Chapter 58 [Second update]
On Saturday, Jiang Ning and He Xiaofang were the only ones left in the dormitory.
Ever since Jiang Ning's evening self-study class started in the competition class, He Xiaofang felt that she and Jiang Ning had much less time together. Originally, she could still eat together with Jiang Ning and Xu Xiuli in the morning, noon and evening, but now Jiang Ning was not even there at mealtime.
Jiang Ning was not around, and she and Xu Xiuli had nothing to talk about. The two of them often sat opposite each other in silence while eating. Sometimes He Xiaofang couldn't help but say sadly, "Ah, I don't know what Ningning has been doing these days? I can't see her all day."
Jiang Ning seems to be very busy every day.
At the weekend, she thought that she and Jiang Ning were the only ones left in the dormitory, and they finally had some time to be alone. However, as soon as Jiang Ning finished class, he ran to the cafeteria to get food, and then disappeared.
Fortunately, she still had the magazines that Jiang Ning brought back every week to read, so she wasn't too bored.
It was not too late when Jiang Ning returned to the dormitory. When she heard the door open, He Xiaofang said in a low voice, "Ning Ning, you're back?"
"Yeah." Jiang Ning was a little tired.
Jiang Bai, Jiang Grandpa and I were in the store unpacking packages and hanging clothes until 6:55, when we left the store and caught the 7 p.m. curfew at No. 1 Middle School. We then went to the cafeteria to eat something.
Jiang Bo said he would go to the store to help tomorrow.
He used to study in the dormitory, but when he saw that his sister and grandfather didn't know how to do business, he was really worried about them.
Just like in his previous life when he watched Jiang Ning cooking, using the spatula in one hand and the pot lid as a shield in the other, cooking like a war, he felt helpless like now: Forget it, forget it, you can't do it, let me do it.
He is like this now. Forget it, neither of you knows how to do business, so let me do it.
Jiang Ning took her clothes and her kettle to take a shower. He Xiaofang also got off the bed and chased after Jiang Ning with the kettle in hand: "Ning Ning, I'll go with you!"
Jiang Ning was a little surprised: "You haven't washed yet?"
He Xiaofang was a little embarrassed: "I'm so bored alone, so I just want to wait for you to come together."
Jiang Ning actually didn't quite understand He Xiaofang's dependent behavior. She had been used to being independent since she was a child. She seemed to have never relied on anyone, either psychologically or materially, and grew up alone and wildly.
But she didn't say anything and went into the bathroom.
There are two types of bathrooms, a large open bathroom on the left and a small bathroom with a partition on the right.
Taking a shower in a small bathroom in the summer is dark and a bit hot, but in the winter the small bathroom is very suitable.
At this moment, Jiang Ning and He Xiaofang each occupied a bathroom, and no one spoke.
After a long time, He Xiaofang's voice came from the misty water vapor: "Ningning, do you not like me anymore?"
Um? ? ?
Jiang Ning, whose mind was completely immersed in the content of "The Great Song" that she had to write tomorrow morning, didn't react immediately: "What?"
He Xiaofang's voice became even darker: "Don't you like me anymore? You haven't eaten with me for a long time."
Because He Xiaofang snored very loudly at night, no one in the dormitory liked her, including Xu Xiuli.
She could clearly feel the dislike. The three dormitory heads went in and out together every day, and Liu Ping followed Lu Xuehua every day.
After Jiang Ning got busy, she seemed to be walking with Xu Xiuli, but in fact she seemed to be alone and isolated there. She couldn't fit in anywhere. But Xu Xiuli could talk to anyone as long as she wanted.
Jiang Ning then realized that she seemed to be in a low mood, and comforted her, "My grandfather came to Wucheng a few days ago. I was afraid that he would not adapt to the life in Wucheng, so I have been accompanying him these days."
The professional habits from the previous life made Jiang Ning appear calm no matter how tired he was.
Only then did He Xiaofang realize that Jiang Ning had not been around for a few days not because she didn't like her, but because she had gone to accompany her grandfather.
"Your grandfather came to Wucheng?" she asked in surprise.
"Yeah." Jiang Ning didn't say much: "He runs a small business here and has been busy with these things these days."
He Xiaofang felt a little apologetic, "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
Jiang Ning's laughter came from the next room, and in the air filled with steam, there was a kind of pleasant warmth: "I hope He Xiaofang can be better to herself and not worry about the behavior of others."
He Xiaofang blushed.
She didn't want to, but she couldn't help but care about other people's feelings and felt sad when others ignored her.
Just like how Jiang Ning treated her these days, she always fell into self-doubt, wondering if she had done something wrong to make Jiang Ning unhappy, which was why she ignored her.
How could Jiang Ning ignore her? She was just busy with her own things and didn't think so much.
He Xiaofang also knew that she had misunderstood, and her originally depressed mood immediately recovered. After taking a shower, she stuck together with Jiang Ning and went to wash clothes.
There were only two of them in the entire washroom area, and it felt really good. He Xiaofang was very happy and kept smiling.
When Jiang Ning got up in the morning, He Xiaofang also got up. She smiled embarrassedly and said that she wanted to run with her.
Jiang Ning has kept up the habit of morning jogging for many years. When He Xiaofang was willing to join in, she smiled and encouraged her, took her through warm-up exercises, and then started running, reciting to herself in a low voice as she ran.
Following her, running alone was already very tiring, and He Xiaofang, who was still listening to her reciting, said: …
He Xiaofang's face was covered with tears. She wanted to run with Jiang Ning, but she regretted not bringing a book with her. She couldn't review while running like Jiang Ning.
Why does Ningning have such a good memory? There was so much content, and I memorized it all word for word.
And she is so amazing and still works so hard!
He Xiaofang looked at Jiang Ning's back as she ran, her eyes filled with admiration.
She was like chasing the light, trying hard to catch up with Jiang Ning.
After running five laps, He Xiaofang almost collapsed from exhaustion. She could only walk behind and kept saying, "I can't run anymore. Ningning, you are amazing. How can you run so fast?"
Jiang Ning felt refreshed after running. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel, stood in front of the double bars, and stretched his legs.
"I feel like I've grown a lot taller during this period of time." The trouser legs are a little shorter, so I have to roll them down.
He Xiaofang saw Jiang Ning every day, so she didn't feel anything. She said, "Your brother is so tall, you will definitely grow tall too!"
There were hardly any people in the cafeteria at that time, and breakfast had just been prepared. Jiang Ning made herself soy milk, eggs and fried dough sticks. Knowing that Grandpa Jiang didn't like soy milk, she brought him a portion of salty tofu pudding and a big meat bun.
When she said goodbye to He Xiaofang this time, she also encouraged her: "Study hard and make progress every day!"
He Xiaofang, who was just swept up by Jiang Ning, said:...
She clenched her fists, made a cheering gesture, and watched Jiang Ning leave with tears in her eyes.
Jiang Ning is so smart and works so hard, and she is so stupid. If she doesn’t work harder, she will be embarrassed to be friends with Jiang Ning.
This time she didn't have time to dwell on her depression, so she returned to her dorm and quickly took out a book to read.
Grandpa Jiang likes today's tofu pudding very much.
His teeth were already bad, so he liked to eat soft and chewy food that didn't require much effort on his teeth. This salty tofu pudding was a good choice for him. After learning that this thing was 2 liang per serving, he said, "Bring me this for breakfast next time."
The big meat buns were delicious, 2.5 taels each, and Grandpa Jiang was a little reluctant to give them away.
The eldest granddaughter said that tofu pudding is nutritious and good for the body, so he ate it.
How could Jiang Ning listen to him? After giving him breakfast, she re-dressed the two models and had them stand on both sides of the door. She then matched a few more sets of clothes and hung them on the wall for display. Then she taught Grandpa Jiang how to use the tape recorder and the loudspeaker.
Grandpa Jiang had witnessed the booming business after Jiang Ning's store played the loud speaker that day. If the store had not run out of stock yesterday, they would have played it earlier.
He couldn't wait to play this thing, but Jiang Ning told him that he had to wait until after nine o'clock to turn on the speaker.
Grandpa Jiang was so anxious that he wished it would be nine o'clock in the next second.
Not long after Jiang Ning left, Jiang Bai came to the store. In order to prevent the store from having no business, he sat in the store and waited. He also brought his tutoring books and homework, as well as the iron he borrowed from Tong Jingang's house early in the morning, in case there was no business at that time. He could read books in the store, and iron his clothes when he got tired of reading.
He didn't iron the wrinkles on the clothes, and it really hurts his eyes to look at them.
As soon as he arrived at the store, he started to clean up.
All the packages that were originally piled in front were dragged by him to the wall behind the curtain and stacked neatly. Grandpa Jiang's bed was also made tidy. The pots and pans that were not used were placed in a mess in the corner and were also stuffed under the bed by him.
It’s a pity that there is no bookshelf for dishes and chopsticks, otherwise they could all be placed on the shelves.
The white floor was dirty, so he waved the new mop Jiang Ning bought and mopped the store carefully. Then he arranged all the shoes on the shoe rack in the same angle and direction.
After he had finished cleaning everything, Jiang Bai finally felt a little more comfortable. He opened the ironing table and prepared to iron his clothes.
Start ironing the clothes on the two models. Then the matching ones are displayed on the outermost edge and on the wall.
Finally, there are the clothes hanging inside.
He is the most diligent of the three Jiang siblings. In the words of Jiang's mother, he has a keen eye for work.
Perhaps it was because he lacked love since childhood. He was coaxed by Jiang's mother and has been very hardworking and willing to work hard since he was young. Among the three siblings of the Jiang family, he is the only one who is truly down-to-earth and has no ulterior motives.
His life motto is: Self-discipline is the cornerstone of success.
He has always adhered to it.
One of the most vivid memories was when we were harvesting rice in the field. Jiang Song was lively and quick-witted. Relying on his favor at home, he didn't want to stop harvesting rice after less than three minutes. He threw away the sickle and ran away to play. It was useless for Jiang's father and mother to call him, as he didn't listen at all. And you couldn't just leave the rice and run after him.
Jiang's father, mother, Jiang Bo and Jiang Ning were the only ones left in the rice field cutting rice. Jiang Bo cut rice for a while and suddenly stood up and asked Jiang's mother: "Why doesn't my elder brother cut rice, but my sister and I have to cut rice?" He stood there motionless: "If my elder brother doesn't cut rice, I won't cut rice either."
He refused to leave and just stood in the field. No matter how much Jiang Ma said nice things to him, he was determined that he would not harvest the fields unless his elder brother came back to do so.
Jiang's mother cannot treat Jiang Bai the same way she treats Jiang Ning. She cannot beat him or scold him whenever she wants. She usually uses soft tactics.
He was so stubborn when he was a child, and he is still the type who runs towards a goal without looking back when he grows up.
Grandpa Jiang just looked at his little grandson, who was like the snail girl as soon as he arrived at the store. In a short time, the whole store went from being messy yesterday to being in order now. All he had to do was lie on the rocking chair and rock slowly.
At around seven or eight in the morning, Jiang Bai originally thought that there would be no business, but unexpectedly, after a while, customers came to the store with fresh vegetables they had bought in the morning and wanted to see their new clothes.
They are all neighbors who come out in the morning to eat breakfast and buy groceries.
They heard last night that this clothing store had new goods, but the old man who looked after the store wanted to do good for them, the country folk, so he brought this batch of low-priced, high-quality clothes from the Jiangnan Garment Factory to the market in their Shuibu Town to sell.
When they heard the news, they wanted to come and see if the door was open. When they saw it was open, they hurried to see if there was anything they or their family members could wear.
I don’t know if it’s because the clothes were ironed, but the difference is too big compared to before, but when the neighbors saw the clothes on the model, they actually thought they were better looking than the previous batch of clothes.
I went over and felt the material. It was good material, no problem.
So what are you waiting for? Buy it.
They all knew that this store did not allow bargaining, so they did not say anything. If they saw something they liked, they would try it on, let Jiang Bai pack it up, and then they would just pay.
Jiang Bai originally planned to haggle with them. After all, even when he went to the market to sell eels and loaches, there were people who were picky. Sometimes they complained that this loach was too small, sometimes they complained that that eel was too thin, and asked him to sell it at a lower price.
Who would have known that the people here would not bargain at all when selling things, and were so straightforward that Jiang Bai was stunned for a moment before he took the money.
Since the clothes in the store were all priced at 29 or 39, Jiang Ning prepared a lot of one dollar bills for change.
Generally people give in whole numbers, but some people give small amounts, and quite a few of them deliberately give less than 30 or 50 cents.
But Jiang Bai is a very serious person. He does things in a very strict manner. If he says thirty-nine, it means thirty-nine, not a penny less.
Moreover, he insisted that the clothes in the store were sold at low prices and in large quantities, and he only made a dollar for each piece of clothing. So when he found out that others sold a few cents less and accused him of being too fussy, Jiang Bai would frown and say seriously, "After deducting the labor and rent, I can't make a few cents from you in total, and you're still shortchanging me by 30 or 50 cents. Am I not making any money, but losing money?"
That tone and attitude were so righteous that the people who lost money felt embarrassed and said, "You are such a honest businessman. How can you do business like this? How can you make money by doing business like this?"
The neighbors wished they could personally teach Jiang Bai how to do business.
Which clothing store on the street doesn’t quote prices too high so that people can still make a profit even if they cut the prices in half? How can one be so honest?
Grandpa Jiang, who was sitting in a rocking chair nearby, laughed when he saw this: "He is still a student, how can he do business? He just wants to make some money to make a living."
Then somehow word got out that this store only made one dollar per piece of clothing, so they couldn't pay a penny back.
When the owners of other shops in Wucheng heard the news, they were totally shocked. Is there any way to do business this way? Why would you open a store if it doesn’t make money? It’s so cheap that I won’t go to Shenzhen to buy goods. Can I buy directly from your store? It also saved me two trips of travel expenses.
In the mid-1990s, although there were a large number of laid-off workers and unemployed young people on the market, which led to a large number of gangsters who fought and brawled, there were four schools in the area of No. 1 Middle School and Wuzhong, and there was a public security bureau opposite the T-shaped intersection at the end of the two streets. Therefore, no matter how much trouble the gangsters made, they never came to the street of No. 1 Middle School and Wuzhong. If they really affected the college entrance examination and school admission rates of students from the two key high schools, the county leaders would not let them go.
So no one thought of hiring some thugs to cause trouble in the store.
The Public Security Bureau is not far away.
Moreover, which of the principals of No. 1 Middle School and Wuzhong Middle School does not have some connection with the higher-ups? Did you cause trouble at their school gate?
It was almost nine o'clock, and customers kept coming in to buy clothes. Although there didn't seem to be many people, Jiang Bai seemed to have been busy all the time.
Every time I ironed less than two pieces of clothing, new customers would come.
Later he simply stopped caring about it and focused on ironing his clothes, letting Grandpa Jiang collect the money.
Finally, it was nine o'clock as his granddaughter had said. Grandpa Jiang suddenly stood up from the rocking chair and took out the tape recorder and loudspeaker that Jiang Ning had taught him before.
Jiang Bai found this thing when he was cleaning the house before. He thought the tape recorder was used by Jiang Ning to learn English, so he didn't even touch it.
At this time, his grandfather took out the two things, tied the loudspeaker to the gate, and tied the tape recorder behind the loudspeaker, pointing it at the direction where the loudspeaker was speaking.
He was curious about what his grandfather was doing, and saw Grandpa Jiang turn on the loudspeaker and press the play button on the tape recorder.
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