“Brother, you’re going to be a dad! Congratulations, congratulations!”
Fang Jingshan congratulated him, already thinking about what gifts he should prepare.
“What about those people?”
Jiang Sinian didn’t linger on the topic.
Getting down to business, Fang Jingshan sat properly, losing his usual carefree attitude. “They were caught at the bureau’s gate and taken in, but later someone got them out.”
He ground his teeth thinking about it.
These scumbags, seeing their business doing well, not only snatched deals from them before, but this time they even tried to mess with their goods. If he had known, he would have dealt with them yesterday.
“Forget about them for now. Just keep an eye on their movements.”
Jiang Sinian tapped the table lightly with his fingers. “Today, deliver this batch to Nanzi.”
“Oh, and leave half untouched.”
Fang Jingshan immediately understood. “Brother, you want to go solo.”
“Testing the waters. It’s not good to let others pocket the profits every time.”
Jiang Sinian’s thinking was simple: reselling carries risk, so why not take on a little more risk and become the middleman himself? Selling to middlemen for small gains was inefficient. Now, with a child on the way, he needed to prepare properly.
“Okay, I’ll follow your lead.”
Fang Jingshan agreed.
“This morning, follow me to the nearby towns to collect some items—electronic watches, radios, chickens, ducks, whatever we can use.”
“Got it.”
“At noon, I’ll come back. In the afternoon, you deliver half to Nanzi,” Jiang Sinian laid out his plan calmly. “And find a few reliable people to go with us to the county in two days.”
“Going to the county to sell?”
Fang Jingshan stood up, alarmed. “Brother, is that safe?”
The county was stricter than their small place. They knew the hidden channels here, and could escape easily if needed—but not in the county.
Jiang Sinian pursed his lips. “Just to check it out. We can’t be stuck reselling here forever.”
Fang Jingshan thought about his own situation and gritted his teeth. “Where you go, I go.”
“Mm.”
Jiang Sinian grabbed some buns and pancakes and ate heartily.
“We’ll leave in a bit.”
He didn’t put out the fire, keeping the small flames under the leftover buns and pancakes warm, and even washed Ye Shizhi’s clothes from yesterday, hanging them up.
Fang Jingshan had seen him do these things many times, boredly leaning aside while thinking about the county trip.
Though early in the day, Jiang Sinian moved efficiently, completing everything he needed to before leaving.
“Taking the back road again?”
Having been gossiped about for years, Jiang Sinian built his house at the edge of the village to avoid people. Ear unhearing, mind undisturbed.
But today, he carried a bowl. “First, return these things.”
“Do good people really lend things to you, brother?”
It wasn’t mockery; Fang Jingshan had known Jiang Sinian for years. Everyone in the vicinity feared him and couldn’t help but scoff.
Sometimes he wondered—if his brother had used the same ruthlessness he used outside fighting on people like this, the rumors wouldn’t have grown so exaggerated.
Now, let alone lending him things, just not shooing him away was enough.
“Mm.”
Jiang Sinian didn’t explain further and walked ahead with Fang Jingshan.
What he didn’t say: the rice wine from yesterday wasn’t borrowed—he bought it, even giving extra money. The bowl was technically covered in the payment, but Ye Shizhi thought it was borrowed, so he returned it.
Still, he hadn’t thought to give away the pancakes last night.
In matters of favor, if others gave him none, he gave none back.
“You useless thing! I’ll beat you to death for making your brother wash clothes. And look at this mess!”
“You dare hide? Damn it! Why is my life so hard? Raising a daughter through excrement and urine, and this is how she repays me…”
“Oh heavens! Look! Let her do a little work and she resists! No conscience at all…”
When Jiang Sinian arrived, he saw a stout woman sitting on the ground, crying loudly without restraint. Nearby, a skinny eighteen- or nineteen-year-old girl crouched, head lowered, listening to every crude word.
The commotion drew neighbors quickly.
The woman’s shouting only grew louder, each word blaming her daughter for being unfilial, claiming how painful giving birth had been, nine lives and one death.
“This family is intense,” Fang Jingshan remarked calmly.
In their region, this was common. Other than the thin, pale educated youth and city children he’d seen, few families treated girls as treasures.
“Bring him over.”
Jiang Sinian and Fang Jingshan stood in a less conspicuous spot. A ten-year-old boy gnawed on a sweet potato, watching his mother and sister.
Hearing Jiang Sinian, he remembered the money given yesterday and quickly ran over, trembling and jiggling with his excess weight.
Fang Jingshan frowned and instinctively stepped back.
“Brother, why are you calling this kid over?”
Jiang Sinian’s gaze was calm. “Return the bowl.”
When the boy arrived, Jiang Sinian handed him the bowl.
Jiang Jian received it, eyes nearly hidden in a smile, and asked, “Buying rice wine again today?”
He remembered giving only half a bowl yesterday and being paid for two—he couldn’t help but grin, hoping the fool would buy more.
Fang Jingshan, watching the scheming expression, said bluntly: “Buying rice wine? Everyone has that! You’ve got some nerve trying to make money off my brother—why not put coal in your heart? Black as night!”
The boy froze, realizing he was being scolded despite his age.
“Waa…”
He wanted to cry, as usual. His mother always gave in when he did, but Fang Jingshan, holding a knife, hissed, “You cry and I’ll gouge out your eyes.”
Jiang Jian froze in terror, snot and tears streaming, his chubby face bright red—ridiculous.
“I… I won’t cry…”
“Enough. There’s work to do.”
Jiang Sinian intervened after all was done, then turned to leave. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the cowering girl staring at them, as if begging for help.
Baffling.
Jiang Sinian could only think: “Ridiculous.”
It had been a busy day, and this incident didn’t bother him. He strode off with Fang Jingshan, unnoticed, just like when they arrived.