After wearing it: I traded a pig for a man.

I only brought two tubs of ice jelly today, and they sold out quickly.

On the way to Zuixianlou, Jiang Anhe chattered on about how Zhang Manjin had protected him: "He was so amazing and brave!"

Zhang Manjin was a little embarrassed by the praise, shrugged his shoulders and chuckled a few times.

When they arrived at Zuixianlou, Zhang Fu was standing in the lobby writing something.

"Grandpa!" Zhang Manjin ran inside.

Zhang Fu was taken aback when he saw Zhang Manjin enter alone.

Thinking he had been rejected by Jiang Anhe, he was about to coax her when he saw Jiang Yunning walk in, with the petite Jiang Anhe beside her.

Even crossing the threshold is difficult.

But Jiang Yun Ning didn't help; she just held his hand and stood aside waiting for him.

Jiang Anhe breathed a sigh of relief after successfully crossing the threshold, tilting her head up and saying, "Hehe, Anhe didn't trip!"

Jiang Yun Ning smiled and praised him, "You're amazing! You'll get a chicken leg as a reward tonight."

Zhang Fu looked at the aunt and niece, and thoughtfully put down the brush in his hand.

"Boss Zhang," Jiang Yun Ning walked in, "you already know the price, three coins a bowl, no toppings included. If you think it's acceptable, let's sign the contract today."

She took out the contract from her bosom, which Jiang Che had written the night before.

The original plan was to have Zhang Manjin take it back, sign it, and then hand it over to Jiang Anhe to bring back.

After thinking about it, I realized that business is business, and we can't treat it so lightly.

The necessary sense of ritual should still be maintained.

After signing the contract, Jiang Yun Ning asked again, "Boss Zhang, are you sure you're willing to let Man Jin stay in the village for one night?"

Looking at the expectation on Zhang Manjin's face, Zhang Fu recalled how Zhang Manjin had rolled on the ground and cried the night before.

"Waaah, only Anhe is willing to be my friend. I'm going to sleep at his house!"

"Grandpa! I want to stay at Anhe's house for just one night."

"They don't like me. They only play with me because they want me to buy them candy. Waaah, I want to go!"

I thought Zhang Manjin was just a child who couldn't distinguish between true feelings and false ones, but I never expected that he knew better than anyone else.

"Okay." Zhang Fu nodded, reluctant to refuse. "I'll have to trouble you tonight."

Jiang Yun Ning looked at him with some surprise: "Don't worry. Although the conditions in the village are not as good as in the town, your precious grandson won't go hungry."

She knew Zhang Fu looked down on the villagers, but so what? He still had to do business with a village girl like her.

Jiang Yuning never intended to change Zhang Fu's opinion; it was his own business, and his unknown experiences in the first half of his life had shaped him into who he was today.

It's not something she can change with just a few words.

"Anhe. Manjin, let's go. Let's go home." She turned around and walked out the door by herself.

This time, they didn't even wait for Jiang Anhe to cross the threshold.

Zhang Fu escorted the person to the door and watched as Jiang Che carried Zhang Manjin onto the oxcart.

The two little ones huddled together, chattering away, and Zhang Fu suddenly felt a pang of loneliness.

Perhaps he should learn from Jiang Yunning; he can't help with everything, and he has to let the child do something on his own.

After all, he's almost fifty years old and probably won't be able to stay with Zhang Manjin for much longer.

When he got home, Wang Cuihua was already cooking dinner. She was taken aback when she saw Zhang Manjin.

"Grandma, this is my good friend, Manjin," Jiang Anhe introduced.

"Hello, Grandma." Zhang Manjin was a little nervous.

This was the first time in his life he had ever spent the night at someone else's house.

Wang Cuihua chuckled and patted his head: "You're so chubby, just like a Fuwa doll."

Jiang Anhe pulled him along and then ran to Jiang Laosan and the others, introducing them one by one. This was the first time in Zhang Manjin's life that someone had introduced him to each person like this.

His face beamed with joy despite his young age.

This is what he believes a true friend should be like.

After dinner, while the adults were making ice jelly, Zhang Manjin and Jiang Anhe began reading and writing, with Jiang Che, the most educated person in the family, accompanying them.

But his thoughts always drifted to Jiang Yun Ning.

She couldn't help but recall the feeling of Jiang Yun Ning's hand touching her stomach at noon today.

"Uncle?"

Jiang Anhe frowned, looking somewhat puzzled.

"It's over, my uncle has gone deaf," he said to Zhang Manjin.

His commotion was quite loud, snapping Jiang Che out of his reverie and instantly making him blush.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Che's eyes darted around.

"Uncle, this character is not written well; the spaces are too far apart," Jiang Anhe said, pointing to the characters that were almost completely separated, looking annoyed.

Jiang Che smiled and guided him through writing it twice.

"Don't make it too wide, make it longer and thinner. Try again."

Jiang Anhe nodded and continued practicing diligently.

As night deepened, Jiang Che began to suffer from insomnia again.

I finally managed to get a short nap, and it was already dawn.

After much deliberation, I decided to give it a try. The dog sneakily got up and ran into the yard to practice its boxing.

Since Jiang Yuning was greedy for money and lustful, and he had no money, he tried to seduce her.

When Jiang Yun Ning came out yawning, she saw Jiang Che, who was already covered in sweat.

"Pretty early," she said, yawning as she spoke.

Seeing that she showed no unusual behavior or excitement, Jiang Che felt somewhat disappointed.

Did the seduction attempt fail?

He looked at his coarse linen long-sleeved shirt and thought it might be because he was wearing too many layers. He thought to himself that he would try wearing a sleeveless sweatshirt tomorrow.

Soon, the rest of the Jiang family got up, and Jiang Che stopped and began his daily morning routine of cleaning the pigsty.

The house had been uninhabited for many years, and the pigsty was dilapidated, but Jiang Che was still able to clean it very well.

The fat pig seemed to have become familiar with him. When it saw him come in with a broom, it obediently ran to a corner, grunted a few times, and then stopped moving.

After breakfast, Jiang Yuning took out the licorice root and dried plums he had bought a couple of days ago and handed them to Liu Yuzhi.

"Sister-in-law, add this to the water when you boil it and send it to the workers. It will help them quench their thirst."

The weather has been too hot these past few days, and she's worried that some people might get heatstroke.

"Okay," Liu Yuzhi replied, placing the item on the stove.

Jiang Laosan and Jiang Yuntian have already gone to work on building the house. It's cool in the morning, so the workers all came early to start work.

Jiang Yuning and Jiang Che still went to Jiang Anhe's school, and then delivered tomatoes and ice jelly to Baiweixuan and Fumanlou on the way. Today, they also went to Zuixianlou.

As she sat on the oxcart, passing by the house she was building, she could hear Jiang Mancang standing there, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"We're all family, and I'm sure I'll do a better job than outsiders. Why shouldn't they use me!"

He was a little angry.

Originally, they were just envious of Jiang Laosan building a house, but now they are envious that these workers can eat meat every day at noon, and that the carpenters and bricklayers can earn 120 coins a day.

"I don't need much. You give 120 coins to outsiders, but 100 coins is enough for me."

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

Although he's never worked as a carpenter or bricklayer, so what? His surname is Jiang!

Jiang, whose bones are broken but whose tendons are still connected.

"Get out of here! Our family can't afford to use you." Jiang Yuntian stood in front, his anger undisguised.

He really hates the people in the old house; they came to cause trouble again early in the morning.

Knowing everything, how could Jiang Mancang, a cunning and sly person, possibly actually come to work? He's definitely up to some wicked scheme again.

The oxcart stopped, and Jiang Che was about to get off to shoo the people away when Jiang Yun Ning waved his arm at Jiang Yun Tian.

"Brother, why not take advantage of something free? We already refused, and everyone saw it. If he insists on doing it, we won't pay him."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mancang was furious: "Why won't you pay me my wages!"

"We didn't invite you!" Jiang Yuntian snorted. "You shamelessly insisted on coming forward. Didn't you get enough of a beating last time?"

Jiang Yun Ning wondered, when was the last time? What else happened while she wasn't home that she didn't know about?