Chapter 760

It was only years later that Jiang Ning suddenly heard news about Jiang Yueqin and Jiang Hehua.

If it had been someone else, Jiang Ning might have forgotten them long ago, but even these two people, insignificant as they were to her, she still remembered.

Almost all the pain from her youth in her previous life came from them.

One worked in a nightclub but was scheming to drag their own kin down; the other spread rumors behind people’s backs.

Even after two lifetimes, upon suddenly hearing news of them, she still paused for a moment before casually asking, “Oh? What happened?”

The one texting her was Jiang Gangqin. Jiang Gangqin didn’t know about the rumors behind the scenes; it was just that they had gone to school and come home together as kids, and suddenly hearing news of the long-missing Jiang Hehua stirred some melancholy.

She said, “I heard she got married, married off to a distant town far from us. Somehow, she suddenly had a stroke, and her parents took her back!” She paused, “I went to see Hehua. She’s really fat now. I heard from her mom that it was obesity that caused the stroke.” 

Gangqin sighed, “My goodness, she’s only in her forties, right? How could she have a stroke so early?”

Jiang Hehua was the first person she had ever heard of having a stroke so young. Such things had always seemed far away from her life, which was filled with romance and ease, clearly shown on her face—making her look very young. Because she had never suffered too much from the harshness of society, her expression still retained the innocence of a girl in her youth.

She had always thought of herself as an un-grown little girl, never imagining that Jiang Hehua, who grew up with her and was the same age, would have a stroke.

“She’s really foolish too—taking a break from school and running away, never coming back. I heard she was tricked by a man from out of town. So young, she followed him away, married early, and had kids. Otherwise, if she came back, she could still get a share of the tea fields. Her parents came back now, but the mountain tea fields have all been divided. Their family gets nothing.”

According to Jiang Hehua’s father’s status as a former brigade secretary, logically speaking, if he wanted to keep in touch with people back home after leaving, he would know about the division of the tea fields.

Firstly, when he came back to pay respects to the ancestors, he was quiet and discreet. Even if he overheard about the tea fields on the boat, he didn’t care.

Secondly, from being a respected brigade secretary to suddenly becoming a small-time street vendor, the huge fall in status made him too ashamed to contact people back home.

After his son graduated from university, he stayed in the other city with his son. Over the years, he didn’t keep in touch with anyone back home. Even his son thought his sister was shameful for having been in prison and never contacted old classmates. If it weren’t for Jiang Hehua’s sudden stroke, and her parents bringing her back to live with their son and daughter-in-law for less than half a month before being treated coldly and quarreled with, unable to accommodate the stroke-affected sister-in-law, they probably wouldn’t have returned to the village.

After all, the old village house hadn’t been lived in for years. Though rented to kinfolk as a guesthouse, it barely brought in any money, just enough to keep the house from falling into ruin.

They had no choice but to take the divorced Jiang Hehua back.

Hehua’s mother’s eyes were nearly blinded from crying, and her father’s hair had turned almost completely white. When young, he had a bit of a belly from being the brigade secretary, but now he had slimmed down again. He still wore a white shirt, putting on the appearance of a respectable man, but his back involuntarily stooped.

Jiang Gangqin spoke about Jiang Hehua’s family with a tone full of disbelief, “I heard people say Hehua’s dad ran off years ago with stolen money because of corruption. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he dare come back all these years?”

After a moment of sighing, she switched to talking about Jiang Yueqin, “You know the eldest daughter Yueqin, right? The one who tricked you back then!”

Jiang Ning’s voice was somewhat indifferent. “Yeah, what about her?”

Jiang Gangqin whispered, “You don’t know, she’s come back looking like an old granny. I heard she’s infected with that thing—looks really bad. I don’t dare get close, only dare to look from afar. Her parents and brothers don’t even let her into the house, scared she’ll infect them. They chased her away with a big broom, not even opening the door. It’s pitiful to see.”

Even though Jiang Gangqin was once resented for getting her mother’s few thousand yuan before her death, and the grudges with her brothers and sisters, she was still raised like a daughter by them. After being angry for some years, life got better, and they gradually forgave Jiang Gangqin. So it was unimaginable to her that when the daughter returned to her natal home, they wouldn’t even let her in and chased her away with a broom, acting like she never existed.

Thinking of it made her heart ache. She added, “She really deserves it. Anyone would know this wouldn’t end well. She’s not helpless, could have done things properly. Luckily no one remembers now, or else our Jiang Village would be laughed at to death.”

When this scandal first broke, many around secretly pointed fingers when they heard these people were from Jiang Village, saying girls from their village worked as hostesses, speculating that maybe all the girls in the village did that.

Such matters usually affected the entire village once exposed.

Jiang Gangqin’s mother often scolded Jiang Yueqin’s family behind their backs, “It’s because Jiang Ning was left unmanaged, and Ah Lian didn’t care. If it were me, I’d have torn that girl apart! Broken every leg of hers!”

Jiang Gangqin suddenly thought of her own mother and fell silent for a moment. She recalled how luckily Jiang Ning was admitted to Peking University later, with all the interviews, awards, and TV appearances, which immediately overshadowed that incident. Everyone’s attention shifted to Jiang Ning getting into Peking University, appearing on TV, Jiang Bai making films, and so forth. Otherwise, Jiang Yueqin’s affair would have been talked about in the surrounding townships and villages for many years.

Her mother was so grateful to Jiang Ning then that she repeatedly urged her, “Play more with Jiang Ning. People learn from who they hang around — good company, good learning; bad company, bad learning. Stick with Ning Ning, you won’t go wrong!”

Even though now she and Jiang Ning were worlds apart, Jiang Gangqin still took the initiative to message Jiang Ning. If Jiang Ning didn’t reply, it was fine.

Jiang Yueqin’s father and brothers, because of the trouble Yueqin caused Jiang Ning, kept a low profile in the village, acting meek and submissive. Their family’s share of the tea fields was late, and even though they knew Jiang Guotai and the village chief used tricks to give them the worst tea land on the mountain, they dared not complain.

Having tea fields at all was already good. They hadn’t yet been driven out of the village.

Jiang Ning responded softly with a single word, saying no more.

Jiang Gangqin knew she was busy and stopped pressing.

At Jiang Ning’s level now, when Jiang Gangqin messaged her, Jiang Ning still replied as always like when they were kids, which surprised Jiang Gangqin. Most times, if there was something in the village, representatives like Jiang Guoding or Jiang Guotai would go tell Jiang Ning. Even Jiang Ning’s father often called her, but Jiang Ning usually didn’t pick up, and everyone was conscientious about not disturbing her.

Jiang Gangqin was the same.

Only when Jiang Ning occasionally returned home did she still treat hometown folks kindly and modestly, never changing, nor changing towards Jiang Gangqin. That’s why Jiang Gangqin occasionally sent Jiang Ning messages or holiday greetings, and Jiang Ning usually replied upon seeing them.

She didn’t reply with many words, but never with polite, copy-pasted lines. Instead, her words were sincere, always accompanied by genuine blessings—it was clear she wasn’t just sending mass messages.

Every time Jiang Gangqin saw this, she’d feel happy and proudly show her husband.

Her husband was happy too. They’d been good buddies since middle school. Maybe because Jiang Gangqin became a teacher, her personality stayed the same as in school—playful and a bit innocent. Even after having children, she treated them like friends, joking and laughing along. Over the years, her husband settled in Jiang Village selling tea leaves with her, always tolerant of Jiang Gangqin and doting on their daughter. Though he looked middle-aged now, Jiang Gangqin, having dealt with acne in her youth and experimenting with skincare, had really figured out the tricks. Now, the two of them looked like they belonged to two different generations.

Her husband sighed, “I really didn’t expect this.”

That silent, inconspicuous little girl who had once trailed behind Jiang Gangqin and Jiang Hehua—now had reached such heights that even his wildest imagination couldn’t envision. Being the second woman to enter the Cabinet was truly a historic milestone.

Jiang Gangqin never expected it either, but she didn’t think too much about it. She just felt proud and honored that her childhood friend had become so impressive—so much so that even her own steps seemed more confident and flashy.

After Jiang Ning hung up the phone, she paused for a second, then pushed the matter entirely out of her mind and let it go.

Actually, Jiang Ning didn’t need to overthink it—Jiang Yueqin’s fate in her previous life probably wasn’t much better; it was just a matter of time.

Recently, something online was stirring up quite a fuss.

It was because the famous singer He Qiaosheng participated in a certain music variety show, talking about some of the early, youthful songs he wrote that unexpectedly became hits. One of the brothers jokingly asked, “How come all your songs sound like you were secretly in love and then dumped?”

At that, He Qiaosheng, who had been laughing, suddenly went quiet.

The brother opposite suddenly shouted, “No way, really? You were secretly in love and got dumped?”

After so many years of trying to be friends with his idol, nobody knew that He Qiaosheng—whose fame was soaring higher and farther—had long let go of that adolescent… feeling he couldn’t quite put into words.

His silence was only because he found it hard to imagine his idol’s current success.

But the other brothers all misunderstood, whether for show or genuine surprise, teasing, “Who could’ve dumped our Tianwang?” (Heavenly King)

“Come on, that’s Tianwang!”

“So, now? Does she regret it?”

He Qiaosheng was momentarily stunned, then found their minds wandering so far that he burst out laughing and said, “You’re talking nonsense, none of that!”

“Oh? Eyes dodging, huh~?” A brother familiar with him laughed, pointing at him, “Come on, tell us, what kind of girl could resist the charm of our great He Tianwang?”

He Qiaosheng jumped in alarm, afraid the topic might shift to Jiang Ning and cause the entire show to explode off-air, hurriedly saying, “Really, no such thing!”

But without experiencing that kind of feeling, how could he have written those youthful, relatable classic “white moonlight” songs everyone knew and sang?

Though he denied it vigorously, after that segment aired, it still sparked a wave of online discussion.

Someone even started a thread titled: [Spill the tea on the woman who dumped He Tianwang in “The Unstoppable Brother”]

In the early days of the thread, many minor celebrities hoping to ride the hype claimed to be the “older sister” in question.

Later, as digging went deeper, someone online remarked: [WC, just realized He Tianwang and some big shot are actually from the same hometown—both from Wucheng!]

This scared He Qiaosheng into a cold sweat. Before anyone could dig further, he took the initiative to report the thread and got it taken down. Then he released some other material to bury the topic, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Jiang Ning never knew about this from start to finish, nor did she know it had any connection to her.

He Qiaosheng, seeing everything calm again online, relaxed but strangely seemed to be expecting something.

Unfortunately, as he wished, after a small splash, the wind passed and left no trace.

Just like his youth.