Madam Feng suddenly looked up, staring at her granddaughter in front of her with utter astonishment, her eyes full of unfamiliarity.
This child seemed different somehow, as if she had been completely replaced by someone else.
She had lived for more than half her life and had never heard a girl speak such words.
If all women in the world followed this way of thinking, then it would be even harder for poor families to find wives.
Thinking of this, Madam Feng was startled: "How could you, child, have such thoughts?"
"I didn't have them before; it was an old grandpa in my dream who told me. He said that when marrying, one should marry someone who respects them, not someone who treats a woman like a servant."
In this dynasty, men are superior to women; it is only natural for a woman to marry into her husband's family and serve her husband and parents-in-law.
But she was a soul from modern times. Let alone serving others, if she were really forced to spend her days hovering around the stove and living by others' whims, she would likely flip the table.
"Alright, alright," Madam Feng quickly covered her mouth, looked around, and lowered her voice, "Just say these things to me, but you must never spread them outside! Jiuxi, Lianxue, even if you heard it, pretend you didn't. Don't take it to heart, and certainly don't talk about it elsewhere."
She was afraid these words would influence Su Lianxue and Song Jiuxi.
These two girls were from good families; if they learned this rhetoric from Jiang Tang, their parents would inevitably come to find fault with Jiang Tang.
"Don't worry, Grandma Feng!" Song Jiuxi patted her chest in assurance, "Our lips are sealed! Jiang Tang is our good sister; we wouldn't harm her for anything!"
Su Lianxue nodded repeatedly. She had a shy and steady temperament and was not one to gossip, so she naturally wouldn't speak of this outside.
In fact, when she and Song Jiuxi first heard Jiang Tang's words, they were stunned, but afterwards, they felt that what she said made sense.
Jiang Yi was a boy and had no sense of identification with these issues.
Yet, he silently clenched his fists at the side. If Elder Sister did not want to marry, he would collect more seafood, sell it for money, and raise Elder Sister at home so she would not feel wronged.
Jiang Tang did not know Jiang Yi's thoughts. Seeing that Madam Feng had softened, she brought up another matter: "Grandma, there is something else I want to tell you all."
"Today, when I went to Town to sell Seafood, I met a Young Master who suddenly fainted. I used the medical skills taught to me by the old grandpa in my dream to save him. After he woke up, he gave me quite a lot of Consultation Fee. I want to use this money to buy more land near the old house and build a New House."
She did not tell the truth, changing the sale of the glass vase to the sale of Seafood.
Upon hearing this, Madam Feng retorted without a second thought: "No! We are too close to the sea here; it cannot withstand a storm."
She thought Jiang Tang was talking about the common mud brick houses in the village.
Jiang Tang had already guessed her concerns and quickly explained: "Grandma, I am not building that kind of mud brick house in the village; I want to build the kind of Blue brick and tile house they have in Town."
It was just that the houses in the village were mostly built with mud and thatch, which made them appear fragile.
Although this place was by the seaside, it was actually quite a distance away.
When the time came to build the Blue brick and tile house, she could bring back some Cement from modern times and mix it with sand and soil to build the walls; it would be no problem.
"What? You want to build a Blue brick and tile house?" Madam Feng's eyes widened, her face full of disbelief, and she inquired further, "You treated that Young Master's illness; exactly how much Consultation Fee did he give you?"
Madam Feng thought that even a wealthy Young Master would give at most ten taels.
Building a Blue brick and tile house was not a small sum.
A mud brick house in the village cost only a few taels of Silver, and building a house for a whole family would cost at most a few dozen taels.
But Blue bricks were precious; just buying the bricks would cost quite a lot, and to build it, it would be impossible without about a hundred taels.
Like the few houses they sold to Jiang Laoda, they were built on the larger side, and they were almost ten taels each.
Moreover, these Blue bricks were very expensive; building a home would cost around a hundred taels.
"Three hundred taels," Jiang Tang said nonchalantly.
As soon as these words were spoken, the room went instantly quiet. Song Jiuxi and Su Lianxue both opened their mouths wide, their eyes full of shock at the "so much money."
Madam Feng gasped; she had lived her whole life and had never seen what three hundred taels of Silver looked like piled together.
Her younger son and his wife worked themselves to the bone at sea and couldn't even earn ten taels a year. Just building those few mud tile houses had emptied their Family Fortune.
She never expected that her granddaughter would earn three hundred taels just by treating someone.
What was the life of a rich person actually like? Madam Feng, a village woman, truly could not imagine it.
After being stunned for a long while, she sighed: "Fine, you can handle it yourself; I won't interfere."
She understood in her heart that her granddaughter had received "divine guidance," which was her own fortune, and she should not stand in her way.
"But you must interfere! Grandma, how can you not look after us? Do you want A Yi and me to be left all alone? With no one to mend our clothes and no one to manage our meals?"
Jiang Tang leaned against Madam Feng's shoulder. The old woman's warm body heat came through the fabric, carrying the faint scent of Soap Berry—the warmth that belonged uniquely to relatives.
"You!" Madam Feng said helplessly, her fingertips gently tapping her forehead, "I say I won't interfere, but I can't set my mind at ease; I say I'll find you a husband, but you are ten thousand times unwilling; I say don't build a house by the seaside, but you insist on building it. How can this old woman control you?"
Although her words were Serious, there was not a hint of anger in her eyes; instead, they hid a bit of indulgence: "Fine, Grandma cannot make your decisions for you. Now that you have received divine guidance and have your own plans, Grandma won't stop you.
Whatever you want to do, go ahead and do it. As for me, I will stay at home and manage a hot meal for you and A Yi, and guard this home."
"Hehe... thank you, Grandma!" Jiang Tang looked up, smiling at Madam Feng with her eyes and brows curved.
She really didn't expect the old lady to come around so quickly. She had originally been pondering how much effort it would take and was even prepared to be opposed.
In her memory, the old ladies in the village mostly loved to hold onto the family's authority, clutching their money and refusing to let go.
But Grandma was different; she never asked about the money from the houses that Uncle returned.
Now that she had earned Silver and wanted to build a house, she didn't ask much about where the Silver Coins went.
Such a Grandma made her feel close from the bottom of her heart.
"A'Tang," Song Jiuxi said from beside her, suddenly leaning in, "I'll stay with you in this Thatched Cottage with Lianxue.
When you build the Blue brick and tile house, you must not forget us. You have to invite me and Lianxue to stay there; I've grown up this big and have never seen what the inside of a Blue brick house looks like!"
"That goes without saying!" The smile on Jiang Tang's face faded, becoming a bit more serious, "I called you two here tonight because there is something else to say."
Song Jiuxi raised an eyebrow and tossed a roasted peanut she had brought from home into her mouth: "What is it? So serious?"
"A Yi and I went to the seaside last night," Jiang Tang paused, recalling the scene on the beach last night, a flash of excitement in her eyes, "and discovered that the tide had receded very far. The exposed Tidal Flats were more than twice as large as usual!
We collected quite a lot of Seafood; just the crabs filled half a small basket, and there were many Shellfish with shells—I've never seen them so big!"
"Really?" Song Jiuxi's eyes lit up, and she instantly understood Jiang Tang's thoughts, "So you specifically called me and Lianxue over today to go to the sea at midnight to collect seafood?"
"Yes." Jiang Tang nodded, looking out the window through the weak moonlight, "The tide recedes early, so we need to sleep early. We have to get up at midnight; don't miss the time."
The group didn't chat anymore. Jiang Tang took her two sisters into the room to sleep, and Jiang Yi and Madam Feng also returned to their respective rooms to sleep.
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