Chapter 167: Suggestions? Not Listening

After being scolded by Hu Meili, Lin Xiangxi wasn’t afraid. He giggled and hid behind Lin Xiangnan, tattling, “Sister, look at Mom, she’s bullying me again.”

“Mom, my little brother is still young, you should talk to him nicely.” Lin Xiangnan directly sided with her little brother.

“You little flatterer, your flattery wasn’t in vain, you found your sister to be your shield.”

Hu Meili originally wanted to scold them both, but after a moment, she felt something was wrong. “Didn’t your sister give you the test paper? She was the one who tested you. Why are you arguing with me?”

“It’s because you’re too quick to anger. I haven’t even said anything, and you’re already snapping at my little brother.”

“Fine, I won’t say anything then.” Hu Meili shut up in frustration. She wanted to see what Lin Xiangnan would say.

After dealing with Hu Meili, Lin Xiangnan turned to scold Lin Xiangxi, “Although your current level is still nonsense. But if you read more books every day, you’ll improve. I’ve taken this test paper away, next time I come home, I’ll make you do this one again.”

“My sister…”

“Don’t whine.” Lin Xiangnan looked at him with disdain, “Considering your terrible performance today. You’re not getting any of the fried pork today.”

Everything else was fine, but this punishment was the death of Lin Xiangxi. He tentatively extended a finger, “Can I have one bite? Just one.”

“No.” Lin Xiangnan refused mercilessly.

With his little brother’s level, Lin Xiangnan didn’t expect him to get into Tsinghua or Peking University. Getting into a junior college would be a blessing from heaven, if not, a technical college would be fine too. In this era, a junior college was considered a high education.

The first two batches of college students after the reforms were the pioneers of the times. If Lin Xiangxi could get in, not only would his education look good, but his vision and thinking would also be broadened.

Working at the restaurant was to avoid going to the countryside. Staying in the restaurant all the time would miss a lot of opportunities.

But this was a secondary reason. The main reason was that Lin Xiangnan had been marinated in the atmosphere of being urged to study in her previous life.

In the past, when watching TV dramas, if the female protagonist couldn’t go to college because of the male protagonist, she would be so angry that she would abandon the show.

Even when watching TV dramas, Lin Xiangnan was concerned about the protagonist’s studies. It was even more so for her own family.

Lin Xiangxi was her best little brother and was still very young, only 17 years old, the age when people were in high school. It was only natural that Lin Xiangnan would be worried about his studies.

“Study hard, if you do well in the next assessment, I’ll buy you a woolen coat, it’ll look better on you than your brother-in-law.”

Lin Xiangxi felt a little embarrassed, “I’m an adult now, I’m working and making money, you’re still buying me things.”

“Don’t be polite first. You’re not sure if you can get it yet.” Lin Xiangnan poked his shoulder with a sense of exasperation.

Hu Meili didn’t have much education and had no say in this matter, but she was happy to let Lin Xiangnan educate her son.

She saw that Lin Xiangnan had found a decent job because of her good grades, and she knew that the factory’s Chief Engineer Zhang and others had high salaries because of their good education. So now she also attached great importance to education.

Hu Meili couldn’t offer any constructive advice on this matter, she could only stand beside Lin Xiangnan and pretend to be powerful, “Listen to your sister, got it? Otherwise, next time she comes back, see how she deals with you.”

“Got it, got it.” Lin Xiangxi agreed helplessly.

Although he didn’t like studying himself, he understood that Lin Xiangnan was using benefits to lure him to read books, which was for his own good.

Knowing that Lin Xiangnan was about to leave, Lin Xiangxi spent half a day packing his jars and bottles, putting all his treasured things in small bottles for Lin Xiangnan.

“This mushroom sauce is delicious, but it’s troublesome to make, I’ll pack it for you, so you don’t have to do it…”

Seeing Lin Xiangnan and her brother busy packing and labeling things in the kitchen, Gu Zhenhua said, “You guys go ahead, I’ll go to Gu’s house.”

“Go ahead. Be careful, don’t scare Xu Xiaodong and her child.” Lin Xiangnan reminded without looking up.

“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”

Gu Zhenhua’s main target was always his good brother, Gu Zhenguo.

When he arrived at Gu’s house, he didn’t say a word, he rolled up his sleeves and started fighting, then stopped and went home.

The whole process was incredibly smooth.

Although his punches hurt, he avoided vital areas, mainly for intimidation.

Gu Zhenguo was used to it. After taking the beating, he even felt relieved, “Gu Zhenhua should be leaving in a couple of days, right?”

“Yes. Either tomorrow or the day after.” Xu Xiaodong answered calmly from the side.

Gu Zhenguo was actually hoping he would leave, but Gu Chouni was a little reluctant.

“They’ve been back for so long. They haven’t even brought their grandson back.” That was Gu Chouni’s long-awaited grandson!

“Stop it, stop it, are you afraid of bringing Gu Zhenhua back?” Gu Zhenguo covered his arm and said, “If you want a grandson, I’ll give birth to one for you, okay! Stop thinking about Gu Zhenhua’s child.”

His self-sacrificing expression made Xu Xiaodong speechless.

She said with disdain, “You’re going to have to recuperate for half a month or a month at least. What are you giving birth to?”

Actually, Xu Xiaodong also wanted to have another son, otherwise she would never be able to hold her head up in this Gu family. Every time she said something, Gu Chouni would use the child’s matter to taunt her, making her feel very embarrassed.

But the health worker at the factory had previously said that the best interval between births was three years. She had been careful for those three years after giving birth to her second child.

Now, the propaganda in various units was following the policy.

When Lin Xiangnan arrived at the train station, she found that the slogan on the propaganda board outside the train station had changed in just a month.

“Have fewer children, have better children, a lifetime of happiness.” Lin Xiangnan read the slogan out loud, curiously asking, “When did this slogan change?”

“It was changed when I came back.” Gu Zhenhua replied.

Lin Xiangnan came back in the middle of the third month, a little early, the staff at the unit were still immersed in the New Year atmosphere and hadn’t really started working.

Seeing Lin Xiangnan staring at the slogan without moving, Hu Meili pulled on her sleeve and urged, “What are you looking at? What’s so interesting about it. Let’s go.”

“This is a new policy, what’s wrong with me taking a look.”

Hu Meili said lightly, “What new policy. They’ve been talking about ‘not one less, two is just right…’ for years. The year before last, they were still promoting ‘late, sparse, few’, you were a bookworm before, you just didn’t pay attention.”

“These policies have been around for so long?” Lin Xiangnan was a little surprised, she had never paid attention to this before.

“Why do you care so much. Those are just suggestions, you know what ‘suggestions’ mean, right? They make their suggestions, we don’t listen, that’s it.”

Hu Meili spoke with the arrogance of an outlaw.