During the ti period, An Youyou drank three cups of tea, her mouth almost dry from talking.
After listening to the updates on the old friends who had begged for food together decades ago, Jiang Weiguo had little emotional fluctuation, only nodding to indicate he understood, then said: "After your grandma passed away, I did indeed inherit dozens of silver coins from her."
"I don’t know if she wrote it in a diary, but when I was young, I kept saving money, hoping to one day return to Beiping and buy back the family restaurant."
"I never moved those dozens of silver coins from back then. Probably not worth much now, but that’s your grandma’s inheritance, and logically, I should return it to its original owner."
"You guys sit here for a bit, I’ll go find where they are." After speaking, Jiang Weiguo stood up and went to the inner room to find the silver coins, not saying an unnecessary word.
As soon as Jiang Weiguo left, An Youyou jumped up with excitent, lowering her voice to say, "My money!"
"I just knew Thirteen was the best; he didn’t spend a single silver coin, he kept it all! This is fantastic, I can get my money back!"
Qin Huai didn’t quite understand An Youyou’s excitent; apart from a few rare ones being valuable, ordinary silver coins really weren’t worth much. The dozens of silver coins Jiang Weiguo had likely were far less valuable than Lin Qi’s three gold bars, yet An Youyou’s level of excitent was at least ten tis what she’d show facing a Zhang Daqian painting.
"The silver coins you left behind back then probably aren’t worth much now." Qin Huai softly reminded.
"I know, but it’s my money!" An Youyou’s voice was small but very high-pitched, filled with an irrepressible excitent and thrill, "My money!"
"My gosh, I never expected to get back the money I left behind all those years ago!"
"I’ve got to buy a little table when I go back, just lay all those silver coins out on it!"
Qin Huai & Shi Dadan: ...
Really don’t understand you guys and the Three-legged Golden Toad.
An Youyou continued to softly ruminate: "I really didn’t expect this, Thirteen is so poor himself, unable to afford a nursing ho, only managing to live in the countryside, yet he saved up all the silver coins I earned back then and never had the heart to spend them."
"Sigh, no wonder Thirteen is so poor now, doesn’t have a bit of economic sense, those silver coins should’ve been exchanged for gold bars."
"But it seems when I died, gold bars weren’t easy to buy, the markup was particularly severe; it’s because I couldn’t buy gold bars that I saved so many silver coins."
Qin Huai: ... Youyou, do you have so misunderstanding about poverty? Among your group of buddies, the one living the most comfortably now might just be Jiang Weiguo.
Qin Huai silently took a sip of tea and asked another question he wanted to: "Why didn’t you directly tell Jiang Weiguo earlier that things are difficult at ho and ask to borrow so money?"
An Youyou sighed: "I wanted to say, but I felt Thirteen wouldn’t have any money to give either."
While talking, An Youyou looked around at the living room walls: "Thirteen’s house is just like mine, definitely just as poor as . He’s even worse; at least I have a middle school diploma, he doesn’t even have that, at his age, he wouldn’t be able to find work."
"Eh, had I known Thirteen was this poor, I would’ve given him a private session with two boxes of milk."
"Besides, his temper is too bad now. I used to know when you’re broke, your temper deteriorates; during those tis I had no money, my temper wasn’t good either. Thirteen has been poor for so many years, his temper’s so bad it’s understandable; not to ntion he could fight since he was young, now I can’t fight but he probably still can."
"What if he beats up?"
"He doesn’t even have money to pay for my dical expenses."
Qin Huai: ...
Just after An Youyou finished her soft musings, Jiang Weiguo returned with a wooden box in his hands.
The wooden box seed quite heavy, making a dull thud when placed on the table.
Jiang Weiguo opened the box, revealing it was full of silver coins, so in decent condition, others heavily oxidized and blackened, visually estimated at over 100 pieces, far exceeding the quantity Xu Chenggang said Jiang Weiguo was allocated.
"All here, this box is made of rosewood, you can take it with you." Jiang Weiguo said, "Where are you staying?"
An Youyou was a bit bewildered, but Qin Huai quickly reacted and said, "Staying in the town."
"How did you co here today?"
"There is a van service that picks up and drops off people from the village in town, 10 bucks per person per trip, and you can contact them anyti as needed."
Jiang Weiguo said: "That’s too expensive, usual rides should be 6 bucks."
"How many days are you staying?" Jiang Weiguo asked again.
"5 days." An Youyou said.
Jiang Weiguo nodded, unsure what he was thinking, pondered for over 40 seconds before continuing: "Alright, anything you don’t finish you can take with you."
The three: ?
"There’s not much good food at ho so I won’t keep you for a al. There’s so braised at in the fridge you can take with you later. There’s a Liu Er Noodle House in town, diagonally opposite they do pretty decent braised goose; you can go to the noodle house, order plain noodles and pair them with the braised at, or buy half a goose if you want."
"Do you have any dietary restrictions?"
"I eat everything." An Youyou said.
"I don’t eat cilantro." Qin Huai said.
"I have a big appetite." Shi Dadan said.
Jiang Weiguo nodded: "Then you can co again tomorrow."
The three: ???
After speaking, Jiang Weiguo turned his head and shouted into the house to Zhao Lanhua: "Lanhua, call Butcher Zhang and have him co over tomorrow morning to slaughter a pig."
Zhao Lanhua stopped listening to Huangi Opera and ran out of the house with surprise and even panic, asking: "Slaughter a pig? Which one?"
"Big Flower."
"Big Flower?!"
"Old man, there’s still a few months till New Year. If we kill Big Flower now, won’t we have to settle with eating Second Flower during New Year? Plus, it’s not the best ti for slaughter yet, Big Flower weighs so few pounds now, it’s been raised for half a year, if we kill it..."
"Tomorrow slaughter." Jiang Weiguo said decisively, "Eating Second Flower during New Year is fine as well, the family doesn’t lack for that one mouthful, Xiao An has co all the way here so we must slaughter Big Flower."
After speaking, Jiang Weiguo turned to An Youyou and said: "You guys should call the van to pick you up, rember to haggle, I’ll go get you the braised at."
"There are still a few apples at ho, I’ll get you three."
Jiang Weiguo went inside again.
Zhao Lanhua looked at the three of them curiously, and went inside to make a call too.
Leaving Qin Huai, An Youyou, and Shi Dadan looking at each other in the living room.
An Youyou was really touched this ti, softly saying: "Thirteen is really so good, has only one pig at ho reserved for New Year yet wants to kill it for us."
Shi Dadan cautiously remarked: "There should be at least two pigs."
Qin Huai was also a bit confused, unable to figure out what the situation actually was.
He thought Jiang Weiguo’s living conditions shouldn’t be bad; saying he’d gift a rosewood box that easily, yet when it ca to slaughtering a pig seed as if...
The pig was more precious than the rosewood box?
"I’ll call the van first." Qin Huai said, "Tomorrow we should buy so stuff and co back for a al; uh, did Grandpa Jiang give us his number or add on WeChat?"
An Youyou quickly shouted: "Grandpa Jiang, why don’t we add each other on WeChat, when should we co tomorrow?"
"Morning should be fine." Jiang Weiguo said with full energy, coming out holding a large bowl.
The bowl had cooled at with congealed fat not slling much but still very appetizing, looking very appealing and should taste very delicious braised at.
Far surpassing a normal restaurant chef’s level of braised at.
Jiang Weiguo handed the large bowl to Shi Dadan: "Rember to bring the bowl back tomorrow."
Qin Huai and the other two, a bit dazed, left with the braised at.
Qin Huai, walking to the village entrance waiting for the van, only then sowhat belatedly reacted: "In our current situation, is it inconvenient to talk to Mr. Jiang about Master Xia Mubing’s situation?"
"It’s not very convenient." Shi Dadan said holding the braised at.
Qin Huai also thought so: "Mr. Jiang looks quite hale and hearty, I’ll still ssage Zhao Cheng’an and let him talk to Master Xia Mubing."
"They’re probably better at communicating as brothers."
"A few days ago, Master Xia transferred 100,000 yuan in pocket money to Zhao Cheng’an, I’m really afraid Zhang Guanghang might report Zhao Cheng’an for fraud and land him inside."
Reviews
All reviews (0)