Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 187

Grandpa Jiang, who had suffered from cold legs for years, dared not argue any further. He felt guilty about the shoes on his feet for the rest of the walk. “I should’ve worn rain boots coming back,” he muttered.

After finally making it through Wangjiacun and Xujiacun, they arrived at Jiangjiacun. Grandpa Jiang’s face lit up as he took in the familiar rural scenery. His smile grew wider, and his steps quickened.

Someone recognized Grandpa Jiang along the road, noticing his warm, thick clothes, now without patches. Surprised, they greeted him, “Master, where did you come back from?”

He glanced at Jiang Ning, his face full of surprise. “Is this Ning Ning? How have you grown so tall in just half a year? Your whole family is tall. If you keep growing like this, you’ll catch up to your mother soon.”

Jiang Ning was still wearing the worn-out clothes she had brought from home—a sweater and a thin down jacket under a bulky cotton-padded coat.

That cotton-padded jacket had first been worn by her eldest cousin and then passed down to her second cousin. Since the second cousin had reached marriageable age, she needed to wear nicer clothes. When the jacket became old, she gave it to Jiang Ning.

Both her eldest and second cousins were fully grown in height and build. Although Jiang Ning had grown a bit taller in the past six months, she was still thin. But the once baggy jacket fit her better with the down coat underneath. Her legs were long and slender, and from a distance, they looked almost like two round apples.

Only her face, peeking out from her scarf, was still small and pointed.

“Hey!” 

The aunt exclaimed in surprise when she saw Jiang Ning’s fair and delicate face. Ning Ning had grown up.

In the eyes of the village aunts, Jiang Ning, who had been skinny before, wasn’t considered pretty. To them, good-looking girls had round faces and were a bit chubby.

A girl with a small face and a pointed chin was seen as unlucky and undernourished by the aunts. However, after six months of eating braised pork every day, not only had Jiang Ning grown taller, but her face had filled out, gaining a bit of baby fat. Now, in the eyes of the aunts, her pink, plump cheeks made her look even more beautiful.

As they passed by and saw her, the aunts couldn’t help but remark that, in the blink of an eye, Ning Ning had grown into a big girl, ready for marriage.

This comment darkened Grandpa Jiang’s face. “Our Ning Ning is still young and in high school. She has two more years until she graduates. She’ll be going to college afterward.”

“What’s the rush? She can go on a blind date, get engaged now, and wait until after high school to marry.” The aunts spoke casually. “Good prospects get snatched up quickly. If you wait too long, all the good ones will be gone, and what’s left are the crooked melons and jujubes. Your Ning Ning is such a fine girl and still in high school, so you shouldn’t settle for someone subpar.”

One of the aunts had already begun thinking about which of her nephews was of a similar age. If she found a suitable match, she could quickly arrange a proposal to the Jiang family. Two years ago, this little girl from the Jiang family had been nothing but a skinny, malnourished bean sprout. But now, in just two years, she has grown into such a lovely young lady. If they didn’t act fast, the Jiang family’s threshold would be worn down by suitors.

How could Grandpa Jiang not see through their intentions? With a smile, he said, “Ning Ning is a high school student. When she goes to college, she’ll find someone who is also in college.”

Upon hearing this, the aunts couldn’t help but talk among themselves. They thought Grandpa Jiang was being far too picky, trying to match his granddaughter with a college boy, especially in the 1980s. For a moment, they abandoned their plans.

Jiangjiacun was a well-known large village in the area. The village was big enough that not everyone knew Grandpa Jiang had gone to Wucheng with Jiang Ning for her studies. They only knew that the old man was getting older and had handed his forest ranger job over to his brother.

This had frustrated many who were eagerly waiting for Grandpa Jiang to retire so they could take over his position. It was hard for them to hide their disappointment, and some couldn’t help but say unkind things.

When they returned home, they would mutter to their neighbors, “I see that the little girl from the big man’s family is quite smart. She’s still in high school. I had wanted to match her with my nephew, but who knew her grandfather would set the bar so high? Saying he wants her to find a college student.” They laughed at the absurdity. “It’s like dreaming with your head in the clouds. Which college student would want a girl from the countryside?” Then, thinking about the Jiang family, whose old, shabby house stood out in its poor condition, they added with disdain, “And her family is so poor.”

Those who built homes next to the ditch after the subdivision had been completed lived in modest two- or three-bedroom houses.

One of them, from the second house, overheard this. Feeling annoyed, they responded, “What’s wrong with a country girl? Plenty of country girls marry into the city. My uncle’s little girl didn’t even finish elementary school, and she married into town. Ning Ning is a high school student. If she goes to college and lands a stable government job, why wouldn’t she be able to marry someone from the city? And besides, have you seen the people in her family? From Big Man to Ah Lian, to their two sons—every one of them is handsome.”

“Especially Jiang Song.”

Jiang Bai was often described as having delicate features, which wasn’t the kind of look the village aunts admired. But Jiang Song was different. He had inherited all the best features of both Father Jiang and Mother Jiang. With his thick eyebrows, big eyes, and strong, heroic spirit, he was warm and generous, always greeting others with a smile. Which aunt in the village didn’t sing praises of Jiang Song whenever they saw him?

Even Jiang Song’s elementary school teacher once remarked, “Your son will either become the next Jackie Chan or an actor someday.”

The neighbor sneered, “Let’s just say, if his brother’s looks hadn’t been good, his wife wouldn’t have taken a liking to him, bought him a house, and had her father transfer him to Wucheng to be a teacher. He doesn’t come back much, but he’s living well. Being a teacher in the countryside means not worrying about harvests affected by droughts or floods, and they get over three months of vacation between winter and summer.”

The aunt from the third house pursed her lips but stopped speaking as she recalled seeing Jiang Ning’s face, which despite being wrapped in a scarf, still couldn’t hide her good looks.

Grandpa Jiang paid no mind to the village gossip and reassured Jiang Ning, “Ignore them. You know, they’ve been stuck in this small mountain village with their three acres of land all their lives. The furthest they’ve been is Shuibu Town. What do they know about how good life is in the big cities?”