Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 196

With no news from Jiang Song, Father Jiang’s worry only deepened at home.

With Jiang Song’s temper, Father Jiang was genuinely afraid that his son might get into fights while away. He sighed deeply at the dinner table as Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai finished their meal and went to clean up.

It was a cold winter, but fortunately, the past two days had been sunny. Jiang Ning took advantage of the weather to air out all the quilts and bedding. She also replaced the straw under the bed with fresh straw, throwing the old straw into the kitchen to be burned.

Jiang Ning prepared some warm water for Grandpa Jiang to wash his face and went to help him.

But Grandpa Jiang pulled his hand away, saying, “I don’t need you to help me up. It’s not like I can’t move. I don’t need you to pour the water either. I can do it myself.”

He had spent so much time alone in the mountains, accustomed to taking care of himself, that the sudden fussing from his granddaughter felt foreign and unnecessary. He didn’t like the idea of becoming dependent on others.

Waving her off impatiently, Grandpa Jiang said, “Go and do your own things. I don’t need anyone to watch me wash my feet. Go back to your room and read a book or something.”

Since Jiang Song wasn’t home, Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning had to share a room at night.

The Jiang family’s house had only two main rooms. The central room was used as a common area, while the rooms on either side were for sleeping. The left room was where Father Jiang and Mother Jiang slept. The right room had been divided into three smaller spaces: the south-facing room belonged to Jiang Song and Jiang Bai, with a rice barn occupying the middle section. The northernmost room was Jiang Ning’s, which contained a small, high bed and a desk. At the foot of the bed were rice vats and a large water vat that held freshly made rice cakes from that year. Beneath the bed was a cellar where they stored sweet potatoes from the harvest and homemade rice wine.

The room was packed to the brim.

Whenever Jiang Ning took a bath, she had to push a stool to the table, and water would inevitably spill over the edge, soaking the bed.

Grandpa Jiang, determined to be independent, waved her away, and Jiang Ning didn’t insist on helping. She went back to her tasks instead.

In the entire household, there was only one washbasin, one foot basin, and one bathtub. Grandpa Jiang used the basin to wash his face, and Jiang Bai started getting ready to bathe. After Grandpa Jiang was done, he hung his towel on the rack, grabbed a hot water bottle from the coal stove, and began pouring water to soak his feet.

All the basins and towels in the house were shared by the whole family, which made Jiang Ning very uncomfortable.

Although she had grown up in such an environment, she still couldn’t get used to it upon returning, especially the dry toilets common in rural areas.

Some families, like Uncle Jiang’s, had more refined dry toilets, with cement-plastered walls and floors, and wooden boards covering the openings to keep insects at bay. But for families like the Jiang household, with more modest means, the dry toilet was leaky and drafty. The cold winter wind made every trip to the toilet a torment for Jiang Ning. Whenever she came back, she would go to her uncle’s house to use their toilet.

Thankfully, the two homes were close, but she often thought about how inconvenient it was. Jiang Ning even recalled that in her past life, every time she came back to visit, she would always end up at her aunt’s house—perhaps partly because she preferred using their toilet.

It was hard to adapt to lesser conditions once she had experienced better ones.

Though Jiang Ning hadn’t lived extravagantly in her previous life, she had gotten used to the conveniences of modern life. Coming back to this simpler, less developed era made her feel uncomfortable in every way.

She couldn’t wait for the winter vacation to end so she could return to Wucheng.

She also wondered how the decoration of her houses in Shanghai was coming along and when it would be finished. She was looking forward to saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.

On New Year’s Eve, everyone had to bathe from head to toe to greet the coming year.

In the morning, Jiang Bai and the others had gone to worship their ancestors, but Mother Jiang and Jiang Ning weren’t required to go. Jiang Ning had already washed her hair in the morning and planned to take a shower that evening.

Since Jiang Bai was using the bathtub, she decided to brush her teeth first. Unlike in modern routines, her family didn’t have the habit of brushing their teeth at night; they only brushed in the morning.

Mother Jiang noticed Jiang Ning brushing her teeth late at night, wasting toothpaste, and stared at her coldly, rolling her eyes, hoping Jiang Ning would get the hint. But Jiang Ning didn’t even glance her way.

It was New Year’s Eve, so she couldn’t scold her, but the waste of toothpaste really bothered her.

Jiang Ning had always prided herself on having a stable temperament, calm and unflappable. Yet somehow, Mother Jiang had the unique ability to stir her negative emotions with ease. Even a single word could ignite a storm in her heart.

That feeling of being so easily provoked made her deeply uncomfortable.

Determined to ignore her mother completely, Jiang Ning finished brushing her teeth, poured boiling water over the washbasin, and scrubbed it and the footbath with soap. Mother Jiang watched her waste the boiling water and soap, her frustration building. But she swallowed it down, glancing away, pretending to focus on the food at the table, eating without really tasting anything. Then she noticed Jiang Ning taking out a towel.

It wasn’t a new towel—Jiang Ning had used it at school for a semester—but even so, Mother Jiang couldn’t hold back any longer. She put down her chopsticks and asked, “Where did you get that towel?”

She pressed further, “Where did you get the money to buy a new towel?” Then she turned to Father Jiang, “Did you give her money?”

Father Jiang, caught off guard, replied, “I gave you all the money I earned,” then added, trying to calm things down, “Her grandpa probably bought it for her. She’s studying away from home; she needs a face towel.”

Mother Jiang, unable to stand the thought of waste, muttered, “We have plenty of filial piety cloths at home that we can’t even finish using—why can’t she use one of those as a towel?”

In their village, when an elderly person passed away, white linen cloth was given out to those who paid their respects. These clothes, known as mourning clothes, weren’t discarded afterward; they were kept and used as towels, bath towels, or for washing feet. The Jiang family had a stockpile of such clothes, many still unused in the cabinet.

Father Jiang frowned at the mention of mourning clothes during the New Year celebrations. He set down his chopsticks and warned, “We’re celebrating the New Year—can’t you say something more good?”

Mother Jiang quickly realized her mistake, fearing that her words might bring bad luck, especially with Jiang Song still missing. She immediately fell silent.

After Jiang Ning finished brushing her teeth and washing her face, she noticed that the footbath and bath basin were already in use by Jiang Bai and Grandpa Jiang. Unbothered, she went to the kitchen shelf and retrieved a large glass bottle, one of those used for hanging saline in hospitals. She filled it with hot water, took two worn-out socks with holes in the toes and heels, and wrapped the bottle. She handed one to Grandpa Jiang, who was soaking his feet in hot water, and placed the other in her quilt to keep warm.