What Jiang Hua wanted to do could not be hidden from everyone, and she did not want to hide it either. “I’m planning to open a clothing shop.”
Song Jin was stunned when she heard this. Since restrictions had been loosened, a wave of people going into business had swept across the country. However, in the eyes of the people in the compound, this still counted as speculation. If policies were tightened again one day, this group of people would be the first to suffer.
Two months ago, someone from the research institute had resigned. It was said that he had gone to Yangcheng and was also dealing in the clothing business.
Song Jin had not expected Jiang Hua to have such plans. She steadied herself and asked, “Would your Xu Chenghuai agree to this?”
Jiang Hua immediately looked at her strangely. Her almond-shaped eyes were clear and bright. “I’m the one opening the clothing shop, not Xu Chenghuai. What does it have to do with whether he agrees or not?”
The words Song Jin was about to say got stuck in her throat.
She thought silently that whoever had spread those rumors must be blind. If Jiang Hua showed even a bit of behavior that truly cared about Xu Chenghuai, she would have believed it.
But thinking about it carefully, Jiang Hua’s previous behavior of delivering meals every day and pressing her warm face against his cold shoulder had indeed existed.
Song Jin fell silent for a moment. Her curiosity truly got the better of her, and she could not help asking, “What exactly happened to you? You really feel like a different person.”
Jiang Hua smiled and blinked at her. “What if I really did become a different person?”
Song Jin froze. When she reacted, she immediately waved her hand and slapped Jiang Hua’s arm lightly in annoyance. “What nonsense are you talking about?”
However, she also understood that Jiang Hua did not want to say more, so she did not continue to dwell on the topic.
Jiang Hua was checking the needles, thread, and fabric at home while also thinking about how to run the clothing shop. For a while, both of them fell silent.
Song Jin had come to inquire about the situation after all. After some time, she could not help asking again, “Then what about your job at the machinery factory?”
Jiang Hua’s movements paused. Her long eyelashes fluttered lightly. She froze for a moment, then suddenly realized something.
Right. She had not always been without a job. She had worked for a period of time. It was just that too much time had passed and her mind had not been on work, so this memory barely had any presence.
Now that she thought about it carefully, she actually could not remember it clearly either.
She only vaguely remembered that this job was later sold to a co-worker at the factory. As for that co-worker, she had only a blurry image in her mind. She could not recall the name or what the person looked like at all.
Seeing her dazed expression, an unbelievable thought immediately surfaced in Song Jin’s mind. “You didn’t forget that you have a job, did you?”
Jiang Hua snapped back to her senses and hurriedly denied it. “How could that be? What are you thinking?”
Song Jin thought about it carefully, and indeed, how could someone forget their own job? When she realized this, she laughed in embarrassment.
“It was just a thought that suddenly popped into my head.”
Seeing this, Jiang Hua let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Song Jin had reminded her. Counting the time, from the day she woke up, she had not gone to the machinery factory at all. It had already been more than a week.
In this more than a week, not a single person had mentioned the machinery factory to her. Even the machinery factory workers who lived in the compound had not brought it up.
But that was also understandable. The people in the compound were divided into two groups who looked down on each other. And she, someone who was connected to both sides, was not welcomed by either.
Evening.
While eating dinner, in order not to arouse Xu Chenghuai’s suspicion, Jiang Hua organized her words and took the initiative to explain. “I rented a storefront and plan to open a clothing shop, so I won’t be able to go to the machinery factory anymore.”
Sure enough, just as she had expected, Xu Chenghuai frowned slightly. He did not seem to agree with her decision, but he did not voice any opposition either. “What are your thoughts about your job at the machinery factory?”
Jiang Hua glanced at him. “Sell it.”
That would also help her save more capital for opening the clothing shop.
Xu Chenghuai fell silent for a moment. After thinking it over, he said with clear implication, “I don’t have a problem with it.”
Jiang Hua froze and almost blurted out, “Then who does?” She caught herself in time and stopped. Her brows knit slightly. Xu Chenghuai was referring to her parents.
Indeed, if her parents found out she was selling her job, they would definitely say she had gone crazy. They would not agree, and it would cause endless turmoil at home.
Now that it came up, she remembered that in her previous life, it was also because of selling her job that things escalated so badly that her parents said cruel things about cutting ties with her.
But her parents did love her. After everything became a done deal and they realized that anger would not change anything, once she softened her attitude a little, they forgave her quickly.
So although Jiang Hua was worried, she was not overly worried.
News that Jiang Hua was going to open a clothing shop spread, along with the news that she was selling her machinery factory job. The people in the compound were so shocked that their eyes nearly popped out.
“Has Jiang Hua gone crazy? She’s even selling an iron rice bowl job to do that speculative business?”
“Can Xu Chenghuai really agree to this? Even if she doesn’t think for herself, she should think for Xu Chenghuai. It’s already bad enough that he married a country girl. Now she’s even getting mixed up with speculation.”
“Xu Chenghuai really has it rough. Truly pitiful.”
“……”
However, no matter how poorly everyone thought of Jiang Hua, or how foolish they believed she was, it did not stop them from coming to the Xu house.
They all came for the same reason: to buy a job.
Jiang Hua had not expected so many people to want to buy it. There were so many that it gave her the illusion that the entire compound had come.
Even Auntie Chen came.
For a moment, Jiang Hua did not understand and said with a smile, “Auntie, you’re a head nurse. Coming to talk to me about this, are you deliberately here to watch me make a fool of myself?”
Awkwardness appeared on Auntie Chen’s face. Bracing herself, she explained, “It’s not for me. It’s for Old Chen’s nephew. He’s about to graduate from high school.”
Jiang Hua suddenly understood. No wonder.
After thinking for a moment, she smiled again and said, “There’s a saying that even close brothers should keep clear accounts. To avoid future disputes, I want to draw up a written agreement.”
Auntie Chen’s expression paused briefly, but she quickly recovered and nodded in understanding. “No problem. That’s how it should be.”
Since she had already decided to sell the job, it did not matter who she sold it to. Besides, she owed Auntie Chen a favor, even if the other party did not know it in this lifetime.
Both of them were decisive people. Paying the money and signing the written agreement took less than ten minutes.
However, the trouble from selling the job arrived sooner or later.
She had just sent Auntie Chen away when Father Jiang and Mother Jiang arrived right after.
Mother Jiang was not tall, thin and small, a very traditional woman. After marrying Father Jiang, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to her husband. After having children, she revolved around them. She was Father Jiang’s wife and the mother of Jiang Hua and her two siblings, yet she was never herself.
Thinking carefully, had Jiang Hua in her previous life not been influenced by her?
Yet at this moment, this very woman wore a cold expression, her face stiff as she frowned and questioned sharply, “Eldest girl, we heard you’re selling your machinery factory job.”
Jiang Hua was not afraid of Father Jiang and Mother Jiang, because she knew they had endless tolerance for her.
She answered honestly, “I’ve already sold it.”
Her calm voice sounded like a thunderclap. Father Jiang and Mother Jiang were both shaken, disbelief filling their eyes as they looked at her.
“You really sold it?”
“Has water gotten into your brain?”
The two voices rang out at the same time, carrying the same heartbreak and fury.
Father Jiang’s small eyes widened as if they were about to bulge out, while Mother Jiang was so angry she was almost fainting.
Jiang Hua paused. It was not that she was afraid of them, but that she was worried about their health. She softened her tone a little and explained, “Don’t worry. I didn’t sell the job on a whim. I know what I’m doing. I’ve thought it through.”
Father Jiang finally reacted. He angrily raised his hand, then took several deep breaths. His voice was furious. “You know what you’re doing? What sense could you possibly have? That job is something countless people want and can’t get, and you sold it?”
Mother Jiang also said, “You, you really did something like this? Taking ten thousand steps back, even if you really had to sell it, couldn’t you sell it to your younger brother?”
She stomped her feet anxiously and let out a long sigh, filled with helplessness and despair.
Father Jiang was extremely disappointed in her. He closed his eyes, truly not knowing what else to say.
Jiang Hua: …
There were three children in the Jiang family. She was the eldest. Below her was a younger sister, Jiang Lan, who was in university and about to start working, and a younger brother, Jiang He, who was currently in high school in the county. If he did not get into university, he would have to start working as well.
Jiang Hua knew that Jiang Lan looked down on her job. Jiang He would later get into a university in the capital, otherwise she would not have ignored her siblings and sold the job directly to Auntie Chen.
But even if she were to give it to Jiang Lan or Jiang He, she would still hesitate. After all, she had lived her previous life and knew that before long, there would be a wave of layoffs. Factory jobs were not truly iron rice bowls.
However, Jiang Hua could not say any of this. She organized her words, trying to be as tactful as possible so as not to upset her parents.
“What would Jiang Lan and Jiang He want my job for?” Jiang Hua looked at them and said calmly. “Jiang Lan is a university student. The school will arrange things for her. Jiang He’s grades are so good. Do you really think he won’t get into university?”
Father Jiang and Mother Jiang were left speechless, but they were still very angry.
“No matter what, for something this big, you should have discussed it with us!”
“I think your wings have really hardened now. You can ignore your father and me. You’ve truly broken your mother’s heart.”
Father Jiang shook his head as well, his face full of disappointment. “If you don’t make money opening a clothing shop, and you’ve already sold the machinery factory job, where will your brother’s tuition come from in the future?”
At this, Mother Jiang suddenly began wiping her tears. “Back then, your father and I smashed pots and sold iron just to send you to school. Now we’re old and can’t work anymore. We can’t let your brother be unable to go to school, can we? You should at least help us share the burden.”
Jiang Hua immediately became unhappy. In her previous life, she had been bound by these words, sending one sum after another back to her natal family. It could be said that Jiang Lan’s university tuition and Jiang He’s high school and university expenses were almost all paid by her.
But she had no obligation. Moreover, she had already paid it all in her previous life. Heaven had given her a second chance, not so she could walk the same path again.
“I’m grateful that you raised me,” Jiang Hua looked at them and said seriously. “I will, without hesitation, support you in your old age. But Jiang Lan and Jiang He, why should I pay their tuition?”
In any case, she would no longer be a cash machine.
Father Jiang and Mother Jiang flew into a rage upon hearing this. Yet no matter what they said, Jiang Hua refused to change her mind.
Gradually, Father Jiang calmed down. But his gaze carried a trace of cold anger. He pointed at Jiang Hua. “Fine. You don’t need your parents anymore. Since that’s the case, we’re leaving.”
Jiang Hua pinched the bridge of her nose helplessly. “…I’ve explained many times that’s not what I mean. If you insist on thinking that way, there’s nothing I can do.”
Tears kept welling in Mother Jiang’s eyes. In her anger, she could not help hitting Jiang Hua’s arm twice.
Seeing that there was really no way to persuade her, Father Jiang, who was also stubborn by nature, pulled Mother Jiang and headed outside.
Jiang Hua did not stop them. Both sides were still emotional right now, and some distance was needed so everyone could calm down.
What she did not see was that after Father Jiang and Mother Jiang walked out of the compound, much of their anger dissipated.
Especially Mother Jiang. Her face was filled more with unease and worry.
She looked at Father Jiang. “Does Eldest Girl know about that matter?”
The only response she received was Father Jiang’s silence. He did not know either.