Chapter 176 176
Of course she has realized that Jiang Xi is different, Beijing University, Olympic Poker Gold Medal, Wenquxing in the sky.
Before today, even though she has felt the villagers' implicit compliments to her, she only got home on the night of the 28th of the lunar year, and started cleaning and moving furniture to the new house on the 29th of the lunar year, and also had to prepare various ingredients for the New Year's Eve. She was so busy that she had no time to rest. On New Year's Eve, Jiang's father took Jiang Xi and Jiang Bai to worship their ancestors and visit the graves. Jiang's mother did all the work at home alone. She didn't need to make the New Year's Eve dinner on the night of the 30th of the lunar year, but she did all the preparations. Jiang's father took Jiang Xi to write couplets.
On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Jiang's father went to the cinema to watch a movie, and then went to Jiang Guotai's house for dinner. In the evening, they ate at Jiang's house again. She started to get busy again. She wanted Jiang Xi and Jiang Bo to help her, but people who brought gifts came one after another. Jiang Xi and Jiang Bo, two literate college students, were arranged by Jiang's father to receive the gifts and keep accounts. They had to record who gave gifts and how much they gave. They would have to repay the favors in the future. When other people had weddings, they would follow their gift standards and either return the same amount or increase a little.
Mother Jiang herself is illiterate and cannot do the easy jobs of writing and drawing. When guests come in the evening, her cooking skills are not good enough, so Father Jiang has to do it himself, and she helps in the kitchen. Afterwards, when she returns to her parents' home, she always brags about how big the house is, how many rooms it has, and how big the kitchen is.
Of course, she didn't say that outwardly, but she was complaining with a smile behind her words: "Your brother-in-law is a big coward. He built such a big house. He has more than one son. What will happen to his younger son if he builds such a big house?"
She also said: "Your brother-in-law wants his children to live together in the future, so that it will be lively. He thinks, of course, what son doesn't separate when he grows up?"
But complaining aside, Jiang's mother was mostly happy that the family had such a big house, the best-looking and most luxurious in the village. She felt proud.
Her brothers and sisters from her natal family always praised Jiang Qing and Jiang Bai for being admitted to university, and Jiang's mother would bring the topic back to the big house. Only a real house could make her feel proud.
As for Jiang Bai and Jiang Qi, they are college students, but they are still freshmen. They still have three and a half years to go. They have to spend a lot of money every year. After they graduate, even if they eat at the government, they will only get a salary of 300-400 yuan a month. Their tuition fees for a year are more than 3,000 yuan, and they don't even count living expenses. No
matter how Jiang's mother calculates, she thinks it's better for them to sell lunch boxes with them. If they do well, they can make nearly 100,000 yuan a year, which is much better than a salary of 300-400 yuan a month. The iron rice bowl is just a good name.
In the past, Jiang's mother certainly thought that having a stable job was a privilege and was great. However, after spending two years in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, she has made a lot of money that she never dared to think about in the past. She has also been influenced by the open-minded atmosphere in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and her concept of a stable job has changed a little.
More importantly, she cannot empathize with Jiang Xi, a college student.
Because she thinks from the bottom of her heart that girls are raised by other people's families, and sending girls to college means spending money to help other people's families go to college. She only feels sorry for Jiang Xi spending her money to go to college. Before Jiang Xi's college education brought her any practical benefits, she felt from the bottom of her heart that there was nothing to congratulate Jiang Xi for getting into Beijing University.
After that, on the third and fourth days of the Lunar New Year, they were preparing for the beam raising banquet on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Jiang's father was buying banquet items, notifying relatives and friends, borrowing various things from villagers, and confirming manpower. The couple was
so busy that they had no time to rest. It can be said that even though Jiang's mother knew that Jiang Wu was now a college student and different, she was too busy and didn't feel too deeply about this matter.
Until today, when she was in the kitchen, everyone was eager to hold her. People who might not even say hello when walking on the street in the past took the initiative to come to the kitchen to help her with work. Even her own brother came over with his child in his arms, just to let Jiang Wu hold him and get a taste of her blessings.
What blessings does Jiang Wu have? When she was born, she encountered a flood that was rare in more than ten years. It was unknown how many acres of fertile rice fields were submerged, causing famine.
Within two years, a chicken plague killed all the chickens in the chicken farm. Not only did her years of hard work go down the drain, but she also owed a huge debt that she thought she could never pay off in her lifetime.
The villagers joked that it was all her little daughter's fault. Her little daughter must have bad luck in her life, which brought bad luck to her family. Otherwise, how could she have been fine in the past few years? Life was getting better and better. Why did she have so many problems when she was born?
But Jiang's mother never thought about why no one said that Jiang Yanyan, who lived behind her house and was born right after her, was a jinx in the family of Jiang Town Chief.
The flood was not just a matter for their family, but for the entire Shuibu Town and even the neighboring city. How could it be the bad luck brought by Jiang Xi's birth?
The chicken plague was not only in her chicken farm, but also in half of the country. There were so many chicken farms in the country, and hundreds of millions of chickens died. How could it be Jiang Xi's fault?
But she could not think of these. Her eyes only saw the palm-sized land of Jiangjia Village and Linhe Brigade. As for the floods and chicken plague outside Linhe Brigade, she could not see them. She could only see the disaster in front of her, which happened in her family.
In her opinion, Jiang Xi was the most unlucky person. The most unlucky person deserved to be beaten, deserved to be hungry, and deserved to have a bad life, because you are unlucky, you are a jinx, and you deserve to have a bad life.
But now her brother said that he wanted to take advantage of Jiang Liu's good fortune, saying that she was the Wenquxing in the sky.
Jiang's mother knew that the Wenquxing in the sky was used to describe the top scholar in ancient times, even if she was ignorant.
She watched "Justice Bao" and saw that Qin Xianglian's husband Chen Shimei was the top scholar who rode a horse in the streets and was favored by the princess and became the princess's consort. From then on, he rose to fame and fortune, and went in and out in a sedan chair with eight carriages, luxury cars and mansions.
A person who she had treated as a scavenger for more than ten years, suddenly one day, everyone around her told her that she was the Wenquxing in the sky.
They also wanted to take advantage of her good fortune and literary spirit.
Jiang's mother felt awkward and anxious, especially when this person was her brother, the feeling was even more awkward. She was so awkward that she couldn't speak, so she told Jiang's father awkwardly.
When Jiang's father heard this, he immediately showed a proud smile on his face and said, "I thought it was a big deal. Just ask me to hug you. What's wrong with that?" He called Jiang Xi upstairs, "Xixi! Your uncle asked you to hug Xiaolong. Are you free now?"
Jiang Xi and Jiang Bai were toasting the young people upstairs. Except for a few who were still studying, the unmarried men and women at these three tables were basically all working.
When Jiang Xi toasted to one of the tables, a girl suddenly pulled her sleeve and shyly called her, "Sister Xixi."
Jiang Xi looked at her with a smile in his eyes, "Hmm?"
The girl is from the second branch of the family. After graduating from junior high school in June of the year before last, she first studied sewing for half a year at the home of her sister-in-law who knew how to make clothes in the village. During the Chinese New Year last year, she followed her relatives to work in a clothing factory and did not return until the end of the year. On New Year's Eve, in the ancestral hall of Jiangjia Village, we saw Jiang Xi and Jiang Bai being surrounded by the most prestigious elders in the village, including the old village chief, the old secretary, the town chief, and Jiang Guotai, who entered the ancestral hall to offer sacrifices to their ancestors.
Especially Jiang Xiao, who was admitted to Beijing University and won the gold medal of the IMO International Olympiad with a perfect score. It is said that she was on the "News Network". Reporters from the provincial and municipal radio stations and the county TV station came to interview Jiang Xiao, and Jiangjia Village became known to the outside world. Now Jiangjia Village is more popular in the surrounding areas.
She originally thought that she would be like many other girls in the village, working as a factory worker and marrying a man who looked like her in her early twenties. Unexpectedly, there was a Jiang Xiao who was admitted to Beijing University in the village.
Jiang Gui was still the same glorious girl. In front of the ancestral hall, she encouraged the villagers, regardless of whether they were boys or girls, to study hard and pass the exams to see the world from a higher and farther place. She told the villagers that regardless of whether they were boys or girls, as long as they could get into university and get a stable job, and if they became cadres, then they would be the parents of the cadres.
She said shyly, "After returning from the ancestral hall that day, I told my parents that I still wanted to study. My parents agreed that I could go back for another year, and if I could get into No. 1 Middle School, they would continue to support my studies
." Holding the bayberry wine in her hand, she said embarrassedly, "Thank you, Sister Yingying." Jiang Ying was only sixteen years old. The girl in front of her might be older than Jiang Ying. After all, people in their place generally start school late. However, Jiang Ying had the calm and steady temperament of a superior, which made the girl call Jiang Ying "Sister" directly when she didn't know who was older between her and Jiang Ying.
Jiang Xi's heart softened when he heard this, and his eyes became softer as water. He reached out and patted her shoulder: "Study hard, no matter what school you apply to, study is the cheapest and most successful way to change our lives."
The girl looked at Jiang Xi with shining eyes and nodded vigorously: "Yes!"
Especially after she had suffered for more than a year and had several holes poked in her fingers by Mada's needle, she was more eager to study.
Her grades were originally good. A year and a half ago, she was only a few points away from Wucheng No. 1 Middle School. Seeing that she did not pass the key high school, her family was unwilling to let her go to school anymore, and let her follow the crowd to learn a craft and go to a clothing factory.
This is what everyone in the village does, so they don’t think there’s anything wrong with letting girls work to earn money for a few years. But when they saw the beautiful Jiang Ning in front of the ancestral hall, they realized that girls in the village didn’t just have to work, they could also work. Like a big man with three bedrooms, he can support the girls in the family to go to school. If the girls are good at reading, their parents will still be proud of their faces. Even if their daughter gets married in the future, she is still their daughter. If they come to the house for something, how can she not help them? Her brother is in trouble, can she, as a sister, help him?
The girl's parents didn't love their daughter, but the traditional concept and the general values of the villagers made them think that it was enough for girls to graduate from junior high school and learn to read. However, when they saw Jiang Yu standing in front of the ancestral hall, the white snow behind her covered the walls and roof of the ancestral hall, and the icy willows glowed silver in the morning light, and the girl's body seemed to be enveloped by orange golden light, the glory of that moment shone into the girl's eyes and engraved into the girl's heart, so that she mustered up the courage to tell her parents that she wanted to continue her studies when she returned home that night.
Fortunately, her parents agreed.
When she looked at Jiang Xi, it was like seeing a tree standing in front of her, giving her a direction to pursue at any time, so that she would not get lost. This tree was not huge and strong, but it was shining.
Jiang Xi heard the shouts from Jiang's father downstairs, and smiled and said to the girl: "Come on, you can do it!" After encouraging her, she put down her wine glass and went downstairs. At the entrance of the stairs, she took over her little cousin.
The little cousin was still a little shy and buried his head in Uncle Jiang's arms. His aunt smiled and said, "Oh, you are still shy? What's there to be shy about? Come and hug your sister."
With the encouragement of Uncle Jiang and his aunt, he finally turned his head to look at Jiang Wu's smiling eyes, and then shyly buried his head in Uncle Jiang's shoulder. However, Uncle Jiang still handed him to Jiang Wu, and he was very well-behaved and did not struggle.
After Jiang Xiaojiu took it, she weighed the weight in her hand and said, "Our little dragon is very strong and healthy. He should get more sun exposure and exercise in the sun." She said to Jiang Xiaojiu, "Children should exercise in the sun more often, which will help promote the absorption of calcium by their bones. If you are afraid that the midday sun is too strong, then you can let your child play more in the sun before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m., such as skipping rope or playing football.
" Jiang Xi knew something about my little cousin. Because he was born prematurely, my uncle and aunt have been particularly worried about him since he was born. They would hold him in their arms wherever they went. Plus, my cousin is allergic to some pollens and mites. In those days, there was no concept of allergies. They were just worried that the child always caught a cold and had nosebleeds, but they couldn't find anything wrong with him at the hospital. The anxious couple took my cousin to see doctors everywhere, and it was not until he graduated from college that they found the source of his allergies.
She asked about some symptoms of Jiang's cousin when he was sick, and smiled and said to her uncle: "Many weak children have weak immunity and are allergic to many things, such as pollen and catkins. Take him to places with many flowers less often in spring, and to places with many catkins less often in May and June. Wash and dry the sheets and mattresses more often, and see if it will get better."
Jiang's uncle used to think that Jiang Bai and Jiang Liu were both children, so he would never take their words to heart. They were never equals, but Jiang Liu is different now. She is a top student at Beijing University and has seen the world in Beijing. Although Although he didn't know whether what Jiang Xi said was right or not, he still kept it in mind and said, "Then I will pay more attention to it." He also said to his aunt, "Take the children to see flowers less often in the future, and don't keep the flowers in the yard, and replace them with other ones."
His aunt was more casual and said, "I always tell you to let Xiaolong and Ashan run and jump more, but you won't let them. Boys should be more active. You lock him up at home every day and don't let him go out."
Uncle Jiang said, "I'm not afraid that he will sweat and get windy outside, and then..." It
was New Year's Day, and they didn't say anything unlucky, but everyone understood what they meant.
Jiang Xi held his little cousin for a long time before putting him down. Uncle Jiang said to him, "Go play with Ashan and the others. Don't run too fast and don't go outside."
Ashan is the son of Uncle Jiang's daughter. He calls Xiaolong Uncle, but he is the same age as Wang Xiaolong.
But Wang Xiaolong has been raised by Uncle Jiang to be introverted and shy. He sticks to Uncle Jiang and never leaves. He just wants to hug his father's neck and nestle in his father's arms. He is not like other children of the same age who can't sit still for a moment and run around the house.
He is very obedient, but such a young child doesn't need to be so obedient.
After the banquet, Jiang Xi and Jiang Bai took Uncle Jiang away from Jiangjia Village.
Dad Jiang wanted his two children to stay at home for a few more days, but not only Grandpa Jiang Bai was in a hurry to go out and sell clothes to make money, but Mom Jiang also had to go out to make money.
Jiang Xi and his friends left on the morning of the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. Jiang's father and mother spent most of the day sorting and putting away the leftovers from the banquet. They asked the people who helped if they wanted the leftovers. They naturally said yes happily. At this time, they didn't care about what others had left over. What happened to the leftovers? There was still a lot of meat in it, and it was full of oil and water. If you didn't have good connections and helped, you couldn't get it.
In the middle of winter, the vegetables wouldn't go bad. The good meat and vegetables from home could be eaten after two days, so the leftovers from the banquet could be eaten first.
After dealing with all this, the couple cleaned the house again. Jiang's mother took off all the sheets, washed them, and hung them on the bamboo poles in the main room. She gave the key to Jiang's aunt, asking her to come over when she had time to help them collect the washed sheets and put them in the cupboard. When the sun came out, she helped them take out the sheets to dry them to prevent them from getting moldy.
There was a lot of moisture here, and furniture and sheets were most likely to get moldy.
Jiang's aunt naturally agreed. It was not a difficult task. It was easy for Jiang to help. Jiang's aunt always helped.
In the afternoon, Jiang's mother packed her luggage and was anxious to leave.
When Jiang's father saw Jiang's mother's packed luggage, he asked in confusion, "Why are you in such a hurry to leave? We haven't finished dealing with the family affairs yet."
Mainly, Jiang's father was thinking about what Jiang Xi and Jiang Guotai had said about setting up a sand factory.
Jiang's mother glared at him, "As soon as you stick your butt out, I know what you are up to. Stop it right away. If you dare to take out a loan to set up a factory, I will tear you apart!"
She was not joking, her eyes were even red.
She simply didn't believe that the river sand that can be seen everywhere on the river beach would be bought and sold for money.
There is plenty of this stuff on the river beach. The size of the sand river is the size of this river sand beach. Who can build a house and sell this stuff at random? He is really crazy about money.
A little girl who had never made any money dared to talk nonsense in front of others, saying that she would contract a beach and open a sand factory just because she was admitted to a university. She heard that the contract fee for this sand factory alone would cost hundreds of thousands of yuan. They didn't have much cash and had to go to the bank for a loan. Borrowing
hundreds of thousands of yuan to contract a beach, isn't that throwing money into the water? Money thrown into the water can still make a sound, but what can you do by contracting a beach? Are you really buying river sand? Even if you contract a river, you can still raise pearls and fish, but contracting a beach is really throwing money into the water.
But Jiang Guotai just walked away after hearing about such an unreliable thing, leaving this big fool and coward in her family to actually take it seriously and actually want to take out a loan to contract some beach.
Mother Jiang glared at the man in front of her as if he were her enemy, and said in a stern voice: "Jiang Guoping, if you dare to take out a loan today, I will fight you to the death!" She shouted angrily: "You haven't paid off the loan debt of more than ten years yet? Haven't you had enough of the days of owing and paying off debts? Life has only been better for a few days, and you dare to act arrogantly again. The money from selling boxed lunches in Shenzhen Market is not enough for you to make, right?"
She lowered her voice a little: "Don't you see how many people in the village can earn nearly 100,000 yuan a year? You don't do this business that is just like picking up money. You are going to give up the nearly 100,000 yuan a year and take out a loan to contract the beach? No wonder people call you a big fool and a big coward behind your back!"
These words completely deflated Father Jiang's anger.
He sat on the doorstep, as if he had lost all his strength. After a long pause, he said, "Ailian, you don't understand. Contracting a beach is really a good business. The money-making business is right in front of you, but you are trying to stop me from doing it..."
Jiang's mother snorted and said, "If other people don't know how to do the money-making business, how can you do it? Look how nice Jiang Guotai said it, patting her on the butt. After he left, was there any sound? I’m just fooling you, a big fool!”
Jiang’s father leaned his head against the doorpost, trying to convince Jiang’s mother: “How can it be so easy to contract the beach? This is a big piece of fat meat. If outsiders know about it, I don’t know how many people will want to take a bite. There are many procedures to go through and many relationships to get through. It’s not a simple matter and it can’t be done in a day or two. Not only do you need to find connections, but you also have to keep it secret. Guotai hasn’t come back these few days because he’s been looking for connections in the city. This matter has to be done in one step…”
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Jiang’s mother. She said hatefully: “I don’t know the big principles you are talking about. I only know one thing. If you dare to go to the bank to borrow money, you have to step over my corpse!”
As she said that, she changed her tone again. She choked up and said miserably, "I don't understand those big things you're talking about getting rich. I just know a little bit. In the past two years, we have built such a big house for our family by selling boxed lunches. This year, we saved another 100,000 yuan. After saving for another two years, we will build our youngest son's house. Songzi should also get married. I don't know how stable it will be. You don't want to make such stable money, but you want to get a loan!"
"Let me ask you, you are spending all your family money on this beach, and you even went to the bank to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars. Can you guarantee that you can sell the sand 100%? If you can't sell it, your youngest son will be left without a house, your eldest son will have no money for his wedding, and you will owe the bank hundreds of thousands of dollars. Your stall in Shenzhen will be occupied by someone else, and you can't even sell boxed lunches. You are in your forties, and you will soon be a grandfather. What can you do? What can you do? You have dragged me down all my life, do you want to drag down your two sons too?"
Jiang's father lowered his head and buried it in his outstretched arms. He sat in silence for a long time until his legs became numb. He stood up and said to Jiang's mother who was still crying and cursing, "Don't cry. Don't you want to sell lunch boxes? Let's go."