Chapter 136: Chapter 135: Days Off

When Ling Chengyan brought little friend Wang Wenzhang back home, Wang Liansheng had already finished cooking.

“Wash your hands, the meal is ready.” Wang Liansheng busily brought in the buns and porridge and went to the kitchen to serve the dishes.

Speaking of which, Xiaoyu and Xiaoxing also returned home. Both daughters were diligent, washed their hands and hurried to help in the kitchen.

Wang Liansheng came in carrying two dishes: “Don’t delay, hurry and eat. If you’re full, you can take a brief nap. I’ll tidy up those things later…”

Xiaoxing cheerfully agreed, divided the chopsticks in her hands, and sat down to eat.

Xiaoyu took longer, staying in the kitchen to wash the pot and clean up. She only joined for dinner after Ling Chengyan went to get her.

After eating, Xiaoyu helped tidy up the dishes and rushed off to school.

Wang Liansheng: “Aren’t you going to rest a bit? Won’t you be sleepy in afternoon class?”

Xiaoyu waved: “Don’t worry, brother-in-law, I’m not sleepy.”

She started school quite late, and now that she finally had the chance, she didn’t want to waste it. Rushing back to school meant she could learn more.

“This girl, she puts too much pressure on herself.” Wang Liansheng murmured as he entered the room, looking at his son playing with toy cars, and his wife reading a book, he couldn’t help but chuckle, “You two don’t sleep either.”

“You go sleep in the inner room, we’ll play outside, and I’ll take him later.”

Wang Liansheng said: “You don’t go that direction for work, I’ll take him.”

After saying that, he went inside to nap for a while.

He worked in an office, which involved a lot of mental work, so without a noon nap, he couldn’t handle the afternoon.

Ling Chengyan lay on the small bed, cuddled little Shi Tou, and told him a story: “Once upon a time in Qi State…”

After finishing the story, she checked the time and woke Xiaoxing. Wang Liansheng also got up, came out to dress little Wang Wenzhang, and took their son and daughter out, first sending the son to nursery school and then the daughter to school, all on the way.

Peaceful days passed for a few more days, Ling Chengyan went to the hospital for a check-up again, confirming her arm was recovering well and didn’t need a sling anymore. However, the doctor advised her that after a dislocated joint, it’s easy to dislocate again, so Ling Chengyan shouldn’t lift heavy objects for half a year.

The children were preparing for their final exams. Xiaoxing and Xiaoyu were sitting for their finals for the first time. Ling Chengyan detoured to a market, bought a Yellow River carp to improve the kids’ diet.

As policies became more relaxed, markets were restored, happening twice a week. Initially, people sold home-grown vegetables, grains, eggs, etc., gradually more people started selling cakes, soups, braised meat, sugar gourds, sesame sugar, and other treats. The variety of goods increased.

While buying fish, Ling Chengyan saw a stall selling handmade cloth shoes and insoles.

Ling Chengyan noticed the dense, sturdy stitches of the shoe soles and the neat, tidy shoes and ended up buying two pairs of men’s cloth shoes.

Wang Liansheng loved wearing cloth shoes and wasn’t fond of leather shoes. Unless it was for a major occasion, he usually wore cloth shoes. Previously, his aunt and cousin helped make them. Now that she found them sold, Ling Chengyan simply bought two pairs.

She considered buying some for the children too, but the elderly man selling them said he hadn’t made any for kids, fearing incorrect sizes leading to poor fit.

“If you want, dear, measure the children’s feet at home, cut out a shoe pattern, and I’ll have my wife make them for you.”

The elderly man was kind, maybe slightly shrewd, but his shrewdness didn’t overshadow his simplicity and sincerity.

Ling Chengyan smiled and agreed, asking when he planned to leave. Knowing he wouldn’t leave till afternoon, she hurried back home.

The kids came home from school at noon, and she had them step on newspaper, traced their footprints with a pencil, and cut along the lines to make shoe patterns.

Wang Liansheng came in carrying the fish and saw Ling Chengyan cutting shoe patterns: “Are you making shoes for the kids?”

Ling Chengyan paused, looked at the shoe patterns in her hands and folded them into her bag: “I bought you two pairs of shoes, try them later.”

Wang Liansheng had just placed the fish on the table, hearing her words, he was slightly startled, then laughed and shook his head. Nonetheless, his wife’s gesture of preparing shoes for the family gave him an idea.

After lunch, Wang Liansheng took Ling Chengyan’s cut shoe patterns, skipped his nap, rode to the market, handed the shoe patterns to the old shoe-seller, and paid a two-Yuan deposit.

It’s hard for the seller to find other buyers for shoes made to fit such specific sizes, so giving a deposit puts him at ease.

The old shoe-seller was delighted, praised Wang Liansheng for being thorough: “I’ve met quite a few people, you two are rare good folks.”

Two days later, Xiaoxing and Xiaoyu’s final exam results came out.

Ling Chengyan returned home, and the two kids had already received their results.

She didn’t ask, but noticed Xiaoxing wasn’t quite pleased, although she went with Xiaoyu to pick up Shi Tou from school, she was pouting unhappily.

“What’s wrong?” Ling Chengyan quietly asked Xiaoyu.

Xiaoyu smiled, also lowering her voice: “She wrote one wrong word, lost one point, didn’t get double hundreds.”

That’s it, Ling Chengyan couldn’t help but chuckle, also feeling relieved.

Xiaoxing was taught literacy and arithmetic by Ling Chengyan at home and had been a top student ever since she joined school. Previous small tests she scored double hundreds, and this time she was confident she’d get the same in the finals. But unexpectedly, she carelessly wrote one wrong word, scoring 99 in language!

The little girl felt devastated.

Ling Chengyan looked at Xiaoyu, inquiring silently.

Xiaoyu was a little embarrassed: “I ranked twelfth in the class.” She said, handing her report card to Ling Chengyan.

Her class had forty-three students, and she was the oldest, yet didn’t score the best. Compared to Xiaoxing, she should be the one feeling ashamed.

Ling Chengyan looked at Xiaoyu’s report card and was very pleased: “Not bad, math improved a lot. English didn’t score well, but that’s a foundational issue. Don’t be proud, keep working hard.”

Night school didn’t teach English, Wang Liansheng knew a bit but wasn’t very good, so Xiaoyu scoring 62 in English, was a pass, quite impressive.

Xiaoyu chuckled, then awkwardly said: “Thanks for encouraging me, sister.”

She was not satisfied with her own scores but knew she gave it her all. There was no reason to be sad, she believed with continued effort, her grades could definitely improve.

Amid laughter, Ling Chengyan took out a piece of frozen meat and invited Xiaoyu: “Let’s make dumplings tonight to celebrate your good scores.”

Xiaoxing pretended not to care, but kept her ears perked, listening. She was relieved knowing her mother wasn’t upset or blaming her, as she happily led Shi Tou by the hand, saying: “Let’s make dumplings, we’ll help too.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep