Jiang Dani pulled her brother's clothes awkwardly. These were Meng family affairs, and it seemed inappropriate for the two of them to stay here.
"Ouch——" Jiang Yilu pretended to be careless and spilled the sesame oil sauce on himself. In panic, he took out the handkerchief from his pocket and tried to wipe off the sesame oil on his clothes.
"Xiaobao, why are you so careless? Dani, take Xiaobao upstairs to change clothes. Put soap in the dirty clothes and soak them in water, otherwise they may not be washed clean." Jiang Dazhen urged hurriedly, but she felt relieved in her heart.
"There are clothes that Xiang Xue has outgrown in the camphorwood box in the corner of his room. I had planned to take them back to Xiaobao. You can use the clothes in that box for Xiaobao to change into." She remembered that her nephew only brought two sets of underwear and didn't seem to have brought a cotton jacket, so she added.
Dani responded crisply, took her brother's hand and ran upstairs, thump thump thump, her footsteps became much lighter.
As soon as Jiang Yiliu and Jiang Dani left, everyone except Meng Xiangwen and Rong Jing breathed a sigh of relief. After all, this was a family scandal. Although the Jiang family was also in-laws, the fewer people knew about this kind of thing, the better. Jiang Yiliu had thought of this and deliberately spilled the sauce. He didn't want Grandpa Meng and Grandma Qu to think of Meng Xiangwen's stupidity today and have a rift with them when they saw him in the future.
"Country bumpkins who have never seen the world." Meng Xiangwen cursed at the two freeloaders angrily as they left.
"Wenwen--" Rong Jing lowered his voice and frowned, obviously not satisfied with Meng Xiangwen's insulting words.
Seeing him like this, Meng Xiangwen muttered a few times: "Okay, I won't say anything." There was a little complaint in his tone, but he felt sweet in his heart.
She liked this point about Rong Jing: he was a gentleman and never spoke ill of others behind their backs. Such a handsome man would never treat her badly in the future. When Rong Jing returned to Haicheng, she would become a Haicheng citizen and would no longer have to stay in this remote little county town.
Meng Xiangwen was very happy, but she was a little nervous. She didn't know when Rong Jing would return to the city. Because of his status as an educated youth, he could only earn enough food for one person as a teacher, and no more. She had to help Rong Jing think about how to live before returning to Haicheng. Meng Xiangwen had thought it over. She was the only granddaughter waiting to be married in the Meng family. When she got married, she would have to bring a house as a dowry, plus a watch, a bicycle, a sewing machine and two or three hundred yuan as a dowry. If she didn't have enough money in the future, she could just go to the door to ask for more. Would the Meng family watch her starve to death?
"Xiao Rong, is this what you mean?" Meng Pingchuan ignored his daughter who had given up long ago and turned to ask Rong Jing.
Rong Jing looked at Meng Pingchuan's thoughtful eyes, his back straightened, with a bitter smile on his face: "I know this is wrong, but Wenwen has always been spoiled. If she lives in the countryside with me, she will definitely not be able to bear it. Uncle, don't worry, that house is just a temporary loan from us. When Wenwen and I return to Haicheng, we will return the house."
Rong Jing's tone was very sincere. He not only expressed his consideration for Meng Xiangwen, but also made it clear that he was not greedy for the Meng family's house, which made everyone in the Meng family look much better.
But the Meng family really couldn’t give them that old house.
The house they live in now and the house lent to the Wen family are both collectively owned and cannot be sold or rented privately. Only the old house was recorded under Meng Dachang's name when the property rights were registered in the 1960s. It is privately owned and can be freely rented or sold. Now the house is rented by Meng Dachang to an old worker with a large family, and he pays a monthly rent of 15 yuan.
In other words, except for the old house, all other houses may be taken back by the factory. For the Meng family, the old house is the guarantee for the whole family.
"You are stupid." Meng Xiangwen tugged at the corner of Rong Jing's clothes. The old house might be sold for a lot of money. When they go to Haicheng, they both have to bring some money with them.
"Don't think about that old house. It is the root of our Meng family and will only be left to Xiangxue." Meng Dachang naturally saw his granddaughter's little action and said with a stern face.
“Why—”
"Shut up right there!" Meng Dachang slammed the table so hard that the plates on the table shook. Meng Xiangwen had never seen his grandfather so stern and was frightened.
"Go out and ask around. How can a girl's parents provide a house for her to get married?" Meng Dachang glanced at Rong Jing meaningfully. Rong Jing's heart sank, but a trace of shame appeared on his face.
"Your father and I have already thought about it. The house that is now lent to your uncle's family will be your dowry. Although it is a little small, it is enough for the two of you to live in. As for the rest, don't even think about it."
After Meng Dachang finished speaking, he snorted and turned to go upstairs.
"Your grandfather's idea is also my idea. Anyway, you have always liked to be close to the Wen family. Now it's good for you to live together. You can continue to lend the house to your uncle's family, or take it back to build a new house. It's up to you. Since they love you so much, they should not hold on to the house."
Qu Ying said all she had to say. She had seen through the Wen family. Except for Old Man Wen, who might really love his granddaughter, the others were all troublemakers, stirring up trouble. They just wanted to get some benefits for themselves. She wanted to see whether her good granddaughter would get the house back.
After Qu Ying finished speaking, he rubbed his forehead, said he had a headache and wanted to rest, then followed the old man upstairs.
Meng Xiangwen looked at her grandmother's back and wanted to refute, but the other party did give her an apartment. No matter who she told this to, they would probably think that the Meng family was kind. In this day and age, which family would be willing to give their granddaughter an apartment? If she told others about this, most girls would probably think that Meng Xiangwen was very lucky.
But Meng Xiangwen didn't think so. She just thought she was extremely wronged.
"Fox spirit, are you satisfied?" Meng Xiangwen slapped the table, stood up suddenly, yelled at Jiang Dazhen, and ran out the door with his face covered.
"Uncle, aunt, I'm sorry, Wenwen didn't mean what he said. I'll go and persuade him." Rong Jing bowed to the two of them apologetically, turned around and left in a hurry.
"Dad, you and grandpa should really discipline your elder sister. She always makes my mom angry, but my mom doesn't owe her anything." Meng Xiangxue was so annoyed with this elder sister. She looked at her as if she were garbage every day, without even realizing who she was. Whenever he came to the house, something bad happened. But his mother kept asking him to endure it. When would she stop enduring?
"Xiang Xue, she is your elder sister!" Jiang Dazhen glared at her son, eyes full of disapproval.
"Forget it, forget it. Anyway, don't expect me to care about her again in the future." Meng Xiangxue rubbed his head and went upstairs angrily.
"Dazhen, I'm sorry for wronging you." Meng Pingchuan looked at his wife Kuanhe beside him and said apologetically.
"There's nothing wrong with it. I married into the Meng family and have good food and clothes. I don't feel wronged at all. Besides, Wenwen is still a child. How could I bother with a child?" Jiang Dazhen said with a smile while tidying up the messy table.
The more tolerant she was, the more guilty Meng Pingchuan felt, but he was tongue-tied and couldn't say anything nice, so he could only treat his wife better in daily life.
There are five rooms on the second floor. The two largest rooms are the rooms of Meng Dachang and his wife, and Meng Pingchuan and his wife, which are on the left and right of the stairs respectively. A little further in are the rooms of Meng Xiangxue and Meng Xiangwen. There is also a study room, which is opposite the stairs. Jiang Dani lives in the study room now. There is a spring bed in it. Dani is not tall, so the spring bed is big enough for two of her to lie down.
Jiang Yi stayed in Meng Xiangxue's room to change clothes. Not long after, he heard a door slamming downstairs. Looking down from the window of the room, he vaguely saw two figures running one after the other in the darkness. Naturally, he knew that the two annoying people downstairs had left, probably on bad terms.
Jiang Yiliu didn't know what was going on downstairs, nor did he know whether he should go down. But before he could think for long, he heard the door of the next room close. Next to Meng Xiangxue was the room of Meng Dachang and his wife. Immediately after the door closed, there was another door opening and closing. Jiang Yiliu guessed that it was probably the old couple coming up.
"Xiaobao, why don't we go downstairs?" Jiang Dani asked hesitantly, holding the dirty clothes that Jiang Yilu had changed out of in her hands.
"Okay." Jiang Yilu thought that since only his aunt, uncle and little cousin were left, he didn't have to worry about any awkward situations.
Jiang Dani breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her brother's words, opened the door and walked out, and Jiang Yilu followed behind her.
When Jiang Yiluo passed by the door of Meng Dachang and his wife's room, his feet seemed to be stuck and he couldn't move. Jiang Dani, who was walking in front, didn't notice her brother's actions and went straight downstairs.
Jiang Yi stayed at the door for a long time, a look of understanding appeared on his face, and he walked downstairs thoughtfully.
Before, she had always been curious about the Meng family's indulgence of Meng Xiangwen. Nowadays, there are families who love their daughters, but no family is like the Meng family. Even if their granddaughter did something excessive, they still asked for whatever she wanted. It turned out that the source of everything was Wenqin.
Wenqin's family conditions are not as good as Meng's. Her father is a co-worker of Meng Dachang, and her mother is just an ordinary housewife. She has no job and has a rural household registration. She can't get any subsidies from the city. In addition, there are many children in the family, so their life is hard.
But Wenqin was not like other children from such families. She was arrogant and proud of her appearance and figure. She was very strict about maintaining her figure. She thought pork was too oily and mutton was too smelly. She would avoid other rare things.
Qu Ying didn't care about these things, but the only thing she couldn't accept was that Wenqin didn't want to have children. How could the old couple of the Meng family, who only had Meng Pingchuan as their son, bear this? They threatened Wenqin with divorce and forced him to have a child.
Under pressure, Wenqin had no choice but to give birth to a child. However, even when she was pregnant for ten months, she still maintained the habit of eating half a bowl of rice and a few mouthfuls of vegetable leaves for each meal, and often had conflicts with Qu Ying who advised her to eat more. Everyone knows the ending afterwards.
She had been full of complaints about her daughter-in-law during her lifetime, but now she had died giving birth to a child for the Meng family. Even though the fault lay with Wenqin, Qu Ying was filled with guilt, and so she was particularly indulgent towards Meng Xiangwen, wanting to make up for the losses she had given to Wenqin on her granddaughter.
Jiang Yiliu walked downstairs, thinking about what he had just heard. In fact, in his opinion, Wenqin was to blame. If she didn't want to have a child, she should have said it from the beginning. She didn't dare to do that because she knew it a long time ago. If the old couple of the Meng family knew her plan from the beginning, they would never let their son marry her. How many parents these days can accept a daughter-in-law with such a trendy mindset?
I just don't know how much they owe Meng Xiangwen now. Judging from Meng Xiangwen's behavior in recent years, I'm afraid that all the love and guilt they have will be exhausted.
"Xiaobao, hurry up, let's go upstairs." Jiang Yilu was halfway there when he bumped into Meng Xiangxue who was about to go upstairs, and his thoughts were interrupted.
"Did you bring the picture books I asked you to bring?" Meng Xiangxue's depression was swept away. He felt that he needed a few picture books to get rid of the bad luck brought by Meng Xiangwen. Before Jiang Yilu could answer, the excited Meng Xiangxue drove him upstairs like a duck.
Jiang Yilu looked at his energetic cousin. What did Meng Xiangwen have to do with him? Anyway, it was all her own fault. All he had to do was to make the people he cared about happy. That was enough.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
