Chapter 170
Jiang Bai touched his head and reflexively looked at Jiang Ning.
Everyone followed Jiang Bai's gaze and looked at Jiang Ning.
Jiang Qinqin didn't understand why Jiang Bai went to see Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning didn't want her writing to be exposed. Jiang Bai knew what she was thinking, so he looked at Jiang Ning. He was not a good liar.
Jiang Ning lied fluently, and said with a smile: "The director of "White Snake" probably watched my interview video and felt that my image and temperament were suitable for a role in the movie, so he contacted me. At that time, I was busy with the IMO competition in the training team and had no time. My second brother happened to be there, and the director saw that my second brother was handsome, so he asked him to work as a summer intern."
Jiang Ning's serious lie made her look sincere and frank. She turned to look at Jiang Bai: "Second brother, right?"
Jiang Bai was not only not good at lying, but also not good at speaking. Seeing Jiang Ning bringing the topic back, he just nodded: "Yeah."
Jiang Qinqin's eyes widened: "How lucky are you? The director of White Snake actually came to you in person?"
She looked at Jiang Ning's face under the bright light.
After Jiang Ning's hair grew long, she had it cut short again. However, the short hair not only did not affect her beauty at all, but made her face more impactful and even a bit sharp, the kind of visual beauty brought by the pure and superior facial features without any modification.
In the past, Jiang Ning was like Jiang Bo, both of them liked to keep their heads down and hide themselves. They grew up together, and she was spoiled by her family and was confident and outspoken. No one had ever paid attention to Jiang Ning's appearance in the past.
But since Jiang Ning entered high school, in a place that she couldn't see, she had undergone a gorgeous transformation, just like a dusty gem that, after the dust was wiped off, bloomed with her original brilliant light.
She suddenly realized, "Could it be that the director of White Snake wants you to play the role of White Snake?"
As she spoke, everyone looked towards Jiang Ning.
This winter was exceptionally cold. Jiang Ning not only wore long underwear, woolen sweaters, and thick sweaters inside, but also a very thick and warm long down jacket outside. She had a brown scarf wrapped around her neck, with half of her face hidden in the scarf.
Jiang Ning smiled and said, "I didn't go to the audition, so how do I know what role the director wants me to play?"
Jiang Qinqin held Jiang Ning's hand eagerly, wanting to ask her to give her a chance to play a minor role so that she could satisfy her acting addiction. But after thinking about it, she felt that she couldn't say such words.
Others also looked at Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai with envy. They felt that Jiang Bai was lucky, but they did not feel jealous at all. After all, it was his sister who was awesome. The director saw Jiang Ning's interview video and took the initiative to find Jiang Ning, and saw Jiang Bai at Jiang Ning's place.
They cast their eyes on Jiang Bai's face again. No wonder the director didn't invite Jiang Ning and pulled Jiang Bai instead. Jiang Bai's face was so delicate except for some faint freckles on both sides of his nose, his whole face could be said to be flawless. They, who were surrounding the two siblings, were made to look like misshapen melons and cracked dates, not even having a neat head and a straight face.
At this time Jiang Guoan also came with his wife and son, and everyone turned their attention to Jiang Guoan's face again.
Jiang Guoan was able to get help from his father-in-law's family like a son-in-law, and was transferred from the town to Wucheng. Naturally, he had a good appearance. Unfortunately, he had the appearance of an elegant scholar in his early years, but he has started to gain weight in the past two years. His originally handsome face began to grow sideways.
They all turned their gaze back to Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning.
Most people in life still have ordinary looks. In addition, in this era, the protection of teeth is not as high as it will be 20 or 30 years later. Many people have more or less some problems with their teeth, such as crooked teeth, buck teeth, and mouth breathing when they were young, which will affect everyone's appearance.
Jiang Qinqin had beautiful eyes and a high nose bridge, but she could only be considered a pretty girl. A big reason for this was that she had buck teeth in the lower half of her face, which affected the beauty of her entire face. In fact, if she fixed her teeth, her appearance could be greatly improved, but people at that time did not have this awareness.
There are actually very few people in rural areas like the three brothers and sisters of the Jiang family, whose bones, teeth, and skin are normal during their growth and development period, and who do not breathe through their mouths, have crooked teeth, buck teeth, or irregular teeth.
They are all relatively lucky people.
As soon as Jiang Guoan's wife came in, she saw Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning. She went to the table, pushed aside a person who was originally sitting there, and said with a smile on her face: "Guoan said that Baizi went to make a movie. Is that true?" She reached out to touch Jiang Ning's soft hair and said: "Oh, our Ningning looks so decent, doesn't she? This little face is so white..." She reached out and touched Jiang Ning's face with her thumb, "... like she was powdered."
Jiang Guoan's wife married into a lower class and was spoiled by her family since she was a child. She was held in the palm of Jiang Guoan's hand all these years, and her temperament was still the same as when she was young, without changing at all. She always spoke directly to the Jiang family, without considering the Jiang family's face at all. But at this moment, how could she still look down on the Jiang family as she did in the past? The smile on his face was extremely friendly.
It was the first time that Jiang Ning encountered someone who touched her head and face before saying a word. Unfortunately, she was trapped between the table and the coffee table, unable to move or avoid it.
She stood up calmly, smiled politely and said to Jiang Guoan's wife: "Auntie has the real white skin."
Guoan's wife, who still considered herself a little girl, almost couldn't keep the smile on her face when she heard Jiang Ning calling her "Auntie", and her face almost turned completely black.
But according to seniority, Jiang Ning just called her "Aunt", "Auntie" and "Aunt".
Jiang Ning gave his seat to the aunt in the lobby, asked Jiang Guoan and his son to sit down and eat, and then he walked out of the cramped seat and breathed a sigh of relief.
After listening to their talks, Dad Jiang realized that his children had these opportunities when he was unaware of them.
He knew that his daughter had been interviewed by reporters during the time he was in Shenzhen. Although he had seen her interview on the "News Broadcast" before and could foresee that the TV station and the Education Bureau in Wucheng would promote her vigorously, he did not see it and did not feel deeply about it.
When I heard them talk about this, I realized that my daughter was so famous at that time that even movie directors came to her personally and asked her to act in movies.
He walked out and said, "You were right not to go make a movie. You are still young, you should focus on studying, studying is the most important thing." Although people now envy big stars and think that being on TV is extremely glamorous, in Jiang's father's heart, actors are always inferior to intellectuals who study. He said to Jiang Bai, "You too, forget about working during the summer vacation, but you still have to study hard in school. College is only a few years. After graduation, you can do whatever you want, but the opportunity to study in school will be gone if you miss these years."
The biggest regret in his life was that he did not get into college. College was like a temple of worship in his heart and it was extremely sacred.
Naturally, he doesn't want his children to experience his regrets. They have already been admitted to university, but they don't study hard, and they will regret it in the future.
It was the first time that Jiang Qinqi and her friends saw Jiang's father educating his children in this way. To others, it was such a glorious thing for their children to appear on TV and make movies, but Jiang's father told Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai that it was more important to study hard in college.
Mother Jiang had heard the noise outside a long time ago and had turned down the volume of the TV. She listened to the noise in the main room and heard what they were talking about a movie. She couldn't hear the details, but she just thought they had watched a certain movie and asked Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai to go see a movie tomorrow.
Although Jiang's father said this, after getting up early the next day, setting off firecrackers, making breakfast, and handing the cleanup to Jiang's mother, he couldn't wait to run to the cinema to watch a movie.
Not only him, but all the villagers who heard from their children yesterday that Jiang Bai had made a movie ran to the cinema early this morning to watch the fun.
Last night was New Year's Eve, and movie tickets were free. But now they have to pay during the day. A movie ticket in the city costs fifteen yuan, in town ten yuan, and in the village only six yuan. But six yuan is a lot for people nowadays. Five yuan is enough for the old men in the village to play mahjong for a long time.
But it’s the New Year. Everyone has worked hard for a year, and now their pockets are the fattest. If you grit your teeth, you can afford six dollars.
They also regretted not coming to see the movie last night and instead watching the Spring Festival Gala at home. The Spring Festival Gala would be rebroadcast during the day, and watching the movie during the day would cost them an extra six yuan, which wasted money.
The Jiangjia Village Cinema is usually closed. The young people in the village have all gone out to work, and the old people are reluctant to spend money to watch movies. Except for the free open-air movies after the busy farming season or on holidays, the cinema is not usually profitable. My uncle also has to go out to work. The cinema is only open for about half a month before and after the end of the year and the New Year. After all, Shuibu Town is too far away, both for people on the riverside and for people in the neighboring Shijian Township.
So people from Henan will come to Jiangjia Village, which is located in the middle, to watch movies. Jiangjia Village will be very lively at this time, and the business of the old shop at the entrance of the village is also the best time of the year. This is why Jiang's father built his living room so big, hoping to come back and open a small shop when he gets old.
With so many people gathering in Jiangjia Village at the end of the year, it would be strange if business was not good.
After all, those who choose to pay to watch movies are still a minority. Someone has done statistics and found that in 1998, the number of people who paid to watch movies nationwide was only more than two million. This is a very small number considering the huge population base in the country. It can also be seen that people of this era are really not rich.
In previous years, the movie theater in Jiangjia Village had a maximum of three shows a day: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. The afternoon had the most people watching, followed by the evening, and the morning had the least people watching.
The young man who originally ran the cinema thought that there would be few people watching the movie in the morning, but he did not expect that all the tickets for the morning movie were sold out, even the half-price standing tickets without seats were sold out.
Dad Jiang, Jiang Guotai and his daughter Jiang Miao, Mayor Jiang and his daughter Jiang Yanyan, Jiang Hongjun and his wife, Jiang Hongbing, and young and middle-aged people who were not very interested in movies originally, all ran to the cinema to watch the movie.
After washing the dishes in the morning, Jiang's mother went to Uncle Jiang's mother's house. Before she even stepped onto the stage, the woman next door to Uncle Jiang's mother, who was not very old but whom Jiang Ning had to call grandma, shouted at her in a loud voice: "Ailian, I heard that your Jiang Bai is making a movie, right? What kind of movie is he making? Your Jiang Bai is really successful and has become a big star on TV. If Dabing and Erbing hadn't come back from watching a movie and told us yesterday, we wouldn't have known about it. You two are really something. You didn't even tell us about such a big thing as your child being on TV."
As Jiang Ma walked up the steps to the platform, she asked in confusion, "What movie?"
"I heard your Jiang Bai was on TV. Look, it was the movie that was shown at the cinema last night, and it was your Jiang Bai who acted in it." The grandmother, who was about the same age as Jiang Ma, smiled so hard that her eyes wrinkled. "Ah, your Jiang Bai and Ning Ning have really made it. They both appeared on TV. You don't know that during that period of time in the middle of the year, the city, county, and provincial TV stations all interviewed your Ning Ning. Whenever we went out and talked about your Ning Ning, we would straighten our backs and feel proud!"
When Jiang's mother was washing dishes in the kitchen, Jiang's father called Jiang's mother to go to the movies. Jiang's mother thought he was wasting money and scolded him, "You are so lucky. You have a TV at home but you don't watch it. Why go to the movies?"
Before she could finish her words, Jiang's father slipped away quickly.
When he was in debt before, he could still listen to Jiang Ma's preaching. Now that he is making money and the family has extravagant money, although Jiang Ba's habit of spending money has not returned, it is hard to change his nature and he dares to spend money again.
Besides, he spent money to watch the movie not for anything else, but for the movie starring Jiang Bai that everyone was talking about.
At the entrance of the cinema, Jiang's father met Jiang Guotai and Mayor Jiang. There were many people around them, all of whom were praising Mayor Jiang's daughter Jiang Yanyan and Jiang Guotai's daughter.
Jiang Guotai's son made a girlfriend in college, who was the daughter of a senior leader in a neighboring city. Jiang Guotai himself took the initiative to introduce his son to this girl. Not only was she pretty and sweet-spoken, she also had a very high emotional intelligence. Jiang Guotai was naturally very satisfied with this daughter-in-law whom he had chosen himself. He had already planned with the girl's father in advance that he would send them to study abroad as soon as they graduated from college.
Of course, the expenses were paid by Jiang Guotai.
The big boss was very satisfied with Jiang Guotai's knowledge and interests. In addition, Jiang Guotai had high emotional intelligence, and the person he flattered was extremely comfortable with him. Moreover, the person was originally his, and his son was also a handsome man. He did not stop Jiang Xin from pursuing his daughter. It mainly depended on the young man himself.
His son left early in the morning to go to the neighboring city to pick up his girlfriend. At this time, the person next to Jiang Guotai was his daughter.
As soon as Jiang Guotai saw Jiang's father, he said, "Don't cook at home for lunch. Come to my house with your fourth brother, Ailian, and Ningning Baizi. I have asked Yunyun to prepare it at home."
Although Jiang Guotai seldom comes back often, he still built a two-story house in his hometown. Usually, only his father and his old couple live there. Sometimes children from the village who are close to the couple will come to stay and take care of the old couple.
Father Jiang said hurriedly, "Why are we eating at your house? Yunyun finally came back to relax, and you're still asking her to work? Come to my house and eat. I'll cook for you. I promise it's no worse than the chefs at the small restaurants out there!"
Jiang Guotai said: "We agreed yesterday afternoon that I will treat you. Of course, I am not treating you, I am mainly treating Ning Ning and Bai Zi."
Mayor Jiang and Jiang's father both laughed and asked Jiang's father again: "Yan Yan came back from the movie last night and said that she saw your youngest son in the movie. Why did your youngest son go to the movie? You didn't tell us, otherwise we would have come to watch the movie last night?"
Jiang Guotai also said: "It was Daxin who told me that I knew about your Baizi's movie." He patted Jiang's father on the shoulder: "You have finally made it through and gave birth to such a promising pair of children."
Father Jiang quickly praised back, "Daxin and Jinbao are the ones with great potential. I heard that Daxin will go abroad to study after graduating from university?"
These days, studying abroad is very popular. Families with a little bit of financial resources want to send their children abroad to study for a few years. If they can get a green card abroad, it would be really glorious!
Jiang Guotai's eldest son is named Jiang Xin and his youngest daughter is named Jiang Miao, who are two years apart in age. He is a businessman and is particularly superstitious. He originally wanted to name his son and daughter "Zhao Cai" and "Jin Bao", so he asked an old blind man who was very accurate in fortune-telling here to do it. The old blind man figured out that his son's five elements were lacking gold, and his daughter's five elements were lacking water, so he changed their full names, and "Zhao Cai" and "Jin Bao" became nicknames.
Now that Jiang Xin has grown up, it is not appropriate to call her Zhaocai anymore, so she is just called Daxin. Her family members call her Jinbao, while outsiders call her Miaomiao.
Jiang Miao was also very confident and confident in front of his elders and called people.
Father Jiang smiled and said, "Miaomiao used to play with my daughter Ningning when she was little."
Jiang Miao and Jiang Ning had no memory of this incident, but the adults in both families talked about many details of the two playing together when they were children, which were mostly true.
This time, their village produced a top student from Peking University. Last night, they heard that another college student, Jiang Bai, had also made a movie. Jiang Guotai felt that the villagers had really given him a lot of face, so they sent him to the neighboring city to pick up his girlfriend early in the morning, so that his girlfriend could also see that their village was full of talented people and it brought honor to them.
Of course, he also told his son that if his girlfriend was unwilling to come, he should stay at his future father-in-law's house in the neighboring city, spend more time with his girlfriend and father-in-law, be more perceptive, rush to do any work, be sweeter to his girlfriend and mother-in-law, and it would be best if he could take his father-in-law and his wife and his girlfriend to the cinema to watch a movie and talk about the fact that our village had produced a top student from Peking University.
The movie started very soon, and almost all the people in the cinema came in to watch Jiang Bai. However, Jiang Bai hadn't come out until almost halfway through the movie.
When Jiang Bai came out, many people hadn't reacted yet. The young people who had already watched it last night exclaimed: "He's out, he's out, Jiang Bai is out!"
Dad Jiang also stretched his head, trying hard to look for Jiang Bai. The next second, he saw Jiang Bai.
It really is his son Jiang Bai!
The Jiang Bai in the movie is totally different from the Jiang Bai he knows in daily life.
After Jiang Guotai and Mayor Jiang came out, they couldn't help but stare at Jiang's father.
Dad Jiang is in his early forties, tall, strong and straight, without any belly fat. His face is more mature than when he was a teenager, but he is still a handsome middle-aged man.
What is rare is that Father Jiang is not greasy. Even after years of being beaten by huge debts, his eyes still shine with the same clear and stupid light as before.
They had just met Jiang Bai yesterday. Jiang Bai was handsome and very conspicuous standing in the crowd, but whether it was Jiang Guotai or Mayor Jiang, their attention was all attracted by Jiang Ning. Everyone's eyes were on Jiang Ning, and no one paid close attention to Jiang Bai's appearance.
But Jiang Bo on the big screen is no worse than those popular Hong Kong stars today.
It was already half past ten when they finished watching the movie, and they had already agreed to go to Jiang Guotai's house for dinner.
Jiang Guotai called out to Jiang's father, "We agreed to come to my house for dinner, call Ailian, Baizi, and Ningning together!"
Jiang Guotai is a bit of a male chauvinist. He never cooks at home and has a nanny at home.
What's rare is that his wife, Shen Hongyun, also has a calm demeanor. She raises his children for him, takes care of the back, and allows him to venture out without any worries.
As soon as Jiang Guotai got home, he rolled up his sleeves and said to his wife Shen Hongyun, "What else is there to cook? I'll cook it!"
Shen Hongyun had wavy curls and an apron on her body. She smiled and teased, "Hey, what's wrong today? People who haven't cooked for several years are going to cook by themselves?"
Jiang Guotai said proudly: "What's wrong with not cooking for a few years? Even if I don't cook for a few years, the food will still taste better than yours."
Shen Hongyun did not argue with Jiang Guotai, and said with a smile: "Yes, yes, how can I compare with your cooking skills, Chef Jiang? I will just cook two home-cooked dishes for my family to enjoy."
As she spoke, she took off her apron and put it on Jiang Guotai.
At this time, there was no one in the kitchen, so Jiang Guotai washed vegetables and cooked while sighing to his wife: "I never thought that Guoping would give birth to such an outstanding pair of children."
Shen Hongyun, who had heard him sigh last night, raised an eyebrow when he heard this: "What?"
Jiang Guotai said: "I originally thought that Ningning was already amazing, but I didn't expect that his youngest son is no worse than his youngest daughter."
Seeing his wife looking at him curiously, Jiang Guotai continued, "Last night, Daxin and Jinbao came back and said that Guoping's youngest son was in a movie. I thought it was just something, but today I went to the cinema to watch it and found out that if this kid stays in the film industry and makes movies in the future, he will have a great future!"
That face was born for movies.
Just as he finished speaking, he heard his daughter, who was watching TV outside, shout, "Dad, Dad, come and see, is that the boy from my second uncle's family on TV?"
Jiang Guotai was cooking. When he heard his daughter's cry, he quickly poured boiling water into the pot, put the wooden lid on, put down the spatula and went to the main room.
At this time, another gg was playing on the TV in the main room, and the previous fifteen seconds of gg had passed.
Jiang Guotai wiped his hands and asked Jiang Miao: "What are you shouting about?"
Jiang Miao pointed at the provincial satellite TV station and said, "I just saw this guy on TV. It's Jiang Bai!"
At this time, Jiang's father also returned home and called Jiang's mother, Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai.
Generally speaking, when people go to someone's house for dinner, they rarely bring their whole family along, at most just a couple, but Jiang Guotai specifically asked their entire family to go together.
In fact, Jiang's mother secretly compared herself with Shen Hongyun in her heart, but unfortunately, over the years, Shen Hongyun compared her to the dust, and she had lost the spirit of her youth. Now Jiang Guotai actually invited her whole family to dinner, and Jiang's mother felt a little proud in her heart, as if the feeling of her youth had returned.
She took out her best clothes and shoes. She had already brushed her shoes until they were shiny, and ironed her clothes. She came out wearing her clothes and asked Jiang Ning who was coming downstairs, "Ning Ning, come over and help me see if this outfit looks good on me."
She tugged at the hem and sleeves of her clothes and asked, "Do you want me to wash my hair?"
Father Jiang was a little impatient, "Hey, didn't you just wash it yesterday? No need to wash it, it looks good! You don't know how good it looks! Go, go, go, hurry up and don't keep me waiting."
Jiang Ning nodded without any expression, "Yeah, it looks good."
Jiang Bai also came downstairs, his steps relaxed and carefree, with a rare smile on his face, still with his hands in his coat pockets: "It looks good."
Jiang's mother was affirmed by Jiang's father and his children, so she touched her hair and said, "Then I'll comb my hair."
When she was young, she had long, thick, jet-black hair, which she braided into a thick, black pigtail that reached below her waist. Later, when she followed Jiang's father to work, it was inconvenient for her to keep her hair that long, so the long pigtail was cut to a position just below her shoulders like it is now, and now it has been permed into wavy curls.
In fact, she looks older than Jiang's father. Jiang's father is forty years old, but his face is still tight and handsome as before. But Jiang's mother already has fine lines at the corners of her eyes, and her nasolabial folds are deeper than Jiang's father's. She looks like she is several years older than Jiang's father. In fact, she is two years younger than Jiang's father.
While Jiang's mother was combing her hair, Jiang's father was outside urging her: "Hurry up, everyone is waiting for us. When you get here, help Hongyun cook."
Mother Jiang turned around and glared at Father Jiang: "Do I need you to teach me?"
Afterwards, the family of four walked to the platform of the old shop at the entrance of the village.
The high platform of the old shop at the entrance of the village is always the most lively place in the village. A group of old men sit on the platform and brag about their children and grandchildren. Grandpa Jiang went to bed early last night. After breakfast in the morning, he slowly ran to the platform and boasted with these old men.
He is a man of few words, but always speaks with precision, showing off his grandchildren from all angles. Whenever someone asks him a question, he exclaims, "My granddaughter took me to see the Oriental Pearl Tower."
"My granddaughter said she wanted to take me to see Sweet Saddle Gate and climb the Great Wall, but how could I climb that? I can't climb it, I can't climb it~"
"Look at her, she's wasting money. Why did she order milk for me? Someone delivers milk to my door every day. My little grandson is very serious about it. He always watches me finish drinking before leaving. I'm so old, but I still drink milk every day. It has no taste and is not sweet." Grandpa Jiang said worriedly.
It was said that a group of old men on the platform wanted to beat him up.
When Jiang's father and mother brought Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai to the platform, they went into the house. Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai saw Grandpa Jiang and went to his side.
The person who was sitting with Grandpa Jiang saw them coming and stood up to offer his seat, saying, "Sit here, sit here!"
Jiang Ning said embarrassedly: "No, no, please sit down."
Seeing that they insisted on giving way, he quickly brought them new chairs, and then he and Jiang Bai sat on Grandpa Jiang's left and right.
Jiang Ning held Grandpa Jiang's arm and leaned her head on Grandpa Jiang's skinny arm with admiration. A group of old men looked at Grandpa Jiang with two grandchildren who were college students sitting on his left and right, and they were so envious that their eyes were red.
Jiang Guotai's father couldn't help but say with envy and emotion: "Old boy, how could I have thought that you would have such a blessing now!"
When Grandpa Jiang smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes became more numerous and deeper, and his laughter became louder and more hearty.
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