The weather in N city changes very quickly; it seems that no sooner had autumn arrived than winter was already upon us.
Not long ago people were still wearing long sleeves, but recently they have started wearing sweaters and thick coats.
Anning ca back from outside, bringing with her a chill.
She was dressed in a black knit long sweater and leggings, covered by a red waist-cinched long cashre coat, her wavy chestnut hair tied up, giving her a sharp look.
As she changed shoes, she said to Mrs. Jiang, "Mom, it’s cold today, rember to wear more clothes when you go out."
Mrs. Jiang was serving the al. Upon seeing Anning, she said, "Where did you go so early in the morning?"
Anning smiled, "I went to check out the new house, my furniture was delivered. They called early in the morning, so I went over and had them sort out Third’s room too."
The house had been decorated, and Anning was busy buying furniture for the rooms.
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Jiang said, "Why didn’t you let Third go with you? She should lend a hand."
"You know she can’t get up early, and besides, it’s just watching them lift things, I can handle it myself."
Anning waved her hand.
Mrs. Jiang indignantly said, "You all spoil her too much. Look at how lazy she has beco, she only knows how to reap the benefits."
In Mrs. Jiang’s heart, of the three daughters, Third was the most pampered, truly without a worry since everything was prepared for her at ho. And then marrying soone decent, she would be set for life.
"Well, she is the youngest after all."
Anning said while entering the room, holding a large box in her hand.
Mrs. Jiang saw and asked, "What’s that?"
Anning opened the box, took out the contents, and started assembling: "This is a cat tree I bought for Xiao Hua."
Hearing it was for Xiao Hua, Mrs. Jiang stopped talking.
Recently, Xiao Hua had beco quite popular in the Jiang family, not only was Third very fond of it, but even Mrs. Jiang grew to like Xiao Hua especially. Not long ago, Mrs. Jiang had accidentally fallen when alone at ho, and it was Xiao Hua who dragged the mobile phone to her side, allowing her to call Anning, so Anning could rush back in ti to avoid a disaster.
This incident made Mrs. Jiang so fond of Xiao Hua, caring for its needs and even saying it’s more reliable than her children. Now, Xiao Hua held a higher status than the three sisters in the Jiang household.
Anning was quite skilled with her hands, assembling the cat tree in no ti.
She found a spot to secure the cat tree, then signaled Xiao Hua to go and play.
Mrs. Jiang finished setting the table and went to wake up Third.
Once everyone was seated at the dining table, Mrs. Jiang ntioned sothing, "Hai Chao is getting married. Your aunt called the day before yesterday, it will be on the sixteenth this month, she invited us all to go."
Third sneered upon hearing, "Didn’t they absolutely insist on having a house before? Why not now?"
Anning quietly ate her al, without saying anything.
Mrs. Jiang said, "Hai Chao got down on his knees to beg your uncle, who had no choice but to scrape together whatever he could, and later even borrowed money to make the down paynt on the house."
Anning looked up, "Did Dad lend Uncle any money?"
Mrs. Jiang put her bowl down, "Your uncle called crying poor to your father, playing the part of the eldest brother with tears and snot, your dad couldn’t bear it, but he didn’t lend much, just US$ 30,000."
"Oh."
Anning nodded, indicating she understood.
But Third was sowhat angry, "My dad as well, how much money have the uncle and third uncle borrowed from our family over the years, have they ever paid it back? How can my dad never learn?"
Mrs. Jiang chuckled, "Consider it paying for so peace, otherwise I’m afraid Grandma and Grandpa might make a fuss again. Now that Hai Chao is getting married, they won’t have an excuse to borrow money in the future."
That made sense – now that the kid’s marriage was settled, it was ti to think about retirent and there should be no more borrowing.
Third’s eyes darted around, "Their family is all married off, but no one in our family is married yet. When my eldest and second sisters get married, let my dad try to borrow money from them, see if he can manage it."
Mrs. Jiang laughed, "Alright, let your dad give it a try when the ti cos."
Third finished eating, put down her bowl, and went to fetch so food to tease Xiao Hua, all the while chatting with Mrs. Jiang, "The sixteenth is not that far away, huh."
"Yes."
Mrs. Jiang got up to clean up the dishes and silverware: "Do you have ti that day, do you want to go back?"
Third thought for a mont, "That day is Saturday, I have ti, I should go back and keep an eye out, otherwise my dad will be bullied by them again."
Anning also said, "I don’t have anything on, I’ll go back too."
Mrs. Jiang glanced at Xiao Hua, "What about Xiao Hua? Maybe we can ask Aunt Li to take care of her for a day."
Xiao Hua owed and crawled into Third’s arms, Third hugged Xiao Hua, "Let’s take Xiao Hua with us, how about we charter a car to go back then?"
Mrs. Jiang used to be very frugal, but now that three daughters all have their own properties, a big weight has been lifted from her heart, and she’s becoming a bit more generous with spending money.
If it were before, she would definitely have complained about the expense of hiring a car to go back, but now she’s starting to consider it.
Xiao Hua tilted her head, seemingly contemplating sothing.
"Is Eldest Sister going back?"
Anning asked.
Mrs. Jiang said, "Your Eldest Sister said she would go to the bun shop to check things out early in the morning, and she will join us afterward."
Third wrapped her arm around Mrs. Jiang’s, "Then let’s go shopping these days, I have to pick out a few nice clothes for you all. Mom, you have to dress up beautifully, we should make a splash when we return, just to show my aunts they’re wrong. Even though you have three daughters, our lives are better than theirs."
There was also a knot of frustration in Third’s heart.
Who told Grandma Jiang to curse the sisters as losses, always calling them worthless girls and looking at them as if they were enemies, Third was also suffocating with resentnt.
Third also knew that Mrs. Jiang was looked down upon for having three daughters.
She also wanted to win so respect for Mrs. Jiang.
"Call Eldest Sister."
Anning said.
She and Mrs. Jiang cleaned up the dishes and took their clothes to go out.
Mrs. Jiang asked her, "What are you doing?"
Anning replied, "I’m going to check on Eldest Sister, her business has been really busy these days, I’m going to help out."
"Go on, go," Mrs. Jiang urged.
When Anning reached the doorway, Mrs. Jiang added, "Rember to bring so buns back for Xiao Hua, she really likes the buns your Eldest Sister makes."
Anning left the house, put on her coat and tied her waist belt tightly, then hurriedly walked downstairs in her high heels, moving swiftly in her high heels all the way.
First, she went to Jiang Anan’s shop, and once inside, she took off her coat to help with collecting money and calculating accounts, staying busy until there were fewer custors and she could rest.
When Jiang Anan was less busy, Anning told her about their plan to go clothes shopping and also reminded Jiang Anan to bring buns for Xiao Hua when she went ho.
After that, Anning took her coat and left.
Jiang Anan didn’t ask what Anning was up to since she was busy with several custors still queuing outside for buns.
Anning then went to the train station, and after a short wait, t up with Xiao Yuan.
Xiao Yuan ca over and hugged Anning, "Did you wait long?"
Anning smiled, "No, I just got here."
Xiao Yuan started walking out with his arm around Anning, "Let’s eat first, then I’ll show you so things."
After having a simple lunch at a restaurant nearby, they took a car to dical College.
Xiao Yuan now had a single room dormitory at dical College, a place Anning had visited a few tis and was familiar with.
Once inside the dorm, Xiao Yuan shared the details of the items discovered at the reservoir back in their hotown.
He took out a carry bag, opened it, and began to display the items one by one.
From the relatively small carry bag, Xiao Yuan surprisingly extracted several large pieces of jade and three pieces of porcelain.
Anning looked at each item: "Not bad."
Her expression was calm, showing no particular excitent.
Xiao Yuan’s own heart wasn’t stirring much either, even when he first saw these items, he didn’t feel overly thrilled.
Mainly because both of them had seen many fine objects, these things seed ordinary in their eyes.
Nevertheless, Xiao Yuan brought out these items hoping to expedite the process of making their relationship official, to give Anning a better life sooner rather than later.
Even without these items, relying on their own abilities, they could earn as much money in a year.
"What’s your plan for these?"
Anning inquired of Xiao Yuan.
Xiao Yuan picked up a piece of Purple Jade: "I’ll keep this one for your jewelry, the rest we’ll sell. Also, do you like these three pieces of porcelain? If so, we’ll keep them."
Anning kept two porcelain bowls and pushed the remaining porcelain jar to Xiao Yuan: "Sell the jar, but keep the bowls."
"Alright."
Xiao Yuan repacked the pieces of jade and the porcelain jar: "I’ll take them to auction when I have the chance."
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