The Beautiful Stepmother from the Eighties: Marrying a Factory Director to Raise Kids

Chapter 413

At this moment, a middle-aged woman dressed in elegant, expensive clothes walked over.She looked Si Nian up and down, a hint of surprise in her eyes. "Are you the mother of these children?"

Si Nian asked, "And you are?"

Grandma Xiao replied, "I'm Bowen's grandmother. Bowen said he wanted to play Gomoku with Little Dong, so I just brought the children back together on my way."

Little Dong?

Si Nian looked at her son in surprise.

Zhou Zedong also frowned.

He didn't really like strangers calling his name so affectionately.

Si Nian withdrew her gaze and smiled. "Sorry for the trouble."

"You're welcome. I heard from my son that when you were in Yunguichuan City, Xiao Bowen was well taken care of by you all."

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Si Nian's doubts eased. So that was it.

In that case, it wasn't strange for her to help drop the kids off.

She smiled, nodded, and invited Grandma Xiao inside to sit down.

Grandma Xiao shook her head and said, "I still have things to do, so I'll leave Bowen here to play with you. This is my phone number. If Bowen wants to go home tonight, just give me a call."

Si Nian agreed.

She watched the woman get into her car and leave.

Only ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‍then did she look down at the children.

Zhou Zedong pursed his lips, worried that Si Nian would blame him. After all, back in their hometown, Xiao Bowen's mother hadn't allowed Bowen to play with them, and their mother had also warned them to minimize contact. Thus, he said, "Mom, I didn't play with him. He insisted on coming."

Hearing this, Xiao Bowen's little face turned bright red.

Si Nian coughed awkwardly. It was true that this child had a high IQ, but his EQ was definitely low.

No wonder he couldn't make friends.

"It's fine. He can come if he wants to, it's not like you guys don't know each other."

"Hurry up and go inside. I'll cook tonight, you just play with them."

The children nodded and followed her into the house.

Although Xiao Bowen had known them for a long time, it was his first time entering the Zhou family's home.

He looked around curiously until Second Child brought out the Gomoku board, which snapped him back to reality.

Under the tree in the courtyard were a stone table and stools. The children gathered around it to play Gomoku.

Zhou Zedong, however, had no interest in Gomoku. He held some tools in his hands, fiddling with something unknown.

After playing two rounds with Second Child, Xiao Bowen lost interest, but Zhou Zedong was ignoring him.

He couldn't help but ask, "What is your brother doing? Isn't he going to play?"

Second Child tilted his head to look and saw his brother holding two paper cups, doing who knows what.

He was also a bit puzzled. Just as he was about to ask, Jiang Jiu stared curiously and spoke up, "Big brother, what are you doing?"

"Making a telephone," Zhou Zedong replied without looking up, looking very serious.

"Huh? A telephone?"

The three children instantly moved over, looking at him curiously and asking, "Like the telephone we use at home?"

"Yeah." Zhou Zedong used a pencil to poke a small hole in the bottom of a paper cup. Then, he used scissors to cut open the straws they used to drink milk that morning, threaded one end of a cotton string through the hole in the bottom of the cup, and tied it. After a series of actions, the two paper cups were connected.

Under their curious gazes, he handed a paper cup to Second Child.

"Try it."

"Huh? How do I try it?"

"Take it and walk away, pull the string tight, and then put it to your ear."

Second Child dazedly took the paper cup and walked into the house. Seeing the string pulled taut, he placed it against his ear.

Who would have thought that his brother's voice would actually sound from inside the paper cup!

"Can you hear me?"

Second Child was so startled he almost threw the paper cup away.

"Ah, brother, your voice is in the cup!"

"Let me listen." Jiang Jiu ran over, imitating Zhou Zedong's manner and speaking into the paper cup.

"Big brother, big brother, can you hear me? Over."

Zhou Zedong: "..."

When Si Nian came out, she saw the children lying on the ground holding paper cups to their ears, listening to who knows what, occasionally saying "Over."

She raised an eyebrow. Wasn't this the simple telephone experiment the teacher taught when they went to the lab as kids?

Although she had learned how to make it, she hadn't succeeded.

How did these kids manage to make it?

"Big brother, big brother, Mom has finished cooking. Come in and eat. Over."

"Copy that. Over."

Si Nian: "..."

After eating, the children ran back to the room to hide and play with the simple telephone again.

Zhou Zedong had already lost interest in the thing. He flipped through a book, reading seriously. Occasionally, when he didn't know how to pronounce a few words, he would look them up in the dictionary.

Even though he read relatively slowly, he was very focused.

Xiao Bowen originally wanted to ask Zhou Zedong exactly how that telephone was made, but he didn't know how to bring it up.

Seeing the book he was reading now, it was as if he suddenly understood something.

He made up his mind. He would read too when he got back.

He absolutely could not lose to him.

Going outside, he saw Second Child practicing martial arts in the courtyard, his punches generating wind. Xiao Bowen's little face grew even more serious. It seemed he needed to exercise his body too.

He was no longer interested in Gomoku.

After the children got tired of playing, they cuddled up together and fell asleep.

Si Nian called the Xiao family to let them know, allowing the child to stay the night so they could be taken to school together the next day.

The next day, Si Nian originally planned to take the children to school first, but unexpectedly, the Xiao family's driver came over early in the morning to pick them up.

Since it was on her way, she also got in the car.

After the children entered the school, the driver dropped her off along the way.

As soon as she got out of the car, she bumped into Zhang Xue and Liu Nana.

The two stared at her in astonishment. If they weren't mistaken, that car was a very expensive Santana.

And it even had a Jing City license plate.

Wasn't Si Nian an out-of-towner?

Si Nian also saw the two of them, but she didn't have time to say much and just greeted them, "Zhang Xue? Why are you guys just standing there? Class is about to start."

After saying that, she quickly ran toward the school.

Because there had been a traffic jam on the way over, she had been delayed.

It would take another ten minutes to walk from the school entrance to the classroom.

Therefore, Si Nian didn't notice their surprised gazes.

The two snapped out of it and hurriedly ran after her.

The group rushed anxiously to the classroom, only to find that all the back seats were taken, leaving only the front seats.

If this were the future, everyone would choose the good seats in the front.

But because their major's English teacher had a gap in his teeth, spit would fly everywhere whenever he lectured. Plus, he had a habit of standing right in front of the first row to teach. Word was that a student who sat there before got sprayed with spit all over their head.

The main issue was that they didn't dare complain about it.

So everyone learned their lesson, and no one was willing to sit in the very front.

When the three of them arrived, only the very last spots in the front were left.

Lu Yao had arrived early and was sitting in the row right behind them.

Seeing Lu Yao, Zhang Xue couldn't help but say, "Lu Yao, why didn't you save seats for us? Aren't we roommates?"

Lu Yao frowned and said displeasedly, "Who knew you would come so late? Besides, aren't there still seats in the front?"

Zhang Xue was a little angry. "But we saved seats for you before."

"Forget it, forget it," Liu Nana tugged at her. Even though Lu Yao lived in the same dorm as them, they didn't hang out together.

She was a loner who loved to study, and she wouldn't even allow them to make a single sound when they were in the dorm.

Otherwise, she would get angry.

So the two felt she was hard to get along with, and didn't interact with her much.

Naturally, their relationship wasn't considered good.

Si Nian didn't mind, casually choosing a seat to sit down.

Lu Yao glanced at her, pursed her lips, and said nothing.

Soon, the major's professor arrived.

The surroundings instantly quieted down.

She placed the cassette player on the desk and began the lecture.

Zhang Xue was unlucky; the teacher stood right next to her.

In no time, she was sprayed with a face full of spit.

When the teacher walked away, she wiped her face with a tissue, saying angrily, "I'm so mad. Lu Yao is too selfish. I'm never saving a seat for her again."

Liu Nana was also a bit embarrassed and didn't know what to say.

Seeing her stay silent, Zhang Xue got even angrier.

She had just gotten her hair done yesterday, and the hairdresser had told her not to get it wet for a few days.

Now that she had been sprayed with spit by the teacher, how could she stand not washing it?

The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt. Zhang Xue was about to cry.

Liu Nana hurriedly comforted her, telling her to endure it.

Their voices weren't loud, but the teacher still heard them.

She turned around and scolded, "What are you arguing about? Did you hear everything clearly?"

"Zhang Xue, stand up and answer a question about the listening comprehension part we just did."

Zhang Xue's face turned pale. She had been too busy being angry to pay attention.

She stammered, unable to speak.

The English teacher sneered, "Liu Nana, you stand up and translate."

Liu Nana blushed and stuttered out two sentences of translation before forgetting the rest.

"Si Nian, you do it!"

Si Nian frowned, stood up, and translated the content.

The English teacher glared at her and said, "Don't think that just because your English is good, you can mess around in my class. You may sit down. You two will stand for the rest of the class."

The two girls stood there with flushed faces, wishing they could find a hole to crawl into.

They finally made it to the end of class. The English teacher gathered her books, then suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "I have a few translation jobs here. The requirements are a bit high. You can do them at home, and they pay. Although it's not easy, it can improve your skills. Si Nian, what do you think?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Yao snapped her head to look at the English teacher.

She was the class monitor. Usually, the teachers would give her any opportunities first. She had also told the teacher that she wanted to be a diplomat, but the English teacher hadn't mentioned this to her.

What did this mean?

Was the English teacher planning to choose Si Nian and not her?

Lu Yao was full of indignation and clenched her fists.

Then she heard the English teacher say, "I saw that your spoken English is very good just now. This shouldn't be difficult for you."

She knew about Si Nian's grades; the principal had specially mentioned them.

If such a talent was cultivated, she might even become a diplomat in the future.

Hearing her answer the question today, others might not fully understand how good her pronunciation was.

But she knew exactly how outstanding it was.

With this level of proficiency, there was no need for her to even attend class.

Si Nian saw the envious and jealous gazes from the people around her.

The stare from behind her was especially obvious.

It was Lu Yao's.

Actually, this job wasn't important to her.

Translation work was tiring, troublesome, and demanding.

Especially in this era, not many people could do it, and ordinary people couldn't even get this kind of opportunity.

If she did well now, maybe they could have a long-term cooperation in the future.

When teachers selected students, it was mostly to mentor and promote them. Such opportunities were rare.

Someone like Si Nian, who had teaching experience, excellent college entrance exam scores, and a high level of English, could do whatever she wanted in this era—it was something others could only dream of.

However, the English teacher was quite petty.

If she refused, the teacher might hold a grudge against her in the future.

Everyone knew that in college, you could offend anyone, but you absolutely could not offend your major's professor.

Si Nian was someone who hated trouble. To avoid future trouble, she could only agree for now.

"Teacher, I can give it a try."

The English teacher observed Si Nian's expression. Seeing that she didn't look reluctant or arrogant, she finally revealed a smile.

"Good. Come to my office tomorrow, and I'll give you the assignment."

"But let me make things clear first: if you don't do a good job, or if any accidents happen, you will have to take full responsibility. Even if you are my student, I won't cover for you."

The school term had just started, and the English teacher couldn't even remember the names of the students in the major.

Naturally, she didn't know what kind of person Si Nian was.

So she chose to use this matter to test her. If she was merely good at studying but lacked emotional intelligence and diplomatic skills, she certainly wouldn't be suitable to be a diplomat.

Si Nian nodded and agreed, "I understand. Thank you, Teacher, for giving me this opportunity."

"You're welcome," the English teacher said, preparing to leave.

Right then, someone spoke up. "Teacher, shouldn't such an important opportunity be offered fairly to the other students? If you just give it directly to Si Nian, won't everyone have objections?"

The English teacher's expression remained indifferent. "Fairness? When you enter society, will society give you fair choices? In my eyes, only the most outstanding students can get opportunities, and it's the same in the real world. You aren't three-year-olds; don't you understand such a simple principle?"

Lu Yao bit her lip tightly.

It was clearly the English teacher playing favorites. This was school; what did it have to do with entering society?

If they competed fairly, she didn't think she would lose to Si Nian.

Si Nian only had better college entrance exam scores than her, but that didn't mean she couldn't beat her in college.

If she didn't fight for it, an opportunity like this would never come to her.

"Teacher, I just think that being outstanding is one thing, but being suitable is another. Who's to say other students couldn't do it better?"

The English teacher fell silent for a moment. "By 'other students,' do you mean yourself? Then rest assured, I can easily tell that your level is not as good as Si Nian's. I didn't want to say this because I wanted to save you some face, but you insist on being pretentious and asking for trouble. If you really want a reason, then I'll tell you: that is the reason."

Previously, she had more or less selected the more outstanding students in the class to answer questions.

She could see clearly whose level was high and whose was low.

Lu Yao's face turned completely red.

Being told to her face by the teacher that she was inferior to someone else was a tremendous insult to her.

However, the people around her didn't feel sorry for her. The English teacher's sharp tongue was no joke; she had scolded at least eighty, if not a hundred, students to tears.

Lu Yao, relying on her status as class monitor and her good grades, had questioned the teacher's choice, so it was no surprise she got scolded.

The teacher definitely had her reasons for choosing whomever she chose.

"Of course, if you insist that you are capable, I can give you an opportunity too."

"Come to my office tomorrow afternoon, and I will give you an assignment as well."

With that, the teacher left.

Lu Yao clenched her fists. The humiliation from just a moment ago vanished, and she even felt a bit delighted.

Because she had fought for it, she had obtained this opportunity.

She shot Si Nian a provocative look.