Summer Green Apples

Ji Xiwen smiled slightly, "As long as you study hard, you can achieve good grades in the future too."

Ji Feiran's face fell. "I can't learn it. I'm stupid."

Ji Xiwen looked at him.

It's impossible to tell whether what he said was true or false.

Fortunately, Luo Meixia quickly invited everyone inside.

The aunt and sister-in-law tactfully went into the kitchen to help out, leaving the family with their own space.

Ji Xiwen really wanted to help in the kitchen, but the current situation didn't allow it.

Ji Zifeng, holding a cup of tea, said with a proud look, "Back then, the people in our village were ignorant. They thought that going to a vocational school to learn a skill was the best thing to do, and that going to university would delay settling down and starting a family. I listened to your grandparents' advice and chose a vocational school, otherwise your dad would be a student at a prestigious university..."

He pondered for a moment, then let out a long sigh, "It's good that you passed the exam, which is a source of pride for your father."

Ji Xiwen: "..."

She stared at the tips of her shoes without saying a word.

Ji Zifeng didn't even need her to speak, and continued, "A prestigious university is great, the future is limitless. If I had gone to university back then, you and your brother could have had a better life."

Ji Feiran sat to one side, playing with the toy car that Luo Meixia had prepared for him. "Dad, you always say that when you're drunk."

"Oh, don't say that," Luo Meixia said. "Don't blame your father and me either. You weren't as good at studying as Xixi back then. Not to mention Peking University or Tsinghua University, if you could have gotten into a 985 or 211 university, your father and I would have sold everything we owned to send you there. You might not even have gotten into a school in our province, and even if you did, you would have barely made it."

"right."

Grandpa Ji Tao, smoking beside him, said unhappily, "I've already asked around. You can't get into a good major, and even if you are guaranteed a job after graduation, you won't be able to get a good job. You might as well learn a good skill."

He patted the table, "Good technique is the most important thing."

"What do you know?" Ji Zifeng said impatiently. "You and my mother are just farmers in the countryside. If you don't understand, don't point fingers."

Ji Xiwen: "..."

Mingying sighed, "I'll go tidy up the room, you two chat."

After she got up and left, Ji Feiran followed her, clutching the toy.

"Ranran."

Luo Meixia hadn't had enough of her grandson and called him back.

Ji Feiran pursed her lips. "Grandma, what's wrong?"

Luo Meixia waved to him and said, "Come here, Grandma wants to see you."

Ji Xiwen was too lazy to listen to Ji Zifeng's long-winded speech, so she turned her attention to Ji Feiran.

His brows were furrowed, clearly indicating he had gone through a difficult internal struggle. Finally, he walked hesitantly to Luo Meixia's side and whispered, "Grandma."

"Why."

Luo Meixia couldn't stop smiling. She patted Ji Feiran on the shoulder and said, "You've grown taller again."

Ji Feiran remained silent.

He had a slightly chubby face, fair skin, long, dark eyelashes, and exceptionally bright eyes.

Luo Meixia turned to Ji Xiwen and said, "Ranran looks just like you when you were little."

"Really?" Ji Xiwen looked at Ji Feiran.

Ji Feiran also looked over at her.

As the siblings looked at each other, Luo Meixia said, "They really do look alike, except you were very thin back then, and your cheeks were all sunken. The old lady next door even said you weren't very lucky, but I scolded her back. Do you remember?"

"……Remember."

Ji Xiwen remembers it very clearly.

There was a slope in front of the Ji family's house back then, with a small bamboo grove planted on the west side. Every afternoon, the sunlight was blocked. In the summer, Luo Meixia would come out and chat with the old lady next door about gossip and everyday life. The old ladies who were friends in the neighborhood would also come over to sit down.

Ji Xiwen and Ji Mingli often played little games at the door.

That afternoon, several elderly women sat together chatting about their grandchildren.

They said Ji Mingli looked like a lucky person; she was chubby, had thick earlobes, and her smile was particularly endearing.

When it came to Ji Xiwen, all that remained was the phrase, "You're not lucky enough."

Being unloved by one's parents is truly a sign of bad luck.

Even though Ji Xiwen was only six years old at the time and didn't understand these things, she keenly sensed that she was uncomfortable, feeling unwell all over.

Before she could figure out why she felt unwell, Ji Mingli fell off the chair, hit her head, and burst into tears, startling a group of elderly women who quickly helped her up.

That afternoon was chaotic. The uncle rushed home, rode his motorcycle, and took Ji Mingli to the town hospital.

Luo Meixia was both anxious and frustrated.

The aunt was weaving in the next village when she received the call and hurriedly rode her electric bike to take Ji Mingqiang to the town hospital.

The group of old ladies also went home.

Ji Xiwen stood at the door.

The afternoon sun shone through the small bamboo grove, casting dappled patterns on the cement ground.

The bloodstains on the slope were particularly noticeable.

Ji Xiwen stood quietly for a while.

She was quite worried about Ji Mingli at that time.

But no one took her there.

She stood at the door the whole time.

As the sun set, Uncle returned with Ji Mingli.

Ji Mingli had a bandage wrapped around her head and was holding a string of candied hawthorns in her hand.

She smiled and said, "Xixi, I'm back."

Ji Xiwen's heart full of comfort came to an abrupt halt.

She thought, Ji Mingli is no longer needed.

Because she had been appeased and was now very happy, the candied hawthorn skewer she was holding was just an ordinary candied hawthorn skewer, with red hawthorns coated with a ring of transparent syrup and sprinkled with some white sesame seeds, which were particularly translucent in the light of the setting sun, like red crystals.

Luo Meixia had no idea what Ji Xiwen was thinking, so she just smiled and said, "That old lady is just talking nonsense. Our Xixi is so lucky."

Ji Xiwen smiled.

She thought that he wasn't wrong; before she turned sixteen, she really didn't have much good fortune.