Wang Shuhua stared wide-eyed at Jiang Jun, then suddenly stood up and slapped him hard across the face, leaving a red handprint: "You, you unfilial ingrate! Did I raise you all these years just so you could humiliate your mother like this? I've finally figured it out. When I'm old, I won't be able to rely on you at all. You traitor!"
Jiang Jun didn't say anything. He had expected this slap. His mother was selfish and concerned about her reputation. How could she tolerate a junior arguing with her so disrespectfully? He ignored her and instead smiled at his family, saying, "Let's eat. Such good food will get cold if we don't eat it soon. Yangyang, come here, your uncle will peel some shrimp for you."
Yangyang looked at her uncle's face, walked over and touched it with her little hand, then leaned in and blew on it: "Blowing on it will make it stop hurting, Uncle."
Jiang Jun's eyes suddenly reddened. He quickly turned away, blinked, and swallowed his tears. Jiang Jianguo saw this scene clearly. He pointed at Wang Shuhua and said, "You go back and be with your good daughter. Don't spoil our appetites here."
Wang Shuhua looked at Jiang Jianguo and questioned him: "If Jiang Jun can treat me like this today, who knows how he will treat us in the future? Can't I discipline him?"
Jiang Jianguo pointed at Jiang Ruyi in the bedroom: "Isn't that your good daughter? What kind of daughter have you raised? Just now you hit Jiang Jun, and I didn't say anything. You gave birth to him, so if you slap him, he should take it. But that doesn't mean I think you did the right thing. If I became like you, I would deserve to neglect my child."
"You, you're simply unreasonable." She looked up at her eldest son on the table. Jiang Kai was eating with his head down, pretending not to know anything. Wang Shuhua felt a lump in her throat, unable to swallow or swallow, and her heart was filled with panic.
The second son is as stubborn as a mule, and she can't control him. Besides, he doesn't treat her like a child treats an elder at all. She definitely can't rely on him for her old age. If the eldest son is like the second son, what will she do when she gets old?
She panicked and dared not say anything more, returning to her room in a daze, filled with confusion about the future.
Jiang Jianguo looked at the food on the table and felt a pang of sadness. "Sigh, when will this end?"
Jiang Ruyu's family had a pretty good New Year. At least on the surface, everyone seemed happy. The noise from next door didn't affect their eating speed. Old Mrs. Jiang was used to it. Every year during the New Year, she would make a scene. This time, she didn't say anything. They ate and drank as usual. She, the old lady, didn't care.
After New Year's Eve, it was now 1970. The constant arguing next door could be heard throughout the entire courtyard. Jiang Ruyi's lack of restraint had thoroughly angered Fang Meili. She didn't argue or make a scene, but simply refused to cook for Jiang Ruyi and made it clear at the dinner table.
“I’m not anyone’s nanny. If you go out and ask around, you’ll find that no one’s wife serves her lazy, greedy, and cunning sister-in-law every day. She’s twenty years old, but she doesn’t have hands or feet. She hides in the house when she’s working, but she’s surprisingly eager to run around when it’s time to eat.”
Fang Meili looked at Jiang Ruyi's flushed face and became angrier as she spoke: "Dad, Jiang Kai, Jiang Jun, let's make this clear first, I'm not going to serve her anymore. If she wants to eat, let her cook for herself. I'm not that eager to please her and have to cater to her."
Jiang Jianguo has been exhausted these past few days, and he has been very patient with Jiang Ruyi: "Today is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, you should go back tomorrow."
Jiang Ruyi gritted her teeth: "You want to kick me out? Fine, give me a hundred yuan, plus food coupons, meat coupons, and oil coupons."
The whole family, including Wang Shuhua, stared at her. Fang Meili pointed at her nose and yelled, "Who are you trying to scare with your outrageous demands? What kind of educated youth sent to the countryside asks for a hundred yuan right off the bat? Are you crazy?"
“You forced me to go to the countryside, this is what you should give me,” Jiang Ruyi said matter-of-factly.
Jiang Jianguo was initially very angry, but after hearing this, he wasn't angry anymore: "If you want to settle accounts with me, then I'll settle them with you properly. When you first left, your mother gave you a hundred yuan, along with all sorts of receipts, candy, biscuits, and malted milk powder. That's a lot of money. For the next year and a half, she sent you money and receipts every month. Sometimes it was five yuan less, sometimes eight or ten yuan more. How much is that for a year and a half? Tell me."
Jiang Ruyi looked at her mother, and Wang Shuhua looked at her husband in surprise: "You knew all this?"
Jiang Jianguo snorted coldly and didn't say anything. Fang Meili wanted to say something, but Jiang Kai grabbed her. She was so angry that her face turned red. She shook off Jiang Kai and went back to her room with her son.
Jiang Ruyi bit her lip: "You all live a life of luxury in the city, how could you know how hard my life was in the countryside?"
Jiang Jun interrupted her: "I've been in the countryside for two years longer than you. I know what it's like there better than you do, Mom. You haven't been sending me money or tickets every month, have you?"
Wang Shuhua lowered her head in embarrassment, not daring to look at him. Jiang Jianguo said directly to Jiang Ruyi, "Don't say I'm sexist. In this day and age, every family values their sons more. Besides, you have this kind of temperament. We won't rely on you for our old age. The money we've spent on you is enough to get your second brother a wife. I don't think I've wronged you at all."
Jiang Ruyi wanted to retort, but Jiang Jianguo just glanced at her expressionlessly with cold eyes, so she didn't dare to say anything.
Jiang Jianguo continued, "As for the future, it's her business if your mother wants to continue supporting you, I don't care. But I won't take care of you anymore. Don't you have a boyfriend? If you get married in the future, just let us know. There's not much to give as a dowry, but I can make you two quilts. Also, if you come back to visit relatives during the New Year and cause trouble like this year, then you'd better not come back. I'm getting old and want to live a couple more years."
Jiang Ruyi bit her lips until they bled, and her beautiful almond-shaped eyes were filled with tears. Jiang Jianguo saw it, but he didn't react. He pretended not to see it. He still had a son, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson. He couldn't let a daughter who couldn't be disciplined break up his family.
“You said it yourself. I will never come back. You can pretend you don’t have a daughter, and I will pretend you don’t have family. You are all cold-blooded people. I hate you.”
Jiang Ruyi had always thought that as long as she cried a little more, her family would soften towards her. But now, she knew that she was a joke in their eyes. He was a sexist who preferred sons to daughters and didn't want her, his daughter, for the sake of his son and grandson.
She packed her things, looking at the malted milk powder, peach shortbread, candy, and canned goods in the cabinet, and stuffed them into her luggage bag without any hesitation. Anyway, she wouldn't be coming back, and it would be foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity.
When Wang Shuhua came in, she saw her daughter ransacking the cabinet like a bandit. She was initially very angry, but then she softened when she thought that her daughter might never come back.
"Ruyi, this is Mom's secret stash of money, so be careful with it."
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