Chapter 38 38 [Two in One]
Jiang Bai originally wanted to walk to the bus station. It didn’t matter to him whether he returned an hour earlier or an hour later, as he would be back the next day anyway.
Senior high school students have to attend evening self-study on Sunday night and do not have a day off on Monday.
But Jiang Ning didn't want to walk, so he stopped a small tricycle on the side of the road.
The tricycles in the city are really small. When Jiang Bai sat in one, he felt like he couldn't even stretch his legs straight.
When he was about to pay, Jiang Ning paid first.
On the first day of school, it cost one dollar to get from the bus station to No. 1 Middle School. Now that school has started, it only costs fifty cents to get from the school to the bus station.
The bus ride back to town was 2.5 yuan per person, 5 yuan for two people. This time Jiang Bai didn't wait for Jiang Ning to pay, he paid first: "It's just me and my sister."
When Jiang Ning was sitting in the car, she suddenly remembered that two years before she was reborn, she had a chat with her second brother.
It was on the way back from her hometown, and her second brother was driving. It was one of the only two heart-to-heart talks she and her second brother had.
Because before, she had asked Jiang Bai many times whether he regretted not repeating his studies or not taking the college entrance exam, and he always said he didn't regret it. Only that time, after a long silence, he said, "It's no use regretting it."
He told her a lot of things about his high school life, things he had never told anyone before.
He said that when he was in the first year of high school, a boy in his class thought he looked like a girl and called him a beauty with a smile, which offended him. He beat up the boy. He was a fierce and vicious fighter and beat the boy until his nose, face and nose were bruised and swollen. The boy was a relative of the physics teacher, so the physics teacher came and beat him with a bamboo stick and kicked him.
From then on, he had no interest in that teacher's physics class and slept in class. However, he got the first place in the class in the exam. The physics teacher asked him if he cheated.
Her second brother smiled and said, "Even if I copied, someone had to copy for me, right? All the people around me who took the exam were not as good as me. I got the first place in the class, and he said I copied. Who should I copy from?" He said coldly while driving, "I didn't want to study at that time."
What Jiang Ning was thinking at that time was that in the same high school, when she was slandered and bullied, her math teacher rescued her from the abyss, while Jiang Bai was pushed into the abyss by his teacher.
Because she herself had been rescued, she remembered for many years to be kind and to be willing to lend a helping hand to others.
You don’t know what a little kindness of yours will bring to others, just like her math teacher didn’t know. If it weren’t for her, there would be no Jiang Ning later, and maybe there would be no Jiang Ning in the world.
He said that he didn't have enough to eat in high school, and he felt dizzy due to hunger and couldn't concentrate in class. For a period of time, all he could think about was working to earn money and fill his stomach, and he had no interest in studying at all.
After graduating from high school, he had no intention of repeating his studies. He just wanted to go out to work and make money.
He said that his nutrition was not enough, and his height was growing too fast, which caused him growing pains. His legs were in pain and he often woke up in the night and couldn't fall asleep. He couldn't sleep well at night, and he had no energy during the day. His grades dropped rapidly.
He smiled and said, "I know it's not easy to study. My family spent a lot of money on me, so I had to study. I really relied on my perseverance to get through it at that time."
He didn't understand nutrition at that time. During his adolescence, he only ate rice with pickles all day long, thinking that as long as he ate enough, he wouldn't be hungry.
But he was still hungry.
He said that at that time, thanks to Tong Jingang who brought him some salted duck or other food every week, he chewed the bones of the salted duck and swallowed them.
Perhaps because he saw Jiang Bai's wolf-like eating habits and knew that he had leg cramps due to growing pains, Tong Jingang didn't say anything, but often brought him food and sometimes even took Jiang Bai home for meals.
She had also heard these things from Tong Jingang, but he didn't say that he brought food to Jiang Bai, he just said that Jiang Bai had growing pains in high school.
At that time, Tong Jingang did not go home for the New Year every year. He would stay at Jiang's house for more than ten days. Later, when Jiang Bai started working, Tong Jingang lived at Jiang Bai's house all day and ate and drank at Jiang Bai's house.
Jiang's mother scolded them for being bad friends, saying that two bachelors were hanging out together, one of them didn't want to get married, and the other didn't want to get married either, and they didn't seem to be in a hurry.
He had never told these to anyone for many years, and only Tong Jingang knew about them.
Later, there was one more girl.
Jiang Ning was silent for a while after hearing this and said, "I thought you weren't hungry. I thought I was the only one who felt dizzy and dizzy from hunger every day."
She said it with a smile at the time.
The brother and sister looked at each other in the rearview mirror and both smiled.
Because when Jiang Bai was in high school, her monthly meal allowance was 50 kilograms, but her mother only gave her 30 kilograms.
She knew too well what it felt like to be hungry, and what it felt like to be dizzy and unable to concentrate in class.
It took two hours by car to reach Shuibu Town, and it was not yet noon when they arrived. They were lucky enough to catch the market and the boat to go home. The two of them hurried to the river bank and met Jiang's father on the boat.
Dad Jiang came here to sell lobsters, but there are not many lobsters left. It is estimated that in a few days, there will be no more lobsters to catch. And because he has been selling lobsters during this period, others saw that these things were everywhere and could actually make money, so they also caught crayfish to sell, but they were not as delicious as the ones he cooked, nor did they sell as well as he did. But they sold them cheaper, which more or less affected his business.
He mainly goes to neighboring cities to sell his lobsters, and only comes to Shuibu Town during market hours. This is when there are the most people, and no matter how many lobsters he has, he will always be able to sell them all out with so many people.
Father Jiang was surprised to see Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning coming back: "Baizi, Ningning, why are you back at this time? Is it because you don't have enough money?"
Before Jiang Bai could say anything, Jiang Ning said quickly, "It's definitely not enough. Mom only gave my second brother 800 yuan in total, and he spent more than 700 yuan on tuition. He also has to pay for class fees, notebooks, pens, and tutoring books. How can the money be enough? I went to my second brother's dormitory to find him the other day, and I saw that the hole in his pants was so big that I could fit one leg through it. I thought his pants had three big holes in them."
Of course this is false. Jiang Bai's dormitory is the boys' area and girls are not allowed to go there.
But what she said was true.
She sighed heavily, "My second brother is growing up, and he only eats dry rice and pickles all day. He doesn't get enough nutrition, and he has growing pains. His legs hurt so much every day that he cramps, but he can only endure it. I heard from my second brother that he wakes up every night because of the pain, and after waking up, he can't fall asleep again because of the pain. He can't sleep at night, has no energy during the day, and has fallen behind in his studies."
"My second brother said he felt dizzy and swollen from hunger every day."
Dad Jiang didn't know what growing pains were at first, but after hearing Jiang Ning's description, he immediately understood.
As the tallest man in the village, and having grown up in the 1960s and 1970s when food was at its most scarce, he knows all too well what growing pains are.
He asked Jiang Bai in surprise: "Didn't I give you 200 kilograms of meal tickets? Why is it not enough?"
Jiang Ning said, "What's two hundred kilograms of food coupons? Cauliflower costs two taels of food coupons per spoonful. Even if my second brother doesn't eat any other vegetables and only eats cauliflower, he'll need at least six taels of food coupons a day. With his height, he should have at least five taels of rice per meal, right? This doesn't even include meat. The canteen's braised pork costs eight taels per portion. Just eating rice and cauliflower costs at least two kilograms and one tael of food coupons a day. You still have to use food coupons to get water every day. You can calculate it yourself. Two kilograms and two taels a day, one semester has 120 days, is two hundred kilograms of food coupons enough?"
"My second brother was worried every day that he didn't have enough food coupons and that I would starve to death. He didn't have to come back for the two-day National Day holiday, but he was afraid that by the end of the semester, both of us would have nothing to eat and would starve to death, so he came back to carry food for me."
Jiang's father was so distressed that he looked at Jiang Bai in annoyance: "How can you be so hungry? Why didn't you tell us every time you came back?"
Jiang Bai said coldly: "What's the point of telling you?"
Father Jiang was stunned and fell silent.
For many years before, he and Jiang's mother worked in other places and did not take care of Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning. Later, Jiang Bai said that Jiang's father and mother were not his parents, but Jiang Song's parents. He refused to call them parents and did not recognize him and Jiang's mother. Only then did Jiang's father and mother take him out.
But they were so busy at work and the work on the construction site was heavy. They were exhausted every day and didn't even want to move when they got home. Instead, the young and sensible Jiang Bai cooked meals for them at home.
They said that they had brought Jiang Bai to their side, but it was Jiang Bai who was taking care of them.
Father Jiang said, "Just tell me, I can always send you food."
There is no shortage of food at home.
Jiang Bai didn't want to talk to Jiang's father at all. He just sat on the edge of the boat coldly, looking across the lake into the distance.
Father Jiang sighed and gave Jiang Bai the two hundred yuan of pocket money he had secretly saved during this period.
He never hid his own money before. The family owed so much foreign debt, and if any family member was willing to hide any money, they would have no chance of living. All the money in the family was with Jiang Ma, and she was in charge of it.
It was this summer vacation that he sold crayfish. He wanted his daughter to go to school, so he saved a little bit every day, quietly saving up the money.
The money he saved before was given to Jiang Ning, and the money he saved this time was given to Jiang Bai, and his pockets were empty again.
He said, "Don't be too stingy. Although we don't have anything else at home, we still have enough food. Tell me how many food coupons you need and I'll deliver them to your car tomorrow."
Jiang Ning said quickly, "Of course the more the better. Not only does my second brother want to eat, I want to eat too!" She pretended to be very sad with tears in her eyes and twisting her fingers, "I can't eat enough and I don't grow taller. My classmates call me a shorty."
In fact, she had grown significantly taller than she had during the summer vacation, and the most obvious change was that she had rolled up her trouser legs.
Because her cousin was eight years older than her and had grown to adult height, the old clothes given to her were much larger for her, especially the pants. She rolled them up in circles and sewed them up with a needle, adding another circle for each length.
But with her height, when everyone in the family, including Jiang's mother, is tall, she really looks like an underdeveloped little girl.
The reason why there is such a big difference in height between her and her classmates is that in this era and in their area, students generally start school late, but she started school early and was born late. The age difference between her and her classmates is at least two or three years, and some is four years. She is also in the stage of a growth and development period when her height explodes, so the height difference is particularly obvious between those who are just starting to develop and those who have already developed.
For example, she and He Xiaofang.
This is also the reason why the serving girl was so depressed when she was called "Auntie" before. In this era, there are many high school graduates who are 20 or 21 years old, and 19 years old is considered young. She was almost always called "Auntie" by people of the same age who are only a few years younger than her.
The people on the boat were basically all from their Linhe Brigade. Some of them were just from different villages, but they all knew each other. When they saw Father Jiang talking to a tall boy like him, they all smiled and asked, "Big guy, is this your son? The eldest or the second oldest?"
"Second brother." Father Jiang replied with a smile.
"As soon as I saw his height, I knew it must be your son. What did your family eat to grow up? How come everyone is so tall?" He looked at Jiang Ning again: "Is this your little daughter? How old is she? Is she in junior high school?"
They thought Jiang Ning was attending junior high school in town and was back home for the holidays.
Father Jiang smiled and said, "I just started high school in the second half of the year."
The person who was speaking exclaimed, "It's not easy for you. You have three children in high school. The cost for this year must be very high."
There are many people on the boat. The cabin is where the fish are placed, so people generally don't go into the cabin. They sit on the sides of the boat, or at the bow or stern.
Hearing their conversation, many people nodded in agreement: "It's really not easy for a big guy. Supporting three children in school, and high school tuition is expensive. The tuition alone is estimated to cost several thousand a year."
Many families now don’t earn that much in a whole year.
"That's right." They said to Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning, "Your father has had a hard time. You really need to be filial to your parents in the future."
They said this mainly to Jiang Ning, because they felt that there was no need to let a girl read so many books. Since Jiang's parents were willing to let their daughter read so many books, their daughter should repay them double.
"Don't ever forget the kindness of your parents."
"The big guy's family was in such a difficult situation at that time. They owed so much debt."
"It's good now. The children have grown up. In two years, they will start to earn money. With three children working together, we can earn back the money to buy a big house in a few years."
Speaking of the big building, they couldn't help but think of the gossip about Jiangjia Village that was circulating in the village recently, and asked Jiang's father: "I heard that there are girls in your village doing that outside, is that true?"
The person who was speaking emphasized the pronunciation of "that thing", and everyone else immediately understood what he meant.
"I heard that he came back to bring people from the same village with him. Is that true?"
"That woman is a perpetrator. I heard that she not only harmed people from her own village, but also the girls from her other villages."
Father Jiang quickly said, "No, she didn't take anyone with her. She wanted to come back to harm people, but she was exposed and didn't take anyone with her."
He also did not say that Jiang Yueqin wanted to take his daughter away. He only clarified that there was only one evildoer in their village, and he was exposed and failed to do any harm.
"That's good, otherwise my life would be ruined."
"That's right. When we get to that place, can there still be a good person?"
They did not doubt what Jiang's father said, because the news they heard was that a woman from Jiangjia Village did that kind of thing outside and came back to harm someone but was exposed and failed to do anything. The women in their village who were married to people in Jiangjia Village hurried back to their parents' homes to report the news, asking them to keep a close eye on their girls and not let them be taken away by people who didn't know the details.
The elders in the village are more reliable. After all, the aunts and grandmas are old and can only work in factories, not in that kind of place.
A group of uncles and aunts were chatting, and soon it was time to set sail. When they arrived home, Jiang Ning walked straight up the mountain without entering the house.
Father Jiang called her: "Ningning, where are you going?"
"I'm going to the mountains."
At some point, her expression turned cold. She turned her head and looked at Jiang's father with an expression that could even be described as indifferent: "Don't tell my mom that I'm back, unless you just want to see me get beaten."
Father Jiang hesitated for a moment and said nothing.
He felt that how could a daughter go home and not return home, and how could a daughter go home and not tell her mother.
Jiang Ning went up the mountain without looking back.
Grandpa Jiang was lying alone on a recliner on the mountain, with a radio beside him, listening to a storyteller telling the story of Yue Fei.
Seeing Jiang Ning, he didn't stand up, but just swayed slowly, his eyes all on Jiang Ning, with a happy smile on his face: "Ning Ning is back?"
Jiang Ning went into the hut, took out a bamboo chair, sat down next to Grandpa Jiang, took out the Reader from her bag and handed it to Grandpa Jiang: "Grandpa, I won the first prize in the essay competition this time, and my work was published in the magazine." She turned to the page where her work was published and showed it to Grandpa Jiang: "Grandpa, look, this is what I wrote. This is the top magazine in the country. It's so hard to be published!"
Grandpa Jiang's mouth was grinning so much that it almost reached his ears, and he kept saying, "Good! Good! My eldest granddaughter has made great progress!" He didn't even dare touch the magazine, for fear that his rough old hands would damage the book that contained his granddaughter's composition.
He had attended literacy classes and knew a few words. He leaned closer to the Reader to see what his granddaughter had written. He pointed at the word "lemon" and asked, "Lemon...what's lemon?"
"Lemon! My pen name! Isn't my name Jiang Ning? Look at the people here, they all use pen names, so I also gave myself a pen name, Lemon. It's similar to my name, and it sounds nice and easy to remember."
Grandpa Jiang smiled and nodded in agreement: "It sounds nice. My eldest granddaughter has a really nice name."
"Grandpa, I also won a prize of 1,000 yuan!" Jiang Ning boasted proudly, and then said: "By the way, Grandpa, this essay competition is held in Shanghai. The Shanghai government has also cooperated with the local hospital. In addition to the 1,000 yuan prize, the first prize winner also has a free physical examination and can bring a family member."
She pulled Grandpa Jiang's arm with some concern: "Our school recommended us to participate in this competition, but we have to go by ourselves to receive the award. The school teacher doesn't have time to take us, but the farthest place I've been to is the neighboring city, and I've never taken a train. I don't dare to go alone, for fear of encountering bad people on the road."
She looked at Grandpa Jiang pitifully: "Grandpa, can you accompany me to Shanghai?"
Grandpa Jiang hesitated: "Then can you ask your dad to go with you?"
He had never traveled far, never taken a train, and had never even been to the neighboring city. He had only dug wild lotus roots on the river beach outside the city.
Jiang Ning hung her head and said sadly, "If Dad knew that I won a 1,000 yuan bonus, he would definitely tell Mom. Then I would have no money left, and Mom would definitely not pay my tuition. I wanted to save this money for next semester's tuition."
"I was anxious about paying for next semester's tuition, and when I saw the school announced this competition, I rushed to participate."
Grandpa Jiang immediately felt extremely guilty. Before Jiang Ning started school, he went to the brigade to ask several times if he could get his first half salary in advance so that he could use it to pay his granddaughter's tuition. However, the people in the brigade said that the salary was due at the end of the year and they couldn't make the decision and couldn't give it to him.
"Okay, okay, grandpa will go with you."
Jiang Ning immediately smiled happily: "Thank you, Grandpa. I knew that Grandpa treated me the best. I will go pack my things now." She immediately went back to the house and packed clothes for Grandpa. Grandpa Jiang sat up straight from the recliner in surprise: "What? Leaving now?"
"Yes, I only have three days off in total, and most of the day has already passed. We are leaving now and will take the afternoon bus to Shanghai from Wucheng. We will arrive in Shanghai around eight or nine in the evening. We will go to receive the award tomorrow morning. The Shanghai Municipal Government has also arranged a free physical examination for us." Jiang Ning pouted slightly, aggrieved. "I always feel hungry and I am not growing taller. My legs often hurt recently. The teacher said it was malnutrition and told me to get checked. The teacher said that because too many students are malnourished, the Shanghai Municipal Government arranged this physical examination as one of the rewards. They said that they would check what nutrients are missing and give out some nutritional supplements at that time to make up for what is missing."
Jiang Ning pretended to be nonchalant and said, "Actually, there's no need for a physical examination. If you eat well, you won't have any problems."
Grandpa Jiang immediately disagreed and said, "Why don't you want a physical examination? Why do you have leg pain when you are fine? Come on, come on, let's go get it checked. Let's go get it checked right away."
Grandpa Jiang hurried back to the house, packed two sets of clothes, took a canning cup filled with boiled water, a bag of rice crust for the journey, locked the door and said, "Let's go down the mountain. I'll ask your father to come up and watch over the mountain for me for two days."
Jiang Ning reminded Grandpa Jiang: "Grandpa, don't tell my mom. She didn't let me go to school before. I ran away secretly. I was afraid that if she knew I was back, she would not let me go to school."
Grandpa Jiang's heart ached when he heard this. He nodded with a serious face and said, "Don't worry, don't leave with me. Go to the ferry and wait for me. I'll ask your uncle to come up and help me patrol the mountain for two days."
Although he was assigned to the second elder's family and was taken care of by them in his old age, he could still ask the eldest elder family to do such a small thing.
There is more than one way to get to the ferry from the village. You can also go through the road between Dafang and Erfang, which leads directly to the hydropower station and the ferry.
At this time, there were no boats going to the town. Jiang Ning waited at the ferry for a while, and Grandpa Jiang arrived. The two of them took the ferry to Tanshan, and then took a tricycle from Tanshan to Shuibu Town.
Because of its rich coal resources, Tanshan has a large number of vehicles traveling back and forth every day.
At this time, there are no minibuses from Shuibu Town to Wucheng. If you want to go to Wucheng, you can only take the bus tomorrow morning, but there is still a bus to the neighboring city.
Jiang Ning had no choice but to give up taking the bus and take the train to a neighboring city.
By the time Jiang Ning arrived at the neighboring city, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.
Jiang Ning directly called a tricycle and transferred from the Ximen bus station to the train station in the neighboring city. Because it was a one-day holiday for National Day, there were a lot more people at the station than usual. Jiang Ning was originally worried that there would be no train to Shanghai, but unexpectedly, there was one that arrived in Shanghai at 5:10 in the evening, so she quickly bought a ticket.
Grandpa Jiang had never traveled far before, so he held Jiang Ning's wrist tightly all the way and kept telling her, "Follow Grandpa closely, okay? Don't let go. Don't let go. There are a lot of bad guys out there."
Jiang Ning nodded repeatedly: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I will hold on to Grandpa and be a good grandpa."
In fact, Grandpa Jiang was unsure and very nervous. He didn't even know where to buy the ticket. Jiang Ning took care of everything for him. But he still had to pretend to be calm. He looked around like he was patrolling the mountains, at the people around him, at the surrounding environment, at the train that the educated youth mentioned, and at such a large train station.
Seeing that there was still time, Jiang Ning took Grandpa Jiang out for dinner. Grandpa Jiang was reluctant to go and wanted to eat rice crust soaked in boiled water.
Jiang Ning said, "The organizer will reimburse our travel expenses, food, and accommodation. All we need is the ticket." She shook the train ticket in her hand, "But there is a limit on the food. It can't be more than one yuan a day."
Now two fried dough sticks cost 1 cent each, a large meat bun costs only 1 cent each, and a bowl of shredded pork noodles costs only 50 cents. One dollar is enough for two bowls of shredded pork noodles.
Jiang Ning ordered the vegetable and shredded pork noodles.
Grandpa Jiang was relieved and said, "Just order one bowl. You can eat noodles and I'll eat rice crust." He said, "I don't like noodles. What's so good about soft noodles? Rice crust is better. It fills you up. One bowl of rice crust is equivalent to two bowls of rice."
In fact, Grandpa Jiang’s teeth couldn’t bite the dry and hard rice crusts at all. All the rice crusts he baked were brought to school for Jiang Ning to eat.
Jiang Ning ordered a bowl of noodles and asked the boss to bring another bowl. He divided the full bowl of noodles into two portions and picked up half of the shredded pork and vegetables and gave it to Grandpa Jiang. Grandpa Jiang didn't want it and wanted to take it back. Jiang Ning was so angry that she put the bowl down and picked up the shredded pork in the bowl and was about to throw it into the trash can: "If you don't want to eat it, I won't eat it either. Just throw it away!" She threw the shredded pork on the chopsticks away with a snap.
Grandpa Jiang felt distressed and said quickly: "I'll eat, I'll eat. Hey, girl, why are you so irritable now?"
The noodle shop owner saw it and smiled and said, "Uncle, your granddaughter is filial to you!"
Grandpa Jiang loves to hear people praise his granddaughter. Hearing this, he beamed with joy: "Yes, yes, my granddaughter has been filial since she was young. When she just learned to walk, if I give her a candy, she will put half of it into my mouth. I love her so much."
In Grandpa Jiang's eyes, there is nothing wrong with his eldest granddaughter, and there is no other granddaughter as good as her in the world.
"It's a good thing that your granddaughter is filial to you. You should also listen more to your eldest granddaughter. When you are old, you should eat and drink. Only when you are in good health can the younger generations feel at ease, right?" The proprietress advised the old man.
This old man is so thin and doesn't look very healthy.
"Yes, the boss lady is right." Grandpa Jiang nodded with a smile.
After dinner, the two got on the train. Grandpa Jiang's eyes never stopped looking, and everything he saw was new.
For the first time, he truly felt everything that the educated youth had talked about in the big cities.
At night, Grandpa Jiang asked Jiang Ning to close his eyes and take a nap. Jiang Ning said that he had slept on the boat at noon and was not sleepy, so he asked Grandpa Jiang to sleep.
Grandpa Jiang was worried at first and didn't want to sleep, but the train was shaking so much that he fell asleep unknowingly.
When we arrived in Shanghai, it was already past eleven at night, close to midnight, but the outside of the Shanghai Railway Station was still brightly lit, with neon lights flashing on the doorplates of various hotels, guesthouses, and restaurants.
Jiang Ning looked up and saw a huge GG sign across the street from the train station. The lights were shining and it read:
The key room is close to the subway, a six-story villa-style luxury apartment, four bedrooms and two living rooms, a floor height of 6.2 meters, a 20㎡ large balcony and a 15㎡ terrace, 70-year property rights for private water and electricity, and a preferential price before delivery with only zero down payment...
(Note ①)
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