Chapter 106
Jiang Hehua had a smooth life since childhood and grew up being praised by others. When she encountered unhappy things, it was easy to show on her face. When she was unhappy, her whole face drooped, and her desk mate Ruan Hong didn't dare to talk to her. She ran to talk to another girl in the class. She was talking about Jiang Ning, who made her curious.
She whispered to her classmate: "Don't you think that Jiang Ning from No. 1 Middle School is pretty?"
Her classmate thought about Jiang Ning's appearance, remembering her short hair and how she looked cold and distant even when she was smiling. After a moment's hesitation, she asked Ruan Hong, "She is pretty, but I think she looks like a boy."
Firstly, her hair was too short, and secondly, it was Jiang Ning's eyes and nose.
Different from Jiang Song and Jiang Bai's obvious double eyelids and round eyes, Jiang Ning's eyes are double-lidded, narrow and long, with upturned eye tails and long but not curled eyelashes. This makes her temperament look cold and her eyes look sharp when she is not smiling. When her eyes look at you indifferently, it seems as if they can see through people's hearts.
In her previous life, in order to make herself appear more approachable and calm, Jiang Ning not only kept her hair short, but also deliberately styled it to look like a female anchor of the news broadcast. Her temperament was also friendly yet capable.
Of course, this is when she laughs.
Ruan Hong only saw Jiang Ning smiling, but when the girl's classmates in the restaurant were all focusing on Xu Xiuli and her daughter, she was secretly looking at Jiang Ning.
She was just a little curious about this girl who had defeated Song Peifeng by one point. Then she saw the coldness between Jiang Ning's eyebrows that was hidden from everyone else, especially the moment when she raised her eyes and looked at Song Peifeng. Her gaze was so sharp, so sharp that it seemed as if there was a hidden edge in it, shooting straight at her. Even though he was not looking at her, her heart still skipped a beat. In less than a second, her eyes were filled with smiles, her eyebrows were curved, so fast that it seemed as if the sharpness at that moment was just her illusion.
She couldn't describe the feeling, but she just felt that Jiang Ning looked like a boy.
Her traditional aesthetic taste makes her prefer childish, cute and non-aggressive girls, like Ruan Hong.
Her words surprised Ruan Hong: "Jiang Ning looks like a boy?"
Jiang Hehua was also surprised. She didn't know why, but when she heard her classmates say this about Jiang Ning, she actually felt secretly happy in her heart.
Ruan Hong touched her face and said, "If she looks like a man, then what do I look like?" She looked at her classmate in horror: "Am I just a man in your eyes?"
These words made all the students present burst into laughter. Some boys were so touched by Ruan Hong's cuteness that they laughed especially loudly.
The two girls who were whispering in each other's ears blushed with embarrassment.
The classmate who had spoken earlier also blushed and explained, "It's just a feeling, I mean a feeling! I don't mean that she really looks like a boy!" Seeing that everyone was looking at her, she couldn't help but say, "Don't you think her nose is too high? I think girls look better with smaller noses." She took Ruan Hong's hand and said, "I think Ruan Hong looks good like this."
The others looked at Ruan Hong and nodded, thinking that Ruan Hong's soft, non-aggressive and cute appearance was indeed prettier and cuter.
Ruan Hong blushed out of embarrassment and pinched the girl's waist, making the girl laugh happily like a silver bell.
Jiang Hehua didn't know when her face became expressionless again, and she couldn't stop feeling sad and lost in her heart.
She looked at Ruan Hong's cute and pretty face, then thought of the outstanding looks of the three Jiang siblings, and then thought of herself in the mirror. Her eyes couldn't help but fall on Song Peifeng's tall and straight back.
"Did you hear what the black girl said? Jiang Ning and another girl also seem to have participated in the school competition. I wonder if Jiang Ning will also join the training team."
"She should go, right? After all, she is the top student in the grade of No. 1 Middle School. If she doesn't go, then no one else in No. 1 Middle School can go, right?"
"The other girl probably won't go."
Not everyone who participates in the school selection team will join the training team. At least from what those two girls said, the other girl who took the exam probably won't go.
Jiang Hehua, who had been walking in front of them with a gloomy face, suddenly said, "Just because you have good grades, you can participate in the competition, okay?"
Ruan Hong was just chatting with her classmates normally, but was suddenly confronted and was a little surprised: "We didn't say anything about you? Why are you mad at me?"
Jiang Hehua softened her expression and explained, "I'm not mad at you. I'm just stating a fact." She sighed, "I took the exam myself today, how could I not know? The competition test is much harder than our normal test papers."
Her grades were usually pretty good, hovering around 50th or 60th in the grade. When she was doing well, she was even in the top 20. She took part in this competition just to get closer to Song Peifeng, but after seeing the test paper, she was shocked like Xu Xiuli. She also clearly saw the gap between her and Song Peifeng, which made her feel very uncomfortable.
"Besides, No. 1 Middle School has always had poor results in competitions. Good test scores in school don't mean good results in competitions. What I said is also true." She spread her hands in a calm tone.
She was explaining, but Ruan Hong didn't know why, but she could still see some dissatisfaction and hostility towards her in her eyes.
Even the girls who talked to Ruan Hong came to ask Ruan Hong privately afterwards: "What happened to Jiang Hehua? Did you offend her? She was fine when we had dinner together before, why did her face become so long after the meal? And she suddenly lost her temper?"
Although Jiang Hehua is not a person who likes to joke around normally, she has never suddenly spoken to someone in such a bad tone.
The main thing is, nothing else happened during the meal. If there was anything special, it was only that I met those three girls from No. 1 Middle School.
She suddenly thought of something and asked Ruan Hong in a low voice: "Does she like Song Peifeng?"
It is very normal to like Song Peifeng, but most girls will not show it because they focus their main energy on studying.
Jiang Hehua's behavior that day was a little too obvious, and anyone with eyes could see it.
Ruan Hong actually discovered it, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she shook her head and said, "I don't know."
She suddenly remembered something. Jiang Hehua had said before that she and Jiang Ning were from the same village and they knew each other. She also saw Jiang Ning and Jiang Hehua nodding and greeting each other, but for some reason, Jiang Hehua had a sullen face throughout the meal, and her expression did not look very good when she spoke twice.
She herself might not have noticed it, but Ruan Hong, who was sitting next to her, saw it clearly.
At that time, she was standing in front of the joint entrance examination score ranking list, and when she talked about Jiang Ning, whom she knew, her tone contained a hint of arrogance and contempt that she herself might not have noticed.
Ruan Hong was too embarrassed to talk about others behind their backs, so she pointed to No. 1 Middle School across the street and whispered a word to the girl: "Jiang."
This classmate understood immediately. She also saw Jiang Ning smiling and nodding to Jiang Hehua when she saw Jiang Hehua when she entered the restaurant. "Are they not on good terms?"
Ruan Hong shook her head: "I don't know either."
The classmate's eyes were full of gossip. She leaned in and whispered, "I also saw..." She pointed in the direction of No. 1 Middle School and said, "She also greeted Song Peifeng from our class. Do you think they know each other?" Suddenly, an idea flashed in her mind, and she exclaimed with bright eyes, "Is Jiang Hehua unhappy because of this?"
Ruan Hong felt that this was the case, but she still shook her head: "I don't know either."
While Jiang Ning and her friends were taking the exam, Jiang Bai and her friends' test results and answers were also out.
Although Jiang Bai took the college entrance examination in Shanghai, he still went back to the classroom with Tong Jingang. The head teacher distributed the examination answers to them.
Even though he knew that the college entrance examination papers here might be different from those in Shanghai, he still gave one to Jiang Bai. Jiang Bai looked through them all and found that none of the questions were the same, so he stopped looking at them and looked at Tong Jingang's estimated scores.
For some questions, the student was very sure that he had answered them correctly or incorrectly, but for some questions he could not remember clearly, or he did not know how the examiner would grade them, and finally he estimated his score to be around 480 points.
I asked Jiang Bai: "You don't have the estimated score, is that okay? Do you have to go to Shanghai to check your scores? Will you come back? If you pass the exam, where should I send the admission letter?" He said: "Why don't you call Shanghai and ask? Do you remember the number of the Shanghai Education Bureau?"
Thinking of these problems, Tong Jingang was more worried than Jiang Bai.
Jiang Bai looked at his good friend and couldn't help but smile. He said, "Don't worry. I have the phone number and the address of the store."
Thinking of those questions, Tong Jingang couldn't sit still any longer: "Let's go, let's go to your store and quickly call the school in Shanghai to ask if they have any answers."
The head teacher also came over and asked Jiang Bai which school he had applied for.
After knowing that it was Shanghai Institute of Technology, he didn't say anything. Like many teachers nowadays, he hoped that students could be more cautious and would rather apply to a school where they could be sure of getting in, rather than overestimating themselves. This would be good for both the students and the school's admission rate.
He didn't know what to say to this student whom he had taught for three years, so he just patted his upper arm and said, "I wish you a bright future!" Then he looked at Tong Jingang and said, "I hope you all get into your ideal school!"
Looking at the head teacher at this moment, Jiang Bai felt a little warm in the eyes for some reason, and so did Tong Jingang.
After the scores were estimated, everyone stayed together and surrounded the head teacher, saying they wanted to go to a farewell dinner. Everyone chipped in two dollars. The class monitor called on other teachers to come along, "And Director Zhang, call Director Zhang too!"
When we were studying, we complained that Director Zhang was too strict. Now that we have graduated, everyone follows Director Zhang's example and respects him from the bottom of their hearts.
Tong Jingang suddenly said, "There's no need to call the physics teacher, right?"
The nephew of the physics teacher was also in the class. Hearing this, he couldn't help but sneer and said, "I think some people are no longer in our class. He is the one who shouldn't go, right?"
Tong Jingang patted the basketball in his hand and said with a smile: "Then you guys go eat. Baizi and I won't go." He said to the head teacher: "Teacher, next time Baizi and I will treat you alone." He raised his hand and greeted his classmates: "Classmates, let's play basketball together again if there is a chance!"
As he said this, he put his arm around Jiang Bai, patted the basketball with one hand, and walked away.
The class was silent for a moment, looking at the nephew of the physics teacher.
The physics teacher's nephew looked a little unhappy, and threw his score estimation book on the table: "Why are you all looking at me? He's already graduated, so if he doesn't want to go, then he doesn't have to go. Who would care if he goes? What did I say wrong?"
This farewell dinner ultimately became less perfect due to the absence of Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang, but this group of newly graduated students still cried their hearts out at the farewell dinner.
There were only about sixty test papers for the competition class, and the two competition class teachers finished grading them on one Sunday. The scores of the top twenty students who were determined to participate in the competition were posted on the bulletin board, and their test papers were also distributed to them.
Looking at the terrible results on the test paper, they were glad that their test scores were not posted together, otherwise their reputation would be ruined. They simply couldn't believe it. That was their test score. From childhood to adulthood, they had never gotten such a low score.
Xu Xiuli, who had already returned to school, saw the three test papers she had taken on Saturday. The look on her face could be described in two words: unlucky.
She held the test papers away with disdain, wanting to say that she didn't recognize them and that they had nothing to do with her: "Why did you send this to me? You don't have to send it to me."
She folded it quickly and stuffed the papers at the bottom of the drawer, intending to never see the light of day again.
Jiang Ning's evening self-study was still in the competition class. Mr. Ji, the teacher of the competition class, told them that they had to stay in school for training during the summer vacation. In July, they would first conduct a preliminary competition within Wucheng, and select 20 students from the competition students provided by various schools for intensive training. After the training, they would go to the city to participate in the preliminary competition in August, and then select 50 students from schools across the city to go to the province for the re-examination.
In order not to affect students' daily studies, such training schools try to hold them during the summer vacation.
But there is one thing, summer vacation is the busy farming season, and some students have to go home to participate in the double harvest. This matter must be told to them in advance so that they can communicate with their families. "If you have any inconvenience, you can also tell the teacher, and the teacher will call your home and communicate with your parents."
Teacher Ji has taught several competition classes and has gained some experience. For those whose families attach importance to the academic performance of their students, it is fine. Students who are kept in school to study will be encouraged. For students whose families are particularly poor or have insufficient labor, they will go back to participate in the double harvest during the summer vacation.
He looked at the five girls in the class.
It's not that there are parents who don't care about their girls' grades, but every year he meets a few parents who don't care so much about their girls' grades and want their girls to go back to work and share the housework. At this time, their teachers need to go to their homes in person and talk to their parents, telling them how good their grades are and that they will definitely be able to go to college in the future and that they are college prospects. If they encounter a family that is very reluctant to let their girls go to school, the teachers of No. 1 Middle School will not only go down to talk to them one by one, but will also give the students certain exemptions and subsidies.
Jiang Ning had received such a subsidy in her previous life.
"If it's inconvenient to tell me in class, you can also tell me after class." Seeing that no one was talking, Teacher Ji suddenly smiled on his young face and said in a relaxed tone: "You don't have to worry too much. Generally speaking, it won't affect your normal academic performance. If you are lucky, you may go back after the county preliminaries in July. If you are even better, you can finish in August. Of course, if your grades are better and you can go to the provincial competition, you will have to stay in the training camp for the entire summer vacation. If you really make it to the provincial competition, even if you don't get a score, you will still get a reward of 100 yuan. If you make it to the city competition, there will also be rewards."
Wuzhong has always been the main force in Wucheng's competitions. In previous years, No. 1 Middle School only had one round of competitions. After Principal Sun came, he recruited two competition teachers and began to take it seriously. In the past two years, it has started a second round, which means that after taking the city exam, it's over.
The reason for such mediocre results is not only because competitions have never been the strong point of No. 1 Middle School, but also its scholarship system.
There are scholarships for those who are in the top ten in the grade, but they have spent a lot of energy on participating in the competition. There is no prize money in the county preliminaries. Only if you enter the city competition will you get a prize of 50 yuan, and this prize money will increase with the improvement of the ranking. If you enter the provincial competition, you will get a hundred yuan. If you get the third prize in the provincial competition, you will get a prize of 500 yuan, the second prize will get a prize of 800 yuan, and the first prize will be 1,000 yuan.
The prize money is very high, but the problem is that no one from No. 1 Middle School has ever won a prize in the provincial competition, let alone a scholarship.
No matter how high the scholarship is, it is just a castle in the air for them, something they can only see but not touch.
But the school scholarships are different. The top ten students in the grade will receive scholarships. In addition to the first place student who receives a scholarship of 1,000 yuan, the second and third place students will receive second-class scholarships of 800 yuan. The fourth, fifth and sixth place students will receive third-class scholarships of 500 yuan. The last seven to tenth place students will also receive excellent scholarships of 300 yuan each. In addition to this, the ordinary class also has one scholarship quota. If the student cannot rank among the top ten in the grade, then the scholarship will only be the lowest 150 yuan.
Competition scholarships are visible but intangible, but school scholarships are something they can definitely get as long as they work hard. In this case, it is easy to imagine whether they will focus their main energy on school rankings or competition results.
But there is no way around it. The preliminary results in the county are not really results at all, and the school cannot give monetary rewards at this stage.
Few students in the competition class focus all their energy on the class. They just study when the school asks them to, and take exams when the school asks them to.
Teacher Ji felt helpless when he saw these students who were not interested in the competition at all. Under such circumstances, it was too difficult for him to expect the competition class to achieve good results. He couldn't help but turn his eyes to Jiang Ning.
Seeing that no one was talking, Teacher Ji looked around and said with a helpless smile: "Since there are no questions, let's continue the class."
Zhang Wenxue looked at Cheng Yufeng who was sitting in front of him, and then at Xing Hongyu and Jiang Ning who were sitting on his left.
In this school selection competition, Jiang Ning, Xing Hongyu, Zhang Wenxue, and Cheng Yufeng had the best results. There were only five girls in the competition class including Jiang Ning, and two of them had excellent grades.
He didn't know what they would choose. He was definitely focusing on his grades in school right now. As for after the final exams, whether the school asked him to stay in school for classes or training, that would all be during the summer vacation.
If their performance in school is affected because of the competition class, and they do not get either the school scholarship or the competition scholarship, then it would be a loss.
Cheng Yufeng and the others all thought so.
These scholarships are so important to them who come from poor families. No one wants to give up and they will only work harder to get them.
Seeing that these students were not focused on the competition, Teacher Ji simply gave them a holiday in the last few days so that they could concentrate on reviewing and work hard for the upcoming final exams.
The competition at No. 1 Middle School was already very competitive, and everyone was even more competitive in order to compete for scholarships. Everyone studied very hard, hoping to get better grades in the final exam.
Teacher Wang also wanted his class to have a first-class scholarship winner, so he personally came to whip Jiang Ning every day. It was not until the end of the final exam that Jiang Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief and had time to go to the store to write.
If I don’t write more, there will be a blank in the next issue.
Now that "White Snake" has been serialized for three issues, Director Li Ang and his colleagues had been prepared for a sharp drop in the total monthly sales. The first print run had already dropped to 800,000. Even so, they were still observing carefully. Once they noticed that the magazine was unsalable in the market, they would quickly adjust the first print run. Unexpectedly, the article "White Snake Cultivation" actually took over the market after the completion of "The Song Dynasty". Although the sales of "Martial Arts" in the market have declined to a certain extent, it has not dropped to the level that Director Li Ang and his colleagues thought. The market feedback has been very stable.
Some readers are used to following "The Great Song Dynasty" before, and now they continue to follow the new works of Lemon Meng. Although the new works of Lemon Meng are indeed somewhat different from traditional martial arts novels, once they get into it, they find that this new novel is completely different from other novels on the market and it is very exciting to read. The only thing that makes them dissatisfied is that when they were following "The Great Song Dynasty", although there were no novels of the same type on the market, they could still follow other martial arts novels in "Wuxia" or "Judge Bao" to relieve the pressure. When they were following "White Snake", because this novel was too alternative and too unpopular, they could not find a novel on the market to replace it, so they were anxious and could only wait for the magazine to publish a new one every week.
The feeling of following a serial is so exhausting that every issue seems not enough.
Some people even called the publishing house to ask when Ningmeng's new book would be published and on the market, so that they could buy a copy and read as much as they wanted.
Feedback from readers also made the publishing house see the potential of this new book, and they called to discuss the publishing rights of the new book with Jiang Ning.
Because it is a new book, there is no trend of directly taking over a magazine like "The Great Song Dynasty". The publishing house does not dare to print too many copies at the first print. The contract only stipulates the first print of 100,000, which is still 12%. If the subsequent sales are good, it will be the same as "The Great Song Dynasty", and the printing will be increased slowly, depending on the market conditions.
As before, after receiving the contract, you will pay 30% of the royalties first, and then pay the remaining 70% after the book is published.
This article has just started serialization and has more than 60,000 words. It is still too early to be published, but the cover, illustrations and so on can be planned based on the content of the book and the characters of "The Legend of the New White Snake".
During the May Day holiday, Jiang Ning went to Shanghai once and signed a villa decoration contract with Manager Qian. Manager Qian had already installed floor heating in the villa.
Even Manager Qian had to sigh at the generosity of this young girl. She actually spent so much money to install floor heating in the villa. With this money, she could pay the down payment for another house.
In Manager Qian's opinion, the money spent on decorating this villa alone is a astronomical amount, and it would be better to use the money to buy a house.
Of course, he would not say this to Jiang Ning. After all, Jiang Ning had entrusted the decoration to him and he was the one making the money.
As soon as the final exams were over, the students began to pack their bags and leave school one by one.
Including Jiang Bai and others who used to be able to live in the old senior high school dormitory, they also have to leave.
Seeing that Jiang Ning still had to stay in school for training, He Xiaofang knew that she could continue to live in the dormitory. In fact, she didn't want to go back, but when she thought about how busy the double harvest season was, and there were only three laborers at home, including He's father, mother, and He Dahua, and her younger brother was still young, she was afraid that the family would be too busy if she didn't go back, so she went back anyway.
Jiang Hehua also went back. Before leaving, she came to No. 1 Middle School and asked Jiang Ning to go back with her.
While she was waiting for Jiang Ning, she saw a shop not far from No. 1 Middle School that was doing good business. She heard something being shouted over the loud speaker, so she curiously followed the crowd to take a look. When she saw Jiang Bai and Grandpa Jiang, she realized that the shop was actually opened by Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Bai.
Jiang Bai was so handsome and dazzling in the crowd, with a faint smile on his face. Perhaps it was because he was very happy about the money he made from selling clothes, his eyes were full of smiles and he seemed quite lively.
In the past, he always had a cold expression when I saw him. How could he still be cold now? He was all smiles, and when customers were bargaining with him, they praised him for being handsome and asked him to give them a lower price. He was shy of being praised, and smiled and said to the customers sheepishly: "I can't give you a lower price just because you praised me for being handsome. We are a small business with small profits and quick turnover, so we don't bargain."
She had heard from her roommates that there was a handsome guy in No. 1 Middle School, and she also knew that there was a very cheap clothing store in front of the school, but she had never been there. Every weekend, others either went home or made plans to go out shopping, but she either went home or read books at school and rarely went out.
It's certainly not that she doesn't want to go shopping, but that she has no money.
Although her father was the brigade secretary, he mainly had a high social status in the village and his salary was not that much. Her mother did not have a job and liked to play mahjong when she had nothing to do. The family's entire income depended on her father's salary. Even though her father had some unknown extra income, he did not spend it recklessly. Instead, when every family in the village built a large building, their family also built a house of neither size.
They have to build a house. Her brother is two years older than Jiang Song, and his sister-in-law has brought him home to see the house. Having a house is a must for marriage.
Therefore, although she always held her head high and appeared very proud, she was somewhat inferior in her heart compared to most of the Wu people whose families were well-off.
She didn't want to show her embarrassment of being poor, so she stayed in school to study. When others talked about these topics, she never participated, pretending that she had no interest in them and was only interested in studying.
Except for her desk mate Ruan Hong, she has few friends and usually keeps to herself.
Because of her usual behavior in public, no one would tell her about the occasional gossip in the dormitory, and she never knew that the handsome guy selling clothes in the clothing store at the school gate was actually Jiang Bai.
She thought he was a member of society.
Seeing Grandpa Jiang, she was also stunned for a moment, and called out politely: "Grandpa, weren't you patrolling the mountains? Why are you in Wucheng?"
"Is it the lotus?" Grandpa Jiang sat up from the recliner and said with a smile: "I'm retired. I'm old and can't patrol the mountains anymore. I retired before the New Year."
It was the brigade secretary who handled the procedures.
But Jiang Hehua was studying in Wuzhong at the time, so she didn't know about it. When she returned home, her father would not tell her about what was happening outside, and she was not interested.
Grandpa Jiang stood up, got a stool for Jiang Hehua and poured her some tea.
Local people like to drink tea, and it is customary to make tea for guests as a sign of respect.
Jiang Hehua is the daughter of the brigade secretary, and Grandpa Jiang specially brews Mingqian tea with tender buds for her.
Jiang Hehua was used to being treated like this in the village, so she didn't think it was a big deal. She sat on the small chair and took the tea that Grandpa Jiang made for her. Grandpa Jiang also specifically reminded her: "Be careful of the heat."
She held the cup by the mouth and blew on the fresh tea buds floating on the cup. She raised her face and asked Jiang Bai curiously: "Second brother, aren't you studying? Don't you want to stop studying?"
No matter how little she interacted with the people in the village and how little she cared about what was happening outside, she knew that the three siblings of Jiang Ning's family were all studying.
They were all from the same village, so even though Jiang Bai and Jiang Hehua had never spoken to each other, they both looked familiar. While taking the money handed over by the customer and giving the change, he smiled and replied to her: "Graduated."
"Oh." Jiang Hehua didn't know which class Jiang Bai was from.
She is actually one year older than Jiang Bai, but maybe it's because all the members of the Jiang family are tall, or because she and Jiang Ning were classmates in elementary school, but in Jiang Hehua's heart, Jiang Song and Jiang Bai are both her brothers, and she doesn't know that Jiang Bai is actually younger than her.
Jiang Bai was touched by her calling him "Second Brother" and thought he was older than her, so he responded very straightforwardly. He didn't even pay attention to her and was busy selling clothes.
The arrival of summer vacation did not affect the business of the store, but made it better.
His previous customers have become regulars. Knowing that his products are cheap, they would rather spend fifty cents more and take a tricycle to come to his store to buy clothes.
The surrounding junior high schools, No. 3 Middle School, No. 4 Middle School, Normal School, and technical secondary schools are all on vacation. Many students who live in Wucheng like to go out shopping when they have nothing to do. They can't bear to buy clothes in other stores because they think the clothes are too expensive, so they come to Jiang Ning store.
There are also some gangsters in society. When they go out to hang out, they always have to have a few decent clothes to show off, right? This year, thanks to the movie Young and Dangerous, not only have tattoos become popular among gangsters, but they have also become popular for wearing leather jackets and leather pants.
They didn't know how to bargain, as it was so embarrassing. It just so happened that the leather jackets and pants in Jiang Ning's shop were the cheapest in Wucheng, and the prices were clearly marked. So they all came to Jiang Ning's shop to buy clothes. They could sell at least ten pieces every day, and sometimes twenty or thirty pieces a day was normal.
Jiang Bai was so busy that he had no time to care about her.
Jiang Hehua waited for a long time, but no one spoke to her, which made her feel a little embarrassed. After Jiang Bai sold another piece of clothing, there were no customers for the time being, so she went to iron the clothes. Qianqian took a sip of the hot tea and asked Jiang Bai: "Where is Jiang Ning? Is she on vacation too? I came here today to find her and go home together. When will she go home?"
Jiang Bo ironed the clothes skillfully and quickly, and took the time to tell her, "She's not going back. She has to stay in school for training during the summer vacation."
"Ouch!" The water in Jiang Hehua's hand suddenly fell out of the quilt she was squeezing. This was freshly brewed tea from the school water room, and it was still hot. She was pinching the rim of a disposable cup before, and suddenly she squeezed the rim and flattened it. The hot water scalded her hand, and she jumped up. The tea and tea leaves spilled all over the floor, and the boiling water also spilled on her legs, causing her to jump up from the scald.
Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Bai were also startled, "Hey, are you okay?"
Jiang Bai also quickly opened the back door: "There is running water here, come and flush it."
Jiang Hehua's hands were scalded and turned red. Upon hearing this, she quickly put her hands under the faucet to rinse with cold water. The pain made her tears fall.
Jiang Bai didn't say anything when he saw it. He just took a bucket and put it under the faucet to collect the water for her to wash her hands. He then took a broom to sweep up the tea leaves and a mop to mop the water on the floor.
Grandpa Jiang looked at Jiang Hehua with some concern. Not only was Jiang Hehua's face white, but her hands were also white. After a while, her hands turned red.
When Grandpa Jiang saw this, he said to Jiang Bo, "You stay in the store, I'll go buy some sheep oil."
They have a kind of sheep oil in their local area, which is very effective in treating burns. Locals are accustomed to using sheep oil to apply burns.
How could Jiang Bai let Grandpa Jiang go to buy mutton fat in such a hot day? He said, "I'll go." Then he stretched out his long legs and ran out. After a while, he came back with a small bottle of mutton fat.
After being rinsed with cold water for a while, Jiang Hehua's hands had felt much better, but as soon as she took them out from under the faucet, her hands started to hurt again.
Jiang Bai felt a little sorry for the wasted water, so he handed her the sheep oil and asked her to apply it on her hands. Jiang Hehua was afraid that her hands would get blisters, so she quickly applied the sheep oil on herself as well.
When she left, Grandpa Jiang let her take a whole bottle of mutton fat away. Jiang Bai was a little reluctant to let her take it away, because she was clearly the one who got burned, and she made them lose a bottle of mutton fat, which was not cheap.
The problem is, Jiang Hehua took his mutton oil without even saying thank you.
Jiang Hehua didn't see Jiang Ning, and her hands and legs were burned red. She returned to school and sat on the bed silently, not knowing what she was thinking.
The next morning, I packed my luggage and returned to Shuibu Town. On the boat from Shuibu Town to Jiangjia Village, I met Jiang Qinqin who was also back from vacation.
Jiang Qinqin was so excited about going home. She sat on the boat, feeling the hot and humid river breeze, and sang affectionately: "You are always too soft-hearted~ too soft-hearted~"
Jiang Hehua suddenly asked her, "Do you know Jiang Ning is in No. 1 Middle School?"
Jiang Qin, whose soulful singing was interrupted, turned to look at her: "I know, what's wrong?"
Looking at Jiang Qinqin's clear and stupid look, Jiang Hehua suddenly lost interest in chatting with her. She turned her head and looked at the sparkling river surface: "It's okay."
"Hey, why didn't Ningning come back? Aren't No. 1 Middle School and your Wu Middle School together? You two never come to play with me during holidays. I haven't seen you and Ningning for a long time!" Jiang Qinqin usually plays with Jiang Ning more often. When she went home during the summer vacation and had no friends, she especially wanted to play with Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning was not around at the moment, so she excitedly chatted with Jiang Hehua: "Hehua, can you sing Richie Jen's latest song "Heart Too Soft"?"
Jiang Hehua: “No.”
"Listen to me singing it for you! I'm telling you, I can sing this song very well."
Jiang Hehua: - - Don't bother me, I don't want to listen at all.
During the one-hour boat ride, she listened to Jiang Qinqin singing in her ear for an entire hour. Fortunately, due to the rising water level of the river, she did not have to get off the boat at the ferry, but had to get off the boat at the dam at the entrance of the village. Before reaching the shore, she saw Jiang Qinqin beside her cupping her hands into a big trumpet shape, shouting to the shore from a distance: "Mom~~~Mom~~~~~" and then waved vigorously.
Jiang Qinqin's mother didn't know that her daughter was coming back today. She guessed that her darling should be on holiday these days, so she came here every day to wait for her darling. Finally, her darling came. She was so happy that as soon as the boat docked, she got on the boat first without waiting for others to get off, and went to carry Jiang Qinqin's luggage.
"Laobaobei'er" is what the locals call old women, which roughly means "baby" or "darling".
The villagers have complained before, saying that Jiang Qinqin is already such an adult, but they still call her "old baby, old baby" all the time. But Jiang Qinqin's family has been used to calling her that since she was a child. Not to mention that she is only seventeen or eighteen years old now, even when she was in her thirties, her whole family still calls her that.
After everyone in the school had left, Jiang Ning was the only one left in the dormitory. There were only four girls left in the next-door room, three of whom were from Class One and one from Class Two. The dormitory was very quiet, and there was no longer a situation of people lining up to take a shower in the bathroom in the evening or after evening self-study.
Several people were a little uncomfortable and came to ask Jiang Ning if she wanted to live with them.
Jiang Ning naturally refused.
Jiang Bai, whose scores have already been estimated, can no longer live in the old dormitory building, and all the senior high school students who have graduated have to move out.
Jiang Bai also had to move out, so Tong Jingang came to help him move his things and invited him to live at his house. However, Jiang Bai did not go. Instead, he moved all his things to Jiang Ning's shop. During the day, he rolled up the mat, tied it with a rope and placed it against the wall. At night, he spread the mat flat on the ground and slept on it.
Jiang Ning asked Jiang Bai if he wanted to go to Shanghai first so that he could live in her house. Although the surrounding area was a bit desolate and noisy, it was at least closer to the school. Whether it was checking scores or waiting for the admission letter, it would be more convenient in Shanghai than in Wucheng.
One of Jiang Ning's apartments in Shanghai has already been furnished, and it also contains bedding and home appliances given by the developer. As it is currently used as another form of model house in the community, it is decorated very beautifully and luxuriously.
Jiang Bai thought she was talking about her unfinished villa, so he shook his head and said, "I can sleep on the floor in the store, it's quite good. The floor is cool, so I don't feel hot when I sleep at night."
Only when he saw the clothes being sold one by one and the money coming in every day, did he feel at ease and comfortable, and no longer had that sense of urgency as if he was floating in the air and might fall at any time.
Like before the college entrance examination, he couldn't do anything every day and took his sister's money for nothing, which made him feel uncomfortable.
After the Qingming Festival this year, the rainfall returned to normal. The rising river water was blocked outside the embankments and dikes that were carried up inch by inch by the shoulders of Grandpa Jiang, Jiang's father and mother, and did not affect the farmland on this side of the dikes. Therefore, this year is still a bumper year, and the boys and girls studying outside still have to go home to participate in the double harvest in the summer vacation.
This year, all of the Jiang family's farmland was given to Uncle Jiang's family for farming. Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai don't have to go back to harvest rice and plant rice seedlings during the summer vacation this year, and he can also stay in the store and sell clothes to his heart's content.
Seeing Jiang Bai's insistence, Jiang Ning said, "Then you should pay attention to the store's phone calls and letters sent to the store every day."
Jiang Bai looked at his sister who was worried like an adult, and couldn't help but laugh as he stretched out his hand to rub her head: "Don't worry, I know everything."
His sister's hair was short and soft, and he suddenly had a bad idea and ruffled her hair before running away laughing, fearing that his sister would get angry and jump up and hit him.
Jiang Ning just watched him running away laughing, with a gentle smile in his eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
