Chapter 743

Jiang Guoliang’s house was less than sixty meters from the square dance area in the village center. On New Year’s Eve, they had already gone over to dance once. Tonight’s square dance disco? They were even more excited. Even Jiang Guoliang’s wife, who used to dread returning to his hometown, was now finding it all pretty enjoyable.

When Grandaunt Jiang arrived at the village center, she thought it really was a crazy dance fest.

Young folks from nearby brigades had heard from their families that Jiang Village was lively even at night. Many people who had watched a movie in the morning and gone hiking in the afternoon didn’t even go home. Instead, they stayed in Jiang Village, grabbed dinner at a small local eatery, and before it even got completely dark, people began showing up at the elderly activity center in the village center one after another.

The place was big—though it also had several grave mounds nearby. Back when they were paving the cement roads, the village road in the center had one grave mound on each side. They paved right over them with cement.

Greataunt Jiang stayed in Jiang Village all the way until the sixth day of the New Year before saying she wanted to return. But Grandpa Jiang and Uncle Jiang’s wife insisted she stay. At the same time, Yu Wenjie was thinking of sourcing some Wugong Tea from Jiang Village to sell in Qushui City by opening a Wugong Tea specialty store. After hearing his plan, Father Jiang took him straight to Jiang Guotai to discuss authorization and signing a deal.

Actually, in this day and age, things weren’t that complicated—just getting the goods and selling them was enough.

But with Jiang Ning’s reminder, Jiang Guotai made everything properly official. The whole point was to standardize and brand the name “Wugong Tea”.

Grandaunt Jiang hadn’t been back in decades and had originally worried there’d be nowhere for her to stay. But not only did Jiang Ning now have her own place, it was a big one—warm in winter and cool in summer, with every room having hot water and a private bathroom. It was so comfortable that, with Grandpa Jiang and Uncle Jiang’s wife’s warm invitations, Grandaunt Jiang and her husband decided to stay on in Jiang Village until spring.

She hadn’t seen a spring in Jiang Village for years. She wanted to take a good walk around, see how the village’s goji berries were doing now, enjoy the blooming azaleas all over the mountains, and with her eldest grandson’s company, revisit Wugong Mountain.

Now that Grandpa Jiang, Grandma Jiang, Greataunt Jiang, and her husband were all living together, the nearby house that belonged to Jiang Miao had been taken over by Old Zhonghua, who had moved the old store from the village entrance over to this area. The old “Village Entrance store” now had a new sign and new photo—renamed the “Village Entrance Supermarket”. After Jiang Guotai and the others left, the elderly folks of the village no longer gathered on the original high platform of the old store, but started congregating on the once-wild hill behind.

The old building of the original store hadn’t been left empty either—it was rented out to relatives from the back of Jiang Guotai’s house. That household, like Father Jiang’s family before, was one of the few in the area whose house was still small and low, not yet rebuilt into a multi-story home.

But because their house was behind Jiang Guotai’s, it was blocked by his tall building and no one could really see it—so no one thought it was small. Unlike Father Jiang’s house, which stood directly beside Jiang Guotai’s tall new place, flanked by a tall, spacious brick-and-stone granary from the 1970s, and on the other side, the houses of Jiang Hongjun and Jiang Hongbing. In the middle of all that, Father Jiang’s dim and squat old house looked even more conspicuous.

That family had three sons. The eldest was out working and getting older, with nowhere to live if he got married. The second had just graduated high school and was looking for a job, while the youngest was still in school.

It just so happened that Jiang Guotai’s old house was now empty—a small two-story home with front and back doors. After they rented it, they could also help take care of it. Otherwise, a good house left empty for a few years would end up with grass growing on the roof.

Same with Jiang Miao’s place—after her new house was built, she was away at school most of the year and only came back during holidays. That house also needed someone to live in and look after it. Grandpa Zhonghua and his wife were only two years younger than Grandpa Jiang. It wasn’t realistic for them to walk up and down the high platform every day, so they simply moved to the hillside too, just like Grandpa Jiang, becoming neighbors. They could look out for one another—if something happened, a quick shout and someone would come over.

Uncle Jiang’s wife turned the living room of Jiang Ning’s house into a small restaurant, and Grandpa Zhonghua just so happened to use Jiang Miao’s large living room to run the supermarket.

Everything at home was going well, so Jiang Ning had no worries. On the sixth day of the New Year, she returned to Beijing. First thing upon arrival? Of course, it was to visit her mentor and discuss her results in the recent national civil service exam.

Director Li was naturally pleased with her scores.

“You come from a red-rooted background,” he said.”

In her previous life, Jiang Ning had taken the local civil service exams. The experience of taking the national exam while living in Beijing was completely different. She hadn’t applied for a specific job, but rather—while still in graduate school—was aiming directly to enter the ‘Group’

This “Group” was a bit like the Hanlin Academy for those who passed the imperial exams in ancient times. There was even a saying, “No jinshi, no Hanlin.”

The nature of this “Group” was similar—a national talent pool. Many prominent officials had first entered the “Group”, received a few years of training and experience, and only then officially began their political careers, often starting from a very high point. Just like how, in ancient times, many jinshi would leave the Hanlin Academy and begin their appointments as magistrates.

Jiang Ning was still very young, so her current goal was to accumulate credentials, enhance her academic background, and build a solid foundation. She was in no rush.

That was the career plan Director Li had laid out for her.

After returning from her mentor’s house, Jiang Ning patiently waited for the outcome of the background checks while also calmly continuing her training with the university’s hurdles team, preparing for the upcoming spring university sports meet.

A week later, the background check results for this round of civil service candidates were finally released.”

He didn’t even need to specify who he meant. The secretary in the Secretariat immediately knew and smiled, “Yes, it’s out.”

The official had just wrapped up his work and was about to take a short break.

“Bring it over.”
—-

Although Jiang Song had gotten involved with a woman from a club, he never once considered bringing her home. He only ever thought of sending his son back to his hometown for his parents to take care of when he was too busy to manage on his own. But the woman from the dance hall was clingy—too clingy. Once she found out where his hometown was, she followed him back there, and from then on, it was impossible to shake her off. So Jiang Song simply stopped going back altogether.

Still, he was the kind of guy who, in Hao Xiaqi’s eyes, was cut from the same cloth as Father Jiang—sharp in some ways, but not overly so. His thoughts weren’t especially deep, and he didn’t realize that the woman from the dance hall had already found out his hometown address through his ID card. The only reason she hadn’t gone behind his back to sneak there was because she feared that if she left his side, he might disappear on her—and once he was gone, how would she ever find him again in this vast sea of people?

After all, Jiang Song hadn’t returned to his hometown in years. She knew that. And if he kept up that pattern, was she supposed to just wait around in his hometown like a fool?