Chapter 176
Of course, she has realized that Jiang Ning is different, Jingcheng University, the Olin Poker Gold Award, and the Wenquxing in the sky.
Before today, even though she had already felt the villagers' implicit compliments to her, she only got home on the night of the 28th of the lunar year, and started cleaning on the 29th of the lunar year, moving furniture into the new house, and preparing various ingredients for New Year's Eve. She was so busy that she had no time to rest. On New Year's Eve, Jiang's father took Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai to worship their ancestors and visit the graves, and Jiang's mother did all the housework alone. She didn't need to cook the New Year's Eve dinner, but she did all the preparations. Jiang's father took Jiang Ning to write couplets.
On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Jiang's father went to the cinema to watch a movie, and then went to Jiang Guotai's house for dinner. In the evening, they ate at Jiang's house again. She started to get busy again, and wanted Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai to help her, but people who sent gifts came one after another. Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai, both literate college students, were arranged by Jiang's father to receive the gifts and keep accounts. They had to record who sent gifts and how much was sent, so that they would repay the favors in the future. When other people had weddings, they would follow their standards for gift giving, either returning the same amount or adding a little more.
Mother Jiang herself is illiterate and cannot do the easy work of writing and drawing. When guests come in the evening, her cooking skills are not good enough, so Father Jiang has to do it himself, and she helps in the kitchen. Later, when she returns to her parents' home, she always brags about how big the house is, how many rooms it has, and how big the kitchen is.
Of course, she didn't say that outwardly. Instead, she was complaining with a smile in her words: "Your brother-in-law is a big coward. He built such a big house. He has more than one son. What will happen to the younger son if he builds such a big house?"
He also said, "Your brother-in-law just wants the children to live together in the future so that it will be lively. He just takes it for granted. Which son doesn't separate when he grows up?"
But even though she complained, overall, Jiang's mother was mostly happy that the family had such a big house, the best-looking and most luxurious in the village, and she felt proud.
Whenever Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai's brothers and sisters from her mother's side praised them for getting into university, Jiang's mother would bring the topic back to the big house. Only a real house could make her feel proud.
As for Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning, they are college students, but they are still freshmen. They still have three and a half years to go, and they have to spend a lot of money every year. After they graduate, even if they eat public meals, they will only have a salary of three or four hundred yuan a month. Their annual tuition is more than three thousand yuan, not to mention living expenses.
No matter how Jiang Ma calculated it, she felt it was not cost-effective. She might as well come out and sell boxed lunches with them. If she did well, she could make nearly 100,000 yuan a year. Isn't that much better than a salary of 300 or 400 yuan a month? The name "iron rice bowl" is just a nice one.
In the past, Jiang Ma certainly thought that having a stable job was something special and great, but after spending the past two years in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and earning a lot of money that she never dared to imagine in the past, and also being influenced by the open-minded atmosphere in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, her concept of a stable job has changed a little.
More importantly, she could not empathize with Jiang Ning, a college student.
Because she felt from the bottom of her heart that girls are raised by other people's families, and to send a girl to college is to spend money to help other people's families go to college. She only felt bad that Jiang Ning was spending her money on college. Before Jiang Ning's college brought her any practical benefits, she felt from the bottom of her heart that there was nothing to congratulate Jiang Ning for getting admitted to Beijing University.
After that, the third and fourth days of the New Year were spent preparing for the beam-raising banquet on the fifth day. While Dad Jiang was buying banquet items, notifying relatives and friends, borrowing various things from villagers, and securing manpower, the couple could be said to be very busy.
It can be said that even though Jiang's mother already knew that Jiang Ning was a college student now and was different, she was too busy to have any deep feelings about this matter.
Until today, when she was in the kitchen, everyone eagerly welcomed her. People who might not even say hello when they walked on the street in the past now came to help her in the kitchen. Even her own brother came with his child in his arms, just to be hugged by Jiang Ning and to share in her blessings.
What blessing does Jiang Ning have? When I was born, I encountered a flood that was rare in more than ten years. I don’t know how many acres of fertile rice fields were submerged, causing famine.
Within two years, a chicken plague killed all the chickens in the farm. Not only had all her years of hard work gone to waste, but she also owed a huge debt that she thought she would never be able to pay off in her lifetime.
The villagers joked that it was all her youngest daughter’s fault. Her youngest daughter must have bad luck in her life and brought bad luck to their whole family. Otherwise, why were they all fine in the past few years? Their lives seemed to be getting better and better. Why did so many problems arise as soon as she was born?
But Jiang Ma never thought about why no one said that Jiang Yanyan, the daughter of Mayor Jiang’s family, who was born right after her, was a jinx?
The flood was not just a problem for their village or just one family. The entire Shuibu Town and even the neighboring city were flooded. How could it be the bad luck brought about by Jiang Ning's birth?
The chicken plague is not limited to her chicken farm. Half of the country has been affected by the plague. There are countless chicken farms across the country, and hundreds of millions of chickens have died. How did it become Jiang Ningke's?
But she couldn't think of these. All she saw with her eyes was the palm-sized area of Jiangjia Village and Linhe Brigade. As for the floods and chicken plague outside Linhe Brigade, she couldn't see them. She could only see the disaster happening in front of her, in her home.
In her opinion, Jiang Ning is the most unlucky person. The most unlucky person deserves to be beaten, deserves to starve, and deserves to have a bad life, because you are unlucky, you are a jinx, and it is right that you should have a bad life.
But now her younger brother said that he wanted to take advantage of Jiang Ning's good fortune, saying that she was the Wenqu Star from heaven.
The Wenquxing in the sky, even if Jiang Ma was ignorant, she knew that it was used to describe the top scholar in ancient times.
She watched "Justice Bao" and learned that Qin Xianglian's husband Chen Shimei was the one who passed the imperial examination and was paraded through the streets on horseback. He was favored by the princess and became the princess's consort. From then on, he rose to a high position, traveling in a sedan chair carried by eight people and driving luxury cars and mansions.
A person who had been regarded as a jinx by her for more than ten years, suddenly one day, everyone around her told her that she was the Wenquxing star in the sky.
I also want to take advantage of her blessings and literary grace.
Mother Jiang felt awkward and anxious, especially when the man was her own brother. This feeling was even more awkward. She was so awkward that she couldn't speak, so she told Father Jiang awkwardly.
When Jiang's father heard this, he immediately showed a proud smile on his face and said, "I didn't think it was a big deal. Just ask Ningning to hold him. There's nothing wrong with that!" He called upstairs to Jiang Ning, "Ningning! Your uncle asked you to hold Xiaolong. Are you free now?"
Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai were toasting the young people upstairs. Except for a few who were still studying, almost all the unmarried men and women at these three tables were working.
When Jiang Ning went to one of the tables, a girl suddenly pulled her sleeve and called her shyly, "Sister Ningning."
Jiang Ning looked at her with a smile in his eyes: "Hmm?"
The girl is from the second family. After graduating from junior high school in June of the year before last, she first studied sewing for half a year at the home of her sister-in-law who knew how to make clothes in the village. During the Chinese New Year last year, she followed her relatives to work in a garment factory and did not come back until the end of the year. On New Year's Eve, in the ancestral hall of Jiangjia Village, Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai were seen being surrounded by the most prestigious elders in the village, including the old village chief, the old secretary, the town mayor, and Jiang Guotai, who entered the ancestral hall to offer sacrifices to their ancestors.
Jiang Ning, in particular, was admitted to Beijing University and won the gold medal in the IMO International Olympiad with full marks. It is said that she was on the "News Broadcast". Reporters from the provincial and municipal TV stations and the county TV station all came to interview Jiang Ning. Jiangjia Village also became known to outsiders. Now Jiangjia Village has become more popular in the surrounding area.
She originally thought that her life would be like many other girls in the village, working as a factory worker and marrying a man of similar appearance in her early twenties. Unexpectedly, there was a girl named Jiang Ning in the village who was admitted to Beijing University.
Jiang Ning is still as glorious as ever. In front of the ancestral hall, she encourages all the villagers, regardless of their gender, to study hard, to pass the exams, and to see the world from a higher and farther place. She tells the villagers that regardless of their gender, as long as they can get into university and get a stable job, or become a cadre, then they will be the parents of cadres.
She said shyly, "After returning from the ancestral hall that day, I told my parents that I still wanted to study. My parents agreed to let me repeat one more year. If I could get into No. 1 Middle School, they would continue to support my studies." She held the bayberry wine in her hand and said a little embarrassedly, "Sister Ningning, thank you."
Jiang Ning was only sixteen years old, and the girl in front of her might be older than Jiang Ning. After all, people in their place generally started school late. But Jiang Ning had the calm and steady temperament of a superior, which made the girl call Jiang Ning "sister" directly when she was not sure who was older between her and Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning's heart softened when he heard this, and his eyes became softer like water. He reached out and patted her shoulder: "Study hard, no matter what school you apply to, you will pass it. Studying is the method with the lowest cost and the highest success rate, which can change our lives."
The girl looked at Jiang Ning with shining eyes and nodded vigorously: "Yes!"
In particular, after she had suffered for more than a year and had her fingers pierced by the motor needles, she became more eager to study.
Her grades were originally good. A year and a half ago, she missed out on admission to Wucheng No. 1 Middle School by just a few points. Seeing that she failed to get into the key high school, her family was unwilling to let her go to school anymore and just followed the trend and let her learn a craft and go to a garment factory.
The villagers all did this, so they didn't think there was anything wrong in letting girls work and earn money for a few years. But when they saw the prosperous Jiang Ning in front of the ancestral hall, they realized that working was not the only option for the girls in the village. They could also send their girls to school like the big man in the third room did. If the girls were well educated, their parents would still be proud. Even if the daughter got married in the future, she would still be their daughter. If they had problems and came to their house, would she not help them? Her brother is in trouble, so as his elder sister, shouldn't she help him out?
It's not that the girl's parents don't love their daughter, but the traditional concepts and the general values of the villagers make them think that it's enough for a girl to graduate from junior high school and learn to read. However, when they saw Jiang Ning standing in front of the ancestral hall, with the snow behind her covering the walls and roof of the ancestral hall, and the icy willows blooming silver in the morning light, the girl's body seemed to be shrouded in orange and golden light, the glory of that moment shone into the girl's eyes and was engraved into the girl's heart, so that when she went home at night, she plucked up the courage and told her parents that she wanted to continue studying.
Fortunately, her parents agreed.
When she looked at Jiang Ning, it was as if she saw a tree standing in front of her, which gave her a direction to pursue at any time and would not get lost. The tree was not huge and strong, but it was shining.
Jiang Ning heard Jiang's father's shouting downstairs, and said to the girl with a smile: "Come on, you can do it!" After encouraging her, she put down her wine glass and went downstairs. At the stairs, she picked up her little cousin.
The little cousin was still a little shy, and buried his head in Uncle Jiang's arms. Aunt Jiang smiled and said, "Oh, you're still shy? What's there to be shy about? Come on, give your sister a hug."
With the encouragement of Uncle Jiang and his aunt, he finally turned around and looked at Jiang Ning's smiling eyes, then shyly buried his head in Uncle Jiang's shoulder, but was still handed to Jiang Ning by Uncle Jiang, and he was very well-behaved and did not struggle.
After Jiang Ning took it, she weighed it in her hand and said, "Our little dragon is very strong and healthy. He should get more sun exposure and exercise under the sun." She said to Jiang Xiaojiu, "Children should exercise more in the sun, which will help promote the absorption of calcium by their bones. If you are afraid that the midday sun is too strong, then let the child play more in the sun before 9 am and after 4 pm, such as skipping rope or playing football."
Jiang Ning knew something about this little cousin. Because he was born prematurely, his uncle and aunt had been particularly concerned about him since he was born. They would hold him in their arms wherever they went. In addition, the little cousin was allergic to some pollens and mites. In that era, there was no concept of allergies. They were just wondering why the child always caught a cold and had nosebleeds, but they couldn't find anything wrong with him in the hospital. The anxious couple took the little cousin to see doctors everywhere, and it was not until the little cousin graduated from college that they found the allergens.
She asked about some of the symptoms of Jiang's cousin's illness, and said to him with a smile, "Many weak children have weak immunity and are allergic to many things, such as pollen and catkins. Take him to places with many flowers less often in spring, and places with many catkins less often in May and June. Wash and dry the sheets and mattresses more often, and see if it will get better."
Uncle Jiang used to think that Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning were just children. How could he take their words to heart? They were never equals. But Jiang Ning was different now. She was a top student at Beijing University and had seen the world in Beijing. Although he didn't know if what Jiang Ning said was right or not, he still kept it in mind and said, "Then I will pay more attention to it in my daily life." He also said to his aunt, "In the future, take the children to see flowers less often. Don't take the flowers in the yard and replace them with other flowers."
My aunt-in-law was more casual and said, "I always tell Xiaolong to run and jump more with Ashan and the others, but you won't let him. Boys should be more active. You lock him up at home every day and don't let him go out."
Uncle Jiang said: "I'm not afraid of sweating and being blown by the wind outside, and then..."
It was New Year’s Day, so they didn’t say anything unlucky, but everyone understood what they meant.
Jiang Ning held his little cousin for a long time before putting him down. Uncle Jiang said to him, "Go play with Ashan and the others. Don't run too fast and don't go outside."
Ashan is the son of Uncle Jiang’s daughter. He calls Xiaolong uncle, but he is the same age as Wang Xiaolong.
But Wang Xiaolong had been raised by Uncle Jiang to be introverted and shy. He would stick to his uncle Jiang and would never leave for a moment. He just wanted to hug his father's neck and nestle in his father's arms. Unlike other children of the same age, he could not sit still for a moment and would run, jump and make noise all over the house.
He is very well behaved, but there is no need for such a young child to be so well behaved.
After the banquet, Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai took Grandpa Jiang away from Jiangjia Village.
Dad Jiang wanted his two children to stay at home for a few more days, but not only Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Bo were eager to go out to sell clothes to make money, but Mom Jiang also wanted to go out to make money.
Jiang Ning and his friends left on the morning of the sixth day of the New Year. Jiang's father and mother spent most of the day sorting and putting away all the leftovers from the banquet. Then they asked the families who helped if they wanted the leftovers. Of course, they happily said yes. At this time, it didn't matter what others had left over. What was wrong with the leftovers? There is still a lot of meat in it, and it is so oily and juicy. Unless you have a good relationship with the people and help out, you won’t be able to get it.
It’s winter and the food doesn’t spoil. The good meat and vegetables from home can be eaten in two days, so the leftovers from the banquet can be eaten first.
After finishing all this, the couple cleaned the house again. Mother Jiang took off all the washed sheets and hung them on the bamboo poles in the main room. She gave the key to Aunt Jiang and asked her to come over when she had time to help them collect the washed sheets, fold them and put them in the cupboard. When the sun came out, help them take out the bedding to dry in the sun to prevent it from getting moldy.
There is a lot of moisture here, and furniture and bedding are most likely to get moldy.
Naturally, Aunt Jiang would not refuse. It was not a difficult matter. It was just something that could be done easily. Aunt Jiang always helped whenever she could.
In the afternoon, Jiang's mother packed her luggage and was in a hurry to leave.
When Jiang's father saw Jiang's mother's packed luggage, he asked in confusion, "Why are you in such a hurry to leave? We haven't even finished our family affairs yet."
The main thing is that Jiang's father is thinking about what Jiang Ning and Jiang Guotai said about setting up a sand factory.
Jiang Ma glared at him and said, "As soon as you stick your butt out, I know what you're up to. Stop it right now. If you dare to borrow money to build a factory, I'll tear you apart!"
She wasn't joking, her eyes were even a little red.
She simply couldn't believe that the river sand that was everywhere on the river beach could be bought and sold for money.
There is plenty of this stuff on the river beach. The size of the river sand beach is equal to the size of the entire sandy river. If someone is building a house, can they just pick up this stuff and sell it for money? I'm really crazy about money.
A little girl who had never earned much money dared to talk nonsense in front of others, talking about contracting a beach and opening a sand factory just because she was admitted to a university. She heard at that time that the contract fee for this sand factory alone would cost hundreds of thousands of yuan, and they did not have much cash, so they had to go to the bank for a loan.
Why take out a loan of hundreds of thousands to contract a beach? Isn't that just throwing money into the water? If you throw money into the water, you can hear a sound, but what can you do by contracting a beach? Are you really going to buy river sand? Even if you contract a sandy river, you can still grow pearls and fish, but if you contract a beach, you are really just wasting your money.
But when Jiang Guotai heard about this unreliable thing, he just walked away, leaving this big fool and coward in her family, who actually took it seriously and even wanted to take out a loan to contract a beach.
Jiang's mother glared at the man in front of her as if he were her enemy, and said sternly, "Jiang Guoping, if you dare to take out a loan today, I will fight you to the death!" She scolded angrily, "You haven't paid off the loan debt for more than ten years, have you? Haven't you had enough of the days of owing and paying off debts? Life has only been good for a few days, and you dare to be arrogant again. Isn't the money you earn from selling lunch boxes in Shenzhen enough for you to make?"
She lowered her voice a little: "Don't you see how many people in the whole village can earn nearly 100,000 yuan a year? You don't want to do this business that is just like picking up money. You want to give up the 100,000 yuan a year and take out a loan to contract the beach? No wonder people call you a big fool and a big coward behind your back!"
These words completely deflated Jiang's hot-headed father.
He sat dejectedly on the doorstep, as if he had lost all his strength. After a long while, he said, "Ailian, you don't understand. Contracting the beach is really a good business. I can make money right in front of me, but you stopped me from doing it..."
Jiang's mother snorted and said, "People don't know how to do the business of picking up money, so how can you do it? Look at how nice Jiang Guotai said it, but after he patted his butt and left, did he say anything? He just fooled you, a big fool!"
Father Jiang leaned his head against the doorpost, trying to convince Mother Jiang: "How can it be so easy to contract the beach? This is a big piece of fat meat. Once people outside know about it, I don't know how many people will want to take a bite. There are many procedures to go through and many relationships to be established. It is not a simple matter and it cannot be done in a day or two. Not only do we need to find connections, but we also have to keep it secret. Guotai hasn't come back these few days because he is looking for connections in the city. This matter has to be done in one step..."
Before he could finish his words, Jiang Ma interrupted him. She said in a hateful voice, "I don't know what you mean by those great principles. I only know one thing: if you dare to go to the bank to get a loan, you'll have to walk over my dead body!"
As she spoke, her voice choked up again, and she said miserably, "I don't understand those big things you're talking about getting rich. I just know one thing, in the past two years, we've built such a big house for our family by selling boxed lunches. This year, we saved another 100,000 yuan. After earning another two years, we'll build our youngest son's house, and Songzi should get married. I don't know how stable it is, but you don't want to make such a stable income, and you want to take out a loan!"
"Let me ask you, you've invested all your family's money in this beach, and you've even borrowed hundreds of thousands from the bank. Can you guarantee that you can sell the sand 100% of the time? If you can't sell it, your youngest son will have no house, and your eldest son will have no money for his wedding. You'll also owe the bank hundreds of thousands, and your stall in Shenzhen will be taken by someone else, so you can't even sell lunch boxes. You're in your forties, and you'll soon be a grandfather. What can you do? You've been a burden to me my whole life, and you want to drag down your two sons too?"
Father Jiang lowered his head and buried it in his outstretched arms. He sat in silence for a long time until his legs became numb. He then stood up dejectedly and said to Mother Jiang who was still crying and cursing, "Stop crying. Don't you want to go sell lunch boxes? Let's go."
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