An extraordinary life journey through old Beijing courtyard houses

Chapter 227 They're all shrewd people (Part Two)

In the pitch-black room.

At the head and foot of the kang (heated brick bed), there were two pairs of dark eyes gleaming with a faint light.

It was so quiet at night that the laughter carried far.

The person laughing is Sha Zhu. It's the middle of the night, and it's obvious who he's laughing with.

Suddenly, the person sleeping at the end of the kang (a heated brick bed) gasped for breath.

Finally unable to contain himself, he sat up abruptly.

"No way! I can't swallow this! This plague!"

"His own father is injured like this! Can't he even take a look at him?"

"Still pretending not to know? Does that little vixen surnamed Qin think she can just leave him alone?"

"Do you even consider him human? Should I go and confront him? If we're not having a good time, he shouldn't be either!"

"Let all the neighbors come out and listen. How could something like this even make the newspapers? Pah!"

"If I don't make him lose all face today, I'm not my father's son!"

After saying that, he jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), slipped on his shoes, and was about to rush outside.

"You stand right there! Or I'll break your legs!"

Jiang Mantang's sudden shout startled Jiang's mother.

For several months now, Chiang Kai-shek has remained dead-looking, barely uttering a word from morning till night.

This sudden outburst completely baffled Jiang Ma.

Jiang Mantang propped himself up to sit up, first glaring at his wife before picking up his pipe from beside the mattress.

Ever since that fall, he's been like an old dog with a broken spine.

Aside from going to the hospital, Jiang Mantang almost never left the house for eating, drinking, relieving himself, or sleeping.

As his heart sank lower and lower, he pondered one thing these days—

Why did I end up in this state?

At first, he really couldn't understand why he was so reluctant to eat or dress well, and why he worked so hard without complaint.

I believe I have done my best for this family and for my children.

Take the eldest son, for example. As the eldest son, he has always been carefully nurtured by his father.

It's fair to say that he got to where he is today entirely through his own hard work.

But what about him? He started to change after he got married.

Now they see themselves as useless and think they've grown too big for their britches.

They immediately started arguing about separating the family property, completely disregarding the parents' well-being.

What a waste of all my years of hard work and cultivation of him!

The second son was no less remarkable; his mother almost sold the land to support his schooling.

Although they ultimately lost the land, their respect and dedication to him are evident to all!

And now? Apart from visiting me twice, he says he has no money and doesn't even mention supporting me.

Is this just leaving parents to fend for themselves?

Although I have some savings, I can't just sit around and do nothing. I have to find a way.

If you don't even have enough money to cross the river, you'll have no choice but to hang yourself!

Then the only ones who could come up with such ideas are the third son and the eldest daughter.

No matter what, you can't write two Jiang characters in one stroke; they have to take care of themselves.

After waiting for a long time, Jiang's mother saw that her husband was only focused on smoking, and she immediately became angry.

He was about to get angry, but seeing his pitiful, worried look, he finally plopped down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and started panting heavily.

Jiang Mantang finished his cigarette and made up his mind—

A wife is still useful; at least the eldest daughter is close to her, so she can keep one of them in line for now.

So, while tapping his pipe, he asked, "Do you remember what the old lady in the backyard said?"

Aunt Jiang retorted irritably, "What good things could she possibly say? She received gifts from the third son, so of course she's on his side, humph!"

Jiang Mantang stared at the ceiling, the scene of the deaf old lady coming to see him that day still vivid in his mind.

The old woman pouted and scolded, "Unkind parents, unfilial children!"

"You two, you're so biased, that's why you've ended up like this."

"If you change your ways, you might still be able to catch up; otherwise, you'll regret it!"

After hearing Jiang Mantang's retelling, Jiang's mother immediately flew into a rage: "Who does she think she is? What does she know about chicken tyrants?"

"I'm his mother! I gave birth to him, raised him, and what have I done wrong?"

"If it weren't for me, where would he be? Where would he be living such a good life today?"

"Now look at you, all high and mighty, daring to hit your father and curse your mother?"

"Didn't you hear what the eldest son's wife said? Bicycle, sewing machine, radio—what doesn't he have?"

"But what about us? We're struggling to even get a meal!"

"Why is he pretending to be deaf and dumb and ignoring us?"

"Ugh—I'm so angry! I can't take it anymore, I have to settle this with him today!"

"I refuse to believe there's no place to reason with them!"

"If he doesn't hand over the money obediently, I'll report him to the district authorities tomorrow and ruin his reputation!"

Jiang Mantang stopped his wife again, saying helplessly, "Let me finish what I have to say. I'm asking you, if you go and sue him, what do you want?"

"I want him to take care of me in my old age!"

"Isn't that settled? Since you want him to take care of us in our old age, why make him unhappy?"

"Why is the third brother so hostile towards us? Haven't you figured out what the old lady meant?"

Aunt Jiang snorted, "What's that smell? You old geezer!"

Jiang Mantang could only patiently say, "Third brother is really pushing us."

"It's because we treated our eldest and second eldest sons too well back then."

"We ignored him and almost abandoned him, which is why we're in this situation today—"

Aunt Jiang retorted, her neck stiff, "How can you blame me? Who told him to bring bad luck to his parents?"

"I almost died giving birth to him, why didn't he say that?"

"If I had really treated him badly, would he still be alive today?"

"He should have been drowned in the chamber pot long ago! And he's complaining? Who am I supposed to complain to?"

"Parents are never wrong! No matter how much you argue, no one will say they are right."

"I've seen through him. The fortune teller was absolutely right; he's a heartless bastard!"

Seeing that he couldn't persuade his wife, Jiang Mantang had no choice but to change his strategy: "Don't worry about the third son's matter, let me deal with him."

Aunt Jiang looked at him with disbelief: "You? You have a way?"

Jiang Mantang also became impatient: "If I can't handle it, I still have you, don't I? Do you think it'll take a couple more days to make a scene?"

In his mind, he was already cursing: "Damn it! Just because my leg broke, they all think they're so great? Like they're all so capable?"

If it weren't for me all these years, you would all be starving!

But since he was already in this situation, he could only swallow his anger.

"Starting tomorrow, go find the little girl and talk to her nicely."

"No matter how much you dislike the third brother, don't let Da Ya find out."

"She's close to the third son, so let her give him some advice now and then. Her words carry weight, you know?"

Jiang Ma acted as if she hadn't heard, gritting her teeth and saying, "She's no better!"

"Her father was sick, so she came to visit briefly and left tens of thousands of yuan. What can that buy?"

Jiang Mantang finally snapped: "Shut the hell up! If it weren't for the third brother stopping us back then..."

"Da Ya'er became that Zhao man's concubine, and do you know what happened to her now?"

"I'm already satisfied that the little girl even came to see me. Don't you realize how much you appreciate that?"

"Look at us now! We're about to starve to death! Do you know that?"

"Use your brain! Stop acting like a brat all the time, or you'll get me killed!"

After being scolded, Jiang Ma became obedient and took off her shoes to get on the kang (a heated brick bed).

He muttered to himself, "Let them look for me, why get so worked up?"

"Isn't this little girl easy to deal with? She has to obey me as soon as I say something."

Jiang Mantang snorted, "Easy to deal with? Where's the money? How much do you want?"

Aunt Jiang stammered, "But isn't it all being kept under the control of the third son?"

"That Yang Lao Er is Lao San's lackey; he sends his salary directly to Lao San."

"Just leave some living expenses for the eldest daughter, otherwise I would have come long ago."

Jiang Mantang let out a breath: "Now you know what the third brother is capable of, right?"

"He expected this day to come; he's blocked all our paths!"

"Are you still going to cause trouble? He's already in the newspapers. Do you know how many high-ranking officials are protecting him?"

"What if we're all ruined?"

Aunt Jiang scoffed, "Impossible! I'm his mother, what are you talking about?"

Faced with such a blockhead, Jiang Mantang was too lazy to say anything more—let him do whatever he wants.

Unexpectedly, Aunt Jiang got even more excited: "You know, you can know a person's face but not their heart."

"This third brother is such a good actor! I've been watching him closely all these years and I never noticed!"

"I can't believe he has such abilities! I must have been blind!"

"The eldest son's wife is absolutely right, he's a wolf in sheep's clothing!"

"He used to be young and incompetent, so he acted like a dog. Now that he's grown up and has some skills, he bares his teeth at us!"

"I'm telling you now, being good to him was pointless; he's a beast in human form—"

If Jiang Baobin heard that she was being scolded like this, she would definitely give her some advice:

Old hag, stop your incompetent rage. Your third son was driven to his death long ago.

Jiang Baobin has nothing to do with you now, so don't waste your time.

Otherwise, you'll get a severe slap in the face.