Chapter 013 A Big Family
On a separate note, on the other side, Jiang Mancheng turned on the radio as usual, listening to music while announcing a bombshell: "This Saturday is your grandma's birthday. Tomorrow is Friday, and we have to go home after dinner. Oh, you have no idea how ruthless this old lady is. She was afraid I'd forget, so she had Xiaosong run to the office to tell me. Xiaosong is a ten-year-old boy, and she's so careless about him. What a stingy and heartless old lady."
Jiang Nan nodded. This happened every year, and she was used to it. "That's great. I really miss grandma."
Or maybe the Jiang family is weird. It's also amazing that Mrs. Du, an old lady from the countryside, celebrates her birthday every year without fail.
In order to prepare meat for her grandmother's birthday, the Jiang family had to not eat meat for a month to save up the meat tickets.
Of course, this is all on the surface. Jiang Nan has a system, so he can still eat cooked food.
Jiang Mancheng is a very cunning person. Since he moved into the tube-shaped building, he always closes the door when he eats. The neighbors have looked in on him a few times out of curiosity, but when they saw that the food was all that the Jiang family could afford, they lost interest.
After all, everyone has different habits, and we can't expect everyone to leave their doors open when eating. After establishing this character, it's really convenient to sneak some cooked food at home.
Look, the whole family is secretly mixing half a pound of pork head meat to eat.
Jiang Nan also had some admiration for Old Lady Du. It had to be said that she was an extraordinary woman.
The old lady's full name is Du Hehua. She is 55 years old this year and has given birth to three sons and one daughter. The old man passed away when Jiang Mancheng was three years old. Du Hehua, a widow, raised four children and had a good reputation in the village. You can see how amazing she is.
If you ask about Old Lady Du's secret weapon, it is that she is usually weak, but goes crazy at critical moments, the kind that really goes crazy and dares to chop people with a kitchen knife.
I don’t know how the old lady was so capable. She got a certificate from the hospital as soon as she became a widow. In modern terms, it said she had intermittent bipolar disorder.
In fact, in the eyes of the villagers, he is just intermittently crazy. I heard that he can kill people without paying with his life. Who would dare to provoke him?
However, Jiang Mancheng could say with certainty that the old lady was just pretending.
Let’s not talk about anything else, just talk about the timing when Old Lady Du issued the certificate.
That was a time when she had just become a widow, a time when she was most vulnerable to being exploited. The old lady had unexpectedly obtained this imperial sword. With this piece of paper, she managed to frighten a few scoundrels who coveted her into peeing their pants that night.
After that, every time Old Lady Du went crazy, it was always a good time for the village.
Without going into the distant past, let’s just talk about when the brigade was just established and the brigade secretary was assigning tasks.
The old woman, completely bewildered, went berserk for two days, tearing up the scorekeeper's records. The brigade secretary thought, "This won't work. One or two days' worth of work points is fine, but if this accumulates over months and years, it's bound to cause conflict." He snapped his fingers and replaced the scorekeeper with Jiang Mantang, the eldest son of the Jiang family.
Hey, the old lady’s illness is cured.
This scene made the brigade secretary laugh. If you wanted to seek benefits for your son, you should have said so earlier. Why are you causing trouble for the former scorekeeper?
However, the brigade secretary also knew that Old Lady Du had a certificate from the hospital, so he could do nothing about the old lady and could only turn a blind eye.
Speaking of the Jiang family's children, the eldest, Jiang Mantang, was the most honest and kind, and the most filial to the old lady. Even if the old lady went crazy, she would still work for the eldest son's welfare. He married Yin Wenjuan and had his eldest son, Jiang Bai, that same year. Later, he had twins, Jiang Huai and Jiang Tong, a boy and a girl. His status in the Jiang family is undeniable. Later, he had his youngest son, Jiang Song, the same black kid who went to Jiang Mancheng's office to find him. Of the four sons, the eldest had the most descendants. Jiang Bai is now twenty, married to Yao Sisi, and his son, Jiang He, is two years old.
What? You mean a man can only get married when he's 20? This is in the countryside, where a wedding is considered a wedding. Who cares about that?
The second son, Jiang Manpo, is the most cunning. He married Ma Honghua, and the two of them are in cahoots, engaging in numerous underhanded schemes. However, they can't escape Du Hehua's clutches. Ma Honghua injured herself while giving birth, and now has only one son, Jiang Gui. He's 18 years old, a high school graduate, unemployed, and works the farm.
Besides, her only daughter, Jiang Manping, and Jiang Mancheng were twins, a boy and a girl. Jiang Manping was born two minutes earlier, making her the older sister. She married Wang Jun, the youngest son of the Wang family, a well-off man in the village, and gave birth to twin sons, Wang Han and Wang Ze. Now, seventeen years later, she has a firm foothold in her husband's family.
Jiang Mancheng's heart lit up when he thought of this large family, especially his mother Du Hehua. "Oh my god, this weekend will definitely be more lively than the tube building. Just thinking about it makes me happy. My mother, tsk tsk, I don't know what she's up to. And the second brother and his wife, who knows how much trouble they'll make."
Jiang Manpo and Ma Honghua have always coveted Jiang Mancheng's job. I don't know why this couple is so arrogant.
"You better take it easy. They're your own mother and brother," Chen Jinhua said quietly. "I'm going to ask for leave tomorrow. Mom has already told us. What should we bring back?"
At that time, there were no two days off a week, only one day off. After all, we had to serve the people wholeheartedly. So if you wanted to go home on Saturday, you had to ask for leave.
"Don't worry about it, I'll prepare it." Jiang Mancheng waved his hand and said, "Buy three pounds of meat and two pounds of peach cakes. The old lady likes honey three-knife cakes. I'll go shopping and see if I can exchange them for one or two pounds. Ten yuan will be enough for you."
Chen Jinhua nodded. She had given a similar gift to her father on his birthday. She said nothing, "If you can't find honey three knife, try something else. Mung bean cake or something. It's summer now, so it's easy to find."
"Okay, stop worrying about it and eat."
Jiang Nan was delighted to think about spending the weekend hiking and exploring the mountains and rivers. The Northeast countryside at this time of year was still very pristine. It was midsummer, the vegetation was lush, and there were still plenty of pheasants and rabbits to be seen. If he could catch one or two, hehe, hehe.
Jiang Nan smiled foolishly because she didn't know where the rabbit was. She had no idea that the police station would give her a big surprise in the afternoon.
The letter of praise promised by the police station was delivered to the family compound in a grand manner.
The reason why this ceremony is so grand is due to the nature of the Oilfield Police Station.
Although the Oilfield Police Station was responsible for public security in the oilfield, it was administratively under the local government. Station Chief Shen Mingguang was about to crack a major case, and he was in an unprecedentedly good mood. He had nothing else to do that afternoon, so he and Deputy Chief Lan Qingshan personally brought a letter of commendation to the Operations Office building.
The police station connected with the Operations Department, so of course they went directly to the factory office. This actually alerted the Operations Department leader, and by the time the secretary called in Jiang Mancheng and Chen Jinhua, Director Shen was already chatting with Secretary Tu of the Operations Department.
Secretary Tu was transferred from the oil field headquarters, so of course he knew Chen Jinhua. When he saw that she was the daughter of Chief Engineer Chen, he said nothing more and immediately took her to the family compound to spread Jiang Nan's reputation.
Secretary Tu was being cunning, indirectly making Chief Engineer Chen owe him a favor. While it was a bit of an exaggeration, in Secretary Tu's opinion, it wasn't a bad deal.
Therefore, Jiang Nan stole the spotlight that afternoon at the family compound. People from the Operations Office's Publicity Department gathered around to take photos, and Secretary Tu and Director Shen posed for photos with the Jiang family themselves, much to the dismay of Old Lady Qiu. This was because her son Xiangdong wasn't around; if he were, the Jiang family wouldn't have mattered.
Qiu Paner's eyes were red with jealousy. It was always like this, always like this! Why was Jiang Nan so pushy and restless? Why, why was Jiang Nan so favored by so many people...
Meanwhile, Granny Fang's eyes were glued to the net bag her secretary was carrying. The operations department's leader had sent the secretary to buy gifts to show their respect. Malted milk, canned food, biscuits—not expensive items, but a token of appreciation. After all, she couldn't let the girl suffer in vain; she had to show some appreciation.
Although Granny Fang was envious, she also knew that she couldn't take advantage of the Jiang family anymore after offending them in the past two days. Her heart ached so much that it felt like blood was flowing down her throat. It was so painful.
This thing should have been given to her family. Her family was in such a difficult situation. The oil field should have donated money to them and covered their food, clothing, and shelter. Although her son died of illness, he was an oil field employee. They should have helped their family more. The Jiang family was also stingy. They only had two workers. So what if they gave the things to their family? They were so stingy. It was so annoying.
Old Lady Liu was also jealous. She thought she had a good relationship with Jiang Mancheng. As soon as the leaders left, she took the lead, holding her grandson's hand and blocking Jiang Mancheng. Cheng Gaigai tried to pull him back but couldn't. It can be seen how eager the old lady was to take advantage of him.
Old Lady Liu said in her usual shrill voice, "Chengzi, what did the leader give you? Look, little Geology is drooling with greed. Whatever it is, give my little Geology a taste. We're neighbors, and little Geology is only four years old. You can't bear to see a child cry, right?"
Cheng Di was drooling and looked at Jiang Mancheng with his big eyes blinking.
Jiang Mancheng smiled brightly at Old Lady Liu, his face full of innocence. He then squatted down, took out a White Rabbit tea, and handed it to Cheng Dizhi, saying softly, "Little Dizhi, did grandma buy you a White Rabbit tea yesterday? Look, your uncle bought some yesterday, and there's still some at the supply and marketing cooperative today, don't forget."
After saying that, he stood up and left holding Chen Jinhua and Jiang Nan's hands.
Behind him, the little boy was crying loudly, so sad: "Grandma, I want to eat White Rabbit, White Rabbit..."
White Rabbit is the go-to drink for kids, it works every time.
Before getting off work, Jiang Mancheng and Chen Jinhua took the things home, gave Jiang Nan a few words of advice, and hurried back to work.
By the time we got downstairs, the elderly had already changed the subject and started discussing Sun Lingling and You Aiqian from that morning. After all, no matter how brave you are, you can't beat the rumors of a scandal.
Jiang Mancheng turned around and quietly came up behind the group. It turned out that the people who had been watching the excitement that morning had returned, saying that Old You had committed a serious crime and had been handed over to the Public Security Bureau of the Operations Department. It was said that the Public Security Bureau at the Oilfield Headquarters would also be sending someone down.
Due to its large number of personnel, the 10th Operations Division has two police stations and a general public security bureau stationed in different areas of the division, jointly overseeing public security in the oilfield. The general public security bureau has a patrol team of nearly 100 people, who regularly patrol the oilfield frontlines on sidecar motorcycles to protect the wells and workers. In the eyes of oil workers, the police from the police stations hold considerable weight.
Jiang Mancheng tutted twice and quietly retreated with Chen Jinhua. His daughter's five hundred melon coins should be safe.
Sure enough, Jiang Nan was at home and was about to make a cup of malted milk when he heard the system's announcement.
[500 Chigua coins have been received, please check. ]
Jiang Nan rubbed her hands with joy. This was the most profitable melon she had ever made. She happily lay down on the bed and opened the mall to see what she could buy.
2.0 is different. The products are comparable to Taobao and JD.com in later generations. There are so many of them, many of which she doesn't even recognize. Jiang Nan was so amused that she giggled.
There was a sudden knock on the door, and Jiang Nan's inner woodchuck roared. She was just about to buy a bag, a leather bag, luxurious lambskin, she hadn't touched it in years. She closed the page with a huff, got up, and opened the door.
Seeing that Jiang Nan looked unhappy, Cheng Gaigai stood outside the door a little stiffly. She said, "Xiao Nan, I'm really sorry just now. I'm nursing her..."
Jiang Nan was stunned for a moment, then quickly collected her expression. She didn't take what had just happened to heart at all. She smiled, welcomed the man into the house, and said as she walked in, "What's the matter? What's the matter with you coming to see me?"
"No, I just came to see you." Cheng Gaigai relaxed and sat on the wooden sofa. "I was just bored at home, so I came to see you."
She sighed and said with some envy, "You are so lucky that you don't even have to go to the countryside."
"Didn't you go on a blind date? How was it?"
Cheng Gaigai's face was filled with bitterness and hatred: "You have no idea how weird his family is."
Seeing that Jiang Nan was interested, Cheng Gaigai no longer hid her feelings. She was indeed stimulated in the morning and she wanted to find someone to vent her feelings.
It turned out that in the morning, Mrs. Liu and Cheng Gaigai packed up and went to the next door building, Building 6 in Courtyard 2. Most of the people living in this building were drivers of the special team.
Despite You Aiqian's mishap, special vehicle drivers are still in high demand. If there weren't so much money to be made, would You Aiqian have taken so much? He was simply too greedy. Actually, if he had just helped everyone with a small amount of supplies, bartering for other items, no one would have said anything. But You Aiqian had other ideas, and that's when things got out of hand.
Take Zheng Youyou, the special vehicle driver introduced to Cheng Gaigai this time. He is 22 years old this year. He is the only son in his family and has a widowed mother. The family burden is light, and Mrs. Liu's family is still very satisfied.
As for why Zheng Youyou is not married yet, there are many reasons.
First of all, the widowed mother was not an easy person to get along with. She was mean and unreasonable, and she hated people who had more than she did and laughed at people who had less. She couldn't stand others living better than her family, and she was well-known for this in the No. 2 Courtyard and even in the entire family compound of the work department.
Then there were the five sisters in the family, all married, who often helped out with their parents' needs, which was a plus. But they all took after the widow, and weren't very reasonable.
But even a family like this is very popular.
Why? Because Zheng Youyou is a driver and his family lives a good life.
Driver, one of the eight major members, is a decent and good job, which is respectable and pays well.
In the eyes of many people, driver is the most popular profession among the eight major positions.
Old Lady Liu felt the same way, and she was convinced that if Widow Zheng was difficult to deal with, she'd just met her. Just wait and see. As soon as Gaigai and Zheng Youyou showed signs of a good relationship, she'd be determined to suppress Widow Zheng's arrogance. Then, if Gaigai married and became the head of the household, wouldn't she be able to supplement her family income?
As for Cheng Gaigai, she was determined to find a successful blind date as soon as possible to avoid going to the countryside. Yesterday, she and Jiang Nan went to the surrounding area to look around, but no one was hiring. She had no choice but to get married.
The grandmother and grandson, each with their own thoughts, arrived at the second courtyard. Matchmaker Ma was waiting at the door. Seeing both of them wearing new clothes, she nodded with satisfaction. She said, "Sister Liu, you've done a good job today."
Matchmaker Ma was over fifty years old, one year younger than Old Lady Liu. She knew Old Lady Liu's character very well. Seeing that she did not act like a troublemaker today, she praised her for a rare moment.
Old Lady Liu held her head high. She even gasped when someone called her fat. “When have I ever been unreliable? I am a reliable person.”
Matchmaker Ma curled her lips and didn't bother to argue with her about it.
As the three of them entered the courtyard, they were stopped by an older woman with triangular eyes and thin lips. She raised her eyebrows and asked with a squinting look, "Are you Cheng Gaigai? Why are you so thin? Can you give birth to a son? We must have sons in our family, and at least three. How can you, a skinny girl like a bean sprout, do that?"
She looked the man up and down, looking very dissatisfied. She said, "Matchmaker Ma, that's not what you told my family. You said she was pretty and had a big bottom, and that she would definitely give birth to a son for my little brother. But look at her, it's nothing like what you said. Aren't you lying?"
Well, before I even meet the real boss, I’ve already been bothered by some unknown aunt.
Cheng Gaigai had never experienced such a thing before. Her face turned red and she was so embarrassed and angry that she wanted to turn around and leave.
But Old Lady Liu was a belligerent. She immediately put her hands on her hips and cursed, "Who do you think you are? You're just a nobody, pointing fingers here. A daughter who's married is like water spilled out. Don't come to your parents' house to say anything! If your in-laws divorce you, we won't plead for you! Get out of here! We're here to see Zheng Youyou, not to talk to a mean-spirited sister like you. Get out, or I'll be rude."
The eldest sister is actually Zheng Youyou's eldest sister, Zheng Huabu, who volunteered to lead the charge. Her family only has one boy, so a blind date requires everyone to be mobilized. The five aunts, spread across the second courtyard, are tasked with completely subduing the woman before she meets Zheng Youyou.
By then, if Widow Zheng came forward and demanded a dowry of three turns, one ring, and thirty-six legs, how would the woman dare to say anything? They had already heard that Cheng Gaigai was a high school graduate with no job and was eager to get married. If they didn't act decisively at this point, they wouldn't be worthy of the surname Zheng!
The eldest sister, Zheng Huabu, was not polite at all and cursed back quickly, "You old aunt, you even dare to scold the man's eldest aunt. Don't you even look at your girl? Is she worthy of my Youyou? She has no breasts and no butt. If she didn't graduate from high school, we wouldn't even bother with her. And you dare to yell at me here without asking how much my Youyou makes a month. Your girl doesn't have a job!"
Neither side would give in, cursing as they walked. Before they even reached Building 6, the five older sisters-in-law gathered and gave Old Lady Liu a good beating. Cheng Gaigai had completely given up hope. Even if she wanted to get married again, she wouldn't jump into this fire pit.
With red eyes, she desperately held back Old Lady Liu, who was about to go upstairs to settle accounts with Widow Zheng. She said, "Grandma, let's go. Marrying a family like that would be worse than going to the countryside. I'd rather die than marry into their family."
The five sisters-in-law were displeased when they heard this. They wanted to suppress the woman's arrogance, not to ruin the blind date. Cheng Gaigai was a high school graduate and a well-educated person. She could also provide more guidance after she had children. Zheng Huabu immediately grabbed Ma Matchmaker's hand and shouted, "Ma Matchmaker, my younger brother has taken leave for the blind date. If you don't go, you have to pay for the lost wages, right?"
I don't believe they will take the money! She knows it very well. This old lady Liu is a famous stingy old woman in No. 1 Courtyard!
Matchmaker Ma's smile faded. She was an experienced matchmaker, having arranged blind dates at least 999 times, if not a thousand. But this was the first time she had seen such an outrageous man's family. She shook off Zheng Huabu's hand, sneered, and said, "If you dare to ask me, Matchmaker Ma, for money, I will make sure your family never find a matchmaker again!"
She snorted and spat at the Zheng family, then turned to comfort Cheng Gaigai, saying, "Cheng family girl, let's go. We're not going. It's Grandma Ma who didn't get the details about today's matter. From now on, Grandma Ma will take care of your blind dates. I will definitely find you a good family."
Old Mrs. Liu's anger immediately disappeared. She grabbed Matchmaker Ma's hand and the two of them walked back quickly.
The five aunts of the Zheng family were dumbfounded.
Why did this person leave?
Her family has such good conditions, why would anyone leave?!
How could a daughter-in-law like that not be able to stand even this little bit of anger? Humph, they don't want this stupid woman anymore.
Hearing this, Jiang Nan was shocked: "So, you went on your first blind date and came back without even meeting the person?"
Cheng Gaigai nodded, looking gloomy: "What's going on? His family is like this, he thinks he is the emperor, and he has to marry him even if he is bullied. I'm not that cheap, hum!"
"I'm not angry, I'm not angry. It's better not to see this kind of person."
The two chatted for a while before Cheng Gaigai's expression softened and he got up to go back and make dinner.
"Host, the heroine will be on stage this Sunday. Do you want to go and see her?" The system, which had been holding back for a long time, finally spoke. It had wanted to tell the host a while ago, but Cheng Gaigai came, and it was so uncomfortable that it couldn't hold it back for a long time.
That's right, Jiang Nan had not only traveled through time, but through a book. Luckily, Jiang Nan had traveled through time in her womb, a system that came with her. Initially, she was still a bit unaccustomed to traveling from 2025 back to 1951. Now, sixteen years later, Jiang Nan has become a true 50s person.
Jiang Nan came back to her senses. Cheng Gaigai's blind date experience was too legendary. She was still savoring it. When she heard the news, she immediately let go, her eyes sparkling. She said, "Go, she's the heroine, how can I not go?"
[Okay. However, in the book, the host is just a background figure, not even a passerby. Our melon-eating mission has little to do with the male and female protagonists.]
"Then we have to go and see the excitement." Jiang Nan replied, "The heroine, isn't she stunningly beautiful? Let's see her too. Besides, it's been sixteen years, and we've finally waited for the heroine to appear. We can't miss it."
When the system told her about traveling through a book, she thought it was bullshit. After all, who would travel through a book to a time before the heroine was born? How could it be so outrageous?
The system was also a bit helpless. It was still the 1.8 generation at that time and was not mature yet. The time control was not that precise. So it was too early.
[Host, I have upgraded to 2.0 and brought the original document with me. I will definitely not make mistakes in the future.]
Jiang Nan: "Haha, haha."
Don't be fooled by the "fresh and simple" name of the novel "The Sweet Daily Life of the Educated Youth Who Stocked Up in the 1970s", but it follows the old path of competing for the best, meeting noble people, and picking up bargains.
In the book, the heroine, Tang Xi, travels back in time from 2020 to 1967 and becomes one of the young women sent to the countryside. Tang Xi's place of employment is Jiang Mancheng's hometown, Xihe'an Brigade, a small, ordinary mountain village in Northeast China. The only difference is that the village is located near the Chaoyang Oilfield, and nearly every household has an oil worker. The oilfield occupied their village land, and this was compensation work. Tang Xi's early arrival in the countryside also meant that subsequent young people who went there never received such a good place.
Oh, the incident of the oil field occupying the brigade land on the west bank of the river has not happened yet, but it will probably happen soon once the heroine arrives.
In short, Tang Xi capitalized on her foresight and deliberately befriended the family of the "stinky old ninth" male protagonist, who had been exiled to the cowshed, while also treating the other exiled personnel with kindness. While working on the farm, she diligently studied, and after the reinstatement of the college entrance examination, she was admitted to a Shanghai university. After the reform and opening up, she leveraged these carefully cultivated "nobles" to gradually become the richest woman in China.
Jiang Nan read it for fun. She was just an ordinary, older office worker, toiling away the hours every day. The only way she could relax without spending any money was to read novels.
She, Jiang Nan, even reads novels on a certain platform.
No one can make her spend money to read novels, no one can.
This is just unfortunate. She just bought a house and then she traveled through time. Is this a punishment without spending any money? Her cozy little house, which she had just renovated, may only be 30 square meters, but she bought it with her own hard work...
For the ten-thousandth time, Jiang Nan lamented the little house that he would never see again, but he had no idea how lively it would be this weekend.
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