Chapter 186

Jiang Hongjun and his two brothers also came together. It was Mayor Jiang who called and specifically asked the three Jiang brothers and some young people who had nothing to do at home because of the flood to come together. He emphasized that Jiang Ning knew his hometown was hit by the disaster, so he used the money he earned from his scholarship to buy relief supplies and bring them back to give back to his fellow villagers. He asked people to sail three boats over.

They were actually a little unhappy.

Even when they heard that it was Jiang Ning who donated the supplies, they thought, how much supplies could a little girl have? She even called them to ask them to move them by boat. They thought that the TV station might want to use this to publicize the incident.

It is true that the journey from Linhe Brigade to Wucheng is not as simple as sailing, and it can even be said to be full of dangers.

Originally, the waterway from Shuibu Town to Wucheng was blocked, but after the flood, there was vast expanse of water everywhere, and boats could now sail through places that were previously blocked because of the flood. However, this still requires people who are very familiar with the waterway from Shuibu Town to Wucheng.

The waterway from Linhe Brigade to Shuibu Town was not too bad, because they were used to it and knew where to watch out for electric wires on the river. They just had to be a little careful. But the originally different waterway from Shuibu Town to Wucheng was very unfamiliar. They had to slow down on the road and use bamboo poles to explore the way from time to time. When they encountered places blocked by embankments, they had to use bamboo poles to push the boat through with manpower. Along the way, the few people on the boat kept their eyes and ears open, always paying attention to whether a wire suddenly appeared on the water. If they encountered an electric wire very close to the water, two strong men would use a long bamboo pole to pick up the wire in advance. Like a relay, the bamboo pole would lift the wire high, and the boat would pass under the wire.

This process is very dangerous. The two strong men who are using bamboo poles to pick up the electric wires must be especially careful not to let the electric wires fall and hit the boat, which could kill people.

Therefore, this kind of boating can only be done during the day. At night, the river is pitch black and the electric wires cannot be seen clearly, so boating is absolutely not allowed.

The new brigade secretary was really unlucky. He encountered such a severe flood just after taking office.

Compared with his bad luck, Jiang Hehua's father is lucky.

Until now, he is still feeling lucky that he did not get elected as the brigade secretary this year, otherwise this big mess would be his. Now that he has resigned as the brigade secretary, he plans to take his whole family to live where his son is studying in university and stay in that city in the future.

However, fortune and misfortune are always dependent on each other. He was lucky to avoid the mess of the severe flood, but he had agreed with Mayor Jiang that depending on the situation, he would use his connections to allow Jiang Hehua to be released early in May or June this year. As a result, due to this year's floods, everyone, including Mayor Jiang and county officials, were all busy preparing for flood control on the front line. They were so busy that they had no time, no mood, and no time to do this for him.

In addition, during this year's Chinese New Year, Mayor Jiang witnessed Jiang Ning's intelligence, extraordinary vision and ability. He was also closer to Jiang's family. Psychologically, he was inclined to Jiang Ning. He didn't want to get involved in this matter anymore. Originally, he and the brigade secretary were the only two people in the village who were doing well. He wondered if he could transfer the brigade secretary to the township in the next step so that he would have a helper in the future. This year, the brigade secretary resigned from his position.

Mayor Jiang simply ignored the brigade secretary.

The brigade secretary suddenly felt what it meant to be ignored when someone leaves, and the matter of picking up Jiang Hehua in advance was left unresolved.

It's not that he isn't angry or hateful, but who can he hate? Do you hate Jiang Ning?

He only hated that his girl was bad, stupid, and unlucky.

Jiang Hehua went to prison when she was eighteen. She is twenty now. In the past two years, the girl who used to be as proud as a white swan and as innocent as a swan has become inferior, sensitive and afraid. She doesn't even dare to believe what she will do when she gets out. The strange looks people give her when they know she has been in prison make her scared.

She already regretted it. She regretted it very much. She could have studied hard under her parents' plan, gotten into a university, and worked as a civil servant. She didn't know how comfortable her life would be. She and Jiang Ning were worlds apart. She was the cloud in the sky, and Jiang Ning was the mud under her feet. She couldn't understand why she should bother with a piece of mud.

She clearly has a bright future.

During the past two years, she recalled what she had done countless times, and the more she thought about it, the more she regretted it. She never imagined that a casual remark from her would bring her to jail. The beautiful life she had always dreamed of and planned for the future was completely ruined.

She now feels that the world is bleak, she cannot see the future, she cannot see hope, and she even dares not see anyone.

She couldn't imagine how embarrassed she would be when her former friends and classmates saw her now.

In order to comfort her, her mother told her early on that her father had found a connection to get her out early, and asked her to wait and wait until she got out, and then give her a new name, a new place to go, and let her go back to school.

But Jiang Hehua has lost all her spirit now. She just listens to whatever her mother says. She waits when her mother tells her to, and she counts the days one by one. She finally made it to the end of May this year. She was told before that she would be able to go out in June.

But now, after hearing her father say that there was a flood outside and that no one was willing to help her, she broke down and burst into tears. Her already small eyes were swollen from crying until just a slit remained.

Her originally chubby cheeks have now completely lost weight, and her originally sturdy figure has also become as thin as she once ideally wanted. She is not tall, and the prison uniform looks pitiful on her short and thin body.

Seeing his daughter like this, the brigade secretary felt angry, sad, and helpless, and said to Jiang Hehua: "I thought you would be able to get out this year, but there was a flood and everyone was busy fighting the flood and disaster relief. They had no time to take care of you." He comforted Jiang Hehua: "It's only been a year. You've made it through these two years. Don't worry. Your mother and I are going to buy a house near your brother's university. After you get out, don't come back to the village. People outside don't know us. You can find a school and change your age to a younger one, and continue to study."

It means that you can’t take the civil service exam.

What can Jiang Hehua do? She could only cry and continue to regret. She really regretted it to the core, especially when she saw that most of her father's hair was white, and there was also white hair in her mother's hair.

In fact, the brigade secretary was worried not only about Jiang Hehua's one-year sentence, but also about the fact that after he resigned from the job, he had no other skills at all. After he was released, he had no idea what else to do.

He is over 40 years old and has been in the village for more than ten years. He started as a small scorer and worked his way up to the brigade secretary. He has been in Linhe Brigade all his life and has never left.

After living a stable life for too long and getting used to being praised, he and Lotus's mother went out to look for jobs in the past six months and he was totally unable to adapt.

Since marrying him, Lotus's mother has never worked. She plays cards all day long and has completely lost the ability to work. She can only rely on him. He is the pillar of the family. Her son will graduate from college in a year, and everything at home and outside depends on him.

He wants to find a clerical job, but where can he find a job now? Especially since he is over 40 years old. Although the brigade secretary is not a high-ranking official, he is still the head of a brigade and is respected wherever he goes. Now that he has left Linhe Brigade and is looking for a new job, he is not welcomed wherever he goes.

Lotus's father simply couldn't bear such a gap.

He had originally saved some money to buy a house, but after half a year, he couldn't find a job and his savings were all gone. How could he dare to take out a loan to buy a house and put himself in so much debt? Didn’t you see that big guy was so full of vigor and vitality when he was young, but was crushed by all those debts?

The two had no choice but to rent a house near their son’s school and, following the example of others, set up a small stall to sell breakfast.

He has no idea how to do this himself and can only rely on Mother Lotus to do it. But Mother Lotus has never suffered such hardship over the years. Lotus's father was unable to help at all. She worked on it for two days and was too tired to continue. Lotus's father had no choice but to learn it on his own.

This was also a very difficult process for Lotus's father, who had lived a smooth life. For the sake of his daughter, his lifelong dignity and face were thrown into the mud. The gap in social status made him feel some resentment towards his daughter while he was re-adapting to the society.

If it weren't for his stupid daughter who spread rumors about her own sister, he would still be the glorious brigade secretary. He would not be like this now, having to smile everywhere, read people's faces, and even dare not go home.

In fact, it was not just him who had a hard time; all the disaster victims had a hard time.

In previous years, Uncle Jiang and his family relied on taking on bricklaying jobs to make a living. However, this year, it has been raining and they haven't received any work. Even if they did receive work, they had to stop because of the rain. They didn't make much money in the first place, and because of the flood, all the paddy fields at home were flooded. This means that in the first half of this year, there was no income from being a bricklayer and no harvest from the fields.

Fortunately, his family did not sell last year's grain, and they also contracted the fields from Jiang's father's family, so the family did not have to go hungry.

His family is considered well-off, as he has the skill of a bricklayer and can earn some money throughout the year. For those who are unwilling to leave their hometown to work outside and rely entirely on the harvest from the fields for a living, floods are a huge disaster.

Many families sold the extra grain from last year and only kept some for their own food. Now these grains can only last until this year's autumn harvest. In the current situation, let alone the autumn harvest, the rain is like a leak in the sky and it is still falling. We don't know if the water will recede in August or September.

Thinking of the supplies Jiang Ning donated to his hometown, although I don’t know how much, even if he donated three to five thousand yuan, which could be exchanged for food, it would be enough for the villagers to eat for a long time.

Considering that they might have to appear on TV and be interviewed, they dressed neatly and tidyly before leaving, and put on their good clothes without patches. For example, the three Jiang Hongjun brothers were bricklayers, dealing with bricks and cement all year round. Due to their profession, no matter how good their clothes were, they would become gray and old clothes. So the three of them wore tattered clothes that were washed white and patched all year round.

The new secretary of Linhe Brigade was also dressed in new clothes. When his father-in-law saw them like this, he immediately scolded them and made them change into the most ragged and worst clothes. He scolded them: "You are going to receive donations and disaster relief food. How can you take disaster relief food when you are dressed so well? Do you have a tiger in your brain?"

After a scolding, the young men hurried back to change into their own tattered clothes. The new brigade secretary was only 30 years old this year. He searched for a long time but couldn't find any tattered clothes, so he had to wear his father-in-law's old clothes.

He had just taken office this year when he encountered such a severe flood. If his father-in-law had not given him guidance, and his family had some influence in Xujia Village, he would have been in a real mess. But even so, he was still overwhelmed.

When they set out, each of them combed their hair neatly back with water. It didn't matter if their clothes were old, as long as their faces looked good.

But when they arrived in Wucheng, the river wind blew away their true colors, revealing them all to be pure, original country men.

Because they took a long detour, it was already noon when they arrived in Wucheng.

When we arrived at the dock, the first thing we saw was seven or eight large ships protected by many police officers.

The ships they brought here are all big ships in their team. They usually use their ships to pick up and drop off students from school and go to market on weekdays. Their cabins can also hold a lot of cargo, but compared with these big ships, they are really small boats.

Looking at those huge ships that were as big as hills, the brigade secretary and the village chief were all dumbfounded.

Jiang Hongjun said excitedly: "This is the first time I have seen such a big ship. Is it a big cargo ship? This ship can only sail in the river. In the river, some ditches are narrow and this ship cannot pass through."

"Could this be the supplies Ningning donated?" Jiang Jun's face flushed with excitement, with an expression of pride on his face.

The village chief scolded him, "Don't even think about it. Ningning is just a little girl. With so many supplies and so many boats, it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars." After thinking for a while, he said, "The supplies that Ningning donated to her hometown were probably sent here with these boats. I don't know where the ones that Ningning donated are."

There were several cargo ships, big and small. He looked at the smaller ones. He didn't know how much of these supplies could be donated to their Linhe Brigade. He wondered if he could ask Ningning to talk to them and give some from those big ships to their village.

The village chief only thinks about Jiangjia Village, while the brigade secretary thinks about the entire Linhe Brigade.

He had just become the brigade secretary at that time and had no intention of using his position to make money. He was only thinking about how to do a good job as the brigade secretary.

Their ship was not allowed to get close to the relief supplies, so like many other ships that were dispatched, it was parked below the dock.