Chapter 55 [Update 1]

After Grandpa Jiang and Grandpa Uncle sat down to hand over their work, they took their quilts, bedding, pots and pans, and went down the mountain on a cart.

By the time Jiang Ma found out about this, her uncle and grandpa and their spouses were already living in the small house on the mountain.

Jiang's mother was so angry that she almost scratched Jiang's father's face. "Such a big thing, but you didn't even mention it to me. Do you think I'm a member of the Jiang family? I gave birth to two sons in the Jiang family, and I've been treated like a slave for so many years, but you still treat me as an outsider? You didn't even discuss such a big thing with me?"

The fact that they made the decision without consulting her at all really pissed off Jiang Ma: "How good is patrolling the mountains? How many people are lining up to get it? The old man said he didn't want to do it, so he didn't do it. He said he would give it to someone else, and he didn't even tell me."

She waved her arms vigorously: "Since you don't consider me a member of the Jiang family, don't come to me for retirement in the future!"

Thinking of Grandpa Jiang who said he didn't want to work and went to Wucheng alone without saying a word, he couldn't help but sarcastically said, "The old man is getting more and more confused as he gets older. Does he really think that a little girl like Jiang Ning will take care of him in his old age? Won't his son take care of him in his old age? He still has to rely on us! He quit his job without saying a word and ran to Wucheng. If he starves to death in Wucheng, don't come back to find us!"

She was extremely angry. She had worked so hard for the Jiang family for so many years and had given birth to two sons for them, but the Jiang family treated her as an outsider. No one told her about such a big thing. She only found out about it when the whole village knew that the forest ranger on the mountain had been replaced.

If she hadn't gone up the mountain in person to confirm that it was really her uncle and aunt who were living in the cottage, she really wouldn't have believed it was true. It was like a bolt from the blue.

Father Jiang knew that if his wife knew about this, she would be furious, so he didn't dare to tell her when he got home. He originally thought that the old man was just talking about this plan, but he didn't expect him to act so quickly. Not long after he finished talking to them, he had handed over all the work and pulled all the things down from the mountain.

He said: "The old man has not been in good health in the past two years. He said he can no longer work. I think it would be better for him to quit. This way, we don't have to worry about him being alone in the mountains every day."

"What is there that he can't do? How tiring is patrolling the mountains? Isn't it just walking back and forth? What's the big deal? Who doesn't walk every day? He can earn a thousand yuan a year by walking, but he runs to Wucheng to beg for food? Isn't he ashamed? Don't come back dirty and smelly, and ask me to wash your clothes!" Jiang Ma's eyes were red with anger, "Don't come to me then, doesn't he love his granddaughter? Let his granddaughter serve him, not me!"

In fact, whether in the past or present life, Jiang's father and mother have never taken care of Grandpa Jiang in his old age.

Grandpa Jiang has always lived alone in the mountains. He passed away suddenly in his previous life. Over the years, it was only Dad Jiang who sent some rice to the mountain. Most of the time, he had to go down the mountain to carry the rice up. Even the vegetables were grown by Grandpa Jiang himself.

Grandpa Jiang was reluctant to part with the vegetables he grew, as well as the sour beans and snail meat sauce pickled by Jiang Ning, so he loaded them all onto the cart.

If we bring those vegetables to Wucheng, we can sell them for a few dollars.

On the contrary, Grandpa Jiang’s salary over the years was also used to subsidize his youngest son’s family because he shared it with his youngest son’s family.

Grandpa Jiang believed that he did not owe his youngest son's family anything. It was precisely this confidence that came from never relying on others that allowed him to handle his work without asking for the opinions of his two sons and daughters-in-law. Instead, he asked them directly if they wanted to take over his job. If they didn't want to, he would give it to his younger brother, pull the cart himself, and go to Wucheng.

The eldest granddaughter has already rented the shop. As long as it is not open for business, she will have to pay rent in vain, which makes Grandpa Jiang very anxious.

Jiang Ning really didn't expect that Grandpa Jiang, who was supposed to come at the end of the year, would suddenly come to Wucheng and meet Wang Yong.

Grandpa Jiang had been to Wucheng before, so he knew the location of No. 1 Middle School and the store. After getting off the minibus, he unloaded his cart from the roof of the minibus, and pulled the cart full of things, step by step, to the store.

From a distance, before I reached the store, I could see someone shouting something noisily over there, and there were crowds of people outside the store.

He pulled the cart towards the shop in confusion, but when he arrived at the door of the shop, he didn't dare to go in.

People who were watching the excitement at the store entrance and wanted to squeeze in to buy clothes could only stay outside because there were too many people. They saw an old man in tattered clothes pulling a cart standing at the entrance. They thought he was a beggar and said to him, "Go beg somewhere else. This shop is too busy and you can't squeeze in. Come back in the evening. They close at five o'clock, and the store owner sells more clothes at that time. You can get more food if you come here to beg."

Grandpa Jiang smiled and said, "I'm not here to beg for food."

Although Shuibu Town is a town under Wucheng, the dialect spoken there is completely different from that of Wucheng.

Wucheng is ancient, but Shuibu Town is even older, with its own dialect. But even though the dialects are different, they are from the same place, so both sides can understand each other. From Grandpa Jiang's accent, I could tell that he was from Shuibu Town, so I asked, "Are you from Shuibu Town?"

Grandpa Jiang hunched his back and nodded with a smile: "Yes."

"Ah, I can tell from your accent right away. The dialect of your Shuibu Town is different from the dialects of other places in Wucheng. My eldest niece-in-law is from your Shuibu Town."

Seeing that the older sister was quite enthusiastic, Grandpa Jiang couldn't help but ask her: "Young sister, what's going on in this store? Why are there so many people?"

When the aunt who was talking heard that there were still people who didn't know about this gossip, she immediately enthusiastically explained it to Grandpa Jiang: "Oh, you don't know this, right? Listen to what the loud speaker says first."

Grandpa Jiang had already heard his granddaughter's voice coming from the loud speaker. He heard his eldest granddaughter shouting in the same standard Mandarin as the one on the radio, "The bastard Director He, the bastard Director He, ran away with his sister-in-law, ran away!"

The aunt who was talking to him clapped her hands excitedly: "Did you hear that? The owner of this shop is from the Jiangnan Garment Factory. Their factory director is a bad man. He had an affair with his sister-in-law. He was caught on the spot and took more than 30 million and ran away abroad. He even bankrupted a good garment factory. Isn't that a sin?"

Grandpa Jiang was stunned when he heard this, then nodded and said, "What does that have to do with this store?"

"Of course it is related!" The aunt raised her eyebrows, glared, and became more energetic: "The owner of this shop is a worker of this garment factory. It's pitiful. All the money of the factory was taken away by that bastard Director He. What should they do if they can't pay the workers' wages? They can only use the clothes of the garment factory to offset the original price of more than one hundred, two hundred or three hundred yuan. Now they are selling them at a big discount of 29 or 39. Such cheap clothes are of good quality. After hearing about it, everyone will come to buy them. Look at how crowded it is." The eldest aunt said outside with disgust, "Before, there was no one to see on this street, but now you can't even squeeze in. They are all afraid that if they miss this village, they will lose this store, so they hurry to buy two clothes for their family members to wear during the New Year."

Grandpa Jiang was confused by the large amount of information from this aunt.

What garment factory workers? Isn’t this his eldest granddaughter’s shop? He was afraid that he had made a mistake and wanted to turn around and leave. However, although the voice from the loudspeaker was a little distorted, he was sure that it was his eldest granddaughter's voice. He also faintly heard his eldest granddaughter's voice coming from inside the store: "Don't crowd, choose one by one, don't bargain, all are sold at a loss, not a penny is returned, if the factory hadn't been unable to pay wages, how could there be such a price."

"Boss, this size is sold out? Do you have a bigger size? One size bigger is fine! Two sizes bigger? Two sizes bigger is fine!"

"Boss, is there anything this can be worn by a child?"

Jiang Ning and Wang Yongshi never expected that business would be so booming on the weekend.

The two of them didn't open the door in the morning because they went to the Internet cafe to write. They opened the door after lunch at noon. Because it was the weekend, they played the loudspeaker recording they had made earlier.

At the beginning, there were not so many people, but gradually, more and more people came, even people from the next street came. By Sunday afternoon, people from the next street, not only the next street, but also the next street's next street's next street had heard that there was a clothing store here. Because the garment factory closed down, the store was clearing out the stock, and the clothes were very cheap, so they came here without any hesitation.

Also, because they live far away, they ran several blocks, and it seemed a bit uneconomical to buy only one piece to bring back. In addition, they have relatives and friends there, so they simply bring a few more pieces and give their mother a new cotton-padded jacket when they return to her parents' home during the New Year. Then they can be very proud to be present at the family gathering during the New Year.

Then it became what Grandpa Jiang sees now.

Fortunately, it didn't rain today. Seeing that he couldn't squeeze in and customers kept coming to buy clothes, Grandpa Jiang simply put down the cart, sat on it, and waited next to the store entrance. After waiting for a long time, Grandpa Jiang was a man who didn't care about anything. He pulled his cotton jacket together, pulled the quilt on the cart, lay down on the cart, and took a nap.

Originally, no one noticed that there was an old man lying here. Perhaps even if they noticed, many people didn't care much.

But not everyone doesn't care.

There are four schools nearby. Although the other schools in Wucheng are not located in these two streets, they are not too far away. Because of Wucheng gossip and cheap clothes, girls from nearby schools heard that there were cheap clothes for sale here and came to take a look.

Before I squeezed into the shop, I saw a gray-haired old man lying on the cart next to the shop. He was silent and looked like he was dead. The girl who saw Grandpa Jiang was so scared that she hurried over to feel his breath. When she found that he was still alive, she breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly woke him up: "Grandpa, grandpa? Why are you sleeping here? What if you catch a cold? Are you lost? Do you remember where you live?"

Grandpa Jiang was pushed awake by two kind female students. He turned around blankly and found that there were still many people in his granddaughter's shop.