The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 919: Chapter 897: Top Student in the 1980s 25

Zhang Heping heard from Xiangling that Xiao Yuan was excellent in his studies and always ranked first in exams.

He liked well-learned and sensible children, and seeing Xiao Yuan being sweet-spoken and well-mannered, left a good impression on him.

”Quickly, have a seat, you must be hungry, have some snacks first.”

Zhang Heping poured hot water for Xiao Yuan, letting him have some food to tide over his hunger.

Xiao Yuan didn’t hold back and took a piece of snack to eat.

Secretary An returned from buying groceries and laid them out on the large round table in the living room. Zhang Heping accompanied Xiao Heizi and his son drinking wine, while Xiangling and Anning went into the kitchen.

Xiao Yuan promptly headed into the kitchen upon seeing this.

Xiangling smiled, ”Why don’t you accompany them and sit for a while, what are you doing in the kitchen?”

”It’s warm here.” Xiao Yuan replied with a chuckle, ”I’m not drinking wine, so why sit there; it’s better to chat with you here.”

Anning smiled, picking some spinach she had grown, and took out the tomato sauce she had made, preparing to make noodle sauce.

Xiangling rolled out the dough and started making noodles.

In a short time, the noodles were ready.

Anning quickly served a big bowl of noodles to Xiao Yuan: ”I see they can still drink; I’ll serve them noodles later. You eat first.”

Xiangling served Anning a bowl of noodles as well: ”You two eat first; it will soon be time for school again.”

After serving the noodles, she went to see if there was anything she could help with.

In the kitchen, Anning and Xiao Yuan sat across from each other, each holding a big bowl, slurping noodles.

They found it quite amusing, and couldn’t help but smile at each other.

”Do you eat garlic?”

Anning looked at Xiao Yuan and asked.

Xiao Yuan shook his head, ”Is there fermented tofu?”

Anning looked in the cupboard, there was indeed some, and she shared half a piece with Xiao Yuan.

”We’re getting down-to-earth, aren’t we?”

Xiao Yuan laughed while enjoying his noodles, looking at Anning.

Indeed, back when he was an Alliance Marshal in his past life, he never imagined he’d be squatting down eating with his wife in this life. Living long enough, one goes through everything, experiencing all kinds of life.

Anning laughed as well, ”Hurry up and eat your noodles, or they’ll get soggy.”

Xiao Yuan slurped another mouthful of noodles as Anning couldn’t finish her large bowl and gave her noodles to Xiao Yuan after he had eaten half a bowl.

After finishing his noodles, Xiao Yuan picked up Anning’s bowl and drank the remaining broth.

After the meal, they went to the living room.

Anning said to Secretary An, ”Mom, I’m taking Brother Xiao Yuan to my room to listen to tapes.”

Secretary An waved her hand, ”Go ahead.”

Anning and Xiao Yuan went into the room, where she turned on the tape recorder, and they listened to English tapes together.

In the living room, Xiao Heizi asked Zhang Heping, ”What tapes are those? Are they songs?”

Zhang Heping laughed, ”They’re foreign language tapes. The English teachers here have heavy accents, so children inevitably learn it with mistakes. When they get to university in the future, it’ll take extra effort to correct it. That’s why I bought her tapes to listen while learning, and to be honest, she’s doing really well.”

Secretary An said proudly, ”This little girl of ours is so smart. Even after learning English, she feels it’s not enough. She pestered her dad to get friends in the Capital to buy more foreign language books and tapes. Now, besides English, she’s learning French and German. I’ve heard her say she wants to learn Japanese, German, and something like Latin. I don’t know where she gets the energy to learn all that, but just listening to it gives me a headache.”

”So, to learn English, you have to listen to tapes?”

Xiao Heizi wasn’t aware of this.

Xiangling, who had been in the city for a while, had learned a lot.

She told Xiao Heizi, ”That’s right, many kids in the city are listening to tapes. When Ningning first started school, her English score was just over seventy, but after listening to tapes and studying for a while, she scored a hundred in a small English test a few days ago. Now when she speaks in English, it sounds no different from the tapes.”

Hearing this got Xiao Heizi thinking.

He pondered how many more days he had, and whether he should buy a tape recorder for Xiao Yuan.

Since their family had divided up, everything the old couple saved was for Xiao Yuan’s education, so he needed to prepare well. The child is smart, and he can’t let his own shortcomings hinder the child’s education.

However, after calculating, Xiao Heizi still felt he didn’t have enough money.

He felt a bit troubled, and felt he wasn’t capable enough, letting Xiao Yuan down.

When it was time for school to start, Xiao Yuan and Anning came out of the room together.

Xiao Yuan held two books in his hand.

They went to school together, discussing the book content on the way.

Zhang Heping glanced outside and said to Xiao Heizi, ”Your kid here is promising, look at him, sensible and eager to learn, surely he’ll get into a good university in the future.”

Xiao Heizi drank a shot of liquor, ”If he really does get into university, I’d be overjoyed, that’d be a stroke of luck for the Xiao Family.”

Xiao Yuan contemplated ways to make money.

Anning was considering ways to make money too.

She was young, with little pocket money from Secretary An. It was inconvenient to buy anything she wanted. Of course, if she really wanted something, Secretary An would buy it for her, but she wasn’t a real child, and felt uneasy constantly asking for things.

Additionally, in a few years, she would need to buy many things. If she were to do experiments, it would cost a lot. While Zhang Heping and Secretary An weren’t short on money, their family was just at a modest level and couldn’t provide her the funds she required for experiments.

So she had to start preparing early.

Anning knew about Xiao Yuan writing articles.

However, while Xiao Yuan could write articles to earn manuscript fees, she couldn’t; she was too young.

Moreover, her situation was different from Xiao Yuan’s.

Xiao Yuan earned money to meet basic needs, while she wanted to save some money.

After considering, Anning finally decided to go treasure hunting.

Earlier, she had persuaded Zhang Heping to find some historical records and a lot of information about Y County, and she discovered that from over a hundred years ago up to the founding of the nation, Y County had produced many rich merchants and landlords. She also inquired, and heard that during chaotic times in recent years, many households were searched and lots of good things were found.

Anning figured, perhaps there were treasures buried underground in some places around the county.

So she planned to wander around on Sunday to see if she could find anything valuable.

Speaking of Zhang Heping and his wife.

They immediately took separate actions after seeing off Xiao Heizi and Xiao Baohu.

Zhang Heping went to the meat factory, and Secretary An went to the cotton mill.

It didn’t take them much effort to help make arrangements for work matters.

Then, they tidied up the rented house again.

By Tuesday, the Xiao family moved, bringing everyone along.

Secretary An helped set up some things, helping them settle in, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

On Wednesday, Secretary An took Wang Gui Fen to the cotton mill, and Zhang Heping took Xiao Heizi to the meat factory, nailed down work arrangements, and after advising them to work hard, they finally had some peace.

Of course, Zhang Heping and Secretary An still didn’t get to relax fully.

The main reason was that they discovered Zhang Erzhu’s family’s intentions, and Secretary An was disgusted by them.

Thinking about how their daughter had lived with such awful people for years made Secretary An’s heart ache.

She inquired and found out that the Zhang Erzhu family was spreading rumors again, saying they wanted to arrange a wife for Zhang Erzhu or something.

Secretary An discussed this with Zhang Heping, and at night, as they lay in bed, they talked about that family of misfits. Zhang Heping said, ”Someday, I’ll find someone to properly stir them up.”

Secretary An laughed, ”Leave this to me, let me handle it.”

Zhang Heping asked Secretary An, ”What are you planning to do?”

Secretary An let out a cold laugh, ”They’ve disgusted us enough, now I’ll give them a taste of their own medicine.”

Huh?

Zhang Heping was somewhat puzzled.

Secretary An said softly, ”That family has two bachelors now.”

Zhang Heping suddenly remembered Zhang Erzhu’s mother was about to be executed. After her death, Zhang Gouxiong would also be single.

Zhang Gouxiong married early, his older brother Dazhu was just over a year older than Zhang Erzhu, and now is only thirty-five or -six. Zhang Gouxiong had Dazhu when he was sixteen. So, if you think about it, he’s only in his early fifties and still robust.

With Zhang Gouxiong losing his wife, who knows what thoughts he might entertain.

It dawned on Zhang Heping what Secretary An intended to do.