Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 205

“No, no, no,” Aunt Jiang’s husband  said, scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment. “Their presence has actually improved our business. Dad, sit down. I’ll go call Xiao Feng.”

With that, he quickly fled and returned with a lot of breakfast food. Even though Grandpa Jiang said he wasn’t hungry, Uncle Jiang bought a bunch and placed it on the table. He sat down awkwardly, not knowing what to say. He shifted his hands uneasily—sometimes putting them in his pants pockets, then his coat pockets, and occasionally reaching for a cigarette, anxiously waiting for Aunt Jiang to come back.

Although Grandpa Jiang wasn’t hungry, Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai were a bit hungry after pulling and pushing the cart all the way there.

They were at the age when they were still growing, so they ate a lot and got hungry quickly. Jiang Ning didn’t hold back and, after saying, “Thank you, Uncle,” started eating first.

At that time, one yuan could buy ten potstickers, fried in fragrant canola oil until golden and crispy. Jiang Ning even asked Uncle Jiang for vinegar and chili.

Perhaps because Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang weren’t good cooks, Aunt Jiang, like Father Jiang, was excellent in the kitchen. Every year, she would pickle coriander, ginger, chili paste, and make sausages, which she sent to Jiang Ning.

In her previous life, after Jiang Ning divorced and lived alone, Aunt Jiang sent her so much that she couldn’t finish it all, so she gave it to her boss.

It was all homemade farm produce, nothing expensive. The boss wouldn’t accept other gifts, but every time she brought these farm products, her boss loved them, especially Aunt Jiang’s homemade sausages.

Tong Jingang and Jiang Bai also thanked the uncle before heading to the table to eat fried dough sticks, potstickers, and rice cakes. Dawei waved his hands repeatedly, saying, “No need to thank me, no need to thank me. Eat more! If it’s not enough, I’ll go buy more.”

He had bought a large plate of snacks. Jiang Ning ate ten potstickers in a row, and both Tong Jingang and Jiang Bai had big appetites as well.

Aunt Jiang returned soon after. Her husband, seeing her as if she were a savior, quickly took the things from her hands and placed them neatly on the shelves.

After washing her hands, Aunt Jiang saw the cart at the door and exclaimed, “You’re heading back to school already?”

Jiang Bai nodded. “School starts tomorrow.”

Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang were both third-year high school students, and  they resumed classes early after the break. Aunt Jiang knew this, but she was surprised and asked Jiang Ning, “Why are you going back so early too, Ning Ning? I remember you’re only a first-year.”

Jiang Ning put down her chopsticks, smiled, and said, “I want to go early to sell clothes and see if I can make some money.”

Aunt Jiang sighed, then went to the kitchen to fetch two jars of her pickled coriander and radish, along with a string of sausages for Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai.

Before they left, Aunt Jiang secretly stuffed a hundred yuan into Grandpa Jiang’s hand. He refused, but Aunt Jiang forced it into his pocket and quickly ran off with the empty cart.

During the toughest years when the Jiang family was in debt, Aunt Jiang had secretly given money to Mother Jiang as well.

Grandpa Jiang stood under the bus, clutching the hundred yuan, watching Aunt Jiang’s figure disappear before finally putting the money back in his pocket.

He really didn’t lack money anymore.

Last year, Jiang Ning’s store could sell about ten pieces of clothing a day. Although she had deposited the earnings in the bank, she understood that money gives people confidence. Just like she did for Jiang Bai, she regularly sent Grandpa Jiang a hundred yuan in “salary” each month, so even after Grandpa Jiang retired from his job as a forest ranger, his income actually increased.

Grandpa Jiang always said he didn’t want the money, but Jiang Ning insisted on giving it to him. Eventually, he accepted it, saving it for his granddaughter.

Having a hundred-yuan monthly salary from his granddaughter made the old man very content. He was happy all the time, even if he didn’t spend the money. It gave him confidence to pay for Jiang Ning’s and Jiang Bai’s school fees.

Seeing Grandpa Jiang still standing under the bus and not getting on, Tong Jingang called out, “Grandpa Jiang, hurry up! The seats will be gone soon!”

It was the height of the Spring Festival travel season, and the bus fare was several times higher than usual. As soon as Tong Jingang got on the bus, he quickly saved two seats, calling out, “Sister, come quickly! Sit by the window; it’s more comfortable!” Then he called to Grandpa Jiang, “Grandpa Jiang, sit here!”

He used his bag to save his and Jiang Bai’s seats and told Jiang Ning, “Sister, keep an eye on our seats. Don’t let anyone take them.”

These past few days, traveling back and forth to Shuibu Town, he had truly experienced how crowded the buses were during the Spring Festival. Without a seat, they’d be squished like a pancake.

After getting off the bus, he helped Jiang Bai load several sacks of grain onto the roof and secured them with ropes before quickly finding his seat.

The cart was left at Aunt Jiang’s house, waiting for a boat to come to Shuibu Town so they could send it back to Linhe Village. They’d ask the boat owner to take it back.

Villagers usually left things at Aunt Jiang’s place if they had any trouble transporting goods to town.

Once Jiang Ning and the others sat down, the bus quickly filled up. The ticket collector pulled out a long bench from somewhere, placed it in the middle of the aisle, and called out, “Going to Wucheng! This bus is going to Wucheng!”

At first, there weren’t many people, but as the bus traveled toward Wucheng, more people waved it down, and more passengers boarded. Soon, the bus was packed.

Various smells filled the air.

When the ticket collector had stuffed every inch of the bus with people and could no longer fit inside himself, he closed the door, wrapped a scarf around his head and face, and hung onto the outside of the bus, grabbing the handlebar. As more people along the road waved the bus down, he shouted, “No room! No room! Wait for the next one!”

In this era, the phenomenon of overloading is quite common because there are many people and few vehicles. Even the passengers help the drivers hide the number of people on board. When they see an inspection for overloading in the distance, both the driver and the ticket collector will ask everyone to get off the bus temporarily. They’ll walk past the checkpoint while the bus waits ahead, and then get back on afterward.

If they didn’t squeeze inside, they had to walk back.

Moreover, there were no seat belts.

Neither the driver nor the passengers wrote seat belts, and there weren’t any in the mini-bus seats either.