Chapter 1818

It was already evening and the sky was gradually getting dark.

Jiang Ning stretched his neck, went out and looked into the distance. What he saw was a large field of green seedlings, full of vitality.

Mr. and Mrs. Jiang haven't come back yet. They must have gone to the fields.

Although the double harvest season is over, there are still a lot of crops waiting to be harvested in the fields, including cotton, red beans, mung beans, soybeans, cowpeas, etc.

In addition to harvesting these crops, there is also weeding and fertilizing.

In Jiang Ning's memory, the work in the fields seemed to never be finished. Jiang's mother could find various things to do every day, and could also find various things for you to do.

She went to the kitchen to wash the rice, put it in the pot, and went to the yard to pick vegetables.

When I saw that the gourd was ripe, I picked a long gourd.

She hasn't eaten bottle gourd for many years, because she ate too much of it when she was a child.

In her memory, it seemed that every summer she had a pot of stewed melon cubes, and she became afraid of the sight of melon after eating so much of it.

She cut the gourd into thin strips, added salt to kill the moisture, and then processed the clams and snails.

The river clams and snails that Jiang's father caught a few days ago have been kept for a few days. The mud and sand have been spit out almost completely. Jiang Ning washed a few river clams and snails and prepared to make a dry-pot river clams and snails, a river clams and winter melon stew, and a cold salad of shredded gourd.

It is best to use large snails for dry pot. Many local people cannot tell the difference between large snails and golden apple snails, and seldom eat large snails. In fact, it is very easy to distinguish between field snails and golden apple snails. One has a round and flat butt, and the other has a long and pointed butt. The latter is the field snail.

Jiang Ning took a look and saw that all that Jiang's father had brought back were field snails, not a single golden apple snail.

All the dishes she cooked were very large in portion, perhaps because there was not enough oil or water, everyone in the Jiang family was a big eater, including Jiang's mother.

She was afraid to pick up food from her since she was a child, as if it was a sin for a girl to pick up one more piece of food with a chopstick. Every time she ate before she had taken two chopsticks, the food on the table had been snatched away. Later, she unknowingly developed a habit of cooking extra-large portions.

She is a good cook, and if she can’t finish the dishes she cooks, she brings them back to the office and invites everyone to eat together.

After the dishes were ready, Jiang's father and mother had not returned yet. Jiang Ning was already hungry, so she scooped a bowl of river clam and winter melon stew and started eating.

It was not until dark that Jiang's father came back with a large basket of crayfish and poured them into the water chestnut basin in the yard. Jiang's mother also came back with a hoe and picked up two full baskets of cowpeas.

If the long beans are not picked at this time, they will become old. They grow quickly and in large quantities, so densely that you can harvest a large basket of fruits every day.

"What delicious food did you cook today?" Jiang's father smelled the fragrance as soon as he entered the yard. He asked Jiang Ning impatiently while washing by the well. Without waiting for Jiang Ning's answer, he ran to the dining table and saw a large bowl of dry-pot river clams and snails in the ceramic bowl on the dining table in the main hall, garnished with green and red peppers, chili peppers, and garlic leaves, which made people's appetites grow.

Father Jiang immediately picked up a snail and started eating it. "How can snails and clams be cooked like this?" Jiang Ning's dry pot snails and clams were so delicious that Father Jiang was not in a hurry to eat. He took two bowls and scooped out two bowls of homemade rice wine from the pottery jar. He called Mother Jiang, "Ailian, come and have a drink with me!"

Jiang's mother washed her hands and came over, saying, "I'll drink until you die!" She still sat down at the table, picked up the bowl, took a sip of wine, and then asked Jiang Ning, "Where's the money you made today?"

Jiang Ning ate the delicious river clam and winter melon stew in the bowl and said, "I'm going to use the money to pay for tuition."

"Take it out and I'll keep it for you. I'll give it to you when school starts." Jiang's mother reached out to Jiang Ning, which scared her. She stepped back almost reflexively, and the long bench under her made a harsh friction sound against the ground.

Jiang Ning almost jumped away from the dining table, three feet away from Jiang Ma, and quickly jumped from the dining table to the front door. Only when he felt safe did he stop and look at Jiang Ma vigilantly.

Both Jiang's father and mother were stunned for a moment. Jiang's mother's face changed drastically with anger: "Why are you running? If I were a jackal, would I eat you?"

Don’t you know whether you are a jackal or not?

Jiang Ning didn't want to anger her. The double harvest was over and grandpa went back to the cabin on the mountain. If she ran out so late, she would have nowhere to go at night.

Jiang Ning said: "I don't need you to keep it, I can keep it myself."

Jiang Ma was so angry that she stood up and wanted to hit her again, "You little thing, you dare to take the money yourself when you are just a little kid!"

Father Jiang grabbed Mother Jiang and said, "Can you please stop hitting the child during meals? Look how scared Ning Ning is! She can't even eat peacefully!" He called Jiang Ning again, "Come and sit down to eat."

Jiang Ning ignored him and continued eating at the door with the bowl in hand.

She used a large blue-rimmed bowl. She had eaten clams and winter melon stew the night before, so she served this bowl of rice very fully.

Jiang's mother was scolded by Jiang's father. She turned around and glared at him fiercely, then sat back down and said to Jiang Ning, "Come here and hand over all the money obediently later. I don't want your money either. Don't you want to use it to pay tuition? I'll pay it for you when the time comes."

Jiang Ning didn't say anything, nor did he go over.

"Did you hear me talking to you?" Jiang Ma's voice became louder. "You are just a kid, why are you holding money? Don't lose it. Give me the money and I will keep it for you."

Jiang Ning raised his eyes to look at her: "You kept my New Year's money for me every year, saying that you would give it to me when I grew up. Now that I'm grown up, when will you give it to me?"

Jiang Ma's face darkened, and she was too lazy to talk nonsense with her. She just shouted, "Are you going to hand it over or not?"

Jiang Ning answered her and took a few steps toward the door.

Mother Jiang pointed at her and sneered, "Let me see where you can run." Then she turned around and went to eat.

Of course Jiang's mother was not in a hurry. Even if Jiang Ning didn't eat at home, she would come back after taking a shower and sleeping. Then she would settle the score with her.

When Jiang Ning saw her mother like this, she knew what she was thinking. After dinner, she wandered outside and did not go back. She just stared at the increasingly dark night in the direction of the ferry.

My grandfather’s salary as a forest ranger was not paid monthly, but was paid in one lump sum by the brigade at the end of the year. Most of the money was used by Jiang Ma to pay off her debts.

The stack of Mao Zedong's banknotes her grandfather had given her before was worth less than fifty yuan in total.

She sold crayfish twice, earning more than 20 yuan each time. She bought a few magazines and some envelopes, stationery and stamps. After subtracting more than 10 yuan, she had more than 30 yuan left, totaling about 80 yuan.

When she was in high school in her previous life, she rented a house outside the school. Six people lived in a small room next to the landlord's kitchen. Four people shared a 1.5-meter-long bed. The rent was 60 yuan per semester, which was the lowest. A room with fewer people would cost at least 100 yuan per semester.

She still remembers the high school tuition very clearly: 360 yuan per semester, plus more than 300 yuan in miscellaneous fees and school uniform fees.

In other words, before school starts, she needs to have at least 700 yuan to pay for a semester's tuition.

This is also the reason why Jiang's mother doesn't want her to go to school. For a rural family, this amount of money is really not small. Moreover, there are three children in high school in her family. The tuition for one semester alone is more than 2,000 yuan, which is more than 4,000 yuan a year, and this does not include the living expenses of the three children.

When Jiang Ning was in junior high school, which was still within the nine-year compulsory education, the tuition fee was not that high. Jiang Ning did not have to live on campus. He could bring vegetables to school every day and only spent 20 cents on ferry fees every day. But when he entered high school, it was obviously impossible to go home and he had to live on campus.

Seeing that Jiang Ning had been staying outside and didn't dare to go home even after dark, Jiang's father got angry at Jiang's mother: "Why do you have such a bad temper? Look how scared you made Ning Ning, she doesn't even dare to go home. If you continue like this, you will beat her away sooner or later. If she really leaves one day and doesn't come back, you will be happy."

Jiang Ma's heart sank when she heard this, but she still said stubbornly, "Where is she going to run to? If she dares to run, I'll break her legs!"

"You're just a coward." Jiang's father said, "She's already fifteen, how many more years can she stay at home? You can't tolerate her for just a few years? She's your child, too, why do you treat her like an enemy?"

These words made Jiang's mother angry at Jiang's father, "What do you mean I treat her as an enemy? Which young person doesn't give the money they earn to their parents? She is so bold that she dares to hide the money before she even grows strong enough. Shouldn't she be beaten?" Jiang's mother felt that she was really wronged, "Which girl has a better life than her? We have been chopping wood in the mountains and fishing in the rivers since we were young. Who didn't live this way? She is the exception?" Jiang's mother snorted and laughed and concluded, "I think we were too good to her, so she rebelled!"

Dad Jiang doesn't understand Mom Jiang's attitude towards her daughter, nor can he understand her rebelliousness.

But after all, he and Jiang Ma had the same growing environment and growth trajectory, so he still agreed with Jiang Ma's words, thinking that it was Jiang Ma's refusal to let her study that made her rebellious.

He sighed, "She is also afraid that you will not let her study. Since she wants to study so much, let her study."

Jiang Ma said angrily, "You asked her to study just by talking. You only know how to talk, but where does the money come from?"

Father Jiang sighed and said, "I'll catch some crayfish to sell these days, and I'll catch some loaches and eels at night. If that doesn't work, I'll go to Tanshan to dig for coal."

On the other side of the river is Tanshan. People from all over the country go to Tanshan to dig coal to earn a living during the slack season.

Jiang Ma’s father used to be the captain of a team in Tanshan.

Coal mining is a very arduous and dangerous job. Jiang's father claims to be a high school student. Even in the most difficult times, he chose to work in other places instead of going to the charcoal mountain to mine coal.

Jiang's mother had a gloomy face. She took the clothes to the bedroom and sat on the bed. She thought about the difficulties at home, her daughter's ignorance, her two sons' future college expenses, the small house they had to build, the expenses for their sons' weddings and the betrothal gifts. The pressure of various expenses made Jiang's mother sit on the bed and sob: "Why am I so miserable?"

When Mr. Jiang heard Mrs. Jiang crying, he felt very uncomfortable.

He walked out and came to the stone under the locust tree, and advised Jiang Ning: "Ningning, please be considerate of your mother. She has a hard time too."

In the dark night, Jiang Ning withdrew her gaze from the distance and looked at Jiang's father, seeming a little puzzled: "It's not my fault that Mom has a hard time." She asked in confusion, "Isn't that your fault?"