ryethenovel Chapter 21 My Little Brother is Here
Chapter 21 My Little Brother is Here
"Teacher, what's your last name?"
Xu Chunsheng didn't even turn his head; his attention seemed entirely focused on the teacher who was with him.
Tang Changping did look back, but he didn't ask too many questions. He simply raised the umbrella higher, signaling Xu Chunsheng to come closer.
"My surname is Tang, and my name is Tang Changping. Young comrade, it's raining heavily. I have a big umbrella, come over here and we'll share it."
Xu Chunsheng really wanted to get closer to the person in front of him, so he simply took off his hat, held it in his hand, and ducked under Tang Changping's umbrella, walking down shoulder to shoulder with him.
"Teacher Tang looks quite young. Do you have a boyfriend? Where are you from? How many people are in your family?"
The barrage of questions left Tang Changping somewhat at a loss. He glanced at his hand holding the umbrella, which was already red, and felt even more embarrassed. However, his complexion remained calm and fair, showing no sign of distress.
"I'm 24 years old this year (by Chinese reckoning), no..."
Tang Changping swallowed hard and continued:
"I don't have a partner. There are five people in my family. My hometown is in a small town."
As soon as Tang Changping finished speaking, a chill instantly crept up from the soles of his feet to the back of his neck, causing him to unconsciously grip the umbrella in his hand even tighter.
Because Xu Chunsheng's question sounded too much like a matchmaker's question, and also a bit like an older person trying to introduce him to a potential partner.
……
We walked and talked, and the rain got heavier and heavier.
Xu Chunsheng stopped at the fork in the road, pointed to the road below, and said:
"This road leads to the village school, but it's Saturday and raining today, so there's probably no one at the school. Teacher Tang, why don't you come to my house for a while? We can go when the weather clears up."
"No, no need."
Tang Changping quickly refused, "They left me the dormitory key, I can just go to the school to rest."
Xu Chunsheng grabbed Tang Changping's hand and pulled him to walk down the road above.
"No way, since you're already here, my house is just around the corner. Come in, have some lunch, and once the weather cools down, the school is a short walk down the path."
"Besides, the school doesn't cook on Saturdays, so Teacher Tang might not have anywhere to eat. Or do you know how to cook?"
Xu Chunsheng was overly enthusiastic.
Upon hearing this, Tang Changping's steps softened. He had actually planned to tidy up his dormitory and see what he needed to buy before returning to town to prepare, and then come back on Sunday afternoon.
It was raining heavily today, so I arrived a bit late, and I even took the wrong route, which is why I haven't even seen the school yet at this hour.
If the school hadn't actually started cooking, Tang Changping would probably have had to "borrow" lunch from someone else's house. Xu Chunsheng was the first person he met in the village, so Tang Changping would instinctively trust Xu Chunsheng more.
Seeing that Tang Changping no longer refused him, Xu Chunsheng let go of his hand. He had never even met his wife in his life, and this first time holding hands was wasted on a grown man. If it weren't for his older sister, he wouldn't have suffered this loss.
Xu Chunsheng led Tang Changping toward his home, chatting with him about everyday things along the way. He first praised his younger brother for being smart, then praised his younger sister for being cute, his words full of pride.
Finally, Xu Chunsheng cleared his throat, stirred up the ink in his belly from this life and the previous life, and prepared to embellish his sister's story.
Xu Chunsheng took a deep breath: "My eldest sister is incredibly hardworking. The pigs she raises are white, the chickens lay lots of eggs, her cooking is delicious, and she's a wonderful person!"
After saying that, Xu Chunsheng fell silent, even mentally slapping himself, "Shut up, stop talking."
After listening, Tang Changping felt that Xu Chunsheng must be a pure and simple farmer, even his praise was so down-to-earth.
Tang Changping chuckled in agreement. He wasn't very good at dealing with people, which was why he was already twenty-three or twenty-four years old and still didn't have a girlfriend.
Even his family members are very worried about this.
Many girls had been driven away by Tang Changping's taciturn nature. Now that his parents had retired and wanted to return to their hometown to live out their retirement, they decided to let him go back with them, find a place to teach, and improve his communication skills.
However, Tang Changping accurately captured the essence of Xu Chunsheng's simple words: "His cooking is delicious."
Yes, Tang Changping may be a bit sullen, but he's not sullen at all. He's a picky eater, and when he was a child, his family went to great lengths to get him to eat more, but his mother never realized that it was because she was a bad cook.
Xu Chunsheng led the group home, but only found his eldest sister there. He asked:
"Sis, where are Mom and Dad?"
The eldest sister was sitting under the eaves picking through the soybeans in the winnowing basket, planning to make tofu pudding when she and her uncle's family exchanged corn for work in a couple of days.
"Seeing that the rain kept falling, they went to my uncle's house to help cut firewood. My younger sister had a slight fever, so I put her to sleep."
"Who is this?"
The older sister looked up and saw the person behind her younger brother. She asked him what was wrong. This person didn't look like any of the shady friends her brother used to know.
Tang Changping was a little nervous. He was rather shy around women. Under the older sister's gaze, he unconsciously gripped the ground with his toes, resisting the urge to hide behind Xu Chunsheng.
Xu Chunsheng noticed the man's shyness and nervousness, and thought to himself: Shyness is good, it means he really has a good temper!
To avoid further embarrassment for the man, Xu Chunsheng took over the conversation, saying:
"This is Ms. Tang, the new teacher at the elementary school. She got lost and couldn't find the school. I saw that it was raining heavily, so I asked her to come to our house to rest."
Xu Chunsheng brought out a bamboo chair from inside the house and placed it directly next to the winnowing basket, then said to Tang Changping:
"Teacher Tang, please sit down. I'll get you a cup of hot water."
After saying that, Xu Chunsheng turned around and went to the kitchen without waiting for Tang Changping to refuse.
Xu Chunsheng deliberately lingered in the kitchen for a while, wanting to give the two some time to be together.
When Xu Chunsheng came out, he heard his older sister asking:
"Teacher Tang, what do you teach? Do you know if the tuition and fees will increase next year? Did you used to be a teacher?"
A barrage of questions left Tang Changping somewhat bewildered. He mentally reviewed his answers, making sure there were no issues before speaking:
"I just graduated and have never taught before. I'm here mainly to teach Chinese. I don't know if the tuition and fees will go up."
Xu Chunsheng overheard this and realized that the person wasn't speaking as naturally as when they were talking to him, but they still answered the older sister's question seriously.
When Xu Chunsheng came out from around the corner carrying hot water, he saw Tang Changping imitating his older sister, picking through the beans in the winnowing basket, removing the rotten beans and bean stalk residue. Perhaps it was too cold, because her palms were slightly red.
Xu Chunsheng handed the hot water to Tang Changping, then turned to his sister and said:
"Sister, Sanwa will be home soon. I'll pick some beans. You go and cook."
As soon as Xu Chunsheng finished speaking, they heard the sound of footsteps "clattering" coming from the side of the house. The three of them looked towards the intersection and saw a boy of about thirteen or fourteen years old wearing a repaired bamboo hat with the words "Urea Fertilizer" prominently displayed in front of him.
"Oh! Third brother!"
A voice came from the main room behind the three people, the voice still sounded a bit sleepy and had a nasal tone from a cold.
It turned out that Xu Yaomei was woken up by the chattering of the three people under the eaves. When she came out to check, she saw Xu Chunfeng walking into the courtyard.
Seeing her third brother, Xu Yaomei was no longer upset. She wasn't even curious about the extra person in the house anymore, and she didn't even wait for Xu Chunfeng to take off his urea-brand raincoat.
Xu Yaomei now wants to drag people along to show off her second brother's great achievements!
"Third brother, come quick! I'll take you to see the little piglet at home, and the cured meat!"