After the frail beauty went to the countryside, she went crazy with scientific research.

Chapter 107, Episode 0111: Two Schoolbags
The door was pushed open again, and everyone looked over at the same time, only to see two children, one tall and one short, standing in the doorway.

The one in front looked to be about ten years old, carrying a metal lunchbox in his hand.
The one behind looked only four or five years old, timidly clutching his older brother's clothes with one hand.

Both children were very thin, but their clothes were decent. At that time, clothes without patches were considered to be from well-off families. However, the clothes the two children were wearing didn't seem to match their parents' clothes; they were too big, making it look like children wearing adult clothes, which made the two children appear even thinner.

"Da Mao and Er Mao, what are you doing standing at the door? Come in quickly." Fang Jianshu greeted the two children with a mix of joy and sadness.

He was happy because the children were willing to come see their clumsy father, which meant that regardless of whether the children resented him for his past neglect, they were at least still willing to acknowledge him.

It's heartbreaking that he was working so hard outside, and serving the country and its people was the most steadfast thought in his heart. But undeniably, he was also doing it for his future and to earn more money to support his family.

However, due to his own lack of common sense and negligence, not a single penny of his hard-earned money was spent on his own children.

His two children, who should have been the ones enjoying the benefits he had risked his life to earn, had instead been growing up eating meals from various families in the family compound.

The more Fang Jianshu thought about it, the more upset he became, and before he knew it, tears were streaming down his face.

He cried, and his two children cried too, both of them suppressing their sobs and crying silently, which made it even more heartbreaking to watch.

The three people present were all self-assured and cold-hearted, but they all felt their eyes sting with tears as they watched this scene.

It is said that one should marry a virtuous wife, for a blessed wife brings prosperity to three generations, while a cursed wife can wipe out an entire clan.

Xu Shan reluctantly pulled a crumpled roll of toilet paper from his pocket and handed it to Fang Jianshu.

Don't get me wrong, he wasn't feeling sorry for Fang Jianshu. What's there to feel sorry for a grown man? Shedding a few tears might make people feel a little sad, but it's more infuriating. What are soldiers crying about? It's such a disgrace to our uniforms!
He was worried about his paper, which was a gift from Old Chen. It was pure white toilet paper, the kind you couldn't buy anywhere else. Even the paper in state-run department stores was yellowish. He planned to keep it hidden away at night and use it to please his future girlfriend when he had a day off.

However, Fang Jianshu didn't actually take the white toilet paper. Seeing the snow-white paper through his blurry vision, he felt even more heartbroken than Xu Shan for wasting such good paper on himself. After pushing Xu Shan's hand away, he took out a frayed handkerchief from his pocket, wiped away his tears and sweat, and then wiped his snot.

Xu Shan: "..."

Fortunately, he pulled his hand back quickly.

Fang Jianshu was an honest child since he was a child, and the kind of honest child who was not good with words. Now he felt very embarrassed, but he couldn't say anything like "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you." His eyes, which were red even at the roots of his ears, were darting around as if he wanted to wash them.

I don’t know if it’s because his genes are too strong, but the two children are not so much similar to their grandfather as they are just exactly the same in temperament.

Lin Yuexi and the other two couldn't help but twitch at the corners of their mouths.

Well, the three of them—one big and two small—all give off a feeling of being particularly easy to bully. Could that be the reason why the three of them are in such a miserable state?
Fortunately, Lin Yuexi and the other two were not perverts; on the contrary, seeing them like this only increased their sympathy.

Leng Xingchen coughed and took the initiative to ease the tension, looking as if he had just suffered amnesia, with a kind smile on his face towards the younger generation.

"Er Mao is so big now. I remember when I first met him, he was just a tiny little thing, no bigger than my palm. Does Da Mao still remember his uncle?"

Da Mao looked flustered, his eyes darting away nervously, but feeling that as the older brother he should protect his younger brother, he straightened his back and answered softly:

"I remember you are Uncle Leng. You bought schoolbags for me and Er Mao. Thank you, Uncle."

Da Mao can't really be said to know Leng Xingchen, as he has never formally met her. Although Leng Xingchen did hold Er Mao, Er Mao was only two days old at that time.

But they both knew Leng Xingchen and always remembered him. Da Mao even secretly took Er Mao to see Leng Xingchen from afar a few times.

That happened two years ago, and Leng Xingchen herself had no recollection of it. Two years ago, Zhang Xiaomang decided not to let Da Mao and Er Mao go to school.

Da Mao and Er Mao's tuition fees were deducted directly from Fang Jianshu's allowance. This rule applied not only to Fang Jianshu but to everyone in the Northeast Production and Construction Corps who had children.

Firstly, it was to ensure that all children could learn knowledge, and secondly, it was to protect girls from families that favored sons over daughters.

That's why Zhang Xiaomang couldn't stop Da Mao from going to school before.

This time, Zhang's mother taught her a trick to get her child to ask not to go to school.

Zhang Xiaomang first used phrases like "Grandma raised her, so she should repay her," "Uncle had a hard time," and "The two brothers should give way to their cousins" to coax Da Mao.

No fruit.

Then Zhang Xiaomang threatened Da Mao that if he insisted on going to school, she would report Fang Jianshu.

Without specifying what to report, Da Mao couldn't understand that Zhang Xiaomang was just trying to scare him. Influenced by the prevailing atmosphere, Da Mao immediately became afraid upon hearing the words "report".

So, Da Mao went to the school and said he wouldn't go to school anymore. No matter who tried to persuade him, it was no use. He then went to the logistics department and said that he didn't need to pay his tuition anymore.

Coincidentally, Leng Xingchen was there to collect her allowance at that time.

At that time, he did not live in the family compound and was not curious about the things in the family compound, so he did not know whose child Da Mao was. He just saw that he was dressed in tattered clothes and was thin and sallow, and thought he was the child of some comrade in the team who had a poor family.

After learning that Da Mao had a younger brother, they bought two schoolbags, two pencil cases, and four pencils, and asked their comrades in the logistics department to give them to Da Mao, hoping to encourage him to continue his studies.

As for helping with tuition, the child's parents are still alive, who the hell would dare to ask for that?

Leng Xingchen forgot about it soon after, unaware that the two schoolbags and two sets of stationery were hidden in the rock wall of a cave in the back mountain by the two brothers, wrapped in precious plastic bags. Whenever the two were heartbroken, they would run to the cave to lick their wounds. The two children's most frequent activity in the cave was to stare at the spot where the schoolbags were kept for a very long time.

They want to study, they really, really want to.

Only when they were at school did they feel like the children of their father's comrades-in-arms, instead of being unwanted "beggars."

Children's innocent remarks can sometimes be the most hurtful.

Therefore, when Da Mao faced Leng Xingchen, he was overwhelmed by a host of negative emotions, including guilt, frustration, and a sense of his own inferiority.

Uncle Leng had high hopes for him and his brother, but they not only disappointed him, they also shamelessly kept the gift that Uncle Leng had given them with such expectations.

The more Da Mao thought about it, the more upset he became, and the more he felt like a sinner.

Tears streamed down her face like pearls from a broken string, and her straightened back slumped down in an instant.

It seemed as if a huge mountain was being carried on the little child's back in that instant.

Leng Xingchen's smile froze on her face.

What's going on with Mao? Is it because he looks too scary now, or is it that his face is just not pleasing to children from birth?