Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 36
Jiang Ning washed a few river clams and snails, preparing to make a dry pot of them with winter melon and cool gourd gourd shreds.
It was preferable to use large field snails for the dry pot. Many locals couldn’t differentiate between large field snails and Chinese apple snails and seldom ate the former. In reality, they were easy to tell apart: one had a flat butt, and the other had a round one.
Jiang Ning glanced at the snails Father Jiang had brought back and confirmed that they were all field snails, not a single apple snail among them.
All the dishes she prepared were generous in portion size, perhaps due to the family’s hearty appetite, including Mother Jiang’s.
Since childhood, Jiang Ning had refrained from taking more food on her plate, feeling it was almost sinful for a girl to take extra servings at the dinner table. Before she could eat more than a couple of bites, the food would be snatched away. Over time, she unknowingly developed a habit of cooking extra-large portions.
Her culinary skills were so adept that she often couldn’t finish the food herself, so she would take the leftovers to work and share them with her colleagues.
With the dishes ready, Jiang Ning found herself hungry even before her parents returned. She served herself a bowl and began eating.
As darkness fell, Father Jiang returned with a large basket of crayfish, dumping them into a water chestnut basin in the yard. Mother Jiang followed, carrying a hoe and two baskets brimming with long cowpeas.
“What delicious food did you make today?” Father Jiang’s nostrils twitched with the aroma as he entered the yard. He couldn’t contain his curiosity, asking Jiang Ning while cleaning up at the well. Without waiting for her response, he dashed to the dining table and found the main room occupied. On the clay bowl atop the table rested a generous serving of dry-pot clams and snails, adorned with vibrant green and red peppers, spicy millet, and garlic leaves—an appetizing sight indeed.
Father Jiang immediately picked up some and took a bite, exclaiming, “How can sea snails and clams taste this good?” Jiang Ning’s dry-pot clams and snails were truly exceptional.
Impressed by the delicious dish, Father Jiang decided to savor the meal slowly. He fetched two bowls and poured two servings of home-brewed rice wine from the clay pot. Inviting Mother Jiang, Ah Lian, to join him, he said, “Come, let’s have a drink together.”
Mother Jiang washed her hands and joined them. She remarked, “It won’t hurt to have a little.” Sitting down at the dining table, she picked up her bowl, took a sip of wine, and then turned to Jiang Ning, asking, “Where’s the money you earned today?”
Jiang Ning, enjoying her stew, replied between bites, “I want to use the money for my tuition.”
“Give it to me, and I’ll hold onto it for you. I’ll give it back when you start school,” Mother Jiang said, reaching out her hand towards Jiang Ning. Startled, Jiang Ning instinctively moved back, causing the bench to scrape against the ground with a harsh sound.
Jiang Ning jumped away from the dining table, leaving Mother Jiang three feet away. She quickly moved from the dining table to the door. When she felt it was safe, Jiang Ning stopped and looked at Mother Jiang warily.
Both Father Jiang and Mother Jiang were stunned for a moment, and Mother Jiang’s face changed with anger. “Why are you running away? Am I a jackal, that you flee from me?”
“Don’t you know if you are a jackal?” Jiang Ning thought.
Jiang Ning didn’t want to anger her. After the harvest, her grandfather returned to the hut on the mountain. If she ran out so late, she would have nowhere to go at night.Â
Jiang Ning said, “I don’t need you to keep it, I will keep it myself.”
Angry, Mother Jiang stood up and wanted to hit her again. “You little thing, how dare you control your own money, are you so big?”
Father Jiang grabbed Mother Jiang and said, “Can you please stop hitting the child while eating? Look how frightened Ning Ning is by you. She can’t even eat.”
He called Jiang Ning, “Sit and eat.”
Jiang Ning ignored him and continued to eat at the door with a bowl in hand.
Mother Jiang was scolded by Father Jiang. She turned around and glared at him. Then she sat back and said to Jiang Ning, “Come here and hand over all the money later. I don’t want your money either. Are you going to pay the tuition? I will pay it for you then.”
Jiang Ning didn’t say anything and didn’t go over.
“Did you hear me talking to you?” Mother Jiang’s voice became louder. “You are a child, you will lose whatever money you have in your hand. Give me the money and I will keep it for you.”
Jiang Ning raised her eyes and looked at her, “You keep my New Year’s money for me every year and say you’ll give it to me when I grow up. Now that I’ve grown up, when will you give it to me?”
Mother Jiang’s face darkened, and she didn’t bother to talk nonsense to her. She directly shouted, “Do you want to argue with me?”Â
Jiang Ning answered her and took a few steps towards the door.
Mother Jiang sneered and pointed at her, “Let’s see where you can run.” Then she turned around and continued to eat.
Of course, Mother Jiang was not in a hurry. Even if Jiang Ning didn’t eat, she would later take a bath and go to bed. Then she would settle the score with her. When Jiang Ning saw her mother, she knew what she was thinking. After eating, she kept wandering outside and did not go back. She only stared at the increasingly dark night in the direction of the ferry.
For Grandpa’s job as a ranger, the salary was not paid on a monthly basis, but at the end of the year, it was paid out in one go by the brigade headquarters, and the money paid was basically used by Mother Jiang to pay off debts.
The stack of cents that Grandpa gave her before was less than fifty yuan in total.
She sold crayfish twice, earning more than 20 yuan each time. She bought a few magazines and some letter paper and stamps. After subtracting more than 10 yuan, she still had more than 30 yuan left, which added up to about 80 yuan.
When she was in high school in her previous life, she rented a house off-campus. Six people lived in a small room next to the owner’s kitchen. Four people squeezed into a 1.5-meter bed. The cost was 60 yuan a semester. That was already the lowest, no matter how small the number of people was. The room she rented cost at least one hundred yuan a semester.
She still remembered the high school tuition fees clearly: 360 yuan per semester, and more than 300 yuan for tuition, books fees, and school uniform fees.
In other words, before school starts, she must have at least more than 700 yuan to pay for a semester’s study.
That was also the reason why Mother Jiang didn’t want her to go to school. The amount of money required for education was a significant burden for a rural family, especially with three high school students to support. The tuition fee for one semester alone exceeded 2,000 yuan, totaling more than 4,000 yuan annually, without considering the living expenses of the three children.
Before Jiang Ning entered high school, she was still in the nine-year compulsory education system. The tuition fees were not as high, and she didn’t have to live on campus. She brought food to school every day and only spent twenty cents on the ferry fee. However, in high school, returning home daily was no longer feasible, and she had to live on campus.
Seeing that Jiang Ning hesitated to return home after dark, Father Jiang became frustrated with Mother Jiang’s behavior. He questioned her, “Why do you have such a bad temper? Look, you scared Ning Ning so much that she didn’t even dare to go home. If you continue like this, you will end up hitting her sooner or later, and she will run away. If she really leaves one day and doesn’t come back, it will be your fault.”
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