Chapter 1414
Jiang Ning wandered under the shade of the locust tree and sat down on a stone that was a little hot.
The summer breeze was blowing gently, in the distance there were endless lotus leaves on the river bank, and the sky was blue and bright.
There are a few soft white clouds in the sky, moving slowly with the wind.
So beautiful.
The cowherd was leading his cows home when he saw her sitting alone under the locust tree enjoying the cool air. He smiled and said hello to her, "Ningning, why are you sitting here alone instead of going home? Mosquitoes will carry you away soon."
As he spoke, he killed a mosquito with a "slap".
People who had seen the fun before came over and said with a smile: "Her mother beat her, she must be too scared to go home!"
"She deserved to be beaten!" The person who heard Jiang's mother's explanation of what happened said, "Her mother said that she was the one who instigated her father to use the farmland to raise lobsters. Isn't that just throwing money down the drain? Do you think she should be beaten?"
Everyone who heard it nodded, "That's right." Then he asked curiously, "Did you get hit?"
“No, they chased for several miles, with such a thick broom!” People who witnessed the excitement made a circle as thick as their calf.
"Good boy, Long Di Dong." The person who heard it exclaimed in amazement, and felt a little regretful that he didn't see the excitement: "What happened next?"
"Later, she ran away!" The aunt who had seen the excitement pointed at Jiang Ning with her chin: "I don't know how fast she ran." She said: "I guess she will be like her father in the future, with long legs, and her legs will kick faster than flying!"
Everyone who was watching the fun started laughing, and the air was filled with a happy atmosphere.
After the busy farming season, the villagers had nothing to do, so they liked to sit under the shade of the trees and chat and brag. Soon a group of people gathered under the shade of the trees to watch the fun.
Jiang Ning sat down under another tree and looked at the swaying lotus flowers in the pond.
She knew that Jiang Ma was still angry at this time and she must not go back. She could only wait, wait until dark, wait until Jiang Ma fell asleep, wait until Jiang Ma calmed down.
You don’t know when Jiang’s mother will calm down, and you don’t know whether she has really calmed down even though she appears to be calm and unperturbed.
Once, Jiang's mother came home, ate and took a bath as if nothing had happened. Then, while she was taking a bath, she suddenly rushed in with a thin bamboo stick and started beating her. Her body was covered with red blood marks, as if she had been scratched by countless wild cats.
The beating made you jump around in pain, curled up on the ground holding your legs, crying, "I won't dare to do it again, I won't dare to do it again." But you don't know what you did wrong and what you are afraid of.
The only thing she felt guilty about when she was a child was that she secretly picked a peach from her aunt's house, whether it was because she was greedy or hungry.
She remembered this secretly picked peach for many years.
Later, there was a joke on the Internet called "Eat, Sleep and Play Doudou".
Jiang Ning found it very funny at first, but then he fell silent after laughing for a while.
She is that Doudou.
When the eldest brother got into trouble, her mother beat her. When the second brother got into trouble, her mother beat the second brother and her. When the eldest brother and second brother got into trouble together, she was still beaten.
Because as a younger sister, she didn't stop her brothers or persuade them when they got into trouble. What's the use of her?
In her mother's words, "If not you, who should I hit?"
Her mother wouldn't really hurt her physically, she would just whip her with a thin bamboo thread.
After Jiang's mother broke in and beat her while she was taking a shower, she was terrified for many years after that, and she didn't know what she was afraid of.
Just scared.
It was as if a monster would suddenly break in through the door that she had been confirmed to be locked many times, and she would be powerless to resist.
It’s not safe even if Jiang Ma falls asleep.
When you come back quietly and think you haven't been noticed and have fallen asleep peacefully, she will grab you and beat you until you have nowhere to hide.
She couldn't help but reach out and touch her short hair. Hmm..., it probably won't be possible to pull up this hair now.
Thinking of the scene where Jiang's mother wanted to pull her hair but grabbed nothing, Jiang Ning couldn't help laughing out loud, and then she started crying while laughing.
She couldn't help but laugh again, finding it funny that she would cry over something like this.
She wiped away her tears and walked up the mountain step by step.
Let’s go sleep at grandpa’s house tonight.
The mountains are both quiet and noisy.
Because it is a house for forest rangers to live in, it cannot be built at the foot of the mountain or deep in the mountains, but on the hillside at the entrance of the three mountains. Standing at the door of the house, you can see if anyone is entering the mountain and which mountain they are going to.
There was just one room with a bed inside, a stove outside, a dining table and chairs in the middle, and some firewood piled under the stove.
Seeing that it was not yet completely dark, Jiang Ning went to pick up some firewood nearby and boiled some water for washing.
Thinking that grandpa probably hadn't eaten yet, I quickly cooked some rice. Since there was no vegetable, I stewed some salted fish that I had pickled earlier and brought it to grandpa in the dark night.
The forest at night is still very scary, with the cries of various wild animals coming one after another.
Grandpa didn't know yet that she was going to sleep on the mountain at night. If he knew, he would be worried. She didn't say anything and grandpa didn't ask. They both remained silent.
Grandpa took out a stack of money from his shirt pocket. There were 10 cents, 20 cents, and 50 cents. He stacked them together, rolled them into a ball, and stuffed them into her hand: "School will start in a few days. You need to take them to school. Don't skimp on notebooks and pens. Don't starve yourself." Grandpa said: "If it's not enough, I'll send you more later."
In addition to being a forest ranger, my grandfather would sometimes pick up waste to sell when he had free time. In spring, he would also pick mushrooms and ferns from the mountains to sell.
He had an old gun. Occasionally, when he caught prey, he would sell the live prey and pickle the dead prey. During the holidays, when Jiang Ning came back, he would cook the prey and bring it to school for Jiang Ning to eat.
He is old and in poor health, so he doesn't dare go deep into the mountains. He stays on the outskirts, where it is difficult to come across any prey. The most he can find are pheasants and rabbits. Hunting has also been prohibited in the mountains in recent years.
Jiang's mother was still cursing loudly at home, saying bad things about Jiang Ning. Sometimes she said she would pull out her hair when she came back, and sometimes she used dirty words to curse Jiang Ning.
Father Jiang sat under the stove, making dinner. Hearing Mother Jiang scolding her daughter with disgusting words, he could not help but get angry. He shouted, "Are you done yet? She just said one sentence, and you beat and scolded her. You haven't taken a break from scolding her for such a long time?"
This sentence ignited Jiang Ma's anger again: "Why did I hit her? She is now strong and running faster than a rabbit. Why did I hit her? Shouldn't I scold her? What did she say? She just can't see us live a good life!"
Father Jiang doesn't think that's the case. Although he doesn't know whether it's right to raise crayfish, after all, in the current environment, crayfish are indeed everywhere, and there seems to be no need to raise them.
But he had a vague feeling in his heart that this was not the case, and he was even slightly moved.
"She just said that." Jiang's father said helplessly.
The failure of the chicken farm seven or eight years ago left him, who was in debt, with no voice in the family. It was Jiang Ma who worked hard with him to get through those difficult days, so he always went along with Jiang Ma over the years, and he really saw how much Jiang Ma had contributed to the family over the years.
Every time he had an idea, Jiang Ma would always be the first to cut him off and tell him that it was impossible unless she died.
She was so frightened by the huge foreign debt that she didn't dare to spend the New Year at home, fearing that someone would come to collect the debt. She hid in the mountains and spent New Year's Eve in a forest ranger's hut. Even so, she felt uneasy and was afraid that someone would find her in the mountains. This went on for several years, year after year.
They didn't dare go home until all their debts were paid off bit by bit.
Jiang's mother was really scared of the days when she had to save every penny to pay off her debts, fearing that Jiang's father would do something else and get into debt again.
Thinking about it, Jiang's mother choked up again and said, "She must have forgotten that the debt collector sat at home and refused to leave. When he asked her where her parents were, she said they were not at home."
At that time, not only were the adults under great pressure, but the children were also pitiful. The adults went to hide from their creditors, leaving only three children at home. The debt collectors couldn't find the adults, so they questioned the children and sat in their homes and refused to leave.
The children knew they were in the wrong and were trembling with fear.
After listening to Jiang's mother talking about the past, Jiang's father sighed and stopped talking.
He quickly cooked two dishes, stood on the table at the door, and shouted outside: "Ningning, come home for dinner! Ningning, come home for dinner!"
He shouted three times in a row, and his voice was heard far away in the quiet little village.
When a neighbor heard this, he came out with his bowl in hand, and asked with a smile while eating, "Ningning hasn't come back yet?"
When rural people eat, they always like to carry a bowl and go from one door to another, or gather together to chat. If someone has eaten meat, they would like to smear lard on their mouth and not wipe it off for a whole day, and then go around the village to let everyone know that their family has eaten meat today.
Such crude display of wealth is all emotion, no skill.
"He must be afraid of Ai Lian and doesn't dare to come back."
The eldest aunt was also at the door, looking around anxiously, and couldn't help saying, "Ailian is really a jerk. She hit the child so hard and rushed over with such a thick broom. If she hit him with such a thick broom, she would definitely get hurt. How old is Ningning?"
She wants a girl but can't get one, while others have girls but don't cherish them.
It is very common to spank children in rural areas, but most of them use bamboo strips to spank the buttocks, which is painful but will not really hurt the child. A more severe one is to use thorny sticks. This is usually used by adults at home to scare children. When they are angry, they will say: "Next time you dare to do this and that, I will whip you with the thorny rattan. One whip will make your buttocks full of bloody holes!"
Father Jiang said worriedly, "I don't know where this child has gone. It's time for dinner now. He can't stay at someone else's house."
Aunt Jiang said, "You should also persuade Ai Lian more."
Father Jiang went to the brigade secretary's house and the pianist in the second room to look for him.
Among Jiang Ning’s classmates, only three of them are still studying, and they usually play together more often.
I looked for it but couldn't find it.
"So where did the kid go?"
Thinking that she might have gone to the rice field, she went to the rice field to find Grandpa Jiang, only then did she realize that she had delivered food to Grandpa Jiang.
Father Jiang slapped his forehead and said, "I was so busy looking for Ning Ning that I forgot to bring you food."
Dad Jiang's stomach was also rumbling with hunger. He had eaten a piece of leek cake at home in the morning, then hurriedly carried some fish and crayfish to the market. He had lunch at his sister's house. He had been busy all afternoon and hadn't even had a sip of water.
Knowing that Jiang Ning had delivered food to Grandpa Jiang, he also knew where Jiang Ning had gone and said, "I'll go to the mountain to find her."
Grandpa Jiang knew what happened immediately after hearing this: "Did your wife beat Ningning again?" His nose felt sore, and he rubbed his eyes with his rough hands, saying, "No, Ningning and I will live alone. I will pay for Ningning's tuition and send her to school. I don't count on you. I will just build a shed next to the mountain and sleep in it. I don't want you to take care of me in my old age. When I die, you can just bury me wherever you want."
He wiped his tears and choked up, "I'm really afraid that Ningning will be beaten by your wife and won't come home one day."
There were several girls in the village who ran away with men at a very young age and never came back. No one knew whether they were alive or dead.
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