Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 6

Jiang Ning ignored Mother Jiang’s venomous tongue, poured a few cucumbers cut into strips into the cooked crayfish, stirred it for a few times, then poured in garlic leaves, and then divided the crayfish into two portions and put them into a large porcelain basin.

The cucumber green was crisp and the crayfish red was attractive.

At that time, the rice in the big pot was already cooked. Jiang Ning filled a pot with rice and put it into the bamboo basket. She also filled half of the cooked broth, eggplant, cucumber, and crayfish one by one into the basket, to deliver to her grandpa and father who were busy in the rice fields.

Afraid of weather changes, heavy rains would occur before the rice was dried, so everyone worked day and night while the weather was fine.

When Jiang Ning arrived at the rice field, Grandpa Jiang was still leading the old cow and dragging the stone roller to thresh grain in the rice field.

Next to them were two companies threshing the rice with threshing machines, and others using tractors to roll the rice back and forth. The threshing machine was suitable for households with a large number of people. Jiang Song and Jiang Bai had not been back that year. Grandpa Jiang was old, so he led the old cow and dragged the stone roller. It rolled slowly and effortlessly.

When Jiang Ning arrived, she called out, “Grandpa, it’s time to eat.”

Grandpa Jiang led the cow in a circle and smiled at her when he heard the sound. The wrinkles on his face stretched out like chrysanthemums.

Jiang Ning smiled, and her nose suddenly became sore.

“Grandpa, it’s time to eat,” Jiang Ning shouted loudly.

Many people on the rice field turned to look at Jiang Ning. At first glance, they thought they saw a young man.

Even with the outdoor lights on, the light was still dim in the evening.

Some people with bad eyesight even shouted to Grandpa Jiang, “Old man, your second grandson is back.”

Grandpa Jiang was stunned for a moment when he saw Jiang Ning’s hair. He stopped the cow by the straw pile, came over and looked at Jiang Ning’s hair and frowned, “Your mother beat you again?”

He was angry and distressed, and his hands were trembling. “If your mother hits you, why won’t you run? You just stand there and let her hit you.”

Jiang Ning had been raised by Grandpa Jiang since she was a child. He took her with him everywhere and let her ride on his neck.

It wasn’t until Jiang Ning was six or seven years old that he couldn’t carry her anymore, so he stopped carrying her.

The neighbors all joked about Jiang Ning, saying that she grew up riding on Grandpa Jiang’s neck.

Because of Jiang Ning’s matter, Grandpa Jiang had quarrels with Father Jiang and Mother Jiang countless times a year, either because Mother Jiang wouldn’t let Jiang Ning study or because she beat and scolded her.

“It’s okay.” She shook her messy short hair and touched her swollen face. “I ran away and was caught by her when I went home to study.” She raised her face and smiled at her grandfather. “I was confused while reading.”

Grandpa Jiang burst into tears when he heard it.

Grandpa Jiang was sixty years old, with gray hair and a thin figure.

Because Mother Jiang didn’t want her to study, her elderly grandfather went to the mountains to get a job as a forest ranger. He got paid eighty yuan a month to support her studies and give her living expenses.

The most profound image in her memory was the figure of her grandfather leaving home and walking slowly up the mountain.

Grandpa Jiang said, “It will be fine once you go to high school. You can live on campus, it will be fine if we get separated.”

Her family had been divided up a long time ago. Grandma Jiang lived with her other son, who would take care of her in old age, while Grandpa Jiang lived with their family, and Father Jiang would take care of him in his old age.

Grandpa Jiang was so thin that he had only a handful of bones left because of his poor health.

In her memory, her grandpa had always been so thin.

Jiang Ning burst into tears and responded with a nasal voice, “Yes.”

She also knew that it would be fine once she got to high school and separated.

She smiled and said, “When I get into college, I will take you to the big city. You will live with me and I will provide for you in your old age.” She smiled brightly and said, “We won’t come back.”

Grandpa Jiang also smiled happily. He wanted his granddaughter to get out of this poor little village and go to a big city.

“Okay, okay,” he said, and wiped his eyes and nose with his rough palms. “I don’t want you to provide for me in old age, as long as you live a good life.”

Thinking of his little granddaughter going to college and going to a big city made the old man so happy.

Jiang Ning took out the food from the basket like a treasure, saying, “Come and tell me if the food I cooked is delicious.”

Grandpa Jiang took a big bite with his chopsticks and said, “It’s delicious. My granddaughter cooks the best.”

The grandfather and grandchild were sitting under the straw pile, with the sunset behind their backs, smiling like two big fools.

It wasn’t until dark that Father Jiang, who had finished harvesting the rice, rushed to the rice field with the rice that had been dried on the field ridge. After seeing the food, he didn’t say anything, picked up the big porcelain basin and started eating.

While eating, he kept praising, “Today’s food is delicious.”

He was in his prime. So he ate very quickly and had a huge appetite. He could eat a whole bowl as big as a bowl in one meal.

After they finished eating, she returned with the empty bowls and chopsticks.

By the time she got home, all the dishes she left behind had been eaten, leaving only the empty dishes and chopsticks lying messily on the table, waiting for her to come back and wash them.

Seeing such a scene, she was actually very calm and not surprised at all.

In the eyes of adults, including her brothers, all this was what she should do.

She remembered one time she didn’t want to wash the dishes and neither did her brother, so she and her brother got into an argument. The eldest brother blurted out, “Isn’t that what girls should do?”

Since then, she never washed the dishes again.