12 Chapter 12
◎An old man who refuses to die is a thief◎
In the hot summer, the scorching air sweeps across every inch of land.
At the entrance of Pingtian Village, under the big banyan tree, villagers were sitting in a circle chatting while enjoying the cool air after having lunch.
"Hey, have you heard about the Jiang family guys?"
"What is it?"
"I heard they recently started a business in town and made a lot of money!"
"What business?"
"They said they were selling snails... snail noodles, and some braised pork offal..."
"You're talking nonsense. Don't we usually pick up snails to feed chickens and ducks? Are there people eating them? And the pig offal smells so fishy that we country folks can't get used to it. How can the gentlemen in the town eat it?"
"that is……"
"Hey, you don't understand this, do you? These gentlemen eat too many delicacies from land and sea on a daily basis, so they just love these strange and exotic things." This is a man who often goes to town.
"Is there such a thing?"
"That's hard to say," said old man Li at the entrance of the village mysteriously. "I have a nephew who has been doing odd jobs in town. When he came to see me a few days ago, he told me that he saw their stall. Wow, there were so many people inside and outside. Business is booming!" He pointed with two fingers and said, "I heard that they make at least this much a day."
"Wow, is this true? The Jiang family is going to get rich!"
For a moment, there was surprise and confusion everywhere.
There was only one person sitting in a corner under the tree, listening to the discussions around him silently, and picking vegetables in a bamboo basket with his head down.
This person is Jiang Jingyun’s aunt, Jiang Mo.
Listening to the villagers' exclamations of surprise, she was also a little confused. It seemed that the families of Jiang Lao Da and Jiang Lao Er had been getting quite close recently. However, it was not surprising that the eldest uncle's family had always favored the second uncle's family. I just don't know how true or false the business mentioned by the villagers is. If it is true, and there is such a good deal, why didn't the nephew say to bring his uncle's family along? It's a waste of the head of the family being so good to him and even lending him so much money in the beginning. He is really an ungrateful person!
But... on second thought, if that nerd really had some way to make money and had used it earlier, their family wouldn't be so poor.
The uncle's family has been condoning Jiang Jingyun's reckless behavior. Before long, they will lose all the money they invested in their nephew. Thinking of this, she curled her lips in disdain. Anyway, the money her family had lent out had to be returned, so it was better for her to stay out of her nephew's affairs.
A few days ago, she had a quarrel with Jiang Jingyun, and right after he left, she was scolded by the head of the family. She still feels unhappy until now. She should stay away from this unlucky guy.
However, she did not want to get involved, but others had no intention of letting her go.
Zheng Lu, who was sitting next to her, was holding her eldest grandson in one hand and fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan in the other. She came over to talk to Jiang Mo, "Hey, Jiang San's family, is what they said true? Did they really make so much money?"
Speaking of Zheng Lu, she was a well-known gossip in the village. She loved to gossip and take advantage of others. She was very annoying. Normally, when people saw her, they would take a detour for fear of being pestered by her. Zheng Lu lived near Jiang Lao San's house, and the two families quarreled all the time over trivial matters.
Therefore, the relationship between Jiang Mo and this person is like fire and water.
When she was approached today, she just pretended not to hear him. She picked up the basket and turned to leave. However, the other party grabbed her sleeve and refused to let go. "Hey, don't go. Talk to the others!"
Jiang Mo pulled back her sleeves, her face full of impatience: "What's there to say? How much people earn has nothing to do with you. Stop meddling in other people's business!"
Jiang Jingyun, the "rat" who was shot innocently while lying down: Squeak?
"I heard that your Jiang family made a lot of money! Tell everyone about it?" Zheng Lu continued to ask shamelessly, as if she couldn't see Jiang Mo's expression.
"Why should I tell you about our Jiang family's affairs? Who do you think you are?" Jiang Mo rolled her eyes.
"You can't tell, right? Why didn't they bring your third brother Jiang's family with them?" Zheng Lu couldn't stand Jiang Mo the most. She pretended to be sickly and delicate all day long, and yet someone was protecting her. It was really uncomfortable to watch. Now that she found an opportunity, she took advantage of it to add insult to injury.
Jiang Mo stood there with an unpleasant look on his face, feeling his sore spot hit.
Although he didn't mention it, he was very concerned in his heart. The Jiang family was doing business together, but they excluded their family and arranged a farming job for the eldest son in the family. How much money could he make in the whole year? Do you really take the third family seriously?
Jiang Moshi only knew how to complain in her heart, but never thought about reflecting on herself. Thinking about how mean she was to Jiang Laoer's children, who would be willing to sit around doing nothing and stick their face to such a cold butt?
However, even if she had many dissatisfactions in her heart, she must not show any weakness in front of Zheng Lu. Jiang Mo was full of disdain and sneered, "Tsk, how much money can you make from a small business that is not even presentable? Do you really think I care? Only people like you who are ignorant would keep asking questions here."
"Oh, if you don't want it, then tell me about it." Zheng Lu didn't believe her lies and responded sharply, "You are so petty to be so secretive!"
"You are generous? Then why don't you take out your wine-making recipe and tell everyone about it?" Jiang Moshi did not give in and retorted.
"You...!" Zheng Lu was about to retort, but suddenly she looked up and saw the people behind Jiang Mo. She immediately stopped harassing Jiang San's family and walked over with a smile on her face, saying to the person who came, "Oh, who knows, it turns out that they are the Jiang family's boys. Are you back?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the eyes of those watching the excitement were instantly focused on the three members of the Jiang family.
Those people looked up and down their carts with eyes like laser lights. From time to time, they could hear a few people whispering to each other: "The carts are all empty. Business must be good. How much money do you think they made from this trip?"
He completely ignored the three Jiang brothers standing beside the car.
Poor Jiang Jingyun and his two brothers, they had to get up before dawn every day to work and would not come back until the afternoon, hungry and tired, and all they wanted to do was go home to eat and rest. Unexpectedly, as soon as I entered the village, I was surrounded by a group of people and couldn't move.
For a moment, the three of them looked at each other, confused, not knowing how to react.
Just as Jiang Jingyun was about to ask about the situation, he saw Zheng Lushi, who had just called out, squeezed into the innermost part of the crowd with her grandson in her arms. She asked bluntly, "I heard that you guys have made a fortune in business. You go out with a full car every day and come back with an empty one. You must make a lot of money, right?"
As she spoke, her eyes rolled around: "I'm not being too proud to say this, but we are all elders who have watched you grow up. You have ways to make money, why are you hiding them? Tell us all about it, and we can all make money together. Don't you think this makes sense?"
Jiang Jingyun was stunned for a moment when he saw the woman in front of him with a mean look on her face, who kept talking to him: It was the first time he saw such a shameless person, who described freeloading as so refreshing and refined.
I have never met this person before, but I have a vague impression of her in my memory. For a scholar who used to only study hard and ignored the world outside the window, she could still leave an impression on me. I guess her deeds must be quite interesting and widely circulated.
Hearing such shameless words again at this moment, Jiang Jingyun almost laughed out of anger.
He looked at the people sitting around him who were not saying anything but eavesdropping with their ears perked up. They were either glancing around or lowering their heads not daring to look him in the face. It was obvious that some people, even if they didn't say anything for the sake of face, were thinking in their hearts whether they could take advantage of the opportunity.
Jiang Jingyun snorted coldly: Want to be his elder? Want to take advantage of him?
OK.
But you have to pay!
Didn’t you see the aunt hiding in the corner without saying a word? Now you see that her nose is not a nose and her eyes are not eyes?
It’s all about money! She must be afraid that one day Jiang Jingyun will be too poor to make ends meet, and will think of her and come to beg for money again. My uncle's family didn't even say a word, and now these unrelated people are not only taking advantage of him verbally, but they even want his prescription? What a great honor for them!
After thinking about it, Jiang Jingyun pretended to be touched and looked at everyone: "I didn't expect that you all cared about us so much. My nephew's family was in trouble a few days ago, and I didn't see any of you elders and villagers coming. I thought you had forgotten about my nephew? Did I misunderstand?"
Most of those standing here live at the entrance of the village. These families are either thieves or misers. Normally, they seldom interacted with the Jiang family who lived at the end of the village, and no one had ever helped Jiang Jingyun's family. When they heard these words, those who still had some shame lowered their heads in embarrassment and dared not say a word.
But there are still some shameless ones who responded: "Yes, it's okay if you know it, but don't be that... ungrateful young man!"
"Oh? This is my fault." Jiang Jingyun sneered in his heart, "Then I'll apologize to everyone?"
Everyone looked up in surprise. Are there really such fools?
Oh.
A bunch of shameless scoundrels.
Jiang Jingyun was too lazy to look at those greedy faces, so he lowered his head and pretended to hesitate: "It's just..."
Everyone felt nervous when they heard this: they were afraid that by the time he reacted, the duck that was in their hands would fly away!
The eldest and second brothers of the Jiang family stood aside and watched the farce from beginning to end.
They realized that these people came around because they saw them making money and were jealous and wanted to get a piece of the pie. He even shamelessly calls himself their elder and wants to ask for the recipe. How shameless!
Second Brother Jiang had a bad temper and was about to start cursing, but he didn't expect to hear Jiang Jingyun's words. Did this kid believe it?
Brother Jiang also became anxious.
Just as he was about to open his mouth to stop them, he saw Jiang Jingyun quietly tug at his clothes and gave them a reassuring look.
The two of them immediately put their minds at ease. After all, he was the smartest person in our Jiang family, and it would not be his turn to suffer any loss.
Watching the show is important!
Jiang Jingyun continued, "You may not know that although we use snails and offal, the seasonings are actually very expensive. Just a little bit of it costs several taels of silver, and it also takes a lot of firewood to slowly cook and simmer to make a small pot."
"So, although this business seems to be profitable, after deducting the costs, there is not much money left every day." He wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled bitterly, "You don't know that in order to do this business, we brothers borrowed a lot of money from the bank in town. We worked hard for so many days, but the money we earned was not enough to pay the interest owed."
After that, he paused again, pretending to be shy and said: "Since all the uncles and aunts care about me so much, I wonder if you can lend me some money first, and I will definitely give you the recipe with both hands!"
When people around heard that the cost was so high, their intention to join the business immediately disappeared by 70% or 80%. Who has so much money to invest? If there is a loss, the whole family will die.
When they heard Jiang Jingyun asking them to borrow money before giving him the prescription, they immediately gave up the idea and stopped pretending to be elders. They all ran away, making excuses that they had things to do at home.
Jiang Mo, who was watching from the side, couldn't help but sneer: What a bunch of idiots, they don't even look at who it is and just want to take advantage of it.
Jiang Jingyun looked up when he heard the laughter, as if he had just discovered her, and pretended to be surprised: "Aunt, you are here too, but seeing that my nephew is short of money recently, do you want to support him?"
Jiang Mo's face suddenly tensed up, and she shook her sleeves and left.
"Hey, auntie, don't go!" Jiang Jingyun shouted from behind.
Hearing the little fox's cry behind him, Jiang Mo walked faster and soon disappeared.
Jiang Jingyun couldn't help laughing at the scene: "Oh, Auntie is really not easy to be amused!"
Brother Jiang patted his head gently, "Stop making trouble. After all, she is our elder. Hurry up, pack up and go back!"
Although it was fun to be part of a farce, I was really hungry!
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