“You child, don’t come over again next time. The sun is so strong, you’ll get heatstroke. Don’t you have work tomorrow?” Mama Wang took the wooden basket from Wang Cheng and pulled out the mung bean soup he had made to cool them down. The moment she lifted the lid, a rush of steam escaped.
There was hardly a clean spot anywhere in the house under renovation. Papa Wang finally managed to find a few unused chairs and had to wipe them down before anyone could sit.
Wang Cheng had made a large amount of mung bean soup because he had taken the workers into consideration, and he had brought more than a dozen bowls as well.
Mama Wang ladled the soup into the bowls Wang Cheng arranged, then told Papa Wang to call the workers over for some relief from the heat.
The workers were all from Guanjia Village. For efficiency and speed, the family had hired more than ten of them, and Mama Wang knew some personally. None of them were surprised to hear there was mung bean soup. She had already brought them cooling soup several times before, always in generous amounts, practically enough to fill everyone up.
Once everyone gathered together, conversation naturally started. The gaokao results had only just come out and were still a hot topic, so talk inevitably turned to the provincial top scorer. News that Wang Ziyu held that distinction had already spread everywhere, and not a single person there was unaware of it. Anyone familiar with Wang Cheng’s family could hardly avoid feeling envious. Of the three children, two had grades good enough to make people jealous, while the third, though not on Wang Ning’an and Wang Ziyu’s level, was hardly poor at school either. Who knew how many lifetimes of good fortune the family had accumulated?
Papa Wang loved hearing people praise his children and grinned so widely he could barely close his mouth. When one of the workers asked how he had raised them, he even started discussing his so-called parenting wisdom. The mood was quite harmonious.
“Brother Wang, I seem to remember one of your relatives had a child taking the gaokao too, but I heard the result wasn’t very good.” Guan Dayan suddenly remembered the matter. He was one of the workers Papa Wang had hired, two years older than him and a fairly decent man. Perhaps he had heard some rumors, because he spoke with a touch of caution.
Their relatives could only mean the families of Wang Cheng’s Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle.
Both families were renovating their new houses nearby as well. Thick-skinned Madam Zhang came over every few days. To put it nicely, she was visiting relatives. To put it less nicely, she was looking for trouble. After several visits, she had left a deep impression on Guan Dayan and the others, and before long they learned the families did not get along. Ever since the gaokao results came out, however, Madam Zhang had stopped showing up entirely.
“Uncle Yan means Second Uncle’s daughter, right? They do have a daughter who took the gaokao this year, my cousin Wang Ningxiang. I just don’t know how she did.”
Wang Cheng was the one who answered. He had an extremely poor impression of Madam Zhang, and naturally felt no affection for his cousin Wang Ningxiang either. Her temper was just like Madam Zhang’s, and she had hated studying since childhood. How well could she possibly have done on the gaokao? That was exactly why he had deliberately asked.
Mama Wang glanced at him but said nothing.
“I only heard about it too. Apparently… apparently she only got a little over one hundred points.” Guan Dayan hesitated as he spoke. A score like that was usually something only the village delinquents who never studied managed to get, and some of them could even score over two hundred. Compared with Wang Ziyu, barely more than one hundred was painfully low. One could only say the girl had absolutely no talent for studying.
“Hahaha.” Wang Cheng slapped his thigh and burst out laughing. “How low does your IQ have to be to score that? My cousin will probably have to stuff a lot of money into someone’s hands if she wants to go to university.”
Guan Dayan did not dare agree and could only give two dry laughs.
“Chengcheng, no matter how low her IQ is, she’s still your cousin.” Papa Wang was afraid Wang Cheng’s laughter would be so loud it summoned Madam Zhang, without noticing that his own wording was not much better.
“Whether she even considers me her older cousin is hard to say.” Wang Cheng did not care. In his memory, this cousin had always had an overbearing temper. Her parents had spoiled her rotten. She never did any work, and if anything went against her wishes, she yelled at people. Apparently, she had even shouted at her own grandparents more than once. It was nothing unusual.
“Ahem. Both of you, say a little less.” Mama Wang finally spoke.
After finishing the mung bean soup, everyone went back to work.
Wang Cheng was not worried the workers would repeat their conversation. Otherwise, Mama Wang would have stopped him much earlier rather than waiting until they had finished talking. Besides, anyone with a little sense knew Second Uncle’s family was not worth associating with. Deal with them, and there would only be trouble later.
Mama Wang shoved the used pot, bowls, and basket into his hands and sent him away. Even if he stayed, she would not let him help with the work, and there was too much dust.
Wang Cheng knew Mama Wang never changed her mind once she decided something, so he could only carry the basket and leave. Clouds happened to cover the sun just as he went out, making the air much cooler. After walking only one or two hundred meters, he ran into Second Uncle Wang Hongwen coming toward him. The man froze when he saw him before calling his name.
“So it’s Chengcheng. I heard you’re working in the city. What brings you back?”
Wang Cheng studied the ingratiating smile on his second uncle’s face. He was not imagining it. The smile was so eager it was almost afraid of going unnoticed, completely different from the perfunctory, skin-deep smiles Wang Hongwen had given them before. Wang Cheng only had to think for a moment to understand why.
News that he had received a large sum of money after selling Fengxia Mountain had spread long ago. Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle’s families definitely knew and were probably green with envy. Now that the Wang family had suddenly surpassed them, the basis for their old arrogance was gone. If they ingratiated themselves now, perhaps they could squeeze some money out of the family later. Only a fool would fall for that.
“Second Uncle. Mom called me the day before yesterday and said Xiaoyu’s gaokao results were out. I heard she’s the provincial top scorer, so I came home and brought her a gift while I was at it. Oh, right. Cousin Ningxiang took the gaokao too, didn’t she? How many points did she get?” Wang Cheng looked perfectly sincere, as though he had not just mocked Wang Ningxiang’s low IQ a short while ago.
“This… Second Uncle isn’t very sure either. I’ll ask when I get back.” Wang Hongwen looked as though a fishbone had lodged in his throat, stuck in an unbearably awkward position.
“The results have been out for two or three days already. Second Uncle, you really know how to stay calm. My dad was thinking about them every day even before they came out. Luckily, Ziyu didn’t disappoint him.”
“Heh heh. I haven’t congratulated Ziyu yet on becoming the provincial top scorer. Well, Second Uncle still has something to do, so I won’t keep chatting.” With that, Wang Hongwen hurried off.
Wang Cheng watched his retreating back with a meaningful smile. Like hell Wang Cheng believed Second Uncle didn’t know. Everyone in Guanjia Village knew Wang Ningxiang’s score. How could Madam Zhang, the biggest gossip around, possibly not have heard? If she knew, Second Uncle certainly knew. Wang Cheng had only wanted to make him uncomfortable on purpose.
When he returned home, Wang Ziyu was in the living room playing with her new computer.
Back in Wangjia Village, their house had still had an internet line. After they moved, Wang Cheng had gone to work in the city not long afterward, and with hardly anyone at home needing the internet, they had not installed service here.
Wang Cheng did not know much about computers. He could only handle simple operations. Eldest Brother was much more knowledgeable. The only reason the family’s several-year-old computer still worked was because Wang Ning’an had always maintained it properly.
“Second Brother, this computer is really nice.” Wang Ziyu lifted her pretty face from the screen. Her bright, watery eyes made her look like a lively little beauty.
Their family had good genes, but most of that came from Mama Wang. Her full name was Guan Lanfang, and when she was young, she had been a famous beauty in Guanjia Village. The men pursuing her could practically have formed several circles around the village, including some wealthy ones, yet Mama Wang had chosen honest Papa Wang. It had caused quite a stir at the time. Even now, though she was older, one could still see how beautiful she must have been in her youth. Mama Wang disliked talking about those days, but some older villagers loved telling the stories, so all three siblings had heard them.
“You don’t know anything about computers either. How do you know it’s good?” Wang Cheng thought that if a computer costing more than ten thousand yuan turned out to be bad, he would march straight back to the shop owner.
“I just think it’s good.” Wang Ziyu had never studied computers. They had one at home, but it belonged to Eldest Brother, and she had needed to focus on school, so she was not allowed to play on it.
“In a couple of days, have Dad get an internet line installed for you. You can look up things about university online.”
“No need. I don’t use the internet often, so it would be a waste. Besides, Mom said we’ll be able to move into the new house in another month or two.” Wang Ziyu shook her head. She was the only person in the family still spending her parents’ money. How could she keep asking for more?
Wang Cheng thought she had a point. The new house had not been demolished and rebuilt from scratch, and there were plenty of workers, so the renovations were moving quickly. They might not even need two full months. “By the way, where’s that stupid pig I left with you? Why haven’t I seen it?” So much time had passed that he had almost forgotten the pig existed.
“It’s having the time of its life in the chicken coop. Piggy is way too playful. Every time I stop watching for a second, it runs off. It loves the chickens in there. With it around, the coop hasn’t had a peaceful day.” Despite what she said, Wang Ziyu was quite fond of the mini pig. She had never seen such a tiny pig before.
Wang Cheng went to the chicken coop to look. The stupid pig had probably worn itself out playing and was asleep in a corner. If its skin had not been black, he might not even have noticed it.
That evening, after eating dinner at home, Wang Cheng returned to the city.