang took his seat number note and found the corresponding classroom. As soon as he sat down, he saw that annoying Deng Rui also came over. Coincidentally, he was sitting next to her.

Deng Rui didn't expect to be in the same exam room with Li Haitang. He snorted and turned his back.

Li Haitang had always been indifferent to such a strange and annoying person, sitting quietly playing with the ballpoint pen in his hand.

The first exam in the morning was math. After the invigilator handed out the test paper, Li Haitang roughly looked through the questions on the test paper and began to answer the questions after he had a good idea.

The math test took 120 minutes. Li Haitang finished the test in half the time, and then spent some time checking it again. When he found that there were no mistakes or omissions, he raised his hand and handed it in.

The invigilator was a math teacher in the second class of junior high school. He didn't expect the student to hand in the paper so quickly. He came over and picked up the densely packed paper she had written. After a cursory look, there was a hint of praise in his eyes and said softly, "Go out and don't linger in the teaching building to affect other students' exams."

Li Haitang nodded, picked up his stationery, and quietly walked out the back door.

Deng Rui, who was sitting at the next table, did not do well in her studies. She had no idea how to solve the questions at the back of the paper. Now that Li Haitang had handed in the paper and left, she was flustered and her pen trembled, and a striking ink mark appeared on the white paper.

The invigilator did not notice her. Instead, he took Li Haitang's test paper to the podium above and pressed it down with chalk. A pair of sharp eyes continued to sweep around the classroom.

After leaving the teaching building, Li Haitang walked to her "Work room," which was the storage room for brooms and dustpans, and began to weave bracelets with ease.

When the hand in bell rang, she finished another half bracelet. After putting her things away, she turned around and went to the toilet, then slowly returned to the exam room.

The second exam in the morning was history, and liberal arts were a piece of cake for Li Haitang. During this period of time, she had put in a lot of effort. She had to listen to the class carefully during the day and review for nearly four hours at night. She got up at dawn and recited her books. In just half a month, she had consolidated all her work.

Yesterday, she arranged to meet wang li in the "Work room" after the second exam. When Li Haitang handed in the paper, Wang Li was already waiting here. She grinned and said, "Wang Li, you are so fast. You are worthy of being the representative of our history class."

"You're not bad either. I'm only five minutes ahead of you." Wang Li's three years of history in junior high school were almost full marks. She was especially interested in ancient and modern history. She once secretly told Li Haitang that her dream since childhood was to be a history teacher who was proficient in ancient and modern culture.

Li Haitang took off the schoolbag hanging on the wall and joked with a smile, "It looks like our history department representative is going to draw the most perfect ending again with full marks."

"Haha... Pretty much." Wang Li laughed heartily. Her playful and adorable image did not match the classic and elegant historical scholar in her mind at all.

"Let's go. Let's go to the school gate to eat wonton. It's my treat today." Li Haitang picked up his schoolbag and dragged her out.

Wang Li smiled and said, "I won't stand on ceremony today. I want a large portion of wonton. You haven't dropped any of your studies in the past half month, yet you've secretly weaved more than 200 bracelets, which are worth more than forty yuan. I'm going to kill you today."

Li Haitang had always been generous to his good friend, and a light smile flashed in his eyes. He took the initiative to add, "No problem. After dinner, add a mung bean popsicle."

"Oh, yeah!" Wang Li was so happy that he danced around. Mung bean popsicles were worth twenty cents each. Their students rarely bought food, and they bought an old popsicle for ten cents every other.

The two of them quickly left the school gate and walked to the door of the old shop, which was doing a good job. They asked the old lady in the shop for two bowls of large wontons and went to the innermost place to sit down and chat.

Wang Li casually poured a cup of tea and grinned, "Haitang, after the exam this afternoon, I will help you clean up. After that, you will come to our house with me."

"To your house?" Li Haitang looked at her with a puzzled look.

Wang Li explained, "Yeah, my mom asked me to take you home."

Li Haitang and Mother of Wangli met twice, but there was no intersection, "Did auntie say what it was?"

Wang Li grinned and two little tiger teeth appeared again, "My mom didn't say anything, but I can guess. You taught me how to weave bracelets, and I taught my mother and sister-in-law when I got home. They made fifty or sixty yuan from this bracelet in the past half month. Last night at dinner, their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were still in front of my father and brother. Let me take you home today. I must have said something to thank you."

When Li Haitang heard this, he waved his hand and said, "No, I should be the one to thank you. If it weren't for your sister-in-law's help, I wouldn't have been able to study for the exam."

"Oh, don't say no. It's not like you haven't been to my house before. Just drop by." Wang li pouted.

Li Haitang said helplessly, "Okay, I'll go back with you after I finish cleaning the school."

After the old lady brought up two bowls of wonton, wang li slurred as she ate, "Haitang, let's go to the store later and buy some colored thread. The thread at home is only enough for my mother and sister-in-law to last two days."

"Well, I don't have much at home. I just want to buy a few dollars." Li Haitang took a sip of the delicious soup and asked casually, "How much have you knitted in the past half month?"

"My parents asked me to focus on my studies first, so I only made up about thirty pieces in the past half month. Sister-in-law gave me seven yuan last night." Wang Li's academic performance was a little worse than Li Haitang's. She was always in fifth or sixth place in her class. If she wanted to get into the County one middle school, she had to work hard.

Li Haitang was naturally aware of her situation and suggested, "If you can improve your math and physics by ten points, then you are very confident of getting into the County one middle school. There's still half a month left before the middle school entrance examination. Do you want to consider staying at my house for half a month at night? I'll help you with math and physics."

Wang Li looked up from the bowl and thought about it seriously. He thought it was a good idea, "Okay, I'll talk to my parents at home today. Your math scores are so good that you can definitely help me solve the difficult problem. Your physics scores were similar to mine before, but you have made great progress in the past half month. You must have found the secret. You must teach me well in the remaining half month."

Li Haitang smiled and nodded. Wang Li was her first good friend after her rebirth. She didn't mind helping her.