Chapter 6: Grabbing Gold
Sang Feiwan was also shocked and surprised when she looked at Old Mrs. Ma.
After all, the book portrays Old Lady Ma as mean, petty, and someone who loves to take advantage of others, with a bad temper and who curses and quarrels every day.
She hadn't even used her sweet words to coax Old Mrs. Ma.
But then I thought, the book also said that Old Mrs. Ma was very kind to her family and was well-known for protecting her own people.
She has spent her whole life for her children. The eldest brother wants such a huge dowry to marry a wife. If she didn't love her children, she would not agree to Xiao Beiming marrying Sang Feiwan.
She also gave her job to the second son in the machinery factory.
She contracted the fish pond with the third brother and asked him to take care of it. Selling fish brought in income and it was considered a job.
But after the third brother no longer had to look after the fish pond, he went to work at the town's cinema.
"But don't expect your laziness to be cured. I'm still spoiling you. You have to wash your clothes yourself from now on. Don't let Pingping do it for you anymore!"
"And your habit of wasting money. I was going to talk to you about that too. Why didn't you buy those two broken baskets? I have a bunch of them at home. I can weave as many as you want. Why would you need to spend money?"
"I understand. You should go and redeem the fish pond as soon as possible. It will be terrible if it is sold to someone else if it is too late." Sang Feiwan said hurriedly.
Only then did Old Mrs. Ma stop nagging her and went to redeem the fish pond.
As soon as Old Lady Ma left, Sang Feiwan looked at her clothes on the floor and became worried.
She had no clean clothes to change into except the ones she was wearing.
Or maybe she's still dead?
Sang Feiwan got up and went outside to look at the scenery, considering whether to have sex or not, and which method to choose so as not to hurt.
And after she dies, can she really return to real life?
While hesitating, Sang Feiwan looked towards the open-air dry toilet in the distance and saw a figure that looked like Pingping.
Sang Feiwan walked over. "Pingping? It's really you. Shouldn't you be at school now?"
Pingping was startled when she saw Sang Feiwan, like a student caught making a mistake by the teacher.
"...Sister-in-law. Sister-in-law, can you pretend you didn't see me and don't tell my mother?" Pingping looked at her nervously and fearfully and begged.
Sang Feiwan was puzzled, "Why did you skip school?"
Pingping told her everything honestly.
Pingping didn't want to go to school because she couldn't concentrate on her English studies and her English test rankings were getting worse and worse, but she knew that Mrs. Ma would not agree, so she skipped school.
In the original book, Pingping couldn't keep up with her studies. Later it was said that she failed the college entrance examination and had to go to the city to work.
Sang Feiwan introduced Pingping to an old man, got Pingping drunk and let the old man get Pingping pregnant. She then used the sky-high betrothal gift given by the old man to buy beautiful clothes.
Pingping is so pitiful.
"Isn't it just that you can't keep up with English? I'll teach you." Sang Feiwan decided to help her and said to her.
Pingping looked at her in surprise, "You speak English?"
English was only included in the college entrance examination a few years ago. There were very few people in their lives who knew English. Even their teachers were not as good as Sang Feiwan in English.
Sang Feiwan is the eldest daughter of the Shanghai community. She has received bilingual education since childhood and has an uncle in London, England. She has also frequently traveled abroad since childhood and has an authentic London accent.
"Of course." Sang Feiwan said a few words to her, asking her to listen to prove that she could speak English.
Under Pingping's shocked and admiring eyes, Sang Feiwan added, "But my teaching you is not free. You have to help me wash clothes."
"good!"
Sang Feiwan was happy again after finding someone to help her wash her clothes. She didn't want to ga for the time being.
Around four o'clock in the evening, Pingping finished washing Sang Feiwan's clothes and was preparing to cook.
But suddenly a neighbor came over and shouted, "Pingping! Pingping! Your mother in the brigade is fighting with the Jiang family in the village committee! Go and take a look!"
When Pingping heard this, she quickly put down the work in her hands and ran out.
Sang Feiwan also followed over to take a look.
In this village, any small matter would be known to the whole village, and this kind of fight spread quickly. On the way there, many villagers followed Sang Feiwan to watch the fun.
At this time, the entrance of the village committee was already surrounded by people.
Pingping ran in front, pushed the crowd aside and squeezed in.
Sang Feiwan couldn't squeeze in and could only watch from outside.
"This fish pond belongs to me! I have signed a contract with the villagers. The contract is for five years, and it hasn't expired yet. I just mortgaged it to my brother and borrowed a hundred yuan. Even if my brother sells our fish pond, it won't count!" Old Mrs. Ma shouted angrily, still holding the torn contract that Jiang Tingyu had taken out.
In the original book, the Xiao family's fish pond was mortgaged by Old Lady Ma to her own brother. Her brother sold the fish pond. She thought she couldn't come up with the money to pay her brother back, so she didn't say anything.
Now that she has the money to pay back, she must take the fish pond back.
So when Jiang Tingyu took out the contract, she grabbed it and tore it up, and the two families started fighting with Mrs. Ma.
Old Mrs. Ma fought against Jiang Tingyu and her son alone and won easily.
But when they were called to the village committee, the other members of the Jiang family also arrived and went to ask the village chief for an explanation.
"But the contract has been signed, and your brother has already sold the fish pond to me. It's no use tearing up the contract! Village chief, please explain things to her quickly. I don't want to call the police to resolve this!" Jiang Tingyu said coldly.
"It's no use going to the police like this. If you don't sign a new contract with me and give me the fish pond today, I'm going to report your brother to the police for fraud and have him go to jail!"
"And you hit me and my mom today. That's also malicious assault. You should go to jail!"
Jiang Tingyu is quite fat and originally had great strength, but she is anxious to lose weight and has not eaten anything since yesterday.
Just now when Mrs. Ma took action, she had hypoglycemia and almost fainted.
Now that he was beaten by Old Lady Ma, he was full of anger and naturally would not let her go easily.
"Go ahead and report it! Anyway, I've asked my brother to return the money to you. Even if I have to go to jail, I will never sell this fish pond to you!" Old Mrs. Ma did not give in at all.
Mother Jiang looked at the village chief and said, "Village chief, please say something. Old Madam Ma, that mean and vulgar old lady, is bullying us!"
In this era, village heads are prestigious people elected by the village and are chosen by votes.
So everyone was waiting for him to speak.
Compared to calling the police, the village chief's words are more powerful.
The village chief stopped smoking his pipe, tapped it, and spoke slowly, "This fish pond is public property. It was originally the common property of the village."
"Because the fish pond is in a low-lying area, it floods every year during the rainy season, and any fish or shrimp we raise are washed away. Initially, no one wanted to rent this fish pond, and everyone went to grab other fish ponds. In the end, this fish pond was rented by Old Lady Ma."
"Why did you, the Jiang family, suddenly come out and insist on taking over this fish pond?"
Mother Jiang stammered and was unable to speak, and Father Jiang didn't know how to start for a moment.
They couldn't tell the village chief that their daughter said there were gold bars in the fish pond, so they robbed the fish pond.
Jiang Tingyu made an excuse at this time: "My family wants to raise fish and make more money. We want to contract a fish pond and provide it to the restaurant."
The old village chief looked up at Jiang Tingyu and said, "I heard that since you fell into the water, you have become very hardworking and capable, and your cooking skills are also first-class."
"You even saved an old city lady who fell into the water and married a city girl."
"People like you, who have already lived a good life, are still trying to snatch the bread from the mouths of the poor. Isn't that too conscienceless?"
"She's an orphan and a widow, and she found a fish pond that no one else wanted. If I give the fish pond to you now, I'd be aiding and abetting the evil and bullying the weak!"
The old village chief's words made everyone present nod their heads.
Sang Feiwan was also moved by what he heard. This was the vision and character of the older generation of party members.
But Jiang Tingyu refused to give up the fish pond and retorted, "But her family is poor because of her own fault. She had to borrow money to marry a wife!"
The old village chief was unhappy.
"Well, our village also has a rule that those who support the work of the village committee and respond to the call will be given priority for the good things that are good, such as contracting land, hilltops, and fish ponds. You didn't respond to the call for this fish pond before!"
"Everyone, go back. Even if the Jiang family makes trouble again, we won't give you the fish pond. Even if the Xiao family's contract expires in the future, they will have the first choice to decide whether to renew it!"
This matter has been settled.
Jiang's father and mother pulled Jiang Tingyu aside and told her to stop talking.
The old village chief waved at everyone and told them to go home and disperse.
Jiang Tingyu was dragged away by her parents. She saw Sang Feiwan and glared at him angrily, "How dare you snatch my things from me! Before we leave, I'll make you regret what you did today!"
"What do you mean it's yours? Write your name on it!" Sang Feiwan looked at her with a blank and innocent face.
The owner of the gold is unknown, and she has no intention of making enemies with anyone, but without the gold, she would be so poor that she couldn't help but want to make money.
"You! Let's wait and see, whether I can get it or you can get it!" After saying this, Jiang Tingyu left.
Pingping walked over with Old Madam Ma by her side and asked Sang Feiwan, "Sister-in-law, what did she say to you? Did she bully you?"
Old Madam Ma also echoed angrily, "That's right, what did that little girl Jiang say? If she dares to bully you, I won't let her go! People in our Xiao family are not to be bullied!"
Old Mrs. Ma's husband died early, and she raised several children alone, which led to her developing a strong personality.
Everyone in the village knew how powerful she was. Although she had a bad reputation, no one dared to bully her or her children.
So no matter how bad Mrs. Ma's temper is, she is still a good mother. Sang Feiwan is now considered a family member by her, and she feels warm in her heart.
"No, nothing. Let's go to the fish pond first. I have something to tell you." Sang Feiwan decided to tell them that there was gold in the fish pond.
After getting along with Pingping, she was sure that they were not bad people. They were not the kind of people who would take the gold and not share it with her if she told them there was gold in the water.
And now that she has this situation, she can get them to help her if she tells them.
Jiang Tingyu's words just now, instead of choosing to tell the village chief directly that there was gold in the fish pond, were enough to show that she had not given up on the gold.
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