Chapter 6

She didn’t find anything, and instead sneezed several times—Jiang Manyue felt awful and could only leave the recycling station in frustration.

Just as she was about to head home, Jiang Manyue thought of the few mischievous nephews at her mother’s house, as well as little Jun’an from her in-laws, and decided to swing by the state-run store.

Even though the money from selling the leather shoes hadn’t arrived yet, she still had plenty of cash and ration tickets, all obtained from Li Guifen and Lu Qingyou by the original owner.

At the state-run store, Jiang Manyue bought two jin* of milk candy and three jin of white sugar cakes.

(*1 jin ≈ 0.5 kg)

Candies and white sugar cakes required supplementary food tickets to purchase. People in the countryside might have money and grain, but they’d usually exchange those for industrial tickets to meet their household needs—who could spare the money to trade for supplementary food tickets?

Even though her maternal family, the Jiangs, had plenty of labor and earned good work points, they had a big family to support. The kids rarely got any snacks throughout the year.

The original Jiang Manyue was greedy when it came to food. Any tasty treats were hidden and eaten by herself, and her nephews hardly ever got anything from her.

Now Jiang Manyue wanted to improve her relationship with her natal family. After all, she wasn’t sure how long her current marriage would last. If she got divorced before successfully getting into university, she’d have to go back and live with her family for a while.

Although Miao Xianghua doted on her daughter, the Jiang family was still a big household—she had to be sensible and considerate.

Giving her nephews some snacks would make them happy, and when they were happy, her brother and sister-in-law would be happy too. That would naturally make her a more likable younger sister.

Jiang Manyue carried the snacks and headed back to the production team. As she neared the team’s main entrance, she casually picked up a few fruit candies in glass wrappers from a shop, mixing them with the milk candies.

Upon entering the village, Jiang Manyue intended to go straight to her maternal home. But halfway there, she saw a group of older kids crowding around Lu Jun’an doing something.

As she got closer, she saw Lu Jun’an’s eyes were red, clearly looking upset and wronged.

“You dare cry?! Careful or I’ll beat you up!”

A boy raised his little fist and waved it at Lu Jun’an in a threatening manner, full of bravado.

Jiang Manyue recognized the boy. His name was Jin Chuanhu, a well-known ringleader among the village kids. He didn’t get along with Jiang Manyue’s nephews, and their groups often got into fights.

Lu Jun’an was timid. Faced with Jin Chuanhu’s threats, he was so scared he didn’t even dare cry, his face flushed red.

Jiang Manyue happened to be standing behind a tree, unnoticed. She shifted the bags in her hands to one side and suddenly charged out.

The kids were all startled. They knew they were bullying Lu Jun’an, and when they saw an adult rushing over, they quickly scattered.

Only Jin Chuanhu wasn’t so lucky. He had been standing closest, and just as he tried to flee, Jiang Manyue grabbed him by the collar.

“Jin Chuanhu! Bullying my Jun’an, huh?”

Jin Chuanhu was already over seven years old and quite strong. He struggled and quickly broke free from Jiang Manyue’s grip, dashing away like a rabbit.

“You better run! I’ll be paying your mom a visit later—you won’t escape a beating today!” Jiang Manyue shouted at his retreating figure, then turned to look at the stunned Lu Jun’an, who stood frozen in place.

“Jun’an, tell Auntie—what exactly did Jin Chuanhu and the others do to you?”

Lu Jun’an was scared of Jin Chuanhu and even more frightened of Jiang Manyue, and had no idea how to answer her.

Jiang Manyue took out a piece of milk candy, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth. “Here, have a candy. Now tell me—how did they bully you?”

As the sweetness spread in his mouth, Lu Jun’an felt that Auntie wasn’t so scary today after all. Finally, he gathered the courage to speak.

“They said I’m a wild child with no mom or dad, that Grandpa and Grandma picked me up from the mountains.”

As he spoke, he opened his pocket carefully. “They also took the snacks Grandma gave me and told me not to tell any adults.”

Jiang Manyue was furious. These kids were awful—not only did they steal his food, they even used his lack of parents to mock him.

Then Lu Jun’an timidly asked her, “Auntie, do you know where I came from? Was I really picked up from the mountains by Grandpa and Grandma?”

Jiang Manyue shook her head seriously. “You were born to your parents. You weren’t picked up. Your dad was Grandpa and Grandma’s son, so of course you live with them.”

But Lu Jun’an still didn’t understand. “But their son is Uncle. And I’m not Uncle and Auntie’s kid… so who gave birth to me?”

Jiang Manyue didn’t know how to answer. Lu Jun’an had only recently started to understand the world. His grandparents probably hadn’t told him the truth about his parents’ death yet, so she couldn’t just reveal everything now.

Seeing his confused little face, Jiang Manyue decided to change the subject. “Come on, let’s go to Jin Chuanhu’s house and make him apologize to you!”

Lu Jun’an was hesitant, scared to go.

Jiang Manyue tilted her chin at him confidently. “Auntie’s here. We’re not afraid of anyone!”

Lu Jun’an had never seen his aunt like this before, but he could feel that something was different today—she was really nice to him. Not only did she give him candy, but she even chased off the bullies for him.

“But first, we’re going home to drop off the stuff. Let’s go.”

She led him home. The house was quiet—no one seemed to be in.

After putting everything away in her room, Jiang Manyue took Lu Jun’an to Jin Chuanhu’s house.

Outside the door, she saw Jin Chuanhu’s mother, Xu Mei, sitting in the yard picking vegetables.

“Chuanhu’s mom, doing some prep?” Jiang Manyue said as she walked in with Lu Jun’an.

Xu Mei looked up, puzzled at hearing Jiang Manyue’s voice—and even more puzzled when she saw Lu Jun’an being led by her hand.

If it were anyone else bringing a child to her door, she wouldn’t have been surprised—her own rascal of a son was always picking fights. But Jiang Manyue? That was unexpected.

Everyone in the village knew the boy was the eldest Lu son’s child. The Lu grandparents doted on him immensely. Jiang Manyue used to argue with them constantly over it. Her maiden family was also quite forceful, so the Lu elders had often suffered under her.

Xu Mei couldn’t imagine that one day Jiang Manyue would show up at her house hand in hand with Lu Jun’an.

“Chuanhu’s mom, I’m here today to talk to you about how your son keeps bullying our Jun’an.”

Jiang Manyue was polite enough, so although Xu Mei was full of suspicions about her intentions, she still brought out two stools for them to sit.

“It’s normal for kids to roughhouse a bit, but Chuanhu keeps taking Jun’an’s things and calls him a wild child with no parents—that’s crossing a line, isn’t it?”

Xu Mei felt embarrassed. Kids bullying others could be brushed off, but saying things like that? That was hitting below the belt.