Chapter 15 Raising a Child is Hard
Yang Jiabo's little eyebrows were almost knotted in a frown. "I have no appetite and can't eat. Let's talk about it when I get better."
"Jiajia, why don't you have any books in your room?" Wei Feng exclaimed, as if he had discovered something new.
"Do you want to read books?" Yang Jiabo was surprised.
Had Wei Feng changed his nature?
"No, it’s just that you’re so amazing. I’m sure you’ve read a lot of books," Wei Feng said, showing rare insight.
Yang Jiabo and Wei Jing were both stunned. Since his rebirth, Yang Jiabo had never read any books beyond the second-grade elementary school level. How could he fill such a huge gap?
Acting cool feels great at the moment, but the aftermath is a disaster.
"I have many cousins. I can just go to their places, flip through their books and learn from them. It’s not that hard," Yang Jiabo said. At this time, the advantage of having many relatives was reflected, if nothing else, there were plenty of people to take the blame.
Wei Feng, recalling the cousins Yang Jiabo had mentioned, he said enviously, "Jiajia, you have so many relatives."
"Yeah," Yang Jiabo replied. Children were so easy to fool. He turned to look at Wei Jing and his heart skipped a beat. He had forgotten about the prodigy standing there. He wasn’t sure if Wei Jing believed him. Well, he had managed to get through it for now. As for the future, wasn’t there a saying: A child prodigy may not grow up to be exceptional.
[小时了了，大未必佳 (xiǎoshí liǎoliǎo, dà wèibì jiā): lit. a child prodigy may not grow up to be exceptional, it suggests that early talent doesn't guarantee success in adulthood]
"Wow—waaah—" A heart-wrenching cry came from next door. Judging by the voice, it was Yang Qing. Yang Jiabo shuddered. What had happened?
"You guys sit for a while. I’ll go take a look," Yang Jiabo said, then rushed out in a hurry. At the same time, Grandma Yang also came out of the house, hurrying toward the next door.
The door to Yang Jianguo’s house was slightly ajar, and Yang Qing’s crying could be heard from inside. Grandma Yang pushed the door open and was shocked by the scene inside. The room was in complete disarray, as if a typhoon had swept through it. The dirty little Yang Qing sat on the floor, crying bitterly, while Yang Jianguo crouched by the doorway, hugging his head, his shoulders shaking as if he was crying too. His clothes were wrinkled, as if they had been pulled out of a pickle jar, making him look both pitiful and disheveled.
"What’s going on? Was the house robbed?" Grandma Yang asked anxiously.
"Mom—" Yang Jianguo looked up and called out miserably, tears streaming down his face.
A grown man with stubble on his face crying like that was truly hard to watch. Yang Jiabo turned his head away, refusing to look at him.
Grandma Yang was also frightened by his appearance and became even more anxious. "You’re a grown man crying like this. Aren’t you ashamed? Stop crying and tell me what happened!"
"Grandma—hic—Mom, hic—left us," little Yang Qing cried and hiccupped.
"Stop crying, my dear grandson," Grandma Yang said, walking over and picking him up with a heartbroken expression. She used her sleeve to wipe his tears. "What exactly happened?"
Yang Jianguo took a deep breath, calming himself slightly, then said in utter despair, "Huang Xiufen took all the money in the house and ran off with another man."
"What?" Grandma Yang’s voice was sharp and filled with anger.
"She abandoned us and ran away. How could she do this to me? How could she…" Yang Jianguo was lost in his own grief.
Grandma Yang suddenly thought of something and asked furiously, "I haven’t seen your tractor for days. Where is it?"
Yang Jianguo lowered his head and mumbled for a long time without answering. Grandma Yang had a bad feeling and pressed him urgently, "Speak up! What happened?"
Under Grandma Yang’s repeated questioning, Yang Jianguo finally stammered, "I sold the tractor, and Huang Xiufen took the money."
At this moment, Yang Jiabo felt sympathy for him. Everyone in the neighborhood knew that while Yang Jianguo was a bit slick and lazy, he was genuinely good to his wife. He did whatever she asked without question, completely obedient to her commands. Of course, he was also a classic example of 'a man who forgets his mother once he has a wife'. Now that his wife was gone, all he had left was his mother, and a son.
"What a sin! That shameless woman! In the old days, that kind of shameless woman would have been arrested and paraded through the streets. I was blind to let you marry her back then!" Grandma Yang was so angry she could barely breathe, gasping for air.
Seeing Grandma Yang’s pale face, Yang Jiabo thought to himself, this is bad, she’s really worked up
Grandpa was out in the fields, and everyone else was at work. Only Grandma was left at home to take care of him. Yang Jianguo was useless, and Yang Jiabo was afraid Grandma might collapse from anger. He quickly ran on his short legs to the guardhouse at the hardware store.
"Uncle Wang, something’s happened at my house. Can I borrow the phone?" Yang Jiabo hugged the guard’s leg, blinking his eyes and looking at him pleadingly.
"It’s you, little rascal. Where do you want to call?" The guard picked him up.
"I need to call my dad’s factory and ask him to come home."
"Do you know the number?"
"Yes," Yang Jiabo nodded obediently.
Yang Jiabo wasn’t even as tall as the table, so the guard placed him on a stool and put the old rotary phone in front of him. Yang Jiabo thanked him, picked up the receiver, and started dialing by poking his finger into the rotary dial.
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