Wu Shanshan is a very beautiful girl, about the same age as Zhuang Xiaoting. They are in the same school, just in different classes.
Master Wu also has a son who is younger and has not yet entered elementary school.
Wu Shanshan's mother died young, and her father Wu Jianguo was usually busy with work and didn't know how to take care of children. As the eldest daughter, Wu Shanshan had to take care of the housework and take care of her younger brother at a young age.
But she is just a child, how can she take care of the family? Her clothes are dirty, and her brother is like a mud monkey.
Wu Shanshan was somewhat hostile towards Huang Ling. Although she didn't show it, Wang Gang still noticed it.
"Shanshan, do you want some candy?"
Wang Gang took out three White Rabbit toffees from his pocket, handed one to his sister Zhuang Xiaoting, and the other two to Wu Shanshan to express his goodwill.?
Wu Shanshan glanced at Wu Jianguo timidly and did not dare to reach out to take the candy.
"Sister, I want some candy." Wu Shanshan's younger brother Wu Jun pulled on his sister's clothes.
Seeing that Wu Shanshan was afraid to take the candy, Huang Ling took the initiative to put the candy into her hand.
Wu Shanshan was a little scared and took two steps back.
"Aunt Wu, are you here for a blind date with my dad?" Wu Shanshan said slightly scared.
Huang Ling was stunned, and Wu Jianguo said awkwardly: "You damn kid, what are you talking about? Your Aunt Huang came to me to buy furniture."
It turns out that Wu Shanshan misunderstood that Huang Ling was a widow who was on a blind date with Wu Jianguo.
After Wu Jianguo's wife passed away, the street saw that a grown man could not take care of his children, so he introduced a widow to him.
After Wu Shanshan heard about it, she thought Huang Ling was her future stepmother, so she was vaguely hostile.
Huang Ling retracted her hand in embarrassment and explained to Wu Shanshan: "Shanshan, aunt is married, and we will be neighbors soon."
Wu Shanshan breathed a sigh of relief.
Wu Jianguo said sheepishly: "I'm so sorry, this child has lost his mother since he was a child, and I don't know how to discipline him. I'm rude."
Huang Ling looked at Wu Shanshan's worn and dirty clothes, feeling a little distressed, and she couldn't help but feel sympathy.
"Shanshan, your clothes are dirty. Auntie will help you wash them."
"No need, she can wash it herself."
Wu Jianguo declined Huang Ling's kindness. Huang Ling did not insist and took Wang Gang and Zhuang Xiaoting home to paint the walls.
The three of them worked for an hour and basically whitewashed the four walls. Zhuang Chaoying arrived late.
"Huang Ling, where have you been?"
"It's almost finished. I'll wait for you to come and do it again. I won't be able to finish it at night."
"I'm sorry, the school is too busy. I have to go on a business trip in two days. I have been officially notified by the superiors to have my papers graded. There will be intensive training and meetings in two days. I really can't spare the time." Zhuang Chaoying said guiltily.
"By the way, how are you packing your things? I'll move some over first."
Huang Ling said: "No need, I borrowed a tricycle from a coworker and we can just move it here together."
Seeing that his wife had arranged everything, Zhuang Chaoying felt relieved.
"I have thought about it. You and Tunan will sleep in the room inside, and I will take Xiaoting to sleep outside. Then we will put a dining table in the corner and a bed opposite." Huang Ling told Zhuang Chaoying her plan.
"You take Xiaoting to sleep inside! Tunan and I sleep outside." Zhuang Chaoying said.
The new house has only two rooms, one large and one small. The smaller one is used as a bedroom, and the larger one is naturally a living room plus a bedroom. As for the toilet, there is only a public toilet 50 meters away. The kitchen needs to be shared with the neighbor next door.
"I have thought about it. Tunan will take the junior high school entrance examination next year, and you usually have to grade homework. The room inside is quieter and will not affect you." Huang Ling explained:
"After all, there is a living room outside, and it faces the door, so Xiaoting and I should live there!"
"Well, okay." Zhuang Chaoying glanced at the next door again and asked, "Hasn't the neighbor moved in yet?"
"No, I think the room next door is almost done and the furniture is complete, so it should be moved here faster than us." Huang Ling said, "We can move in after the furniture is ready."
Zhuang Chaoying said: "Do you know who your neighbors are? From now on, when we share a yard and kitchen, we still need to have a good relationship."
Huang Ling shook her head and said: "They should also be workers in the cotton spinning factory. I don't know who they are?"
Zhuang Chaoying sighed and said, "I'm going on a business trip in two days. It's a closed management there. I rely on you for everything at home. Thank you for your hard work."
Huang Ling said with a cold face: "I have something I need you to do now."
Zhuang Chaoying asked in confusion: "What's the matter?"
Huang Ling said: "It will cost a lot of money to buy furniture this time. I don't have enough money, so I may have to borrow some from my parents' family."
Zhuang Chaoying said in surprise: "Ah, how much is still missing?"
Huang Ling thought for a while and said, "It's quite a difference. Can you get the salary you gave your parents back?"
"Isn't this good?" Zhuang Chaoying hesitated.
"What's wrong?" Huang Ling said angrily: "As the eldest son in the family, it is understandable that you subsidize your parents after working. But after you got married, you separated and lived alone. Now you still have two children to raise, and your monthly salary is huge.
If part of it is left to the parents, what will happen to the children?”
Zhuang Chaoying wondered: "It's not easy for my parents to raise me up. I can't just ignore them after I get married!"
Huang Ling said coldly: "I didn't ask you to ignore them. I won't stop you if you want to be filial, but can you think more about your children?"
Zhuang Chaoying frowned and said, "Aren't Tunan and Xiaoting nice? As for the furniture, let's buy two less new pieces of furniture! I'll find a way to get some old furniture for the rest."
Seeing that her husband was still stubborn and wanted to help his parents even if they had wronged his children, Huang Ling felt even more angry and pulled her children out of the yard.
"Whatever you want!"
Seeing that his wife was angry, Zhuang Chaoying quickly chased after her to comfort her.
?"Huang Ling, wait for me."
Huang Ling took her children back to the dormitory of the cotton spinning factory. Zhuang Chaoying coaxed her all the way, but she still couldn't coax her well. Because she still had work, she had to go back to school first.
Wang Gang never intervened in his parents' conflicts. It wasn't until Zhuang Chaoying left that he took out an envelope and handed it to Huang Ling.
"Mom, there are one hundred dollars in here."
"Tu Nan, where did you get so much money?" Huang Ling was startled, quickly grabbed the envelope, opened it and saw that there were indeed ten Unity cards inside.
Wang Gang took out some letters and explained: "Mom, I recently submitted an article to a magazine, and this is the fee I earned."
"Ah, submitted the article!?" Huang Ling was shocked and asked: "When did you submit the article, why didn't I know?"
Wang Gang laughed and said: "I usually make up some short stories to coax Xiao Ting to sleep, and those are the stories I chose."
Huang Ling knew the little stories Wang Gang told. During this period, he had been telling Zhuang Xiaoting with stories. Huang Ling asked her son where he heard those stories, and Wang Gang said that he made them up himself.
Huang Ling didn't take it seriously at first. She never expected that her son would give her a surprise.
"I usually had nothing to do after studying, so I wrote those short stories and tried to submit them to Suzhou Magazine. Unexpectedly, I was selected by the editor-in-chief to publish them. The 100 yuan was the writing fee given to me by the magazine."
Huang Ling looked through Wang Gang's letter to him and found that her son had submitted articles to Suzhou Magazine in her name and was highly regarded by the editor. The letter contained many suggestions for urging manuscripts.
"Those little stories you made up were actually published in magazines?" Huang Ling said in disbelief.
"Mom, don't forget, I am a genius." Wang Gang said with a confident smile.
Wang Gang has been maintaining the character of a genius during this period, just for today. In the future, he can use "genius" as an excuse for anything out of the ordinary.