Jiang Mei hummed a little tune, slid off in her high heels, and left with a smug look on her face. If her mother hadn't told her to come and check on things so that Jiang Xintong and the others wouldn't try anything funny, she wouldn't have bothered coming back to this tenement. What's so great about it? They all look down on her, thinking that this is how Jiang Mei's life will always be.

She's going to make something of herself in the future, and show those snobbish guys that she, Jiang Mei, is the pride of the Jiang family. What are her little problems compared to that? She'll be even more successful than Jiang Qiao in the future.

So what if she has an official father? So what? With a landlord grandfather, she can forget about ever turning her life around.

She believed she knew quite a few officials, no less than Jiang Qiao, and her family had been poor for eight generations, which made her far better off than Jiang Qiao.

Regardless of Jiang Mei's intentions, Jiang Qiao went home, put down her things, and ran out to buy rations and other supplies with her ration book and other supplies. Anyway, she had already told the class monitor that she could go back whenever she wanted.

After going around the store, I still have quite a few things left to buy. As for the rest, I'll have to wait until next time.

It wasn't because there was no food at home, but because she had to buy what needed to be bought; otherwise, it wouldn't make sense.

"Hey, Jiang Qiao, you're back from collecting your rations! You should have told me sooner, I would have helped you buy more!"

Seeing that Jiang Qiao's back seat and handlebars were covered with things, Li Meilan quickly came over to help unload them.

"Your family's food supplies depend on you, how could I let you buy so much? How are you going to get it all back?"

I took advantage of my lunch break and had a car, so I rushed to buy them, but some things were simply unavailable.

"Auntie, there's tofu and meat too. Why don't you go out and check sometime? If you find any, you can buy some for me."

Having someone with free time at home is a relief, and it's normal for the two families to keep in touch.

Li Meilan accepted it without hesitation, saying, "I'm telling you, your child is too strong-willed. There are some things that require queuing up early in the morning to buy. You're at school all day, how can you have time?"

"Wait until Sunday, there will be even more people, and you'll have even less chance of getting in line. Okay, leave these to me, I'll buy them for you."

Jiang Qiao gave the money to Li Meilan, saying, "Auntie, buy these if you can, and save them for later if you can't."

Li Meilan confidently assured everyone, "Don't worry, don't worry. I can handle buying these things, even if others can't. Don't worry, you'll be able to eat them tomorrow."

Watching Jiang Qiao leave, Li Meilan sighed. To be honest, she really admired Jiang Qiao. She had been blind before and hadn't really seen through her, but in recent years she had come to appreciate her. This girl was good at managing both household affairs and daily life.

The only regret is that their son wasn't lucky enough to have such a good daughter-in-law; their family simply couldn't afford to marry her.

Of course, she also knew that her son was not good enough for this girl. With her high school diploma, how could she possibly marry a man who hadn't even graduated from junior high school?

Just as she was about to go back inside, she ran into Zheng Yuanfeng's mother and Jianjun's mother chatting. She had heard the Zheng family women cursing earlier, and seeing these two was a good opportunity to gossip.

Speaking of Jiang Mei, Zheng's wife absolutely loathed her.

“Look at Jiang Mei, she doesn’t walk like a proper person at all. She sways her hips and waist. I even suspect that one day she might lose all the flesh on her chest. I even suspect that she’s not wearing a bra.”

Jianjun's mother sighed, "That's right. I'm worried about my child. I don't want him to go astray. Why don't his bosses at work do anything about this?"

Li Meilan interjected, "How can we manage this? To catch someone in the act, you need to catch them in the act. We don't have any evidence. Besides, who has the time to follow her around every day?"

In my opinion, people like that should be severely criticized, lest they negatively influence the atmosphere in our compound.

When the topic of social trends came up, the three women huddled together and started talking about Jiang Hong. "Hey, have you heard? It seems like something happened to Jiang's second daughter?"

The other two smiled knowingly. "We've heard about it before, but everyone knows it in their hearts and it hasn't spread around the courtyard. Otherwise, why do you think Niu Guihua would move away in such a hurry? Isn't she worried that her sister-in-law is taking over the old lady's house?"

Don't even mention how hard it is to buy a house like the old lady's. Even if one were available, the price would be exorbitant. With her connections, they'd eventually own half the house. Do you think she'd be willing to leave at that point? She has no choice; she's probably afraid of losing face.

Li Meilan snorted, "I said before that our child was being led astray by their children, but you didn't believe me. Now you see, do you understand?"

All three of our children have changed, but the Jiang family's children are still the same.

Speaking of this, Jianjun's mother couldn't help but exclaim, "Auntie, I really didn't expect you to be such a capable mother. You really managed to guide your child onto the right path."

Li Meilan gave a wry smile. "What can I do? If you can give birth, you have to be able to raise the child. I can't let the child cause trouble for everyone, can I? We all live in the same courtyard. I have to maintain this much dignity."

Besides, they've already been in and out once. If I don't wake up, am I really going to wait until they make a big mistake before I regret it? By then it will be too late. Fortunately, with the hard work every day, these two kids don't have the energy to do anything else.

I tighten the skin around his neck every day, so he doesn't end up like his two older brothers. He seems to be doing alright now.

Jianjun's mother quickly said, "This is already very good. The child knows that he needs to go to work to earn money and that it is not easy to support a family. Even after he gets married, he will know how to live a good life. Then your good days will come."

When Zhu Lin came out, the three of them had just finished chatting and were busy with their own things. Zheng Yuanfeng's mother invited the old lady to sit down at her house.

"Hey, why are you sitting down? My husband is sick, I need to go buy medicine."

"What's wrong?"

Zhu Lin sighed. She could say that her son and father were upset, but it was all family scandal that she couldn't talk about. No matter how bad things were, he was still her son, her own flesh and blood.

"It's nothing, just a minor cold. I'll take some fever reducer and I'll be going now."

Jiang Qiao only found out that Ning Zhengtao was sick that evening. Even after taking the medicine, the old man's illness hadn't improved. So, the old lady had no choice but to ask Jiang Qiao for help, such as getting him acupuncture to reduce the heat or something.

"Are you upset? What's wrong? Did your son-in-law hit your daughter again?"

The old lady didn't hide anything from Jiang Qiao; she treated him like her own child.

"Don't even mention it. The kids at home don't get along very well with that new mom. After all, they're all grown up now. So, my eldest son wants to leave the kids with us and ask us to help take care of them."

You know how old we are, it's not just about one child. Besides, the child is grown up, and we can't guide him/her anymore. If the child isn't raised well, how can the two of us bear such a responsibility?

I didn't agree, and your Grandpa Ning got a little angry. You know, it's not easy for the front and back nests to get along, and now there are already several? Luckily, Haozi didn't come over to join in the fun, otherwise it would probably be even more chaotic over there.

Sigh, sons grow up and become independent, daughters grow up and become independent. He's so old now, he should be able to shoulder everything himself. If he can have children, he should have the ability to take good care of them; otherwise, he shouldn't be looking for someone.