Author: 打字机N号
Chapter 152: The correct way to wear a green hat 7
“I went to the pharmacy to buy some Caulis spatholobi wine. Didn’t they all say that this wine is good in invigorating blood circulation? You have to drink some of it every day if you want to raise your legs.
That day, Yu Hongmei took home a barrel of white wine, opened the lid, as a strong alcohol smell rushed into his face. Jiang Liu knew by smelling it that this was a relatively common 53-degree liquor on the market.
“I know that you have suffered a lot from rehabilitating recently. Drinking a little alcohol can also relieve the pain. Even when facing a big problem, you do not like to tell me many things. It is not good to always hold back in your heart. Drinking more alcohol can also help you relax.”
With that, Yu Hongmei poured a bowl full of liquor for Jiang Liu and pushed it in front of him.
“I already said before that I want to quit drinking.”
Jiang Liu lowered his eyes and looked at the bowl of liquor in front of him. Inwardly he said, it’s finally here.
This scene was the same in the original body’s memory, except that the original body of that world was already in a state of self-defeating and despair. Seeing this, Yu Hongmei instigated him to drink to relieve his boredom. The original body half-pushed and half agreed to her persuasion.
However, Yu Hongmei was indifferent to the original body. A doctor sentenced the other party to death. He could not bear the pressure of despair, so he started to drink alcohol to relieve boredom. If, at that time, his beloved woman could persuade him and encourage him to reinvigorate himself, the original body may not have come to that point.
As for Yu Hongmei, not only did she not play a role in persuasion, but she also contributed to the fact that the original body became addicted to alcohol. She was even afraid that the original body would not drink enough and become depraved.
Wine is a double-edged sword. It can also cure diseases, save people, and strengthen the body if it was used well. However, if you did not control it well, it will paralyze people’s nerves and drastically change people’s temperament.
Obviously, the original body’s excessive alcoholism is attributed to the latter condition. He drank until he vomited every day. He drank until the time he falls asleep and drank after waking up. His head was already broken from all the alcohol. His reaction became duller as his temper began to grow stronger.
At this time, Yu Hongmei would deliberately say something such as disliking him as a waste person behind his back. The original body, who was completely confused, would naturally fight her wife in anger.
Yet, how could a lame person catch up to a woman like Yu Hongmei, who was physically sound? Every time he hit her, Yu Hongmei would lead him to run outside the house, letting people witness his violent behaviour.
By that time, Yu Hongmei had already formed the image of a well-known virtuous wife. Everyone knew that she would not leave the original body for his disability. Not to mention the housework, she, a woman who has never made money, went out to work to pay for the family expenses. Even if the original drunken body tried to make a few awkward arguments, people would only treat him as a liar. Looking at how he usually acted, no one would believe that Yu Hongmei would say that to him in private.
Everyone praised the beauty of Hongmei and felt that it was his blessing that he could marry such a wife. As a result, he not only did not cherish it but also bullied his good wife. Even those closest to Jiang Liu could not stand it anymore. They came to his house to persuade the original body not to drink and be careful not to let such a good wife run away.
Yet, with Yu Hongmei’s trick, how could it be possible for the original body to quit drinking successfully? Alcohol addiction was similar to smoking addiction. Once caught, it requires firm restraint and the cooperation of people around him.
Whenever the original body was a little sober, Yu Hongmei would deliver the wine to him. Over time, the original body’s head was broken entirely by those wine bugs.
Once, the original drunk body injured her son Jiang Fu with a bench. This incident became the fuse for Yu Hongmei [detonation]. She could no longer live with such a man who gave up on himself and threw fire on his family. Hence, she chose to divorce.
At this time, more than half a year has passed since the original fall into disability. Everyone knew how difficult Yu Hongmei’s life was. Therefore, even if she filed for a divorce, she would receive more sympathy than contempt.
The original body refused to divorce. Yu Hongmei chose to submit a divorce lawsuit to the court. In the final trial, his daughter was given to Hongmei, and his son was given to the original body.
Yu Hongmei generously gave the 200,000 yuan of compensation to the original body. Everyone praised her righteously but forgot that the settlement initially belonged to the original body and was not in the joint property between the husband and wife.
Thanks to this incident, Yu Hongmei gained another good reputation.
However, she had not fully utilized the original body.
After the legal sentence was pronounced, Yu Hongmei went back to Jiang’s house. Others did not know what she had chatted with the original body. They only knew that Yu Hongmei left Jiang’s house in tears, with injuries on her body. Later, according to the rumour, it was said that Yu Hongmei wanted to take her son Jiang Fu to be by her side but was rejected by the overbearing original body. Not only that, but he also hit her.
After the rumours were spread, everyone was even more embarrassed at what happened to Yu Hongmei.
Divorced women with children were not easy to marry, especially if the child was a son. Yet, Yu Hongmei does not care about this. On the contrary, for the sake of children, she is even willing to bow her head to her divorced ex-husband and take the son under his custody to her side.
Raising a pair of children was very difficult. It was not only laborious but also expensive.
Yet, the motherly Yu Hongmei did not care about these at all. It is a pity that Jiang Liu did not know good people’s minds. Not only did he reject Yu Hongmei, but he also beat her.
At this point, Yu Hongmei’s good reputation for being kind, loyal, and loving has thoroughly resonated in this area.
At the same time, all the wrong and bad things “done” by the original body were also became well known.
Because of this good reputation, after the divorce, Yu Hongmei was not worried about marrying. Everyone knows that she is a good woman who would never leave after her husband’s accident. Many people wanted to matchmake her, and many divorcees asked for her. There was even a widowed, wealthy man who proposed, but Yu Hongmei refused.
It was not until a year later that she and Jiang Tiancheng, the owner of the disc shop where she worked before, stepped into the marriage hall after falling in love for a long time. Others naturally blessed this marriage.
After remarrying, Yu Hongmei treated her stepdaughter very well. She was even better to her than her own daughter was. Everyone praised her as a good stepmother. Yet, they ignored Jiang Hua’s mood, which had been forced to follow Yu Hongmei to Jiang’s house.
Eight months later, Yu Hongmei and Jiang Tiancheng’s son was born. The family of four was happy and blissful, while Jiang Hua was like a bandit who invaded their territory.
Facing the fall of his father and his mother’s indifference, Jiang Hua became more and more rebellious. In contrast to her excellent stepsister, Jiang Ruyi, her rebellious mediocrity was seen by the outside world as a symbol of the original body’s evil bamboo gene. It was precise because she has the blood of the original body flowing in her body. Even with the same education as Jiang Ruyi and having an excellent mother as Yu Hongmei, she was still a puddle of mud in a clear pond. A vivid interpretation of what was meant by being a worthless person.
As for Jiang Fu, he did quite live up to expectations. However, with a dad dragging his feet like that, he no longer pursued his study after graduating from junior high school. Like most boys who stay in the country, Jiang Fu relied on the leftover compensation money to marry his wife before going out to work after the other party gave birth. It takes a long time for him to go home after going out.
Finally, one day, the original body completely drank himself to death. Jiang Fu, who got the news, went home for the funeral. After dealing with the original body’s funeral, he sold the family property, took his wife and children to another place, and never returned ever since.
At that time, Jiang Tiancheng had invested in real estate with the money he gathered after selling his shop just before the disc business fell. Now he has dozens of houses and leads a comfortable life being a landlord.
Yu Hongmei was just like a noble lady. She meticulously maintained herself and her dressing, as she devotes a little energy to her youngest son and stepdaughter in her free time.
The tragedy of the three people of Jiang family seemed to have nothing to do with her. Only when others talked about them did Yu Hongmei shed a tear, as she received a vote of sympathy from others.
Jiang Liu curled his eyebrows. His thoughts were pulled away from the memory of the original body. He glanced at Hongmei and then pushed the glass of wine back to her.
“Before, I didn’t think about it seriously. In fact, even if I have a lame leg, I still have a brain. I also have flexible hands. My other leg is also healthy. As long as I work hard, I can still give you and our children a happy life.”
Jiang Liu looked at Yu Hongmei confidently and said, “Hongmei, believe in me, I won’t drink anymore in the future, I will cheer up.”
His eyes were full of love, and such a strong emotion made Yu Hongmei a little guilty.
She subconsciously avoided Jiang Liu’s sight, yet, she didn’t care about Jiang Liu’s promise.
When he was a healthy person, he was only a construction worker with a monthly income of three to four thousand yuan. Now his legs are likely to be lame. How could she believe the big words of a lame man?
What’s more, even if Jiang Liu can really cheer up, and even if his legs can recover, he would at best return to his old business. Jiang Liu, who has little income in a month, was not comparable to Jiang Tiancheng.
Thinking of her happiness for the rest of her life, Yu Hongmei forced herself to be cruel.
“You–“
Yu Hongmei was about to persuade Jiang Liu to drink, but Aunt Man Chun came in before she could say anything.
“Liu-zi, my second son sent something to you.”
Aunt Man Chun was excited, but soon her expression changed, “Why is there such a strong smell of alcohol in here?”
Aunt Man Chun clutched her nose, and at a glance, saw the pot of wine on the table as well as the whole bowl of wine glasses.
“Auntie, Hongmei bought me the Caulis spatholobi wine for soaking. She accidentally poured too much just now, and I ask her to pour some back into the pot.”
Jiang Liu glanced at Hongmei and then explained with a smile.
“Really?”
Aunt Man Chun glanced suspiciously at Yu Hongmei, who was a little flustered and could not help but reprimanded her: “This wine smells a little too much. Although Caulis spatholobi wine is a good thing, you cannot drink too much. The current situation does not allow you to indulge in it.”
Pouring too much? Yu Hongmei did not look like she was able to carry this pot of wine ah.
“Sit down, Aunt Man Chun. I’m still stewing the chicken soup.”
Perhaps because of a guilty conscience, Yu Hongmei accidentally knocked over the bowl of white wine when he was about to take the pot of Cortis spatholobi wine back to the kitchen. The white wine in the bowl suddenly spilt over the table as it rushed along the edge of the round table and dripped down.
Yu Hongmei hurriedly took the rag on the side to wipe up the overturned wine and then hurried back to the kitchen.
She always felt that the old lady’s eyes were powerful. Just like her mother, she appeared to be able to see through people’s hearts.
“Liu-zi, didn’t you ask me to find a house before? What a coincidence. My nephew had a house in the city that was used as his wedding room before. Yet, he did not expect that his company would transfer him within a few months of marriage. He is already acclimatized at his new place, and the level of education there is also higher. So he wanted to sell the house in the city and plan to pool the money to buy a house in his new workplace.”
Jiang Liu discussed with her previously that he planned to use more than 200,000 yuan in compensation to buy one or two houses in the county or urban area and then write Fugui and Huakai names on it. Although these two houses were temporarily unusable, they could still be rented out. The rent earned would be much higher than the interest paid to the bank.
In addition, housing prices have risen steadily in recent years, and buying a house was also a good investment project.
Aunt Man Chun felt that this was a good idea. It was not that she believes that the house price was on the rise. Still, she thinks that instead of putting the money in Hongmei’s hands, making people scared, it is better to use the money to buy some fixed assets. After all, it is better to put the two children names on it rather than be cheaper for the future outsiders.
So, Aunt Man Chun was highly enthusiastic about working on this. She made many phone calls these days to let her relatives pay attention to any available house nearby.
“The area of the house is not that big. It is only 86 square meters with two bedrooms, one living room, and a small study room. Because it was originally intended to be a wedding room, the decoration is also good. Since it was urgent, my nephew only needs 106 000 Yuan. The grade and facilities of this community are also good. If you don’t live by yourself, you can rent it out for at least three to four hundred yuan a month.”
In 2006, China’s housing prices were not high. Coupled with the fact that the other party was eager to sell, the cost of one hundred thousand yuan was standard. Not to mention that the other party’s house has already been renovated, and this price was estimated given to give some face to Aunt Man Chun.
“There is another suite. That suite is in the same community as my nephew’s house, but it is a large apartment with 154 square meters, but it was not decorated. The other party’s asking price is 188,000 yuan. My nephew said that he might be able to ask one or two thousand less from the asking price.”
Since it was bought for the children, Aunt Man Chun felt that a larger house could be given to Fugui while the smaller one was for Huakai.
She was also people with old thoughts. She always believed that the son of the family should take a significant portion of the money. After all, it was already very kind to be able to buy a house for a daughter.
The prices of these two houses were not high in Jiang Liu’s eyes. He was already accustomed to the house prices of later generations. They added up to less than 300,000 yuan. That smaller house can be rented out to small families who have not bought a place for the time being. The larger house can be partitioned and rented to migrant workers who were not so well off.
Moreover, housing prices were now low-lying. China would usher in a golden age of soaring housing prices in two or three years. Whatever the calculation was, this was a more cost-effective business than putting money in the bank.
“Auntie, I’m sorry to trouble you. I’ll talk to Hongmei about this later and listen to what she thinks.”
“I disagree!”
As soon as Jiang Liu’s voice fell, Yu Hongmei rushed out.
“What good is it to buy a house, ah?”
Even Jiang Tiancheng was undecided about this matter. Additionally, in her view, the Jiang family’s money was hers. If Jiang Liu bought a house, it would be written in the names of the two children. Would not she be exhausting herself without getting anything in the end?
As if realizing that her attitude was too desperate, Yu Hongmei quickly calmed down: “This money is for your medical treatment. How can you use it to buy a house? Besides, there is not so much money at home.”
This is the truth. Yu Hongmei had spent a lot of money. Not counting Jiang Liu’s more than 200,000 yuan in compensation, now she has less than 30,000 yuan on hand. Hence the total money in their family is less than 300,000 yuan.
“Why not? Over the years, haven’t I successively taken home seventy to and eighty thousand yuan?”
Jiang Liu asked in surprise.
“Do you think that it doesn’t cost money to raise children? That it doesn’t cost money to honour the elderly? When your parents died, the funeral still needs to be held, and the money poured out like flowing water. The leftover money was barely enough to support us.”
When Yu Hongmei heard Jiang Liu’s tone of questioning and doubting her, she forgot the fact that Aunt Man Chun was still there as she retorted.
“No, no, I didn’t mean that.”
Jiang Liu hurriedly waved his hand. How could a man who loves his wife like his life question his wife?
It’s just that he didn’t mean that, but Jiang Liu’s expression was not like that. Instead, there was doubt in his eyes, as if he could not understand why the money was not enough.
Now not only Jiang Liu didn’t understand, but Man Chun also didn’t understand.
In the first few years of the twin birth, the elder of the Jiang family was still alive, and Jiang Liu was their only son. When the grandchildren were born, this elderly was also not too young. These people usually had some savings for a lifetime. They did not care about the son’s money and willingly to bears the expenses of grandchildren. Hence, when Yu Hongmei said that raising children required money, Aunt Man Chun doesn’t believe it very much.
Then there was also the funeral of the two elders. The two older people bought the cemetery when they were alive. It was the custom of the countryside. When they were almost old, they would prepare the shrouds and some funeral items for themselves. The only place that the descendent need to spend money was the funeral banquet. Not to mention that people rarely attend the funeral without leaving some gift, and this gift money alone was enough to cover the funeral expenses.
Aunt Man Chun did not believe that Jiang Liu’s parents, who were such a thrifty and family-keeping couple, did not leave any inheritance for their son when they died.
Therefore, in Aunt Man Chun’s view, Yu Hongmei’s remarks were feeble. The more she said that she had no money, the more she resisted using compensation money to buy a house for the two children. The more Aunt Man Chun firmly believe that Yu Hongmei was unwilling to return the compensation money to Jiang Liu.
Yet, if she did not have the thoughts of divorce, why did she keep the family’s money so tightly? Aunt Man Chun felt that Yu Hongmei was full of weirdness. The more she understood this, the more she thought that this woman was insincere.
“You guys talk about buying a house and discuss it carefully. Liu-zi, my nephew’s house, is also very popular. For the sake of my face, he can drag on for a few more days. After you finished thinking about it, I will take you to take a look. If you decide not to buy it, I will tell my nephew.”
Although she realized that Yu Hongmei was weird, with Aunt Man Chun’s identity, she couldn’t talk to Jiang Liu too much.
She knew how much Jiang Liu liked his wife. Saying some unfounded words would only make her inhumane inside and outside.
“Thank you, auntie. I will discuss it with Hongmei.”
Jiang Liu looked at Aunt Man Chun apologetically and took the person to the door with a cane.
“Hongmei, is it true that our family hasn’t saved any money over the years?”
Jiang Liu came back with a cane, looking at Yu Hongmei and asking seriously.
“There are some words that I will not say in front of Aunt Man Chun, but you know that my parents never spent our money at all. Even when my mom died, she left us something. This passbook contains more than 20,000 yuan, which is their life savings from farming. Over the years, I have paid the money back one after another. I also have bookkeeping. At first, I earned less, but later I earned more. Yes, I have more money to send home. In the past nine years, I have been sending more than 170,000 yuan. After including the money my parents left for us, is it true that we haven’t saved it at all?”
The expenditure in rural areas was typically low. Many well-mannered women can control the family’s one-year spending within four to five thousand yuan. So even if Hongmei spends more lavishly, excluding the four years when his parents were still alive and do not need them to pay for their living expenses, the remaining five years would not cost more than 200,000 yuan.
“Really out of money.”
Yu Hongmei looked at her husband, who questioned her for the first time and felt a little wrong. But, he could not make a lot of money, so why blame her for spending money?
Just two hundred thousand yuan, Jiang Tiancheng can earn it in a few months, but she has to use it for several years. So why did Jiang Liu never reflect on himself?
“Do you think it’s easy to take care of your children and do housework? This money is like burning paper. It’s not useful at all, or you can try to become a housekeeper yourself.”
Yu Hongmei was sure that Jiang Liu liked her, so she adopted the aggressive method, pretending to be angry and said those words.
She thought by saying that Jiang Liu would definitely not hold onto the deposit.
“Okay. Anyway, now I stay at home, and I have nothing to do. From now on, I will be the housekeeper. You should return the passbook and my ID card to me.”
Unlike Yu Hongmei’s guess, Jiang Liu agreed to deal with the housekeeper’s affairs and asked for his compensation money.
“Hongmei, it’s not that I do not want to let you spend money, but this money is significant. No one knows what will happen to me in the future. I want to keep this money for the children.”
Jiang Liu sincerely said, but Yu Hongmei could not listen to it at all.
At this time, Aunt Man Chun was standing by the door. Initially, she had already walked out of the yard, but she suddenly remembered the strong smell of wine when she had just stepped in. She wanted to come back and remind Yu Hongmei that even if she wanted to use the one to rub, you should not use such a strong liquor. Yet, she ended up hearing this conversation between Jiang Liu and Yu Hongmei.
This made the old lady more and more distressed for Jiang Liu. She also looked down on Yu Hongmei, who only know how to spend money.
Suppose it wasn’t for knowing that what she was eavesdropping, and it was not so glorious. In that case, the old lady might already rush over to rebuke Yu Hongmei.
However, it does not mean that Aunt Man Chun would not do anything. Soon, everyone in the village knew that Yu Hongmei had spent all the money Jiang Liu sent home and the inheritance of Jiang’s old couple in these few years. Two hundred thousand was considered a considerable sum of money in the countryside. However, it was still possible to buy two houses in the urban area with that amount of money.
For a while, Yu Hongmei’s name was hooked with the title of being a prodigal wife. Fan Fang, who was far away in Jianghua County, also heard her daughter’s bad reputation. She could not sit still, and on the pretext of taking care of her son-in-law, she arrived at Jiang’s house.
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