Chiang Xiao left the tea shop and bought fifteen vegetable buns. These buns were large, filled with a generous amount of vegetable stuffing, and two could satisfy an adult’s hunger by about sixty percent.
Her grandparents had almost no true friends or relatives capable of offering affection for most of their lives, which was probably why they valued the Old Chiang Family so much, right?
After all, they were their only remaining kin, and given their personalities, their reluctance to easily offend others or make enemies was understandable. Humans are social animals, and in the countryside, there’s even more of a custom for people to stick together. Living alone, no matter how you look at it, always seems lonely and unsupported.
That might have been Chiang Songhai’s way of thinking.
Now that Uncle Ge was willing to restore relations with them, having one more closely related family was something Chiang Xiao was happy to see happen. If Ge Dejun’s family were all kind and decent people, then her grandparents wouldn’t have to feel lonely or unsupported if they only associated with the Ge Family.
That way, as her conflict with the Old Chiang Family grew and she irreparably severed ties, her grandparents wouldn’t have to suffer too much.
So, although Chiang Xiao now had only about ten yuan left on her, she still bought the buns.
Carrying a big bag of buns back to the hospital, she saw Ge Dejun and Liu Pei sitting with her grandparents not in the upstairs ward, but under a flower gallery in the small garden.
From a distance, she saw a smile on her grandmother’s face that she had never seen before, as if all the underlying sadness in her eyes had dissipated.
Chiang Xiao walked over and opened the bag, "Uncle Ge, Auntie Ge, Grandpa, Grandma, have some buns."
Fifteen buns cost one yuan and fifty cents.
Liu Pei looked at Chiang Xiao in surprise as if she hadn’t expected their family to entrust the money to Chiang Xiao, and moreover, for her to spend so much at once. They had been chatting earlier, and they were well aware of the Chiang Family’s situation—they were the type to begrudge splitting a penny in two.
"Eat up, Little and I had these buns yesterday, they really fill you up, two buns are enough to make you feel full," Chiang Songhai, however, felt no concern about Chiang Xiao spending extra money.
His wife had never lived a good life, and it was also because of him that she had to break ties with her family. After all these years, he was not unaware of the bitterness in Ge Liutao’s heart.
Now that Ge Dejun and his wife were willing to acknowledge her as their sister again, he couldn’t be happier.
What’s the harm in giving his brother a couple of buns?
As long as Ge Liutao was happy, that was what mattered.
So he took the initiative to pass a bun to Ge Dejun. Chiang Xiao also quickly distributed buns to everyone.
"Grandpa, Grandma, let’s go back to the village after we eat the buns, and Uncle Ge and his family can come over when they have the time," Chiang Xiao said. Although she was happy that they had recognized their relationship, she was still anxious to return.
She needed to go back and ask Chiang Baoguo for money.
And she also needed to seriously consider how to earn money herself.
The family was almost at a dead end now. Without earning money, she wouldn’t even be able to afford school next term, let alone dream of taking her grandparents and moving to the city away from Siyang Village.
In this era, relying solely on artistic talent truly made it difficult to earn a living, and considering her young age, there were many jobs she simply couldn’t do. Even if she wanted to head to the city now, she probably couldn’t scrape together the fare.
And she still owed Teacher Song twenty yuan.
So she would have to stay in the village, earn money for school, and take it one step at a time.
After each person had two buns, the rest were left for Ge Dejun and his family. Ge Liutao, unable to hide her reluctance, repeatedly urged Ge Dejun and Liu Pei to find time to visit Siyang Village.
"Sister, once our son-in-law arrives, we’ll definitely make time to visit you in the village. It’s been several decades, and we haven’t visited; we should at least come to recognize the place," Liu Pei said, feeling that her husband’s older sister and brother-in-law were honest people and truly wished to visit more often after spending an hour or two together.