Chapter 65: Inevitable

Jiang Nian came out of the room and saw them arguing.

“What are you arguing about? Got nothing better to do?”

Ye Zhiqiu pouted. “We weren’t arguing. I was just reasoning with him.”

Zhang Er smiled. “I think it’s clearly because a certain child is too insecure and afraid that someone will steal her Master away.”

“Shut up!”

Although Ye Zhiqiu was several years younger than Zhang Er, he used to be silly and had the intelligence of a child. Even though he wasn’t silly anymore, they still acted like children when they were together.

They were just bickering as usual, but it was clear that Zhang Er was letting her win.

Ye Zhiqiu also stopped when she saw that she had the upper hand. She just asked in confusion, “I still don’t understand them. Niu Zhiqing and my mother seem to be so foolish. They’ve made themselves like this for a man. Is it worth it?”

“Whether it’s worth it or not is not for others to decide. But the lesson from the former tells us that, regardless of gender, before loving someone, we must first learn to love ourselves. We can’t lose our principles just because we’re in love with someone.” Jiang Nian took the opportunity to educate them. “There’s another word, called ‘cutting your losses.’ Whether it’s in love or life, the person who gives more is always harder to escape. Even if they don’t love anymore, they’ll be unwilling to let go, which will consume them and make it harder to escape the more they drag it out.”

Essentially, there was a difference between Niu Aixiang and her mother.

Niu Aixiang jumped into the pit willingly. Her mother was already in the pit with no way out, or rather, she was unwilling to retreat but couldn’t move forward.

The saddest part was that some people were not afraid of death, but they were afraid of bearing the burden of living.

Both of them nodded, seemingly understanding.

Zhang Er, taking advantage of Ye Zhiqiu’s inattention, secretly went to Jiang Nian. “Doctor Jiang, I want to ask you for something.”

“Go ahead.”

“The Yanjiazhuang Elementary School and the Yanjiazhuang Health Center have already started construction. I heard that when they’re finished, we’ll have to move over there. I want to ask you, after I’m cured, can I stay by your side and help you with odd jobs?” Although he hadn’t been around for long, Zhang Er felt that he could learn a lot by staying with Jiang Nian. The way they, intellectuals, spoke was different. Occasionally listening to them gave him a lot of inspiration. “I don’t want a salary, just food and lodging. I can clean, gather firewood, and help you with chores and heavy work. Of course, this is just an idea. If you need me, I’ll stay. If you don’t, I can go home.”

Jiang Nian hadn’t thought about this yet, but Zhang Er’s presence did give Ye Zhiqiu more time to study.

And Zhang Er was pure-hearted, honest, and hardworking. He also had a good sense of what was needed, so he wouldn’t be annoying.

“I can’t give you an answer yet. I don’t even know what’s going on with Yanjiazhuang. I can only say that if I need you, I’ll consider you first.”

“Thank you, Doctor Jiang. That’s enough. I really feel like I can learn a lot by staying with you. It’s all knowledge I wouldn’t have access to otherwise.” Zhang Er spoke the truth. The admiration in his eyes was genuine.

Jiang Nian didn’t lie to him about this. The construction of the Yanjiazhuang Health Center was Yan Jin’s wishful thinking. Jiang Nian still preferred to stay in her own place, which was more comfortable. But undoubtedly, when the health center was built, she would only have two choices: either join the health center obediently or become everyone’s enemy, labeled as selfish, self-interested, and ununited.

Worse, she might be called for ideological education or even criticized.

After all, as the slogan “serving the people” shows, this era demanded that everyone be selfless and sacrifice themselves for the greater good. This led to many cases of couples reporting each other or children reporting their parents.

Don’t think that the villagers were illiterate. They all had copies of the Red Book and could recite it backwards and forwards.

They might not recognize individual characters, but they definitely knew every sentence in it.

Even Jiang Nian couldn’t avoid memorizing these things.

Because if she couldn’t remember them during a meeting inspection, she would be labeled as disrespectful to the great leader and get into trouble.

Her martial arts skills were good, but she couldn’t fight against the unity of the people in these matters. One person could never fight against the whole world. That’s why she had always been very low-key.

The times are such that even a dragon must coil itself up. It’s not easy to just live a peaceful life.

People need to see what’s in front of them and make choices that benefit themselves, so they can be worry-free.

A temporary confrontation might feel good, but it comes at a heavy price, or it might cause you a lot of trouble. It’s not worth it.

Of course, to a certain extent, she also had to fight for her own interests. She couldn’t let others dictate everything and make her seem like a pushover.

So, she and Yan Jin would inevitably have a negotiation, and the outcome was unknown.

Jiang Nian suddenly remembered, “Right, I took a cotton jacket from your room yesterday. But I ruined it. I’ll buy you a new one in a few days.”

“You mean the one you lent to that boy yesterday?”

She remembered meeting Zhang Er when she went out yesterday. She nodded. “Yes, I gave it to him.”

She knew this was a bad thing to do, but it was an emergency. She had encountered some bad things in town yesterday, and she was afraid that the jacket would be recognized if she wore it.

Especially since Yan Jin was there. Every time she ran into him, something bad happened. It was as if she couldn’t avoid him.

“It’s okay. It’s just a jacket. I have another one. I have enough to wear. You don’t need to buy me one.”

He was already deeply indebted to her for curing him. He would never be able to repay her in this lifetime. But his family was poor. He already felt like he owed her a lot. A jacket was just a jacket. Whether it was valuable or not depended on the time and who was using it.

Jiang Nian didn’t say anything else, but she turned to Ye Zhiqiu and told her to make one for Zhang Er when she had time.

They still had some cotton left from last time, but they didn’t have any fabric. And Jiang Nian had told them not to go out for the past few days. The village also said that there were wolves roaming around, so they would have to wait until things calmed down to make clothes.

In the blink of an eye, several days passed.

The militia’s patrols became more lax, and everyone thought that the wolf incident was over.

But they didn’t know that this wolf was not that wolf.

But it had been so long, and Jiang Nian also thought that the incident should be over.

Zhang Er’s acupuncture had also stopped. For the last few days, he only needed to take medicine to consolidate his recovery.

Actually, he could go home to recuperate, but he didn’t want to leave. Plus, he was really useful, so Jiang Nian didn’t chase him away.

After instructing Ye Zhiqiu on some things, she decided to go to the city.

She had been here for so long, but she hadn’t been to the city yet. But the supplies in town were really scarce. Some things were simply unavailable, like bicycles.

She had bought a few more tickets at the black market last time. Plus, it was almost New Year’s, and she wanted to call Jiang Qinghe.

Although they had been in contact through letters, they only shared good news, not bad news. Jiang Qinghe and his father, as well as Zhou Die, always sent her money, and she said she had enough, but they wouldn’t listen.

The original owner’s wish was also to have her take care of Jiang Qinghe, so she always had to be mindful of him.

Early in the morning, Jiang Nian set off.

She was very fast on her own. After all, she had light skills. She could leap over water and climb mountains. She reached town as quickly as possible, spent 15 cents on a ticket, and boarded the only bus to the city that day.