Chapter 117
Grandpa Jiang, who had been showing off in the village for a day, carried a small fish, a piece of meat, a chicken leg, and some homemade rice wine prepared for him by Aunt Jiang in a vegetable basket, and went to the old store at the entrance of the village to buy paper money and paper to be burned, and went to the mountain with Jiang Bai.
Uncle Jiang took the initiative to follow them, rarely, holding a shovel and sickle in his hands, and took the initiative to help shovel the soil and cut the grass.
I haven't been here for a while, and the weeds on the mountain have surrounded the graves again.
The graves of my great-grandfather and great-grandmother are not in the same place, and there is no custom of joint burial here.
Grandpa Jiang stood in front of his great-grandfather's grave, his eyes moistened unknowingly, and he said to his father: "Baizi has been admitted to university, and our family has also produced a university student. From now on, our family will be better! We no longer have to walk under someone's shoulders. Times are good!"
When my great-grandfather was young, he was a sedan bearer, carrying a sedan for a landlord. It was said that he fell and hit the landlord at night when he was carrying the sedan. The sedan rolled into the river and no one rescued him, so he drowned.
Grandpa Jiang smiled and said, "Laicai has taken over my job of patrolling the mountains. He gets paid every month. His salary has increased this year. He now gets 100 yuan a month. My two sons, Guoan and Guoliang, are both college graduates. They are teachers in the city. They have stable jobs and are supported by the government."
He waved to Jiang Bai to come over and kowtow to his great grandfather.
Jiang Bai took a piece of paper and placed it on the ground, then kowtowed three times respectfully.
"This is my little grandson, Jiang Bai. He comes to visit your grave every year. He was admitted to Shanghai University and stays in Shanghai. He is a Shanghainese. Dai Zhiqing and Zhou Zhiqing from our village came from Shanghai and later returned to Shanghai. How could I have imagined at that time that I would be able to go to the city and go to Shanghai, and that my grandson would be admitted to Shanghai University and become a Shanghainese in the future?" Grandpa Jiang thought of his yearning and curiosity for the city when he listened to Dai Zhiqing and Zhou Zhiqing talking about things in the city when he was young. He couldn't help but sigh for a moment, time flies so fast, and in a blink of an eye, he is over sixty years old.
He finally completed his mission, raising his younger brothers and sisters, arranging for them to get married, and raising children and grandchildren.
After paying homage to their great-grandfather, they went on to pay homage to their great-grandmother.
My great-grandmother was a woman with bound feet. She could not do any work and could only wash dishes at home. The farthest place she had ever traveled in her life was Shuibu Town.
The combination of Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang, one with his younger brother and the other with his younger siblings, is like two reconstituted families with many conflicts.
Grandma Jiang had a strong personality and was not nice to Grandpa Jiang's younger brothers and sisters. Great-grandmother Jiang and Grandma Jiang also had many conflicts, but Great-grandmother Jiang was a woman with bound feet and was still supported by her son and daughter-in-law. She had no choice but to move to the mud house downstairs with her youngest son and daughter. At that time, all the mud houses in the village were like this. Now that mud house has become Jiang Ma's pigpen.
In the words of Jiang's father, my great-grandmother was a person who had been immersed in misery all her life.
Grandpa Jiang had to support a family at the age of twelve and took on the burden of the entire family. He had tried his best. It was not until he became a forest ranger and the only person in the village who received a salary, besides the brigade secretary, accountant and scorekeeper, that he lived separately from Grandma Jiang, and the quarrels gradually became less frequent.
After Grandpa Jiang finished talking to Grandma, he wiped away his tears and said to Jiang Bai: "Don't forget the graves of your great-grandfather and great-grandmother. Don't forget to visit the graves every Qingming Festival in the future."
Jiang Bai nodded: "I remember everything."
The matter of visiting the ancestors' graves has been passed down from generation to generation. After so many generations, the descendants can no longer remember which grave is which. Some graves are even covered by dense vegetation on the mountain and cannot be found. At this time, the villagers will draw a circle at the foot of the mountain and burn paper money in the circle, indicating that only our ancestors can receive the paper money in this circle. While burning paper money, they will shout loudly: "My ancestors are here to collect money! My ancestors are here to eat!"
Keep shouting, keep shouting.
Grandpa Jiang was afraid that after he died, his sons would grow old and the younger generation would not remember his father and mother’s graves and would forget to visit their graves, leaving them starving in the underworld.
If you have nothing to eat when you are alive, you will starve when you die.
Grandpa Jiang knows very well what it feels like to be hungry. During the three-year great famine, many people in the village starved to death.
Thinking of how he had fed his younger brothers and sisters during the famine, Grandpa Jiang laughed again. When he went down the mountain, he put his hands behind his back, walked briskly, and his face was filled with a smile as if he had let go of a heavy burden.
Uncle Jiang and Jiang Bai cut all the weeds around Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang's graves. Uncle Jiang said, "After the New Year, your father and I will buy two tombstones and place them in front of Grandpa and Grandma's graves. With the tombstones there, it will be convenient to find the graves in the future."
Those graves that have been gathered together for a long time and have no tombstones make it really difficult to tell whose graves they belong to. Every year, people go to the wrong graves.
Jiang Bai also kept this matter in mind.
They did not stay in the village for long. After visiting the graves, they went home, pounded rice with a rice pounding machine, and then set off for Wucheng again, dragging a cart full of grain.
Not only will Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Ning need to eat this food, but Jiang Bai also wants to take some to Shanghai.
There was obviously no money left for food in the tuition and living expenses that Jiang's father sent him, so he had to transport the food to Shanghai himself.
Thinking about the fact that he would have to carry food with him to Shanghai, which was such a long distance away, Jiang Bai felt that he would go hungry again.
He had just had a year of having enough food to eat, and the thought of going back to being so hungry that he couldn't sleep, and having leg pain at night that he couldn't sleep. He felt like his legs were cramping even though he wasn't hungry yet.
Maybe it was because he was well fed, had vegetables and meat every day, and had enough nutrition, he hadn’t felt growing pains for a long time.
The comfort during this period made him think that the painful life was over, but when he thought about having to go through it again in the next four years, he became a little scared. He didn't want to leave his grandfather and sister. He turned his head to look at his hometown which was gradually getting farther away, thinking that if he returned to his hometown and guarded the few acres of land there, he would not starve.
In his pocket, he still had red envelopes from the brigade, Uncle Jiang, his relatives, and his uncle's family.
It would be great if his sister's shop could be opened in Shanghai. Then he could go to work in his sister's shop after school every day. He liked such days. He felt comfortable in his sister's shop and didn't have to look at other people's faces. As long as he made good money, his sister would not treat him badly. She would buy him meat, give him new clothes, and let him learn her computer.
Thinking about his life in the past year, he couldn't help but raise the corners of his lips with satisfaction, but thinking about the upcoming life alone in Shanghai, he couldn't help feeling sad and resistant in his heart.
Thinking of this, he was in a bad mood and felt depressed all the way.
When they arrived in town, Grandpa Jiang also went to tell Aunt Jiang the good news that he had been admitted to university. Aunt Jiang was very happy and called her children over, asking them to learn more from Brother Jiang Bai, study hard, and be admitted to university like her brother in the future.
She took out another fifty yuan as wedding money and gave it to Jiang Bai. Jiang Bai was too embarrassed to accept it, so Aunt Jiang stuffed it into his pocket and said, "This is wedding money, keep it quickly!"
Jiang Ning, who had come back from the training camp to have dinner, noticed that he was in a bad mood and kicked his foot: "What's wrong? Why aren't you happy after receiving the notice?"
Jiang Bai said sullenly: "I don't want to leave Wucheng."
Jiang Ning was such a smart person that she guessed why right away. She opened her eyes wide and said, "You didn't ask your dad for living expenses, did you?"
Jiang Bai ate his meal silently: "I gave him living expenses."
"How many?"
"Ten dollars a month." Jiang Bai took a bite of his food. "Dad gave me a hundred dollars separately."
Jiang Ning was speechless. She was so angry that she pointed at the phone in the store and said, "Call him now and ask for money!" She picked up the chopsticks again and asked Jiang Bai, "You don't think that you can go back to Shanghai like Wucheng, where you don't have any food coupons, and you can go back to get rice to exchange for food coupons during the holidays, right?"
In her previous life, she went to college in 1999. At that time, her school already used IC meal cards. She simply couldn't carry food so far to school, and she had to top up money on her meal card to eat.
She said to Jiang Bo, "In a big city like Shanghai, IC meal cards must have been used. You need money to eat. Bringing food with you may not be useful. Tell your father that it's too far to bring food with you, and ask him to give you money."
Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning have been very sensible and caring people since they were young. So when they learned that their family was in difficulty, it was difficult for them to ask for money from their family with a clear conscience. Firstly, they were afraid of being scolded, and secondly, they felt sorry for their parents and understood how difficult it was for them, so they wanted to try their best to reduce the burden on them.
But their consideration will make Jiang's father and mother take it for granted that they can't see them. They can't see that you have silently endured a lot behind the scenes, and their eyes will always only see the one they are most worried about.
Jiang Ning said, "If you don't want to go hungry at school, you should tell your dad. You can't bring food to the university, so you can only add money to your meal card. How can you carry two or three hundred kilograms of rice for such a long distance? You also have a quilt, a mat, clothes and a lot of other things, and no one will take them to you!"
She has to train in school, and after the city competition results come out, if she passes, she will have to go to the city for training again, so she won't be able to send Jiang Bai off.
Grandpa Jiang also has to look after the store. Even if he doesn't, she would feel uneasy if Grandpa Jiang went there and came back alone.
Fortunately, he is with Tong Jingang, and the two of them can take care of each other. Jiang Bai is already 18 years old, so she doesn't worry about how he, a grown man, is doing in Shanghai.
She was afraid that she would have to go to the city for training soon and no one would be there at that time, so she got up and took a key from her bag to give him, put it on the table, and said to Grandpa Jiang Bai, "In fact, I also bought a house in the same community as you, the one with zero down payment, but I bought it earlier and bought an existing house. It has been renovated and is being used as a model house by Manager Qian. When you go there, tell Manager Qian that the house will be taken back. After it is taken back, please help me change the door lock. Replace it with a good one. Don't be reluctant to spend money."
"After you arrive in Shanghai, if you have nowhere to go for the time being, you and Tong Jingang can stay at my place first. Everything inside is brand new. It has been installed for half a year and has been ventilated for half a year. It should be habitable now."
Jiang Bai was stunned!
My sister has a house in Shanghai! All decorated! Will he have a place to live when he goes to Shanghai?
His eyes widened as he looked at the key, then at his sister, and pinched himself hard. It hurt, he was not dreaming!
Grandpa Jiang was also stunned. His granddaughter had said before that she had bought a big villa in Shanghai, but it was in the wilderness of Shanghai after all. Although the house had been delivered, it had not been renovated yet and was still unfinished. He didn't feel much about it, but now she actually said that she had another house in Shanghai, which had been renovated more than half a year ago!
For a moment, both the grandfather and grandson were shocked.
They didn't know that Jiang Ning had done something shocking when they were unaware!
It was shocking enough that they bought a villa in Shanghai, moved all their household registrations to Shanghai, and also moved his school registration to Shanghai.
After all, the villagers are still struggling to build houses in their hometown. If a family builds a building, it will be a great event to bring honor to the family and all relatives and friends will be invited to the wedding banquet.
Not only did his sister buy a villa in Shanghai without saying a word, but now she says she has another one! Renovated!
A year ago, he was still struggling on the poverty line with not enough food to eat every day. However, his sister had only been in Wucheng for a year and she had already bought two houses in Shanghai.
He couldn't help but ask his sister suspiciously: "Ningning, you haven't been cheated, have you?"
He suspected that he and his sister had been cheated. Buying a house with zero down payment didn't sound credible at all.
Seeing that both of them looked as if they had been cheated, Jiang Ning turned around and went under the bed, pulled out a suitcase, reached in it, took out a property certificate, and handed it to the two of them.
"I went to the Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau to get the property certificate myself. Here, the government seal is here." Jiang Ning pointed to the seal and the name of the household owner on the property certificate. It was clearly written: Jiang Ning.
Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Bai, both of these country folk, saw the house deed for the first time. They flipped through it in amazement. It was hard for them to imagine that this was actually the house deed.
"Is this true?" Jiang Bai, who had never seen the property deed before, flipped through it again and again: "Does this really mean I own the house?"
He really found it hard to connect this thing with a house.
Self-built houses in rural areas do not have property deeds.
Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Bai had no habit of rummaging through Jiang Ning's bag. The suitcase had a combination lock, and neither of them knew how to open it. Even if they knew, they would not rummage through her things without Jiang Ning's permission.
At that time, very few people used password boxes or trolley cases. People's impression of trolley cases still came from the trolley cases in the hands of a group of fashionable stewardesses on TV.
Jiang Ning used to think it was inconvenient to keep a lot of things in the dormitory. The dormitory was too small and there was very little personal space. Although there were people coming and going in the store and there were many eyes and ears, Jiang Bai was there. Besides, the box she bought was big and the house deed was in a zippered net bag. Dragging the box out from under the bed would make too much noise, and it was impossible for Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Bai not to notice.
Although Grandpa Jiang is not a meticulous person, Jiang Bai is just like Mother Jiang. He attaches great importance to the things at home and is very thoughtful. He stays in the store every day and sleeps in the store at night, so he doesn't worry that the house deeds in the box will be stolen.
No one would have thought that there would be a house deed in the suitcase under the old man's bed.
Jiang Bai couldn't help but look at the box below. If his sister took out another house deed from it, he wouldn't be surprised.
Because this feeling was too unreal, even when he, Tong Jingang, and Tong Jingang's father entered Jiang Ning's house in Shanghai, he still felt uneasy, wondering if they had walked into the wrong house or if others would mistake them for thieves.
After entering, Jiang Bai was stunned by the luxurious decoration inside.
This, this, this...
He looked at Manager Qian who had led them up with uneasiness: "Manager Qian, this... is this really my sister's house?"
Tong Jingang and his father were equally shocked.
Three people stood at the door carrying large and small bags, not daring to go in.
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