country bumpkin

Inside the room, Yunya took out the little girl's note and started reading it.

The girl's name was Guan Yuxin. She was the same age as Yun Ya, but nine months older.

Yun Ya's birthday is the 27th day of the 11th lunar month, and Guan Yuxin's birthday is the 9th day of the 2nd lunar month.

Yunya's birthday is in the second half of the year. She was able to start first grade only because a teacher in the village knew her mother. Otherwise, she would have had to wait another year to start first grade.

Actually, it's better to start school a year later. This way, the child will have grown up for another year, understand more things, and won't find learning difficult.

The address Guan Yuxin left was near Aunt Yunya's house. It should be very close to Aunt Yunya's house. I can visit her when I go to Aunt Yunya's house this weekend.

Auntie Er had already gone home, and Kong Xiujuan was washing clothes in the yard. Yunya saw her mother working and started doing her own chores as well.

She remembered her grandmother telling her to be more diligent and obedient, so that many people would like her and her mother wouldn't hit her if she made a mistake.

Remembering her grandmother's instructions, Yunya got to work. She first took a rag and started wiping the table.

All the visible furniture, including the wooden sofa and the TV casing, was wiped clean.

The tall octagonal table where the black and white television was placed was wiped several times. Then the low dining table and the writing desk in the bedroom were also wiped.

After wiping all that, there was a lot of dirt on the floor, all of which had been swept off the table.

She grabbed a broom and started sweeping. She started from the bedrooms on both sides and swept all the way to the living room.

They piled it all up, then used a shovel to scoop it up and dumped it into the trash can in the yard.

The house was spotless and tidy after being cleaned. Seeing how clean Yunya had made the house, Kong Xiujuan praised her, "Our Yunya is so diligent! She's a hardworking little bee!"

Yunya was very happy, thinking that what her grandma said was true: if she was quick and diligent, her mother would like her.

So from then on, whenever she had a holiday or a weekend, Yunya liked to clean the house.

Unfortunately, once she got used to it, her mother stopped praising her and just took it for granted, just like how Yunya came back to be a nanny for the family.

Not only that, but she also developed a bad habit: whenever there was work to be done, Sun Limei would sit and play, and Kong Xiujuan would not see her, only calling Yunya to do the work.

Moreover, Yunya gradually developed a people-pleasing personality. In her later life and work, she was always the one who did the most work but was not valued by others.

Kong Xiujuan finished washing the clothes and prepared to make lunch. Sun Limei went to Chu Yiping's house to visit Wang Shuting and hasn't returned yet.

Sun Guoqiang was playing in the sand in the yard by himself. Yunya, having finished her chores and with nothing to do, went to play in the sand with her younger brother.

The two had a great time playing together, and soon Kong Xiujuan called them to wash their hands and have dinner.

Sun Limei is probably having dinner at Chu Yiping's house and won't be coming back.

Yunya took her younger brother to the sink to wash his hands, and she even lathered his hands with soap. Sun Guoqiang's little hands were chubby, and the soap made them look like they were covered in bubbles.

Yunya remembered the fun bubble solution and said happily, "Guoqiang, let's eat first. After we eat, I'll make you some bubble solution, and we can play with blowing bubbles later."

She watched Sun Fei play with bubbles at her neighbor's house across the street. They were all made with laundry detergent.

Kong Xiujuan served the food and placed it on the table. Yun Ya and Sun Guoqiang sat down around the table and began to eat.

The meal consisted of simple stir-fried potato strips and steamed buns, with a savory soup made by stir-frying cabbage. There was also a side of pickled radish on the table.

Kong Xiujuan pickled a large vat of radishes. Kong Xiuzhen and Kong Xiufen often came to get some pickled vegetables. So every year, Kong Xiujuan would pickle a large vat for her younger sisters to share.

Yunya also loves pickled radishes; they're so crunchy when you bite into them. They're a great dish to eat with rice.

After dinner, Sun Fei and Gu Yu came to visit Yun Ya. Yun Ya asked Sun Fei how to make bubble solution, and Sun Fei readily taught her.

Yun Ya prepared the materials and empty bottles, and Sun Fei began the process. Yun Ya and Gu Yu watched from the side.

Sun Fei poured two small spoonfuls of white sugar and a handful of laundry detergent into an empty bottle. Then she added two large drops of dish soap, a small amount of water, and started stirring. Once it was well stirred and foamed, it was done.

She took out a ballpoint pen, removed the refill and cap, dipped the empty pen barrel in bubble solution, and started blowing bubbles.

Since she didn't have enough ballpoint pens, Yunya found some empty wheat stalks to blow bubbles. It worked!

So she distributed a few to her younger brother and Gu Yu. Each of the children held several empty wheat stalks in their hands.

With their other hands wet with bubble solution, they started blowing bubbles. When they successfully blew the first big bubble, the little ones cheered happily.

Sun Guoqiang couldn't blow big bubbles, so he lay on the ground, stuck empty wheat stalks into the bubble water, and blew up a bunch of bubbles, making everything wet.

Yunya said, "Guoqiang, that's not how you play. If you play like that, you'll waste all the bubble solution in no time."

Sun Fei wanted to say something, but then she heard Sun Guoqiang gag.

The three of them looked at Guoqiang at the same time. He quickly looked up, his mouth full of foam, gagging.

Yunya asked anxiously, "Little brother, what's wrong?" Then she looked at Sun Fei and asked, "Feifei, what's wrong with my little brother?"

Sun Fei said, "It's okay. He probably drank the bubble solution, but it's fine. It's not poisonous. Rinsing his mouth should be enough."

Yunya quickly took her younger brother to the hand pump well, scooped up a ladle of water, and handed it to him so he could rinse his mouth.

Sun Guoqiang was very obedient and quickly rinsed his mouth again and again. In no time, his mouth was clean and there was no more foam.

Yunya finally breathed a sigh of relief. She was afraid her mother would beat her if anything happened to her younger brother.

Yunya cautiously asked Guoqiang, "How are you? Are you alright? Do you still feel like vomiting?"

Sun Guoqiang shook his head: "Okay, sister, I'm all better now."

Yunya said, "How about you watch us play? We'll blow big bubbles, and you chase after them, okay?"

Sun Guoqiang jumped up excitedly, "Great! Great! I love chasing bubbles!"

And so Yunya and her two friends blew bubbles, while Sun Guoqiang chased the bubbles everywhere, soon becoming breathless with exhaustion.

Yunya said, "Guoqiang, if you're tired, take a rest! You can go play in the sand."

Sun Guoqiang was indeed exhausted. He yawned and said, "I'm sleepy, I want to go to sleep."

Yunya took him back to his bedroom, took off his shoes, and helped him into his mother's bed.

Kong Xiujuan was sewing a winter coat in the house. She was very pleased to see that Yun Ya was taking good care of her younger brother. With someone helping to look after the child, she could save a lot of time to do other things.

Compared to her eldest daughter, Kong Xiujuan felt that her second daughter was more diligent and could help with household chores better.

Yunya took her younger brother back to his room to sleep. When she came out, she was overjoyed to see that her two little sisters were still there.

The three little girls were delighted and started playing together.