Now that the final exams were over and the holiday had begun, Huan, the son, took his wife and children to see his mother.
Of course, he made an appointment with his eldest brother’s family, and the two children went to see their mother together.
For men, this was filial piety. As for how difficult this time was for their wives, it was not the focus of their consideration.
For the old lady, she enjoyed this kind of gathering. As she got older, no matter how tough she used to be, she now enjoyed having her children and grandchildren around her.
At family gatherings like this, the children were the most talked about.
“Hehe is the first in her grade!” Huan showed off to his mother, proudly putting it on his face.
The old lady pointed her finger at him and scolded him with a smile, “Look at you!”
She then hugged Heling. “Our Hehe is getting better and better!”
Heling smiled shyly and her small face was glowing.
Qi smiled and said, “Like when we were young, me, Xiao Lin, and Yanyan, we all took the first and second places in the exam casually. When we got to middle school, we started to struggle. If we didn’t work hard, we would easily fall. It’s still the happiest time in elementary school, I’m so jealous. By the way, how did Shoushou do on his final exam?”
Huan maintained his smile, looked at his niece, and waved his hand. “Forget it.”
Yansheng suddenly discovered that maintaining a smile was actually an ability. At least now she hadn’t cultivated this kind of ability. She clasped Shuocheng’s head, who wanted to retreat, with one hand. She said, “It’s okay. He passed this semester.”
Her cousin, Lin, laughed loudly. Her aunt and uncle all looked like they couldn’t help laughing. Yansheng looked at Qi’s smile with a hint of disdain. She saw that although her father maintained his smile, he also rubbed his hands on his knees.
She was slightly stunned.
At home, Huan was the sky. He had the greatest power and influence in the family, and pursued his own happiness and enjoyment as he pleased.
But in front of the old lady, in front of his eldest brother and sister-in-law, he turned out not to be so arbitrary.
Yansheng looked away and was about to speak, but Heling had already said what she wanted to say.
She closed her mouth with her little palms, trying to tell her grandmother quietly, “He has made much better progress this time. He failed two subjects last semester and even scored 28 points in the math test…”
But everyone was sitting together in groups, and there was nothing inaudible. Qi and Lin laughed even harder.
Yingying was so embarrassed and she couldn’t wait to sew the mouths of Yansheng and Heling.
However, the old lady was surprised and said, “That is really a great improvement.”
She beckoned to Shuocheng, “Shuoshuo, come here, come to Grandma.”
Shuocheng hesitated for a moment. Children had very good instincts and could distinguish creatures on top of the food chain. He had always been a little afraid of his grandmother and she had never been close to him before.
But his eldest sister, Yansheng, put her palm on his back and gave him a push.
His second sister, Heling, took the initiative to stand up and gave him the spot next to their grandmother.
Shuocheng reached the old lady’s side.
The old lady had sharp eyes and had been observing her children and grandchildren all the time. She had long noticed that Shuocheng was much more honest than before, but not the kind of silly honesty. The kid’s eyes were still darting around, but he didn’t dare to be naughty.
She held her little grandson’s hand and asked, “Tell Grandma, why have you made so much progress?”
With Heling’s first place and Learning Star award in front of him, Shuocheng was actually quite self-aware, knowing that his grades were unmatched. So, he was actually not happy to be with the old lady just now, he thought he would be scolded.
He thought she would say something like ‘Your sister can get first place in the grade, how come you only pass’, and so on.
But to his surprise, his grandmother’s tone seemed to be full of praise and encouragement.
Shuocheng had never had stage fright. He was different from Heling. He dared to open a dye shop if given some color. Immediately, he said loudly, “My sisters and my nanny watch me study every day, so I have made progress!”
This made the old lady laugh.
Yansheng saw that Huan’s smile, which was only ‘maintained’, had blossomed into a real smile again.
She suddenly discovered that it was really interesting to observe her father from a place other than ‘home’. Even observing Yingying outside, seeing her embarrassed, and having a flattering smile on her face turned out to be interesting.
In the past, her vision was too limited to the small field of ‘home’ and she had seen too little.
“You, you’re just a little skinny monkey!” The old lady smiled and poked Shuocheng’s forehead. “You have to let your sisters control you more strictly. Remember, what your sisters do is all for your own good. Look at it, as soon as they take care of you, your academic performance will rise, ah! Everyone is happy and you will be beaten less.”
Shuocheng thought that it was true.
As long as he listened to them and did his homework seriously, Yansheng, the great demon king, wouldn’t beat him casually.
Moreover, he passed all the exams and it seemed that everyone was happy, so he also became happy inexplicably.
Remembering that he had a great time in the mountains before, he boldly said to the old lady, “Grandma, when will we go to the mountains again? I want to go to the mountains to play!”
This kid, who looked dignified and strong and not naughty, was quite likable. The old lady got closer to him at several points in her heart and said, “It’s winter now, so there is nothing in the mountains. We will go again during the summer vacation. Isn’t it a holiday? You also take the children out to play and go to a warm place.”
The last two sentences were said to Huan.
Huan nodded immediately. “I will make arrangements.”
Yansheng’s aunt said at this time, “We have to go somewhere during the holiday. We’ll let Xiao Lin go to study in Country M, and let him take a look at the school environment, campus environment, and humanities environment over there. So, when he applies for school in the future, he knows in his heart where he really wants to go.”
Compared with the two elementary students who got first place and passed the exams, Lin’s choice of university was obviously much more important.
The topic and the old lady’s attention were all pulled over by Yansheng’s aunt.
Yansheng noticed that Huan did not compete with his eldest brother’s family for topics, letting the old lady’s attention be drawn to them.
She suddenly realized that the reason why Huan always faintly fell behind at such family gatherings was because his children were not as good as other people’s children.
Heling was still young after all, leaving her aside, Yansheng and Shuocheng alone couldn’t handle Qi and Lin.
Yansheng suddenly felt ashamed.
She did have a faint yearning and slight inferiority to those good students and cousins in her previous life.
But this was the first time she felt this kind of scorching sense of shame.
Her gaze fell on the floor for a moment, and when she raised it again, she ran into the sight of her cousin, Qi, who seemed to be smiling.
Some words didn’t need to be spoken, because the eyes were the windows of the soul.
Yansheng had always been sensitive to the word ‘hostility’. The shame faded, her gaze became cold, and she turned back to meet Qi’s gaze.
They looked at each other for a moment and then turned their gazes away.
After talking about Lin’s studies with her first daughter-in-law, the old lady asked about Qi’s studies.
Qi smiled and said, “As soon as I entered college, I joined the student union. I think the student union is the most effective institution in the school. Not only are there many specific matters to be done, but there are also many interpersonal relationships between students that need to be handled properly. The university is like a small closed society, although it is small, it has all the internal affairs.”
The old lady kept smiling and nodding.
Qi suddenly changed her words, smiled, and asked Yansheng, “How is Yanyan doing at No.1 High School? Have you been promoted to the top class?”
Her mother also turned her head and asked, “I heard that the No.1 High School had to arrange their classes twice a year, is that right? If you don’t study well, you will fall into a different class. Is there a lot of pressure?”
They really deserved to be a mother and daughter, the tone and even the meaning behind their words were so similar.
Yansheng saw that Huan’s smile that had been maintained was finally a little unnatural.
It turned out that in front of her uncle’s family, she was his biggest weakness.
Yansheng felt ironic because no matter how she felt about Huan in her heart or even if they had made trouble like that in her previous life, in the eyes of others, they would always be father and daughter, constantly cutting through each other.
She raised her head and said, “I have been in the preparatory class. The top class in No.1 High School is almost the tip of the pyramid in the whole of K City. They are full of people with strong IQs and hard work, and their goals are to enter the Top 2 Universities. A person with an ordinary IQ like me can only rely on hard work from day to day to strive for a double first-class exam, just like Sister Qiqi.”
In the previous life, if she dared to say that she wanted to take a double first-class exam, it would be a joke.
But in this life, it was no longer a joke. In terms of the slightly higher grades in the preparatory class of No.1 High School, it was normal to pass the exam, but failure to pass the exam was due to insufficient effort.
In this life, entering K University like her Qi was something that could be achieved by her own efforts and planning.
There was light in Huan’s eyes and the trace of discomfort and lack of confidence a moment ago disappeared. He looked at his daughter with a smile at the corner of his mouth and encouragement in his eyes.
Qi and her mother choked on a breath of air.
Qi’s mother said with a smile, “You are still young, so you think everything is easy. In fact, it’s not as easy as you think. Do you think it’s easy to take a double first-class exam? You don’t know how hard your sister studied!”
Yansheng nodded. “You are right. If you have an insufficient IQ, you can only balance it by hard work.”
Qi almost vomited out a mouthful of blood.
Before her mother was able to respond, the old lady suddenly clapped her hands and sighed. “In our family, there has never been such a particularly intelligent child. I have really seen the kind of children who are born intelligent. They go to class the same way and after they finish their studies, they will have a plenary meeting and they will do whatever topic they want. As for us, we have also learned, and we really have to pay more time and energy to catch up when it comes to whether we can do the questions or not.”
Yansheng’s voice became gentle, and she took the topic and said, “Yes, students at the top class in our school are all like this. A few classmates that are like this in our class have all been promoted to the top class this semester.”
The old lady touched Shuocheng’s head beside her. “Did you hear that, so you have to keep working hard.”
However, Heling was a little confused. “Grandma, what kind of person am I? Am I also the same as Sister Qiqi, who has insufficient IQ and can only rely on hard work?”
The old lady laughed.