Chapter 4 – Scolding you to death
Jiang Zhen turned a deaf ear to Madam Jiang’s scolding, but once again he was clearly aware of Madam Jiang’s position in this family.
If Eldest Jiang was idle and lazy, it would be not surprising that he would be rejected by his family. But, as a matter of fact, most of the physical work in this family is being done by Eldest Jiang.
Over the past two years, Eldest Jiang always felt that he was sore and his footsteps were heavy, and he could not keep up his spirits to do anything, but at the request of his parents, he still worked in the fields all day long. He never spoke, nor did he communicate with others. He had a hard and muddled life. The only consolation was that Jiang Xiaomei occasionally shouted, “Brother,” and paid a little attention to him.
“You bastard . . .” Old Madam Jiang was still cursing, but Jiang Zhen suddenly went forward and sat down at the table then took the chopsticks and began to eat.
“Who gave you permission to eat at the table?” Old Madam Jiang was already angry, but when she saw Jiang Zhen sitting at the table, she became even more angry.
By the way, for a long time. Eldest Jiang was not allowed to eat at the table. After everyone finished eating, and he washed the dishes and he ate some leftovers. Occasionally, when there were no leftovers, he was left hungry.
Fortunately, when cooking in an iron pot, there is always a hard and unpleasant layer of scum, which kept Eldest Jiang from starving.
Jiang Zhen could only eat with chopsticks and didn’t listen to old Madam Jiang’s words. Without taking his rice bowl, he only kept on eating vegetables. Because his body had not fully recovered, he didn’t dare to eat too much meat, so he ate half-meat and half-vegetarian dishes.
But old Madam Jiang could not stand it. She stood up and robbed Jiang Zhen of the dishes and chopsticks in his hand. “This dish is for tomorrow. Who allowed you to eat it?”
With that, the thin old Madam Jiang also stood up and took a broom from the side to hit Jiang Zhen.
When old Madam Jiang stood up, Jiang Zhen stood up with her . . . He took the big bowl with two chicken legs, and put a large bowl of rice into it from the rice bucket. He piled up the bowl to the top.
“Boss, what are you doing?” Jiang Chengwen saw his eldest brother unexpectedly take the chicken leg left for his son to eat and frowned. As soon as his voice fell, he saw Jiang Zhen hold the bowl in one hand, grasped the corner of the table with the other, and directly overturned the table.
The wooden eight Immortals table fell to the ground, the porcelain bowls on the table broke into several pieces, and the dishes were mixed on the ground.
Jiang Xiaomei was stunned, chopsticks still in one hand and chicken wings in the other. Old Man Jiang, who was sitting opposite Jiang’s boss, was the first to bear the brunt after the table was overturned. His clothes were covered with vegetable soup and oil, and he was so angry that he could not speak. Even old Madam Jiang, who was about to hit someone with a broom, froze.
Eldest Jiang had always been quiet. They all thought that he would probably be beaten without saying a word.
“Goddamn it, you dared to lift the table. You turned against us!” Old Madam Jiang, holding a broom, rushed to Jiang Zhen. There was a lot of good stuff on that table, and now she had lost half of her dishes and a lot of dishes were broken. She was so distressed that she could hardly breathe.
Eldest Jiang would stand at her beck and call, but Jiang Zhen would not. He took the big bowl with two chicken legs and a bowl of rice, got rid of Old Madam Jiang and went into the Jiang family’s storeroom where Eldest Jiang’s resides.
“Son of a bitch, you’re going against the sky!” Old Madam Jiang chased him and was about to go into the storeroom to hit people, but Jiang Zhen has already bolted the door. How could Old Madam Jiang get in?
She could not get in but was able to swear outside, and every word that sprang out of her mouth was like it was not her son in the room but the enemy who killed her family.
But in fact, Jiang Zhenwei never hurt her.
When Old Man Jiang went to join the army, it had nothing to do with him at all. Even if she hadn’t given birth to Jiang Zhenwei, she might have been robbed of land by Uncle Jiang, because, after five years of military service, everyone thought her husband was dead.
Later, Madam Jiang’s life got better and better, and she could not get rid of her relationship with Eldest Jiang. Jiang Zhenwei was bent on making his mother treat him nicely and, so, listened to wherever she said.
Listening to the sound outside, Jiang Zhen’s heart burst into a sullen rush, which made him inevitably grumpy.
With a sneer, Jiang Zhen pulled out a machete from the storeroom and opened the door in a few steps.
“Little beast.” When old Madam Jiang saw the door open, she opened her mouth to curse him but stopped abruptly.
There was a knife, a big knife right in front of her face. In the dark light, it seems murderous. If she rushed forward quickly, she might have been cut in the face by the knife.
“You scold. Keep scolding. Come on!” Jiang Zhen took the knife and took a step forward with a sneer.
Old Madam Jiang subconsciously drew back and looked at Jiang Zhen as if she had seen a ghost. “You, you . . .”
“You can continue to scold if you have the ability. Do you believe that I will not cut you to death?” Jiang Zhen looked at old Madam Jiang with ruthless eyes. In fact, he was quite violent. When he first retired from the army, he was bullied by a few short-sighted people. He always had the impulse to break other’s necks. Thanks to the brainwashing education of psychiatrists in the army, they had been unable to kill civilians in order to protect the people, and he did not become a homicidal maniac and even lost his life in order to save people.
Old Madam Jiang was arrogant at home, but she had not dared to point a knife at others. Now she saw Jiang Zhen holding the knife in a vicious manner. Her legs shook, and then her legs weakened, and she fell to the ground. For some reason, she felt that her son was really going to kill her.
This little bastard!
“You’d better leave me alone!” Jiang Zhen waved his knife, went back to the room with a cold hum, and slammed the door again, leaving only the rest of the Jiang family outside to look at his door in shock.
This . . . This . . . Is this man still the honest Eldest Jiang?
Old man Jiang was a butcher and was very strong. He had just been splashed with the dishes. He wanted to teach his eldest son a good lesson, but when he saw the knife and heard his son’s cold voice, he didn’t dare move.
Jiang Chengwen; his wife, Huang Min, and Jiang Xiaomei were even more afraid to move and stood there foolishly.
“That bastard . . .” Old Madam Jiang was still in a state of shock, but when she opened her mouth, she cursed others, and after cursing, she could not help shaking.
“Cough, well, today is the third wedding night. Let’s not quarrel so that the third wife will not see this joke,” old man Jiang said, looking at his second son. “Chengwen, you and your wife go back to your rooms. Don’t wake Yuan Wen up with such a big noise.”
Old man Jiang gave old Madam Jiang a signal, and the frightened old Madam Jiang calmed down.
She was so angry that she wanted to beat up her eldest son, but she was still afraid of what had just happened.
Wait till tomorrow to clean up that little bastard! Old Madam Jiang got up from the ground and saw the mess in the hall. She was so sad that she quickly told Jiang Xiaomei, “Little sister, little sister! Go and pick up those dishes, especially the meat. They can still be eaten after we wash them!”
The Jiang family was a rich family in Hexi Village, but they could not afford to live in a brick house. Their house was built with earth. Although the beams were covered with tiles on top, the ground below was still mud. Those dishes fell on the muddy ground and can’t be eaten without washing.
“There were only a few bowls in the family, and he broke several at once. Why doesn’t the debt collector just die?” Old Madam Jiang saw several pieces of broken porcelain bowls and only felt pain in her heart.
Jiang Xiaomei was usually very popular at home, but this time, she did not dare to say a word. She silently tidied up the food that can be eaten and fed the pigs food that cannot be eaten. She followed Madam Jiang for most of the hour to wash the dishes before going to bed.
Jiang family went to bed, and there was no movement outside. Jiang Zhen was finally able to sleep in peace.
Just now, after driving Old Madam Jiang away and bolting the door, he collapsed to the ground. This body was really useless.
It is most urgent to take good care of my health.
There was no bed in the storeroom, but there was a lot of straw in the corner, and this was Eldest Jiang’s bed.
The land in the south of the Yangtze River is fertile, and every family grows rice. Apart from the Zhao family, which is so poor that they have to eat sweet potato every day, the average household has two meals of rice and porridge. The firewood used for cooking is mainly straw.
The Jiang family had a lot of land and a lot of straw. Eldest Jiang dug a hole in the straw pile in the Jiang’s storeroom and lived there. He would not freeze, but it was a little uncomfortable to sleep like this.
Jiang Zhen has the memories of Eldest Jiang. After returning to the Jiang’s house, he wanted to take the bed of the old Jiang couple. After all, old Madam Jiang would not treat herself badly, and their bed would be comfortable to sleep in. But he still didn’t do that because Boss Jiang used to live in a grocery room with a knife, and for now, he needed to have enough deterrence.
Old man Jiang was a butcher. He had two knives on hand. One was a sharp knife that is used to stab a pig in the neck. It was less than a foot long but two fingers wide. The other was a machete that could cut up pig bones. It was as thick and heavy like an axe. That knife is the one Jiang Zhen used to scare people.
Jiang Zhen got into the thatched pile, put the knife beside him, and fell into a deep sleep. He only woke up when the light shone through the paper window.
After a night’s sleep, Jiang Zhen felt that his whole body was much more relaxed and stronger. He got out of the straw hole where he had laid several rags and slowly began to eat the bowl of rice he had picked up before he overturned the table yesterday.
The ancient rice was not as clean as later generations, but the rice of the Jiang family was relatively good. On the other hand, Jiang Chenwen and Jiang Chenxiang did not like to eat brown rice, but the Jiang family raised several pigs. Brown rice can be used to feed pigs.
Jiang Zhen slowly chewed the rice in the bowl, ate a chicken leg and almost swallowed all of it in one breath. Then he went to the stack of straw to continue to rest.
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