The Bai family had not split up. A big family of a full fourteen people was still being called not prosperous, just because the third generation had too few children.
Bai Dabo and Auntie Bai only had one son, Bai Dajun, who was ten this year, the Bai grandparents’ most favored eldest grandson.
Bai Erbo and Auntie Bai’s family had two daughters and no sons, nine-year-old Bai Dani and seven-year-old Bai Erni.
The Bai family’s third branch also only had two children, Bai Sanni and Bai Xiaojun.
In addition, there was Bai Youngest Aunt, Bai Zhenzhen, the Bai grandparents’ second favorite, seventeen years old this year, and she had already graduated from middle school twice.
Because there were so few children, the Bai grandparents were not as biased toward sons over daughters.
Because Auntie Bai had given birth to the Bai family’s eldest grandson, she always felt superior, but in reality she was often berated by Grandmother Bai, and even Bai Dabo did not escape being scolded.
The Bai grandparents clearly separated grandchildren and sons.
The second branch of four was the most taciturn, usually just keeping their heads down and working. Whether it was earning work points or doing housework, they took on most of it.
Their third branch belonged to fence-sitters, leaning toward whichever side could let them slack off and get benefits.
But so far, the Bai family’s head, Grandmother Bai, firmly controlled the entire family.
So when Bai Sanni wanted to go to school, although Bai’s parents did not object, they still did not dare make a firm promise.
At dinner, Bai Sanni’s family of four all went to the main room.
The Bai grandparents lived in the east room, and beyond a small inner room was Bai Zhenzhen’s room.
The west room was where Bai Dabo’s family lived.
Bai Erbo’s family and Bai Sanni’s family both lived in the small rooms built on either side of the main room.
They were the kind of low mud-brick houses where as soon as you went in, there was the kang.
Of course, the main room was also a mud-brick house, but its roof was tiled.
The second and third branches’ roofs were all thatched. That is not to say that thatch was bad, but it had to be repaired every year, otherwise it would leak.
Bai Sanni glanced at the kang table. There were two big dishes, and as expected, it was still the same messy mixed porridge.
Because they were hibernating through winter and not doing hard labor, they only ate two meals a day, and both were thin.
However, the porridge had quite a lot in it, corn grits, sweet potatoes, potato chunks, and most of all, all kinds of dried vegetable pieces.
From a nutritional standpoint, drinking coarse-grain vegetable porridge at night was very healthy.
But the Bai family adding dried vegetables was definitely not for health, only because it saved grain.
The Bai family still served food in individual portions. Grandmother Bai held the ladle and ladled out the porridge for each person one by one.
The first was Grandfather Bai. She scooped very honestly, a full three big ladles, all of them thick.
The second bowl was her own, two ladles of thick stuff and one ladle of thin.
Next was Bai Dajun’s. No mistake, this Bai family’s eldest grandson was directly placed ahead of his own father and mother.
It was also two ladles of thick stuff and one ladle of thin.
The fourth was Bai Youngest Aunt’s, the same as Bai Dajun’s.
The Bai grandparents really showed their favoritism plainly, with not the slightest concealment.
They dared to do this because they were confident they could keep a firm grip on the whole family, and no one dared resist.
Indeed, the Bai grandparents were actually not very old, only in their forties, and every few days they could still earn full work points, male and female full work points were not the same, and as the head of the family, they naturally had plenty of confidence.
I wandered off-topic. Back to it.
Next was Bai Dabo, who, like his son, got two ladles of thick stuff and one ladle of thin.
It should be said that all three Bai brothers were the same.
To be fair, when it came to the three sons, the Bai grandparents were more or less evenhanded.
As for saying Bai Erbo was bullied, that was because he did more work and earned more work points, but what he got was not more, so in that respect he was the one at a disadvantage.
As for the three daughters-in-law, they got one ladle of thick stuff and two ladles of thin.
The rest of the children were all the same, except for Bai Xiaojun.
Because Bai Xiaojun was too young, he only had two ladles, one ladle of thick stuff and one ladle of thin.
The kang table was only that big, so naturally it could not fit more than a dozen people. Everyone held their bowls and very consciously found places to stand, sit, or squat while slurping porridge.
Because salt had been added to the porridge, there was no need for pickles, and there was even no need for chopsticks. It was very convenient.
While Bai Sanni slurped her vegetable porridge, she did not forget to shoot her father a look.
The meaning was for him not to forget that she wanted to go to school.
It was already late February now, and school was going to start in early March. There were only a few days left.
The system had not yet changed, so the March school opening was the real start of the school year.
Father Bai nodded, indicating that he understood.
But before he could say anything, Grandmother Bai spoke first. “There’s something I need to say. Zhenzhen still has to go to school in March. The matter of finding someone for her that we discussed before will be postponed for now.”
Bai Sanni rolled her eyes inwardly, but this was not too unexpected.
She saw that her parents both did the same thing, lowering their heads to drink porridge and showing a stance of neither supporting nor opposing it.
“Mother! How can that be!”
It was the aunt who still could not hold her tongue who spoke up.
Grandmother Bai slapped the big bowl hard onto the table. “Why can’t it be! My daughter wants to go, so she can go. Her father and I can afford to support her.”
The triumphant expression on Bai Zhenzhen’s face could not be hidden at all.
Auntie Bai did not dare meet her mother-in-law’s eyes, but she still did not yield, muttering, “Even so, you can’t keep going on forever. She’s already taken the exam twice. Besides, she’s already seventeen, she’s a grown girl now. If she still doesn’t find someone, she’ll be too old, and it’ll be even harder to find one.”
Her voice had been soft at first, but by the end it seemed she had more confidence, and her voice got louder too.
Bai Zhenzhen said angrily, “I just want to go to school, get into high school and go to the city. I want to find someone in the city.”
Bai Sanni saw her parents purse their lips, and she quite wanted to say it too.
She even wanted to say to her little aunt, “She doesn’t look that good, but she sure thinks beautifully.”
Auntie Bai rolled her eyes to the sky. Just as she was about to say something, Bai Dabo pulled her once, and she reluctantly shut her mouth.
Bai Sanni felt a little regretful. There was no show to watch anymore.
The Bai family’s eldest grandson suddenly chimed in, “Grandparents, I also want to go to high school, and then work in a factory and become a worker.”
Grandmother Bai smiled so widely that she could not close her mouth, and rubbed Bai Dajun’s head. “My eldest grandson really has ambition!”
Bai Sanni recalled that her older brother’s final exam this year seemed to have failed math.
Mm, worthy of being the one the grandparents favored. He and Bai Youngest Aunt both had one trait, thick skin.
How thick did one’s skin have to be to say something like that?
Auntie Bai was also very happy. “Father, Mother, Dajun is our Bai family’s eldest branch eldest grandson, he definitely has to go to high school. You must leave him more tuition money.”
The implication was almost to say outright not to let Bai Youngest Aunt waste the money.
Grandmother Bai glared at her. “Your father and I know what we’re doing.”
“Father, Mother, our family has few children, only five in all. Each one is a treasure. Now Dani and the other two girls are all not young anymore, they should be sent to study for two years too. Not to mention going to high school or anything, they at least need to recognize characters and know how to count. They can’t become blind people with open eyes, can they?” Father Bai seized the timing and spoke up.
Bai Sanni silently gave Father Bai a thumbs-up. That was said very skillfully.
By bringing Bai Dani and the other two girls into it, it was no longer just one branch’s matter.
Also, because he was afraid the Bai grandparents would be unwilling to spend money, he only said two years of schooling, first get them into school and talk about the rest later.
There was no need to keep emphasizing that the family had few children, only five in total.
Although Father Bai was lazy, slippery, and fond of taking it easy, his emotional intelligence was truly not low.
“No!”
Bai Sanni was stunned. The one who spoke up in opposition was actually Second Auntie, what was going on here?!