Liu Jingsong said goodbye and left. Back at his lodgings, looking at the empty house, he gritted his teeth and thought about the furnishings in the two buildings not far away. He was filled with resentment. Why couldn't he have lived there?
There's not even a bed; how am I supposed to stay? Otherwise, I wouldn't have left.
He always had a lot of excuses, but he never considered his own problems. He was very conflicted. Sometimes he felt he was too old for them to care about, but at those times he thought of himself as a child.
I can't lie directly on the ground in this weather, but I don't want to go outside. I'm afraid people will laugh at me. I absolutely cannot tolerate being looked down upon.
After Liu Jingsong left, the old lady dialed Zhang Hongmei's number.
"Grandma, what's wrong? Are you feeling alright?"
"Yes, that's good. I should be able to live for a few more years without any problem."
"Hongmei, Liu Jingsong came over today. He brought all his jade ornaments and asked me to find buyers for them."
"Cough! Grandma, I've really failed. If I wanted to raise him in the first place, I should have taken responsibility for him."
“You’ve been very responsible; this is just the kind of person he is.”
"Grandma, you should find someone to buy it."
"Yeah, he's made a good plan. He'll live off these things during junior high, and then sell the house when he goes to high school. He's thinking about the government giving him money after he goes to university."
"The arrangements are acceptable."
"But given his current situation, it's impossible for him to even get into high school. And from what I've heard, he eats very well; his monthly expenses are probably equivalent to several months' expenses for other families."
"Let him do whatever he wants. He called me a while ago, saying he was wrong and wanted to come back."
"It's not good to keep him around like this. Who knows what trouble he might cause in the future."
"Yes, I understand. I won't be soft-hearted. If he stays in the village and goes to school properly, maybe I'll help him in the future. But now, there's no possibility of that at all."
"Alright, I'll find someone to buy it and bring it back to you in the future."
"Grandma, I don't care about that little bit of stuff. Let's just find someone to sell it. I don't want to have any connection with him in the future."
"Okay, I understand. Just be careful."
"Great-Grandma, we can't go back for Chinese New Year this year. Should we come and pick you up?"
"No, I'm not going anywhere. I'm over ninety years old, I'd better stay home."
After hanging up the phone, the old lady called her former subordinate and explained that they had arranged to meet at the school gate next Saturday. That area was relatively safe.
Seeing her mother-in-law's less-than-ideal mood, Liu Changhe's wife chuckled and advised, "Mother, you should just let it go. Why bother with those things? You'll live your own life, good or bad."
"It's just that I feel sorry for Hongmei. At the time, I thought that the child was still young and couldn't be bad at heart, but I didn't expect her to be the same as before."
"Don't think about those things anymore, it's better to see things clearly now than to have something bad happen later."
"Yes, sooner is better than later."
Liu Jingsong made a special trip over for dinner that evening and managed to stay for a meal. Although there was no meat, it was still better than what I could cook myself, but it still couldn't compare to my aunt's cooking.
"Jingsong, meet my friend at the school gate at nine o'clock next Saturday morning. He can take your jade ornaments. As for the price, you can discuss it yourselves."
“Okay, ancestor, I’ll go there next Saturday.”
But I have nowhere to stay tonight.
After he finished speaking, Liu Aimin slammed his chopsticks on the table.
Liu Changhe's wife glared at him. "It's alright, Grandma will find you a set of luggage to take back with you later. You can't get cold."
Liu Jingsong originally wanted to stay, but it seems that's not possible now.
There was no other way but to go back.
He didn't come to say goodbye the next day, and left just as dawn was breaking.
Sitting in the car, I thought that if I sold these jade ornaments and lived frugally, I could manage to graduate from junior high school.
On Monday, when he went to school, he couldn't concentrate on the teacher's lecture at all. He was always thinking about how much the jade ornament could sell for. But he knew this wouldn't work, so he forced himself to listen attentively.
The junior high school teachers taught very fast, and there were many more subjects, which was really overwhelming. Now I only exercise for a little while every night, and I no longer have the motivation to practice my once-proud martial arts.
On Saturday morning, he didn't bring all his jade ornaments with him, not because he didn't want to sell them, but because he was afraid someone would snatch them away, and he felt it was better to conduct the transaction at home.
I saw a Jeep at the school gate. In this city, only a few wealthy people own cars.
"Comrade, I'm from Liujiatun. I have too much stuff. Could you come home with me?"
The young man glanced at Liu Jingsong and nodded. "Get in the car and take me there. Hurry up, I have things to do."
Liu Jingsong thought to himself that he really didn't care about this car.
The two arrived at Liu Jingsong's house. He took out all the jade ornaments.
Actually, the young man didn't recognize jade ornaments. His grandfather had already given him the price, so he just had to follow that.
Twenty jade pendants and five jade plaques were each fifty yuan. Safety buckles and jade beads were given out at eighteen yuan each. The final price was one thousand seven hundred and ninety yuan.
The young man took out the money, counted it out exactly, handed it to Liu Jingsong, and left with his bag.
Looking at the money in his hand, Liu Jingsong decided to keep only one hundred and deposit the rest in the bank. His aunt had said that depositing money in the bank would earn interest.
Now that I have money in my hands, I can finally settle down and focus on my studies.
But when I opened the book, I found it was completely clean, with nothing written on it.
Another wave of frustration washed over me. I've loved learning since I was a child, so I decided to put aside my distractions and calm down to read.
December has arrived, and studies are particularly intense. Because I've grown taller, my cotton-padded coat isn't big enough anymore, so I had no choice but to ask the neighbor for help.
A mother and her daughter live here. The girl is thirteen years old, a year younger than Liu Jingsong. Because of family difficulties, she stopped attending school after finishing primary school. She stays home to cook, do laundry, and so on.
When Liu Jingsong saw that the pretty young girl opened the door, he smiled and asked, "Isn't your auntie here?"
"My mom went to work. What do you need?"
"I was hoping my aunt could help me alter my cotton clothes. I don't know how."
"Zhong, you can leave it to me. This garment just needs to be lengthened, right?"
"Yes, the fat and lean parts are okay, but it's too small."
"Well, the problem is that my family doesn't have such good material, nor do we have any new cotton."
"How much do you need? Should I go to the building and buy some?"
"An ounce of cotton is enough, and two feet of cloth is enough."
"Okay, I'll go buy it right away, thank you."
The little girl smiled with her lips pursed, but didn't say anything.
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