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墨書 Inktalez
"Hey, Dad, look who’s coming!" Gao Qingzhen whispered to her husband as she spotted a woman hurrying towards them from a distance.
That woman was naturally Jiang Qingyu. Due to her experiences in the capital, she had been unable to contact Jiang Yizhou and had not obtained much information. After some time, she simply began visiting Father Jiang and Mother Jiang repeatedly; this was already her fifth visit.
Initially, she hadn't planned to come, but after Gao Qingzhen received news that her son was back, she inadvertently let it slip. Jiang Qingyu got wind of the news and came knocking several times in a row.
The two women tidied up their valuables and sent Er Ya back to her own room. Mother Jiang stepped forward to greet Jiang Qingyu with a smile, "Sister, what brings you here again?"
"Sister, I’m just anxious! My daughter Jiang Xiaojuan has really suffered. Aside from that incident, Yi Zhou has gone too far away, and I can't get in touch with him. There's a saying: it's easy to see the King of Hell but hard to deal with the ghosts..."
Seeing Gao Qingzhen's displeased expression, she quickly changed her tone, "I don’t mean Yi Zhou is like the King of Hell, but look at the people he associates with! This has delayed Jiang Xiaojuan for a whole year; when will it end?"
Gao Qingzhen had also been in touch with Li Yue and knew the backstory. It was this woman who had caused trouble for her son by smashing up one of his subordinate's shops. As a result, Jiang Xiaojuan had messed things up and had to work off the debt.
However, she didn’t confront Jiang Qingyu directly; she just dealt with her while waiting for her son to return.
"Well, there’s nothing I can do; Yi Zhou won’t be back until tomorrow night..." The conversation with the woman was unproductive, filled with pleasantries that sounded normal to anyone who might overhear.
After sending the woman off, Gao Qingzhen's expression immediately changed. If they were wealthy due to their son’s success, they wouldn’t mind losing a bit of money. But now that a computer was broken and the shop incurred losses—Li Yue had told her the amount was around two thousand—this was still significant. She couldn’t make such decisions on behalf of her son.
"What's up? Did she leave?" Jiang Maoqiang asked as he rubbed his freshly shaved head and chuckled. He felt relaxed; his life goals were simple: raise his children well and hope they succeed. Yet his son had given him quite a surprise.
The villager's desires were not complicated; it was just a simple rural life: farming, earning money, supporting the family, building a house, marrying, having children, and always dealing with the unavoidable issue of face.
Now, with this Western-style house built here, although it doesn't resemble those square, grid-like two-story buildings, it has bedrooms, a study, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and even a bathroom in the bedroom. He is still not quite used to it, but it certainly looks impressive, just like the villas he has seen on television.
After it was completed, people would occasionally come to visit and explore. He felt proud to introduce where the furniture came from and even the toilet. He spent quite a bit of money building a water tank on the roof and bought a water pump to draw water from underground.
Additionally, he had to build a septic tank, which was quite troublesome. However, once it was completed, he could just press a button after using the toilet to keep everything clean.
The sense of novelty and pride was immense. He didn't buy a television because one had already been purchased in the village. As a result, various people would gather at his house just to watch TV. During the Spring Festival, the TV was placed outside, and the yard was filled with people standing around. He learned from that experience and didn't want his own Western-style house to be surrounded by people watching TV.
It had to be said that this place was indeed poor; electricity had only been connected for a few years, and anything slightly valuable would attract attention.
"What else can be done? Crying and making a fuss just to avoid paying thousands of dollars. Who in this village has her face so big? She goes around flirting with men and still has the nerve to show up!" Gao Qingzhen spat disdainfully as she watched the woman walk away. Such people only deserve superficial respect.
Originally, finding a job for Xiao Juan would have been considered doing her a favor. If it weren't for feeling sorry for Jiang Xiaojuan, she wouldn't even want to deal with Jiang Qingyu. It was all about saving face; if she couldn't make decisions herself and lost someone else's bicycle, there would be trouble.
Seeing her husband’s indifferent demeanor made Gao Qingzhen think of something. "Did you hear that? That woman's belt is so loose; if you run into her, stay far away..."
Jiang Maoqiang realized he seemed to be caught up in his wife's unspoken anger and suffered an undeserved disaster. "How could that be? We're all from the same village; she's practically family..."
"From the same village? How close can that be? There are plenty of people in the village who marry their great-uncle's cousins; being related isn't always obvious. Besides, if she were concerned about these things, she'd probably see you have money and wouldn't know how to worm her way in!" Gao Qingzhen had heard enough nonsense before. Moreover, their families had long since drifted apart; if her husband were seduced by someone like that, she wouldn't even know where to cry.
As the saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. Living in the same village may seem like being relatives on the surface, but many have long lost touch over several generations—especially in older villages where tracing back five or six generations is no problem at all. However, those who leave the village become estranged from its residents after just one or two generations.
Sitting inside the house was Jiang Xiaoya, one hand resting on her summer homework notebook while the other held open a magazine that she was engrossed in reading. Whenever she heard any noise, she would quickly flip over the notebook and pretend to be working on her summer homework.
For students, these skills are all self-taught.
Last semester, she was a bit listless, and with the money her older brother had given her, she naturally became a regular at various student shops. Even Lin Wenhui wasn't as wealthy as she was, and Jiang Xiaoya had seemingly become a second Lin Wenhui. However, she lost her motivation, thinking that since her family had money, she didn't have to worry about school or finding a job, so she became complacent.
When her brother returned during the Spring Festival, she held her report card, worried that he might cut off her allowance. However, Jiang Yizhou only thought it was a temporary mistake. He also took the opportunity to visit his sister's homeroom teacher while out shopping and received positive feedback, so he didn't think much of it.
In these past few months, she had thought about working hard, but the motivation that had dissipated was difficult to regain. Jiang Xiaoya even focused her attention on her brother's household registration being moved to the capital. She had heard others talk about educational immigration many times, but unfortunately, without money, it couldn't be done.
Now she didn't need money or connections; her brother's household registration was readily available.
Sometimes, poverty limits not only imagination but also future possibilities. They toil endlessly to maintain even a meager existence and don't think much beyond survival because that is just a dream.
Those who have met their basic survival needs and achieved financial freedom see the world differently than those who haven't. While Jiang Xiaoya was competing with others for a narrow path, she suddenly realized she had a speedboat and became complacent.
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