It took Zhou Chen one hour to finish all the assignments and earn a small profit of one dollar.
In fact, he also had other ways to make money, such as publishing poems and articles in magazines and newspapers. Although the royalties at this time were much lower than the royalties for writing novels in later generations, in this era, the royalties were actually not that much. If he could maintain it, he would definitely
You can earn much more than working as a worker.
However, it has only been 1977, and the trend has not yet fully recovered. There are too many restrictions on submitting articles at this time. More importantly, he is only a third-grade elementary school student. What he does now is a bit too shocking.
So he thought about it, and decided to wait until he was in junior high school before making money by submitting literary works. At that time, the college entrance examination was completely resumed, the study atmosphere was up, review restrictions, etc. would be much looser, and junior high school students could submit articles and publish articles, etc.
, it is not so difficult to accept.
After stretching, he saw Zhuang Tunan and Zhuang Xiaoting still doing homework there. Zhuang Xiaoting was short, lying on the dining table, biting a pencil, her little brows furrowed.
Zhou Chen came and sat down next to her and watched her do her homework. If she encountered something she didn't know how to do, he would patiently explain it to her.
Under Zhou Chen's guidance, she quickly finished her homework, and then took Zhou Chen's hand, asking Zhou Chen to go out to play with her.
Children's minds are very keen. She found that her second brother was very kind to her during this period. He bought her food, taught her homework, and even carried her on his back when she was tired and didn't want to leave after school.
So during this period, she was particularly close to Zhou Chen, always pestering Zhou Chen to play with her and tell her stories, like a clingy little spirit.
"Aunt Huang, Teacher Zhuang."
Before they could go out, they saw several students carrying old-fashioned military satchels walking into the room. These were students who came to Zhuang Chaoying to make up lessons and were about to take the college entrance examination.
These students vary in age, the oldest is nearly thirty years old and the youngest is in his teens.
Zhou Chen became irritated when he saw these people. These people had been coming for several days in a row.
The college entrance examination was resumed, and he could understand the thoughts of these people who wanted to go to college. In this era, going to college could indeed change their lives. It was only natural that they wanted to seek tutoring from Zhuang Chaoying.
But the problem is, these people are not too young. It is absolutely impossible to say that they do not understand the ways of the world.
You have to have an attitude when asking for help, but they are lucky. They come empty-handed every time. Not only are they empty-handed, Huang Ling also has to bother to boil water and drink tea for them. They come whenever they want regardless of the occasion, regardless of the convenience of their home.
.
Zhuang Chaoying is a good old man who wants to save face. Instead of saying anything, he feels that he has a bright face and refuses to accept anyone who comes.
It was also the first time for Huang Ling to face this kind of thing. She had little experience, so she didn't know what to do. She thought that the college entrance examination was coming soon, so she would just make do with it for a few days.
Zhou Chen did say that once, but instead he was scolded by Zhuang Chaoying. Of course, Zhou Chen was not polite to him, and also criticized him. How could Zhuang Chaoying be able to say anything to Zhou Chen? He was very angry when he was criticized, and then
He was ruthlessly suppressed by Huang Ling.
Since Zhuang Chaoying and Huang Ling had no objections, Zhou Chen didn't say anything else. Huang Ling was right, and it only affected the few days before the college entrance examination.
It just so happened that Zhou Chen didn't want to stay in this small room every day, so as soon as these people came, he immediately took Zhuang Xiaoting out to play, out of sight, out of mind, and he would feel better playing outside.
But even now, if he moved to a new home and was still as shameless as in the TV plot, he wouldn't be so polite.
At the entrance of the store, Zhuang Tunan looked at the candy in his hand, and then at the maltose his sister was eating.
"Tusi, where did you get your money?"
Zhuang Tunan is very clear about the situation of his family. Although his parents may sometimes give him a small pocket money, they just bought a lot of things and their little pocket money is simply not enough.
Zhou Chen didn't mean to explain it to him, but just said vaguely: "Don't worry, it's not illegal to steal or rob, it's purely based on labor force, so feel free to eat."
Although their family is also a dual-income family, Zhuang Chaoying continues to subsidize the old banker, and there are three children in the family, so their family's conditions are not considered good in the city.
This can be seen from their usual meals. There is not much oil or water, and there is not much sugar. Zhuang Xiaoting likes to eat sweets because it is not easy to eat them.
Zhuang Tunan put the candy into his mouth. He felt that his younger brother had changed a lot recently. He still had fresh memories of the scene where he was quarreling with people at the banker and his father at home that day. It was a shock to him who had always been submissive.
Very powerful.
And he used to always play behind him and ask him to study. Now he no longer pesters him to play or asks him to study. Instead, he teaches his sister to study and always likes to play with her, which makes him
Very strange.
It's just that he was still young and couldn't figure it out, so he stopped worrying about it. Why should he worry about eating something.
As time passed, it was time for the college entrance examination. This was the first college entrance examination since the resumption of the college entrance examination, so it was taken very seriously, but this had no impact on Zhou Chen and the others.
The only good thing is that no one comes to the door anymore, and the house is much quieter.
Just after the college entrance examination, Zhuang Chaoying received a notice that he would be transferred to participate in the college entrance examination marking. This made him so happy that he kept blabbering in front of Huang Ling and packed up his things and set off that day.
Just two days after Zhuang Chaoying left, there was another piece of good news, that is, she got the keys to her new home.
On the day she got the key, Huang Ling specially cooked a good meal for her in the evening, and she had a full meal with snacks.
Zhou Chen has been writing homework for more than a month. He has earned income every week and has enough to eat every day. Therefore, he has grown very quickly and will soon be almost as tall as Zhuang Tunan, who is two years older.
When he had nothing to do, he also wrote some stories and planned to submit them to magazines later to earn some royalties.
After getting the key, Huang Ling and her three children couldn't wait to move to their new home. So on Huang Ling's day off, she asked someone to borrow a tricycle and started packing her things in preparation for moving to her new home.
Although there is only one room in their house and there are not many things, it would be really troublesome to pack them up, not to mention those big items, big beds, bookcases and the like, and even more scattered small items.
I packed up one package after another.
The weather in Suzhou is really worrying. It was fine early in the morning, but when they moved, it started to rain lightly.
But even the rain couldn't stop the family from wanting to move to a new home, so they started moving things despite the rain.
Seeing that Huang Ling had already wrapped them, Zhou Chen went straight to pick up the two large packages. Huang Ling screamed when she saw them.
"Tusi, that's too heavy. Mom will do it later..."
Before he finished speaking, he saw Zhou Chen carrying one in each hand and walking away.
"Mom, it's okay. It's not heavy. I'll send it down."
Huang Ling had a look of surprise on her face. She was the one who knew best about the packages she had packed. The two just now were not heavy, weighing more than ten or twenty pounds. To an adult, this might not be a big deal, but to someone less than ten pounds,
For a one-year-old child, it's quite heavy. It's okay to carry one, but it's really difficult to carry one in each hand.
During this period, she also saw the changes in her youngest son. He had grown several centimeters taller in just over a month, and he seemed to have become much stronger. Perhaps this was the reason for his increased strength.
During the move, the neighbors also came to help, and soon a whole tricycle was filled.
Seeing that she couldn't put it down anymore, Huang Ling stopped adding, covered the table, stools and luggage with things, and then prepared to ride a bicycle.
"Mom, let me ride the bike."
Seeing her son volunteering, Huang Ling was happy and covered Zhou Chen's raincoat hat.
"You're still young, and there are so many things you can't ride on."
"I can ride, please let me try."
Zhou Chen didn't say much nonsense and just got on the tricycle. Although he was a little short, he could barely step on the pedals and immediately rode forward for a distance in front of Huang Ling.
Huang Ling looked at the moving tricycle in surprise, even more shocked than when Zhou Chen had just carried dozens of kilograms of stuff.
This is a tricycle full of goods. Even if she rides it, she has to use all her strength. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she really couldn't believe that her son, who was under ten years old, could ride it.
"Tusi, have you really grown up?"
It's just that his growth was a bit too sudden. Compared to his eldest son Zhuang Tunan, the second son's recent growth and changes are indeed a bit bigger.
Seeing that Zhou Chen could really ride a bike, she decided to let him try it out first, thinking that she would let him ride for a certain distance before replacing him.
But this time, there was no chance to change with her, because Zhou Chen rode directly to the destination, the alley entrance of Textile Third Lane.
When she arrived at her destination, Huang Ling quickly got out of the car and wiped the rain off Zhou Chen's face. Along the way, she said she wanted to change several times, but she didn't. Seeing a little person riding so fast really made her feel sad again.
Feeling sad and happy at the same time.
After parking the tricycle at the entrance of the alley, the family of four began to move their luggage. Their new home was No. 13, Textile Lane 3, which was the first house to turn the corner when they walked into the alley.
As soon as they entered the alley, they heard the quarrel.
"Wang Yong, you are a piece of shit and a bastard."
"Oh, isn't this just a small hole?"
"You dug a hole in the wall, and all the sewage from your house drained into our yard."
"There is a water pipe in the yard, and it will be drained out in a while."
"You also know that there is a water pipe, your house..."
"…………"
"You guys are dragging them everywhere, but you guys are all dragging them in the house, right?"
As soon as Zhou Chen heard this, he knew that it was their future neighbor Song Ying, who was quarreling with the Wang Yong family in the next yard. The reason was that the Wang Yong family was so disgusting that they dug a hole in the wall of the two courtyards to drain their own drainage.
When the pipe is broken, the sewage is discharged into their yard.
Huang Ling naturally heard the quarrel, but she was the kind of person who didn't want to cause trouble, so she pretended not to hear it. After confirming that this yard was her new home, she walked into the yard with her luggage and her children.
Song Ying, who was cursing, suddenly saw someone coming in. She immediately stopped cursing and greeted him very enthusiastically.
"Sister Ling, right? I'm Song Ying."
After saying that, he shouted into the room: "Wu Feng, this is our new neighbor in our courtyard, Sister Ling."
Two people, an older one and a younger one, came out of the house. The elder was Song Ying's husband Lin Wufeng, who worked in a compressor factory, and the younger one was their son, Lin Dongzhe, one of the protagonists in the alley house.
"Dongzhe, call auntie quickly."
"Hello, aunt."
"Hello."
"Hello."
Several people greeted each other. Song Ying was an acquaintance. Without saying a few words, she took Huang Ling and went to the Real Estate Department to file a complaint against Wang Yong's family.
When Wang Yong and his wife saw that Huang Ling had moved here, instead of worrying, they told Huang Ling in front of Song Ying's family that Song Ying was a thorn and difficult to get along with, deliberately sowing discord.
Song Ying immediately became angry, and when she caught Wang Yong and his wife, she gave them a slap in the face.
Huang Ling smiled awkwardly. She had just moved here and she didn't want to cause trouble, so she took out her key to open the door and took her luggage home.
The new house is indeed much larger than the previous one. It is said to be two rooms, but it is actually two rooms separated by a large common room. The total area is about thirty square meters, excluding the kitchen space at the back.
This house is certainly not comparable to the house Zhou Chen lived in before, but it is much better than the house he lived in a few days ago.
Song Ying's family took the initiative to help move things. Soon, everything on the tricycle was brought into the room. Huang Ling decided to make a few more trips and transport all the furniture here today.
However, Huang Ling, under Zhou Chen's suggestion, did not let Zhuang Tunan and Zhuang Xiaoting run away, and asked them to clean up in their new home. The two of them could just go back. Huang Ling thought about it and felt that what Zhou Chen said made sense. The weather was quite cold.
Yes, it was really troublesome to run back and forth, so she asked Zhuang Tunan and Zhuang Xiaoting to stay while she took Zhou Chen back to continue transporting the furniture.
After a total of three trips back and forth, I finally got all the furniture and luggage to my new home. By the time I returned the tricycle and returned home, it was almost getting dark.
The family has been tidying up their new home for a long time, and finally it looks like a home.
In one day, Lin Dongzhe, who was also familiar with everyone, had already become close to Zhuang Tunan and Zhuang Xiaoting. Lin Wufeng and Song Ying were also very enthusiastic and helped a lot, which made Huang Ling change her view of Song Ying a lot.
"Brother Tuxi, my name is Lin Dongzhe."
Lin Dongzhe, who was scruffy and gray-faced, was not afraid of strangers at all and introduced himself to Zhou Chen in a loud voice.
Zhou Chen smiled and said: "Hello, Lin Dongzhe."
Zhuang Xiaoting on the side hugged Zhou Chen's arm and stared at Lin Dongzhe warily, as if she was afraid that Lin Dongzhe would snatch Zhou Chen away.
Lin Dongzhe didn't have that much thought. He used to play alone without any playmates, but now there were three more children in the yard, and two of them were boys like him. He was really happy.
"Brother Tuxi, can we play together?"
"What do you want to play?"
"Playing marbles, Brother Tuxi, you must be able to play marbles, right?"
Zhou Chen glanced at the water in the yard, shook his head and said, "Forget about playing marbles, it's all water."
"Then let's play with the hoop. I have one at home. Let's play together."
With that said, without waiting for Zhou Chen's consent, he ran home and took out the hoop. Zhou Chen did not refuse and took Zhuang Xiaoting with him to play with the hoop on the road outside the alley with Lin Dongzhe.