Wang Dahua was speaking from the heart. Although she had a grandson, he was taken away by her daughter-in-law, and her granddaughter would really have no family to rely on in the future.
She will leave one day, and her granddaughter will have to rely on her friends afterward. The more friends she has, the more paths she can take. She has seen that her granddaughter is very decisive. It seems that she has suppressed the child too much in the past. She hopes that it is not too late to change.
Jiang Qiao smiled and put her arm around the old lady's arm. "Grandma, may you live to be a hundred years old, we won't say anything unlucky."
Since you've spoken, I'll try to get to know Brother Ning Hao better from now on. If it makes me money, great; if not, at least having more friends means having more options. With a friend like Brother Ning Hao around, those who want to bully me will have to think twice.
The grandmother and granddaughter were making paper boxes while talking. It was almost noon when Jiang Qiao went to cook for the old lady. At this moment, Wang Tiezhu came over in a big show with grain, as if he was afraid that others would not see it.
This guy greeted everyone he met as he walked, even shouting loudly when he reached the gate of the courtyard.
After handing the grain over to Jiang Qiao, he didn't forget to go inside and tell the old lady.
"Auntie, it's all because my wife was so unreasonable. If we had known your family was like this, we would have gone out to borrow more grain to pay you back. Are you feeling any better?"
Wang Dahua sighed, "Much better. You know, Jiang Qiao is such a clueless child. I didn't know she came to your house asking for food. Don't blame her. If we weren't really struggling to make ends meet, she wouldn't have asked for it. Nephew, just don't blame her."
After Wang Tiezhu left, Wang Dahua sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) and sighed repeatedly. She realized that she had misjudged him. This Wang Tiezhu was not as honest as he seemed on the surface. He pushed everything onto his wife and really didn't act like a man.
Jiang Qiao happily came over and invited the old lady, "Grandma, look, we should take these things back. Otherwise, I don't know when we'll be able to get them back on their own."
The old lady sighed, "I used to think that neighbors would help each other out and take care of each other, but now I understand that taking care of others depends on the person. With some people, you can give them your heart and soul, but you may not get their genuine feelings in return."
Because the old lady had recovered, Jiang Qiao didn't have a chance to sneak a bite at lunch. The old lady had also bought the grains and oil, so the cornbread and stir-fried cabbage that the mother and daughter ate for lunch actually tasted pretty good. This was Wang Dahua's opinion; it was better than what she made.
Jiang Qiao understood perfectly well that it was because the water was different now, and if the dish didn't taste good, it would be a disservice to that water.
“Not bad, my granddaughter’s cooking is getting better and better. Maybe Grandma can cook from now on, otherwise your little hands will get rougher and rougher, which is not good. A little girl should act like a little girl.”
Jiang Qiao really didn't want the old lady to cook; otherwise, how could she fake it?
"Grandma, I'll do it when I'm not busy. If you're busy, you can do it. Just buy some clam oil or something to protect your health. Listen to me, Grandma, and take good care of yourself."
The old lady thought about her granddaughter's schooling. She said, "If we didn't have money, that would be understandable. But now that we have money and she's healthy, if we delay the child's schooling, people will talk."
Jiang Qiao had her own ideas about this matter. She told the old lady her plans. She couldn't repeat the knowledge she had learned in her previous life. There was no need for it. Although traditional Chinese characters were being simplified, she could just read and study them regularly. Why waste that time?
Jiang Qiao's plan made the old lady ponder for a while. She had never heard of or seen such a situation before, but what the child said made sense.
In the past, she definitely wouldn't have agreed. She had suffered enough from not being able to read. But after this serious illness, she had come to terms with it. She was getting old and didn't know when she would be gone. She wanted to pass on some things to her child little by little, so that the child could at least have some life experience. Always taking on so much responsibility might not be a good thing for Jiang Qiao.
"Alright, since you've made up your mind, Grandma won't say anything else. In short, it's always the same thing: reading more books only has benefits and no drawbacks. Since you have a plan, Grandma will listen to you."
Jiang Qiao hadn't expected the old lady to be so easy to talk to; she had thought she would have to use a lot of persuasion.
I used to think that living with an old lady was a big drawback, but now it seems that having each other for company isn't so bad. At least the old lady listens to me instead of acting like a domineering matriarch.
After dinner, Jiang Qiao exercised in the yard, just so the old lady could see it and at least have an excuse if anything happened in the future.
In addition, she also wanted to make her small body stronger as soon as possible.
Wang Dahua watched her granddaughter practicing boxing with great vigor in the yard, sighed, and went back into the house to pack her things. She planned to leave tomorrow, hoping to put her mind at ease as soon as possible.
With the old lady gone, Jiang Qiao was finally free. She had asked the old lady yesterday and learned that the bank not only accepted foreign currency, but also gold and silver dollars.
The gold was quite conspicuous when she took it out. She could get some silver dollars, put on some makeup, and exchange it for some pocket money.
However, she still felt it was a loss to exchange one silver dollar for one coin. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do; she couldn't spend the money anyway. She only exchanged thirty coins for pocket money and stopped there. She couldn't bear to take out the rest. At worst, she could keep it as a souvenir. Maybe it would become an antique someday?
Unexpectedly, Ning Hao came knocking on her door as soon as she returned with the money.
"Jiang Qiao, Jiang Qiao, you can go and gather firewood after get off work. It won't cost much. Just buy him two bottles of wine; he likes to drink."
"Also, I asked two friends for help and borrowed a truck. There are only two of you in your family, you can't handle this alone. Since we're going to do it, we need enough fuel to last for a while, don't you think?"
Jiang Qiao found Ning Hao's work particularly comforting. Despite his young age, he was quite thoughtful, especially considering her small stature; even if she wanted to help, she couldn't.
"Okay, Brother Hao, I'll leave this to you. We need firewood every day, so make as much as you can. Wait a moment."
He took out a jar of wine from his spatial storage, which weighed about three jin (approximately 1.5 kg), and handed Ning Hao five yuan and grain coupons.
Seeing her like this, Ning Hao's face immediately darkened. "Jiang Qiao, if you're going to act like this, I won't help you. I'll take the wine, but I can't accept the money and food coupons."
He knew the Jiang family's situation all too well. Although he didn't have much contact with Jiang Qiao and the others, he knew a little from what his grandmother said. There wasn't a single person in the family who could earn a decent living. How could their living conditions be good?
Jiang Qiao smiled and, without giving Ning Hao a chance to refuse, stuffed the money and tickets into his hands.
"Brother Hao, listen to me. This money is for you to take your friend out for a meal. We can't let them work for free. As for the rest, you can arrange it. Consider it a delivery fee."
Ning Hao refused, "That won't do. Even if it's just for dinner, it won't cost that much. Jiang Qiao, listen to your brother, take the money back. I'll treat them to dinner, and I'll go to work and earn my salary."
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