Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 96

Uncle Jiang refused to admit that he couldn’t live without Mrs. Jiang, and said, “I can live without her but I can’t live without her cooking. You know how delicious my wife’s cooking is, tut tut.”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but show off, which made his neighbor’s teeth ache.

Uncle Jiang also added, “You don’t understand.”

When Mother Jiang saw Uncle Jiang coming down the mountain, she knew that Grandpa Jiang was back, and her face was so gloomy that water could drip from her face.

She already knew that Jiang Ning had come back and picked up Grandpa Jiang. When she saw Uncle Jiang coming back, she asked with a cold face, “The old man is back.”

Because she couldn’t find Jiang Song, she got a lot haggard during that period.

“He is back. I couldn’t have come here if he hadn’t come back.” Uncle Jiang went back to the house and brought out a pot of tea. He drank more than half of the cup in one sip before he felt that he was alive again and let out a long sigh of relief.

“Did he tell you when Ning Ning came back, where did they go and what did they do?”

“How do I know this?” Uncle Jiang looked confused. “You might as well ask the old man about this. I didn’t care about these things. I came down as soon as the old man came back. I haven’t eaten rice cooked with cinnamon for several days. In the past two days, I’ve lost weight because of hunger.” Uncle Jiang touched his small belly which was not protruding.

He suddenly thought of something, saying, “I guess it’s something to do with Ning.”

“Didn’t he pick up rags for Ning Ning? He gave Ning Ning money to study. What else can he do if they don’t pick up rags?” Uncle Jiang said matter-of-factly.

He didn’t mean to accuse Mother Jiang, but it was a pure statement.

Mother Jiang thought about it. Thinking that Grandpa Jiang gave all the money he got collecting rags and hunting to Jiang Ning, she got uncomfortable again. Jiang Song didn’t even go to school. She, a girl, went to school. What was the use of education?

Jiang Song didn’t want to repeat his studies. Maybe he felt sorry for his family who needed to support the three to study. He was afraid that they would have no money, so he didn’t want to come back to repeat his studies. He went to work in Shenzhen to earn money.

Her eldest son being so sensible and filial, and knowing how much he cared about her as a mother, while Jiang Ning did not care about her brother and her mother. She hated Jiang Ning for not being sensible, considerate, and filial.

Thinking of Jiang Song, Mother Jiang was unhappy again. She went back and asked Father Jiang, “Have you found Jiang Song yet?”

Father Jiang was also depressed, saying, “No, it’s easier to find him in the provincial capital. But he went to Shenzhen City. I couldn’t find any news about him and he didn’t call back.”

During that time, Father Jiang’s hair had turned a lot gray, all because of Jiang Song.

But Jiang Song had long been accustomed to them only focusing on himself. Who would have thought that if he didn’t contact his family, his parents would be worried. He guessed they would be worried but he didn’t care, otherwise he would have shared his address and contact information. He didn’t say anything to them, he didn’t call them for so long, and ran to Shenzhen City without saying a word.

Mother Jiang couldn’t help but say, “If Jiang Ning did not insist on studying everday, Song Zi would not have left his studies. He had to go to work to make money. Now that she went to study and Song Zi went to work, are you happy?!”

Father Jiang was also anxious and angry at the time. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but quarrel with her, “Can you stop saying these things every day? What does Ning Ning’s study have to do with Song Zi’s unwillingness to repeat a year? Song Zi went to the province after the college entrance examination.” He was unwilling to go back to the cram school before and wanted to go work.

Mother Jiang didn’t know the truth, but she felt that it was because Jiang Ning wanted to study, and Jiang Song was unwilling to study because he was afraid of difficulties at home. If it weren’t for Jiang Ning, Jiang Song would definitely come back to repeat his studies, take the college entrance examination, be a public servant in the future and honor his ancestors.

Mother Jiang was so angry that she wiped tears aside.

When Father Jiang saw her crying, he had no choice but to sit next to her and sighed, “Why can’t he call the brigade headquarters? At least tell us where he is and what he is doing.”

The three children in the family were not at home, and the house was deserted. Father Jiang had no desire to cook anymore and just simply fried rice.

The couple ate something casually and went to bed.

Grandpa Jiang patrolled the mountain for several days before finally someone led an old cattle to the mountains to graze.

People there generally had two places to graze cattle, one was on the mountain, and the other was on both sides of the embankment on both sides of the river. They took turns grazing cattle in two places. One day they ate in the mountains for a few days, and the next day they went to both sides of the river embankment for several days.

Cattle herders worked in groups. Old people and children led calves and old cows together. Children also rode and drove the cows to the mountain. While the cows were grazing, the people found a place for themselves and gossip.

The children were impatient to listen to them, so they went to the mountain to dig out sweet potatoes.

Grandpa Jiang came back from his mountain patrol in the morning and saw them. He went down in a hurry and beamed with joy, telling them about his two-day trip to Shanghai a few days ago. “My eldest granddaughter won the first prize in the composition competition. She also specially took me there for two days to receive the award, and all the tickets, hotels, and meals on the way were reimbursed by the organizer.” He exaggeratedly said, “Shanghai City is full of high-rising buildings and cars. When I went to Shanghai and took a cab, there was no sound at all. It was as stable as if I wasn’t in a cab.”

“The lights in big cities are not turned off at night. It was already twelve o’clock at night when we arrived in Shanghai, and the lights outside were still on. They were all colored and flashing.”

“We slept in the guest house at night. The toilet was as clean as if it had been licked by a tongue. After using the toilet, the water flushed and everything got clean.”

The children who were digging wild sweet potatoes all gathered around him at some point, listening to Grandpa Jiang’s story about his trip to Shanghai. They were mesmerized and yearned for it. “Grandpa, are there really the things you talked about in the city? Is it so big and so nice?”

Grandpa Jiang said, “Otherwise, why would all the educated youths want to go to the city? Look, in our team, besides Teacher Xiaoan, are there any educated youths?”

The newly born children of the generation didn’t even know what educated youth were and they all shook their heads. The old people herding cattle couldn’t bear it with the mention of educated youth.

They recalled the times when they were young. As soon as the children heard them reminiscing about old times, they ran away to play games again.

Grandpa Jiang finished showing off and bragging about his granddaughter and returned to the hut with satisfaction. He sat back on his rocking chair, brewed a pot of wild tea that he had roasted himself, and swayed slowly.

Time passed leisurely. After Jiang Ning signed two thousand more books and sent them, her book was finally published and launched. Because it was jointly promoted by the publishing house and the magazine, it hit hard.

The advertisement devoted a page to promoting Catcher in Song Dynasty’s published works was added in Wuxia magazine.

Readers in Nanshi and Shanghai saw that Catcher in Song Dynasty was actually published as a book, and they all rushed to buy it. Some simply liked Catcher in Song Dynasty and wanted to collect it, while some thought there may be a good plot and wanted to read it first.

As a result, the first volume of the book had only 160,000 words, only the first four cases. The murderer of the new case serialized in the issue of Wuxia was not disclosed in the book.

But they bought it anyway and planned to read it again from beginning to end.

The feeling of following a weekly serial in a magazine was completely different from the feeling of buying a book directly and reading it all at once.

Wuxia Magazine had not yet spread to the north, but the publishing house they cooperated with had good channels in the north. As soon as the book was launched, it was quickly sold in all the bookstores in the north, and it was placed in the most conspicuous position.

Many people who liked to read in libraries and bookstores, saw the posters and books posted in the most conspicuous position at the door of the bookstore. They couldn’t help but go over and look through them to see if there were any new and interesting books.

When they read about My Years as a Catcher in the Song Dynasty, they were first attracted by the unique title of the book.

After all, most books those days had very straight names, especially in the martial arts genre. Most of them were called so-and-so’s biography, so-and-so’s journey, and more of so-and-so’s records. Among the group of straight names, such a popular book suddenly appeared. They couldn’t help but pick up the book and read it on the spot.

None of them had read martial arts, let alone the Catcher in Song Dynasty before.

As they read it, they couldn’t help but take it in. They didn’t even realize until they reached the end.

They were immediately struck by the cliffhanger at the end and got heart-wrenching and uncomfortable.

They then noted the title of the book and couldn’t help but ask the bookstore owner, “Boss, this book seems to be unfinished. Where can I read the other books?”

The bookstore owner pointed to the recommended Wuxia Magazine section and said, “This is a part of a series published in that book, in every issue.”