Chapter 153. Apologize
Zhou Xia was younger than Da Wa and about Er Wa's age. However, he was a slight head shorter than Er Wa and much thinner than Er Wa.
"Delicious and fragrant," Da Wa said honestly.
"How is it delicious? The taste is so-so." Er Wa had the same taste bud as San Wa, but he can still drink it, unlike San Wa who was forced to drink by their mother.
"Milk is definitely delicious, I heard it is very expensive." Zhou Xia said.
"Is it expensive?" Er Wa asked.
"Of course it's expensive, one bottle costs more than a dime." Zhou Xia replied.
Yesterday, when his fourth aunt was talking to the milkman, he heard it all. His grandmother found it pretty dear.
"That's not cheap." Er Wa conceded.
"It's not expensive, it's delicious," Da Wa said.
"Is a dime or so not expensive? Eldest Brother, until now, our saving hasn't reached 30 cents." Er Wa countered.
In their family, they used toothpaste, and the toothpaste tube was exchanged for money. Oh also, the wasted newspapers too.
Their mother bought back the waste newspapers very cheaply from the city, and they could sell them after they had finished writing them all. Their mother said that the money gained from selling them was given to them.
"That's true." Da Wa nodded when he heard this.
If compared with the money they saved, it was really expensive. Their money was only enough to buy three bottles.
Zhou Xia was even more envious when he heard that, Da Wa and Er Wa even had pocket money saved.
In the following days, it went without saying that there was milk every day. At the beginning, only Lin Qing He's family ordered milk in Zhoujia Village.
But later, the village branch secretary's daughter-in-law also went and ordered one bottle a day.
That's because there wasn't enough breastmilk to drink and the baby was still young. The can only order milk.
But truly, this milk was very nutritious. With just a month or so, Da Wa's whole spirit seems very different.
Although Er Wa didn't like to drink it, he still drank until nothing left. On the other hand, San Wa had to be forced to drink by Lin Qing He.
The stinky brat often took it outside to drink, but Lin Qing He didn't pay him any heed and just instructed him to remember to drink it.
That day, Lin Qing He's mind clicked. Watching this kid taking the milk outside, she quietly followed out.
Then she witnessed that this kid gave all the milk to Second Branch's Zhou Xia!
Lin Qing He was furious!
Seeing her acting so mysteriously, both Da Wa and Er Wa followed and saw it too.
Both brothers were shocked.
"Go back. No one is allowed to tell San Wa!" Lin Qing He sent them back and declared.
She didn't expose the stinky brat's behavior. She didn't know when the stinky brat started to do this.
"Mother, I don't know anything." Da Wa responded immediately.
"It must be Zhou Xia who told San Wa that he never drank it before. Since San Wa doesn't want to drink it, he gave it to him." Er Wa deduced.
He felt that Zhou Xia was really terrible and cheated his brother to drink milk. That milk was very expensive!
Er Wa knew that it was expensive and knew that it was beneficial to drink it. So even if he didn’t like it, he will continue to drink it. With how expensive it was, how can he waste it?
But he never expected his brother's portion to be passed to Zhou Xia.
Lin Qing He didn't blame the two of them. However, from the next day on, Lin Qing He didn't give San Wa, who sat at the table and waited for his mother to give him milk, his share.
She directly gave his share to Zhou Qing Bai: "San Wa never liked to drink it, so won't be giving it to him. Qing Bai, as the father, you can help him drink it."
"Mother, I actually love to drink it." San Wa blinked and with an innocent expression, he stated.
"Pretend." Da Wa and Er Wa were disgusted with him. They had seen it!
Zhou Qing Bai glanced at his wife and gulped down the milk.
One morning, Lin Qing He woke up extra early. When the milkman came over, Lin Qing He bought two more bottles from him.
What was it for? To make milk flavor mantou!
Once this milk mantou was made, it was smelled really lovely.
With lit-up eyes, San Wa wanted to grab the milk mantou. Lin Qing He patted his hands away: “What are you doing? Milk is added to this. You don’t like it. I'm giving you another mantou without milk. Eat this."
She gave San Wa a cornmeal mantou.
San Wa stared blankly at everyone who was munching on the milk mantou around the table, but he could only eat cornmeal mantou.
"Mother, you're a bully." San Wa uttered in anger.
"So what, if I'm bullying people, what can you do?" Lin Qing He snorted as her gaze scanned him.
Zhou Qing Bai ate his own food in silence. His wife had already eaten it. Although it was not a big deal, he never gave his opinion about educating children. His wife had the final say.
Father Zhou and Mother Zhou's mother were shocked.
"Father, mother, eat. Don't mind him." Lin Qing He said.
"There is actually a lot of milk mantou," Mother Zhou pointed out.
"Don't worry about him, he doesn't like to eat." Lin Qing He maintained.
Mother Zhou could see that this was teaching her son. Although she didn't know what wrong San Wa had committed, the cornmeal mantou wasn't horrible, so Mother Zhou didn't speak anymore.
Zhou Qing Bai and Father Zhou went to work after eating.
Da Wa cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks, while Er Wa cleaned the courtyard. Then the two went to school.
But before going to school, Er Wa quietly told San Wa: "The matter of you giving Xia Xia the milk was discovered by Mother!"
San Wa's eyes widened. Before he had time to ask more, he heard his mother say: "Er Wa, don't you need to go to school?"
"I do. I'm leaving now." After Er Wa replied, he dashed off.
Lin Qing He glanced at San Wa and turned around after harrumphing.
"Grandmother, I made my mother mad." San Wa came over to find his grandmother and said grievously.
"Then go and apologize to your mother. It'll be fine after apologizing." Mother Zhou casually responded.
"My mother will definitely still be angry," San Wa continued.
"What did you do to make your mother so angry?" Mother Zhou asked.
San Wa hesitated for a moment before spilling about the matter of him giving Zhou Xia all the milk.
Mother Zhou also came to understand. No wonder, Fourth's wife didn't give milk to San Wa, or the milk mantou either.
"Although your mother is angry, she will forgive you if you go up to her to apologize and admit your mistake," Mother Zhou said.
"Really?" San Wa was hesitant.
"Really. If you don't believe me, go and tell your mother." Mother Zhou nodded.
San Wa came back. He first hugged their home's Fei Ying and then entered bravely to find his mother.
"Mother." San Wa called for after entering the door.
Lin Qing He was in the middle of studying: "I'm here. What's the matter?"
From his mother's tone, it seem okay. San Wa took the courage to come over.
"Mother, don't be angry. I know I was wrong." San Wa looked at his mother and quietly said.
"Where were you wrong?" Only then, Lin Qing He looked at him.
"I concealed it from you, Mother, and secretly gave the milk to others to drink," San Wa confessed.
"Admitting your mistakes is enough. I'll forgive you, but next time if something like this happens again, you can tell me directly that you really don't want to drink it. Of course, Mother was also at fault in this matter. Since you hate to drink it, Mother still forces you to have it. Mother apologizes to you too. I hope you forgive Mother." Lin Qing He said.