Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 189

Uncle Jiang had been living in his house for a few years, and the fire of resentment had dimmed.

He said he was desperate, but he never actually went to find Grandpa Jiang.

Over there, Father Jiang and Mother Jiang came out of their house. Since Mr. Jiang didn’t give her that year’s salary, Mother Jiang was lukewarm toward Grandpa Jiang. She didn’t offer to welcome him with a meal of noodles. Instead, she glanced at Jiang Ning, who was standing next to Grandpa Jiang, and sneered, “You know the way back? There’s been no news of you for so long, I thought you died outside.”

She was talking about Jiang Ning, but her eyes were fixed on Grandpa Jiang.

Father Jiang glared at Mother Jiang angrily, “Can’t you say something nice when we’re celebrating the Chinese New Year?”

Mother Jiang’s voice rose, “I’ll say what I want! Look at what he did. He quit his job and gave it to someone else without even telling me. He just got paid and disappeared for half a year. The young one lied, saying she was going to work in a kiln factory, but didn’t. I went to look for her, and where was she? Now it’s the New Year, and everyone knows she’s back. It’s a miracle I’m not throwing them out, and you expect me to speak nicely?”

Grandpa Jiang had earned wages his whole life, working hard like an old ox, laboring for his youngest son’s family, and only had the ranger’s house on the mountain to live in. Where else could he go?

He didn’t respond to his daughter-in-law and only said to Father Jiang, “Just let me stay in the small house.”

The “small house” he referred to was the old earthen house directly opposite Uncle Jiang and Father Jiang’s house. It used to be the house where his great-grandmother had lived.

When Uncle Jiang heard that, he immediately said, “Old man, am I dead? His family’s house is small, and there is no room for you to stay in. How can I, your son, live?” He quickly called his wife, “Guiying, hurry up and clean up a room for Father. If we let the old man live in a pigsty during the Chinese New Year, the villagers will point at us and scold us.”

When he said that, he looked at Father Jiang, which made Father Jiang embarrassed. He quickly stopped them and said, “There’s a place to stay at home. Songzi and Baizi haven’t come back yet. The rooms are all empty. There’s no need to go.”

He angrily reprimanded Mother Jiang, “Why don’t you go clean up the room? What kind of mess are you talking about during the Chinese New Year? If my father doesn’t live in our house, where can he live?”

“That’s right.” Uncle Jiang ate noodles and said with a smile, “Dad has given you all his salary over the years. Now that he is back for the New Year, he can’t even have a bed, right?”

He looked at Grandpa Jiang and called to his wife, “Guiying, go and see if my mother has finished the chicken legs, then give my father a bowl.” He took a bite of the chicken bones in the bowl and said to Grandpa Jiang, “It’s Chinese New Year; Guiying just stewed chicken today. You haven’t eaten yet; come on, bring Ning Ning to my house to eat.”

Uncle Jiang just said a few words, but if he really wanted to do something like let Grandpa Jiang sleep in the pigpen and not give him food, he couldn’t do it.

Grandma Jiang couldn’t get along with her youngest daughter-in-law, and she also knew that she had offended her to death. She realized she would have to rely on her eldest son and kind-hearted eldest daughter-in-law for the rest of her life. She had raised her three grandsons single-handedly and cared deeply about them.

When she was young, she had a strong personality and a bad temper. But as she got older, she became a Christian. Every weekend, she would make appointments with the old ladies in the village who were also religious and ferry them to the church in Tanshan to sing, learn to read, and grow vegetables. Her temper had softened now. Her eldest daughter-in-law was not a mean person, so she hoped her life in her eldest son’s house wouldn’t be too uncomfortable.

On the other hand, the old man, after being assigned to his younger son’s family, worked like a horse for them, but his life was not much better.

When she came out, she couldn’t help but say to her daughter-in-law, “Ah lian, you can’t be too heartless as a person. We agreed at the beginning that the eldest family would take care of me, and you would care for the old man. Let alone his elderly care, the old man’s salary has not been subsidized by you in these years. Your elder brother didn’t say anything. You can’t be so heartless. The old man just resigned from his job this year, but you want to kick him out. In the dead of winter, do you really want to let the old man sleep in a pigpen and freeze to death? I won’t forgive you!”

After Grandma Jiang accepted Christianity, she spoke slowly and calmly to Father Jiang, “Guoping, after all, your wife is not our relative, but you are a biological son. Since your father came back, why don’t you ask if he has eaten or give him a sip of hot water?”

Father Jiang was so embarrassed that he quickly helped Grandpa Jiang home. Grandpa Jiang handed the bag in his hand to Grandma Jiang, “These are the shoes Xiaofeng made for you.” Then he followed Father Jiang back.

The other old people present all sighed, “It’s true that you have always been rich. Why did you quit your job? You have a house to live in, you have money. You’ve been strong all your life; you don’t have to ask for help, but now you are begging for food from your son and wife.”

The owner of the small shop and Grandpa Jiang’s lifelong friend learned more about it and said, “You don’t even see how he is. With his body, he might fall while walking on the mountain one day and die.”

After everyone heard that, they couldn’t help but feel sad.

Thinking of the new cotton-padded clothes and shoes that Grandpa Jiang was wearing, the shop owner sighed, “I just hope that Ning Ning is a filial person and can live up to his care.”

He had raised her for so many years.

They were afraid that they would spend their whole lives for their son and daughter, raising grandchildren when they were old. In the end, none of the sons and daughters would want them, and their grandchildren would not be filial; then life would be miserable.

Jiang Ning watched Father Jiang helping Grandpa Jiang home. She stood on a high waterproof platform in front of the small shop at the entrance of the village.

If possible, Jiang Ning would never come back. But she couldn’t do that in her previous life.

Girls in rural areas were already in a difficult situation. In her previous life, a girl like her who went to college and worked in the system was considered a well-known person in the village. If she passed the exam and never came back, it would put the girls in the village in a more difficult situation.

They didn’t want their daughters to study in the first place. If she set a bad example as someone who would never return, others would use her as a lesson to teach people in the village, “What’s the use of education for a girl? Look at the daughter of the Jiang family. She worked hard to study and get into college. Once she passed the exam, she never came back.”