Chapter 18

“Is this Jiang Xiang Sheng’s daughter? She’s so beautiful! Absolutely the best in our ten miles!”

“Even if she’s as pretty as a flower, it’s none of your business.”

“Look at the clothes, shoes, and little crossbody bag she’s carrying. None of them look like ours from the countryside. You can tell she’s someone from the city!”

“Is it true what they say, that Jiang Xiang Sheng made a fortune in the big city?”

“What’s going on? Why are so many unmarried young men suddenly here? You’re like a dog, sniffing out the scent and coming over?”

Jiang Zhizhi was truly surprised. Could it be?

So many people were gathering to watch the spectacle. It was out of line.

Jiang Yuanyang thought to himself, “Zhizhi, let’s run!”

Although she didn’t understand why she was being surrounded by such a large crowd upon arriving in Dajiang Village, Jiang Zhizhi was all about listening to advice.

Jiang Yuanshan and Jiang Yuanfeng, who were behind them, exchanged a quick glance.

Run! As fast as they could!

If they stayed put, the constant chatter would give them a headache.

The onlookers suddenly felt a gust of wind hit their faces. It felt like something had darted away in a flash.

“Where did they go?”

“Did they disappear into thin air?”

“Xiangliang, what happened? Why are you the only one left?”

Jiang Xiangliang was left alone, muttering under his breath, “Those stinky kids.”

…

The old Jiang family’s house was built at the end of Dajiang Village.

According to the third brother, it was good to live at the end of the village!

At least during the holidays, when they cooked delicious food, the smell wouldn’t reach many people even if it drifted far.

Jiang Zhizhi nodded in agreement and, led by her brothers, walked into the old Jiang family’s house.

It was like opening the door to a new world for Jiang Zhizhi. She admired the house of her uncle, aunt, and three cousins.

Her uncle’s house faced south. The front consisted of five rooms, three on the east side and two on the west.

The walls of these rooms were all painted white. The house was built high, so they could lay wooden planks on the beams. This was called a suspended ceiling, and the advantage of building a house this way was that it was warm in winter and cool in summer.

In the middle was a large courtyard. The ground was paved with cement, so they wouldn’t have to worry about mud even when it rained.

This empty space was usually used for drying peanuts, corn, quilts…

The empty space next to it was enclosed with blue bricks and used as a private plot of land, where they planted vegetables, tomatoes, beans…

There were also many flowers planted in the courtyard, and a peach tree.

A well was dug a little in front of the private plot. It was a large well, and Jiang Zhizhi didn’t ask how deep it was.

Having a well at home was super convenient. They didn’t have to get up before dawn and carry buckets to the public well in the village to line up and fetch water. If you used even a little more water, people would gossip.

The front room was used as the living room. It was clean and bright, and the furniture was neatly arranged.

In the north, there were almost no kitchens. They usually cooked and fried food in the living room in the middle. When it was time to eat, they would either set up a table in the living room or eat directly on the kang.

In the south, basically every household had a small kitchen.

The smoke from cooking was too heavy. If you didn’t have a kitchen, the whole house would be covered in oil.

Jiang Xiangliang built a special clay oven in the back room for cooking rice.

Jiang Zhizhi went inside and saw a very traditional firewood stove. There was a chimney on the wall that extended to the roof and vented outside. A large iron pot was placed in the middle of the stove, and there were two smaller pots on the left side, one in front of the other.

The front pot was usually used for boiling water, and the back pot was used for making soup or porridge.

The kitchen had two drainage outlets, so it was convenient to drain waste water from the drainage outlets when cooking, so they didn’t have to run back and forth to pour out the dirty water.

Apart from surviving in the wild, Jiang Zhizhi usually ate rice cooked in an electric rice cooker with a firewood rice function. It was soft and fluffy.

But now she had the opportunity to try rice cooked in a real firewood stove, and she was quite looking forward to it.

Next to the firewood stove were some already chopped dry firewood, baskets, shovels, hoes, winnowing baskets, pine needles, dry branches…

Ding Xianglan, who was busy in the kitchen, heard the noise at the door and immediately dropped the rag in her hand and rushed out.

When Ding Xianglan saw Jiang Zhizhi for the first time, she immediately fell in love with her.

There was no way around it. They didn’t have a daughter.

Counting from Jiang Xiang Sheng and Jiang Xiangliang’s generation, going back three generations, they only had one daughter, Jiang Zhizhi.

So Jiang Xiangliang and Ding Xianglan were overjoyed at Jiang Zhizhi’s arrival.

“Come here! Let Auntie take a good look at you. Have you lost weight?”

Ding Xianglan touched Jiang Zhizhi’s little head and laughed heartily, “Auntie made a lot of delicious food today. You have to eat a lot. Look at your little arms and legs, you need to be well-nourished.”

“I’ll make sure to raise a chubby little girl.”

Usually, they would only cook a few dishes for their own family, especially when they were busy working. They would cook a big pot of food and the whole family would eat it.

But now it was different. Their niece was from the south, so they would cook some dishes according to her preferences.

Jiang Zhizhi was surprised that her aunt was already thinking about raising a daughter. She lacked muscle, not soft, squishy fat!

Jiang Yuanfeng, the second brother, had his eyes shining. He didn’t need his mother to call him; he came over as soon as he smelled the food. He washed his hands and sat down, waiting to eat.

“Mom, hurry up and eat! Sister must be starving.”

Jiang Yuanshan, the eldest brother, shook his head with a smile and put Jiang Zhizhi’s luggage on the other side, so that his brothers wouldn’t touch it.

Jiang Zhizhi stood by the table with a smile, watching her brother gently put down her luggage, as if he was protecting a treasure.

Jiang Yuanyang, the third brother, was very observant. He carried all the dishes into the living room and then took the bowls and chopsticks from the cabinet to wash them. After washing them, he filled a bowl of rice, piled high, and handed it to Jiang Zhizhi.

“Eat!”

Jiang Zhizhi widened her eyes. Really?

She couldn’t believe it!

Was this the legendary northern portion?

“Third brother, are you serious?”

Who knew that Jiang Yuanyang, upon hearing this, suddenly felt a surge of responsibility as a brother.

Jiang Yuanyang looked determined and nodded seriously, “I took the train. To be honest, it’s not something ordinary people can handle. You must have been hungry and sleep-deprived all the way here. You’re also exhausted. You need to eat more to make up for it.”

Zhou Dawei, who was already seated, couldn’t help but laugh.

Good, good. He had learned again what it meant to be a doting brother.

Jiang Xiangliang greeted Zhou Dawei warmly, “Dawei, this whole thing has already been a lot of trouble for you. You don’t have much vacation time, and we’ve wasted a lot of your time. Just consider this your own home, don’t be polite with us.”

Ding Xianglan nodded in agreement and also scooped a bowl of rice, piled high, and placed it in front of Zhou Dawei. She even offered to let him sleep in the west room tonight.

“Zhizhi’s room and Dawei’s room, I’ve already prepared them. The pillows, blankets, and mats are all clean.”

Jiang Zhizhi saw potato and pork bone stew with beans, pork stew with sweet potato noodles, peanuts, spicy potato shreds, a large plate of stir-fried greens, and rice on the table.

This kind of food, besides during the holidays, was not something you could easily eat!

No! Some families didn’t even eat this well during the New Year.

She didn’t need to think to know that the old Jiang family was showing their best intentions in welcoming her arrival.

Jiang Zhizhi suddenly felt a little overwhelmed.

What a treasure of a family!

Her uncle’s whole family was so enthusiastic. How could she be so shameless and sponge off them every day?

Everyone sat down and enthusiastically served Jiang Zhizhi food.

Even her aunt, seeing that she was too shy to eat freely, picked up another spoon and fed her.

Jiang Zhizhi was stunned. She opened her mouth and, taking the spoon from her aunt, bit into the fragrant pork bone.

Her cheeks were so hot, they could have fried an egg.

Jiang Zhizhi’s right cheek was puffed out as she swallowed the pork. She smiled, “I can’t finish such a large portion by myself. It’s more delicious if we eat together.”

She picked up the public chopsticks prepared for her on the table and took several pieces of the soft and tender stewed pork from her overflowing bowl and placed them in her aunt’s bowl. “Auntie, you’ve worked hard. You eat.”

Ding Xianglan’s heart was filled with warmth, like being bathed in the sun. “Good, good. Our Zhizhi knows how to care for people.”

Then she smiled proudly at Jiang Xiangliang, her eyes seeming to say, “See? See? I told you, daughters are the ones who know how to care for people.”

Jiang Xiangliang laughed heartily, “Zhizhi is right, everyone eat. Eat your fill today!”

The atmosphere in the whole living room was super warm. Ding Xianglan watched her four children munching away with a smile.

They had such good appetites, they were eating so deliciously!

Watching them, Ding Xianglan felt so happy!

They were so adorable!

She had a strange sense of pride, like she had fattened up her piglets.

Jiang Yuanyang, who was being treated like a pig, made a note in his mental ledger for his sister: loves meat, hates vegetables!