Chapter 368
Fatty pork meat didn’t produce a lot of oil, but if you use it frugally it can last for a very long time. Pork oil was very expensive, and it wasn’t for their own consumption at home. It was a gift for Teacher Tang, and the fried dregs were what they could eat.
If you put the pork oil in a can, it could be stored for a very long time.
Jiang Xiumei said, “I still have two coins left.”
Jiang Yue noticed that something was wrong, but didn’t realize what it was for a while. In the evening, when Jiang Xiumei washed up in the yard and was about to sleep, she finally took off the towel that had been covering her head. Only then did Jiang Yue realize that Jiang Xiumei’s originally dark and shiny braids were actually cut off above the ear!
Mom’s hair was gone!
Jiang Yue anxiously held her hand and cried, asking, “Mom, where’s your hair?”
“I sold them.” Jiang Xiumei touched her cut-short hair, looking as if she didn’t care much, “It’s quite long and difficult to take care of, I might as well sell it and get some money. But don’t talk about it everywhere, because I sold it on the black market.”
Jiang Yue didn’t know what to say. She just looked at her with tears in her eyes and nodded.
Mom’s hair was so pretty.
It was very soft, very beautiful and felt very good. Jiang Yue really liked touching them. But now it looked very coarse and didn’t shine at all.
Jiang Yue was so sad that she didn’t know what to say, while Jiang Xiumei only drove her back to sleep.
The next day, Jiang Yue took the two coins and the cooled down can of pork oil and sent them as a gift to Teacher Tang.
Later on, Jiang Xiumei applied to the production team to open up land, planning to open a field on the hill behind her house and grow cassava.
Cassava was easy to grow and could basically survive on its own, but it was cheap. It only sold for a few cents a catty, and you would have to carry it and sell it at the grain harvesting station a few miles away. It was physically and mentally taxing for not much return.
The usual work in the production team was already tiring enough, so most people wouldn’t go and open up land in the mountains, which would be unbearable even for the strong-bodied.
Not to mention, after opening up the land, part of the harvest would have to be turned in as land rent.
The little bit of income from it was not worth the physical fatigue. Some people had tried it before, but they gave up.
Jiang Xiumei wasn’t the first to try, but she was the first to persevere.
Even if the income was small, it was fine. It was still extra income, and it was enough to allow her to have some cash on hand. She wasn’t asking for great wealth, just enough money to pay the tuition fee. Physical labor was fine. No matter how hard it was, the least valuable thing to a peasant was strength. She could recover after a night’s rest, and repeat this endlessly.
Jiang Xiumei worked her bones for a long time, and finally the land became fertile and she could get a harvest.
On the second year, Jiang Yue was finally sent to school. Ever since then, she was also a student there.
Jiang Yue also looked promising. Every time she took an exam, she would get first in her grade. She often got a full 100 mark, and she could still teach her younger brother at home.
Jiang Xiumei felt that the tuition was very worthwhile.
Later on, Jiang Yue finished elementary school, junior high school, senior high school, and was admitted to university.
The first college student in their village.
Jiang Xiumei was happier than anyone else because her daughter had a promising future. She felt that she could finally breathe a sigh of relief – even if she died, she could rest in peace.
Unexpectedly, before the white-haired old woman could die, something happened to her daughter.
Not long after graduating from university, Jiang Yue started working. But before she could reap the results, she ran into the matter with the Wen family.
Old Master Wen had sponsored Jiang Yue and was her benefactor. She really didn’t know how to deal with such a difficult matter, so she could only take the child back first.
At that time, Jiang Yue was thinking of staying in the village to teach, taking over Teacher Tang’s mantle.
She was born here and grew up here; this could be considered paying back Teacher Tang’s favor.
Jiang Yue discussed her future plans with Teacher Tang, but he absolutely refused to agree. He felt that she was wasting a great future and advised her to think twice.
Jiang Yue really thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to send the child back and talk with the Wen family. However, before she could do that, she heard that the Wen family had adopted a daughter.
At that time, Jiang Yue was thinking that Wen Hui probably hated this child very much. Otherwise, after losing her child, why would she adopt someone to take her place so eagerly?
If she sent the child back, she would definitely suffer.
Jiang Yue was a kind and soft-hearted person, and she couldn’t bear doing it, so she put the trip on hold again.
Later… she was diagnosed with leukemia and could no longer leave.
This matter had become a secret that no one else would ever know.
When Jiang Yue died, she only hated herself for not being able to be filial to her mother, letting the old send off the young and making her suffer in her later years. She died very unwillingly.
Perhaps because Jiang Yue’s obsession was too deep, her soul didn’t dissipate after she died and lost her body.
She continued existing as a soul, in an incorporeal form.
Not really a ghost, but she couldn’t tell what exactly it was either.
She still had an obsession in her heart, so she didn’t want to disappear.
Then one day, Jiang Yue’s wandering soul went to find her mother again.
She floated in the sky and looked at Jiang Xiumei, but she didn’t know how she felt. Maybe a wandering soul didn’t really have feelings, and she just wanted to see her.
At the same time, a truck passed at high speed while blaring its horns. Jiang Xiumei stood by the road side, watching a young girl get hit and be sent flying.
Perhaps, the young girl’s figure resembled her daughter Jiang Yue too much. When she was lying in a pool of blood and no one else cared, Jiang Xiumei rushed up and said worriedly, “Girl, are you alright? Hold on, I’ll call an ambulance for you—”
Jiang Xiumei had now learned to make a phone call on her mobile phone.
Jiang Yue looked at the scene and found that the girl who was hit by the car was completely dead and showed no signs of life.
It was an empty body – the soul was already gone.
Jiang Yue’s heart was moved, and she floated closer, and soon entered the girl’s body… and fused with it.
Her ethereal body became heavy again, once again having substance.
Jiang Yue’s hand felt too heavy to lift. She struggled to open her eyes, looked at the anxious Jiang Xiumei in front of her, and forcefully called out, “Mom…”
She seemed to have returned to life.
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