Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 195

Jiang Bai raised his eyes impatiently and rolled them at him. “You heard it right.” Then, realizing it, he became happy.

As a proud father, Father Jiang shouted excitedly, “You are truly worthy of being Jiang Guoping’s daughter! Come, have a drink with me.”

Father Jiang, who had been down all evening, now had eyes lit with joy. He poured a glass of rice wine, clinked glasses with Jiang Ning, and then poured wine for Jiang Bai.

“You also have a drink with me.”

Jiang Bai downed the wine in one gulp, as if it were water, and Jiang Ning followed suit.

The wine was made from grains at home. It was a tradition in their area for almost every household to brew some rice wine. Locals liked to use various ingredients for making wine. The typical ones included mulberry wine, plum wine, ginseng wine, and notoginseng wine. There were also more unusual varieties, like snake wine, scorpion wine, and bullwhip wine. In the past, when tigers roamed the mountains, there was even tiger bone wine, but those days were long gone.

If a household didn’t have at least two jars of wine in the cellar, they’d be embarrassed to invite guests over for a New Year’s dinner.

Many children, drawn to the wine, would sneak drinks when their parents weren’t around. Jiang Song and Jiang Bai had both secretly sampled Father Jiang’s rice wine when they were younger.

It wasn’t just Father Jiang who enjoyed drinking; Mother Jiang was fond of it too.

In fact, everyone in the Jiang family had a good drinking tolerance. In Jiang Ning’s memory, she had never been drunk, and her tolerance seemed innate.

She always claimed she didn’t know how to drink at work, but when it came to it, even when everyone else passed out, she remained unaffected.

At that moment, both Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning were drinking the wine Father Jiang poured, sipping it as if it were water. Father Jiang poured another glass for Mother Jiang and clinked her glass. “Come on, Ah Lian, have a drink with me too.”

Seeing Father Jiang, who had been so listless all evening, finally brightened up a little, Mother Jiang didn’t object. She simply took the drink.

“Alas,” Father Jiang sighed as he drank. “It would be great if Songzi were here. If he could repeat his studies, maybe he could come back as the county champion next year. He’s always been smart and quick, but he just didn’t apply himself to studying.”

“What’s the point of thinking about that now?” Mother Jiang replied. “First, we need to find him. I don’t even know how he’s doing out there, whether he’s home or how he’s eating. It’s already New Year’s Eve, and he’s still not here.”

Father Jiang sighed again. “Who knows? Whether you make money or not, the New Year is when you’re supposed to come home.”

During the Chinese New Year, they didn’t dare speak of anything unlucky, but the couple was deeply worried about their eldest son. They wondered if he had enough to eat or if he was staying warm out there.

He had never left home before, and the first year he did, he didn’t return for New Year’s. It truly broke their hearts.

Rationally, they knew their son was unlikely to be bullied. After all, Jiang Song was nearly 1.9 meters tall and had been the leader of the children, beating kids from all the nearby villages since childhood. Wherever he went, his sheer size alone would deter troublemakers.

But what if he had been deceived and detained somewhere, unable to get out?
Both Father Jiang and Mother Jiang had been working on construction sites for years, and they knew how chaotic things could get in the outside world. People often fought over projects, and it wasn’t uncommon for brawls to break out.

Father Jiang worried that young, impulsive Jiang Song, full of a sense of brotherhood and loyalty, might have gotten involved in these fights.

Fighting with swords was dangerous; no matter how strong someone was, a sharp blade didn’t care about size or strength. That was what truly concerned him.

It turned out that Jiang Song hadn’t been stabbed, but he did lead his buddies in fights, always rushing to the front.

He had been used to fighting since he was a child. As soon as his small, sturdy body could walk, he followed the village adults to catch fish on the riverbanks, almost scaring Mother Jiang to death.

He started fighting from a young age, first defeating all the boys from the third family who were his age or a year or two older. After that, he led them in battles against the boys from the second and fourth families. Once they conquered them, they marched to Xujiacun to take on the little boys there.

Among the eight villages within a ten-mile radius, Jiangjia Village and Xujia Village were the largest, and their residents had the fiercest tempers. The young boys from these two villages would arrange fights on the embankment lawn after school, where older and younger children alike gathered to watch the spectacle.

The large lawn on the river embankment sloped down in a trapezoidal shape, ideal for rolling from the top to the bottom.

Back then, Father Jiang was still running a chicken farm, and it was the best time for the Jiang family. Jiang Song had plenty of money and was incredibly generous.

He would often share spicy strips, Tang monk meat, fruit candies, and other treats with his friends, to the point where all the boys in the surrounding villages recognized him as their leader.

Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning never understood where Jiang Song got his boundless energy. He was like a wild, untrainable husky, always rushing out and picking fights.

Every day, Father Jiang and Mother Jiang had to follow Jiang Song around to apologize to others. No matter whether he won or lost, Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning would inevitably get punished.

If Jiang Song lost, Mother Jiang would scold Jiang Bai, “Your brother was fighting with others outside, and you didn’t even help him?!” Jiang Bai would then get a beating.

If Jiang Song won, Mother Jiang would scold Jiang Ning, “Your brother was fighting with someone, and you didn’t even try to stop him?!” Jiang Ning would then get a beating.

As a result, Jiang Ning was often punished when she was a child, the reason always being that she didn’t keep her brother out of trouble and let him go out to fight again.

It seemed that from childhood, except for the three years Jiang Song was confined in No. 1 High School, he was either fighting or on his way to one.

Eventually, Father Jiang and Mother Jiang had no choice but to go out to work, taking Jiang Song with them to keep him away from bad influences. But every year when they returned home for the New Year, the group of boys who had grown up fighting with Jiang Song would gather at their house to play with him.

Jiang Song was something else. He never felt inferior, despite the fact that the homes around them were taller, newer, and bigger than theirs. He didn’t mind at all and treated his friends like family, often bringing them home. Father Jiang and Mother Jiang were always responsible for entertaining them with good wine and food.

When he entered high school, No. 1 High School kept him locked on campus every day, preventing him from going out. With no way to release his energy, he took up basketball, football, running, and long jumping—anything to keep active. He was everywhere on the playground, always making friends, and his circle of brothers and good friends grew.

But after he finally graduated, he was like a husky unleashed, rushing headfirst into freedom. He found himself in Shenzhen, helping his brothers fight over construction sites and projects. He never gave a thought to his two elderly parents back in his hometown, who worried about him constantly.