Chapter 999
He Qiaosheng, like everyone else, turned his head to look at the girl in an ill-fitting blue and white school uniform walking up the stairs at a steady pace. At first he just glanced at her casually, not paying much attention. It was not until the person walked in front of the hero's monument and faced them that he could see the person's appearance clearly.
He thought he had seen it wrong, rubbed his eyes, and then asked the students around him: "We... have arrived at No. 2 Middle School so soon? Why do I remember that the student representatives from No. 1 Middle School haven't gone up yet?"
The classmate next to him pulled back his clothes and said, "Didn't you stay up all night in the Internet cafe again last night? This is No. 1 Middle School!"
He Qiaosheng rubbed his eyes: "No, this is clearly the second..." Before he could finish the word "middle", he heard the girl above take the microphone from the host and introduced herself in a relaxed manner: "Hello everyone, I am Jiang Ning, the student representative of No. 1 Middle School."
He Qiaosheng’s mind was full of echoes: I am Jiang Ning, the student representative of No. 1 Middle School.
Student representative Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning!
He pulled at the boy in front of him with disbelief on his face, pointed at the girl above him and said, "What did she say her name was?"
His voice was a little loud, causing everyone around him to look at him, even his head teacher looked at him sternly, which made He Qiaosheng shrink his neck and make a gesture of begging for mercy to his head teacher with a wry smile.
His head teacher then turned around and continued to watch Jiang Ning's speech.
He Qiaosheng then asked his friend in a low voice: "I didn't hear clearly just now, what did she say her name was?"
"Jiang Ning." His friend said. After saying that, he noticed that He Qiaosheng's face looked strange, and asked worriedly, "Hey, you're not crying, are you? Don't cry!"
He Qiaosheng slapped his hand away: "Go away! I'm not crying!"
"Do you want me to find you a mirror to look at you? And you still say you didn't cry?"
He Qiaosheng really wanted to cry. He felt like he had already broken up before he even fell in love. Sob.
When he first heard Jiang Ning's name, he didn't feel anything. Although their No. 4 Middle School also participated in the joint examination, their school didn't have a single student ranked in the top 200 in the county, so the joint examination didn't cause any splash in their school. They only knew that Wuzhong seemed to be suppressed by No. 1 Middle School in this joint examination, and the first place in the county was also taken away by No. 1 Middle School.
The teachers of their school also lamented: "Since the change of principal Sun in No. 1 Middle School, the teaching level of No. 1 Middle School has been getting higher and higher. In this joint examination, No. 1 Middle School accounted for six of the top ten, while Wuzhong only had four."
Such lament was expressed not only by their second-year high school teachers, but even more by their first-year high school teachers. No. 2 Middle School was also discussing this matter at the time, and they all said that No. 1 Middle School was not only competing with Wu Middle School, but was now on the verge of surpassing it.
He knew there was such a person, but because he was a sophomore in high school, he only paid attention to his grades and didn't even know whether the person who beat Wu Zhong to get first place was a boy or a girl, and naturally he never paid attention to her name. So when he heard the name of Jiang Ning from No. 1 Middle School, he felt calm and unfamiliar, just like when he saw all the ordinary students, until he looked up and saw her face.
She was different from every other time he had met her before.
Every time he met her before, she was dressed very shabby, with clothes visibly torn. But now, standing on the stage with a relaxed look and a calm posture, she seemed like a person from a completely different world from him.
But before he could get over the joy of finding her, he suddenly heard her say her name was Jiang Ning?
Not only is the name fake, but even the school is fake!
She actually told him her name was Ma Dongmei!
He thought her real name was Ma Dongmei, and he went to the gate of No. 2 Middle School every day to wait for her and look for her foolishly. He even asked the guard of No. 2 Middle School to help him call her Ma Dongmei.
woooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
He Qiaosheng had a young boy's heart, and at this moment he was deeply broken by the people on the stage.
It was not until this moment that he suddenly realized that she didn't want to be friends with him.
She didn't even tell him her real name.
She said she was from No. 2 Middle School!
Oh, by the way, she didn’t say she was from No. 2 Middle School, he guessed it.
She didn't deny it!
He Qiaosheng looked at the girl on the stage who seemed to be radiating light, his heart and eyes filled with frustration as if he had been deceived.
what to do? He wanted to write songs again.
Thinking about this period of time when he went to the gate of No. 2 Middle School to look for her every day, he felt so embarrassed that he wanted to cover his head with his school uniform. It was so humiliating!
After eating a combination of meat and vegetables for more than half a year, the well-nourished Jiang Ning has grown to 1.6 meters tall, which is still not tall. The school uniform she wears does not fit her well. Compared with Song Peifeng from No. 1 Middle School, she is indeed not that outstanding.
She reached out and took the microphone from the host with a smile, said thank you to the host teacher who handed her the microphone, and then stood in the center of the stage, facing the countless Wucheng teachers and students below.
She had experienced too many speeches like this in her previous life. At the beginning, she wrote manuscripts for the leaders. All the speeches of the leaders were written by her. She did this for several years. As the leaders were promoted, she was promoted with them. Later, it was her turn to speak at various meetings and occasions. Whether it was reminiscing about the past, looking forward to the future, or from the perspective of national policy and strategy, she could talk about it at will.
But on an occasion like today, facing the student group, she did not say much. Instead, she said something like countless people in later generations wanted to say to these revolutionary martyrs who protected and guarded us with their blood and lives: This prosperous age will be as you wish.
She was so relaxed that, in such a solemn and dignified atmosphere, she even had a light smile on her face, as if she was talking to these heroes with a smile, telling them about their current situation, how the motherland was becoming increasingly powerful, how people's lives were getting better, how the people no longer had to go hungry, no longer had to worry about war, how people had bicycles when they went out, and in the future every household would have a color TV, a mobile phone, and a car when they went out.
What Jiang Ning said was a good day that no one dared to imagine.
Many people didn't even know what a mobile phone was. Telephones had not yet become part of every household, and mobile phones had only been on the market for less than two years. They were extremely expensive.
But for some reason, her tone was so calm and confident about everything she said about the present and the future, as if as long as they worked hard, they would definitely live such a good life.
Her posture was so calm, so calm that it seemed as if that was not a podium but a stage for her personal performance. She was not at all stage fright or nervous, and was completely composed.
But her tone was like she was having a friendly conversation with them, a natural dialogue with the heroes and martyrs, making people feel like they were in the spring breeze, without any sense of oppression.
Jiang Hehua looked at the girl on the stage who seemed not eye-catching but attracted everyone's attention. She was like a warm pearl, bright but not scorching.
Because she had excellent grades since childhood and was the daughter of the brigade secretary, everyone around her spoke well of her and praised her. She had a natural arrogance.
Jiang Qinqin is the eldest daughter in the family and was raised in the palm of her parents', brothers and sisters' hands since she was a child. Because she has someone unconditionally supporting her, this girl who grew up in love has a flamboyant and sincere personality, and she has a magnetic field that makes everyone in the world love her.
Jiang Ning always follows behind the two of them, listening quietly.
She wasn't even too impressed with her.
What she could remember was that on the way back from school, Jiang Qinqi would always jump up and down and sing loudly. She would always wear the best and most expensive dresses among all the girls in the village, the most beautiful and best shoes, and she would be carefree and in high spirits.
She walked forward with her head held high and chest held high, never looking back.
Jiang Ning always followed the two of them silently, or beside them, as quiet as their shadows.
Only at this moment did she realize that when this shadow walked in front of people, it was so bright, so bright that it was somewhat dazzling.
At this moment, she felt as if her position and Jiang Ning's were swapped. Jiang Ning was the light, and she was the shadow behind the light.
It turns out that the shadow covered by light is so uncomfortable.
Who wants to be a shadow?
She is the light!
But the light grew brighter and brighter, completely drowning her.
She suddenly turned her head stubbornly and looked at Song Peifeng.
She was short and stood in the front line of girls. Song Peifeng was tall and stood behind the boys. She could see the expression on his face at a glance.
Sure enough, he was looking at her too.
He looked at the stage with an appreciative smile in his eyes.
This made her, who had always been confident, suddenly feel inferior.
She had always been very confident in the past. Since she was a child, everyone around her had praised her for her good grades and her fair skin. She had always been very proud.
When she reached junior high school and left the village environment, she gradually realized that she did not seem to be outstanding, but she was still proud, especially in front of Jiang Ning and Jiang Qinqin.
Because her father is the brigade secretary.
After entering high school, she became more and more indistinguishable from the crowd. People around her were all growing taller, but she was this tall in junior high school and she is still this tall now.
The person in the mirror still has such white, pink and tender skin, like a dough ball.
But her face is as round as a dough ball, and she has a pair of small squinty eyes.
Even the most confident person, without the praise of the villagers, will inevitably feel inferior in his heart after realizing that he looks so ordinary, but falls in love with someone like Song Peifeng who has good grades, good character and good looks.
If Jiang Ning knew her mental activities, perhaps he would tell her that anyone who makes you feel negative emotions and mental exhaustion is not the right person for you. It’s okay to like them and just appreciate them.
But Jiang Ning didn't know.
No one ever said this to her, and she became more and more inferior and self-destructive.
She looked at Jiang Ning, who was calm and composed on the stage, and then at Song Peifeng.
Suddenly, she had an illusion that these two people were from the same world, and she, who was Song Peifeng's classmate, was so far away from them.
Jiang Bai was also looking up at Jiang Ning who was speaking calmly under the hero monument.
Tong Jingang lay on Jiang Bai's shoulder, looked up at Jiang Ning on the podium and said with admiration: "Our sister is really outstanding. The student representative of our school is actually our sister!"
They couldn't even imagine it.
They thought it would be a sophomore in high school.
Jiang Bai was also full of pride.
At this moment, his sister seemed very far away from him, as if she was from another world.
The real world is so barren, but his sister seems to have reached a height that is beyond his reach.
A thunderous applause woke Jiang Bai up. Jiang Bai looked at his sister, who walked back to his world step by step from that unreachable height, as if what just happened was just an illusion.
After Jiang Ning finished her speech and bowed to the audience, the applause she received was no less than that of Wu Zhong's Song Peifeng. No one felt that she was inferior to Wu Zhong in style. Even when she was reading the script, their eyes were all focused on her, and they completely forgot about the previous person's speech.
She bowed slightly and handed the microphone back to the host. She was actually Wu Zhong's teacher.
Jiang Ning handed the microphone back with both hands, and the teacher subconsciously took it back with both hands. Looking at the thunderous applause from below, he began to read the name of the next high school student representative.
Principal Sun and Director Zhang's faces had brightened up. Director Zhang clapped vigorously until his palms turned red. He laughed and said to Principal Sun, "I was wondering if we should choose her as the student representative. She has the demeanor of a great general! Look, she can even speak without a script." He glanced at Wuzhong and said, "Old Wang thought that only the student representatives of his school could speak without a script, but not our No. 1 Middle School? He must have been preparing for this day for a long time and wanted to outshine us in front of all the schools in the city. Haha, his plan failed!"
They were really worried at that time that Jiang Ning would not be able to follow Song Peifeng's speech and would go up to him and read the speech haltingly. If they compared the two, wouldn't their No. 1 Middle School be far worse than Wuzhong?
Who would have known that Jiang Ning, this young girl, was so calm and composed, and her demeanor was no worse than Song Peifeng from Wuzhong? You have to know that Song Peifeng's father is the top leader in the county, and they have seen countless occasions like this since they were young. It was not surprising that she could have such demeanor. But this girl was admitted from the countryside, and her aura was no weaker than his, which really surprised them. Shouldn't they be happy?
He even winked and smiled at Director Wang of Wuzhong.
Director Wang had already stopped smiling at this time. He was irritated by Director Zhang's wink. He turned away expressionlessly and snorted in his heart: Look at his smug old face, what is he so proud of? Is Song Peifeng from Wuzhong any worse?
When the student representative from No. 2 Middle School went up to speak, he was so nervous that he kept reciting the script he had written. Until the moment before going on stage, he was still struggling over whether he should speak impromptu or read from the script.
But after he went on stage, he looked at the sea of black heads below, and his nervous brain went blank. He couldn't think of any words, so he had to take out the manuscript he had written from his pocket, and with the help of Teacher Wu Zhong holding the microphone, he stiffly read the manuscript. He couldn't remember what he said specifically on the stage at all, and even forgot to bow at the end. He walked down the platform of the Heroes Monument with his hands and feet trembling.
After that, students from various schools took the stage one by one and read from scripts. It was not until the last elementary school student finished reading her script with great emotion that they finally began their return journey.
Students whose homes were nearby told their teachers that they would go home on their own.
The teachers were concerned and reminded them again and again, asking them to be careful, before letting them go home.
On the way back, the team was not as orderly as when they came, and the atmosphere was not as solemn as when they came in the morning. Instead, they were laughing and joking with each other, looking relaxed.
Jiang Ning also walked with Xu Xiuli, He Xiaofang and the others. He Xiaofang was still praising Jiang Ning: "Ning Ning, you and that boy from Wu Zhong spoke so well today. Of all the people in the room, you two spoke the best!"
"Yes, yes, I saw that after the boy finished speaking, the head teacher's face turned black!" Liu Ping said loudly.
Teacher Wang is right behind them.
Wang Xia also said: "I couldn't listen to what they said later. It was too long and my legs were weak!" The last time they stood like this was during military training.
Liu Ping complained: "My legs are numb. I walked ten kilometers to get here, and I have to walk another ten kilometers back. It would be great if I had a bicycle!"
Lu Xuehua interrupted Liu Ping's complaint and said, "It didn't rain today. If it had, it would have been even harder to walk!"
In previous years, when it rained, we would come to sweep the graves, which was truly heartbreaking.
At this time, Wuzhong was walking in the front, followed by No. 1 Middle School, No. 2 Middle School, No. 3 Middle School, and No. 4 Middle School, walking back in this order. Each school had a different uniform and was easy to distinguish.
He Qiaosheng walked through the crowd at No. 3 Middle School, then the crowd at No. 2 Middle School, and finally arrived at No. 1 Middle School, looking for Jiang Ning in the crowd.
Everyone was wearing school uniforms, and from behind, everyone looked the same.
He kept walking forward, looking for her one by one, and finally saw Jiang Ning in the crowd. He made a trumpet shape with his hands and called her loudly: "Ma Dongmei!"
He walked to the middle of the road, backed up and called her. When Jiang Ning raised her head, she met a pair of resentful eyes.
Liu Ping was still looking around curiously: "Who is he calling? Who is Ma Dongmei?"
Grandpa Jiang, who was patrolling the mountain with Uncle Grandpa Jiang at the time, held a loud speaker in his hand and shouted to the crowded places while patrolling the mountain: "Prevent forest fires! Everyone is responsible! Sacrifice to the ancestors! Don't leave until the fire is out!"
Many people on the mountain knew the old ranger and greeted him with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work today, old man!"
"Daddy, your voice is hoarse from shouting. Come and have a cigarette and take a break!"
Grandpa Jiang said with a fierce look, "You can't smoke in the mountains. Has everyone forgotten the news report about a forest fire caused by a cigarette butt? It hasn't rained in the past few days, and the ground is dry. There is a thick layer of leaves from last winter on the ground. A little spark will destroy the entire forest!"
The person who was planning to smoke quickly put away the cigarette in his hand: "Yes, yes, old man is right, you can't smoke in the mountains."
At the end of every year and during the Qingming Festival, you can see news about wildfires breaking out somewhere.
Some people even said with a nonchalant smile: "How can it not rain during the Qingming Festival? If it doesn't rain today, it will definitely rain tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Look how gloomy it is today. Even if there is a wildfire, it will be extinguished with a rain. The old man is too cautious."
Grandpa Jiang said with a sullen face: "This is the mountain at our doorstep. If it really catches fire, the villages living here will all be burned down. Can you bear this responsibility?"
"Okay, okay, I won't smoke!" Seeing that Grandpa Jiang was really angry, the person who spoke quickly put out the lit cigarette.
Grandpa Jiang checked as he walked, and he checked every grave carefully. When he came across an unburned fire, he would quickly shovel the soil to cover the smoking fire, and then search the area carefully to see if there were any sparks.
Grandpa Jiang and Uncle Jiang were patrolling the mountain. Uncle Jiang brought his three sons to the Jiang family's ancestor worship. After the ancestor worship, Uncle Jiang habitually brought his three sons to help Grandpa Jiang patrol the mountain. It was not until mid-afternoon when there were no people around that he took a shovel and said to Uncle Jiang, "Every Qingming Festival, I patrol the mountain for you. I'm used to it." He smiled and said, "Uncle, I won't come next year. Guoan Guoliang will help you patrol the mountain."
Uncle Jiang is very tall, but his three sons all inherited some of their height from Aunt Jiang, and are only of average height. The eldest son's face is a copy and paste of Aunt Jiang, and the second son's face is a copy and paste of Uncle Jiang. Because the second son is young, it is not obvious now. Twenty years later, when Jiang Ning from the previous life came back for the New Year one year, the second cousin was a replica of Uncle Jiang.
When Uncle Jiang and his friends left, they did not have anything in their hands. They went to the back mountain and dug up two snakeskin bags of fresh bamboo shoots and brought them back.
Almost everyone who comes back to visit the graves during the Qingming Festival will bring a vegetable basket and a shovel. The shovel can be used as a walking stick when climbing mountains. Many graves have been covered with overgrown weeds and thorns, and there is no path at all. They have to use a shovel to temporarily clear a path, and the weeds next to the grave also have to be cut and trimmed with a shovel, otherwise the grave may not be found the next year.
Another use of the shovel is to dig flowers and plants.
Azalea, honeysuckle, wild wolfberry, wild hawthorn, many people who settled in Wucheng, neighboring cities and towns, were reluctant to spend money to buy flowers and grass, so they went to the mountains on this day to dig a few flower seedlings and brought them back to the city. The bamboo forest on the back mountain was even more bumpy and messy due to the digging. Not a single fresh bamboo shoot could escape the shovel and claws of humans today.
In the afternoon, there were fewer and fewer people on the mountain, and only occasionally could one hear the short sound of firecrackers.
Seeing that there were not many people around, Grandpa Jiang made another careful inspection and met up with Grandpa Uncle Jiang who was patrolling the other side of the mountain. After making sure that everything was OK, the two of them went to the mountain god temple together and put out all the fires on the various paper piles near the temple.
The mountain god temple is at the foot of the mountain, but all the way up to the mountain god temple are graves.
The local elderly people are very careful to protect the mountains and forests in their hometown. They will cover the burned paper piles with soil to put out the fire, but many young people don't care about this. After all, it is none of their business if the mountains are burned.
We were busy until about four in the afternoon. Uncle Jiang invited Grandpa Jiang back to the hut for dinner. Grandpa Jiang gave him the shovel and said, "I won't go. It's getting dark. I'll go down the mountain to Guixiang's place and have something to eat."
Guixiang is the name of Aunt Jiang.
During the Qingming Festival, because many people go up the mountain, the sound of firecrackers can be heard everywhere, and the jackals and animals in the mountains will run away, so the way down the mountain is not dangerous.
Uncle Jiang said, "During this period, Wei Hong and I have picked a lot of ferns and sour bamboo shoots. I will bring them down to you tomorrow morning."
Grandpa Jiang smiled and said cheerfully, "Bamboo shoots are good. Ningning likes to eat bamboo shoots."
Grandpa Jiang actually doesn’t like eating bamboo shoots.
As an old forest ranger who has watched over the mountains for decades, he has eaten everything there is.
In the past, when there was nothing to eat, Grandpa Jiang would dry a large amount of bamboo shoots, pickled bamboo shoots, and dried ferns every year and send a large bag of dried bamboo shoots and dried ferns to his sister's family, daughter's family, brother-in-law's family, in-laws, and every other household.
Ferns grow very fast. Every spring, after a spring rain, the mountains and fields are full of fern heads. If you don’t pick them quickly while they are still fresh and tender, the leaves will stretch out within two days and you will be inedible.
People in towns and cities love to eat ferns, but the locals eat them without even looking at them. There are so many ferns on the mountains that no one picks them, and no one would think of picking them and selling them. They think, how can you sell something that even pigs won’t eat?
But Jiang Ning loves to eat it.
She loves to eat fresh bamboo shoots, sour bamboo shoots, dried bamboo shoots, and dried ferns.
The further Grandpa Jiang went down the mountain, the lighter his steps became.
When we got to the old locust tree, there was a cow tied under the tree. On the waterproof platform where the old locust tree was planted, there were many idle old men sitting and bragging. When they saw Grandpa Jiang, they smiled and greeted him: "Old Fa Cai, you are willing to come back? How much money did you get this year?"
Grandpa Jiang boasted casually: "Ten thousand dollars!"
Everyone laughed out loud: "Ten thousand dollars, then you are really rich!"
Grandpa Jiang walked up to the platform with a smile on his face, and sat among them. He looked happily at these laughing old fellows, and his heart was as lonely as the snow!
Alas, I am telling the truth, why does no one believe me?
After bragging, Grandpa Jiang was in a very good mood and stayed in Jiang Ning’s hometown house at night.
The next morning, Grandpa Jiang came down with two large sacks. One sack was filled with fresh bamboo shoots dug that morning, and the other sack was filled with a jar of pickled bamboo shoots, dried bamboo shoots, dried ferns, and tea leaves.
"Shall I pick you up and take you to the boat?"
Now the boat is at the mouth of the dam not far from the Jiangjia paddy field. Due to the rising water level, there are many snakes and eels on both sides of the embankment. You don't need a fishing net. You just need to drag a ball of water plants floating on the water and throw it onto the embankment. Water snakes, rat snakes, firefly snakes, eels and other creatures will quickly emerge from the water plants, and you can just pick them up with a plastic bucket.
After picking them up, they throw the large clumps of water plants back into the river and wait to continue dragging the water plants to pick up eels and rat snakes tomorrow.
Grandpa Jiang said, "The boat is right outside my house. I can't even carry it for such a short distance. Go back and patrol your mountain."
Aunt Jiang got up early in the morning and made noodles and a poached egg for Grandpa Jiang, Uncle Jiang and others.
Uncle Jiang will also take his sons to Xinjie, Shuibu Town to build a house today, and will take the same boat as Grandpa Jiang.
There are a lot of people returning to the city today, and there are three boats parked by the river bank.
The rising water level has made boating a very dangerous thing. The closer to the edge of the village, the more dangerous it is. This is because the electric wires that were originally high above people's heads have submerged the electric poles due to the rising water level. Some of the wires are only one or two meters from the water surface. If you are not careful, the boat may hit the wires.
Water can conduct electricity.
The wire can also be very dangerous if it hits the handle of the rudder.
So people try to sail during the day and not at night.
Grandpa Jiang finished his meal contentedly. Aunt Jiang brought out a large bag of dried rice noodles and gave it to Grandpa Jiang: "Ningning loves the rice noodles I make the most. Take it to Wucheng for Ningning to eat!"
Uncle Jiang said dissatisfiedly: "You, woman, what good things do you have? Why don't you think about your sons? You always think about Ningning. When Ningning gets married, I don't know how many times she will come back to see you in a year?" He said with disdain: "You think about girls all day long. What's the use of girls?"
Just like Aunt Jiang herself, because she married from the neighboring county and the journey was too long, Aunt Jiang sometimes couldn’t go back to her parents’ home for two years.
Aunt Jiang was so angry that she glared at him: "Can you say less? Why are you talking so much just to get some rice and noodles for Ningning?"
"Okay, okay, okay, I won't say anything, okay?"
The eldest cousin's wife, who had already separated from the family and lived alone, couldn't stand her father-in-law's stinginess. Upon hearing this, she smiled and said, "That's right. The rice and flour are all made by ourselves. We didn't buy them. There is only one girl in this generation. It's reasonable for mom to favor her a little. It's not like there's no food in this disaster year, right?"
When talking about the disaster year, everyone fell silent.
Uncle Jiang looked at the silvery white river outside the door and said with a worried look on his face: "If the rain continues, it may be a disaster year. The water will reach our doorstep."
It’s a bit of an exaggeration to say that it’s at the doorstep, because so far, the water has been blocked outside the river embankment and has not affected the farmland on this side of the river embankment.
Grandpa Jiang said to Uncle Jiang, "Don't sell this year's grain. We have a big flood every ten years or so. It hasn't happened in ten years. Even if it's not this year, it will be next year or the year after next. We still need to make some preparations. Don't plant local grain this year. Plant hybrid rice instead."
Local grains are delicious, but the yield per mu is not high. Hybrid rice does not taste as good as local grains, but it has a high yield. In previous years, they planted a mixture of half hybrid rice and half local grains. Looking at the situation this year, they decided to plant all hybrid rice.
Uncle Jiang didn't argue this time and nodded in agreement.
His house is a newly built building, and the rice barn is built upstairs. It is large and has a high waterproof platform, so there is no need to worry about floods.
"It's to store more food."
Several people set out from Jiang's house in silence, with the eldest cousin carrying the burden.
The boat was not far from home. There were a lot of people on the boat and the cabin was full of things. My eldest cousin also put Grandpa Jiang’s things in the cabin. Several people sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the sparkling lake.
After a long while, Uncle Jiang finally sighed and said, "Fortunately, we don't just rely on crops to make a living now."
The job they took this time was to build houses on the new street in Shuibu Town. Identical three-story buildings were to be built on both sides of the entire street. The front of the first floor was a shop, the back was the kitchen, and the second and third floors were for living. There were two rooms in the front and back, a total of four rooms, which was more than enough for a family to live in.
Uncle Jiang wanted to buy a house for his youngest son in Xinjie.
The street is wide, new and very beautiful. Not far from the beginning of the street is the town junior high school, and not far from the end of the street is the town high school which is a combination of junior high school and high school. It will surely be popular in the future.
When this street was first built, many young people who had earned money working outside came to buy houses on the new street, thinking that the new street would gradually replace the old street and become a new prosperous street, just as the town government had planned.
Who would have thought that 20 or 30 years later, this street would still be deserted, with barely two or three kittens to be seen. On the contrary, the old street area had remained as prosperous as ever for decades, with the shops on both sides of the streets above, below, and to the left and right of the intersection becoming increasingly popular.
Because the old street leads directly to the ferry!
Everyone on the other side of the river who wants to go to the neighboring city or Wucheng has to take a boat to the ferry, then walk through the entire old neighborhood to reach the intersection where they can take a bus. At the intersection, an hour to the right is the neighboring city center, and an hour and a half to the front is Wucheng. How can Xinjie, which has nothing, compare with such a superior geographical location?
Uncle Jiang is now thinking happily that after the house in Xinjie is built, he will buy a house in Xinjie for his third son. In the future, his youngest son will also be a town resident like his younger sister, and he will have a shop in the town, so he doesn't have to work in the fields, and his life will be so comfortable.
Thinking about how he built big houses for his three sons, and how his youngest son will even have a shop in town in the future, and looking at his younger brother's family who still live in that short and dilapidated half-brick and half-earth house, I wonder, what's the point of studying? Instead of using the money to educate his three children, he might as well build a big house early so that they can live comfortably and look impressive. Unlike now, everyone talks about his brother's family behind his back and laughs at his stupidity.
Grandpa Jiang had no idea that Uncle Jiang was laughing at Father Jiang in his heart. He took out a bag of fresh bamboo shoots, dried bamboo shoots and dried fern from the snakeskin bag and gave it to Uncle Jiang: "Give these to Xiaofeng."
Uncle Jiang and his family also want to go to Uncle Jiang's house and ask Uncle Jiang to go to Xinjie to build a house together, which is a convenient thing to do.
Uncle Jiang took it and said with a smile: "The old man was thinking about Guoping and Xiaofeng, but he forgot to feel sorry for your eldest son."
Grandpa Jiang knew that Uncle Jiang was still blaming him for giving all his salary to Father Jiang after the family split up, so he didn't say anything and got into the car in silence.
The eldest cousin pulled Uncle Jiang and whispered, "Dad, stop talking."
When they were young, their grandfather loved them equally. Later, Grandpa Jiang gave all his salary to his second uncle after his second uncle's chicken farm went bankrupt and was in debt. So they didn't blame Grandpa Jiang in their hearts, but respected him very much.
"What's wrong? Can't you tell the truth?" Uncle Jiang smiled and happily took his three sons to work.
Grandpa Jiang walked in silence all the way to Wucheng. He originally wanted to carry some fresh bamboo shoots back to the store, but a snakeskin bag of fresh bamboo shoots was quite heavy. Only then did he realize that he was really old and could not carry such a small load.
He didn't know why, but thought about how his father suddenly passed away when he was twelve or thirteen years old. Faced with his mother who was still in confinement after giving birth, and his younger sisters and brothers who were crying for food, he followed the elders in the village to dig coal in the coal mine and relied on the coal mine to support his family.
Later, they experienced three years of great famine and the whole family almost starved to death. The riverbeds here were all dug out, so he followed the villagers to the riverbeds in the neighboring city dozens of miles away to dig lotus roots. In the dead of winter, he stood barefoot in the freezing cold river water. He still remembers the deathly hunger and cold.
He looked up at the Wucheng Bus Station in a daze. Because it was Qingming Festival, many people were returning to the city and the station was very busy with cars coming and going.
These were days he had never dared to imagine in his dreams.
It’s really different now. It’s really different now.
All the sufferings of the past are truly over.
When he arrived at the store, Jiang Ning was typing away on the computer. Today was the weekend, and Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai were both in the store.
Before she saw Grandpa Jiang, Tong Jingang had already come to greet him: "Grandpa Jiang is back!"
He enthusiastically took the two large snakeskin bags in Grandpa Jiang's hands and said, "Wow, what is so heavy? Is it delicious?"
Grandpa Jiang walked into the store slowly with his hands behind his back, and said with a smile: "It's the bamboo shoots that Ningning likes to eat, and the rice and noodles that your aunt gave you. Baizi likes to eat rice and noodles."
He sat on the recliner, opened the snakeskin bag, and took out things one by one: "Your uncle's grandmother fried tea leaves, dried bracken, dried bamboo shoots, and pickled sour bamboo shoots." He handed the sour bamboo shoots to Jiang Ning: "She knows you like to eat them, so she made a big jar of them. You can take them to school to eat."
He took out another bag and said, "This is rice, flour, and cypress seeds. Take some out for King Kong to take back. There are also bamboo shoots. Take a few more."
"No, no, no." Tong Jingang waved his hands repeatedly.
Grandpa Jiang smiled and said, "Take it. They are all made at home, and the bamboo shoots are also dug from the mountains."
Tong Jingang did not refuse: "Thank you, Grandpa Jiang."
After Grandpa Jiang distributed the items, he sat back in the rocking chair, rocking back and forth as he looked outside the store.
Jiang Ning used a purple clay teapot to make a pot of hot tea for Grandpa Jiang using this year's new tea, and placed it next to him, reminding him: "Grandpa, the tea is freshly brewed and it's hot, don't drink it directly from it!"
Grandpa Jiang's distant gaze fell back on Jiang Ning from outside. Seeing his little granddaughter nagging, he felt happy in his heart, but he said, "I know, I know. I'm not a child. Do I need you to tell me this?"
Jiang Ning covered Grandpa Jiang's legs with a thick blanket again.
Grandpa Jiang's legs used to hurt terribly when the sky was cloudy. It has eased a little now, but it still hurts.
He didn't complain or tell anyone about the pain, he just endured it and bore it.
Jiang Ning knew that he was in pain, so she sat next to his recliner and reached out to help Grandpa Jiang press his legs.
"No need to press it, it's okay, it doesn't hurt." Grandpa Jiang said, "Go read your book."
His eyes fell on the street outside the shop, swaying slowly.
The gaze seems very close, yet very far away.
While Grandpa Jiang was massaging Jiang Ning's legs, he said softly, "Grandpa, we now have a phone in our store. Next time you get to the station, give us a call and we'll pick you up, okay?"
Grandpa Jiang's gaze then turned from a distance to his granddaughter.
When he first held her in his hands, she was not much bigger than a kitten. In the blink of an eye, her granddaughter has grown up to this size. He starts to worry about him and feel sorry for him.
The wrinkles between his brows relaxed unconsciously. He looked at his grandchildren with a kind gaze, leaned his head contentedly on the recliner, and began to rock back and forth with his eyes closed.
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