Chapter 73 Rumors
"Big Mao, Little Mao, don't run so fast. It rained yesterday. If you keep running like this, you will get covered in mud!" The little girl with pigtails running behind them was running out of breath, but still couldn't keep up with the brothers.

"Brother, luckily you had foresight and knew it rained yesterday, so we wore our old clothes today and we weren't afraid of getting them dirty." Ling Xiaolei couldn't help feeling a little proud as he ran.

"But I didn't wear new clothes today, and someone scolded me. They said... my stepmother is so mean. She only let us wear new clothes for two days, and then she made us wear old clothes again."

"I refuted them, but they turned around and scolded me, saying that I was an ungrateful little kid who was being led by the nose by my stepmother... I don't know where they learned these words from." As he spoke, Ling Xiaolei felt very wronged again.

"Ignore them. They are just jealous that we have new clothes to wear. It's enough for us to know in our hearts that our stepmother is not that kind of person." Ling Xiaoguang did not deny his brother's words.

After observing for such a long time, he found that Li Luo really regarded the Ling family as his own home and them as his own family.

Although she doesn't know how to wash dishes, she keeps every corner of the house clean. After she renovated the land, small seedlings have grown in the land, adding a lot of vitality to the Ling family.

She also gave them physical supplements. He recently discovered that his body was developing rapidly. Originally, he was not strong enough, but now, when he arm wrestled with his deskmate, his deskmate was surprised to find that he was much stronger than before.

"Da Mao, what did you eat to grow up? It's only been a short time, but you're already stronger than me. Tell me what you eat every day? When I go back, ask my mother to make some for me." My deskmate looked humbly seeking advice.

Ling Xiaoguang turned her head away proudly: "It was made by my stepmother. We don't know the recipe, but it's delicious. Here, this is the chicken roll she made. Try it."

Ling Xiaoguang generously shared it with his desk mate. Although Ling Xiaoguang usually spoke very little, his desk mate would often talk to him. Most of the time, he was too lazy to pay attention to his desk mate. Today, he was in a good mood, so he shared a bite of the chicken roll with his desk mate.

My classmate took a small bite and was skeptical at first, but after chewing it, he found that it tasted better and better. It seemed that the chicken was fried!
"Da Mao, could you please talk to your stepmother and ask her to save some food for me in the future?" My classmate put his hands together and prayed.

"No, she gets up very early every day and has to take care of her younger sister. She doesn't have extra time to make more pancakes." Ling Xiaoguang thought about it and refused. Although he had a good relationship with his deskmate, he couldn't let his stepmother get tired.

"Ding Dong Ding Dong~" the bell for the end of get out of class rang.

"After school, Damao, can I go to your house to do homework together? Your arm isn't healed yet, so I can lend you my notebook." The deskmate continued.

"No, I have to go back to clean. See you tomorrow." After saying that, Ling Xiaoguang ran out and met his brother at the door.

Who would have thought that the younger brother would be spoken of like this, and he looked so aggrieved, but as long as they protect their stepmother, the gossip of outsiders will not have any effect on them.

The girl following behind him was the one Ling Xiaolei mentioned who spoke ill of his stepmother. Ling Xiaolei didn't know why this girl insisted on sticking to him, even though he was the least noticeable boy in their class before.

But since he got a new schoolbag, new clothes, a new pencil case and mechanical pencils, he suddenly became the most popular boy in the class.

The boys looked at Ling Xiaolei's pencil case as if they were the moon surrounded by stars. They were so amazed by the multiplication table and the dragon ball pattern on it that they didn't know how rare it was.

There are also mechanical pencils, which are even more unaffordable for ordinary people. Even children in rural areas don’t know how to use them. The ignorant looks of his classmates greatly satisfied Ling Xiaolei’s vanity. He took out his mechanical pencil, pressed the button on the head, and the pencil lead was automatically refilled, which made everyone exclaim “Wow”.

In this way, Ling Xiaolei's mechanical pencil passed through the hands of his classmates countless times before it returned to his own hands. Even if his classmates wanted to borrow Ling Xiaolei's mechanical pencil, Ling Xiaolei would not agree.

"If you want to use it, ask your mother to buy it for you." Ling Xiaolei puffed out his chest proudly, as if he owned the whole world.

And the food he brought every time was the most exquisite in the class, including roujiamo, chicken rolls, fried chicken nuggets, French fries... When the classmates smelled the fragrance, they felt that the food they had in their hands was no longer delicious.

Many classmates wanted to exchange food with him, but Ling Xiaolei refused. After all, the food he had was not enough for him.

However, the consequence of doing this is that since he changed into his old clothes today, everyone has started to mock him.

"Hey, your stepmother can't pretend anymore? She makes you wear old clothes again? Where are your new clothes? What about the chicken roll we ate today? Why is there so little chicken? It's not even as much as the fried chicken in my house..." and other malicious words like this.

Ling Xiaolei refuted them all one by one, but everyone still looked at him with a teasing look, and some even scolded him, saying that his stepmother was not decent and seduced other men. This was why Ling Xiaolei got completely angry.

"You are lying. My stepmother and my father have a very good relationship! You are not allowed to slander her!" Ling Xiaolei argued.

But no matter what he said, some people continued to slander Li Luo, and Ling Xiaolei also remembered his brother's words and could not fight.

That's why he came out of class in a depressed mood today.

Who would have thought that there would be a girl catching up with me and insisting on following me? I couldn't even get rid of her. I had to wait until my brother came out and then I ran with him, and then I ran faster.

"Brother, they also said that my stepmother had an affair with another man... You and I both know that my stepmother is not that kind of person." Ling Xiaolei said with a firm look in his eyes. How could a gentle girl who can cook delicious food do such a thing?
Ling Xiaoguang suddenly thought of the day when Li Luo locked the door of her house. Perhaps it was that day... What on earth had happened to her that made her lock the door of her house?
Aunt Xu Mei from the neighboring house also said that someone tried to climb over their wall, but was discovered and chased away by Aunt Xu Mei.

When Ling Xiaoguang heard his brother whispering in his ear about those people's dirty words against Li Luo, his eyes became darker and darker, and he felt as if a storm was about to come.

"Who said that?" Ling Xiaoguang asked in a low voice.

"Ah?" Ling Xiaolei, who was muttering to himself, obviously didn't expect his brother to ask these people's names.

"Da Zhuang, Xiao Pang, Gou Sheng..." Ling Xiaolei counted on his fingers.

(End of this chapter)