The fact that these two sisters could be so open-minded was truly surprising to Shuzhen.
However, seeing their full sincerity, without a hint of reluctance, she was finally able to put her mind at ease. She no longer had to worry that the three siblings who had endured hardships together would lose themselves or hurt each other over some external benefits.
Shuzhen, relieved, began distributing the gifts left by the Jiang family, though she secretly thought: Making decisions for others is just a one-time thing; in the future, she won’t intervene without permission!
Lian Hai considered himself just a driver, and without his sister-in-law’s help, he wouldn’t even have the chance to be that. Being thanked by the Jiang family was merely a side effect of his brother and sister-in-law’s good fortune. Ning Jianshe and his wife also believed that they were just lucky to hitch a ride, playing a minor role throughout.
After all, the Jiang family was wealthy and influential, not caring about small gains, otherwise, they would have only thanked his brother and sister-in-law.
With this understanding, the three generations of the Jiang family prepared everything in four sets, making sure everything was in order.
One set each was given to Lian Hai and Lian Yue, and the rest were kept by Shuzhen and her group to be divided evenly.
However, Shuzhen noticed there was quite a bit of cotton given, so she discussed with Lian Yue and Qiu Fang whether they could exchange their cotton for rice or flour.
In this dead cold weather, with Lianshan’s tattered quilts, she was genuinely afraid that Uncle Wu wouldn’t make it through the winter if he used those!
But as soon as she mentioned the idea of exchanging, Lian Yue exploded: "What’s this talk of exchange? We got all this thanks to you and older brother, just take whatever you need. Don’t speak of such outside ideas, or I’ll just keep it all for my second son as potty training pads and not give you any!"
"Exactly, you can have the cotton, but none of that outside talk!" Qiu Fang chimed in, glaring at Shuzhen with obvious discontent for bringing up the grain-for-cotton suggestion.
Shuzhen had no choice but to again explain the reason to keep accounts clear between close family members to the two sisters.
As a result, as soon as she opened her mouth, they all one-sidedly protested. Even Ning Jianshe and Lian Hai joked that there’s no need to keep accounts, just hope the sister-in-law will lead them in providing timely help. Should any of the remaining five come back like Elder Jiang, they’d be in a good position to latch onto the golden opportunity presented by a future bigwig.
Before Shuzhen could respond, Lianshan sternly jumped in, emphasizing the risks of timely assistance, noting the need for absolute caution, and the high likelihood of failure.
After all, this movement was vigorous and grand, definitely no joke.
Moreover, the others do not have Elder Jiang’s extraordinary talent in weapon research, nor a devoted granddaughter and a high-ranking granddaughter-in-law.
Having stated the potential downsides upfront, if they persisted, as a brother, he obviously couldn’t stop them.
Helping others, after all, is inherently a good deed worth accumulating virtue.
They insisted, certainly insisted!
The sister-in-law has long-term vision and good fortune; whatever she decides, we’ll follow along!
Fortune has hardly smiled upon her, but having lived a lifetime longer, her ’vision’ proved mostly accurate.
The sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and cousins were all family, warm-hearted and not cold-blooded. If they wanted to join in and cling to the opportunity, let them!
After all, Uncle Wu, a future formidable high official, likely wouldn’t mind having a few more people clinging to his coattails.
Thus, Shuzhen decided, and the three sisters-in-law, aunt, and sisters joined hands. Within a few days, Wu Liguo, Old Yang, Wu Hao, Wei Lai, and Dong Shu were dressed in clothes full of patches that covered up the original color yet had inner linings warmly stuffed with new cotton.
Now and then, Lian Hai, in his role as a driver, would covertly slip them some potato buns, bean flour rolls, or mixed flour sauerkraut buns.
The happiest part was that Lianshan and the Liu brothers would occasionally bring some good food to pay respects to Uncle Wu, and by the time it reached the uncles and brothers, they would get to indulge a bit too.
Ning Jianshe didn’t come by often, but his kindness was never-ending.
With the care from the Lian and Liu family siblings, those who were sent to the shed surprisingly had a decent living despite the extremely harsh situation.
This rare and precious timely assistance was cherished by each of them, carefully protecting it. Unbeknownst to them, it became the most important secret in their hearts, accompanying them through the toughest phase of their lives.
Since Elder Jiang was taken away by Jiang Shengnan and her husband, Accountant Sun became like a startled bird. He dreaded being awakened several times nightly, constantly dreaming of Jiang Shengnan coming to settle accounts and vindicate for the elder.
Aghast that his dreams might become reality, he sheepishly behaved, keeping a low profile.
Sadly, crimes already committed.
His wrongdoings nearly aggravated his only recognized kin’s illness, bringing potential death, which no display of repentance could easily absolve.
For the sleepless nights Shuzhen and her family spared from potentially finding their grandfather frozen amidst blizzards, Jiang Shengnan couldn’t let Sun off so easily.
It’s unknown if he has anyone like her - capable and filial among his descendants!
To avoid such disgrace affecting her grandfather, Jiang Shengnan and her husband suppressed their anger until over a month later, near the New Year. Then, they arranged for Sun’s crime of embezzling 50 jin of wheat using his position to be reported.
His wife, serving as the women’s director, immediately declared her divorce to show her uncompromising stance against illicit behavior. She then packed her things, took her two children, and returned to her family. Soon after, there were rumors of her heading to Jilin to join her aunt, and she never appeared in Liu’s village again.
Without Accountant Sun, Liu’s village naturally needed to elect a new accountant from the members.
It’s uncertain if Lin Yuanzhi wanted an indirect means to connect with Jiang Limin and Jiang Shengnan’s family ties or just acknowledged Lianshan’s family backing. Ultimately, at the committee selecting the new accountant, Lin Yuanzhi brought up Lianshan’s name.