Xin Huan Xi Primary School

  It's almost the end of May, and the weather is getting hotter by the day. Li Ming hasn't gone out in days.

  Wu Feng, the granddaughter of Old Lady Wu next door, went to her aunt's house and no one came to play with Li Ming anymore.

  On the other side, Lin Siu's family had a son named Er Bao who was in the same year as Li Ming. Generally, boys and girls of the same age didn't have much in common and rarely played together. However, Er Bao often followed his older brother Da Jun around, even though he was often ruthlessly shaken off.

  As for the twins at her house, they generally played with the three little boys from the front yard of Old Luo's family more often. The eldest son of Luo was one year older than the twins, and each subsequent child was two years younger. However, the three Luo brothers were too aggressive, and the twins always ended up getting bullied, so when they were young, their mother would strictly forbid them from having close contact with the Luo brothers to prevent accidents.

  Now Li Ming thought about it and wondered what he was doing at that time, with no solution.

  Li Ming has been in a bad mood for the past few days since his return, and he's too lazy to play the role of an old mother hen. He has strictly forbidden the three Luo brothers, especially the eldest and second brothers, from visiting him at home. As a result, the house has been very quiet these days.

  The two little ones were getting restless and couldn't sit still. Li Ming sighed, since we're here, let's make the most of it, and took the two little ones to a small hill on the south side of the village that was like a children's playground.

  Li Ming thought carefully and realized that since their family had once achieved a long-held dream, whether it was true or not, they couldn't continue to muddle along like before. Not to mention the future, but for now, there was one thing that made her very unhappy.

  Why did she have to spend an extra year in school for two small subjects, missing the last chance of national allocation of university graduates' jobs? It ruined her life after graduation, making her busy and insecure all those years. No way, this has got to change.

  How can it be changed? First of all, one must go to school. This bus says that you have to catch up, but I don't know if this old ticket can still catch that old bus.

  Li Ming sat on a large stone, watching the dragon and phoenix twins chasing butterflies and ants in the grass thicket on the small mound, with a headache.

  Now she and her two kids are just like three frogs on a vine.

  It's not her fault that her mother didn't let her go to school. Who is going to take care of these two ancestors?

  Grandma's house is very busy. Grandpa and grandma passed away early. No one can be relied on.

  There are no kindergartens or nurseries in the nearby villages either. The only place with a kindergarten in the town is relatively far from their home, and it also costs more money.

  It seems they really can't get rid of her now.

  Watching the dragon and phoenix twins running back and forth. Li Ming found that they were not much younger than himself. That sturdy physique had always been stronger than Li Ming's. And from a young age, they could eat and drink more than Li Ming. Each meal would have two corn cakes and three steamed buns.

  Actually, the two of them are only a little over a year younger than Li Ming. Because of their mother's pregnancy, Li Ming didn't breastfeed for several months when he was young and has been weak since childhood. Just looking at their appearance, the three children are about the same age. Maybe because they had to help take care of the child from a young age, Li Ming is more mature than them.

  Suddenly an inspiration flashed through his mind and Li Ming had an idea.

  There are still three more months of time, don't know if it's coming or not, try it out first.

  Then, Li Ming found a white slate from home, and every day, apart from helping with some household chores that he could handle, he would take advantage of his parents' absence to teach the two younger ones cultural knowledge, planning to conduct pre-school training.

  First, we need to lure the two volunteers in. Kids are like that, seeing others carrying their schoolbags and going to school always makes them feel envious, thinking that school must be so much fun, although after they start attending school, they'll find out it's not that great after all.

  The next morning, as soon as Dad and Mom left, Li Ming gathered the two little ones together, giving each of them a piece of fruit candy that she had secretly bought at the retail store last night, thinking that it would be used as bait today.

  Li Ming made two small buttocks sit properly, and she herself sat on a chair on the ground to seduce underage children:

  "Cough, Xiao Lin and Xiao Hui, what do you think? Is it fun for Da Jun Ge to go to school at Uncle Lin Si's house?"

  "Okay okay, you get to carry a small backpack every day, I want to carry one too..."

  "There were many people going out together to have fun, catching a lot of fish and sparrows."

  Li Lianhui also chimed in to add his two cents.

  In fact, Dajunzi next door was really just doing a few things when he went to school. His academic performance has been the kind that Li Ming understood and recognized since he was sensible, always belonging to the kind of retreat and cover for others.

  Li Ming saw the small fish biting the hook and quickly added strength:

  "That's right, going to school isn't just about carrying a backpack, but also playing games with many classmates. So do you guys want to go to school?"

  "Think." This time they were unanimous, the ignorant are fearless indeed.

  "It's useless for you to think about it, the school won't accept you guys."

  "Why?" Li Lianhui's snot was still flowing, and the watermelon candy almost slipped out of his mouth.

  "Because you can't even write your own name, can't write 12345, and don't recognize characters."

  "Oh, what's to be done?" Li Lin muttered to herself, crunching on the sweet fruit candy in her mouth, not sounding very serious about it.

  Li Ming was sweating, what kind of attitude is this? She knew that Li Lin had never thought about serious things since she was a child. But this time it's related to her own future rice bowl, no matter whether Li Lin and Li Lianhui are mules or horses, she decided to give them a personal lesson.

  So, continue to entice and abduct.

  "Actually, I have a way for you all to go to school, it's just up to you whether you're determined or not."

  Dragon and Phoenix Babies don't know what determination is, Dongdong said:

  "Yes, we have determination, a lot of it."

  Li Ming deliberately hesitated for a moment before saying:

  "Alright, I believe you two, but you have to listen to your sister's words. Whatever I say, you must do it that way. If I don't let you do something, then you absolutely cannot do it, got it?"

  "Line."

  "Be good, if you behave well, there will be fruit candy, if you don't, you'll get a beating."

  Brandishing the small twig in his hand to show off his military might and intimidate others.

  As twins, they had been beaten by her many times when they were young.

  "Hmm... They want sweets, but they don't want to be spanked."

  But now Li Ming didn't give them a chance to regret it, announcing:

  "We can't tell Mom and Dad about what happened in class, otherwise whoever speaks nonsense won't get any candy in the future."

  On the same day, Li Ming taught them how to write their two names.

  Li Lin is a bit better, after all, the strokes are not many. Li Lianhui is a bit miserable, with many characters and strokes, but without Li Lin's cleverness, he was struggling for half a day and still made mistakes, making Li Ming want to change his name to Li Yi.

  However, the dragon and phoenix babies are quite clever, and they learned their own names in one day, plus 123 numbers.

  Actually, Li Ming always thought that the dragon and phoenix twins were smarter than her, just good at being sly and cunning. From the time they grew up and dropped out of high school one after another, and later found wealthy and powerful spouses, it was clear that they were not outstanding young people, but it could not be denied that both of them lived a comfortable life.

  There was no pen, so she picked up a piece of white slate and let them scribble on the cement steps or on the stove when making lunch. The two little ones were quite happy with their organized messy writing and drawing. Anyway, it was casual and carefree, and three pieces of fruit candy were distributed, two to Li Lin and one to Li Lianhui, as a reward and encouragement.

  The harvest of the first day was still very satisfactory for Li Ming.

  Looks like I'll be able to go to school after all.

  After all, there are still three months left, and a semester is only four and a half months. If you subtract weekends, holidays, and the time for minor subjects, it's actually not as long as the time they spend studying at home. Seeing the results, Li Ming's confidence soared, and that night he went to his neighbor Lin Siu's house to borrow a first-grade textbook from Da Junzi, who was in third grade.

  At that time, there were no exercise books, and textbooks were scarce. They were all 32-page editions, small books. Unlike now, each book is a large 16-page edition with much deeper content, and the number of exercise books is countless.

  The army son listened to Li Ming borrow books, very refreshing, turned over the box and couldn't find it, but still helped by Aunt Si to find it in a wooden box. Li Ming took a look and almost laughed out loud. The army son is indeed the army son, this book is like new, except for the cowhide paper on the cover with grade and name written on it, there is no sign of human touch, and I don't know what he did when he went to school. Fortunately, at that time, they didn't attach much importance to learning in this place either, and Aunt Si was not dissatisfied, but smiled:

  "Xiao Ming, you're going to school this year, did your mom let you go?"

  Look, all the neighbors know, she is now an indispensable unpaid babysitter at home.

  "Fourth Aunt, my mom is ruining my future! You have to help me out, otherwise I'll take my two little siblings with runny noses to school and say that my mom can't ruin my future!"

  Fourth Aunt burst out laughing: "You kid, still so young, next year you'll be going to school with my family's Er Pàng, it's great that everyone will have a companion."

  Erhuang is the same age as Li Ming, but he still belongs to the type that cannot take care of himself and is also a boy who becomes independent late. Generally, local boys start school later than girls.

  Li Ming already has twins dragging him down, how can he bear the weight of Er Baozi again, and hurriedly said:

  "It doesn't matter where we go, whether it's early or late, you must help me persuade my mom, Aunt Liu."

  "This kid is just like a little adult, alright, alright, it's nothing, I'll tell you about it."

  It's clear that Fourth Aunt is perfunctory, and Li Ming can't do anything about it. Sigh, at this time, at least in their place, children reading books are left to their own devices, they can read whatever they want, adults don't pay much attention, every day they rush around for food and clothing, who has the extra thought.

  She picked up four primary school textbooks for the first grade, at this time she just started junior high school and had English classes, the main courses were math and language, very simple. Li Ming thought that he had just taken new textbooks from school, and in less than ten minutes after returning home, he had flipped through them all, sat on a small stool and sighed, it's really damn simple, according to the textbook, if she worked hard, before going to school, she could have finished all the first-grade textbooks for twins.

  Enough for them both to go to school and not be sent back home.

  Talk is cheap, so I'll prepare some simple teaching tools first. When I get some results in a few days, I'll ask her mom for some funding to buy books and pens. For now, let's just do something simple that doesn't cost money.

  When taking the dragon and phoenix twins to the children's playground on the small hill, they picked up some chalk heads at the village elementary school's garbage dump on their way back. There were also colored ones, although fewer. Later, they could still find pencil heads and erasers from time to time, and the dragon and phoenix twins were very enthusiastic about this scavenging behavior.

  Li Ming rummaged through the pile of miscellaneous items at home and pulled out a small, thin wooden board about half a square meter in size, with a dull gray color, which was just right for use as a blackboard.

  Everything was ready in two days.

  These two days, Li Ming didn't let the dragon and phoenix twins idle around. With names added, they have already learned ten characters. Five numbers and three phonetic symbols are basically mastered quite fluently. However, it's all about drawing on the ground with twigs and slate, so it seems that some notebooks or new pencils need to be bought, which can serve as rewards for distribution.

  In the evening, Li Ming took advantage of her mother's good mood and made a request. Unexpectedly, her mother readily agreed and immediately gave her 50 cents in funding. Li Ming was somewhat surprised, remembering that her mother seemed to have only started paying attention to their studies after they entered junior high school.

  However, when she was tidying up her teaching tools, she saw the Xinhua Dictionary at home and suddenly realized something. When she grew up, her mother told her that the dictionary was bought by Li Ming's father when he was born, and it was used to look up his name at that time. On the other hand, it was also hoped that the child would study hard in the future, but it was torn apart by them when they were young and used as toilet paper when adults were not at home.

  Actually, parents still have good expectations for their children, but the heavy burden of life has left them no time to think too much.

  Now seeing Li Ming enthusiastically reading books, of course, is a delight, but there aren't high expectations either, just treating them like kids playing house. However, economically, try to satisfy them as much as possible, which can also be considered a kind of psychological compensation for neglecting the children in daily life.

  Of course, Li Ming's self-rescue in teaching is not so easy either.

  Two little ones were used to being free and unruly, a bit uncontrolled. Now Li Ming hadn't adjusted to the time difference yet, and time was quite pressing, who had the mood for happy teaching? After everything was ready, every day at fixed class times, whoever didn't listen would be served with a small twig. Later, on little brother's buttocks, there was a mark left behind. Originally she was scared into behaving, but still got reported to the authorities by little sister who had a big mouth. At night, her mother scolded Li Ming severely and sternly warned her not to use corporal punishment on children.

  The next day, as soon as Dad and Mom left, Li Ming looked at the time, took out the small wooden board that served as a blackboard, placed it on the Eight Immortals table in her home, and began to tap on a piece of iron with a screw. The two little ones hurriedly ran in from the outer room and sat down along the edge of the kang. Li Ming looked at them sitting up straight and nodded her head in satisfaction, praising:

  "Not bad, action is quite swift. Swift means fast, and in school, everything has to be done quickly. Before class today, I wanted to mention something. Yesterday, Li Lianhui was running around in class and got hit by me, but he apologized with a good attitude, so today we're praising him and rewarding him with a new pencil. However, Li Lin added fuel to the fire and told his parents, which made my relationship with them not harmonious. So I'm criticizing this behavior. From now on, no one should casually tell their parents about things, as it's not beneficial for Li Lianhui's or your own healthy growth. Therefore, I announce that Li Lianhui will be the class monitor for the next week, which is seven days. Do you understand?"

  "I understand." The voice rose and fell in excitement and disappointment.

  "So from today onwards, our class monitor Li Lianhui will be in charge of calling out for us to stand up. Alright, let's start the lesson."

  Li Lianhui jumped down from the kang excitedly and shouted: "Attention!"

  Li Lin pouted and slowly got up too.

  "Alright, very good, excellent, take a seat. Today's math lesson we'll first review the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, then we'll do some simple addition exercises. Alright, let's begin class."

  Generally, when parents are not at home, Li Ming's carrot and big stick can still calm down the two younger ones. However, even when parents are at home, there will be occasional discordant notes, mainly because Li Lin is too mouthy, thinking that with mom at home as a backing, she often tries to provoke Li Ming's authority. As for Li Lianhui, who often gets scolded, he belongs to the mouse type, scratching and forgetting, no complaint incidents have occurred.

  Unfortunately, the first capable and reliable helper under her parents' hands was the young nanny Li Ming, who had more and more actual power. As for Li Lin's occasional secret complaints, her mother went from initial criticism to later ignoring them and finally firmly rejecting them, making Li Lin so suffocated that she flew away to college to escape Li Ming's grasp, only then could she breathe a little easier.