Chapter 80 80
Father Jiang thought he had misheard: "What first?"
Jiang Bai was eating lotus root meatballs: "No. 1 in the county."
"Who is number one in the county?" Jiang's father paused with his chopsticks in his hand, his eyes wide open.
"Ningning scored first in the county." Jiang Bai still looked calm.
"What did Ningning take the exam for?" Jiang's father thought he had drunk too much and there was something wrong with his ears. He only drank two cups of rice wine, not two bottles!
Jiang Bai was annoyed with him. He looked up at him and said in a louder voice, "Ning Ning got first place in the county!"
Father Jiang looked at Jiang Bai, then at Jiang Ning, then at Grandpa Jiang, then turned to ask Mother Jiang: "I just seemed to hear Baizi say that our Ning Ning got first place in the county?" He stroked his forehead, "Maybe I heard it wrong. Baizi said first in the school, but I heard it as first in the county."
He didn't even dare to think about being the first in the school, let alone the first in the county.
Even when Jiang Song achieved his best grades, he never ranked first in the school.
He picked up the wine glass, looked at it, and then smelled the wine in the glass: "The wine brewed this year has a strong aftertaste."
He had just started drinking and he had already drunk a little too much.
Jiang Bai poured himself a cup of hot water and said, "You heard it right, it's the best in the whole county. The whole! County! County! Not the school!"
Jiang's father had just taken a sip of wine when he choked and kept coughing. Jiang's mother was so shocked that she immediately stood up and patted Jiang Bai on the back: "You got first place, so why are you talking so loudly? Look how your father choked!" She immediately patted Jiang's father on the back and complained: "You are such a fool. You can even choke when drinking. What's the point of a girl getting first place? Can she become the top scorer?"
"Even if he is the top scorer, he is the top scorer in someone else's family. Why are you so excited?" she said indifferently.
She had heard a lot from Jiang's father that if a boy's grades in junior high school were not good, he would just need to work hard in high school to improve, while if a girl's grades in junior high school were good, she would lose her stamina in high school. She also felt the same way, so she didn't think it was a big deal that Jiang Ning got first place in the exam once.
"What do you mean someone else's number one? This is our own number one!" Jiang's father coughed at the person beside him, his face red from coughing. After a while, he turned around and asked the other three people at the table in disbelief: "Ningning really got first place in the county? What exam did she get first place in the county? What exam did she take?"
Jiang Bai covered the pot on the table with a lid when Jiang's father was choking.
The pot is heated with a small red clay stove that can only hold one coal ball. Because there is a charcoal mountain here, every household has a coal stove. They also go to the charcoal mountain to pull coal back to make coal balls, and then use a coal ball machine to push the coal into the machine one by one and press it out.
The New Year’s Eve dinner is very particular. For example, the fish on the table cannot be touched and must be kept until the third day of the New Year, which means abundance every year.
When you go to someone's house for dinner, you cannot touch the fish on the table, as it will violate their taboo. Especially you cannot turn the fish over, which is a big taboo.
They are particularly superstitious about this and believe that turning a fish over means the boat capsizes.
Jiang Bai didn't care about the fish at all. He only paid attention to protecting the two dishes in front of him, one of which was braised pork with fried tofu, and the other was pork head.
He was glad that there was a small stove on the table, otherwise the two dishes in front of him would have been ruined.
Jiang Ning always eats very quickly. If she doesn't eat quickly, there will be nothing left to eat later. So when she was told that it was time to have the New Year's Eve dinner, she scooped a bowl of lotus root meatball soup and ate it with blanched coriander.
The coriander is grown by Jiang Ma herself. Their coriander is not used as a spice for side dishes like onions, but as a main dish. The coriander in this season has a very strong aroma.
Everyone at the table was very calm, the only one who was not calm was Jiang's father.
Seeing that Jiang's father had finally stopped coughing, Jiang Bai lifted the lid of the pot and said as he blanched coriander in it, "It was a joint exam. No. 1 Middle School, Wu Middle School, No. 2 Middle School, and seven or eight other schools took the exam together. My sister got first place in the county."
Father Jiang exclaimed: "Wuzhong also participated?" He looked at his daughter in disbelief: "There are so many schools taking the joint entrance examination, and you beat Wuzhong and got first place in the county?"
When did my daughter become so good at her studies? During the summer vacation, he saw her buying a lot of miscellaneous books to read. How could she get the first place in the county?
Why does Dad Jiang feel a little dizzy? You're drunk even without drinking?
He asked uncertainly, "Did your sister really rank first in the school in the joint entrance exam?"
Jiang Bai raised his eyes impatiently and rolled his eyes at him: "Yes! You heard it right! Ning Ning got first place in the county in the joint examination! First place in the county!"
Only then did Mr. Jiang believe the news. He sat in his seat in a daze for a while before he realized what was happening and became happy.
As an old No. 1 Middle School student, Jiang's father shouted excitedly, "Great! You are worthy of being my daughter, Jiang Guoping! Come, have a drink with daddy!"
Father Jiang, who had been in a bad mood that night, was so happy that his eyes lit up. He poured a cup of rice wine into the cup, clinked glasses with Jiang Ning twice, and poured wine for Jiang Bo, "You should drink a cup with me too!"
Jiang Bai drank the wine in one gulp just like he was drinking water, and Jiang Ning did the same.
This wine is brewed by the family with their own grain. They have the custom of brewing wine here. Almost every household brews some rice wine by themselves. Locals also like to use various things to make wine, such as normal ones such as mulberry wine, plum wine, ginseng wine, Panax notoginseng wine, etc., and abnormal ones such as snake wine, scorpion wine, wolf whip and bull whip wine. When there were tigers on their mountain before, there were tiger whips and tiger bone wine, but now there are no tigers anymore.
If someone doesn't have two jars of wine in the cellar, he would feel embarrassed to invite guests to his home for dinner during the New Year.
Many children are greedy and drink secretly when their parents are not around. Jiang Song and Jiang Bai often drank the rice wine brewed by their father when they were young.
Not only Dad Jiang likes to drink it, but Mom Jiang also likes to drink it.
It should be said that everyone in the Jiang family, including Jiang's father, Jiang's mother, and Jiang Ning, can drink a lot.
Anyway, as far as Jiang Ning could remember, she had never been drunk and she had a natural capacity for drinking.
She has always been a person who doesn't drink at work, but when she really starts drinking, she can make everyone at the table drunk and still be fine.
At this time, the brother and sister were drinking the wine poured by Jiang's father, and it was really no different from drinking water.
Father Jiang poured more wine for Mother Jiang and clinked her glass: "Come on, Ailian, have a drink with me."
Seeing that Dad Jiang, who had been listless all night, finally looked happy, Mom Jiang didn't say anything to spoil the fun and just drank the wine.
"Ah." As Jiang's father drank, he couldn't help but sigh: "If Songzi were here, it would be great. If he could repeat his studies, he might be able to pass the county exam next year. He has been smart and quick-witted since he was a child, but he just didn't put his mind on studying."
"It's useless to think about these things now. Let's find him first." Jiang's mother said, "I don't know how he is doing outside, whether he misses home, how he is eating, it's New Year's Eve, why doesn't he come back?"
Father Jiang also sighed: "Who says it's not true? No matter if you make money or not, you have to come back for the New Year!"
During the New Year, they didn't dare say anything unlucky, but he was really worried about his eldest son. He didn't know whether he had enough to eat and whether he was warm enough outside.
He had never left home before, but in the first year since he left, he didn't come back to celebrate the New Year, which really broke their hearts.
Intellectually, the couple knew that their eldest son would not be bullied.
He was nearly 1.9 meters tall, and had been the unrivaled leader of the children in all the nearby villages since he was young. Wherever he went, his physique was there, and if others wanted to cause trouble, they would not fight with him.
He was afraid that his son had been deceived and was being held somewhere and unable to get out.
Especially since he and Jiang Ma had worked on construction sites over the years, they knew how chaotic it was out there. In order to compete for projects, those people would gather together and fight from time to time, and they would really use knives to chop each other.
He was afraid that Jiang Song was young and hot-headed, and would stick to his brotherhood and hang out with the gang.
Those who use knives to attack people are really blind. If they are stabbed or chopped, no matter how strong their physique is, it will be useless.
He really hit the nail on the head.
However, Jiang Song was not stabbed by anyone. Instead, he was actually helping his buddies to fight, leading the way and rushing to the front.
He had been used to fighting since he was a child. When he just learned to walk, he dared to follow the adults in the village to catch fish on the river beach, which almost scared Jiang Ma to death.
He started fighting since he could walk. First, he beat down all the boys in the third room who were of the same age as him or one or two years older than him. Then he led the boys in the third room to fight against the boys from the first, second and fourth rooms. After defeating them, he took them to fight the little boys from Xujia Village.
In the surrounding area, Jiangjia Village and Xujia Village are the largest and the wildest. The little boys from the two villages would go to the lawn on the embankment to fight in groups every day after school. After school, both the older and younger children would gather around to watch the fun.
The large lawn on the river bank is a trapezoidal slope with a two-meter-wide flat ground below. Often, these little boys would hug each other and roll down the slope to the paddy field below while fighting, where they would continue fighting until they were covered in mud.
At that time, Jiang's father was still running a chicken farm, and the Jiang family was living the best of times. Jiang Song had a lot of pocket money and was very generous. He was willing to share spicy strips, Tang Monk meat, fruit candies and the like with his friends. He beat all the little boys in the surrounding villages until they recognized him as the boss.
Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning will never understand where Jiang Song's abundant energy comes from. He is like a wild and untrainable husky, rushing and fighting outside every day.
Jiang's father and mother followed Jiang Song every day to apologize to others on his behalf.
No matter whether he wins or loses the fight, Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning will be beaten as well.
Whenever Jiang Song lost a fight, Jiang's mother would say, "Your brother was fighting with someone outside, and you didn't even help!" Jiang Bai would be beaten too.
If Jiang Song won the fight, Jiang's mother would say, "Your brother was fighting with someone outside, and you didn't even bother to stop him and persuade him?" Jiang Ning would be beaten as well.
So Jiang Ning was often beaten when he was a child. The reason for being beaten was that he did not keep an eye on his brother and let his brother go out to fight again.
It can be said that from childhood to adulthood, except for the three years when he was imprisoned in No. 1 Middle School, Jiang Song was either fighting or on his way to fight.
Later, Jiang's father and mother had no choice but to go out to work and take Jiang Song with them, separating Jiang Song from those people. But whenever they went home for the New Year, the group of little boys who grew up with Jiang Song would gather at Jiang's house to play with Jiang Song.
Jiang Song is also amazing. He has never felt inferior. The houses of the people around him are all taller, newer and bigger than his, but he never minds. He often brings his good friends, good classmates and good brothers home, and Jiang's father and mother are responsible for entertaining them with good wine and food.
Until he went to high school, No. 1 Middle School locked him up in the campus every day and he couldn't go out. He had no way to vent his energy, so he played ball, basketball, football, running, long jump. The whole playground was full of his figure, always calling friends and making friends. Everywhere were his good friends and brothers. After finally graduating from high school, he was like a husky that was untied and let go, running into the ocean of freedom, helping his good brothers fight for construction sites and projects in Shenzhen, and having a lot of fun. How could he even think about his two old father and mother who were worried about him at home?
With no news about Jiang Song, Jiang's father was worried at home.
Given Jiang Song's personality, he was really afraid that he would get into a fight with others outside again.
Dad Jiang sighed at the dinner table. Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai finished their meal and went to wash up.
It was a cold winter, and these two days happened to be sunny, so Jiang Ning hung all the quilts and bedding out to dry, and replaced the straw under the bed with new ones. The original straw was thrown into the kitchen and burned.
Jiang Ning got some water for Grandpa Jiang to wash his face and went to help him wash his face.
Grandpa Jiang immediately broke away from Jiang Ning's hand: "I don't need your help. I'm not old and can't move. You don't need to pour the water for washing my face. I can do it myself."
He was used to staying alone in the mountains and doing everything by himself. Suddenly, he was served by his little granddaughter in every matter. He was not used to it and felt like a useless person who could not move.
Grandpa Jiang waved his hand impatiently and urged her: "Go and do your own thing. Do I need you to watch me wash my feet? I can do it myself. You don't need to be here. Go back to your room and read a book."
Jiang Song is not at home, so he is going to sleep with Jiang Bai at night.
There are only two rooms in the Jiang family, with the main hall in the middle and the main rooms on both sides. The main room on the left is where Jiang's father and mother sleep, and the room on the right is divided into three rooms. The south half is where Jiang Song and Jiang Bai live, the middle is the rice barn, and the northernmost room is where Jiang Ning lives. There is a one-meter-wide high bed and a desk. At the end of the bed is a rice jar and a large water tank. The water tank contains newly made rice cakes this year. There is also an entrance to a cellar under the bed, which is filled with sweet potatoes harvested this year and rice wine brewed by Jiang's father.
It can be said that it is packed full.
Every time Jiang Ning took a shower, she had to push the stool under the table so that there would be enough space for a bathtub. Even then she had to be very careful, otherwise the water would spill outside and onto the bed.
Grandpa Jiang wanted to do it himself, and Jiang Ning didn't force him, so he went to do his own thing.
The entire Jiang family had only one washbasin, one footbath, and one bathtub. Grandpa Jiang washed his face and Jiang Bai took a bath. After Grandpa Jiang washed his face, he put the towel on the towel rack, picked up the kettle on the coal stove, and went to pour water to soak his feet.
All the basins and towels in the house were shared by the whole family, which made her very uncomfortable.
Even though she grew up in such an environment, she still felt uncomfortable returning to it.
Especially dry toilets in rural areas.
Some families who are particular about this, such as Uncle Jiang's, have built their dry toilets very well, with cement walls and floors, and an L-shaped wooden board on top to prevent insects from crawling all over the floor.
For a family like the Jiang family, whose conditions are average, the dry toilet is really leaky on all sides, and the wind makes your testicles cold, especially since it is winter now.
Every time Jiang Ning came back, going to the toilet was a torture. Every time she went to the toilet, she had to run to her uncle's house.
It’s a good thing that it’s close. If it were far away, it would be inconvenient to go to the toilet.
Jiang Ning remembered that every time she came back in her previous life, she always liked to go to her aunt's house, perhaps with the intention of using their toilet.
It is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.
Even though Jiang Ning's life in her previous life was not luxurious, she had enjoyed the convenient life of the new era. Now, she was not able to adapt to this era where conditions in all aspects were relatively backward.
She just wanted the winter vacation to end quickly so that she could return to Wucheng.
I don’t know how the house decoration in Shanghai is going and when it will be completed.
Say goodbye to the old and welcome the new.
On New Year's Eve, everyone has to wash from head to toe to welcome the first day of the new year.
In the morning, Jiang Bai and his family went to worship their ancestors. Jiang Ma and Jiang Ning did not need to go. Jiang Ning had already washed her hair at home in the morning and would take a shower in the evening.
Jiang Bo is using the bathtub now, so she goes to brush her teeth first.
They don't have the habit of brushing their teeth at night, they only brush their teeth in the morning.
When Jiang's mother saw Jiang Ning brushing her teeth late at night and wasting toothpaste, she stared at her coldly and rolled her eyes at her, hoping that she would understand what she meant, but Jiang Ning didn't even look at her.
Because it was New Year's Eve, she couldn't curse, but she couldn't bear to see Jiang Ning wasting toothpaste, and she couldn't help but say, "You're still brushing your teeth so late at night, doesn't that toothpaste cost money?"
Jiang Ning always felt that her emotions were very stable, so stable that she seemed like a person without temper. But for some reason, Jiang's mother could always easily provoke her negative emotions. Even just a few words could cause ripples in her calm heart.
This feeling of having her emotions easily controlled by others made her very uncomfortable.
She tried hard to completely ignore Jiang Ma, brushed her teeth, scalded the washbasin with boiling water, and used soap to wash the face basin and foot basin. Jiang Ma saw her wasting boiling water and soap, but she endured it again and again, and did not explode on New Year's Eve. She simply turned a blind eye and looked at the dishes on the table, eating without any appetite. Then she saw Jiang Ning took out a towel.
The towel was not new, it had been used for a semester at school, but Jiang's mother still put down her chopsticks and asked her: "Where did you get the towel? Where did you get the money to buy a new towel?" She asked Jiang's father: "Did you give her money?"
Jiang's father immediately protested: "I gave you all the money I earned!" He also advised Jiang's mother: "Maybe Dad bought it for her. She is studying outside, so she must have a face towel, right?"
Jiang's mother couldn't bear to see others waste it, so she said, "There's a lot of mourning cloth at home that can't be used up. Can't we use mourning cloth as towels?"
When an old person in the village dies, white linen will be given as mourning cloth to each person who comes to kowtow. This mourning cloth will not be thrown away after use, but will be kept at home as a face towel, bath towel, or foot towel. The Jiang family is large, so they get a lot of mourning cloth. There are still several pieces of mourning cloth in the cabinet that have not been used up.
When Jiang's father heard her mention mourning cloth on New Year's Day, he felt it was unlucky. He put down his chopsticks and frowned: "On New Year's Day, can't you say something nice?"
Jiang's mother also realized that she had just said something bad, and was afraid that it would affect Jiang Song who had not returned, so she quickly shut up and stopped talking.
After brushing her teeth and washing her face, Jiang Ning saw that the foot basin and bath basin were being used by Jiang Bai and Grandpa Jiang. She had nothing to do, so she went to the kitchen shelf and took the large glass bottle used for IV drips in the hospital. After scalding it, she filled it with hot water. She took out two socks that were so worn to the toes and heels that they were completely torn and could not be worn anymore, put them over the IV bottle, stuffed one sock into Grandpa Jiang's hand who was soaking his feet in hot water, and stuffed the other into her own quilt.
Seeing this, Jiang's mother couldn't help but complain to Jiang's father, "Look, look, can you blame me for scolding her? She packed the hand warmers and stuffed one into her grandfather's hand, but she didn't even know to stuff one into our bed. It was just something that was easy to do, but she didn't know how to do it. Can you blame me for scolding her all the time? Her brain is as dumb as a piece of wood. With this, how could she get the first place in the county? I think she only knows how to eat!"
It is said that Jiang Ning ranked first in the county? Why doesn't she believe it? If she were told that Songzi would get the first place in the county, she would believe it. Songzi has been smart and clever since he was a child. If he could study as hard as his younger brothers and sisters, wouldn't it be easy for him to get the first place in the county?
Thinking of Jiang Song, Jiang's mother had no time to care about Jiang Ning and felt very uncomfortable.
The New Year's Eve dinner was cooked by Jiang's father. Jiang's father is always very serious when cooking, especially since tonight is New Year's Eve. He was thinking that Jiang Song would come back in the evening, so the dishes he cooked were quite delicious, but Jiang's mother found them tasteless.
Seeing Jiang Ning taking clothes to take a shower, she suddenly remembered that when she sent meat and lotus roots to her mother's house two days ago, her sister-in-law gave her an old piece of clothing that her niece didn't want anymore and asked her to bring it back for Jiang Ning to wear.
Jiang's mother got up and went back to her room. She took out an old cotton-padded jacket and handed it to Jiang Ning, saying, "Here, your new clothes for the New Year." Jiang's mother added, "Your second brother didn't even have new clothes for the New Year, but you did. And you still complain that we are partial to you. We are partial to you."
My second cousin was very skillful and she embroidered flowers on the torn parts of the cotton-padded jacket to cover them up.
People of their generation grew up with clothes that were new for three years, old for three years, and tattered for another three years. The friends around them were all like this. She didn't think there was anything wrong with wearing old and tattered clothes. But people like Jiang's mother always told her that the clothes were new, even though they were obviously old clothes with several patches on them and washed to a pale color, and they treated her like a fool and didn't put any effort into it. I really don't know what people would say about them.
She had this dress in her previous life and wore it until she went to college.
She looked at Jiang Ma as if it was a matter of course that she was biased towards her, and for some reason, she found it a little funny.
Maybe she still treats her like a three-year-old child and tells her that she is partial to you, so she really thinks she is partial to her.
Look, even my second brother doesn’t have new clothes, but she does!
She took the 'new clothes' back to her room.
At this time, Jiang Bai also finished taking a bath and came out, carrying a large wooden basin to pour water outside.
Since Jiang Song didn't come back, Jiang's mother forgot about buying new clothes for Jiang Bai for the New Year. When she saw him coming out with a basin, she pretended not to know about buying new clothes for Jiang Bai and continued eating.
Jiang Ning wanted to take a shower, so she took the soap to clean the basin. After washing herself once, she used boiling water to scald her body.
Mother Jiang ate while watching Jiang Ning carry hot water in the washbasin and gourd ladle into the room. She really wanted to know what she was doing with all these tricks.
Jiang Ning was indeed standing in the bathtub, holding a gourd ladle, pouring water on his body one ladle at a time, taking a combat bath.
She stared at the door. She knew that today was New Year's Eve and Jiang Ma would not rush in and beat anyone, but she was still afraid.
She pricked up her ears, listening to the noise outside. Jiang's father and mother were still drinking. They were both worried about Jiang Song and were talking about him.
"He said before that he went to Shenzhen, but we don't know where he is in Shenzhen." Jiang's father sighed and said, "No, we should go to Shenzhen this year to see if we can find him."
Working is still working no matter where you work.
Originally, he didn't want to go out to work anymore and wanted to get some machines to work in the quarry, but he needed Jiang Ma's support for this. Without Jiang Ma's support, he would not be able to accomplish anything.
Now that his eldest son didn’t come back for the New Year, he wanted to go to Shenzhen to find him.
Jiang's mother said, "We can go to Shenzhen. I wonder if there are any acquaintances there."
They had all been working in the south not far from home before, and had never been to a place as far away as Shenzhen. They were unfamiliar with the place, and Jiang's mother was a little uneasy.
But she was used to being with Jiang's father, and used to letting Jiang's father arrange everything when she went out. She only needed to follow Jiang's father and do the work when necessary, and she didn't have to worry about anything else.
So when Jiang's father said he wanted to go to Shenzhen, she followed him there without any fear or hesitation. Her only worry was that the two of them would go to a strange place without even a place to stay. If they had acquaintances, they would be able to find jobs quickly and settle down with the guidance of acquaintances at the beginning.
Father Jiang said, "On the second day of the Chinese New Year, Xiaofeng will come back. I will ask her if she knows anyone in Shenzhen. You can also go home and ask your elder brother and younger sister if they know anyone in Shenzhen."
Xiaofeng is Aunt Jiang’s nickname, her real name is Jiang Guofeng. Here, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, married girls have to go back to their parents’ home.
The Chinese New Year is the busiest time of the year for Aunt Jiang. She probably won’t have time to stay at the Jiang family for long, so she will just put down her things and go back.
Although Jiang Ma's father had been a team leader in Tanshan, her mother's family was not in Tanshan, but in the next village.
People have to stay up at night on New Year's Eve. In previous years, Jiang Song and Jiang Bai would stay up all night. Girls don't have to stay up and can go to bed early.
I slept until twelve o'clock in the evening. The clock in the main room rang twelve times and firecrackers sounded outside.
Every New Year's Day, Dad Jiang would take Jiang Song, Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning to Uncle Jiang's house to celebrate the New Year. Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang would also sit together at the main table. They would have lunch at Uncle Jiang's house and dinner at Dad Jiang's house.
But Jiang Song didn't come back this year, and Jiang's father didn't even have the mood to go to Uncle Jiang's house for the reunion dinner. He ate pork bone noodles in the morning and was reluctant to go to Uncle Jiang's house.
Seeing that it was already ten o'clock and Father Jiang had not come yet, Uncle Jiang could not help but come out and say with a smile: "Why hasn't he come yet? Do I need to urge him so many times?" He then smiled and stabbed Father Jiang in the heart: "Where is Songzi? Why haven't you seen Songzi come back? Is Songzi not coming back this year?"
Uncle Jiang's three sons have all returned. The end of the year is the busiest time for families to build houses. His three sons are busy outside every day and do not return until New Year's Eve.
After working for a few more years, he will be able to build a house for his third son.
He asked Grandpa Jiang: "Dad, is there any place to stay at Guoping's house? If not, you can come and stay at my house."
Grandpa Jiang also knew that his eldest son was unhappy that he had given all his salary to his second son's family over the years, so he said, "I can't stay at home for two days. I will leave in two days."
He also wanted to take advantage of the New Year holidays to see if he could sell a few clothes and pairs of shoes.
The shop is rented there and rent has to be paid every day. How can we not open it?
He also didn't want to stay with his son and suffer those bullies.
Uncle Jiang and Father Jiang never expected that Grandpa Jiang would actually say he would leave in two days. They asked him where he was going and what he was going to do.
"What to do? Begging for food?" Grandpa Jiang sat on the main seat at the top, holding a teacup in his hand. "I am so old now. Besides begging for food and picking up scraps, what else can I do?"
But Uncle Jiang and Father Jiang really didn't realize that Grandpa Jiang, with his new clothes and new leather shoes, didn't look like a ragpicker at all.
But knowing that Grandpa Jiang was living well outside and would not starve to death or freeze to death, the two of them felt relieved.
They all knew that Grandpa Jiang had a thousand yuan in his hand. After deducting the tuition fee for Jiang Ning, they didn't know how much money Grandpa Jiang had earned in the past six months, and they didn't want Grandpa Jiang's money.
Dad Jiang has made a lot of money in the past six months by selling lobsters, snail meat sauce, and eels and loaches. Not to mention Uncle Jiang, who takes his three sons out every day to build houses for people. He doesn't care about the little money Grandpa Jiang has, but he feels unhappy when he sees that the old man's money is all used to subsidize his younger brother.
On the second day of the Chinese New Year, Aunt Jiang returned to Jiangjia Village early in the morning, bringing clothes and food she bought for Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang. Before she had even sat down for three minutes, she hurried back to the town.
Mother Jiang and Uncle Jiang's wife both understand that throughout the year, business is better during the New Year period, so of course they are busy making money. If they want to come back to visit Grandpa and Grandma Jiang, there is no time when they can't come back. Do we have to wait until the New Year?
When Dad Jiang was sending Aunt Jiang back home, he asked her if she knew anyone in Shenzhen.
Aunt Jiang really didn't know what to say: "Aren't you doing well in Nanshi? Why did you want to go to Shenzhen? It's so far away, and you don't know the place well. Why would you go there?"
Father Jiang was silent for a while and then said, "Songzi didn't come back for the New Year. He said he went to Shenzhen with someone. I went there to see what was going on. After all, you have to work part-time wherever you go."
Aunt Jiang nodded and said, "I'll go back and ask for you." There were a lot of people coming and going in the town, so she could also help Father Jiang to ask around.
Aunt Jiang left in a hurry and did not tell Dad Jiang that Jiang Bai was selling clothes in town.
Yes, Jiang Bain went to the town to continue selling clothes early in the morning on the second day of the Chinese New Year. Tong Jingang took a bag of clothes and got on the bus to Shuibu Town early in the morning.
When Tong Jingang got the New Year's red envelope from Jiang Bai, he saw that there was a full three hundred yuan in it. He couldn't believe his eyes.
He has never received so much money in his life!
He earned it himself!
In just three days, I earned three hundred yuan!
"Oh my goodness! Isn't our sister so generous? She gives us so much money. How does she earn it herself? Isn't it all given to us?"
Jiang Bai calculated the money they had earned for Jiang Ning in those three days and said, "Then let's sell a little more in the next two days!"
On the second day of the Chinese New Year, many people wanted to go back to their parents' homes and buy things to take back to their parents' homes. The streets were so crowded that Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang turned on the loud speaker and shouted: "39, 49, everything is on sale for 39, 49!"
This word "gg" was so penetrating. They had heard that a few years ago, the director of the Jiangnan Garment Factory ran away with his sister-in-law and the money. The factory went bankrupt and could not pay wages, so someone took the clothes back to sell. They thought the clothes had been sold out, but they didn't expect to see it on the street today. They all ran over and soon surrounded Aunt Jiang's shop.
Seeing that the clothes were really cheap, I quickly bought one and took it back to my parents' home to give it to my parents to wear, which would also make them feel proud.
Mother Jiang also brought pig's feet and salted fish, and bought some brown sugar, longan, peach cakes and other items back to her parents' home.
Her parents' home is in the next township and does not pass through Shuibu Town.
She had sent meat to her parents' home before the New Year, but she no longer needs to send meat after the New Year. She mainly came to ask her brothers and sisters-in-law if they knew anyone in Shenzhen.
Uncle Jiang is three years older than Mother Jiang. He is already 43 years old. He has been farming in his hometown with his aunt. However, his two daughters are old and work outside.
My eldest niece is already engaged. She is married to a boy who was an educated youth from the same village and stayed behind. They grew up together and know each other very well.
The second daughter is not engaged yet, but she is dating someone. When they heard Jiang Ma asking about Shenzhen, they were curious and asked Jiang Ma, "Why did Songzi go to Shenzhen?"
My uncle's family values the eldest son, and Jiang Song is lively. He has a very good relationship with his cousins. Every year on the second day of the Chinese New Year, Jiang Song would follow his mother Jiang to his uncle's house to play. Only this year did he not come. They felt that it would not be lively without Jiang Song.
Jiang's mother didn't want to say anything bad about Jiang Song to her family, so she just said, "You all know his personality. He probably feels embarrassed to come back because he didn't make any money this year." She sighed, "His father and I can still work, so why should we ask him to make money? But when he sees the situation at home, he wants to share the burden with me and his father."
She felt from the bottom of her heart that this was what Jiang Song thought, and he had always been so considerate and sensible.
After hearing what Jiang's mother said, the people in her uncle's family thought that Jiang Song was very sensible. Seeing that the family was in such a difficult situation and Jiang's father and mother were working so hard, he didn't want to study anymore and went out to work to share the burden of the family.
Jiang's mother asked around at her parents' home, and Jiang's father asked in the village and people who had returned, but they didn't find out that they knew anyone in Shenzhen. Local workers rarely go to the north, and most of them are concentrated in Nanshi, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou and other places.
After asking around for two days, when they returned home, they found the house was deserted and no one was there.
I went to ask Aunt Jiang next door, and she was even more surprised than Jiang's parents: "Don't you know? Ningning and Baizi are going back to school on the third day of the New Year!"
Jiang's mother then remembered that she had not yet paid Jiang Bai's tuition!
Jiang Song was a senior in No. 1 Middle School. She knew that senior students would have to go back to school after the third year of the Chinese New Year. These days, she was busy inquiring about the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, so she didn't think about giving the tuition to Jiang Bai.
She didn't intend to deduct Jiang Bai's tuition. He had already been in school for two and a half years and only had the last semester left. It would be a loss if he couldn't get a high school diploma because he didn't pay the tuition.
She was angry that several people went back to school without telling her, so she took out 800 yuan and went to Jiang Hehua's house: "Hehua is home, right?"
Jiang Hehua waited at home for several days but never saw Jiang Ning. She went to her grandparents' house with her mother on the second day of the Chinese New Year. She had just returned and before she had time to look for Jiang Ning, she saw Jiang's mother coming.
There were also many guests at Jiang Hehua's house. When Hehua's mother saw Jiang's mother coming suddenly, she was a little confused. She heard that Jiang Bai had returned to school and had not brought his tuition. She wanted to ask her whether she had to send Jiang Hehua to pay tuition when school started, and if she could help bring Jiang Bai's tuition to Wucheng for Jiang Bai.
This was not a big deal, so Lotus's mother agreed and said, "As long as you are not afraid that I will lose your money!"
There were many people sitting in front of the brigade secretary's house, many of whom were cadres from the brigade headquarters. Mother Jiang counted out eight hundred yuan on the spot and handed it to Mother Hehua, not afraid that Mother Hehua would embezzle her money.
But before leaving, she suddenly remembered what Jiang Bai had said before, that Jiang Ning had ranked first in the county. She didn't quite believe it.
Seeing Jiang Hehua at this time, he couldn't help but want to ask her, "Hehua, I heard from my son Baizi that Ningning got the first place in the county in some exam. Is this true?"
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