NOVPUBSpeaking of which, Lin Lan had nothing when she first got married. At that time, the old lady was in charge of the family and her mother didn’t have any say. Besides, her father didn’t really understand a lot of the customs either.
Naturally, the Han family was not going to be like this. The old lady would not give up an opportunity to play favourites with her daughter, even if it meant plundering the resources of her three oldest sons.
The two women discussed it for a while and agreed that they would only follow the rules of family separation. Never would they agree to the old lady’s unreasonable requests.
Eldest Sister-in-law Han felt relieved when she found out that Lin Lan was standing on the same line as her.
At noon, Lin Lan cooked lunch and dried some grass by the door. Then, she saw the children coming back happily. The children greeted her in an ecstatic manner and everyone else was normal, except for Dawang who looked like a traveler! He still had a poker face with no expression with unfocused eyes and his lips moved inadvertently. Lin Lan was about to talk to him, but Dawang ignored her and walked over.
Lin Lan, “Eldest son, where are you going?” Not entering the house after getting past the courtyard? What sort of stunt are you trying to pull now?
Dawang didn’t respond. When he walked past the wall of his house, he realised something and turned around to go home.
Lin Lan, “…”
Erwang and Maisui muttered to Lin Lan, “My Eldest Brother is studying hard and he’s pretty serious about it. Even our teacher was scared by the sudden conviction, not knowing what’s up with him.”
Lin Lan, was this true?
Dawang glanced at the three of them, “What are you talking about?”
Lin Lan smiled and said, “Why have you gone to the other side? The door to your house is here.”
Dawang, “…I know, I just…went over to enjoy the breeze,” After that, he turned around and entered the house.
Lin Lan and the others smiled at each other before they hurried home to eat.
After lunch, the children did not go to classes in the afternoon. In contrast, they followed their teacher to catch insects in the cotton fields to earn work points.
Lin Lan warned, “There is a big well at the end of the cotton field. When you are picking up bugs, be sure to watch the road carefully and don’t run wild. Young ones, stay at home with mom, alright?”
Xiaowang was still young, no taller than a cotton plant and he couldn’t hold the bugs as his skin would turn red. Lin Lan couldn’t bear for him to do something like that.
Sanwang, “Brother Xiaowang, you’re in charge of giving Xiaobai and the rest of the pups a bath.”
At a time like this, it was common to have lice on everyone’s body, let alone animals. Lin Lan spent a lot of effort and asked her children to practise maintaining a clean hygienic routine to get rid of the lice in her home. But sometimes, after playing with some of the younger children outside, Sanwang might bring lice back home once again.
Xiaowang happily agreed. 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝑚
When Dawang left, Lin Lan saw that he still had a palm-sized notebook in his pocket with dense writing on it.
Was he really studying hard? Lin Lan thought that this sudden change in attitude was not something that the child could pull off as an act. It looked like Dawang hadn’t changed much on the outside since he remained expressionless, so no one could tell what he was thinking. But now, she understood that her son was actually trying to study hard!
