On the morning of the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the fishermen on the island were busy making rice cakes, and Ye Fan was not idle either. Northerners don’t know how to make rice cakes, but they can steam steamed buns. Ye Fan kneaded the steamed buns and was about to call Dabao to light the fire. Dabao jumped in and Erbao ran behind him.
Ye Fan reached out and grabbed his son: "What are you doing so quickly? Wait, sister!"
Dabao turned around and Erbao went to the kitchen door, holding on to the door to catch his breath. Dabao hurriedly asked: "Is my sister okay? Mom, I told my sister that I would go home first. I didn't wait for my sister. If you don't believe me, ask your sister."
Erbao nodded and leaned on his mother's lap: "Mom, don't scold my brother. Mom, I believe."
Dabao stared and handed the letter out: "Here! Just scold me if you don't know anything."
Ye Fan: "I was wrong. But I was also afraid that you two would fall. Do you two want to spend the New Year in the hospital tomorrow?"
Dabao was surprised: "Isn't today twenty-eight?" Pointing to the calendar on the wall of the living room, "I saw it."
Ye Fan: "There is no New Year's Eve this year, tomorrow night is New Year's Eve."
Dabao suddenly realized: "No wonder dad didn't come back last night. Is dad going to be on duty in the army from yesterday?"
Ye Fan nodded and was surprised when he saw the sender: "Your sister-in-law? Didn't you pass the exam? You shouldn't."
Dabao immediately went to the other side of his mother: "Mom, you will know if you take a look."
Ye Fan immediately opened the letter. The handwriting was not that of Geng Zhiqin, but that of Grandpa Dabao. Ye Fan's heart skipped a beat. Did something happen to Yu Wentao and Geng Zhiqin at the same time? Ye Fan glanced at three lines, and when he saw the middle part, he suddenly felt suffocated. Fortunately, she wrote a letter to remind him that if he applied for a lower grade or majored in an unpopular major, he should go to school to see if he could change his major.
Dabao's little hand grabbed his mother's arm: "Mom, what's wrong?"
"Your sister-in-law has slipped." Ye Fan said it and realized that Dabao might not understand, "For example, the minimum score for school admissions is 80, and your sister-in-law got 85 in the exam, so she should be able to pass, but there are too many people who signed up. After recruiting enough, the last one took more exams than she did.”
Dabao was shocked: "My sister-in-law didn't pass the exam?"
Ye Fan nodded: "Your grandpa said that your sister-in-law plans to try again next year. Because she didn't listen to me, she was embarrassed to write me a letter and asked your grandpa to write it for me." He put away the letter and sighed helplessly, "I I can still be angry with her.”
Dabao shook his head: "Mom is not angry. Mom, where is my aunt?"
Ye Fan: "Your grandfather didn't say that in his letter. Either the notice hasn't been sent yet, or it's just like your sister-in-law."
Dabao asked: "Mom, do you want to reply to my sister-in-law? I'll get the letter paper."
Ye Fan: "The postman also needs a rest. We'll talk about it on the second day of the new year." He hesitated for a moment, "Write a letter to your grandma again."
"Have you passed the exam?" Dabao asked.
Ye Fan nodded: "Let's light the fire. When the water boils, you can steam the steamed buns."
Dabao sat in front of the stove, and Erbao sat next to his brother. Seeing this, Ye Fan shook his head and smiled, "What do you two eat? Except pork. Save the pork for making dumplings tomorrow."
Tomorrow we can eat dumplings with thin skin and big fillings. Dabao feels that he can eat anything today: "Mom, I can eat whatever I want."
Ye Fan: "Mom fried a hairtail on the stove? Boil a few eggs, smash them together with garlic, and drizzle with sesame oil? I remember your grandma made it, and you said it was delicious."
Dabao nodded: "Mom, let's do it. Erbao also likes to eat."
Erbao nodded: "Mom, put more egg yolks."
Ye Fan wanted to say that you can't boil only the yolk when boiling an egg. As he spoke, he decided to turn on the stove, pour half a ladle of water into the small soup pot, put five washed eggs in, and sat at the chopping board to peel garlic.
Dabao added two pieces of firewood, and the fire at the bottom of the pot was very strong. He didn't need to keep an eye on it for the time being, so he chatted with his mother: "Sister Miaomiao is very unhappy, is it because she didn't pass the exam?"
Ye Fan asked: "Miaomiao next door?"
"Yes. I only know one person named Miaomiao." Dabao was very surprised: "Is it because she quarreled with her mother? Why do they quarrel so often."
Ye Fan frowned slightly: "It's New Year's Eve tomorrow, what's the fuss about today? We can't wait until after the New Year to talk about anything."
"That means you didn't pass the exam." Dabao said.
Ye Fan was amused by his firm tone: "No. She has better grades than Xiaoshan. Xiaoshan's admission notice has arrived, but hers may have been delayed on the way."
Niu Xiaoshan's admission notice arrived yesterday morning.
Liu Guihua was so happy when she saw the notice that she went to the vegetable market to buy meat, vegetables, and a large yellow croaker. She saw eight pig trotters with hair that were rejected, so she bought them all and took them home. She cleaned them up for a long time and marinated them in the evening. She picked four and gave them to Ye Fan, saying they would be given to Dabao and Erbao to chew on. He also gave Ye Fan a large yellow croaker.
Ye Fan suspected that she was crazy with joy.
Perhaps the doubts on Ye Fan's face were too obvious, so Liu Guihua said before she asked that she was at the intersection of the production team on the day when members of the Shanxi brigade asked Ye Fan to fill in her volunteer application. Liu Guihua also thought that Ye Fan was crazy when he heard from the members that Ye Fan had chosen an agricultural college for his children. I heard from members of the commune that farmers who came back to farm after graduation were also paid farmers, and the harvest was guaranteed despite droughts and floods. The key point is that there are definitely not many educated youths who will choose the Agricultural University. Agricultural University wants to recruit enough students this year, so the scores may be very low. For students with low scores, this may be their chance. Next year everyone will realize that nothing will happen to them without them.
Liu Guihua knew her son well. He was a gangster when he was in school, with a total score of 400. He could get 150 in the exam because of his ancestors' high incense. If my son fails to pass the exam this year, he will be blind next year. She asked her son to choose agriculture. Captain Niu was unwilling because his parents were farmers. It’s so hard to become a scholar and still be a farmer. What’s going on?
Liu Guihua was very insistent. But it was useless to almost get into a fight with Captain Niu. Liu Guihua had no choice but to say what Ye Fan said. Captain Niu therefore took a step back - Niu Xiaoshan High School! Liu Guihua must thank Ye Fan.
Even if Ye Fan didn't know anything about it.
Dabao doesn’t think so: “My sister-in-law didn’t pass the exam even though she was good at it.”
Ye Fan: "Miaomiao is forty points better than Xiaoshan, and more than ten points better than the classmate who asked her mother to fill in her application. Both of them can pass the exam, and Miaomiao will definitely be fine."
"But Sister Miao Miao is very strange." Dabao said with a frown.
Ye Fan flattened the washed garlic, put it in a bowl and crushed it with a rolling pin: "What's weird?"
"Sister Miao Miao speaks very strangely." Dabao pulled his sister who was leaning against him in a daze, "Er Bao, tell me."
Erbao nodded: "Sister Miaomiao is about to cry. Sister Miaomiao even touched my face and said, Erbao, you have to be obedient. She also said, brother, Dabao, your parents are so good, don't always say bad things about them. ." Erbao thought again, "There are many more, I don't remember them."
How come it's like giving your last words? Ye Fan shook his head and wondered what he was thinking. If you are celebrating the New Year, you can't think of good things. Erbao frowned: "Mom, you don't believe me? Do you suspect that I am lying?"
Ye Fan put away his smile and said seriously: "Mom doesn't disbelieve you. Sister Miao Miao may have received the notice from Xiaoshan but hers hasn't come yet, so -" How could this reason be more far-fetched than Erbao learning to lie?
Ye Fan suddenly felt flustered: "Dabao, Erbao, mommy puts the steamed buns in the pot." Putting the steamed buns on the grate, Ye Fan looked at the fire at the bottom of the pot again, "Dabao, keep the fire at such a high level. When you smell the aroma of the steamed buns, Take out the firewood and put it in the swill bucket. Mom went to Sister Miao Miao's house to have a look." After that, she sealed the stove and put the kettle on: "Wait for me to cook fish."
Erbao got up: "Mom, I'll go with you."
"Mom believes you. Mom didn't ask Miaomiao whether you lied. You two said that Sister Miaomiao is strange. I suspect she is too stressed to think about it." Ye Fan couldn't help but think of countless nights when she and Geng Zhiye came back from a walk, and the Liao family only had One light was on, and it was lonely and desolate.
Dabao asked: "Don't you think about jumping into the sea?"
Ye Fan asked: "How do you know how to jump into the sea?"
"Dad said that. I went to the sea, and dad said, don't you want to live?" Dabao rolled his eyes, "I'm not stupid."
Ye Fan: "Are you stupid? You think that with dad behind you, everything is safe? There are not only big waves in the sea, but also big fish. You can swallow a kitchen in one mouthful."
Dabao and Dabao curled their lips together and lied to others.
Ye Fan took off his apron and said: "There is a fish in the sea, and its name is a whale. The whale is so big that it can't fit in a room. Haven't you learned?"
Dabao shook his head.
Ye Fan: "I'll learn it in a few years. My mother learned it when she was in school."
When Dabao heard that his mother even brought out the textbooks, he couldn't help but believe: "You didn't lie to me?"
Ye Fan rolled his eyes at him, threw down his apron and walked out.
Erbao couldn't help but hold her brother's hand, and Dabao comforted her: "Don't be afraid, we won't go to the sea in the future. We will go with daddy. Dad is strong and can definitely catch big fish." However, the more he said, the more he said, " Sister, let’s light the fire.”
Erbao took a wooden stick and handed it to his brother.
As for Ye Fan, she was always ready to trick her children. When she arrived at the door of Liao's house, she hesitated to move forward.
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. It's New Year's Eve. It's said that other people's children can't think about it. Zhuang Qiuyue needs a lot of self-control to resist scolding her.
But don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the worst.
Ye Fan had only one chance to assume the role of himself in his previous life, and he might get into trouble. What's more, Miaomiao at this time is a few years younger than her in the previous life, and she doesn't know as much as she did. In the previous life, the university expanded its enrollment, and now there were really thousands of troops crossing the single-plank bridge. In my previous life, there were many universities and majors. This year, the college entrance examination has just resumed, and many universities only have a few majors.
Ye Fan rubbed his face to make himself look relaxed, and then called into the room: "Sister-in-law, are you at home?"
Zhuang Qiuyue came out of the room: "Accountant Ye, is there something wrong?"
Ye Fan: "My facial hair is not very good. Do you still have facial hair at home?"
"Yes." Zhuang Qiuyue said and turned around, "I'll give it to you."
Ye Fan went in and said, "Just a little. Geng Zhiye is not at home. Three or four steamed buns a day are enough for our family of three. If you steam too much and don't finish it, it will get moldy." When he entered the room, he looked around calmly, "If it weren't for the habit of steaming steamed buns during the Chinese New Year. , I'm too lazy to do it." When Liao Miaomiao was not seen, Ye Fan and Zhuang Qiuyue went to the kitchen and asked in a low voice, "Where is Miaomiao?"
Zhuang Qiuyue snorted: "You're angry with me, I'm in the bedroom."
Ye Fan continued to whisper: "I'll go take a look."
"Hey -" Zhuang Qiuyue called Ye Fan, who turned around and said, "Wait a minute." He went to the side and opened the door. Sitting on the bed, Liao Miaomiao panicked for a moment. She wanted to get up and grab the quilt to cover her head.
Ye Fan joked: "You don't recognize me anymore? Or have you done something wrong?"
Liao Miaomiao shook her head.
Ye Fan looked at Miaomiao's room again. The books were neat and tidy, as if no one had touched them for several days. There seemed to be nothing unusual in other places. "Why don't you talk?"
"I -" Liao Miaomiao opened her mouth subconsciously, then remembered that there was something in her mouth and hurriedly swallowed it.
Ye Fan asked smoothly: "What did you eat?"
Liao Miaomiao's face turned pale.
Zhuang Qiuyue came in and Liao Miaomiao covered her head. Zhuang Qiuyue changed her face and couldn't help but point at her daughter and scold her: "I'm getting more and more ignorant. I won't eat without saying a few words to her, just to get angry with me. If you can, don't eat tomorrow."
Ye Fan took her arm and said, "Sister-in-law, do you have any sweet potatoes at home?" Miaomiao ate them like sweet potatoes. One time she was washing sweet potatoes, and Dabao and Erbao wanted to try them. Ye Fan cut them into two pieces, and they chewed the sweet potatoes into pieces just like what was in Miaomiao's mouth.
Zhuang Qiuyue: "I didn't buy sweet potatoes. I had enough before."
"Not one?" Ye Fan asked, "Think about it carefully."
Zhuang Qiuyue shook her head: "Really not." It was strange, "Accountant Ye, what's wrong?"
"Did someone give it to you, and you forgot about it?" Ye Fan didn't dare to accuse your daughter of eating randomly, and was afraid that her suspicion would irritate Liao Miaomiao, who was already in a bad mood.
Zhuang Qiuyue: "Who - there are two pieces. I almost forgot, Osmanthus gave them to me. The ones for mice are placed over there." Pointing to the large square table in the living room.
Ye Fan turned back and looked towards the living room: "On the table?"
Zhuang Qiuyue wanted to say, isn't it on the table? Outside the door, there was nothing on the table. Zhuang Qiuyue wondered: "The mouse ate it? Where is the mouse? The mouse didn't die in the closet, right?"
(End of chapter)