"Mom, this amount of walnuts is not enough. Please give me more. Wild mushrooms are also good. Give me more." Jiang Dazhen and Old Lady Miao were packing things in the kitchen. Jiang Dazhen looked at the basket full of walnuts in his hand and said unsatisfactorily, reaching out to take something from the big sack behind the old lady.
Pecans are not a rare thing in the mountains. There is a walnut forest behind the Daqing Mountain. In addition to submitting to the county every year, each household can get a few bags.
The variety of walnuts here is wild walnuts, which are oval, small in size, and a little pointed at the top. The shell is hard and can only be cracked open with a stone or a small hammer. The inside of the walnut has many edges and the kernel is very difficult to remove. People in the mountains don't like to eat these because they think it's troublesome. Only children like to take a few walnuts and smash them with stones to eat them.
"Enough, enough. You're an adult and you still have the nerve to snatch food from your nephews and nieces." Old Mrs. Miao tied the sack tightly and blocked Jiang Dazhen's hand with her back.
In the end, the old lady couldn't convince Jiang Dazhen anymore and forced her to pack a whole basket and leave. The distressed old lady gasped.
"You naughty girl, you only know how to come back to your mother's house to be skinned. You have to take good care of Xiaobao at your place these days, otherwise I will not forgive you." The old lady grabbed her daughter's arm fiercely. Jiang Dazhen, wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket, did not feel anything at all.
"Alright, alright, I wouldn't dare mistreat your grandson. It's getting late, and I have to go back." Jiang Dazhen waved her hands and called a few times into the house: "Xiaobao, Xiaobao."
Jiang Yilu had already prepared some spare clothes for the next few days and put them in his army green messenger bag, which was bulging and was carried on his back.
"Xiaobao, remember to help your elder sister take a good look at the kind of person Xiang Qianjin is. Remember to come back and talk to mom about it when the time comes, okay?" Gu Dongmei grabbed her son's arm and whispered to him before he left.
"Take this money and give it to your elder sister. She's grown up already. From now on, don't send all of your salary back to her every month. Keep some for yourself." A girl of her age should save some money to buy new clothes and hairbands.
Jiang Yilu looked at the scattered banknotes in his hand. There were one-cent and two-cent bills, and the largest denomination was no more than one dollar. Each one was neatly pressed.
Seeing her son holding the money in silence, Gu Dongmei felt guilty for a moment: "Xiaobao, your sister has had a hard time. Look, your grandparents left all the good things to you. Mom only has this little money, so I can only support you and your sisters."
"Xiaobao, you are not angry, are you?" Gu Dongmei asked anxiously. But the youngest son is the treasure of the family. The old man and old lady in the family will never mistreat him. In the future, everything in the house will belong to Xiaobao. As a mother, she can only save some money for her daughters. However, she is useless as a mother. All the money in the family is in the hands of her mother-in-law. After so many years, she has only saved this much money, which is not enough for her younger sister to make a new dress.
Thinking of this, Gu Dongmei felt somewhat self-pitying.
"No, I will give this money to my elder sister." Jiang Yilu clenched the money in his hand, and for a moment he was a little confused about his current mood.
"That's good!" Gu Dongmei breathed a sigh of relief and a smile appeared on her face.
Outside the door, Jiang Dazhen urged a few more times. Gu Dongmei looked at her son and reminded him a few more times with concern: "Remember to help mom look after Xiang Qianjin. Remember." After that, she hurriedly pushed her younger son out.
"It's getting late, Mom, sister-in-law, Xiaobao and I are leaving first. I'll bring him back in a few days." Jiang Dazhen took his nephew's hand, exchanged a few words of greeting, and turned to leave.
"Sister Xiang Hong!" When Jiang Yilu walked to the village gate, he saw Xiang Fang's eldest sister. She was wearing a cotton jacket with floral patterns, two long, shiny black braids hanging in front of her chest, her cheeks were rosy, and she was holding a flower made of colorful paper in her hand. When she saw Jiang Yilu and the other man, she put the flower behind her and greeted them awkwardly.
"Aunt Dazhen, Xiaobao, are you going back to the city?" Mo Xianghong curled the corners of his mouth and said with a hesitant look.
"Yes, I haven't seen you for a while. Xiang Hong has grown into a big girl. It's time for your mother to find a husband for you." Jiang Dazhen joked with a smile.
"No way!" Mo Xianghong's face turned even redder when she heard Jiang Dazhen talking about her lifelong event: "Aunt Dazhen, I have something to do at home. I have to go back first." After saying that, she left in a hurry.
Jiang Dazhen didn't think much about it. She looked at Mo Xianghong running away and said to her nephew, "I didn't expect that Mo Dashuan, who is so big and strong, would have daughters that are more beautiful than the other."
Mo Xianghong's appearance was the most pleasing in this era, with a round face, big breasts and a big butt. According to the older generation, this was a face that would bring good luck to her husband and guarantee the birth of a son. Moreover, Mo Xianghong was educated and was the daughter of Mo Dashuan. Since she was fifteen, there had been many people who went to the Mo family to inquire about her.
"Xiaobao, your sister Xiang Hong is already quite old, right? She hasn't found a date yet." Jiang Dazhen inquired gossipingly, not realizing that the person she was inquiring about was her nephew, who was not even eight years old yet. "If she hasn't found a date yet, there are many unmarried young men in our factory. I can help introduce them to someone."
Good things should be kept in the family. The Mo family has a good relationship with their family, and Jiang Dazhen is also happy to help.
Jiang Yilu's face was full of black lines. He didn't understand why his younger aunt was so keen on introducing people to potential partners. The same goes for Sister Xiang Hong and his elder sister. They were just so old, it was not like they were unmarried.
At this moment, his mind was full of his elder sister's affairs, and he didn't notice that something was wrong with Sister Xiang Hong just now.
"Sister Xiang Hong will be twenty after the Chinese New Year. I haven't heard Xiang Fang mention anything else. Maybe her family is not in a hurry yet." Jiang Yilu sighed and said to his enthusiastic aunt.
"Twenty!" Jiang Dazhen was surprised. It was rare for a girl in the countryside to not find a boyfriend at this age. Maybe the Mo family had high standards. Thinking of this, Jiang Dazhen gave up the idea of being a matchmaker.
The two of them walked slowly. Jiang Dazhen didn't dare to ride a bicycle, so she walked to the village. Jiang Dahai was still working in the fields, so he couldn't take them back to the city by bicycle. Fortunately, neither of them was spoiled, and Jiang Yilu was used to getting up early every day to exercise. The two of them chatted all the way, and the more than an hour's walk was not so difficult to endure.
"Mom, Dani, what happened to you two!"
Finally they arrived in the city before it got dark. Jiang Dazhen and his little nephew stomped the mud off their shoes at the door. Seeing that her mother-in-law Qu Ying didn't look very happy, she washed vegetable leaves at the tap downstairs with a stern face. Her hands were so strong that the cabbage stalks were almost torn into pieces.
Jiang Dani looked at Old Lady Qu with suspicion from time to time, and lowered her head to wash clothes from time to time. There was something wrong between the two of them.
Jiang Dazhen was a little puzzled. Wasn't he fine when she left? The old lady especially liked Dani, a diligent and sensible child. What happened now? Did Dani accidentally say or do something to offend the old lady?
"Grandma Qu..." Jiang Yiliu smiled and rushed over, with curved eyebrows, red lips and white teeth, just like the little boy on the calendar. "Grandma Qu, Xiaobao missed you so much. Xiaobao heard that you like to eat wild mushrooms, so I asked grandma to pack a big basket for you."
Jiang Yilu was shameless and started to act coquettishly, and no one could resist her. In addition, Qu Ying always liked this clever kid from her daughter-in-law's family, so her tense face relaxed all of a sudden. She wiped her wet hands on her apron, and took Jiang Yilu, who was hugging her waist, into her arms. The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were wrinkled into a ball.
"Grandma misses you, Xiaobao, too. It's all your aunt's fault. She hid you from me every day and didn't bring you back. Grandma even kept a can of yellow peaches and didn't give them to anyone else, only to Xiaobao."
Jiang Dazhen looked at the old man and the young hugging each other, and her uneasy heart instantly relaxed.
"Mom, you can't blame me. Every time Xiaobao comes over, you only have Xiaobao in your eyes. I, your daughter-in-law, suddenly have no status in your heart. Tell me, should I hide Xiaobao?" Jiang Dazhen also stepped forward and held her mother-in-law's hand. She is in her thirties, but when she acts like a little girl, she acts like a spoiled child.
"Nonsense, when did I ever forget you?" Old Mrs. Qu pinched her daughter-in-law's nose and pretended to be angry, but the smile between her eyebrows became even brighter.
She liked the character of this daughter-in-law, she was lively and cheerful, and staying with her made her feel not bored all day long, unlike the previous one, who was so polite and polite every day, eating like a chicken pecking at rice, which made her tired just by looking at her. But the dead are the most important, so Old Lady Qu shook her head and didn't think about her.
"Mom, what happened to you just now? Who made you angry?" Jiang Dazhen asked in confusion when she saw that the old lady's mood had improved.
"Who else could it be!" When this was mentioned, Qu Ying's mood, which had finally improved, suddenly fell, and she raised her chin towards the door. Jiang Dazhen suddenly understood that it was probably not someone else who made the old lady angry, as she had just thought.
She said, with Dani's gentle personality, she might even praise others if she was bullied, so there was no way she would offend the old lady.
Jiang Yilu followed Grandma Qu's line of sight and saw that the door of the small building was ajar and he couldn't see clearly what was inside. He felt curious. Grandpa Meng and his uncle probably hadn't gotten off work yet. Who had made the old lady angry? Could it be his cousin?
"Wenwen is back, and she brought her lover with her. She is in the house now." Old Mrs. Qu said lightly, and she was very dissatisfied with her unreliable granddaughter.
"Wenwen brought her boyfriend back! Isn't this a good thing? Mom, why are you so sullen?" Meng Xiangwen has basically lived in the Wen family for these years. Even when he came back, he would ask for money and food. The old couple of the Meng family were also disappointed, but for the sake of their only granddaughter, they would not refuse as long as the request was not excessive.
Jiang Dazhen thought about it and realized that her stepdaughter would be 18 after the Chinese New Year, and it was time for her to look for a partner. It would be better for her to find one herself so that she wouldn't have to ask her, her stepmother, for help. If things didn't go well, she would be in a difficult position.
"What's good about that!" Qu Ying snorted coldly: "Do you think she's just here to inform you? She's here to claim the house." Qu Ying wondered if they owed this granddaughter in their previous life, how could they have provoked such a debt collector. Such a good granddaughter was taught to be like this by the Wen family, Qu Ying simply hated her old friend in her heart.
"this--"
Jiang Dazhen never expected to hear such words from her mother-in-law, and she felt unhappy all of a sudden. It was not that she was a cruel stepmother. She had never refused Meng Xiangwen when he came to her house to ask for money in the past. But the house was different. In the hearts of Chinese people, a house is the root of a family, and no daughter who was about to get married would ask her parents' home for a house.
Jiang Dazhen was unhappy but she didn't show it on her face. As a stepmother, she had no right to speak on this matter. She had to wait for her father-in-law and Pingchuan to come back before she could decide what to do.
"Okay, it's windy outside, take Xiaobao inside. Dani, don't be busy, go inside and talk to Xiaobao. You two siblings should have a lot to talk about."
The old lady took the basket of vegetables from Jiang Dani's hand. She wanted to stay outside for a while. Anyway, she didn't want to see her eldest granddaughter who made her angry just by looking at her, and her future grandson-in-law who appeared out of nowhere.
"Dani, take your brother in. Mom, let me help you." Jiang Dazhen rolled up her sleeves and was about to help Grandma Qu wash the vegetables.
"No need, it's just a few dishes and we can wash them in a short while." Old Mrs. Qu shook her head and pushed a few people in.
Jiang Dazhen saw that her mother-in-law really didn't want her to stay to help, and she was also curious about who Meng Xiangwen was looking for, so she took her nephew's hand and followed Jiang Dani into the house.
"Teacher Rong--" Jiang Yilu entered the living room and was surprised to see a well-dressed man sitting side by side with Meng Xiangwen on the sofa.
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