He had just run out of the school gate when the monitor Tang Shaokang led a group of people, including the class officers, out of the teachers' building, carrying buckets, mops, brooms and shovels. They were surrounded by the homeroom teacher Wang Yumin. Seeing the back of Feng Yiping, she said, 'That looks like Feng Yiping. Teacher Wang, do you want me to call him back?'
Wang Yumin shook her head, 'Forget it, there should be enough people.'
She knew that Feng Yiping was related to Lin Huijia and thought that he was probably going to pay New Year's visits. Of course, it was worth considering whether he was avoiding the work.
It so happened that her aunt came out to splash water and, seeing Feng Yiping, shouted into the house, 'Lao Lin, Yiping is here, hurry up and set off the firecrackers.'
His uncle, with a square head, big ears and a beard, came out with a smile, holding a cigarette in his hand. His cousin Lin Rui followed behind him, holding a long firecracker, and Lin Hui, munching on melon seeds, brought up the rear.
Lin Rui hung the firecrackers on the clothesline in front of the door. Lin Kaiming was about to light them when Lin Rui snatched the cigarette from his hand and said, 'I'll light them, I'll light them.'
He held one ear and leaned over to light the fuse. There was an instant "popping" sound, and Lin Rui immediately dropped the cigarette, covering his ears with his hands and running to the side.
'I knew you would do that,' Lin Kaiming laughed at him with his arms folded.
When they got inside, Lin Kaiming's aunt collected the plates on the coffee table and, together with Lin Hui, brought over some new plates with melon seeds, candy, biscuits and mandarins. 'Yiping, watch some TV while I cook,' she said.
Lin Kaiming's father asked a few questions about the family situation and then praised him, 'I heard from Lin Hui that you did well in the exam, with full marks in several subjects. You came second in the whole county in the first year, didn't you! Not bad, not bad, you're a bookworm!'
Feng Yiping was humble and said something like, 'It was just a fluke.'
Lin Kaiming was teaching Lin Rui, who was peeling mandarin oranges, "Learn from your brother Yiping and don't just think about playing all day.'
Lin Rui shouted back, "But I've improved, the teacher praised me on my report card!'
Lin Hui mocked him, "Twenty-first last semester, twentieth this semester, that's a big improvement.'
Lin Rui retorted, "What about you?'
'I was 18th, which is better than you!' Lin Huihong said with a blush, and her uncle also laughed.
'Eighteenth?' Lin Rui said, 'Don't think we don't know.'
He ran over to Feng Yiping's side, 'Brother Ping, you gave my sister the wrong answer, didn't you?'
Feng Yiping didn't even look at his aunt and Lin Hui, and carefully tore off the white threads from the orange segments. 'I would like to, but I haven't had the chance. The test was so strictly supervised, and both people who were caught got zero points. As far as I know, no one dared to copy, and no one dared to pass the answers to others.'
'Hmph!' Although Lin Rui was unconvinced, he was still sensible enough not to continue arguing. In front of his sister, he was still the weak one.
The lunch was very sumptuous, with chicken, duck, pork, beef, fish and everything else. Feng Yiping's favourite dish was a type of mushroom that he couldn't name, but it was very fresh.
The three of them drank cola, Lin Kaiming drank white wine, and he even asked Feng Yiping if he wanted a glass, but he was told off by his aunt.
No one ate, either, they were all full from the dishes.
Lin Hui tidied up after her mother and then invited Feng Yiping to go to school with her. Feng Yiping was playing chess with Lin Kaiming. 'I'll go later, you go too. There's not much to do now, I'm sure they're cleaning up everywhere.'
Lin Hui thought that was a good idea, and Lin Rui volunteered, "I'll go and help you.'
Lin Hui gave him a tap on the head, "If you go and help, and the teacher sees you, won't that look suspicious?'
Lin Kaiming said, 'That's why I told you not to act impulsively and to think more.'
When his father spoke, Lin Rui rubbed his head and said, "Oh.'
After three games, one person still won one game, one game was a draw, and then someone asked Lin Kaiming to go play mahjong. Lin Kaiming said to Feng Yiping, "You play here, and you'll still eat dinner at home tonight.'
His aunt asked him, 'Are you sleepy? Why don't you go to Rui's room and take a nap?'
Lin Yiping said no, everyone watched TV, but they didn't find anything interesting. Lin Rui took out the checkers, and the three of them played. Only the aunt was watching 'Wan Jun'.
Lin Hui took the opportunity to openly attack Lin Rui, winning a lot of the good things he got during the New Year's visit. Lin Rui's chess skills were not bad, and although he lost miserably, he did not deny it.
After dinner, Feng Yiping and Lin Hui returned to school leisurely, one after the other. Xiao Zhijie and Wang Changning were still eating in the corridor. Seeing him, Xiao Zhijie anxiously said, 'Why are you only back now? Teacher Wang has been looking for you several times, telling you to go and see her as soon as you get back!'
'Really?'
'Of course it's true. If you don't believe me, just ask Wang Changning. Right, Changning?'
'Yes, I heard about it too,' said Wang Changning, eating with his head down and in a muffled voice.
'Really?' Feng Yiping jumped over and held Wang Changning's head down. 'Wang Changning, you've gone bad too!'
Wang Changning laughed and jumped away, pointing his spoon at Xiao Zhijie and saying, 'He's the one who told on me, not me.'
Feng Yiping imitated the action in Hong Kong movies, moving his hands around, trying to make a 'clicking' sound, but failing. He then pretended to be threatening as he walked towards Xiao Zhijie, 'Okay, let's go find Teacher Wang together and see what she wants with me.'
Xiao Zhijie took a few small steps backwards, 'Okay, okay, I was just trying to trick you. You were so unfaithful, you went off and ate and drank all by yourself, and didn't even warn me, and made us do all the cleaning for the whole day.'
'What cleaning? I don't know!' Feng Yiping pretended to be ignorant.
'Don't know? You were running so fast?' Xiao Zhijie said indignantly.
'Exactly, don't pretend,' Wang Changning walked over and stood with Xiao Zhijie.
Okay, the two of them have teamed up, so it's even more important not to admit it. 'I was trying to go early to pay New Year's visits and come right back, but they had something to help with at home, so I had to stay until now.'
'Really?'
'More real than real gold!' Feng Yiping said with conviction.
'So what do you need help with?' Wang Changning asked.
'There's a lot of delicious food I need help eating,' Feng Yiping said with a smile, before turning and running.
Xiao Zhijie and Wang Changning felt they had been teased, and of course they wouldn't let it go. They placed their bowls on the hands of the students next to them, and surrounded Feng Yiping as they chased after him.
Seeing that there was no escape, Feng Yiping had no choice but to admit defeat. He took out a tin can of fermented black beans and catfish from his school bag and said, 'Look, how could I forget you when there's something delicious?
This kind of thing is still considered rare nowadays. He took out two more sausages and offered one to each of them. 'Isn't that enough to show our friendship?'
Xiao Zhijie ignored what he said and just stared at his school bag. Wang Changning peeled off a sausage and took a big bite, then told him, 'Don't look. No matter how much he's hiding in his school bag, we'll all get a share anyway.'
'Yes, yes, Feng Yiping, you just keep it for us. Let's eat this canned fish and have some meat,' Xiao Zhijie said.
You know, occasionally forgetting your age and acting like someone younger can be quite relaxing. With a little planning, you can be lazy and avoid group work, and it's been years since I felt so good about it.
Feng Yiping simply used his youthful energy to skip back to the classroom, humming to himself, 'We ordinary people are really happy today...'
In the evening, it was study time, which was naturally occupied by the class teacher Wang Yumin, once again emphasising the urgency of learning, 'One semester has passed, and we are one step closer to the middle school entrance exam. Every day that follows is precious for everyone, so we must immediately get out of the New Year's rhythm and quickly get back to studying.'
Then, without naming any names, she criticised some of the students today for their undesirable behaviour of avoiding work in every way, as if she had also glanced at Feng Yiping, who looked innocent, with wide eyes, as if to say, 'Teacher, what are you talking about?'.
It seems that many students still have not come out of the New Year's rhythm. On the morning of the ninth day of the first month, when they went out for morning exercises, the director of teaching dragged more than 20 sleepyheads out of their dormitories, and a female teacher also found four from the girls' dormitory.
It is said that this record directly broke the number of people sleeping in when they first ran drills after the Spring Festival three years ago.
It must still be a warning to others to quickly change their state of mind, still immersed in the atmosphere of the New Year. By the time everyone had finished running drills and morning study hall and was getting ready to eat breakfast, these students were still standing in the punishment area of the playground, and the four female students were no exception.
After all, girls have thin skin, and in the full glare of the spotlight, none of them dared raise their heads. One of them was already crying, so pitiful!
Many students, especially the boys, were moved by compassion. But no matter how sympathetic they were, it was useless. The iron-hearted head teacher gave the word, and they cried. They cried, and they stood there as long as they were punished.
Of course, the effect was immediate. From the first lesson onwards, no one was lazy anymore.
But it was clear that the students weren't the only ones still in the New Year mood. The first lesson in the afternoon was maths, and the first thing the maths teacher said was, 'Please turn to page 3!'
After a short silence, the students all burst out laughing, it seems that the maths teacher definitely didn't miss out on mahjong during the Spring Festival.
The teacher also laughed, and didn't forget to make an excuse to break the ice, 'It's the first lesson of the new year, I said that to lighten the mood, please turn to page 30 in your textbooks.'
In the evening study session, it was again occupied by Wang Yumin, who was still going over the past papers. In fact, she was just using the past papers to get everyone to review and pick up again the things they had forgotten over the Spring Festival.
Feng Yiping's composition was once again used as an example, and she read it aloud. When she got to the part where Feng Yiping wrote that the person looked very anxious and apologetic, Wang Yumin paused for a moment, and the classroom fell silent. Then some of the students who had caught on laughed quietly, and soon the whole class was laughing.
The students laughed while looking at Feng Yiping, who could only laugh nervously. He felt that the homeroom teacher must have done it on purpose.
Sure enough, after the next study session, many classmates gathered around him. Xiao Zhijie said, 'Feng Yiping, why are you so anxious and apologetic?'
The surrounding classmates laughed again and again. In the corner of his eye, Feng Yiping saw Huang Jingping slumped over the table, laughing.
Feng Yiping also laughed, not at all annoyed. Come to think of it, these are all poor children, unable to eat well or sleep well, studying all day long and rarely able to relax.
If possible, Feng Yiping would like to find more such jokes to let everyone relax.