Chapter 421 - 152: The Green Tea Female Supporting Character in a Period Novel (39)
Chapter 421: Chapter 152: The Green Tea Female Supporting Character in a Period Novel (39)
"So the Jiang Family ended up raising an enemy," Jiang Yihua said, shrugging with a faint smile. "Before he was sent down to the countryside, my dad had a long talk with him and told him about his background."
"We weren’t looking for him to repay our kindness, but we couldn’t just let him be used by others, could we?"
"He played along well enough and acted grateful to our family, but only he truly knows what he was thinking."
"After all, my dad couldn’t produce any evidence to prove his innocence."
"In his eyes, we’re probably just hypocrites. On one hand, we felt guilty and had no choice but to adopt him. On the other, we treated him well as if giving alms to a beggar, just to maintain a good reputation."
"Regardless of what he thinks now, the Jiang Family has a clear conscience. It’s better to just make a clean break. From now on, we’ll have nothing to do with each other!"
Chi Yun’er nodded. "Some people are just incredibly petty. They take it for granted when others are good to them, but if someone wrongs them in the slightest, they treat that person like an enemy who has wronged them deeply."
"If they don’t secretly retaliate, it’s as if they’re letting themselves down and can’t live with themselves."
Jiang Yihua hummed in agreement. "Exactly. Once Jiang Zishi returns to the city, my dad will have him change his surname back to his mother’s, severing all ties with the Jiang Family. We’ll just let him fend for himself after that."
"Let’s not talk about him," he said with a soft laugh. "Right now, Jiang Zishi has no money and no connections, so he can’t return to the city for the time being."
"When we hear that he’s back, we can figure out how to handle him then."
The two of them headed straight for their new home. First, they contacted painters, and then they measured the dimensions of each room.
Painting the walls was simple. The original surfaces were stained with grease and smoke, covered in children’s doodles, or marked with black smudges from the stove.
The workers only needed to apply one thick, careful coat, unlike modern renovations that require layer upon layer of paint.
The two workers had the house looking brand new in just half a day. They said that in this weather, it would be ready to live in after airing out with the doors open for two or three days.
Jiang Yihua saw the workers out with a smile. When he returned, he didn’t let Chi Yun’er lift a finger. He deftly grabbed a homemade tool and cleared the cobwebs and dust from the ceiling.
He then gave the house and yard a thorough sweeping and wiping, even pulling out all the weeds from the dirt in the yard.
They picked some of the ripe melons and fruits and distributed them to the neighbors, not forgetting Vice Director Yuan’s family, of course.
Fortunately, Vice Director Yuan’s wife had received satisfactory compensation, so she didn’t mind who was benefiting from her hard work. Seeing what a handsome young couple they were, however, she showered them with praise and invited them to visit often.
They were separated only by a concrete path a few meters wide.
The front gate of Jiang Yihua and Chi Yun’er’s new house faced the gate to Vice Director Yuan’s yard directly. They could stand at their own gates and call out to each other. They were true next-door neighbors.
After their little tour of the neighborhood, they ate at the cafeteria, and then Jiang Yihua took Chi Yun’er to his office.
It was a ten-square-meter room containing two desk-and-chair sets facing each other and a leather sofa. The remaining space along the walls was lined with metal filing cabinets for documents and books.
Chi Yun’er looked around for a moment before asking for paper and a pen. Huddling with Jiang Yihua, she used a ruler to sketch a floor plan of their new home to scale, carefully labeling all the dimensions.
’I like a house to be clean and tidy, so we’ll need plenty of cabinets to hide away all the miscellaneous clutter...’
She muttered to herself as she began to fill in the rooms on her drawing.
Watching her earnestly plan for their little home filled Jiang Yihua’s heart with joy. ’It means she’s looking forward to our future life together, just like I am.’
Ever since she and Jiang Yihua had gotten together, Chi Yun’er found that the aspirations and dreams she’d had for a home of her own—often inspired by what she saw on TV—could finally be put into practice.
"Brother Hua, our yard is filled with fruits and vegetables, but I love pretty flowers, too. Picking one or two stems to put in a room each day would make me feel wonderful all day long."
"But I guarantee you, if we touch anything in that yard, Vice Director Yuan’s wife will glare at me every time she sees me!"
Although they had only met Aunt Yuan once, exchanged a few sentences, and toured her new "battlefield" with her, Chi Yun’er could already get a sense of her personality. She was the type of person who couldn’t bear to see land go to waste.
Even though the yard now belonged to her and Jiang Yihua, she knew Aunt Yuan would be upset to see the vegetable patch she’d meticulously tended go to "waste." No one would feel good about that.