She Quit the Air Bag

The Ning family followed the traditional line of big parents. The big things in the family were decided by Father Ning, and the small things were judged by Mother Ning. They didn’t have much democratic elements in their thinking, but in matters involving their children, they would still Go face to face and ask.

As soon as Father Ning opened his mouth, the room became quiet, and the eyes of the family were all on him.

“As for today, I want to talk to you about the future.” Father Ning didn’t feel embarrassed when he talked about this. He admitted that he did his best to the children.

Among the people in the same village, I can’t find a single one who can send three and a half children out to study like him.

You must know that there are only two laborers in the family, he and his wife, the annual work points are converted, plus the sideline money, if you can get a small 200 yuan, you have to meet a good year, but the whole family has to pay, especially there are three who are growing up big kid.

Forget it first, the tuition fee for these three children is 6 yuan a year, not including the cost of books and meals.

At the end of each year, the family’s surplus is only 40 to 50 yuan, and it is almost impossible to save money. When the children get married, they will always have to buy clothes, dowry gifts and decorate the new house, and they will spend money on everything. Do you know that diesel, rice, oil, and salt are expensive?

When Father Ning said this, the three children sat upright. They looked at Father Ning and had their own speculations in their hearts.

Among the children of the same age as them, some did not study at all, and some did not study after two years of study. There are only a handful of children who can really go on to study. Now in the whole village, the most educated is the son of the village head. After graduating from a junior secondary school, he was assigned to work in a steel factory and eat public meals.

Father Ning continued, “You are always aware of the situation at home. If you read it further, it will not be the same number.”

He clearly explained the account to the children: “You three did well in the early autumn exam, and she can still go to a junior high school, but if she wants to go to a junior high school, she has to go to junior high school. I also said that in the early autumn. , her teacher also advised her to go to more high school, it would be better to go to college and secondary school, which would cost a lot of money, but this time, she was guaranteed to have a good job. She was not in good health since she was a child, so how could she work people.”

This year’s technical secondary school is even more difficult than high school and university entrance examination. Graduation is directly packaged, and tuition fees are also low.

He pointed in the direction of Ning Chuchun: “Chuchun is the eldest brother in the family, and the only male in our Ning family, although this doll has an empty head, his head is no better than Chuqiu’s, you can study more, in case you want to think about it in the future. Finding a daughter-in-law is easy, isn’t it?”

He ignored Ning Chuxia and didn’t say anything, and then began to calculate again: “You are all big children, and I don’t hide it from you, you can calculate it yourself. After this, whether you need money for marriage and living, the family has to save some money for backup. , our house has to be repaired when it is old, can we spend it like this?”

Ning’s father said this, in fact, the whole family already knew his decision, Ning Chuchun and Ning Chuqiu looked at Ning Chuxia at the same time.

There are always some inexplicable feelings in their hearts. On the one hand, they are relieved to know that their father wants to read on. When they are in town, they have seen the flowery world outside. If they can read more books, they may be able to become a city in the future. People in the village, even if they return to the village, can still strive to become a petty official, and the scorekeeper must be literate and able to settle accounts.

But on the other hand, they don’t know why some of them are unpleasant.

But no matter how they think about it, the few people in this room actually know that this matter is settled. When Father Ning said this, it is basically settled. In addition, this is Ning Chuxia, the family. Anyone who doesn’t know that Ning Chuxia is the most obedient person in the family, she has always been told by her parents to go east, so she doesn’t dare to go west.

But–

“You, why are you crying?” Father Ning frowned and rubbed his hands involuntarily. The dark complexion made it difficult to see the change in his complexion, and he felt uncomfortable.

Mother Ning was also stunned, the hand under the table clenched subconsciously, and she didn’t speak for a long time.

It is common for children to cry and wipe their tears, and sometimes adults will laugh at the reasons why children cry, but if they cry, they are never silent at home, and they are submissive. One, that’s weird.

Ning Chuxia only had to blink her eyes lightly, and the tears would fall. She didn’t even need to make a hideous expression or forcefully squeeze out the tears. There were too many grievances accumulated in this body. .

She stood up and stared straight in front of her eyes, tears blurred her vision, then became clear when she shed tears, and then quickly covered with water mist.

“Why must it be me?” Ning Chuxia’s voice was nasal, “It’s not that it can’t be me, but why is it always me, always me?”

“What has always been you.”

Ning Chuchun and Ning Chuqiu, who were sitting next to them, were stunned. They spent more time with Ning Chuxia than they did with their parents, and knew more about her personality. Ning Chuxia could get up even if she fell and bleeds. Wipe the person who said nothing.

And before, she never seemed to care about it.

Ning Chuxia looked at Father Ning, the inexplicability in Father Ning’s eyes was definitely not a fake, he really didn’t understand his daughter’s thoughts, and he didn’t feel anything wrong with what he did.

This is probably the rule of the family, day after day, and after the rule is set, no one will investigate what is wrong with it.

“Isn’t it like this since I was a child? It’s like you get off work every night, and the only person who needs to help is me.”

Ning’s mother explained: “Your brother is a boy, isn’t it strange to work in the kitchen every day? Your sister is not in good health, and she is afraid of being hot…”

“I’ll get hot too.” Ning Chuxia stretched out her hand, “My hand isn’t made of wood either.”

She held her breath and restrained her tears a little: “Isn’t this always the case? The eldest brother is a boy and the only male in the family. The younger sister is not in good health and needs to be taken care of. I am the only one who doesn’t need to be taken care of. You don’t need to be cared about, and you can’t be wronged.”

Mother Ning whispered, “No one said that…”

She was a little confused by her daughter, and she always took things for granted. When she said this, it seemed that something was wrong, but what was wrong?

Isn’t that the case in other homes? Brothers and sisters have to be considerate of each other. In the past, when she married into the Ning family, many of the betrothal gifts she received were used to subsidize her brother.

——As time passed, Mother Ning had forgotten that she was wronged back then.

“Family, you always have to make concessions to each other, and you can’t just think about yourself.” Father Ning felt that his words were not quite right, but he didn’t find out what was wrong.

Ning Chuxia suddenly laughed, smiling brightly in the surprised eyes of her parents and siblings: “So, I’m the only one who needs to make concessions, right? Because there must be someone at home to help with the work, if they can’t, they have to come; When I bought clothes, my brother didn’t tell me, my sister chose first, and I had to wait at the end; the same is true today, since there must be one person who doesn’t study, it will only be me.”

“It’s not like this…” Father Ning murmured, unable to speak.

Ning Chuxia stretched out her hand and wiped away her tears, which wet her sleeves: “I understand what you are saying, but I will feel wronged and sad, I was no better than my little sister in the test, but not bad, and I was also in class. It’s always the first few days.” She smiled reluctantly, “But I think, even if the first person in the test is me, you will let the younger sister and elder brother read it, right? In the end, the grades are not important at all. I’m not afraid of being hot, but because it’s me, I’ll be given up.”

Father Ning didn’t hear it very well, and he wanted to get angry a little under his emotions: “How can you say that?”

Ning Chuxia smiled and the tears fell out again. She said, “It’s okay, I’m used to it, but I won’t give up. I want to study, I really want to study.” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. , the corners of his eyes turned red, “Stop talking, I’m going to wash the dishes.”

She quickly put the bowls that everyone had eaten together, and then started to clean up at the back, only to hear the crisp sound of the pots and pans colliding gently, and the sound of water being splashed away and falling on the ground.

The room was silent, and everyone was speechless.

Especially when you can feel the presence of the back chef, this embarrassment makes people have nowhere to hide.

…

That night, the family tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

There is no nightlife in the countryside. Basically, as soon as it gets dark, they all go back to their houses. After all, kerosene lamps burn kerosene. People who live frugally will save even this amount of money.

The children of the Ning family are all very sensible. They try their best to complete their homework at school on weekdays, and rarely bring home their studies.

Father Ning glanced at the child’s room before going to bed, put on his coat and returned to the room, his hands were itchy, but today’s share had been used up, and he was reluctant to smoke any more.

“Tell me, what did this child in Chuxia think?” Mother Ning didn’t fall asleep. As soon as she closed her eyes, it was her daughter’s face with tears falling one after another.

In fact, if you want to look good at home, you have to look good in early autumn. In early summer, you have always worked hard and have dark skin. Naturally, you are not the type to look good when you cry.

But tonight’s cry really gave Ning’s mother a shock. She never thought about it — or she tried not to think about it, what she did at home on weekdays would make Ning Chuxia feel wronged.

She tried to convince herself: “Which is not like this? Cuihua’s sister-in-law, the cousin in the city, has a job, not only can he choose one of the two children; your cousin, both children want to get married. If you want a new house, if you don’t share the money, you have to choose one of several children to pay for it… Let’s just say that we are here, the little aunt can’t manage the house, she has no money, isn’t it all the money that we both pay for the care of the elderly and the mother? ?”

From the beginning, the voice was quite loud, and then the voice gradually became only angry: “Why do you think she is so arrogant?”

In fact, the more she talked, the more guilty Ning became. At first, she moved and took it for her sister-in-law every time she went home. As a result, when the two elders were sick, she would not give money or even contribute, so she and her husband had many arguments. , In many of the examples she mentioned, there were many troubles until the children didn’t communicate with each other in the end.

Father Ning lay on the bed, he sighed: “You said… Forget it, it’s nothing.”

He turned his face, and his mind was filled with the words of his daughter. She said that no matter what, it would only be her.

Father Ning wanted to refute. He wanted to say that it was because Ning Chuxia’s grades were not good enough, but he couldn’t say it.

If Chuxia really did better than Chuqiu, would he let Chuchun or Chuqiu not read it?

It seems not.

He now even somewhat hopes that the early summer exam will be worse. Anyway, as a father, he can still say that he is not partial, otherwise…

The moment he realized what he was thinking, Father Ning’s heart was greatly shaken. He really didn’t expect that he would actually have such an idea.

Chu Xia is right, he seems to be eccentric as a father.

There are not many rooms in the house. The room next door belonged to the original sister-in-law. The one that Grandma Ning and Grandpa Ning lived in were temporarily vacated as storage after they left. There is a habit of burning beds when the elderly die. The bed was burnt, and no new ones were added to the house.

Originally, Aunt Ning’s room was divided into two rooms by wooden boards. The two sisters lived together, while Ning Chuchun lived in the other half.

When the night was quiet, Ning Chuchun could hear the movement of [emailprotected]@ next door.

Ning Chuqiu turned around and didn’t fall asleep. The house was very dark. She couldn’t see the face of the sister who was next door.

After finally gathering up her courage, she said tentatively, “Sister, are you asleep?”

“Didn’t sleep.”

Ning Chuqiu’s hand tightly clenched the quilt: “I…I.”

She sadly found herself extremely selfish.

She typed the draft eight hundred times in her mind, and she wanted to tell her sister that she didn’t need to study, but she couldn’t say it.

Across the wall from the primary school where they study is the middle school for the children of employees next door. Except for a few good grades, they are basically the children of the employees of the surrounding factories. Some of them are even sent by their parents on bicycles. Those who come to school, even what they eat at noon, are not the same as them.

Although Ning Chuqiu is young, she also knows how to distinguish between good and bad. Of course she knows that if she can continue reading, she will definitely have a different life.

“Sister, I’m sorry.” She said, but couldn’t say anything else.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I…I stole you…” Ning Chuqiu was ashamed and ashamed, “Sister, I will make money in the future and I will give it to you.”

She never realized that all her and her brother’s privileges in this family were above her sister’s sacrifice.

There are many people of the same generation in the same village. The parents of this generation are not stingy when it comes to having children. They have several in their lifetime. In the past, Ning Chuqiu was very proud of his family. His parents sent their three children to school. female.

But now that I think about it, it seems that what their family does is not very different, but it just fell on her head, and she has never felt it.

“What is there to rob or not? It’s just that my parents don’t give it.” Ning Chuxia’s voice was particularly clear in the quiet night, “It’s just that I used to hold back my grievances in my heart, and I told myself that this family , someone always has to pay more.”

Her voice became firm: “However, I also have what I want, and I will fight for it. If my parents don’t want to give it, then I will try my best to get it myself.”

Ning Chuqiu stared blankly at her sister with her back to her body, she didn’t understand what her sister was saying.

What do you mean to get it yourself?

“So I’m not sorry, just like I know, in fact, nothing I say today can change my parents’ decision, the only person I can change is myself.” She turned over and looked at the invisible ceiling, “I I don’t want to hold anything in my heart anymore.”

Ning Chuqiu didn’t speak, she only felt that her sister suddenly seemed to be a little far away, so far that she couldn’t catch it, she was a little flustered, and was about to say something, only to hear Ning Chuxia say “Go to sleep,” and she didn’t dare to move. .

Across the board, Ning Chuchun and Ning Chuqiu couldn’t fall asleep that night.

…

“Your sister hasn’t come back yet?” Mother Ning looked behind the two children subconsciously, but she didn’t see Ning Chuxia again.

Ning Chuqiu nodded: “Sister said she would come back after waiting. She wants to ask the teacher a few questions.”

Mother Ning’s face was sullen, her eyes kept glancing out the door.

Father Ning sat there and watched the smoke spit out, and his thoughts were complicated.

Since the last time, after the conflict at home, the atmosphere at home has not been the same.

Ning Chuxia took the initiative to apply with her parents, saying that she wanted to go to school on weekends.

Ning’s father and Ning’s mother actually felt a little emotional when they heard it. They always felt that the child was fighting with them. Wouldn’t it be OK to study anywhere, even at home?

But they still responded stubbornly. At that time, there were some thoughts of getting angry with Ning Chuxia, but I didn’t expect that these days, it seemed that Ning Chuxia was really studying hard.

Just thinking about Ning Chuxia, she came, Ning Chuxia rushed to the door panting, running too fast, sweat on her forehead: “I’m back.”

As soon as she entered the house, she put her bag away and was about to go to the kitchen, still out of breath.

Mother Ning looked at her daughter, her heart was sour and unbearable, and she spoke hard: “Don’t know how to drink some water?”

This child, why is this child so stubborn?

She was like eating lotus seeds without the heart, the bitter taste dripped directly from the tongue to the heart.

The more Ning Chuxia worked hard in reading, the more confusion it brought to Ning’s father and Ning’s mother.

They watched the child try so hard, and their mood began to shake. Could it be that they wanted to let Ning Chuchun or Ning Chuqiu go home?

But this decision is so easy to do. As I said before, although Ning Chuqiu’s body and bones have improved in recent years, but when he was just born, the doctor said that he might not be able to support things, so they still have lingering fears, if Ning Chuqiu If she finds someone in the village to marry, she will inevitably have to do housework and farm work. With her small body, it is estimated that half a work point is enough, so this child cannot go back to the village.

And Ning Chuchun, they have high hopes. There is only such a boy in the family. In the future, his daughter will always marry out. Before he left, Grandpa Ning told them to cultivate Chuchun well. The point is one point, let him come back like this, and he will have no face to see Grandpa Ning when he is gone.

So this thing is like an infinite loop, and it goes around again.

“Okay.” Ning Chuxia smiled naively and wiped the sweat from her forehead. When she entered the kitchen, Ning Chuqiu followed her like a small tail.

She was still afraid of heat, but at least she could help make a meal and put some chopsticks.

Ning Chuchun looked at the back kitchen silently, with frowning furrowed, as if he had a lot of thoughts, his thoughts were shaken, and it was difficult to make a decision.

…

There are only two primary schools in Shangtong in Haimiao Town. One is a children’s primary school built by the factory and the government. The admission threshold is priority for children from each unit; the other is a central primary school where the three brothers and sisters of the Ning family study. You can read as long as you can afford it.

Mr. He was an educated youth who was assigned to this place back then. Later, he got married here and was assigned to teach at the Central Primary School. Now he is the head teacher of the class of three siblings.

When the children came home from school, she hadn’t left so early, so she usually had to check around the school office to make sure before leaving.

Recently, she has been walking a few minutes later than usual.

“Xiao He, did your little tail ask questions today?” Teacher Li from the next class had just finished. She moved slowly and used to be the last one to leave in the school.

Teacher He nodded: “I’m done.”

Teacher Li said enviously: “The children in your class are really good, eager to learn and motivated.”

Teacher He just smiled humbly: “It’s almost the entrance exam, the child is nervous.”

It is difficult for her to explain her recent complications to Teacher Li.

It is said that the teacher should treat the children equally and treat the children in the class equally, but in fact, the teacher still has some preference in his heart.

In the past, when she was in class, her favorite child was Ning Chuqiu, who was well-behaved and cute, and did well in exams.

For Ning Chuxia, Mr. He’s impression is also quite good. After all, this child is also a top student in the class, but he is too reticent to talk, and he is always bored on weekdays.

Thinking of that day, Mr. He was still a little surprised. On the weekends, she slept in as usual, got up and prepared to go out to buy food. As soon as she opened the door, she saw Ning Chuxia squatting in front of the house reading a book.

She pulled the child up in surprise, and saw Ning Chuxia grab the corner of her sleeve.

Those eyes, timid and full of longing, seemed to treat her as the last straw.

“Teacher, can you help me?”

Maybe out of love? In the end, Teacher He nodded and agreed, helping Ning Chuxia hide part of the whereabouts of the weekend.

And after the close contact, Teacher He also discovered that Ning Chuxia’s vigor, the urge to read well.

She seemed to be pushed to the limit, all her potential was stimulated and she moved forward tirelessly.

After realizing the child’s talent, Teacher He couldn’t help but pass on some junior high school knowledge to her, but she didn’t expect that Ning Chuxia would be able to get through without any obstacles.

At first, Teacher He didn’t want to understand why Ning Chuxia’s grades have been so stable over the years, and she did not see the extraordinary learning ability that she has now demonstrated, but later in the process of communicating with Ning Chuxia, she seemed to understand.

One is dissatisfaction.

The second is… the power of affirmation.

The impact of these two effects can be too great.

Teacher Li said with a smile: “You have a leader in your class, and you have a good atmosphere with the whole class. Ning Chuqiu is a reliable child.” She was very supportive, but this was exactly what she thought, and their class was one less. A child like Ning Chuqiu took the lead.

You see, with the children taking the lead, the results are gradually showing. Teacher He will have children like Ning Chuxia who keep asking questions. They don’t have them, but she still has no confidence in Ning Chuxia. It’s too late to start working hard now.

“Maybe your class will give you the first place in the town in the early autumn. If you do better than the students in the children’s elementary school, then you will become a famous teacher.”

Teacher He said softly, “That’s not necessarily true.”

When Teacher Li heard it, she couldn’t help photographing her: “Be confident, what if? Although we have never competed in the children’s elementary school before, who knows what will happen in the future? I think your class will be very good in the early autumn.”

Teacher He didn’t answer, just smiled. She didn’t necessarily say it, not this one.