Chapter 16 16

With a bang, Jiang's father hit Jiang Xi on the arm, and flew over, tightly grasping his daughter's arm, frightened to death.

He was shaking all over.

If he had delayed for a second, no, half a second, his daughter would have been gone.

She really wanted to commit suicide, without any hesitation.

With such a big knife, she cut her neck silently.

"What are you doing?" He shouted, "Your mother...your mother...just...just hit you a few times..." Jiang's father was shaking all over and couldn't speak, "Don't you want to live? You have a big temper, how can you be so angry...you bad child..."

He held Jiang Xi's arms tightly and didn't dare to let go, and he didn't dare to throw the kitchen knife in his hand, for fear that the child would be upset again.

"Do you know what you just did? Do you know how dangerous it was? How could you do such a stupid thing?" Jiang's father's head was buzzing.

He didn't know what happened. Why did his daughter talk to him just fine, and suddenly she wanted to cut her throat with a knife.

"You are still young now, you don't know what you are doing, you will know when you grow up..." Jiang's father had no idea what he was talking about. He didn't know

why she had such a big grudge. It was really that Jiang Xi's situation was many times better than other girls in the same village.

He also claimed to be a good father, treating his three children equally, and not favoring boys over girls.

In her generation, there were three cousins ​​and two brothers, and she was the only girl. They loved her so much, so how could they favor boys over girls? If you want to talk about favoritism, her family also favored her.

Her grandfather held her in his hands since she was young, holding her in his hands for fear of dropping her, holding her in his mouth for fear of melting her. His two grandsons didn’t love her, but she did.

She was four years younger than her eldest brother, and two years younger than her second brother. Since she was young, all the heavy work outside was done by her two brothers, and she only had to cook, wash dishes, clean, and take care of the cows at home.

It was only in recent years that she got to do the work of transplanting and harvesting rice, and it was only for a few hours in the morning and evening.

It can be said that among all the girls in the village, except for Hehua from the brigade secretary’s family and Gangqin from the second room, she lived the most relaxed and happy life.

He didn’t understand why she was killed with a knife when she was living a good life.

Father Jiang was still trembling with fear, and said to her with deep sorrow: "Even if I don't think about me and your mother, you should also think about your grandfather. If something happens to you, what will you ask your grandfather to do? If anything happens to you, I'm afraid your grandfather will immediately follow you."

Father Jiang was really scared.

In his opinion, this was just because Jiang Qing was young and angry with her mother. She was impulsive. After a few days, when the matter was over, or when she grew up, she would look back at her behavior and she would definitely regret it.

He would also have a good talk with Jiang's mother when he went back. He really couldn't beat the child. The child had grown up and had self-esteem. How could he beat him like he did when he was a child?

He really couldn't do anything about his daughter-in-law's violent temper.

At night, Father Jiang did not dare to leave. He stayed in the small room, watching Jiang Liu without stopping.

It was quiet in the middle of the night. Fatigue and fear made Father Jiang sweat on his back, and he thought about Jiang Liu's words.

She said he was not worthy of being a father, which was a great blow to Father Jiang.

He sat on the bamboo chair, supporting his forehead with his hands.

He knew that his wife had a bad temper and liked to beat children, but which family in the countryside did not beat their children? Including himself, he was also beaten by Grandma Jiang when he grew up. Boys are

naughty. When Grandma Jiang and her friends were young, they were very tired from working. How could they have the energy to take care of children? They would beat them if they were disobedient.

Beating children is really not a big deal in their minds. Is a little skin injury caused by bamboo strips also called injury?

He recalled the scene of Jiang Xi wiping her neck. The decisiveness and determination in her action shocked and frightened him.

How could this girl be so brave? Why was she so angry?

He sat on the chair, looking at his daughter sleeping peacefully in the mosquito net.

There are a lot of mosquitoes in the mountains, especially behind the hut is a bamboo forest. For the convenience of getting water, there is a flowing stream and a well in the bamboo forest. There are many mosquitoes near the water, and the mosquitoes in the mountains are even bigger and more poisonous. In just a short while, Jiang's father had many bites on his arms and legs, but he didn't dare to hit him, for fear of waking up his sleeping daughter.

He didn't dare to sleep, but Jiang Xi slept soundly.

After the sudden outbreak of strong desire subsided, all that was left was calm.

After the calm, there was regret again.

She really didn't think about grandpa.

If she died like this, how sad grandpa would be.

She was afraid that because of her death, grandpa would have to bury his young son and his life span would be affected.

Yes, this world is so beautiful, with the April sky, the May wind, the swaying lotus in summer, the fragrant osmanthus rain in autumn, so many delicious foods and beautiful scenery, and grandpa.

Thinking of grandpa, her heart seemed to be injected with a warm current, filling her chest.

She lay on the bed and fell asleep happily and peacefully.

Dad Jiang was bitten by mosquitoes and had no choice but to light several mosquito coils before he finally felt better.

In the second half of the night, when he was sure that his daughter was really sleeping soundly and would not get up in the middle of the night to do anything stupid, he quietly got up, opened the door, and hid the kitchen knife, scissors, hatchet, and old □□.

He hid them in the firewood pile behind the house, very deep, even Grandpa Jiang's □□ and the hatchet for chopping wood were hidden under the firewood pile by the wall, to ensure that no one could find them unless he told them.

After such a good night, Jiang's father was tired and sleepy.

On the contrary, Jiang Xi rested very well. After waking up, the self who cut his neck on impulse yesterday seemed so distant as a dream, a little unreal.

Sometimes she couldn't tell whether this was reality or a dream, and didn't know whether it was a dream yesterday, or a dream today, or both dreams.

Seeing Jiang Xiao wake up in the morning, she looked pretty energetic, with bright and clear eyes and a rosy face. She didn't look crazy and resolute like she did last night. She was well behaved and cute. Jiang's father breathed a sigh of relief and asked her with a cautious smile, "Xing Xiao, are you awake? What do you want to eat? I saw some crayfish in the jar. Daddy will grill some for you, okay?"

Thinking of the fact that Jiang Xiao was afraid of being beaten and didn't dare to go home because of the crayfish incident yesterday, he quickly changed the topic and said, "Xing Xiao, do you want to eat crabs? There are crabs in the stream. I'll go catch some and fry them for you."

The crabs in the mountain stream are not big and hide in the cracks of the rocks. The stream water is clear and you can pick up crabs by just lifting the rocks. Many children in the village like to catch crabs and eat them when they are herding cattle.

Grandpa Jiang likes to make fried crabs for Jiang Xi.

Speaking of crayfish, Jiang's father thought of the half-full jar of crayfish in the broken jar at the door, and asked her with a smile: "Did you catch the crayfish in the jar? Why are you raising them in the mountains?"

Jiang Xi glanced at Jiang's father dimly and said: "I want to sell them for money."

Jiang's father was stunned for a moment. He really didn't expect that his daughter would want to make money by herself. In his mind, making money has always been the business of adults like them. He and Jiang's mother worked hard to make money, paying off debts and supporting the three children in the family to go to school.

Thinking of the twenty yuan he made from selling crayfish yesterday, he said, "You do it, Dad will help you sell it, and I'll give you the money from the sale."

Jiang Xi smiled and shook her head and said, "No, I'll sell it myself."

She originally had no money, not even for the ferry, but now Grandpa gave her all the money he saved, although it wasn't much, but it was enough for the round trip by boat.

It's not market time yet, so Jiang Xi decided to go catch some more crayfish.

Jiang's father had also thought about catching some crayfish to sell, but now that his daughter was selling it, he didn't want to compete with her for business, so he went to the beach to fish again.

After two days of sweeping, the fish on the river beach were basically cleaned up, and the remaining small fish feces were almost all picked up by the children who were at home during the summer vacation.

Dad Jiang searched for a whole morning, but did not catch any big fish, only two black fish as long as his forearm. Dad Jiang simply released them and focused on catching some snails and river clams to bring back and raise in the yard.

When Jiang's mother saw Jiang's father coming back, she said with a very unhappy face: "You still remembered to come back? I thought you died outside!"

When Jiang's father heard the word "death", he thought of the incident yesterday when his daughter almost stabbed her neck. He frowned and said: "How many times have I told you not to hit the child, don't hit the child, why do you always hit her? Do you know that if I hadn't been quick yesterday, Qingqing would have stabbed her neck with a knife. I am sweating coldly when I think about it now."

Jiang's mother was also frightened and scolded loudly: "This suicidal thing, I just scolded her a few words, how did I hit her? She ran faster than a rabbit and was looking for death? She was so young and dared to slit her neck with a knife? If she wanted to die, why didn't she die quickly? Die early and be at peace!"

"Keep your voice down!" Jiang's father yelled, "Your words are like knives. She is at the age of having the strongest self-esteem. You scold her like this every day. Who can bear it?"

Jiang's mother was also angry and said, "If she can't bear a few scoldings, then if she was born in another family, wouldn't she die many times?" She was really angry, but she didn't doubt that what Jiang's father said was false. It was really because this daughter had been honest and stupid since she was a child. She was afraid that she would really do something like cutting her own throat in a fit of anger.

She has been raised to the age of fifteen. If she goes out to work for a few years, she can earn a lot of money for the family. In a few years, when she gets married, she can get a lot of dowry.

Her family has been studying for so many years for the girl, shouldn't the dowry be more?

She said, "I really didn't do anything to her. I just listened to her instigating you to use the farmland to raise those broken lobsters. I was so angry that I took a stick to chase her. Did I really hit her after catching up with her? I was just angry and wanted to teach her a lesson. You all saw what happened that day. I didn't hit her. Just for this matter, she took a knife and cut her throat?"

Jiang's mother suddenly paused, thinking, could it be that she was afraid that she would hit her, so she cut her throat out of fear?

This girl can't be so timid, right?

The more Jiang's mother thought about it, the more she felt that it was really possible. She was very afraid of her since she was a child. In their local dialect, she was so scared that she would pee her pants when she saw her.

She also thought about how she had been talking back to her these days. Did she think that studying was so important to her? Just because she was told not to study, her personality changed drastically. Now she even dared to kill herself. She was also afraid that she would really die and that she had been raised in vain.

Jiang's mother took a deep breath and said, "Tell her to go to work with Yueqin and bring me all the money for the New Year."

"All you do is work. What's the point of working? Isn't it just making money for others?" Jiang's father frowned and disagreed, "Let Xiaoxiao finish college, take the civil service exam, and eat government food. Who knows how popular she will be in the future. She and her two brothers can also help each other."

"Even if you can't be a civil servant, you can be a public teacher. You will have a stable income throughout your life, which is much better than working part-time." Jiang's father said, "Don't listen to people urging you to work all the time."

Jiang's mother said angrily, "You are the only one who knows this. I don't understand! I don't know if it's good for a girl to be a teacher? But there are three people in the family studying. We have to pay for the high school tuition. Next year, the two older ones will go to college. We also have to prepare money for Songzi's wedding. Everything costs money. Which one doesn't cost money?"

Jiang's mother Putting down the clothes in his hands, he said, "You can't just focus on the present, can you? It's okay for her to go to school now, but what about the future? Songzi and Jiang Bo are going to college soon. After graduating from college, they will be in their twenties and will get married soon. They need a house to get married, right? Your family still lives in such a shabby house!" When Jiang's mother said the word "shabby", the expression of disgust on her face almost overflowed the sky. She pointed to her own short and old house and said, "Look for yourself, which girl is willing to marry here?"

Jiang's father was silent.

Jiang's mother said, "You know how to be a good person every day, I will be the bad guy." She looked very annoyed: "She is only fifteen years old. If she really wants to study, she will be sixteen next year. Why can't she study? Yueqin's salary is so high, two hundred a month, two thousand four a year. With this two thousand yuan, Songzi and others will go to college next year. We are so tight. It's not a difficult job. Being a waiter, you won't be blown by the wind or rain. You don't even want to do such an easy job. Then come with us to the construction site to move bricks. Let her move bricks for a year, and I guarantee that she will go there in a hurry in the future!"

In the previous life, Jiang's mother also convinced Jiang's father with this reason, so that Jiang's mother did not hold her when dragging Jiang Xiao onto the tricycle.

Later, Jiang Xiao did come back to repeat her studies.

Jiang's father didn't say anything, but Jiang's mother knew that he agreed.

Jiang's mother said while hanging clothes to dry: "I am her biological mother, not her stepmother. She has studied for so many years, and I have done my best for her. When her two brothers go to college, the family is well-off, and she has made money, she wants to go to school. Will I stop her from studying?" She said: "Okay, stop messing around with your crap. "You said yesterday that you were going to catch crayfish and sell them. Catch more crayfish in the next two days and sell them at the market." He also said, "If you can't sell them in the town, take them to the market!"

Although Jiang's mother said she didn't want to raise crayfish, she wouldn't bother with money. Since this thing could be sold for money, Jiang's mother naturally let Jiang's father continue to sell it.

They are far away from their city, but very close to the neighboring city. It takes two and a half hours to ride a car from here to the ferry.

If people here have anything to do, they will not go to the city, but to the neighboring city. Even when they buy houses later, most of them buy houses in the neighboring city.

The city that Jiang's mother was talking about was the neighboring city.

Jiang's father originally wanted to make some snail meat sauce, so upon hearing this, he kept all the snails in a basin to spit out the sand and took a bamboo basket to pick up lobsters.

When Xiaoxiao was selling in the town, he would go to the market to sell.

Soon it was the market day. During these two days, Jiang Dad and Jiang Xiao had bought a lot of crayfish. They got up at dawn to roast crayfish.

While Jiang Dad was roasting, Jiang Xiao went to pick cucumbers and green and red peppers. He also picked a lot of garlic and put them in the crayfish as a garnish.

Since one pot was not enough, Jiang Dad had to make several pots. Jiang Xiao made several flavors of crispy crisps, including garlic, spicy, and fragrant. He filled a bucket with each flavor and a pot of side dishes, and then hurried to the boat.

Jiang Xiao had to take a boat to go to the town, but Jiang Dad only had to ride a bicycle to go to the neighboring city.

After hearing from Jiang's father that he was going to the neighboring city, Jiang Xi borrowed a scale from her aunt and rode her bicycle: "Dad, you go to the town to sell, I'll go to the market."

She wanted to go to the market to buy some books and periodicals that were not available in the town.

For the people here, the neighboring city is no different from their back garden. Many people go there and are very familiar with it.

Father Jiang was worried about her, "You'd better go to the town. There are too many people there, and it will take more than two hours to ride to the city. It's not easy for you to ride this bike."

Father Jiang's bicycle was a 28-inch bicycle. The bike was tall and big, with a big bar in the front. For Father Jiang, who was tall and had long legs, such a 28-inch bicycle was just right for him to ride. But for Jiang Xiao, who was short and thin and had just started to grow, it was too big.

Jiang's father said, "I'm afraid you won't be able to reach the pedals if you ride on it."

Indeed, she couldn't. Jiang Xi got off the bike without saying a word to adjust the seat height. Jiang's father went over to her and adjusted the height to the lowest. He patted the seat and said, "It's still high. Try riding it."

Jiang Xi was ready to pass her legs through the hole under the big bar and ride diagonally. Unexpectedly, after the seat was lowered, she could barely reach the pedals. She tied two wooden barrels to both sides of the back seat of the bicycle. Seeing that she was stubborn, Jiang's father came to help her.

He really didn't understand why his daughter had to go so far to the city. He said that it was more convenient to go to the town. She could get there as soon as she got off the boat. But he also found that his youngest daughter had the same stubborn temperament as his youngest son. All three children he raised were stubborn.

This was also Jiang Gui’s first time riding a bicycle to the neighboring city. She used to drive back and didn’t take this road. This road passed through many villages and several towns. It took a long time to ride a bicycle to reach places that she could reach quickly by car before.

When she encountered several towns with markets on the road, she got off the car to buy plastic bags and sold some lobsters. After resting enough, she continued to pedal to the city. She

set out before six o’clock and didn’t arrive in the city until after eight o’clock. She was familiar with the neighboring city, but not with the neighboring city of this era, so she asked how to get to the People’s Shopping Mall.

Even after several decades, the People’s Shopping Mall is still the center of the neighboring city and is very prosperous.

Although Jiang Xi's family was not far from the neighboring city, they spoke two completely different dialects. Fortunately, the two places were adjacent and many marriages were inter-marriage. Although Jiang Xi could not speak the language of the neighboring city, she could understand it. She also spoke Mandarin, so others could understand her. Soon, under the guidance of the enthusiastic grandfather and mother, they arrived at the People's Mall.

As expected, it was located in the city center. There were many people visiting the People's Mall. Jiang Xi found a place under the shade of the trees outside the mall, locked the car, opened two large wooden barrels and started selling.

Lobsters are plentiful in the countryside, but not common in the market. Jiang Xi organized a tasting event. People who come to the People's Mall are generally well-off and mostly young. After tasting, they think it's delicious and feel embarrassed not to buy it, so they buy one or two pounds. Jiang Xi also cuts a cucumber strip and green and red peppers into each portion for them to mix. A pound of lobster can be mixed into a large bowl, which is very decent to buy home for cooking and drinking. It didn't take long for the two wooden barrels of lobsters to be sold out.

After selling the lobsters, Jiang Xi didn't rush back, but went to the newsstand and bought magazines and periodicals such as "Martial Arts", "Friends", "Story Collection", "Youth Digest", and "Reader", including short stories and magazines that can serialize novels.