On Friday evening, many parents were waiting at the gate of Linjiang Middle School. Most of the students in Linjiang Middle School are boarders, and they can only go home on weekends, so there are especially many parents at the school gate every Friday.
When the last bell rang, the teachers did not extend the class. They said the class was over and let the children rush out with their schoolbags on their backs like birds out of a cage.
When Jiang Jiang rushed to the school gate with his big schoolbag on his back, there were not many students at the gate. Instead, the gate was crowded with parents, and no matter how the security guards shouted, it was useless.
"Please make way for me."
Seeing that she couldn't squeeze out, Jiang Jiang had to speak. But her voice was too soft and the parents in front of her didn't hear it at all.
Jiang Jiang bit his lip, then simply lowered his body, intending to crawl through from underneath.
"What are you doing, kid!"
"Who touched my leg? Hey, hey!"
"Don't crowd, there's nothing to crowd!"
Although he created a small chaos, Jiang Jiang broke out from the encirclement of many parents.
Jiang Jiang got out and continued running along the street without looking back. When she reached the fork in the road, she turned right and ran another 500 meters before stopping in front of a noodle shop.
It's dinner time now, and the noodle shop is packed with customers.
Jiang Jiang calmed his breathing a little, smoothed his hair, and then walked inside.
When passing by a table, Jiang Jiangchong called out softly to the old man who was cleaning the table, "Grandpa."
Grandpa Jiang heard the voice and turned around, "Go to the kitchen quickly, your mother is too busy to come."
The old man kept moving his hands while he was talking.
Jiang Jiang nodded and continued to walk quickly inside. There was a cash register inside the hall. Jiang's father was taking orders online, then printing out the orders and handing them over to the kitchen.
"dad."
Jiang Jiang called out, then put her schoolbag in the cabinet under the cash register. Without her father saying anything, she continued walking towards the back kitchen.
She pulled open the curtain, and the two people who were busy in the kitchen heard the sound and looked at her together.
Jiang's mother said nothing and continued to speak. She had a pile of takeout orders in front of her and had no time to talk.
When Grandma Jiang saw Jiang Jiang, it was like she had seen a savior.
"Come on, come on, big brother, you do it!" Grandma Jiang said as she handed the chopsticks in her hand to Jiang Jiang.
Jiang Jiang hurried over and took over the work from Grandma Jiang.
"Two bowls of pickled mustard greens and shredded pork, two bowls of large intestines, and one bowl of chicken fillet."
Just as Grandma Jiang finished her words, Father Jiang from the cashier's counter poked his head in and said, "Another bowl of pickled mustard greens and shredded pork, and another bowl of chicken fillet."
"Yes." Jiang Jiang responded, and then quickly and skillfully simmered, boiled, served, and poured soup and water on the soup. She had helped with this work since she was a child, and her body had memorized it.
After Grandma Jiang handed the things to her, she immediately went to the sink next to her. There were a lot of dirty dishes piled in it. The family was busy and had no time to clean them. Fortunately, Jiang Jiang came back.
This small noodle shop is opened by Mr. and Mrs. Jiang. Because of its good taste and affordable prices, it attracts many customers and is one of the more popular noodle shops in the area.
In the beginning, the takeaway business was not so popular, and even Father and Mother Jiang were busy enough to handle it. Occasionally, Grandma Jiang and Grandpa Jiang would come to help at mealtime, so there were enough manpower.
Later, as the takeaway business became popular, the store was short of staff. At first, Jiang's father also worked as a delivery man, but later he simply handed it over to the delivery riders.
Because they had to take takeout and print out takeout receipts, there had to be someone at the cashier counter at all times, so Jiang's father was assigned to the front cashier counter.
Jiang's mother was alone in the kitchen, dealing with takeout orders and taking care of orders in the store, so she simply had no time.
Grandma Jiang had no choice but to go to the kitchen to help, but she was old after all, her memory was not good, and her hands and feet were slow, so she was not as quick as Jiang Jiang.
Gradually, Jiang Jiang became the main staff in the store. She would come to the store to help every morning before school and every afternoon after school. With her help, Jiang's mother's pressure was reduced.
But Jiang Jiang was still in school after all, so he could only help for a short while.
It wasn't until 7:30 in the evening that the number of customers in the store gradually decreased and there were fewer take-out orders.
After standing for two hours, Jiang Jiang finally had a chance to drink some water and catch his breath. Jiang's mother also went to the front to rest for a while, and the kitchen was handed over to Jiang's father.
Grandma Jiang handed the dishwashing task back to Grandpa Jiang, and she began to cook dinner on a stove in the back kitchen.
Taking advantage of the free time, Jiang Jiang took a schoolbag from the cashier, took out a math paper from the schoolbag, and started working on it.
It took Jiang Jiang half an hour to finish the first ten multiple-choice questions on the test paper, and he did so by guessing.
Jiang Jiang is now in the third year of junior high school. She has less than two months left before the high school entrance exam, but her grades are poor. Her teacher said that she can at best go to a vocational high school and should forget about going to a normal high school.
Her family also said that her grades were so bad that she would probably not get many points in the high school entrance exam, so she should just give up studying and it would be better for her to help out at home.
But Jiang Jiang wanted to go to school, she wanted to go to high school, she didn’t want to make noodles all her life.
However, no matter how hard she tried, her grades were still not improving. Just like her grandmother said, she was simply not cut out for studying.
While Jiang Jiang continued to struggle with the multiple-choice questions, Grandma Jiang came up to her with two plates of food.
"Go call your brother back, it's time for dinner."
Seeing Jiang Jiang working on the test paper, Grandma Jiang couldn't help but add another sentence.
"If you don't have the material to study, you don't have the material to study. You study hard and your score hasn't increased by two points. You might as well cook noodles with your parents and take good care of your two younger brothers. When your younger brothers become successful, let them take care of you. I don't know how comfortable it will be."
Grandma Jiang became more and more excited as she spoke, and was reluctant to stop.
Jiang Jiang didn't say anything. He just folded the papers and put them into his schoolbag, then put the schoolbag back into the counter under the cashier and left the noodle shop.
Inside the store, Grandma Jiang was still saying, "I don't know who this character resembles. She can't do anything. She can only work in the kitchen. If she were to work at the front counter, she would have such a sullen face. Who would dare to come and eat noodles? She acts like someone owes her something all day long. She doesn't have the energy of a child at all."
Even though Jiang Jiang walked quickly, she still heard everything Grandma Jiang said. It was not the first time she had heard such remarks, but she still felt uncomfortable every time she heard them.
Jiang Jiang pursed his lips, suppressed the heat in his eyes, and walked towards the small shop two stores away.
Inside the grocery store, an old man was watching TV with two boys who looked exactly the same.
Jiang Jiang didn't go in. He stood at the door and called out, "Brother, come home for dinner."
The old man and two children were watching so intently that they didn't hear Jiang Jiang's voice, so Jiang Jiang had to go inside.
The old woman noticed someone coming in, and she looked away from the TV. When she saw it was Jiang Jiang, she smiled at her.
"Grandpa Zhang."
Jiang Jiang shouted, then walked over and gently patted one of the boys on the shoulder.
"Zifei, go home and have dinner."
"Pah!" The boy slapped Jiang Jiang's hand away and said angrily, "I don't want to eat!"
Jiang Jiang's hand shrank back after being hit by him. The boy was only eleven or twelve years old and was already quite strong. Her hand turned red visibly.
Jiang Jiang bit his lip and called to the other boy, "Zixiang, grandma wants you to go home for dinner."
The boy tilted his head to glance at her, then quickly turned his head back.
Grandpa Zhang couldn't stand it anymore and turned off the TV with the remote control, "Everyone, go home and eat!"
When the two boys saw that the TV was turned off, they had no choice but to stand up unhappily and run out.
When Lin Ling followed them home, he saw that the two boys had already been seated at the table by Grandma Jiang, and the meal had even been served.
"My two good grandchildren, eat more. Grandma specially made squid for you two today. Isn't this your favorite? Eat more!"
When Grandma Jiang faced her two twin grandsons, all the wrinkles on her face came out with a smile.
The others had already taken their seats. They put two tables together, with Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang sitting at the top, Father and Mother Jiang sitting on one side, and the two twins sitting on the other side.
Jiang Jiang filled a bowl of rice, dragged over a bench, and sat on the side close to the aisle.
There were three dishes on the table: squid, shredded potatoes, and cold jellyfish, all of which were the twins' favorite dishes.
Jiang Jiang took a look and reached for the shredded potatoes with her chopsticks. She was allergic to seafood and couldn't eat the other two dishes.
"I don't know whether to call you a jerk or a bitch. You can't eat this or that. I don't know who you resemble at home."
"My two big grandchildren are the best. They can eat anything and are in good health."
Grandma Jiang couldn't help but say a few more words. Hearing this, Jiang Jiang lowered his head and just focused on shoveling rice into his mouth.
Not long after, Jiang's father and mother talked about today's profits.
"It's too busy at noon. There are too many people in the store and too many online orders. It's past midnight when my eldest son gets home from school, so there's no time to complete the online orders."
"I think we still need to hire someone in the store," Jiang's father concluded.
"Who should we hire? I wonder how much it will cost to hire one person? Anyway, the eldest daughter is about to finish junior high school, and she is not a good student, so let her come to the store to help. During this period, the old man and I will take care of it. Last year I told her not to study anymore, but she insisted. What's the point of a girl studying so much?"
Father Jiang wanted to say that children nowadays have nine years of compulsory education and must study, but he thought that Grandma Jiang wouldn't understand, so he didn't say anything.
"I think it's okay. The eldest child should not continue to study after graduating from junior high school. His grades are not good anyway."
Mother Jiang, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke.
Grandma Jiang had told Jiang Jiang countless times to drop out of school and help in the store, but the two people in charge of the family had never agreed.
Today, Jiang's mother finally agreed. Jiang's father always listened to Jiang's mother, so the matter was settled.
Sure enough, when Father Jiang heard Mother Jiang say this, he agreed ambiguously.
"It's really not possible to have no one to help in the store."
Jiang Jiang, whose fate was decided, almost buried her head in the bowl. She shoveled rice into her mouth in big mouthfuls and felt that today's rice was particularly salty.
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