The Ugly Duckling's Redemption Chapter 23: Reporting Late

  Li Jinyun looked at her gently stroking Luo'er's hair: "Let's put this matter aside for now! Our home was originally very small, and with those two boys moving in, there won't even be a place for your grandfather to stay when he comes!"

  "It's okay, never mind. Tomorrow I'll go to school to collect my books, and since there are no classes in the afternoon, I'll go dry those wooden boards in front of the house, build a bed for Grandpa in the main room, and then set up a big grass shed outside. When Grandpa is free during the day, he can stay in the grass shed, get some sun, and it won't be too hot!" La'er thought to herself.

  "Tomorrow mom has to go to work and doesn't have time to pick up your grandfather, so if you think it's okay, ask those two boys again tomorrow if they're willing, then let Lichao go pick up your grandfather! Mom won't interfere!"

  "Alright!"

  "Mother's clever daughter, really meticulous, just born in this family with bad luck..." Li Jinyun looked at her clever daughter and couldn't help but think of the past.

  Luo'er stretched and yawned, "Another brand new morning! Hehe, looks like the weather is nice!" Luo'er said to herself as she gazed at the sun. But when she came out of her room, she found that her mother had already prepared breakfast, while those three old men were still lying in their rooms, not having gotten up yet!

  "Li Chao, get up! Lu Xiansheng? Chen Zhiquan, hey!!!" Luo Er pounded heavily on their door.

  "Alas, it's that dead girl Li Luor again. She hasn't even let people sleep well and is already shouting loudly..." Zhiquan helplessly shouted once and then went back to sleep.

  Xuan Sheng shook his head, flipped over and jumped down from under the bed, quickly put on his clothes, and went out to eat with Li Chao.

  "Hurry up and eat! The rice will get cold!" La'er said while serving them food, "Where's Chen Zhiquan? Isn't he up yet?"

  Li Chao drank a mouthful of corn porridge, "No, Quan Ge seems to be like a pig, feeling that he has never eaten enough and never slept enough!"

  Xuan Sheng smiled, "He's always been like that, but it's also strange, no matter how he eats or sleeps, he just doesn't gain weight! So there's nothing you can do about him!"

  "Oh, haha, someone has good genes, born with it!" La'er joked.

  "Sister, you seem like there's something you want to say?" Li Chao looked at Luo Er who had tried to speak several times but didn't say anything and asked with a hint of frustration.

  "Oh, nothing much, Lu Xiangsheng, I'd like to ask for your opinion!" Luo Er said without even lifting her head.

  "What's going on? Just say it, why be so polite?" Xuan Sheng put down his bowl and waited for Luo Er to speak.

  "My grandfather's health is not very good, for many reasons, he has been living in Sili for a long time. You may not know that Sili and Yili are far apart, and the road is not easy to walk on. Plus, I and Lichao have to go to school, and my mom has to go to work, so there's no one around grandfather to talk to him. What if something happens..."

  Before Luo could finish speaking, Xuan Sheng laughed and took over the conversation, "Alright, what's not okay? Isn't it just letting Grandpa move in to live together? When we get back from school, I'll ask Lei Chao to make some space in our house, and then we can go buy another bed. You can just let Grandpa come over and stay!"

  "Hmm? You agree?" Luo Er looked at Xuan Sheng and asked.

  Xuan Sheng nodded, "Hehe ~ I said, no need to be so polite!"

  "Thank you, so let's divide the work clearly! After school, Li Chao will send Ruo Yun back home and then borrow her family's tricycle. You go pick up Grandpa, I'll take care of things at home. Grandpa doesn't need to live with you guys in the same room, it's fine for him to stay in the main hall, the air is good there!"

  Li Chao nodded, "OK ~ I understand!"

  "Hehe, okay, hurry up and eat, or you'll be late to pick up Ruo Yun again!" Luo Er urged Lei Chao, who was eating slowly.

  "Uh-huh! Got it!" Lei Chao took a glance at his watch and quickly finished his meal, then rode off on his new bike and disappeared from sight.

  "Zhiquan hasn't gotten up yet? Go wake him up, or else we'll all be late soon!" Luo'er said to Xuan Sheng while putting away the bowls and chopsticks.

  "No need to call! I'm already up!" Chen Zhiquan walked out of the house with a sleepy face. "What's for breakfast?" He asked before even reaching the table.

  "Porridge with corn, pumpkin cake! Little hot pepper!" Luo Er said with a smile.

  "Well, it's okay, I guess I'm just used to drinking milk and eating bread! Not really interested in these things!" Zhi Quan said while washing his face.

  Xuan Sheng looked at Luo Er's helpless bitter smile, and fiercely kicked Zhi Quan, "You're lucky to have food! And you still came up with an interest. Hurry up and eat, or you'll be late!"

  Zhi Quan looked at the splashed water on his face, and irritably shouted at Lu Xian Sheng, "What I said was the truth! From childhood to adulthood, when did I not eat bread and drink milk in the morning? Suddenly you want me to eat this every day, can I accept it? What interest? Think about it, for example, take me. Originally, I was interested in girls, but Lu Xian Sheng insisted that I be interested in boys. Can I have an interest?"

  Zhiquan's words left Sheng stunned and speechless, he could only laugh it off and pretend nothing had happened. But thinking about it, he realized that he and Zhiquan had never been wronged since childhood. Moreover, no matter what Zhiquan did, whether right or wrong, he always stood by his side. Having such a loyal brother by his side made him feel like he was used to it. He had never thought about how the other person felt.

  "Hehe, Zhiquan, you can just eat a bit! From tomorrow morning on, I'll go milk some cows every day~ However, you guys didn't tell me that you like to drink milk. Milk isn't very expensive at our farm, it's no big deal, I can do this!" Luo'er said with a smile as she served Zhiquan his meal.

  Zhi Quan listened to this and suddenly felt that he had spoken a bit too much, so he hurriedly apologized to Luo Er, "You don't have to worry about it ~ actually there's nothing, I was just arguing with Xuan Sheng, don't take it to heart! To be honest, drinking too much milk makes me feel like an ox, with a big temper, it's better to drink some congee and calm down~"

  "Hehe, nothing! You tell me what you want to eat in the future, as long as it's not a four-pound lobster!" Luo Er looked at Zhi Quan drinking corn porridge with big gulps, smiling slightly.

  At this time, someone knocked on the door. Luo Er hastily went out to open it. As soon as she opened the door, she found it was Xiao Xuan. "Xiao Xuan? How did you get here?"

  Xiao Xuan smiled, "Hehe! I had a fight with Shen Kai, he didn't take me to school, and when I woke up, he was already gone. I was just about to take the bus to school, but on the way, I ran into Lei Chao and said you guys should still be here, so I came over to hitch a ride!"

  "Oh, haha, no, Zhiquan is still eating, let's wait for him to finish and then we can go together!"

  "Hmm." Xiaoxuan walked into the house with her backpack, "Hehe ~ Zhiquan, you haven't finished eating yet? You might be late!" Xiaoxuan said to Zhiquan.

  "Ugh, I've never had a decent meal with you guys! Alright, I'll eat this at the speed of light! Nobody say a word! From now on!" With that, Zhi Quan picked up his bowl and really did finish everything on the table at almost the speed of light.

  When he finished eating, Xiao Xuan was almost scared to death! "My god~ Chen Zhiquan, how can you eat like this? Can you digest it?"

  Zhi Quan patted his own belly and smiled awkwardly, "As long as I eat my fill, that's all I care about. The digestion is their problem!"

  Everyone laughed when they heard him say that, and it was only then that they realized that Zhi Quan's cuteness might also be one of his shining points.

  "Let's go! Or it'll be late!" Luo Er put away the bowls and called them out the door.

  Standing at the entrance of the station waiting for the bus, it's really a very frustrating thing. The four people have been standing there for almost 10 minutes, but not a single car has come by. Xiaoxuan opened her phone and took a look, "It's already 8:13, if we don't get on the bus now, we're done for, we'll really be late!"

  Xuan Sheng didn't say a word, he just stared at this place that made him feel depressed.

  Finally, a car came, but there were still people inside! They waited until 8:25 and still didn't get an empty car. "Let's charter the whole car? Otherwise, we're really doomed!" Xiaoxuan said to Zhiquan and Xiansheng.

  "Chartered car? There isn't even a car, how can we charter one? I also want to charter one!" Zhiquan said, looking at his watch with frustration.

  "There is, there is!" Luo Er said.

  "Why didn't you say so earlier? Let's hurry up and go!" Xuan Sheng said with a sullen expression. The four of them quickly took big strides to rush towards the arena.

  "Uncle Ma, is there someone in your car?" asked Xiao Xuan to a middle-aged man chatting idly at the entrance of Ruo Yun's family restaurant.

  The middle-aged man smiled and said, "There are two of them. So I'm not in a hurry, am I? We'll depart once everyone is here!"

  "Where did those people go?"

  "Go to the north exit!"

  "Oh, Uncle Ma, can you please let them get off first and take someone else's car? We're running late now, so we have to take your car to school!" Xiaoxuan said while constantly glancing at her watch.

  "Is that a chartered car? How many people?"

  "Four! We'll give you the whole car's fare! Alright, we'll pay for 10 people, how about that? Now take us to school and drop us off at the parking lot, maybe we can even be first in line. That way, you can earn another round-trip fare!"

  The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Alright, you two get on the car! I'll tell those two people to go!"

  Finally, after buying 10 people's bus tickets at Xiaoxuan, the four of them were able to get on the bus. In fact, a ticket for each person to go downtown was not expensive, only two yuan per ticket. However, buying 10 people's bus tickets at once cost half as much as taking a taxi.

  Sitting in the car, Zhi Quan kicked his legs gloomily, "What's this? Is it a van or something?"

  Luo'er nodded, "Uh-huh! This is a van!"

  "Haha ~ I've never seen a car like this before, it's rare!" Zhiquan exclaimed excitedly.

  Xuan Sheng shook his head, "Don't be happy yet, from the moment we got on the car, we were already late!"