Chapter 750

Xu Xuedie, despite having no official status, followed Jiang Song around like a wife, calling herself the “boss lady” on site. She even ran a canteen and made good money. Jiang Song was fine with not getting serious about dating, but the moment he did want to date seriously and bring someone home? Xu Xuedie would go all out to sabotage it.

The whole thing drove Jiang Song nuts. But he just wasn’t the type who could be truly heartless to a woman—especially not the mother of his two kids. If he raised his voice a little, she’d cry like a pitiful damsel in distress.

And to make matters worse, Jiang Song had been deeply influenced by the movies of that era—Young and Dangerous, The Deer and the Cauldron and the like. He saw Xu Xuedie as one of those loyal, tragic female companions, like Shuang’er—faithful to a fault, clinging to him with nothing else in the world. And he? He thought of himself as the male lead in all those dramas.

Father Jiang, every now and then, would call Jiang Ning, hoping she or Jiang Bai could talk some sense into their brother.

Jiang Bai? Unless he initiated it, he’d be lucky to hear from him once a year. He mostly called Grandpa Jiang on that remote mountain, checked that all was well, and wired money regularly to both Grandpa Jiang and Mother Jiang.

If Jiang Ning still remembered to buy clothes for Grandma Jiang and give her a red envelope during New Year, Jiang Bai was even more single-minded—his world only had two people in it: Grandpa Jiang and Mother Jiang.

He’d never forgotten how hard his mother’s life had been. He saw all the suffering she went through, so he always felt tender and protective toward her. That’s why he sent her money on time.

Of course, that was about all.

In Jiang Bai’s eyes, Father Jiang was still in his prime, capable of earning money. So he didn’t really think about him.

Plus, from childhood, Mother Jiang had always said she’d live with Jiang Song in her old age—that it was his responsibility. That stuck in Jiang Bai’s mind, giving him the fixed idea that, just like with his grandpa and grandma, he and Jiang Song would each be responsible for one parent. Naturally, Father Jiang would be his.

Besides, Father Jiang was always a big spender—money in hand was money gone. Jiang Bai never quite trusted him financially, so he sent all the money to Mother Jiang.

Over the years, Mother Jiang hadn’t received a dime from her eldest son. Her younger son’s regular remittances gave her some comfort.

But no matter how much she saved up, the moment her eldest asked, she handed it all over.

Unlike in the previous life—where Jiang Song, betrayed by his brothers, ended up deep in debt, chased by creditors, with all his workers gone, and had to return to his hometown with Xu Xuedie to hide—this time, thanks to Jiang Village’s prosperity and the booming hometown economy, even his aunts and uncles had money. Jiang Song managed to raise over a million yuan and had another shot at a comeback.

And so, all the way until 2010, Jiang Song only returned to his hometown a few times that could be counted on one hand.

Almost every time he came back, it was either to pay off debts to the village—or borrow more.

Father Jiang and Mother Jiang worked hard their entire lives. They earned a decent amount every year. Yet, when they were old, not only did they have no savings—they were still working just to help Jiang Song pay off his debts.

Which meant that this time around, there was no repeat of the past—where on the third day after Jiang Ning’s wedding, her room was taken over by Xu Xuedie and her kids.

In this life, apart from sleeping a few nights at Father Jiang’s place in the very beginning, Jiang Ning never again stayed in his house. That so-called “her room”? Didn’t exist anymore.

When Jiang Bai realized that the money he’d sent his mother was all given to Jiang Song, he was very unhappy. Having grown up in a home constantly in debt, he had a deep-rooted fear of poverty and placed great value on money. His three great loves in life? Saving, investing, and studying machinery.

For someone like Jiang Bai—born with a “money vault” mentality—seeing his funds handed over to someone else was unacceptable.

Eventually, he simply stopped sending money. He told his mom, “If you’re short on cash, tell me.”

Fearing her younger son might one day refuse to take care of her, Mother Jiang eventually didn’t dare hand over Jiang Bai’s money to Jiang Song again.

Time passed day by day, and Jiang Yuanhao and Jiang Yuanyue grew up little by little.

At first, Jiang Yuanhao still held onto hope that Jiang Song would come back, just like he had promised—to take him away and let him go to school in the city. 

After years, Mother Jiang and her niece were going to start living with her son.

Living with her eldest son was something Mother Jiang had been looking forward to for over a decade. What’s more, her eldest son was willing to bring her little granddaughter to the city for high school—how could she say no when it was clearly a good thing for the girl?

In Wucheng, the high schools were filled with traces of Jiang Ning.1 High School or Wuzhong, the two most talked-about names were still Jiang Ning and Song Peifeng.

And Mother Jiang —what she least wanted to hear were Jiang Ning’s name and accomplishments. Because to her, it represented the denial of everything she had been. Her youth, her choices—it all became the laughingstock of others, like the villainess in a TV drama.

Yet, she deeply understood the importance of education and wanted her granddaughter to study hard.

After Father Jiang racked up mountains of debt, she had always believed that her biggest regret in life was being illiterate, a blind person with open eyes. If she had known how to read and write, she thought she wouldn’t have been any worse than Father Jiang.

The thing she repeated most to Jiang Yuanyue as the girl grew up was, “My whole life went wrong because I couldn’t read, couldn’t write. I was just a blind person with my eyes wide open.”

At that point, Mother Jiang would wipe away tears, blaming it on her pride and stubbornness during her youth.

Back then, people always said, “What’s the use of a girl reading books?”

Her step-grandmother said the same, and she believed her. So while others were going to literacy classes, she threw herself into hard labor. Only if she worked harder than the men and did better could she earn recognition and praise. And so, she believed that was the right path.

She believed it for half her life.

It wasn’t until the years she spent in the city selling boxed lunches that she realized just how terribly wrong she’d been.

Not knowing how to read—she didn’t even know how to buy a train ticket.

Not knowing how to read—she couldn’t understand a supply list.”

Being illiterate made it nearly impossible to survive in the vast city.

Now, she used all the bitterness she’d experienced in life to scare Jiang Yuanyue into studying hard.

“If you don’t study hard, you’ll end up working in a factory sewing clothes.”

“If you don’t study, your butt will grow calluses from sitting too long, and you’ll be working night shifts until 11 or 12.”

She pulled every horror story from her past, real or exaggerated, to motivate Jiang Yuanyue to study.”

She never once mentioned Jiang Ning.

And yet, every word seemed to hint: be like your aunt.

Jiang Ning was the pride not just of the family—but of the whole village.

Still, Jiang Yuanyue felt nervous and unsure.

She had only gone to the most ordinary middle school in Shuibu Town. Moving to the big city—would she be able to keep up with the pace of a city high school? She wasn’t confident.1 High School.

But she knew her grandma missed her dad. Her grandma wanted to live with him, so she followed along—carrying anxiety and uncertainty.

Sichuan Province was so far. They spent several days on the train.