Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 11
Despite the differential treatment Jiang Ning received due to the preference for sons over daughters, Mother Jiang embodied the traits of a good wife and mother in the traditional sense. She was industrious, self-sacrificing, and managed household affairs with unwavering dedication. She showered her two sons with genuine affection and care, without reservation.
Later, Father Jiang and Mother Jiang quarreled, and Mother Jiang cried to her two sons. The two sons were dissatisfied that Father Jiang was so old and still didn’t know how to give in to Mother Jiang. They thought she had suffered a lot with Father Jiang all her life. She was hard-working and kind-hearted. She was very kind to the family and to them.Â
They said many good things about Mother Jiang, thinking that she would agree with them.
After hearing it, she was silent for a long time before saying, “When I just graduated from junior high school, she asked me to go out to work with Jiang Yueqin. You all know what Jiang Yueqin does, right?”
Everyone in the village got to know where Jiang Yueqin was working. It sounded like she worked at a nightclub, but in fact everyone said behind her back that she was a xoxo.
Although she escaped from that place because she felt something was wrong, she didn’t know who spread the news later that she became an xoxo. It was also spread to her school, saying that she had a good nose and eyes, and that she was a chicken. With money, they could be intimate with her wherever they wanted and she had slept with so many people.
According to rumors circulating among others, boys with slightly rebellious reputations had allegedly been intimate with her.
At the time, she was still in high school, and even her classmates approached her discreetly, questioning whether the rumors were true.
Those who had never experienced the embarrassment, helplessness, inability to defend themselves, and the despair of being bullied could never truly understand how many times she had contemplated jumping off the school building.
There were countless instances when she felt she couldn’t endure it any longer.
She expressed many times that she no longer wanted to attend school, but her grandpa could only cry in response.
He pleaded, “What will you do if you don’t go to school?”
“You must go to school and aim for college. Only by getting into college can you secure a future and achieve success.”
“Ning Ning , Ning Ning , you must study diligently, you must go to college.” Her grandpa couldn’t articulate many reasons, but he understood that pursuing higher education was the only pathway for rural individuals, as long as she attended school.
When her grandpa cried, it shattered her heart, leaving her with no choice but to return to school once more.
None of them were aware of what she had endured there.
Even if she tried to confide in them, they would simply advise her to endure it, assuring her that it would pass.
When Mother Jiang found out, she questioned her, “Then why do people not bully others and only bully you? That’s because you are at fault.”
At that time, she felt too weak and introverted to challenge Mother Jiang. “What did I do wrong to deserve being bullied?”
She knew deep down that it wasn’t her fault, that she had done nothing wrong.
Expressing her reluctance to attend school, she noticed that the only person happy about it was Mother Jiang.
“It was my father and grandfather who insisted that I go to school. I will always remember what my grandpa said. As long as I continue to study, he is willing to support me even if I pursue a doctorate or postdoc. Without his insistence on my education, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
She understood that Mother Jiang’s thoughts and beliefs were shaped by her own experiences and environment. She recognized that Mother Jiang, too, was a victim of such circumstances, but she couldn’t love and appreciate her in the same way as her two brothers.
All her mother’s love was directed towards her two brothers.
Yes, she understood the reality.
However, understanding these principles did not erase the verbal and physical abuse, suppression, violence, and bullying she endured since childhood.
They were vested interests.
She was the sole one bearing the wounds.
Simply because she was a girl.
Even Father Jiang claimed that his family did not favor sons over daughters. He treated his three children the same, but in fact, he did not.
He built a house for his two sons, gave them money to buy a house, and bought them a computer. Even if they didn’t need it, he was reluctant and unwilling to buy her a computer when she needed it.
What an obvious partiality, but he didn’t feel it himself. He felt that he treated his three children the same.
Even people in the village, when talking about Father Jiang, always say, “The person who is least patriarchal is your dad.”
“You have no conscience to say that your father favors your brothers over you.”
“See for yourself, is there any family in the village that can do what your dad does?”
“Your father is so good to you.”
She didn’t say that Father Jiang was not good to her, nor did she say that he didn’t love her. It was just that for him, money and love were separate.
He loved her, but not that much.
He loved her, but he loved his son even more.
The only complete love and preference she had ever received was from her grandfather.
The Jiang family had more than ten acres of rice fields. In previous years, with the presence of two strong young men, Jiang Bai and Jiang Song, the harvest could be completed quickly. That year, there were two fewer strong laborers, and only Father Jiang, Mother Jiang, Jiang Ning, and Grandpa Jiang were responsible for harvesting. It took several days longer than usual.
Father Jiang felt sorry for his daughter and wanted her to eat delicious food. He only allowed her to work until about eight o’clock every morning, and then he sent her back.
She wasn’t idle when she went back. She had to do all the laundry, cooking, and cleaning, but it was just a little easier than the heavy farm work.
She also tried her best to use the existing ingredients to make delicious dishes for them.
Braised pork with potatoes, boiled pork slices, braised pork with pickled vegetables, braised beans with dried pickled vegetables, braised meat with dried bamboo shoots.
In such busy and heavy farm work, the only thing Father Jiang and Mother Jiang looked forward to every day was eating. Only when they ate could they feel a little bit of the beauty of life despite being tired.
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Adequate2025
Is the author trying to make me sympathetic to the family? So far, the only one worthy is the grandfather, and he was introduced once and has been left to languish ever since.