Chapter 13 Candied Haws
Zhou Zhen and Lin Bao’s initial discussion was to teach Zhou Xian’s martial arts, and the former gave him five taels of silver every month. After Lin Bao proposed to increase the money, Zhou Xian directly increased his monthly salary by four times, that is, twenty taels of silver every month. And after learning that he had been living in a hotel and had no stable residence, he immediately ordered his servants to immediately vacate a house. He also said that from now on, all Lin Bao’s food and accommodation expenses will be borne by the Zhou family.
Although Lin Bao refused all this, he could not withstand the persuasion of the four people, so he had to agree in the end. Zhou Tai took Zhou Gan and Zhou Kun excitedly to the hotel to pick up his daughter. Zhou Xian stayed to accompany Lin Bao, talking all kinds of gossip.
But what surprised Zhou Xian was that after seeing the four of them doing so many things for him, Lin Bao not only did not show any gratitude, but his brows became higher and higher. Most of the time he sat there silently. Only when Zhou Xian asked questions did he reply one or two sentences intentionally or unintentionally.
The hotel where Lin Bao stayed is not too far from Zhou's house, but after a long time, Zhou Tai and the others have not returned yet.
Just as Lin Bao was worried that something had happened and wanted to go out to search, he suddenly saw Zhou Tai walking in with his daughter, followed by Zhou Gan and Zhou Kun. Zhou Gan was carrying a small package in his hand, which was probably Lin Bao's entire luggage. Zhou Kun strangely held several strings of candied haws in his hand.
The girl was about five years old and was wearing a short cotton-red jacket. At this moment, she was grabbing Zhou Tai's hair with one hand and tucking the candied haws in her mouth with the other hand. Seeing Lin Bao, she immediately smiled, but because her mouth was filled with candied haws, she was just waving her hands to express her happiness.
But her happiness caused Zhou Tai to be badly affected. The sugar on the candied haws made him look full of. The key point was that he could not throw any temper at a five-year-old girl.
From Zhou Tai's narrative, Lin Bao and Zhou Xian probably know what happened.
They were happy to go to the hotel, but they never thought that the little girl didn't believe them at first. Not only did she not follow them, but she didn't let them pack up. In the end, Zhou Tai thought of a way and bought a lot of candied haws on the street. Then he coaxed and deceived her and took her to Zhou's house.
Lin Bao walked forward and hugged her off Zhou Tai's shoulders. He took out a used towel from his arms, and whispered while wiping her hands, "Look at what you did, your hands are all over." There was both reprimand and loving in his tone.
The little girl hid back and said, "Dad, don't wipe it, I still have so many to eat." As she said that, her eyes kept glancing at the candied haws that Zhou Kun was holding, with greed in her eyes.
Lin Bao's tone became a little bit stronger and said, "Don't eat it anymore, as it will cause a bad stomach."
The little girl stood there pouting her mouth, her eyes slightly red, and tears were about to shed.
Zhou Gan looked at it and shook the package in his hand, and smiled and said, "You guys are busy first. I'll put the master's luggage into the room first." After that, he left the local area as if he ran away. Zhou Tai was there with a sad face and fiddled with the candy on his head, not paying attention to the situation here. Zhou Kun was holding the candy haws in his hand, not leaving, not leaving.
Zhou Xian walked up and looked at the little girl and said, "Wow! Whose little girl is this? She is so beautiful! Can you tell the little brother what your name is?"
The little girl looked at the stranger in front of her curiously, then looked at his father and said, "My name is Lin Fengjun."
Zhou Xian clapped his hands and said, "A nice name. Xiao Fengjun, look, you can't finish eating so many candied haws for a while. Otherwise, we will give them to you first. After that, we will give you a bunch of them every day, okay?"
Lin Fengjun lowered his head and pondered for a while, and a unique cunning flashed in his eyes. He shook his head quickly and said, "No. Unless you buy me a bunch every day in the future, you will let you eat it."
Zhou Xian shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly. This little girl has a very good brain! She is so big that she knows how to develop sustainably. "Okay! My brother promises you that she will buy you a bunch every day in the future until the day you don't want to eat."
"Then let's pull the hook!"
"Okay, let's pull the hook." Zhou Xian stretched out his little finger and intersected with her little finger.
Lin Bao looked at Zhou Xian with admiration and said, "Feng Jun is very stubborn. Now I say east, she insists on going west. You have a way to coax her so easily."
Zhou Xian smiled faintly and said, "Not right! I think the younger sister is smart and not like a child like that! Master, do you think it's because the teacher's wife is not by your side that Xiao Fengjun relies too much on you? So sometimes she deliberately makes some emotions to attract your attention."
Lin Bao's face was stunned and silent. After a long time, he looked up at the sky, as if he was trapped in some distant memory. "Maybe you are right!"
Zhou Xian finally called Jinse and asked her to take Lin Fengjun down to clean it. He also brought all the candied haws and distributed them to the maids below.
In his spare afternoon, Lin Bao gathered the four of them together. But he just touched their bodies and asked them in detail about their daily courses. After that, he let them all disperse and said that he would wait for him at the school after tomorrow's morning class.
It was already late at night, and the faint light from the crescent moon poured on Lin Bao. Lin Fengjun rubbed his eyes and looked at Lin Bao who was standing in front of the window and said, "Dad, you are not asleep yet!"
Lin Bao walked to the bed, touched Lin Fengjun's forehead and said, "Dad can't sleep, you go to bed first!"
Lin Fengjun lowered her head and said, "Dad is unable to sleep because he misses his mother? In fact, I miss her very much."
Lin Bao took Lin Fengjun into his arms, sighed, pointed his finger outside and said, "Good daughter, look at the stars in the sky, one of which is your mother. When you miss her, look up at the sky. At that time, she must be looking at you too."
Lin Fengjun looked out through the window, and the stars were shining. "So many, which one is the mother?"
Lin Bao sighed, looked at it foolishly and said, "I want to know too."
After pausing for a while, Lin Bao whispered: "Feng Jun, Dad may have to stay here for a while. When Dad finishes his work, I will take you back to his hometown in Zhejiang, okay?"
Lin Fengjun nodded sensibly. "What are you going to do with Dad!"
Lin Bao smiled bitterly and said, "Sometimes, accepting favors from others may not be a good thing. Because you always have to pay them back to be completely at ease. Daddy doesn't like to owe others' affection, so he can only stay. When he pays it back, he will feel comfortable."
Lin Fengjun nodded in a slight understanding and said, "Dad, you mean the four brothers in the daytime! No matter what Dad thinks, I like them very much anyway."
"Why!" Lin Bao looked at the little daughter in her arms with confusion.
Chapter completed!