Chapter 738

In truth, Grandaunt Jiang could barely run anymore. Her body was old, and her little jog looked rather comical, but no one paid attention to how she looked running—only whether she would fall.

The path between them wasn’t long, but it wasn’t short either.

By the time Grandaunt Jiang was almost there, she could no longer run, just walked quickly toward him.

Jiang Ning was also helping Grandpa Jiang walk quickly toward her.

When they finally drew close, before Jiang Ning even had time to get a proper look at this grandaunt she had never met in either her previous or current life, she heard Grandaunt Jiang suddenly slap her thigh and wail, “My brother! My heartless brother!”

That one sentence broke Grandpa Jiang down. The two siblings collapsed into each other’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

Grandaunt Jiang cried out, “Why didn’t you come see me? Why didn’t you check if I was living well?”

She sobbed until she was breathless, like all the words she had buried in her heart for decades came pouring out at once.

Grandpa Jiang was choked with tears too, holding her and patting her back.

Finally, the old man caught up and, after calling “Big Brother,” quickly tried to comfort Grandaunt Jiang. “Alright, alright, don’t cry now. You’ve been saying for years you wanted to come home and see your brother, and now you’re here.”

The old man was small and thin, visibly half a head shorter than Grandaunt Jiang.

The Jiang family were all tall folks. Grandpa Jiang’s father had become a sedan chair carrier for a landlord specifically because of his height. Grandaunt Jiang had inherited that tall frame too. In her youth, she was tall and slender—no less than 168 cm, or at least 166. Though age had shrunk her down some, she was still taller than her husband. Her husband had a gentle, scholarly air to him and spoke slowly.

Grandaunt Jiang, after all, was getting up there in age. All that emotion, crying so hard—her vision went black and she felt dizzy, unable to see clearly. 

Seeing that, her husband and the young man quickly helped support her.

Jiang Ning also supported Grandpa Jiang, helping the two siblings, who hadn’t seen each other in decades, into the villa on the barren mountain.

Only once she had calmed down a bit did Grandaunt Jiang take a proper look at her brother—how he had aged from the young man in her memory into this frail old figure. Whatever bitterness remained in her heart vanished, and she burst into tears once more.

Everyone around them tried to console her.

Grandaun’s husband’s accent was different from the local dialect, but having lived here most of his life, he could understand most of what the others were saying. After much effort, he managed to coax Grandaunt Jiang into finally stopping her tears.

Uncle Jiang’s wife hurried to bring a hot towel to help Grandma Jiang wipe her face.

After wiping her face and calming herself down, Grandaunt Jiang finally noticed the beautifully furnished, grand house she was now standing in. Only then did she realize she had misunderstood—her brother hadn’t ended up on the barren mountain because he had nowhere else to go, but because he had such a big, beautiful home there.

Once inside, she saw Grandma Jiang (her sister-in-law), now in her sixties but still looking rosy and full of energy. Upon seeing her sister-in-law, Grandma Jiang grinned broadly and said, “Oh! It’s Zhizi, you’re back? It’s been decades and you never came back to visit.”

But Grandma Jiang didn’t give her a warm face. She said coldly, “Why didn’t I see my brother all these years?”

Grandma Jiang’s face fell at that and she said disapprovingly, “I found you a good match.”

It wasn’t entirely untrue. Aside from being far away, the marriage Grandma Jiang had gotten really was a good one for the time. After all, she married into the city—to a factory worker.

Back then, in the village, the educated youth would practically kill for a spot to return to the city. They’d butter up the brigade secretary and team leader just for a chance at a worker-peasant-soldier university slot. For Grandaunt Jiang to marry into the city, and to a factory worker—a white-collar one at that—it was the kind of match others fought tooth and nail for.

Had it not been for her older sister and brother-in-law being transferred back to the city, having their positions reinstated, and life getting back on track—had they not come back and seen how Grandma Jiang had married her younger brother off to Grandpa Jiang, whose job barely fed eight mouths—her big sister wouldn’t have thought to try and help their younger sister out. That was how the matchmaking idea for Grandma Jiang’s marriage had been born.

Even though Grandma Jiang was full of hostility toward her sister-in-law and brother-in-law, she knew that Grandpa Jiang was someone who usually kept silent, but actually understood many things clearly in his heart. He wasn’t the kind of person who ignored his younger siblings—it was just that he spent most of his time patrolling the mountains, and all the matters at home were left to her. That’s why when the younger brother and sister dealt with her alone, they never got the better of it.

Even if she wanted to marry off her sister-in-law to save on food rations at home, she didn’t dare marry her off poorly. Otherwise, Grandpa Jiang would never have agreed.

It just so happened that her eldest sister had someone in mind—a widower working as a junior clerk at a towel factory, with a daughter. His family background wasn’t bad. Although he was eight or nine years older than Grandaunt Jiang’s sister-in-law and already had a child, he was a worker with a good temperament, earning forty to fifty yuan a month, had a light workload, and decent living conditions. Originally, the eldest sister wanted to introduce him to her own younger sister (Grandma Jiang) if she hadn’t married yet. But after hearing that Grandma Jiang had married and still had a sister-in-law, she casually suggested this match, thinking it’d be a good marriage for the sister-in-law. Grandma Jiang was also on good terms with her brother-in-law’s side of the family, so she happily accepted.

Given her sister-in-law’s rural background at the time, marrying a city worker was definitely marrying up. Plus, with the backing of Grandma Jiang’s eldest sister and brother-in-law, she wouldn’t be mistreated by her in-laws.

Even though Grandma Jiang was eager to marry off her sister-in-law, when her eldest sister mentioned this match, she was delighted and quickly brought it up to Grandpa Jiang.

Having been influenced by the educated youth who came to the village during that time, and having lived through the Great Famine and hardship from a young age supporting the family, Grandpa Jiang knew how bitter life in the countryside could be. The thought that his younger sister could marry into the city, eat government-supplied grain, and not have to toil in the fields like he did—of course, he was willing. But he didn’t agree right away; he insisted on meeting the man first.

At the time, the guy being introduced had just been reassigned to a technical post, with a relatively high worker grade. Grandma Jiang personally acted as the matchmaker. As for the man himself, aside from having a stable job, he was a widower with a young daughter and short in stature. His conditions weren’t exactly great. In the city, he could still find someone, but it’d be hard to find a woman with a job, and those without jobs but kind to his daughter were no different from village women. So when he heard there was a pure and unmarried young woman being introduced to him, he came to see her—and at first glance, he took a liking to Grandma Jiang’s sister-in-law.

Grandpa Jiang only agreed to the match after meeting the man and confirming that his character was trustworthy.

Back then, the farthest Grandpa Jiang had ever been was during the famine years when the whole village went to the outskirts of a neighboring city to dig for wild lotus roots along the riverbanks. He had never even been to the city. He knew Qushui City was far, but didn’t really understand how far. Since his sister-in-law and her husband were over there, there would be someone to rely on.

Plus, if they could come back to visit, it couldn’t be that far.