The bus broke down halfway and was delayed for more than an hour. By the time we arrived at the village, it was almost dark.
When I got home, only grandma was busy in the kitchen.
Jiang Suichu put down his schoolbag and went to help, "Grandma, let me do it."
"No, no, no, it's almost done. Just turn off the fire." Grandma Jiang refused to let her help and asked her to go behind the stove and turn off the fire.
"Where are auntie and Jiang Mingzhu?"
Grandma Jiang sighed and said, "Your aunt is dancing on the village committee dam, and Mingzhu is watching TV upstairs."
As he said this, he heard the squeaky voice of the eldest aunt outside the door, "The sound was loud enough today, and it was really exciting to dance."
Qu Ping walked in leisurely humming a square dance tune, and her face collapsed when she saw Jiang Suichu.
Although Jiang Suchu didn't want to pay attention to her, he still greeted her obediently, "Auntie."
"Yeah." Qu Ping glanced at her and responded quietly, then threw the battery car key on the coffee table, walked to the stairs and shouted upstairs.
"Mingzhu, come down and eat."
Jiang Suichu didn't react much to Qu Ping's sarcastic remarks. She went back to the kitchen to help her grandma put the dishes on the table.
There was the sound of trotting upstairs, and in less than a minute Jiang Mingzhu ran down in a light blue gauze skirt.
Jiang Suchu glanced at the skirt she was wearing, and then looked at her with a stern look.
When Jiang Mingzhu saw Jiang Suichu's eyes, she remembered that she had forgotten to change out of her skirt. She found this skirt in Jiang Suichu's box. But she has no shame at all in wearing other people's skirts.
"Hmph~ What are you looking at?" Jiang Mingzhu hummed and turned away, pouting and sitting next to Li Zhen.
Qu Ping served her a plate of rice.
Jiang Suichu sat opposite her and found it ridiculous to see her face not blushing and her heart not beating.
"Your skirt..."
Before Jiang Suichu could finish her words, she immediately denied it, "This is not yours, I bought it myself."
Not asking for it.
Jiang Suchu sneered in his heart and said, "I didn't say it was mine. Why are you nervous?"
Jiang Mingzhu became anxious and retorted, "I didn't."
Grandma patted her leg under the table. She knew what grandma meant. She glanced at her grandma and smiled lightly to reassure her.
Qu Ping naturally knew that the skirt belonged to Jiang Suichu, and immediately came out to defend Jiang Mingzhu.
"I took this to the market with Zhuzhu before. I thought it would suit her, so I bought it for her." Then he looked at his mother-in-law, "I originally thought about buying one for Suisui, but I thought that she would also If you don’t like wearing skirts, just buy them and forget about it.”
She is an aunt who is very obedient and is an absolute master in face-saving skills.
Jiang Suichu smiled and said, "Auntie, you have such good taste. But I remember that I seem to have a pair of similar styles. If I had known that Zhuzhu would like to give it to her, I would have saved a lot of money."
Qu Ping looked at Jiang Suichu, who was pretending to be confused, and thought that she had really underestimated this little girl. After going to school for a month in the city, she became sharp-tongued.
In front of her mother-in-law, she still had to show off and praise her for being sensible with a smile.
After a dinner in which everyone had their own thoughts, Jiang Suichu finished washing the dishes and tidying up the kitchen before returning to the room. It's said to be a room, but it's actually just a utility room under the stairwell. In a room of less than ten square meters, there was a wooden bed, a simple wardrobe and nothing else.
Jiang Suichu took out his suitcase from under the bed. The combination lock had been pried open and the inside was rummaged around.
That dress was received for her birthday last year and was mailed from Xuancheng. Although the sender's name was not written, she knew who sent it.
Jiang Mingzhu was more than a year younger than her. When Qu Ping gave birth to her, she suffered massive bleeding and almost failed to survive. Therefore, I doted on this hard-won child, and even held it in my hands. Therefore, Jiang Mingzhu has been very arrogant since she was a child.
When Jiang Suichu was first sent to his grandma's house, his temper was still the same as when he was in the compound, and he was also extremely arrogant. At that time, she brought a lot of old toys and beautiful clothes. When Jiang Mingzhu saw them, she grabbed them. If she couldn't grab them, she started crying.
Qu Ping heard this, hugged Jiang Mingzhu, pointed at Jiang Suichu and scolded her.
"You are a white-eyed wolf. You eat and drink for free at my house and bully your sister."
Jiang Suchu looked at Jiang Mingzhu who was hiding behind Qu Ping and making faces at her. There was no tear on his face.
Jiang Suichu didn't know the dangers and hypocrisy of human nature at that time. She just didn't understand why her warm and gentle aunt would accuse her indiscriminately every time her parents took her back to her hometown, with eyes full of disgust.
She also didn't understand why her cousin, who had just been so arrogantly grabbing things with her, suddenly started crying, even though she had done nothing.
It was grandma who came over and protected her behind her.
"Mingzhu, that's my sister's thing. If you want it, you can ask your sister for it, but you can't steal it."
Qu Ping was unhappy when she heard this and said in a sharp voice: "Mom, you old man, don't be too partial. When Zhiguo was a child, you favored your second brother, and now you favor her again. They are all your granddaughters, so you can get a bowl of water. flat."
"Besides, her second brother is gone and her own mother doesn't want her. If Zhiguo and I hadn't been so kind-hearted as to allow you to take her back and give her a mouthful of food, she might have been sent to some orphanage now. "
She always felt that her mother-in-law was partial to her younger son. In the past, Jiang Suichu's father was still there and he was the only respectable person in this backward mountain village who settled in the city. Naturally, she fawned over her and did not dare to say anything. Now that the person is gone, she will no longer hide and tuck him away.
"Boss wife! How can you say that?" The old lady was shaking with anger.
Jiang Suichu also began to understand from that time that she was no longer the little princess surrounded by people before. Her father is gone and her mother no longer wants her. No one except grandma will tolerate her unconditionally and treat her well.
So, she gave Jiang Mingzhu everything in the box that day.
When she saw her aunt's face softening and no longer being aggressive towards her grandma, she knew she had done the right thing. I also know my position in living in this family in the future.
Quiet, obedient, humble.
"You know clearly that I took it, how can you pretend to be generous?"
Jiang Mingzhu crossed her arms and leaned against the door, looking at her.
Jiang Suichu looked back at her, then covered the box back slowly, stood up and looked at the skirt she was wearing.
The skirt is a light blue gauze skirt with puff sleeves and a sweet style. This color is more attractive and suitable for people with fair skin. If people with non-white skin wear it, it will only look darker.
Jiang Suichu glanced at Jiang Mingzhu, who was wearing yellow skin, and thought that this dress was really in vain.
"Jiang Mingzhu, what you try so hard to want is just something I disdain. What should I be angry about? However, it would be more polite to tell my sister in advance what you want in the future."
Seeing Jiang Suchu's expressionless face and not caring about anything, Jiang Mingzhu felt resentful in her heart.
When I was young, my uncle was still here, and every time they came back from the city, the children in the village would gather around Jiang Suichu. She was wearing a fashionable and beautiful princess dress and clean leather shoes, like a noble princess.
Although her aunt would also buy her skirts, even if she wore those beautiful skirts, everyone still only liked Jiang Suichu, the little princess who followed behind her.
"I really don't understand what you are so proud of?" Jiang Mingzhu snorted and continued: "You are just a child who doesn't even want his own mother. You have been living in my house for so many years. What's wrong with you? You have the ability. You spit out all the food you’ve eaten from my house these years.”
She didn't know how many times she had heard these words over the years, but they were nothing new. In the first few years, she would probably have stepped forward to fight Jiang Mingzhu with her fists clenched, but now she would just pretend not to hear.
Jiang Suichu shrugged, turned around and continued to sort out the messed up suitcase.
Ignoring is the greatest blow and insult to a person.
Sure enough, seeing that Jiang Suchu didn't care at all, Jiang Mingzhu gritted her teeth, stamped her feet, and turned around to leave.
When grandma opened the door and came in, she saw Jiang Suichu squatting on the ground.
"Grandma." Jiang Suchu turned around and saw her grandma and called softly.
"Hey." Grandma pulled her up, sat on the edge of the bed, and smoothed the broken hair around her ears, "I feel aggrieved."
Jiang Suchu shook his head, "No."
Looking at her granddaughter's face, grandma's heart was full of love. This little granddaughter used to love to laugh so much, but now I haven't seen her really happy for a long time.
"How was school?"
Jiang Suichu: "It's pretty good. The food in the school cafeteria is delicious, and there's meat in every meal. The most important thing is that it's very cheap."
"Really? Why do I feel that you are thinner than before?"
"Oh, grandma, you don't understand. I just can't get fat by eating. You don't know, my classmates envy me. I can't get fat by just eating."
Grandma was amused by her and coughed out of breath: "Cough cough~ cough cough~"
Jiang Suchu quickly patted his grandma on the back, "Why did you suddenly cough? Are you feeling better?"
Grandma patted her hand and smiled weakly, "It's okay, I just had a cold in the past two days. It's much better."
"Have you gone to the hospital?" Jiang Suichu frowned. He had never heard his grandma say this before on the phone.
"Your aunt went to the street to grab some medicine and is taking it. Don't worry." She started coughing again.
"I'll take you to the hospital." Jiang Suichu looked anxious at his grandma who was coughing and blushing.
Grandma held her back and said, "No, no, I'm much better after taking the medicine. Don't spend that wasted money."
"I have money." Jiang Suichu refused to listen and insisted on pulling grandma up.
The 5,000 yuan bonus given by the county for the high school entrance examination, after deducting some tuition expenses for the beginning of school, is only over 1,000 yuan.
Grandma couldn't afford it, so she pulled her to sit by the bed, "If you have money, keep it for school. Grandma doesn't need you to worry."
Jiang Suchu's eyes turned red as he looked at his grandma's face full of vicissitudes of life.
Jiang Suichu rested her head on her grandma's shoulder, and grandma rubbed her back, and then said to her in a serious voice, "Suisui, come back less often. Stay in school if you can, and don't come back to suffer."
"But I miss you." Jiang Suichu hugged his grandma and couldn't stop crying.
She knew that grandma didn't want her to come back and suffer the scorn of her eldest aunt, but since grandma was here, she would always come back.
Grandma sighed and said, "Grandma is very good. You just call me often. Just stay in school, study hard, get into college, and go out. After you get into college, I can go see your dad."
"Grandma!" Jiang Suichu was dissatisfied with his grandma for saying such unlucky words.
Grandma smiled and wiped away her tears and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, no more. You go to bed early."
"Well, grandma, you should go to bed early too."
At night, Jiang Suchu lay on the bed, staring at the moldy and peeling wall above his head in a daze.
Grandma's health is getting worse than before, although she said her aunt would take her to the hospital. But she knew that the eldest aunt would not be willing to spend money to take her grandma to the hospital. At most, she would go to the barefoot doctor on the street to get some Chinese medicine.
Now she relies on the government's poverty subsidy and school scholarship to go to school, although it can barely support her. But it is definitely not enough to take grandma to the city hospital for medical treatment.
She had to find a way to make money.
