I just sent my eldest brother to the examination hall, and the children in the courtyard with the hairpin still haven't left.
Hearing the commotion, Wen Zhiyun and Chang Yan quickly put down what they were holding and rushed over.
Aunt Zhang, Uncle Zhang, and Aunt Cui'er also followed closely behind, looking worried.
Although Fang Heng jokingly calls Jiang Sheng a "little crybaby," she is actually mostly resilient and tries to hold back her tears whenever possible. In everyone's mind, if Jiang Sheng cries, something very serious must have happened.
Everyone was in such a hurry that they almost lost a shoe before they reached the door.
Just then, Zheng Ruqian opened his mouth wide, holding a stack of silver notes in his hand. Opposite him was Jiang Sheng, who was wailing loudly, more heartbroken than ever before, enough to bring tears to the eyes of anyone who heard her.
"What happened? What happened?" Zhang Xianglian came over with heartache and hugged Jiang Sheng. "Ruqian, why are you crying, little sister?"
Zheng Ruqian closed his chin, his mind filled with speculation.
Surely you didn't make yourself cry?
No way, no way.
Chang Yan stared intently at the silver notes in Zheng Ruqian's hand. "Second brother, where did this money come from?"
"Jiang Sheng gave it to me." Zheng Ruqian scratched his head, puzzled. "Then I cried. I don't know why."
Wen Zhiyun's lips moved slightly as he whispered, "Second Brother, are you sure it was Jiang Sheng who gave it to you?"
Zheng Ruqian remained silent.
He remembered that he seemed to have snatched it himself. At the time, his mind was full of thoughts about buying houses, digging cellars, and hiring people, so he subconsciously grabbed the banknote.
Chang Yan and Wen Zhiyun obviously understood as well, and helplessly shrugged.
It means that whoever makes someone cry should comfort them.
Zheng Ruqian suddenly turned into a green turtle, feeling as heavy as if he were carrying a turtle shell. He shamelessly approached Jiang Sheng and stuffed the silver notes back into her hand. "Good sister, your second brother knows he was wrong. Your second brother won't take your money. Your second brother will give it back to you. You can have it all."
Jiang Sheng paused for a moment, but couldn't stop crying.
Zheng Ruqian had no choice but to continue coaxing, "Second brother won't buy a house, dig a cellar, or hire anyone. All this money will go to Jiang Sheng, and it will all be yours, okay?"
Aunt Zhang also helped wipe away the tears, saying, "Little Jiang Sheng, be good, don't cry, don't cry. Auntie will spank Ruqian's bottom for you. Let's spank him."
Just like when a child bumps into a table corner when they are very young, the parents will hold the child, hit the table corner while comforting them with heartache.
But Jiang Sheng didn't cry for that reason at all.
She struggled to tilt her head back and took two deep breaths before she could barely stop crying.
Looking at her second brother, who was covering his bottom with his hands, and then at Aunt Zhang, whose face was full of affection, Jiang Sheng sobbed, "It's not that I don't want to give my second brother money, but most of this money belongs to my third brother. It's meant to be saved for him to get married, so we can't spend it."
This would be fine under normal circumstances, but Fang Heng is currently fighting on the frontier, his fate unknown.
Jiang Sheng really didn't dare, nor was she willing to touch her third brother's money.
And then, suddenly remembering her third brother, the little girl's tears flowed like pearls from a broken string, unstoppable.
She finished speaking through sobs, and Zheng Ruqian's expression on the other end of the line was priceless.
I'm a little happy that my sister isn't stingy with spending money on herself.
But it's also a little heartbreaking that all the money I've worked so hard to earn over the years can't compare to the annual New Year's gift money from Fang Laosan.
Zheng Ruqian sighed, once again feeling regretful for not having a distinguished family background.
"Alright, alright, Jiang Sheng, don't cry. Aheng doesn't want you to cry either." Under Aunt Zhang's gentle coaxing, Jiang Sheng's tears finally stopped falling.
With tears in her eyes, she looked at the two thousand taels of silver in her palm. If she took one thousand five hundred taels, the remaining five hundred taels wouldn't be enough to do anything.
After several attempts, it was finally stuffed back into Zheng Ruqian's hands.
"Second brother, you spent Third brother's money. You have to make it up to him when you earn it back." The little girl said softly. "Jiang Sheng shouldn't have cried. She scared Second brother. I just... miss Third brother a little."
Zheng Ruqian's eyes welled up with tears. He reached out and patted the little girl's shoulder, his sense of responsibility growing stronger. "Don't worry, Second Brother not only returned 1,500 taels to Third Brother, but also gave him several times that amount, so he can marry whatever kind of wife he wants."
Jiang Sheng burst into laughter through her tears.
The entire courtyard, once gloomy, cleared up, revealing a clear blue sky after the clouds parted.
Fang Heng, who was thousands of miles away, seemed to sense something. He took out the chest protector from his heart, looked at it, and then put it back in.
"Young master, what's wrong?" Jiang Yi asked as he approached.
Fang Heng shook his head. "How many times have I told you, don't call me 'Young Master'?"
The group arrived in northern Xinjiang from Anshui County and joined the army as "vagrants." They are now the second squad of the fifth detachment of the eighth brigade stationed in northern Xinjiang.
There are only about twenty people in the team, and they are often sent out to carry out small tasks.
For example, chopping firewood, hunting wild game, or searching for clean water sources.
Over time, some people inevitably complained, "We came here to join the army, to fight against the Tartars, why are we doing such trivial things?"
Fang Heng, on the other hand, would bury himself in his work, never asking why, and never complaining.
Seeing this, the six servants also shut their mouths.
Today marks the twentieth time the captain of the fifth squad has issued an order to have a group of people bring water bottles and fill one hundred bottles with clean drinking water.
The team started complaining again, feeling that the captain was using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, that the captain was wasting his talents, and that his ambitions were hard to realize.
Some simply slack off, since the team leader only said to fetch 100 jugs of clean drinking water, but didn't specify a timeframe, so they could fetch it slowly, since it was all just trivial stuff anyway.
Fang Heng, accompanied by six servants and two boys around sixteen or seventeen years old, climbed over high mountains and crossed forests to reach a stream with clean water.
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