NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 24
After making the agreement, it was obvious that the siblings felt much closer.
If before they were just living under the same roof due to various reasons, now they were truly family, caring for and thinking of one another.
They were children without parents, orphans without anyone to rely on. They met each other in the ice and snow, huddling together for warmth and comfort.
Perhaps they all had unspeakable pasts, gloomy and oppressive secrets, but at this moment, they were truly warm and relaxed.
It could be said that the only one in the dilapidated temple without a care in the world was Jiang Sheng.
From a beggar girl who was yelled at and beaten by everyone, to being able to earn money and live, with a group of elder brothers to protect her, Jiang Sheng's life had completely changed.
She was so happy that even when sleeping she had a smile on her face.
The next day, Jiang Sheng was woken up by shouts and yelling.
The little girl was startled, thinking the warm and beautiful days yesterday were just a dream. She quickly pinched herself to check.
When it hurt enough to make her yell "ow!", she was relieved. She got up and rushed outside the dilapidated temple.
It was Zhou Zhiqiang. His injured leg was completely healed. Right now he was dragging along Zhang Auntie, angrily coming to demand an explanation.
"It was you who sold the cotton-padded jacket right? How dare you sell it to her? That money was earned through our Zhou family's blood and sweat. Give it back!"
Jiang Sheng was confused for a moment.
Xu Mo didn't know when he had hobbled over to stand in front of her, shielding her behind him. In a deep voice he said, "Uncle Zhou, business transactions are based on mutual consent. We took the money, you wore the clothes, what's the problem?"
"There is a problem, a big problem. Our family was already poor as mud, and we still spent over ten cents to buy a cotton-padded jacket. How are we supposed to live like this?!" Zhou Zhiqiang's face was red, spit flying from his lips as he yelled.
It was obvious he was truly furious.
Zhang Auntie was being clutched by him like a chicken. Her face was full of shame and grief, but she couldn't get any words out.
"I'm asking you, are you giving it back or not? This jacket, are you giving it back or not?!" Zhou Zhiqiang became hysterical. "If you don't give it back, I'll beat this worthless woman to death. Buying a padded jacket with the family's money, I'll beat her to death!"
Jiang Sheng pressed her lips tightly together, a chill coming over her heart.
In the past she was a beggar who stole food to eat, but after gaining elder brothers, especially the fourth brother Wen Zhiyun becoming the village's apprentice doctor, the villagers had been quite polite to them.
Everyone got sick nowadays after all.
But she hadn't expected the Zhou family to be so shameless. They'd just gotten rid of his crutch, and were now cursing up a storm, not only being terrible people, but also petty.
Jiang Sheng was furious. She fished out ten copper coins from her clothes and threw them out. "Here, I'm returning it to you."
As long as he let go of Zhang Auntie and didn't let her continue to endure this humiliation it would be fine.
But she didn't expect Zhou Zhiqiang to sweep his eyes over the coins and find there were only ten. He started making a fuss again. "A cotton-padded jacket is fourteen cents. You're giving me ten cents, what do you mean by this?!"
Jiang Sheng almost fainted.
She had indeed only collected ten cents. Was she supposed to return fourteen cents?
Fortunately Zhang Auntie spoke up then. "Jiang Sheng only collected ten cents from me. Ten cents is right, it's right."
Unexpectedly, Zhou Zhiqiang backhanded her with a slap, knocking her to the ground. "What nonsense is a woman spouting? They charged fourteen cents from others, but just ten from you? Trying to cheat me?"
"If I don't see those fourteen cents today, I'm not leaving!"
Saying this, he actually looked for a place to sit down, not caring at all about the onlooking villagers coming to watch the show.
Xu Mo's brows were tightly knitted. He was a scholarly man, skilled at verbal attacks. Facing this rogue rascal he was truly helpless.
Fang Heng did grab his staff wanting to rush forward, but before he even got close, Zhou Zhiqiang shouted loudly, "If you dare touch me today, I'll blame it all on you guys. From now on you have to provide me food and clothing, unless you beat me to death, otherwise don't think you'll get rid of me!"
This frightened Zheng Ruqian into quickly grabbing him tightly around the waist, scared that the third brother would stir up an ancestor with his staff.
Things had reached an impasse.
The other side was too shameless. If they wanted to resolve this, they could only admit their bad luck and take the loss of four cents.
Jiang Sheng's face was black, feeling the pain of the money lost. Her business had been going so smoothly recently, and now problems occurred one after another, as if warning her that wanting to have steady happiness wasn't so easy.
Oh well, it was just four cents. She'd take the loss.
Just when it looked like Zhou Zhiqiang's shamelessness was going to win, Chang Yan came over in time, pressing down on her arm. "If shamelessness succeeds, it will only become more shameless in the future."
Once he found it effective, it would get even worse later on.
But not paying wasn't resolving the predicament before their eyes either. Were they really going to let him drag Zhang Auntie around making a scene?
Jiang Sheng was puzzled.
Chang Yan had already let go of her hand, stopping in front of Zhou Zhiqiang. "Fourteen cents can't be returned, but I can use the cotton-padded jacket I'm wearing to exchange for the flower cotton-padded jacket. Does that work for you?"
Zhou Zhiqiang was about to refute, but thought that he could wear this cotton-padded jacket, so agreed. "We can exchange, but since you've worn this cotton jacket, you have to give me five cents back."
So this way, it was selling him a used cotton-padded jacket for five cents, and it had to be stripped off of Chang Yan.
Jiang Sheng was furious. She wouldn't allow others to bully her fifth brother.
Unexpectedly, Chang Yan actually agreed. He picked up the ten copper coins from the ground and counted out five to hand over.
Zhou Zhiqiang also hadn't expected that the other party would agree to his baseless demand. He blankly stretched out his hand.
The ten copper coins were split in half.
Chang Yan calmly picked up the flower cotton-padded jacket and headed back to the dilapidated temple. He changed out of his own cotton-padded jacket and handed it to Zhou Zhiqiang.
Exchanging an unwearable flower jacket for a wearable cotton one, and even getting five cents, Zhou Zhiqiang was elated. He got up from the ground and immediately tried on the cotton-padded jacket.
As expected of a new padded jacket, it really was warm.
He happily dragged Zhang Auntie away, saying, "You should have just bought me a cotton-padded jacket earlier, why insist on floral print? This plain one looks so good! I'll wear it for two or three years before giving it to you."
The onlooking villagers who'd come to watch the show dispersed when there was no more excitement.
After everyone had left, Jiang Sheng grabbed Chang Yan in irritation. "Fifth brother, why did you give him five copper coins? Why did you give him your cotton-padded jacket? What right does he have?!"
Chang Yan didn't speak, only looking at Wen Zhiyun who seemed to have just returned.
The two boys of similar age shared a smile, secret meanings in their eyes.
Jiang Sheng wanted to ask more, but was pulled back into the dilapidated temple by Xu Mo and pressed into a seat at the table.
A burst of aroma came from the small earthen stove, making everyone in the dilapidated temple feel refreshed. "Eat." Xu Mo said unhurriedly.
Zheng Ruqian's eyes filled with tears. Fang Heng wolfed the food down like a starving wolf.
After being poisoned by his little sister's terribly cooked congee for so long, they finally got to eat something a human could appreciate.
The eldest brother really deserved his title, lying there motionless for so long before getting up and showing off these skills.
The usually lively dilapidated temple was unusually quiet for once, because everyone's mouths were busy eating without anyone talking.
Near the end of the meal, people from the Zhou family came rushing over.
It was Madam Zhou. She stood hesitatingly in the entrance of the dilapidated temple. "Little doctor...please come take a look at our home."