Old Mrs. Jiang discovered immediately upon returning that the basket of herbs from yesterday was missing.
Then, seeing the closed door of the third branch, she exploded again—yet again.
She pounded on the door of the third branch and cursed: “Jiang Laosan, open the door!” Seeing that there was no movement from inside, she became even more furious. “Jiang Jianguo, come out here! Where did that basket of herbs go yesterday? Did you take them to sell? You don’t work all day, yet you’re hoarding private money. Aren’t you ashamed? Hand over the money now!”
Inside the room, Lin Wanting used gestures to ask Jiang Jianguo, “Should we really not open the door? Mother seems very angry.”
Jiang Jianguo gave her a look that said, don’t panic. He took out the large meat buns he had hidden and handed them to Lin Wanting, signaling with his mouth, “Eat.” He then sat calmly on the edge of the bed, listening to Old Mrs. Jiang scolding them outside.
Jiang Tangtang also climbed onto Lin Wanting, wrapping her small arms around her neck. She leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Mommy, eat! There’s meat inside. Dad and I went to the state-run restaurant today and had something yummy—noodles with shredded meat. This is specially brought for you. Eat quickly, Mommy, the meat is so fragrant!”
Looking at her daughter’s slightly excited face, Lin Wanting knew they must have had a good time today. She stopped worrying about how angry Old Mrs. Jiang was outside and began to eat without restraint. Her daughter was right; the meat was truly delicious.
After the meat buns were finished, Old Mrs. Jiang stopped pounding on the door, though her intermittent cursing could still be heard coming from the direction of the kitchen.
However, the family of three didn’t care. Being scolded wouldn’t lose them a piece of meat, and they had eaten exceptionally well today.
Jiang Tangtang also showed Lin Wanting the comic book she had found at the salvage station today, and they laid on the bed to read it.
It was still quite bright outside, but they couldn’t go out, and there was no entertainment. If she closed her eyes to watch the melodramatic short dramas, it wasn’t dark enough to pretend she was sleeping, so she had to read the comic book to pass the time. It must be said, the comic book was actually quite interesting.
When the sky darkened, Jiang Tangtang stopped reading. She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep, but in reality, she was watching short videos on the [DY Lite] app to complete some tasks.
After doing tasks for a while, she had earned another 2,000 gold coins before stopping.
She opened her account to take a look. Account Balance: 57,680 gold coins.
She felt very satisfied looking at this balance. Thinking of the golden bookmarks and gold bars in the system storage, Jiang Tangtang felt even more content. The gold bars were worth 3 million gold coins, but she wasn’t in a hurry to exchange them yet; the gold bars might come in handy later.
Early the next morning, as soon as Jiang Jianguo stepped out, he was blocked by Old Mrs. Jiang. She grabbed him and demanded, “Where are yesterday’s herbs? Did you sell them? How much money did you get? Hand it over.”
Jiang Jianguo said nonchalantly, “Sold them. Traded everything for meat buns. They’re already in our stomachs.”
Old Mrs. Jiang didn’t believe him. “Meat buns require food coupons. Where did you get the coupons? Hand over the money now!”
Jiang Jianguo shook off her hand and retorted, “If you have money, can’t you get coupons? If I don’t have them, I don’t have them. Or did you want our family of three not to eat yesterday and starve ourselves to death?”
Old Mrs. Jiang believed him a little more at this point. She pushed past him to peer into their room, which indeed still smelled of meat buns.
Furious, Old Mrs. Jiang slapped Jiang Jianguo. “You gluttonous family! Eating alone and not even offering a bite to me, your father, or Yaozu.”
Jiang Jianguo, sounding as infuriating as possible, remarked coldly behind her back, “I’d rather feed a dog than give anything to Jiang Yaozu.”
The members of the first branch heard this, and their thoughts were varied.
Jiang Jianguo was now acting like a “dead pig unafraid of boiling water.” He didn’t go to work, didn’t turn in what he found on the mountain, and preferred to spend it immediately so the family of three could eat it alone, never letting anyone else get a single cent. He was so slippery that there was truly nothing anyone could do.
Jiang Jianguo’s inner thoughts were: I’ll just keep playing the role of a deadbeat. Eventually, they won’t be able to stand me anymore and will naturally want to divide the family. I can’t be the one to suggest it. If I bring up dividing the family, the eldest son and his wife, plus Old Mrs. Jiang, would surely think I had found some huge treasure and gained some great advantage—they’d cling to me and never let go!
Just like now, if I treat myself like a ‘dead pig’—impervious to persuasion and acting like a jerk until they can’t stand it—they might even offer us benefits just to get our family of three to leave. That would be ideal.
Before the rush harvest, Jiang Jianguo was prepared to skip work again today.
He watched with a rather good mood as the first branch, Old Mr. Jiang, and Old Mrs. Jiang were on the verge of exploding, while the second branch remained as silent and stoic as ever.
Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he spoke up: “Dad, Mom, the first branch’s Yaozu and the second branch’s Dabao are both going to school. Our third branch doesn’t have anyone going to school. We’re at a loss here. Since school just started, let’s send my Tangtang to school too.”
The more he spoke, the more he felt it made sense. His Tangtang was so smart and cute; she deserved to go to school.
Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Jiang was so angry she felt like rolling her eyes. She cursed: “She’s a girl! Why go to school so early? It’s a waste of money. Wait until she’s older and send her for two years to learn some characters; that’s enough.”
Indeed, while the Jiang family didn’t forbid girls from going to school, it was standard practice to wait until they were in their teens, send them for two years, and then take them out.
As for the eldest branch, their daughter Laidi was already ten, yet no one had mentioned sending her to school. However, given how shrewd the eldest branch was, they would eventually send her for a year or two.
The second branch had Zhaodi and Pandi, one twelve and the other ten, neither of whom had gone to school. But the second branch was so timid and spineless that they would never take the initiative to ask for their daughters to be educated. In all likelihood, the girls from the second branch would never set foot in a classroom.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yaozu and Jiang Dabao had been sent to school as soon as they reached the standard age of seven. Although Jiang Dabao wasn’t as favored as Jiang Yaozu, the old couple of the Jiang family would ensure he went to school simply because he was a boy.
Realizing this, Jiang Jianguo didn’t care whether the other daughters got an education or not; his own daughter had to go to school, and she had to start now. It wouldn’t matter even if she started a couple of years early.
Right now, Jiang Jianguo seized upon the fact that both the eldest and second branches had a child in school, while his third branch did not, leaving them at a disadvantage. “Didn’t you call me a parasite and a leech?” he thought. “The third branch refuses to be taken advantage of. If I don’t have a son, I’ll send my four-year-old daughter to school.”
Jiang Jianguo continued to clamor, “I don’t care, someone from the third branch has to go to school. Since I don’t have a son, I’m sending my Tangtang. I don’t care about other people’s daughters, but my daughter must go. If you won’t let her, I’m quitting work from today on. I’ll go to the mountains every day to dig medicinal herbs to pay for her schooling myself.”
He had the air of someone ready to flip the house upside down if his daughter wasn’t allowed to attend school.
Old Mrs. Jiang was nearly driven to death by Jiang Jianguo’s shameless attitude.
Someone she used to be able to manipulate with ease was now as slippery as a loach and as thick-skinned as a mangy dog.
Furious, she pointed at his nose and roared, “Jiang the Third! If you continue to make such unreasonable trouble, just get out! I’ll split the family, and you three can go live on your own and starve to death!”
Jiang Jianguo replied with a cheeky grin, “Even if you kick us out, you still have to give us my and Wanting’s work points for this year. And you can’t short us a single cent for Tangtang’s schooling. The eldest branch has already finished Jiang Yaozu’s education and spent all that money—that was public family money, after all—so our third branch is entitled to our share, too.”