Moreover, the family had an impressive uncle who was a worker in the city, and a cousin renowned throughout the neighboring villages for being a genius. Parents naturally liked their sons to play with such outstanding children.
"Qingming, ah, Zhaodi is here," Mrs. Shen said, bringing Zhaodi into the house and calling out to Qingming in the inner room.
"Zhaodi, you’re here! I was actually thinking of coming to see you later. I heard your family got a television? Why aren’t you watching it at home?" Qingming ran out to see Zhaodi and spoke excitedly.
As soon as Zhaodi heard Qingming mention the television, she felt very agitated inside.
She really didn’t understand why these people were so ignorant—it’s just an old television, but why did everyone treat it like it was a treasure?
But she didn’t show her feelings on the outside: "I didn’t watch it; there isn’t much interesting on TV anyway. I’d rather come and play with you."
When Mrs. Shen and her son heard Zhaodi say this, they didn’t think she was being arrogant at all, but rather modest and prudent, not someone who loved to show off and boast.
You should know that in this era, a television set was a coveted item even for city folk, let alone for their village.
If a regular family had a TV, they’d be dying to show it off to whoever they met.
"Come, Zhaodi, have some snacks. You can eat and play at the same time." Mrs. Shen took out a plate of sunflower seeds and peanuts, and gave Zhaodi a handful of Milk Candy.
"Thank you, auntie. You don’t need to trouble yourself," Zhaodi said very politely.
Mrs. Shen stayed in the room for a while but then left, leaving the two kids to play inside.
Zhaodi played at the Shen family all afternoon. When it was getting late, she declined Mrs. Shen’s offer to stay for dinner and happily went home.
The dinner at the Jiang family was also very sumptuous that day. After eating, the Jiang family members sat down in the living room to drink tea and chat. Zhang Guihua took out the prepared red envelopes from the cabinet and handed them out to the grandchildren.
"Come here, let grandma give you red envelopes. In the new year, you must be obedient, study hard, and try to win a scholarship, understand?" Zhang Guihua spoke as she handed them out, mumbling to herself.
When she looked at the daughters of the second branch of the family, she felt somewhat displeased. Thinking about the tuition fees due in autumn, she felt heartache and gallbladder pain, and everything seemed to ache.
After spending so much money, she didn’t know what these girls could actually bring back in their studies. She really didn’t want to give them even a single cent of lucky money, but as much as she felt that, she couldn’t act on it.
"Understood, grandma," Zhiwen and Zhiwu, the two boys, said with very serious attitudes, regardless of whether they could fulfill the promise.
Jiang Mianmian and the other girls nodded repeatedly: "Understood, grandma."
After Zhiwen and Zhiwu got their red envelopes, they couldn’t wait to open them. Seeing the fifty cents inside, they quickly put it in their pockets. If it hadn’t been dark already, they would have wanted to go to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to buy marbles right away.
As the evening came and the families returned to their own rooms to prepare for bed, Zhang Guihua, as in previous years, took out several large red envelopes
Unlike in previous years, when she moved stealthily, this time she did so overtly and without any hesitation, especially now that the second branch also had a grandson, and she needn’t fear accusations of favoritism.
And since this year, aside from earning money from farming, Jiang Changhai also gave his elderly parents five yuan each month, plus the one hundred and fifty yuan from selling ginseng as a respectful gift, the family saved quite a bit of money.
So with more money in hand, Zhang Guihua was feeling a lot more generous and even doubled the amount of money in the grandsons’ red envelopes, upgrading the amount from fifty cents to one yuan.