Chapter 29

That’s right, Xu Yanan is the child of Xu Jianguo and Sun Yan.

However, among Jian Feng’s childhood friends, Xu Yanan doesn’t get along with any of the other kids.

Sun Yan is closer to Wu Haixia and Zhang Qin, but it doesn’t really matter because, behind their backs, she still talks badly about these two families. Sun Yan never has anything good to say about others; she always has countless reasons to feel that everyone wrongs her.

For all these years, one of the main reasons Wang Mengmei has tolerated Sun Yan is because Xu Yanan does well in her studies.

When women argue, they either compare husbands or children.

Jian Li’s grades are average—not particularly good, but not bad either. The only advantage is her good luck—she always meets excellent, experienced teachers and never fails during crucial exams.

But aside from that, Wang Mengmei really feels there’s no way to compare Jian Li with Xu Yanan.

Xu Yanan is only thirteen, yet she is already the model child who can help with household chores and find study material on her own in her spare time.

Sun Yan often brags about how she educates her child.

“We train our child; we make her cook and wash clothes on her own.”

“Learning too, she’s studying for herself, so she should be more responsible. When we were kids, we didn’t have such conditions. We didn’t even have a pencil to write with, yet we wanted to study.”

“I often tell her, having good grades isn’t enough; being respectful to parents and teachers is the most important. She even brings us and her dad hot water to wash our feet every night.”

“Without proper discipline, the tree won’t grow straight. Look at her grades now, it’s all because of my strict management.”

—-

Sun Yan spoke confidently, and many people in the neighborhood really believed in her theories, even making their own children bring them foot-washing water. Of course, not every child was like Xu Yanan.

For those who flipped over the basin of water on the spot, there was always a big fight at home afterward.

Wang Mengmei never made her daughter bring foot-washing water because she didn’t believe in this principle.

If filial piety was all about washing feet, wouldn’t those old landlords have been most filial to their servants and maids?

She never commented on Sun Yan’s educational philosophy, but Sun Yan had criticized hers.

“Are you raising a child or an ancestor? Giving them everything they ask for—do their grades even deserve that?”

Sun Yan advised Wang Mengmei not to spoil Jian Li too much.

“You do everything for her. What will she do when she gets married?”

Sun Yan had her own theory: children shouldn’t be spoiled.

Seeing that Wang Mengmei didn’t listen to her, Sun Yan stopped talking to her, thinking that she had offered her advice but was not appreciated.

At the parent-teacher meeting, the first and second top students were seated in the front. Sun Yan sat in front of Wang Mengmei, chatting with the parents around her, and often brought up the topic of “cheating.”

“I’m not petty or envious of others’ good fortune, but let’s be honest—if your child suddenly jumps from the bottom of the class to the top three, something’s definitely fishy!”

Immediately, some parents who didn’t know the details chimed in, “That’s true, my kid is always in the bottom few, and if he suddenly makes a big improvement, I’d definitely have to investigate whether he’s copying others’ answers.”

Hearing the praise from others, Sun Yan became even more excited.

Wang Mengmei, sitting behind, couldn’t listen to it anymore.

At that moment, Teacher Fang walked into the classroom, interrupting Wang Mengmei’s attempt to confront Sun Yan.

Teacher Fang: “Hello, parents. In today’s meeting, we’ll summarize the students’ performance during the first half of the semester. While the grades are important, the main goal is to communicate with you. The second semester of grade two is about to start, and grade three is fast approaching. The high school entrance exam is a major test that will determine which high school your child will enter…”

Teacher Fang gave a speech on the importance of studying, then began reading the grades aloud.

As the teacher read out the names of the top students, the parents naturally focused their attention on those families. Their eyes were full of envy.

How could their children perform so well?

When the students with lower grades were mentioned, the parents all lowered their heads, or gave awkward smiles.

In their minds, they were thinking about how to discipline their children when they got home—bad grades weren’t the issue, it was the embarrassment caused by their child’s poor performance. They deserved a beating!

After the grades were announced, Teacher Fang began discussing the students’ situations in batches.

Finally, she called the parents of the top students to come to the stage to share their educational methods.

Teacher Fang glanced at the list in her hand: “…Jian Li’s parent.”

Sun Yan thought she was the first and nearly stood up, only to hear the teacher skip over her and call Wang Mengmei instead. Her face immediately darkened.

Wang Mengmei, feeling a little nervous but proud, was being called up to the stage for the first time.

Teacher Fang pushed her glasses up: “I also forgot to mention that Jian Li’s article was published in a magazine and received many positive reviews. Let’s all give Jian Li’s parent a round of applause and welcome her to share how she fostered her child’s interest in writing.”

When these words were said, the other parents became even more envious.

Look at their child!

Wang Mengmei stood up on the stage, her legs a little wobbly.

It took her a while to find her voice, but when she did, she nervously began speaking on the topic.

—–

The script that was prepared earlier was completely unused, and Wang Mengmei didn’t even know what she had said.

However, no matter how well or poorly she spoke, the audience was clapping with a continuous round of applause.

Wang Mengmei walked down the stage, her heart full of joy and pride.

Li Lijuan, sitting next to her, looked at her enviously and said, “If only our Xia Liu could learn something from Jian Li.”

Wang Mengmei thought to herself, this used to be what she had said.

She had always thought that Xia Liu was more cheerful than Jian Li and often complained to Li Lijuan that Jian Li should learn from Xia Liu.

But now, how long has it been, and the person who used to be envied was now the one being compared to.

Sun Yan snorted from the front row.

Wang Mengmei ignored her.

Today, she was in a good mood and didn’t want to argue with anyone and ruin her mood.

No matter what Sun Yan said, Wang Mengmei wouldn’t believe that her daughter’s grades were the result of cheating.

After the parent-teacher meeting, Wang Mengmei walked out of the school with her chest held high.

Sun Yan stayed behind, and the more she thought about it, the more upset she became.

Once she got home, she threw her bag down angrily and started finding faults with Xu Yanan.

“Others can submit their papers, what’s wrong with you? Didn’t your brain grow for nothing? You couldn’t even submit an article?”

“Can’t submit? I’ve been feeding and taking care of you, and this is how you repay me?”

“You can’t even endure the hardship of studying, go take a look at the construction site, who isn’t working harder than you? And you have the nerve to say you can’t submit? It’s just writing an article and sending it out. Jian Li can do it, why can’t you?”

“Just like your dad, useless!”

Sun Yan scolded her daughter until Xu Yanan started to cry, and then she felt a little better.

She angrily chopped cabbage while thinking that she should push her daughter harder, so she wouldn’t get complacent after coming in first place.

At dinner, Xu Yanan was still wiping away her tears, burying her head in her bowl, with tears dropping into the rice one by one.

Sun Yan saw her pathetic look and became even angrier. She threw her chopsticks down and scolded, “Swallow your tears! Cry, cry, cry, is that all you know? Did I say something wrong?”

“I see that lately you’ve been so smug just because you got first place! Look at Jian Li, she’s going to surpass you!”

“What face do you have to cry! I worked hard to cook this whole table of food, if you don’t want to eat, go back to your room!”

—–

Xu Yanan forced herself to eat but didn’t dare to leave the table.

Her mom was always like this; no matter what she did, it was never good in her eyes, and everything she did seemed like defiance.

After dinner, Xu Yanan returned to her desk.

She took out a piece of paper from the bottom of the drawer.

The original composition topic had been crossed out repeatedly, and black ink from a marker spilled out in a string of characters.

[If I could, I wish I had never appeared in this world.]

—-

Wang Mengmei returned home and bought a roast duck on the way.

She could make most of the regular home-cooked meals, but roast duck needed an oven, something she didn’t know how to do.

The crispy skin and tender meat of the roast duck glistened with oil, and the vendor enthusiastically asked her if she wanted some pancakes to go with it.

“This is Beijing roast duck, it’s eaten with pancakes.”

Wang Mengmei waved her hand, “Give me one.”

The pancakes, served with sweet sauce, cucumber, and scallions, were still warm when she brought them home.

Today was the weekend, and Qian Ping was home. The four of them finished the duck cleanly. Wang Mengmei didn’t throw away the carcass, intending to make duck bone soup for dinner later and have it with noodles.

Jian Li didn’t dare eat too much. She had been controlling her weight with great results. Over the past two months since school started, she had lost about 10 pounds.

Now, she wasn’t exactly skinny, but she wasn’t as prone to water retention as she used to be.

Jian Li regretted thinking, if only it were summer, she could learn to swim to lose weight.

After dinner, Wang Mengmei asked Qian Ping if the school was cold.

“It’s already October, and the heating won’t start for more than half a month. Will your blankets be enough?”

The blankets at home were limited, and the one prepared for Qian Ping wasn’t thick enough.

Qian Ping replied, “It’s okay, Aunt, the school has places where we can get hot water, and I’ll just fill a bottle of hot water and wash my feet at night. That’ll keep me warm.”

Then she hesitated, “Aunt, I’ll go home tomorrow.”

“I need to go back and get some things.”

It had been two months since she arrived, and her mom had only visited twice to bring clothes; other than that, she hadn’t come.

Qian Ping, amidst her busy studies, felt a sense of unspoken disappointment.

Her aunt often comforted her, saying her mom had it hard.

Sometimes, Qian Ping felt a bit guilty. When her mom cared too much, it bothered her, but when her mom didn’t care enough, she always worried.

Maybe she should go home and check.