Unlike the house rented by the Song family.
The Jiang family's house belongs to them.
Although it was dilapidated, it was very spacious, with a total of six rooms.
The elderly couple lived in one room, their two sons and daughters-in-law each lived in one room, their grandson lived in one room, their granddaughter lived in another room, and the remaining room was a storage room.
"Why are you giving her brown sugar? Our family isn't exactly well-off," Jiang Dafeng said, somewhat displeased.
"What, you're going to criticize me just because I gave you a little something? Look at how stingy you are. I didn't give you much, and there's still more than half left. It's all your wife's. Haven't I treated her well? When your wife said she wasn't feeling well, I immediately bought her some brown sugar. With the money you gave her, could you buy that much? You could at most buy half. Your sister-in-law gave me three grandsons, and she's never even had brown sugar. If you're unhappy with me, then we'll separate! You can take your wife and kids and move out!"
Ms. Chen stood with her hands on her hips and became angry.
“Mother, I didn’t mean that. It’s just that you can’t help everyone. That Song woman is obviously no good. She beats her daughter-in-law at home all day long. You’d be better off helping a beggar than helping such a wicked person.”
Jiang Dafeng does odd jobs year-round.
I've met quite a few people.
He knew at a glance that the Song family was no good.
But Chen refused to believe it.
"Alright, alright, are there any good people in your mouth? The one who got beaten wasn't her daughter-in-law, it was a concubine. She was immoral and had an affair, so of course she deserved to be beaten. That person has already been driven away by Madam Song. Also, Madam Song borrowed our wooden cart and immediately brought over an egg. We're already so poor, yet she still knows how to repay kindness. She only has two eggs at home, and she even shared half with our family. What's wrong with Mother giving some brown sugar?"
Ms. Chen did not want to argue with her youngest son.
After explaining, she went back to her room.
"Why--"
Jiang Dafeng watched his mother's retreating figure and sighed deeply.
The family was poor, largely because of his mother, who had loved to help people ever since he was old enough to understand.
Even though his family couldn't afford meat, he always liked to give away his grain.
Everyone in the alley has eaten their grain...
Jiang Dafeng patted his shoulder.
He and his older brother carried sandbags every day, and they were almost exhausted.
But after all these years, my family is still incredibly poor.
Jiang Dafeng shook his head helplessly. He went to the kitchen and took the remaining brown sugar to his room.
It's locked up.
“I heard what you said to Mom just now, Dafeng. How about we move out?”
Jiang Dafeng's wife asked cautiously.
“I want to too, but we’ve separated the family. Where will we live? Renting a house will cost money. Mother hasn’t saved a single tael of silver all these years. Father listens to Mother, so even if we separate, we won’t get any money. Besides, the little money I had was all given to Mother to buy brown sugar. Oh well, we’ll just have to make do. What else can we do? Tomorrow, when we go out, I’ll discuss with my older brother about underreporting our wages and only paying half. We’ll save the rest ourselves. Once we’ve saved enough, we’ll separate the family.”
Jiang Dafeng sat on the edge of the bed, looking at his pale-faced wife, feeling a pang of heartache.
The two had a very good relationship after they got married.
His wife had a difficult childbirth when she gave birth to their youngest son, and almost didn't survive. As a result, she developed health problems and has been unwell for many years.
“What kind of person is your older brother? He’s blindly filial! You know that, Dafeng. From now on, you should find your own work and not stay with your older brother. Your mother is always like this. Our son will never be able to afford a wife. Just think of it as saving money for our son, okay? You can secretly save some money for him. And our daughter is already eleven years old. She’ll be getting married in a few years. We should give her some dowry. I know in my heart that I won’t live much longer.”
Yun said weakly.
"Okay, I promise you. I'll find work myself tomorrow. I heard there's a house on the street that needs renovation. I happen to know a bit of carpentry. I'll go ask about it tomorrow. Qian'er, you'll get better. I'll try my best to earn more money so I can buy you meat every day and also buy a ewe. I heard goat's milk is the most nourishing. If you drink a bowl every day, you'll definitely recover. Don't say such discouraging things. Atong is still so young. You still have to live until your grandson is born."
When Jiang Dafeng was a child, he was good friends with the son of a carpenter in town. Whenever he went to play with him, he would secretly watch the carpenter do woodworking. As a result, he learned a little bit, but only a little bit. He could make simple bowls, wooden chopsticks, and so on. The more complicated things he could make were round stools. He knew nothing about the complicated mortise and tenon joints and the carving patterns.
So he was relegated to carrying sandbags.
Jiang Dafeng held Yun's hand tightly and promised her a bright future.
"Yes, I will live well."
Yun leaned on Jiang Dafeng's shoulder, and two tears fell from her eyes.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, burning hot.
"Son, drink some brown sugar water to sweeten your mouth." This was the He family's sentiment at that moment.
Song made a bowl of brown sugar water, drank half of it herself, and then took the remaining half bowl to He Tian's bedside and fed it to him.
“I won’t drink it, give it to Jiao’er.” He Tian turned his head away.
He is now living a life worse than death.
Their only hope rested on their daughter's belly.
As long as she gives birth to a son, the He family will still have a chance to turn things around.
Although He Tian didn't like reading, he knew quite a few characters.
After he got home, he figured it out in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
Waiting for my son to be born.
He then taught his son to recognize characters.
He saw it all during the move; his mother had secretly smuggled out several books, including the Three Character Classic and the Thousand Character Classic for beginners, as well as three storybooks.
Although they were all handwritten and somewhat worn, they were still worth some money when sold. He Tian only planned to keep two primers and sell the rest of the storybooks to send his son to school.
"Mother, put away the books you brought out. When my son is two years old, I will help him with his early education."
Hearing what her son said...
Ms. Song readily agreed.
"Good, good, good, that's my son. You've finally come to your senses. Don't worry, I'll make sure those books are well hidden. Those books are the ones you read when you were little. I spent a lot of money to buy them."
It's a bit of a pity about the Song family.
With officials watching, she couldn't take too much.
There are five or six books in my son's bedroom.
Even if a book sells for three strings of cash.
There was quite a bit of money involved, but Song was still underestimating the amount.
Even handwritten copies of books are very expensive here.
Therefore, people who could read were generally from well-off families. Even the cheapest old copy of the Three Character Classic, used for early childhood education, would sell for four strings of cash.
That's enough for a poorer farming family to eat for several months.
It was quite a coincidence.
Those thugs were illiterate and naturally didn't know the value of books, so when they searched the He family...
Seeing the tattered books, he thought they were worthless and threw them into the cabinet without even looking at them.
Otherwise, these books wouldn't have survived to this day.
"Mom, make me a bowl of brown sugar water."
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