Chapter 51

After that day, Jiang Ruan didn’t go looking for Zhong Guangyuan again. She continued tending to the seedlings, collecting eggs with Qin Ao, and selected 5,000 eggs to hatch chicks in a greenhouse at the foot of the mountain. On weekends, Qin Yan would also join in. About ten days later, Zhong Guangyuan’s secretary came by, inviting Jiang Ruan to a meal.

Jiang Ruan asked if Qin Yan would go too, but he declined, saying it would be better for her to attend alone.

The dinner was a private gathering hosted by Zhong Guangyuan for his old comrades. Jiang Ruan, along with Zhong Wenwen and her mother, stood out a bit since they were the only three women present. However, Zhong Wenwen and her mother often attended such gatherings, so the focus naturally shifted to Jiang Ruan.

Everyone was curious about the young girl who had gone to the countryside in her teens and returned to the city after capturing bandits and human traffickers. Someone even suggested that she consider joining the police academy to serve the people.

Jiang Ruan shook her head and said, “My fiancé has already chosen a career serving the people. I’ll pass, I prefer making money.”

Someone jokingly asked what she would do with all the money she earned. She laughed sincerely and said, “I can’t say.”

The spotlight was on Jiang Ruan throughout the dinner, much to Zhong Wenwen’s frustration. Feeling competitive, she seized the opportunity to try and undermine Jiang Ruan’s reputation.

“I’ve heard that Jiang Ruan once joked about making a lot of money to support her fiancé,” Zhong Wenwen remarked. “Jiang Ruan, do you realize that your joke has made Qin Yan lose face among his peers?”

In the past, Jiang Ruan would have worried about this, but after talking it over with Qin Yan, she saw things differently.

She replied, “Brother Qin Yan said he doesn’t need to be friends with people who look down on him. Since they’re not friends, there’s no need to care about what they say. Besides, you misunderstood—I make money just to make myself happy.”

Even Zhong Guangyuan thought Jiang Ruan had a very clear perspective. He figured that even if one day Qin Yan decided to leave because he found her education lacking, this girl would still find a way to live happily and independently.

Zhong Guangyuan and his comrades laughed, “Look at that, she’s living a life more transparent than us old men. After a meal with her, doesn’t it feel like a weight has been lifted off your chest?”

Jiang Ruan shared some amusing stories from when she had just returned to the city and worked as a nanny. “At first, I just wanted to have enough to eat. Later, when I found out Liu Jinyun wasn’t my real mom, I wasn’t sad at all. In fact, I was secretly glad because it meant I didn’t have to hand over half of my salary.”

The way she thought was surprising to everyone. Zhong Wenwen was stunned, thinking that if she were in Jiang Ruan’s shoes, she would have caused a huge scene with both the Jiang and Han families.

She couldn’t help but ask, “Do you hate your biological mother?”

Jiang Ruan shook her head. “No, I don’t hate her. I don’t love her either.”

“That’s really cold-hearted of you. She’s your biological mother,” Zhong Wenwen said. “Haven’t you learned that filial piety is the foundation of all virtues?”

“I don’t understand your so-called principles,” Jiang Ruan replied. “I only know that if someone treats me well, I’ll treat them well in return. Granny Huang gave me food and a place to sleep, so I’ll take care of her in her old age. As for the biological mother you mentioned, she prefers Han Qingqing. Let Han Qingqing love her instead. As for you, criticizing me, you don’t even know right from wrong. I’m not going to be friends with you.”

Zhong Guangyuan agreed with Jiang Ruan’s stance. If one repays kindness with resentment, how should they then repay kindness? Yet, the old comrades, all over fifty, believed in the saying, “Parents are always right,” so some might see Jiang Ruan as unfilial.

But that would be unfair, if she were unfilial, she wouldn’t be taking care of Granny Huang, who isn’t even related to her by blood.

Zhong Guangyuan, feeling sympathetic, spoke up on her behalf, “No wonder some might call you naive. You’re not very slick, but your biological mother was indeed foolish—pushing away her own daughter and favoring an adopted one. Anyone else wouldn’t be as generous as you.”

Jiang Ruan picked up on his support and added, “She gave Han Qingqing two thousand yuan. Of course, I felt jealous and needed to vent.”

…

After the dinner, Zhong Wenwen’s mother sternly reprimanded her, “You told me Jiang Ruan was a fool, but tonight, you were the one who appeared foolish. You chose the wrong time and audience to provoke. Everyone at that table has battlefield experience, do you think they couldn’t see through your petty schemes?”

“But Jiang Ruan didn’t speak politely either,” Zhong Wenwen argued. “Who would like someone so blunt?”

“No one likes it, but even fewer would appreciate your attempts to publicly belittle her. It wasn’t a smart move.”

After scolding her daughter, Zhong Wenwen’s mother became interested in Jiang Ruan’s secret recipe. Such a miraculous formula held economic potential that Jiang Ruan herself wasn’t tapping into.

She said, “Find someone who knows her and ask about the origin of her healing recipe.”

She was direct. “Buy the formula from her.”

“She would never sell it,” Zhong Wenwen blurted out, convinced that Jiang Ruan would rather go hungry than sell it.

“How can you say it won’t work before even trying? How will you achieve anything in life if you think that way? Start by finding out where the recipe came from.”

…

In December, Jiang Ruan dug up the robust seedlings from the backyard of Han’s father’s house and brought them to Dawang Village. She then went into the mountains and planted more than twenty seedlings.

After over twenty days of incubation in the greenhouse, the eggs had hatched into chicks. While they were still inside the eggshells, Jiang Ruan had accelerated their growth with her special ability, resulting in a hatch rate of 95%.

As she gazed at the 5,000 chicks and considered the cold weather with snow expected soon, Qin Ao grew anxious. “Do you think these chicks can survive the winter?”

Then there were the miraculous herb seedlings, planting them in winter rather than spring seemed almost miraculous.

Jiang Ruan didn’t follow seasonal norms for planting or raising animals. After all, she had her “cheat” abilities. Seeing that the weather was favorable, she asked Qin Ao to find the village head and borrow a dozen people to cast nets in the lake for some fish to prepare for the New Year.

“Tell Brother Zhou that we’ll keep 100 pounds of the fish we catch, and the rest will be sold to our villagers at eight cents per pound.”

While fish in the city sold for more than a dime a pound, Jiang Ruan’s price of eight cents was essentially giving away money. Nevertheless, the city had plenty of fish, so even if they caught some, selling them might still be challenging.

It was the farming off-season, and upon hearing that fish was available at a bargain, each production team sent some strong laborers. More than twenty people came, equipped with a large dragnet with mesh big enough for fish smaller than half a pound to escape.

After setting the net, they waited until the next day to drag it along the lake, catching over 2,000 pounds of big fish in the first haul. The variety was impressive, including silver carp, bighead carp, blackfish, and grass carp, some weighing over ten pounds and still lively in the shallow water.

Seeing so many large fish made the people of Chengjia Village jealous. Before the villages were divided, the village committee had arranged for people from Chengjia Village to patrol the lake, forbidding others from fishing there, while they themselves were free to fish.

A dozen representatives from Chengjia Village came to negotiate, demanding that the village committee of New Dawang Village share half of the fish as New Year’s goods for Chengjia Village.

“The lake’s fish existed before the village split, so now that you’re fishing them, Chengjia Village deserves half,” they claimed.

Chengjia Village had a larger population than New Dawang Village, and a brawl wasn’t an option, leaving New Dawan’s villagers frustrated.

Qin Ao was also annoyed but couldn’t think of a solution. “Jiang Ruan, see? It’s hard to be a good person in these times.”

Jiang Ruan jumped up, standing on a high point, and shouted, “These fish are mine! Anyone can have them, but you have to pay. If you from Chengjia Village want fish, fine, pay for them!”

At eight cents a pound, cheaper than the city price, people still had small fish and shrimp in the river, but during the New Year, every household bought large fish for pickling. Although some troublemakers backed off, some villagers secretly came to buy fish afterward.

The 2,000 pounds of fish were consumed entirely within the village. Over the following days, they continued fishing, and neighboring villages, hearing about the cheap fish, came early in the day to buy dozens of pounds for pickling.

Qin Ao started noticing something unusual. “Jiang Ruan, are you planning to empty the lake of all the big fish, leaving only the smaller ones?”

“Starting in the spring, I’ll be raising fish. I can’t let the big fish compete for nutrients. I only want the fry,” Jiang Ruan said. “I’m going to cultivate a kind of medicinal fish that’s good for health. It’ll definitely have a unique selling point.”

Qin Ao responded, “Can you have fewer crazy ideas? We should just stick to selling clothes in Pengcheng. It’s fast money, isn’t it?”

Though selling clothes in Pengcheng was indeed lucrative, it had become less competitive because many people were doing it.

Jiang Ruan replied, “Do you want to be a middleman forever, Qin Ao? Don’t you want to build something distinctive for yourself? What’s wrong with raising chickens or fish? The way I do it is different, and I can make money from it. You have to decide whether you want to follow me or keep selling clothes.”

Looking at the five thousand healthy chicks he had been taking care of, Qin Ao was reluctant to just abandon them.

Suddenly, he felt that working with Jiang Ruan might allow him to accomplish something significant that people would admire.

It wasn’t just about making money, earning respect was something every man desired.

…

Jiang Ruan and Qin Ao brought over a hundred pounds of fish back to the city. The fish were large, and a hundred pounds only amounted to about ten fish. Jiang Ruan gave one to her parents, another black fish to Liang Yong, asking him to experiment with cooking pickled fish, and kept a fathead fish for herself, as its head was especially delicious. The remaining six fish were given to Qin Ao to distribute to others.

Grandma Huang cleaned and prepared the ten-plus-pound fish. She made a stew with the fish head and tofu in a clay pot, braised the tail, and made fillets and fish balls from the body.

While preparing the dishes, Grandma Huang said, “A lot happened while you were in Dawang Village these past few days. Liao Chunxing was sentenced to over a decade in prison, and your eldest sister filed for divorce. The court granted it, and Liao’s mother couldn’t handle the stress. She didn’t wake up one morning, and by the time they noticed something was wrong, she was already gone.”

“What about Dabao and Xiaobao?” Jiang Ruan asked casually. Her sister Jiang Jianchun had already divorced Liao Chunxing, and since Liao’s mother died after the divorce, it was unlikely Jiang Jianchun would take care of the two children.

“No relatives are willing to take them in, so they were sent to an orphanage,” Grandma Huang sighed. “Let’s hope they get adopted by a good family.”

The large fish had been used to make four different dishes, and Jiang Ruan’s mouth was watering. Just as she was about to sprinkle some chopped green onions on the fish head and tofu stew and start eating, Han Qingqing and Zhong Wenwen came in arm-in-arm, laughing.

“Smells delicious,” Han Qingqing said cheerfully, greeting Jiang Ruan.

Han Qingqing and Zhong Wenwen became friends? Did they meet at the pickled fish restaurant near the school?

Seeing that Jiang Ruan didn’t respond, Han Qingqing jokingly asked, “With so many dishes, would you mind if we joined you?”

Who would want to share a meal with them? Jiang Ruan found it bizarre. She picked up the clay pot and carried it back into the room, then asked Grandma Huang, “Why do you think Han Qingqing suddenly started being nice to me?”

Grandma Huang replied, “Remember one thing, when someone is overly friendly without reason, it’s either because they want something from you or because they’re up to no good. Stay away from them.”

After a while, Qin Yan arrived. Jiang Ruan said, “Don’t open the clay pot yet. Keep Grandma company while I go fry the fish fillets.”

The fish fillets had to be cooked fresh, as they wouldn’t taste good if they got cold.

Qin Yan served the rice and set the table, sharing some amusing stories from school with Grandma Huang. Then, glancing at Zhong Wenwen, who had been visiting Han Qingqing’s house, he connected it to the information he had gathered and told Grandma Huang, “Zhong Wenwen’s mother is very strict and determined. She opened a traditional Chinese medicine clinic, following in her father’s footsteps. Now that Zhong Wenwen is suddenly close friends with Han Qingqing, I’m a bit worried for Ruan Ruan.”

Grandma Huang was startled. “Could they be after Ruan Ruan’s secret remedy?”

“It’s possible. I’ll remind her to be cautious.”

Qin Yan knew that, up to now, there was no actual secret formula. Jiang Ruan had been deliberately keeping up the mystery, but soon there would be one—the seedlings that could survive and grow in winter were the source of the formula.

Jiang Ruan brought in the sautéed fish fillets, and the three of them enjoyed the four dishes together. With Jiang Ruan around, there was no worry about leftovers.

Qin Yan wasn’t fond of fish because of the bones, so Jiang Ruan had made the fish balls especially for him. She scooped a large spoonful into his bowl and reminded him, “Brother Qin Yan, don’t get into arguments with classmates on my behalf. It’ll only make people resent you.”

Qin Yan picked out the bones from the braised fish tail, gave her the meat, and reassured her, “Even if I don’t stand up for my girlfriend, I’ll still be looked down upon.”

Grandma Huang smiled warmly as she saw the two of them looking out for each other.

Meanwhile, Han Qingqing and Zhong Wenwen had also finished cooking. Today, Liu Jinyun wasn’t home, so it was just Han Qingqing and her guest.

Zhong Wenwen seemed a bit disappointed and asked, “Where’s your mom?”

“She’s out helping my older sister find a place,” Han Qingqing explained, adding that her older sister had just divorced her husband, who was a criminal. “She has no place to live now, so she has to rent.”

Zhong Wenwen consoled her with a few kind words and then inquired about Jiang Ruan. “I noticed that there aren’t any doctors in her family. How did she end up with a remedy for treating rheumatism?”

Han Qingqing didn’t know much herself. “Apparently, when she was sent to the countryside, an old Chinese medicine doctor who lived in a cowshed left it to her.”

“So she just kept it for herself?”

“Well, it’s not exactly that. It was given to her, so it’s rightfully hers,” Han Qingqing replied. “That old doctor didn’t have any descendants, and Jiang Ruan was his apprentice. It makes sense for him to pass it on to her before he died.”

Zhong Wenwen then asked about the old doctor’s name, but Han Qingqing genuinely didn’t know.