Chapter 3 Watermelon Jam Beans (Revised)
This news caught Jian Feng off guard.
He never imagined that the old lady he had just mentioned was now dead.
In a panic, he made a quick decision: "You go first, and since Dongzi is too busy to come and help, I'll go find your sister-in-law and go later!"
Jian Li stopped her father from behind and said, "Dad, you go first. I'll go find my mom."
Jian Feng hesitated for a moment.
Xu Jianguo didn't want to stand out in the first place, and he came to see Jian Feng because he wanted to follow Jian Feng. If there was any problem, Brother Feng would definitely come forward. So he hurriedly said, "Brother, Xiaoli said so, you should go with me."
Jian Feng had no choice but to remind Jian Li as he walked: "Tell your mother to bring some money with you, and don't waste time."
Jian Li patted her chest and made the promise, then began to slowly clean up the table after sending the person away.
Haha, go early?
Why did you go so early? Are you going to be taken advantage of?
Jian Li washed all the bowls, made two steamed buns, broke open one, and found a bottle of sealed red oil sauce from the cupboard.
As soon as it was opened, a fragrant aroma spread out, and she used clean chopsticks to pick up two pieces of steamed buns.
This is watermelon bean sauce made by her mother. Every summer, Wang Mengmei makes several bottles of it. Sometimes when she is too busy to cook, she puts some of this sauce in steamed buns. The sauce is fragrant with a hint of watermelon sweetness, and it tastes good when mixed with noodles.
The watermelon bean paste itself doesn’t have much fragrance, but when it is sandwiched in a hot steamed bun, the fragrance spreads out like an explosion.
Jian Li was torn between two options in her heart, but finally couldn't help herself and tore off a small piece of steamed bread and dipped it in the sauce. The hot aroma was accompanied by a hint of melon, which was quickly covered by the salty aroma of the sauce.
She narrowed her eyes in satisfaction, feeling guilty in her heart, and said what all people who are trying to lose weight would say.
It will definitely go down tomorrow.
Jane Li put the two steamed buns into the rice bag and the remaining cornmeal soup in the lunch box, then went to find her mother with the rice bag.
Wang Mengmei was at her best friend Li Lijuan's house. Jian Li followed the instructions in her memory and slowly walked towards Aunt Lijuan's house.
After walking for a short distance, Jian Li felt that she had difficulty breathing. The weather was hot and she had just finished her meal, so she started sweating profusely after just five minutes of walking.
Jian Li had experienced this in her previous life, so she didn't have the same urgency to lose weight when she experienced it again. She walked and stopped, keeping a speed slightly faster than walking, so that she wouldn't hurt her knees even if she sweated.
In her previous life, she worked very hard to lose weight because she was ridiculed for being fat. However, obesity caused by hormones is not easy to lose, and it is particularly easy to gain weight again after losing weight.
Jian Li has been hospitalized for knee injuries due to excessive exercise, and has also been sent to the infirmary due to hypoglycemia. She was even ordered by the doctor not to diet excessively because of stomach cramps caused by losing weight too quickly twice.
On the road to losing weight, Jian Li took too many detours.
So although Jian Li decided to lose weight, she wanted to do it gradually.
We walked and rested like this, and by the time we arrived at Li Lijuan's house, twenty minutes had passed.
Although Wang Mengmei was angry that her husband had lent money without telling her, when she heard Jian Li say that Liu Xiangdong's mother was gone, she immediately stood up and told her bestie that she was leaving first.
"The old lady is very kind to my husband. I must go and burn some incense to lend a hand on this occasion."
Wang Mengmei didn't show any emotion. She took her daughter with her and went to Liu's house without going home.
Jian Li cried out "slow down"
She had just seen her biological mother and was about to express her admiration for how pretty and fair-skinned Ms. Wang Mengmei was, but her mother immediately revealed her impetuous nature and tried to pull her away.
"Mom, don't be anxious, eat something first."
Jian Li hurriedly took out the lunch bag in her hand. The two steamed buns were still hot and the soup in the lunch box was still a little hot.
"My dad has already gone. Don't worry. Eat your meal first."
Grandma Liu, who was the best to his father, is no longer with us. If he goes there, he will just cry a few times.
Her father didn't think too much about it. She had to talk to her mother first.
Looking at the food brought by her young lady, Wang Mengmei paused for a moment, which was rare.
Jian Li took the opportunity to push him down beside the flowerbed and said, "We don't know how long we'll be busy once we get there, so it's important to eat first."
She didn't remember much about the death, except that her parents seemed very unhappy and their relationship with Liu Xiangdong and his wife became much more distant.
Jian Li stuffed the steamed bun into her mother's mouth. Wang Mengmei choked for a moment and said awkwardly, "You're making arrangements for me."
But Wang Mengmei was naturally touched by the fact that the lady loved her. She picked up the steamed bun and ate it in big mouthfuls.
Jian Li changed her usual timid attitude and asked her actively: "Is it delicious? I also added watermelon bean paste."
Wang Mengmei looked at Jian Li as if she was looking at the sun rising from the west.
She had a sharp tongue. Even when Jian Li was not fat, she was afraid of her. When had she ever been so considerate? In the past, whenever they had a quarrel, this girl would immediately shrink into her shell.
I was about to compliment her, but then I thought, that's not right, she made the watermelon jam and steamed the buns, and this girl just picked them up, why does she look so proud?
"Just make do."
Jian Li: ...
I know that I won't hear a single nice word from her mother.
Wang Mengmei finished her two steamed buns and drank her soup.
Jian Li then found the right opportunity and said, "Mom, my dad just told you to bring some money with you."
After saying this, Jian Li shrank her neck and looked at Wang Mengmei, who was visibly getting angry.
"…Money, money, money. I don't know when I'll pay back the money I just lent out today!"
The old lady had stomach cancer and she didn’t stay in the hospital for long after she was diagnosed. The doctor also said that when the disease progresses to this point, she just needs to wait.
If you are lucky, you can make it to National Day. If you are unlucky, it will be this summer.
The old lady was also sensible. She knew that the disease could not be cured, so she simply said that she would not treat it. She only had one son, Liu Xiangdong, and after she retired, she still had two children to raise. Naturally, she was reluctant to spend all the family money and leave her son with a lot of holes in his house.
Wang Mengmei looked down on Liu Xiangdong and his wife, but she still had some respect for the old lady.
And precisely because of her respect for the old lady, she scolded Liu Xiangdong even more harshly.
"He's always using his own mother as a scapegoat, saying that he borrowed money just to give her something good to eat. Bah! Do you really think I don't remember what he looked like in the hospital?"
The old lady diagnosed the disease and said it was incurable, but Liu Xiangdong seemed to have been pardoned, with a face full of relief.
That's his biological mother. Even if she was incurable, how could he agree so quickly!
As if he was afraid that the old lady would regret it, he did not even struggle and just took her home. His wife did the same, kneeling there in a pretentious manner, pretending to say that she would serve her mother-in-law like a slave for the rest of her life.
Wang Mengmei felt sick just thinking about it.
I'm not saying you have to spend all your money to treat it. After all, everyone knows that cancer cannot be cured.
But as a child, how can you take the kindness of the elderly for granted?
And Liu Xiangdong's wife Zhang Qin, your mother-in-law is still alive, she has taken care of your children, cooked for you and washed your clothes for you all these years. You treated her well in the last days, which can be regarded as a bit of filial piety. But what does it mean for you to kneel down in front of others? Do you expect others to see your "filial piety"?
Wang Mengmei was a filial daughter, and from then on she had a lot of dissatisfaction with Liu Xiangdong and his wife.
During this period, Liu Xiangdong and his wife borrowed money from everywhere, taking advantage of his mother's influence in the compound. The reason was clear: the old man was ill and they couldn't bear the injustice during this last period of time. Also, they couldn't afford western medicine, so they had to take some Chinese medicine.
The families that borrowed the most were those from childhood, and the one that borrowed most frequently was Jian Feng's family.
Firstly, Jian Feng only has one child, so the pressure is less. Secondly, it was the old lady who provided Jian Feng with shelter in the past. With such a favor, if Jian Feng did not provide it, he would be criticized.
Wang Mengmei didn't say she would not give it up at first, but she was angry because the money could never be spent on the old lady.
Liu Xiangdong and Zhang Qin could only buy some peach cakes for the old lady, and they had their reasons ready.
"When stomach cancer has progressed, you can't eat anything else."
A few days ago, Wang Mengmei went to see the old lady. The old lady was just holding a piece of peach cake and sipping it bit by bit. It made people feel sad.
The old lady also compensated the couple: "I can't eat anything else now, so I can only ask Dongzi to buy me something easy to digest."
It was a pity that a loving mother had to meet an unfilial son, which made Wang Mengmei feel sad.
When Wang Mengmei got home, she was furious and rushed to Jian Feng, saying that she would no longer lend money to Liu Xiangdong. With that money, she would burn paper money for the old lady every year and would not give it to Liu Xiangdong and his wife!
Now all in all, Liu Xiangdong has borrowed more than 600 yuan from his family.
Six hundred yuan is Jian Feng’s salary for two or three months.
When Wang Mengmei was making a fuss, Jian Feng just kept silent. All he could say was "I can't bear it."
Today it was even worse. He actually borrowed so much of his salary.
Wang Mengmei wanted to ask, are her family’s lives getting better?
She has to pay 500 yuan for the rent of her stall in the vegetable market. She couldn't come up with the money last month and even borrowed money from her sister. As a result, her own family borrowed more than 1100 yuan every time without blinking an eye.
Wang Mengmei became angrier and angrier as she thought about it: "You're still asking for money? What the hell!"
Now that the old lady is gone, giving the money would be a great bargain for Liu Xiangdong and his wife!
Wang Mengmei turned around several times in anger, unable to vent her anger. She just wanted to find Jian Feng and give him a good scolding.
You are the only one who can do this! You are the only one who has a heart! Even the existing son has no conscience, but you are so happy!
Jian Li looked at her mother who was so angry that her hair was about to explode, and her heart thought of her previous life.
In her previous life, Liu Xiangdong borrowed money from her father, but never paid it back.
This was also an old issue that my parents would often bring up when they quarreled in the following years.
When her mother started to quarrel, she said that Liu Xiangdong was scheming and was deliberately borrowing money, even though his family had been living better than hers.
This was something she only figured out later. Liu Xiangdong must have felt that the factory would not last long, and was afraid that his childhood friends would ask him for money, so he first gave people the impression that his family did not have much money.
But what is the reality?
Liu Xiangdong hid from others that there was an insurance money left after the old lady died, and the three houses his father left for him in the countryside were later demolished.
Even the small factory where he worked, although the salary was low, had a lot of extra benefits. Later, Liu Xiangdong worked until retirement, and his monthly pension was several thousand.
Liu Xiangdong's family bought their first commercial house not long after the SARS epidemic, and later prepared houses for their two children as housing prices soared.
At that time, his family was going through the most difficult time. Jian Feng went to ask for money, but the family wouldn't even let him into the house. He just poked his head at the door and started crying.
In short, there is no money to pay back.
Jian Li frowned. Her father's childhood friends, Zhao Xiaopeng and Liu Xiangdong, both cheated her father. Zhao Xiaopeng was a ruthless cheater, but Liu Xiangdong was not a good person either.
Thinking of this, Jian Li said to her mother, "Mom, Uncle Xiaopeng just came to ask my dad to go to his house for a drink, and Uncle Jianguo also came to inform my dad."
Wang Mengmei stopped wandering and said, "Zhao Xiaopeng went to drink with your dad? The sun is really rising from the west. And Xu Jianguo, last time his wife came to me to ask about the stall, I said there was no stall, didn't she give me the cold shoulder, why is she still..."
Wang Mengmei looked as if someone was strangling her neck, staring at the girl with wide eyes.
Jian Li touched her nose and said in a low voice, "Mom, why don't you go and find my aunts?"
They were all childhood friends who grew up in the same compound. Grandma Liu was kind to her father and to the other children as well.
It doesn't make sense that when the person is gone, her father and his wife and daughter should come forward to pay, while the other families should just pay one person, right?
Wang Mengmei gritted her teeth and cursed Zhao Xiaopeng and Xu Jianguo over and over again in her heart.
Normally, these two guys call each other "Brother Feng" and they are only friendly when they get their salary. But when something happens, they always back off and push the careless one forward.
Take the case of Liu Xiangdong borrowing money, these two were the poorest, but they only lent out a few dozen yuan. I was the naive one, and I borrowed hundreds of yuan in one go.
Thinking of this, Wang Mengmei stomped her feet and said, "Let's go!"
Xu Jianguo had the nerve to come to find Jian Feng first, so she had the nerve to ask a few other wives to go along.
If they don't go, I won't go either!
She didn't believe it. With all the daughters-in-law present, Liu Xiangdong would have the nerve to ask for money. If he did, then everyone would have to lend money!
Wang Mengmei had an idea and was no longer angry. She asked her daughter to go home and she went to each family to inform them in a proud and confident manner.
Jian Li called her mother from behind: "Mom, will you open the shop tomorrow morning?"
The market Wang Mengmei bought is not far from her home. She got the space through an acquaintance. It just opened a few days ago and sells in the morning. Just to sell sugar and pepper and salt biscuits, she has to get up early every morning.
Wang Mengmei rolled her eyes: "You're worried enough... Of course I'll open it!"
There was no money at home, and she still owed her sister several hundred yuan. Wang Mengmei felt anxious just thinking about it.
Jian Li chuckled and went home first.
After returning home, I helped Wang Mengmei with the preparations and prepared everything that needed to be prepared.
Then I turned on the TV and did squats while watching TV.
"One, two, three, four..."
My body felt so heavy that I started to feel dizzy after doing about 20 steps.
Jian Li managed to do five more, then she lay down on the sofa, panting.
Then, after watching a lot of nostalgic TV dramas, Jian Li took out her textbooks and flipped through them, and made a study plan.
After finishing all this, she looked at the time and it was already late at night. Her parents hadn't come back yet, and Jian Li wasn't sleepy either.
So she took out a large piece of white paper and drew lines and grids on it.
After writing down the date, she recorded today's diet and exercise at the back. There were forty-five grids on the page, and Jian Li wrote 150 kilograms under the last grid.
“End of summer goals.”
Jane Li was contented as she looked around for transparent tape, preparing to stick the paper in the most conspicuous place.
As a result, at this moment the door creaked, and Jian Feng and Wang Mengmei came back.
Jian Li looked carefully and saw that her father looked unhappy, and her mother...
Although her mother also had a sullen face, she stood behind her father and made a gesture to Jian Li, who had a curious look on her face.
Jian Li: ...I understand. Her father must have suffered a critical blow from friendship.
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