"Don't worry, I'm fine," he said, shaking his head.
Through her observations over this period of time, Jiang Shuya felt that although Wang Ziliang was not tall and had dark skin, his features were not ugly. He was quick-witted, hardworking, down-to-earth, and responsible, making him a very good young man. However, in any era, men with meager resources and no stable career would always be marginalized.
The boy, who had always been hardworking and humorous, suddenly became dejected. After finishing the last batch of work, Jiang Shuya did not rush to leave. She saw him sitting alone in a corner outside, looking solemn, smoking a cigarette, and staring blankly at the ground.
Jiang Shuya found the boy who lived in the same dormitory as her. The boy wore glasses and everyone called him Xiao Wu. She heard that he had four older sisters and was the fifth and only boy in his family. More importantly, he was Wang Ziliang's cousin, and they were even closer. Jiang Shuya called him aside and asked, "What's wrong with Wang Ziliang lately? What happened to him?"
Xiao Wu wiped his glasses, glanced at Wang Ziliang, frowned, and said, "My eldest cousin has a younger brother and sister. My second cousin graduated from university last year, and my cousin is still in university. My cousin pays for all her tuition. My second cousin started working last year and I heard he's getting married this year. The bride's family wants a dowry of 100,000 yuan. My aunt asked my eldest cousin to send the money, but he didn't have any and had a fight with my aunt."
I heard they initially agreed that the older cousin would support them through university first, and the younger cousin would support his younger cousin's university education after he started working. Now that the younger cousin is getting married, the bride's family doesn't want him to support his younger cousin's education from now on. So, the aunt had to ask the older cousin to continue supporting his younger cousin's education. The older cousin agreed, but the younger cousin genuinely can't afford the bride price, so the aunt asked him to find a way.
"What do your aunts and the others do?" Jiang Shuya asked curiously.
Xiao Wu filled a glass with water from the water dispenser and gulped it down. His expression grew even more serious, and he said in a low voice, "More than ten years ago, my uncle was guarding a warehouse at a dock in Jiangbei, Nanjing. He was accidentally burned to death in a fire. His face was burned beyond recognition. He was cremated at the Nanjing Funeral Home soon after, and his ashes were sent back to his hometown. The court also paid a sum of money in compensation. Most people in the village knew about it at the time and speculated that his family had received a lot of money. After all, the dock and warehouse belonged to the state. According to the court's compensation standards, based on the level of burns and death, the compensation should be at least more than 200,000 yuan. In that small village, this was undoubtedly a lot of money. Some families had designs on my aunt. My aunt thought she was still young at the time, so she quickly remarried with my cousin."
"My two older cousins were still in school and rarely came home; they lived at school and only returned during holidays. Their grandparents lived with their uncle and his family, and the relatives didn't treat them well. Eventually, the two brothers stopped going home. My older cousin went to work after graduating high school. Not long after, my aunt returned with my younger cousin, covered in injuries. The man from that family already had a son and a daughter, treated my younger cousin badly, drank frequently, and had a terrible temper. His ex-wife had been beaten to death, but because his family had connections in the police station, nothing happened. My aunt only married him because of his family's wealth." Before leaving, she left a small portion of the compensation money with her eldest cousin. After her aunt married into the family, the man was very wary of her and wouldn't let her manage the household finances. Helpless, she had to rely on her own money to survive. Later, when the money was almost gone, she realized the man's excessive suspicion meant she wouldn't get any better treatment if she continued. When my father visited her, she cried and told him she deeply regretted remarrying, saying she should have saved the money for her two sons. With my father's help, she returned home. Her eldest cousin couldn't bear to part with his cousin, and his cousin couldn't bear to part with his aunt. To this day, her eldest cousin remains indifferent towards her.
"So your aunt lives alone at home," Jiang Shuya asked.
Xiao Wu said, "Yes, my aunt was injured after she came back and spent a long time in the hospital. She got better, but she couldn't do heavy work. She could only do some simple chores at home. Last year when I went to her house for the New Year, I saw that the two houses on either side had been built with cement. Only my cousin's house was still the mud-brick house left by my uncle more than 20 years ago. The walls of that house were cracked, so my cousin had to call a bricklayer to repair it."
"Your second cousin's girlfriend is willing to marry into their family because of their circumstances?" Jiang Shuya asked again.
“He definitely won’t live in the village! My second cousin works in another city and won’t be coming back to his hometown, but my eldest cousin helped him with the down payment for a two-bedroom apartment in the city center of our city. The apartment only costs a little over 200,000 yuan, and the down payment was only 80,000 yuan. My second cousin promised to pay the rest himself.”
Xiao Wu Hui
“Your cousin is a great role model; I think none of us are as good as him.”
Jiang Shuya couldn't help but sigh: "Yes, that's what my dad said too. He told me to learn from my cousin that a real man should stand tall, be responsible, and have a sense of duty."
Xiao Wu's proud expression made Jiang Shuya laugh.
Suddenly, she remembered that Wang Ziliang had paid for their meal at the Bijiang Hotel, which must have cost over a thousand yuan. He usually wore work clothes, but that time he was wearing faded clothes and old-fashioned jeans—probably the best clothes he had. Someone who usually wouldn't spend a penny on clothes was willing to spend so much on a meal; it seemed he valued friendship highly. She couldn't help but feel more sympathy for him. She admired him sincerely for supporting her family since she was a teenager. She realized she wasn't the only one in the world struggling to make ends meet.
He sat down next to Wang Ziliang, took out a card from his pocket and handed it to him: "Here is 10,000 yuan. I'll pay for a year's worth of express delivery fees in advance! You can deduct it from this every month."
Wang Ziliang smiled slightly and waved his hand as he looked at her gaze: "No need... Xiao Wu told you."
"Hmm, are you really planning to help your brother pay the bride price?" Jiang Shuya asked.
He tried to light a cigarette again, but Jiang Shuya stopped him, saying, "Don't smoke. I can't stand the smell. Smoking won't solve anything, will it?"
He wisely put out the fire, forcing a smile, before his expression turned serious: "I promised at my father's grave that I would help my second brother get married and have children first, but I never thought I would be so useless at the last minute..."
Seeing tears welling up in his eyes, Jiang Shuya comforted him, "You've already done a great job. You've single-handedly supported two college students and even helped with the down payment. You've done right by them. How many people can do what you have done these days?"
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