Chapter 12 : Zhuang Guoliang’s Visit

“Jiang Li, this damn girl, always causes trouble when she stays at home. Now she doesn’t even work and still wants to eat and drink at home. It would be better to just marry her off so you can get some dowry in return.”

Jiang Hongmei was lying by the window in the main room, eavesdropping, extremely anxious.

Seeing her acting sneaky, Jiang Li became curious about what kind of harm these people were plotting.

“What are you doing?”

Jiang Hongmei raised her eyes and startled Jiang Li. Her flat, round face was pale, and her face was painted like a palette, with bright red lips and dark eye sockets.

“What’s wrong with your eyes?”

“I told you to stop stinking, now you’re getting beaten up!” Jiang Hongmei wanted to scratch Jiang Li’s face, but when she thought about Zhuang Guoliang coming soon, she rolled her eyes and said, “Jiang Li, aren’t you going to work yet?”

Jiang Li was very confused. Jiang Hongmei looked shy and must have been holding her fart.

“Why do you care whether I go to work or not? What are you doing sneaking around here?”

“No, nothing!” Jiang Hongmei fiddled with her hair. She dressed up specially today and wore her most beautiful red dress.

If Jiang Li were sent away, who knows, Zhuang Guoliang might fall in love with her!

“I haven’t fully recovered from my illness yet. The captain told me to rest at home for the next two days,” Jiang Li said while glancing at Jiang Hongmei’s expression.

Hearing that Jiang Li wouldn’t go out today, Jiang Hongmei’s face changed suddenly, “No, you can’t stay at home today.”

Jiang Li pretended not to know, “Why can’t I be at home?”

“No, no, Jiang Li, you have nothing to do anyway. The soap at home is used up, go to the county supply and marketing cooperative and buy a bar of soap.”

“I’ll give you money so you don’t run for nothing.”

Jiang Hongmei had learned enough lessons from Jiang Li these days. She no longer dared to act bossy as before, but instead used inducement.

“How much can you give?”

“One cent… No, fifty cents.”

Jiang Li held out her hand, “Five dollars, or no deal.”

“Jiang Li, why are you so greedy? You took away the money in my room. I only have fifty-one cents left on me now,” Jiang Hongmei stomped her feet in anger.

“Don’t lie. You borrowed at least ten dollars from me in bits and pieces in the past few years.”

“You gave it to me voluntarily. Besides, I’ve already spent it all.”

“If you don’t give it to me, then forget it,” Jiang Li pretended to go back to the room, but was stopped by Jiang Hongmei.

She took out a few crumpled bills from her underwear pocket and said with tears in her eyes, “I really have no money.”

Jiang Li picked up the money with her fingertips with some disgust, then turned and left.

Jiang Hongmei chased after her and shouted, “Jiang Li, you have to keep your word after you take the money. There are still clothes waiting to be washed at home.”

Jiang Li packed up casually and prepared to go out. In fact, she had originally planned to go to the county to buy some clothes.

The original body’s clothes were all patched up and were really uncomfortable to wear.

The sun was rising high in the sky, and Jiang Li got on the bus to the county town. On the other side, Zhuang Guoliang, who came on a bicycle, was also brought to the Jiang family by Widow Liu.

“God damn it, look who’s here.”

Zhuang Guoliang followed Widow Liu into the house, looked at the things in the yard, and frowned unconsciously.

The reason is simple: this house is too dirty.

The chickens in the yard were not let out, so they were defecating freely. The ducks were fluttering around in the vegetable garden, and there were several large basins of dirty clothes.

The weather was hot, and the whole yard was filled with a sour smell of sweat, which almost made Widow Liu vomit.

She quickly covered her nose with her sleeve and said, “Why they don’t know how to clean up?”

Wang Juhua was so tired from massaging Old Lady Zhou’s legs and shoulders that her back and waist ached. When she heard the voices, she hurried out of the main room.

When she saw Zhuang Guoliang, her eyes looked him up and down. Zhuang Guoliang was dressed very neatly for the meeting today, and with the bicycle in his hand, he looked very impressive.

Wang Juhua saw this and was furious. She had thought that a widower with two children must be old and ugly, but she didn’t expect that he was not only young, but also seemed to be very rich.

“Aunt Liu is here, please sit down.”

Seeing that Wang Juhua didn’t take the initiative to talk, Widow Liu pinched her nose and said, “This is a relative from my mother’s side, from the Bailutang Production Brigade next door, who came to visit us.”

“This kid came early in the morning. He was afraid of being late, so he borrowed a bicycle from the team. You can see how much he values your Jiang Li.”

Wang Juhua suddenly felt a bit of contempt and relief in her heart, because it turned out that the bicycle was borrowed.

Her attitude also became a little warmer. “Oh, you are the dealer of Bailutang, right? Please sit down.”

Zhuang Guoliang walked up and greeted her, “Hello, Aunt Wang.”

He took two steps forward, and Wang Juhua finally saw his face clearly, gritting her teeth secretly.

Jiang Li is so lucky. Although Zhuang Guoliang’s family is poor and he has two children, he looks pretty good.

But on second thought, good looks can’t make a living.

It would be best if Jiang Li was attracted by this man’s good looks and married him to live a hard life.

Thinking of this, Wang Juhua felt relieved and shouted towards the east wing, “Jiang Li, Jiang Li, come out.”

After shouting for a long time, there was no response. Instead, Jiang Hongmei came out from the kitchen shyly, bringing two bowls of water.

One of the bowls was specially placed in front of Zhuang Guoliang, “Brother Zhuang, drink some water. I added sugar to this water. It tastes really good.”

Zhuang Guoliang’s mind was completely focused on Jiang Li, and he didn’t even notice Jiang Hongmei pouring water in front of him.

Widow Liu, on the other hand, picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, then spat it all out. She laughed so hard that she fell backward, “Hongmei, did someone hit you in the face?”

Wang Juhua took one look at Jiang Hongmei’s face and was almost scared to death.

She quickly looked away and stared at Zhuang Guoliang’s , cursing under her breath, “Go back to your room. Jiang Li is having a blind date, what are you doing here interfering?”

Jiang Hongmei broke free from her mother’s hand and said angrily, “Aunt Liu, you are such a joker. Am I not the same as usual?”

Seeing Jiang Hongmei twisting her body, Wang Juhua had nothing to understand. Hongmei was probably bewitched by this young man.

“Hurry back to the house and call Jiang Li out,” Wang Juhua pinched Jiang Hongmei hard. Jiang Hongmei cried out in pain and fell onto Zhuang Guoliang.