Chapter 52 [Second update]

"Competition class?" Jiang Bai was surprised.

He really didn't know about this. Among the three siblings, except for him and Jiang Ning who are closer, they don’t usually talk about their own affairs.

It's like three parallel lines that don't intersect, each taking care of its own business and living its own life.

But during this period, after Jiang Ning started school and entered the same school as him, she always brought him meals in the evening, which either contained braised pork or vegetables and braised pork.

Perhaps it was because he had consumed too much meat, plus Tong Jingang would bring him some food from time to time, he finally slept well during this period, at least he didn't have to wake up from hunger at night.

My legs still ache, but not as often as before.

Today, she gave him clothes and shoes again.

Two pieces of clothing and a pair of shoes, they don't look cheap. If we calculate that one piece of clothing costs fifty yuan, the two cotton-padded jackets will cost at least one hundred yuan, and the shoes will cost at least one hundred and fifty yuan.

He didn't know where she got the money.

He couldn't describe what he felt deep down. There was worry, and also a strange feeling of never being cared for. It was like a piece of candy he had eaten as a child, or like the sunshine shining in during the cold winter months.

The teacher was about to come to the classroom, so he didn't go to the competition class to find her, but went back to the classroom.

Tong Jingang saw that he had just taken the clothes and ran out, and now he came back with the clothes in his hand, frowning, and asked him puzzledly: "What's the matter? Why did you run away with the clothes? Don't you even look at your coat..." He paused, and then asked Jiang Bai: "What's the situation? Your parents are worried that you will spend money recklessly, so they put all the money with our sister? Then the money they gave you before was not all put with your brother, and was spent by your brother, right?"

"No." Jiang Bai said lightly.

How could his sister have money? His parents would never give her money, unless it was from grandfather.

But he knew very well that his grandfather's salary over the years was taken away by his mother before he even received it.

His clothes are actually much better than Jiang Ning's.

In their rural area, every household has a new eldest child, an old second child, and the tattered ones are given to the third child. He is fine because he is the old second child.

Except for the occasional new clothes he would get during the Chinese New Year, all he had worn since he was a child were Jiang Song's old clothes that outgrew his size.

Jiang Song was two years older than him and taller than him, so his clothes became smaller quickly and were quickly eliminated and given to him, so he had never lacked clothes from childhood to adulthood.

It’s just that Jiang Song has been lively and active since he was a child. He goes up mountains and down rivers at home, chasing rabbits and catching fish. There is nothing he can’t do. He has been the leader among the children since he was young, so his clothes and shoes get worn out very quickly.

When Jiang Bai was a child, his clothes always had patches on his knees and buttocks.

When he grew up, Jiang Song was finally not so naughty anymore, but he still liked playing ball.

Football, basketball, table tennis, even billiards, running, long jump, high jump, even when walking, if Jiang Song saw a leaf hanging from a tree, he would jump up to touch it, or jump up to shoot a ball in the air. Whatever he saw, he wanted to aim at something and kick it a few times.

He seemed to have endless energy, and he kept running around outside every day. Jiang Bai would never be able to get a complete piece of clothing left by Jiang Song.

Jiang Ning couldn't receive it even more.

Jiang Ning has two older cousins. The older cousin gives her clothes to the younger cousin, and the younger cousin gives them to Jiang Ning.

Both cousins ​​dropped out of school early and worked at home, cutting grass in the mountains and working in the fields. They were both good at it, so you can imagine what Jiang Ning's clothes looked like.

That's true. No matter whether it was from the Jiang family or the uncle's family, they were all 'broken and tattered' for the third brother.

He couldn't figure out where Jiang Ning got the money from and what it meant to give him two pieces of clothing and a pair of shoes.

Tong Jingang took off his down jacket and let Jiang Bai wear it. Jiang Bai folded the clothes and put them back into the transparent bags, preventing Tong Jingang from stuffing his stinky feet into the new shoes.

Tong Jingang was full of indignation: "Fuck, I don't even think your feet are smelly, but you think mine are!"

Jiang Bai only has one pair of shoes. It’s okay in the summer because he wears sandals. But in the winter, he has no shoes to change into and his feet really stink. The entire boys’ dormitory is filled with stench.

Jiang Bai had endured this kind of environment for three years and had gotten used to the stench, but he still insisted on cleaning his shoes every week unless it rained. He was very careful when cleaning his shoes in order to avoid damaging them.

But no matter how carefully I brush, the soles of my shoes will soon be worn through.

Tong Jingang saw him put away his shoes and asked him in confusion: "You don't wear them?"

Jiang Bai glanced at him and said, "I still don't know what's going on."

Jiang Ning stuffed the things into his hands and ran away without saying a word.

Jiang Ning ran so fast, it must be because the evening self-study class was about to start and he was too late.

Jiang Bai waited until the first evening self-study class was over before he came to the administrative building opposite. He found the competition class for the first year of high school, looked out the window, and saw Jiang Ning behind him.

The teacher was not there, so he walked directly to the door, knocked, and shouted, "Jiang Ning!"

Everyone looked up at him, then at Jiang Ning, curious about the relationship between the two.

It's really that No. 1 Middle School is too strict. Boys and girls are divided into groups and separated. Even the toilets are separate, one on the left side of the teaching building and the other on the right side. They can't even walk together, not to mention that now there are male students coming here openly to find female students. How can they not be curious?

Jiang Ning was also surprised to see Jiang Bai and walked out of the classroom: "Second brother, what's wrong?"

Jiang Bai held the things in his hand and said, "What's going on? Where are you from? Why are you stuffing so many clothes and shoes into my arms?"

Looking at Jiang Bai, whose face was full of worry and brows were tightly locked, Jiang Ning couldn't help but smile: "Why am I stuffing it into your mouth? I'm stuffing it into your mouth, will you eat it?" She pushed the bag he handed over back: "I bought it for you!"

"Where did you get the money? Give it back, I don't want it!"

The management of No. 1 Middle School is strict and students cannot leave the school at all. He is not worried that Jiang Ning will do anything bad, but he does not know where her money comes from. She suddenly buys so many things for him, and he will feel uneasy if he does not find out the source.

Since the wave of layoffs, there have been many idle hooligans in Wucheng. The management of the No. 4 Middle School and the vocational high school next door is not so strict, so the hooligans in society go looking for those girls.

Jiang Bai was afraid that his younger sister was too young and would go out on the weekends and meet some gangsters, and get deceived by some sweet words from those gangsters.

Jiang Ning said: "I can tell you, but you have to keep it a secret from me. Don't tell Mom and Dad when you get home."

Jiang Bai had already prepared for the worst and took a deep breath: "You say."

"I submitted several manuscripts to the magazine, and they were accepted. They paid me the manuscript fee."

Jiang Bai found it unbelievable. Submitting an article to a magazine always seemed so far away from them. His sister actually said that she had submitted an article to a magazine?

"Which magazine?"

"Reader, Youth Digest."

Jiang Bai felt relieved.

Jiang Bai knew all about these two magazines. Someone in their dormitory bought old copies of these two magazines and read them in the dormitory. He had also read them and found that the quality of the works in them was very high. How old was his sister to be able to submit works for publication in these two magazines?

But his tone finally relaxed a little, and he was not so worried anymore, but he still asked inquiringly: "Which manuscript did you write? Can you show it to me?"

Jiang Ning saw that it was almost time and the second evening self-study class was about to begin, so she said to Jiang Bai, "I'll talk to you tomorrow at noon. Class is about to start, so don't worry about your clothes and shoes."

"I'll wait for you in the cafeteria tomorrow at noon." Seeing that the class was indeed about to start, Jiang Bai hurried back to the teaching building.

Jiang Ning looked at the shoes on Jiang Bai's feet.

During the conversation with Jiang Bai a few years before her rebirth, Jiang Bai also told her about his shoes.

The soles of his shoes were worn through and could not be worn, so he bought two pairs of insoles to put underneath them. Whenever it rained, his shoes and socks would all get wet. His feet were cold in winter and he got frostbite on both feet.

When I went home on New Year's Day, I told Jiang's father and mother that the soles of my shoes were worn out and I had no shoes to wear.

Jiang's mother found a pair of stinky shoes that Jiang Song no longer wore from somewhere.

When he talked about this, he even laughed: "Do you know how long I spent brushing those shoes?" He was actually different from Jiang Ning. When talking about these things, he did not complain to Jiang Ma, because he was stingy just like Jiang Ma. He could understand Jiang Ma's way of saving money. He just hated Jiang Song's smelly feet and did not like Jiang Song: "I brushed them for a long time, but those shoes still smelled. I don't know how he wore them. He didn't wash his shoes even though they were so dirty. He probably knew I could wash them, so he never washed his shoes."

Tong Jingang saw Jiang Bai coming back with these clothes and shoes, and asked hurriedly: "What does our sister say?"

Jiang Bai put the bag at his feet, "The teacher is here."

Tong Jingang suddenly returned to his seat and sat upright.

The next day at noon, Jiang Bai was waiting at the entrance of the cafeteria. When he saw Jiang Ning coming over, he took Jiang Ning's rice bowl. Tong Jingang, who was already in the queue, waved his hands vigorously: "Jiang Bai! Jiang Bai! It's my turn, rice bowl! Give me our sister's rice bowl!"

Tong Jingang was tall and strong like a gorilla. He stood out in the cafeteria, and when he shouted, everyone's attention was drawn to him.

Seeing Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning standing at the cafeteria entrance, the discipline committee members wearing red armbands were about to go over to inquire about the situation, but when they heard the shout, they stopped in their tracks.

Jiang Ning's reaction was also very quick. Seeing more and more people pouring into the cafeteria, she turned three steps into two, quickly slipped to the end of the food line, and lined up behind the line at the food window.

Jiang Bai also quickly strode to the food window and handed the rice bowl to Tong Jingang.

Xu Xiuli and He Xiaofang also came, but they couldn't help Xu Xiuli and He Xiaofang get meals as there were several discipline committee members on duty in the cafeteria every day, and any boy or girl who said a few more words would be noted down.

They all knew Tong Jingang and Jiang Bai, who were in the third year of high school, and knew that they were not real brothers. When they saw Tong Jingang taking Jiang Ning's rice bowl to get food, they wanted to come over and ask, but they heard Jiang Ning waving his hand: "Second brother! Second brother! Bring me the rice bowl, it's my turn!"

Jiang Bai hurriedly carried three large rice bowls over again. Jiang Ning pushed all three bowls to the chef and said, "Big sister, three parts of braised pork!"

The sister who served the food was a aunt in her forties or fifties.

But in Jiang Ning's eyes, the younger sister is the little sister, the older sister is the big sister, and they are all sisters.

The auntie who was serving the food laughed out loud when the little girl called her "big sister". She filled all three rice bowls for her and even added a spoonful of soup at the end.

Jiang Ning's mouth was as sweet as honey: "Thank you, big sister!"

Tong Jingang took the rice bowl handed over by Jiang Bai and exclaimed in surprise: "Why is there so much meat?"

All three of them are extremely eye-catching. Not to mention Tong Jingang's gorilla-like size, just Jiang Bai's outstanding appearance is enough to make sure that except for the freshmen in the first year of high school, there are few people in the second and third years who don't know Jiang Bai.

Even though the management at No. 1 Middle School is strict, who wouldn't take a few sneak glances at a handsome guy?

Now with the addition of Jiang Ning, who dresses fashionably and looks like she came out of a TV show, the three of them naturally attract attention.

Tong Jingang walked towards the table of the boys' group on his own initiative.

The discipline committee member stopped Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning who were trying to leave with their lunch boxes, and they both held up their name tags to show the discipline committee member: "We are siblings, born of the same parents, and we have something to talk about."

The discipline committee member knew Jiang Bai, and also learned from the class teachers that there was a high school student named Jiang Ning who only slept three hours a day and was the top student in the exam. He just glanced at the similar names and said nothing, and continued to stand guard.

There were no mixed tables for men and women in the cafeteria, so Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning each took their chopsticks and went to the basketball court outside the cafeteria.

If it wasn't raining, the two of them would sit on the parallel bars next to the basketball court and eat and chat.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Jiang Bai sat on the parallel bars.

Jiang Ning lay on the parallel bars, eating rice with a rice bowl in his hand.

"Just like what I said last night, I wrote some articles and sent them to several magazines like Reader's Digest and Youth Digest to earn some pocket money."

Jiang Bai was choked by Jiang Ning's words "earn some pocket money". Clothes and shoes worth more than a hundred yuan are "a little pocket money"?

But at the same time, he felt sour and bitter in his heart, and a sudden surge of warmth surged.

My sister earned some royalties from writing and she spent it all on buying him clothes and shoes.

But then again, it doesn’t make sense, as my sister is also wearing new clothes and new shoes.

"Is writing profitable?" He also wanted to start writing.

"Just make some pocket money." Jiang Ning turned around and saw what this money-grubber was thinking at a glance, and said to him, "You're already in your third year of high school, and you still want to make money? You should finish the college entrance examination first, and then think about how to make money. With a college degree, you can earn much more than a high school student in a month."

"Besides, writing requires talent. Do you have it?" She turned around and asked him casually.

Just one sentence made him give up the idea of ​​making pocket money from this.

Among the three siblings, Jiang Song is an average in both arts and sciences, while Jiang Bo has a pure science brain and has no talent for writing at all.

He had absolutely no talent for writing. He had no interest in liberal arts and was only interested in mathematics, physics and chemistry, especially physics. However, his physics teacher made him lose interest in learning this subject.

Jiang Ning did not tell Jiang Bai how much money she made from her contributions, and Jiang Bai did not ask. He just wanted to know where his sister's money came from, so he said, "Don't buy it for me next time. Buy it for yourself."

He and Jiang Song are about the same age and height. He can wear the rest of Jiang Song's clothes, but his sister's tattered clothes are really tattered clothes.

Now seeing my sister finally wearing new clothes, I have to say, it looks really good.

But his stingy nature kicked in, and he looked at the clothes she was wearing and said, "Are you buying clothes a little too small? You are growing taller now, and they will be too small in two months. You should buy two sizes bigger." He pointed at his own school uniform, and his expression finally revealed the pride of a teenager, "Like me, when I saw my older brother grow so tall, I knew I would grow tall too, so I ordered the largest size. Now I am a senior in high school and I can still wear it. Don't think you are short now, you will definitely grow fast in the future. I am the same. You'd better talk to the boss and get you a bigger size."

Boss Jiang Ning himself: …

Jiang Ning just smiled and didn't say much.

When her store is opened, Grandpa Jiang comes to Wucheng, and Jiang Bai will naturally know about it. She doesn't want to tell him too much. The three siblings and three cities have long been accustomed to making all decisions on their own, without discussing with anyone, and without needing anyone's consent.

Jiang Bai asked her to tell him which issue her work was published in, and he would go to the bookstore to look for it later. If he couldn't buy a brand new copy, he could buy a second-hand one for collection.

My sister's composition was published in a magazine.

Jiang Ning thought he wanted to confirm whether she had really published any works, so she didn't care and said, "Don't go to the bookstore to look for it. Every time a work is published, the magazine will send me a sample issue. I have it in my dormitory. I'll get it for you later."

After dinner, Jiang Ning went back to the dormitory and looked for sample magazines. When she couldn't find any, she turned around and asked the people in the dormitory: "Where are my magazines? Has anyone seen them?"

Jiang Ning would put the sample issues she received on the table. Anyone who wanted to read them could do so, as long as they put them back to her after reading. Sometimes girls from the next dormitory would come to borrow them.

Seeing that there was no one in her dormitory, she went to ask in the next dormitory, but there was no one there either: "Didn't we all go back after watching it?"

"That's strange, why are there no more copies?"

Everyone found it strange and helped her look for it: "I always put it back after reading it."

"Who watched it last Friday?" They recalled, "Liu Ping, yes, it was Liu Ping."

"Liu Ping, did you take the book home last Friday and forget to bring it here?"

Liu Ping, who was on the upper bunk, denied it: "I didn't take it. I put it back after I finished looking at it!"

Xu Xiuli suddenly asked, "Where are Ningning's old magazines? I haven't seen Ningning's old magazines in a long time."

After being reminded by Xu Xiuli, the people in the dormitory realized, "Oh, where are those magazines that they had read before?"

At first they thought Jiang Ning had put the magazine away after they finished reading it, but now it seems that Jiang Ning didn't put the magazine away at all.

Before, students from the neighboring dormitory also came to borrow magazines. After borrowing so many times, there were not many left in the dormitory. They were used to it and didn’t notice that the magazines Jiang Ning had bought before were missing.

Dormitory head Wang Xia said: "I remember Liu Min and the others returned the books they borrowed."

"Yes, I remember that too. I was in the dormitory when they returned the magazines. Every time Jiang Ning bought new ones, they would return them after reading them."

"Where are all the books?"

People at that time cherished books very much. Even if it was just a small magazine, it was a very precious thing to these girls.

"Let's look for it again." Wang Xia helped look everywhere and went to the next dormitory to ask if anyone had taken it back by mistake.

But even if they were brought by mistake, it wouldn't be possible that there were more than 30 books. Could they all have been brought back?

Jiang Ning's "Wuxia" has been serialized for ten issues, and "Reader", "Youth Digest" and "Zhiyin" have also been serialized for four or five issues. In other words, these three magazines alone have fourteen or fifteen books, and there are also seven or eight books that Jiang Ning bought before school started.

Jiang Ning was too busy before and didn't have time to read these books, but he didn't hide them because they were his own books. Everyone could read them if they wanted. Where are the books now?

Everyone said they didn’t take it.

The girls in the next door dormitory heard that all the magazines Jiang Ning bought were missing, so they went back to their own dormitories to look for them. Only the latest copy of "Martial Arts" was left in the hands of a girl who hadn't finished reading it.

Everyone was very confused. After reading the magazine, it was over. Who would want to take this thing? Besides, even if you have finished reading it, Jiang Ning will lend it to anyone who wants to borrow it. You can just borrow it anytime you want.

Their dormitory building is one of the newer buildings in No. 1 Middle School. It was built later. It has six floors in total, with sixteen dormitories on each floor, all the way up to 616.

There are a total of thirty-two dormitories on the fifth and sixth floors, all of which are occupied by girls.

616, 615, 614, 613, and 612, these dormitories are all occupied by girls from classes one and two. One of the dormitories is where girls from both classes live together. 611 and 610 are where girls from class three live.

During the lunch break at noon, there was some loud noise in their two dormitories, and the girls in dormitories 609 and 612 on the left and right were alarmed. They all came out curiously to see what was going on.

When I heard that Jiang Ning had lost her books, I initially thought it was her textbooks and was worried about her. Later, I heard that they were magazines she bought, such as "Readers" and "Youth Digest", so I was no longer worried. I was just curious why books were lost, and why more than 30 of them were lost.

A girl from the next room, 609, suddenly thought of something and said, "Speaking of magazines, I remember one thing. Last Saturday, when I was going home, a fellow student from Class 7 was reading Reader and Martial Arts on the bus. He said he rented them from other students. It was 10 cents for two copies and they could read for two days."