Grandma Juying sat shakily on the stool, hesitated for a moment with some embarrassment, and finally took out a piece of paper with a mobile phone number written on it.
The piece of paper was actually torn from a medicine box.
“I sold wild vegetables here with you that day, and I made over a hundred yuan, didn’t I? I told my son Xiaozhu about it when I got home.”
"Xiaozhu said his factory has been delaying his wages, and he's almost starving. So, he wanted me to tell you that if I come here to sell wild vegetables in the future, could you transfer the money directly to Xiaozhu's phone?"
Jiang Xiaoman was dumbfounded.
Is this even human?
It's one thing for him not to send money home, but his elderly mother works so hard to go up the mountain to dig up wild vegetables, earning only a hundred or two hundred yuan each time. She relies on that money to buy rice and other necessities to make ends meet. How can this person be so heartless as to not even spare his own mother's food money?
If anger could kill, this Xiaozhu would already be reduced to ashes by Jiang Xiaoman's raging fury...
Seeing that his expression was rather unpleasant, Grandma Juying stood up awkwardly.
"It's too much trouble for you to transfer money via mobile phone. I'll just take the cash and have my son Xiaozhu come back to collect it later..."
Jiang Xiaoman was almost driven crazy by this old woman.
This proves that even the most pitiful person has something hateful about them!
He refused to believe that Xiao Zhu, a perfectly healthy and intelligent man, could starve to death by going to the city to work!
These days, even if you set up a bowl on an overpass to beg for food, you won't starve to death, okay?
He was clearly living a life of debauchery outside, and the meager wages he received from the factory weren't enough for him to squander. So he actually started taking money from his own mother!
Jiang Xiaoman was absolutely certain that if Grandma Juying took the cash from him today, once she heard that her son was so poor that he couldn't even afford to eat, she would definitely not spend a single penny and would save it all for that Xiaozhu!
Thinking of this, Jiang Xiaoman quickly stopped Grandma Juying.
“It’s alright, it’s alright. Mobile transfer is no trouble. Grandma Juying, give me your son’s phone number. I’ll add him as a friend later and ask him what’s going on.”
"To be honest, I know a few reporters at the provincial TV station. If your Xiaozhu factory really dares to withhold their wages and refuse to pay, that's considered wage arrears, and the boss will be arrested by the police."
"Don't worry, if that's the case, I'll definitely help your Xiaozhu get his wages back."
"I'll keep a record of the money you made from selling wild vegetables for now. If your Xiaozhu really doesn't have money for food, I'll transfer the money to him. Is that alright?"
"Okay! Then I'll leave this to you, Xiaoman."
Grandma Juying thanked her profusely and went back with the empty bag.
Looking at the old man's hunched back, Jiang Xiaoman was furious.
A little while later, just as Jiang Xiaoman angrily added Xiao Zhu on WeChat, ready to see what kind of beast he was, Jiang Yu came over to bring him food.
With the recent warmer weather, Jiang Yu has started rowing his boat out to fish on the river again. Today he was lucky and caught a blackfish. This kind of fish has fewer bones, making it suitable for the elderly and children. Jiang Yu couldn't bear to sell it and kept it to make a big pot of blackfish and tofu soup for his three daughters.
Thinking that Jiang Xiaoman was still waiting for someone to pick up the package, he specially ladled out a large bowl of blackfish soup and put it in a covered enamel basin for him so that he could put it directly in the brazier to heat it up before eating.
As soon as her best friend arrived, Jiang Xiaoman immediately seized the opportunity and poured out her heart to her friend the story of Grandma Juying and her vampire son.
Emotionally, he naturally sympathized with Grandma Juying, who was being relentlessly exploited by her son.
But he really wanted to complain about this kind of mother who willingly lets her son bleed her dry!
These old ladies clearly live in the new era, but their minds seem to have been left behind in the old society!
No matter how good a daughter is, you still feel you can't rely on her; no matter how unreliable a son is, you still fantasize about relying on him for old age...
Jiang Xiaoman dares to say that if hardworking rural women like Grandma Juying didn't have that vampire-like son, they would definitely be living much better lives than they are now, right?
To put it bluntly, even if Grandma Juying didn't have a son, after her eldest daughter got married, the tens of thousands of yuan in dowry she received from her daughter's marriage, if deposited in the bank, plus the interest she earned herself, would be enough for her to live comfortably in her old age.
Now, she has a son who can take care of her in her old age and see her off in death. But instead of taking care of his mother, he even tries to take the meager scraps she makes from selling wild vegetables.
Having a son like this is worse than raising a couple more pigs!
After hearing his words, Jiang Yu truly felt the same way!
Because their family also has the same kind of "vampire" – his older brother Jiang Long, who is quite old and whose son is almost in elementary school, still clings to his parents and sucks their blood.
Thinking of his eldest brother, Jiang Yu couldn't help but think of his second sister.
Like Grandma Juying's eldest daughter, the second sister almost sacrificed her own happiness for the rest of her life in order to help her brother get married.
However, his older brother was even more ruthless than Xiao Zhu. No matter how bad Xiao Zhu was, he only used his sister's dowry money to build a house. But his older brother was different. He took a fancy to someone else's daughter and, in order to get her, he actually encouraged his parents to arrange a marriage exchange with that person...
Unfortunately, Jiang Yu was too young at the time and his words carried little weight. His parents didn't listen to him at all and even lied to him, saying they were taking his second sister to a blind date. They ended up leaving his second sister at that house.
Later, Jiang Yu secretly went to that house and even secretly took the several hundred yuan she had saved by catching fish and shrimp, hoping that her second sister would take the money and run away.
He doesn't care whether his older brother can get a wife or not!
The eldest brother won't die even if he doesn't get married, but the second sister will really die if she encounters a heartless in-law family.
In the past, there were often women who married into their village from outside, and they were so tormented by their mothers-in-law and husbands that they couldn't live anymore. Some even drank pesticide, jumped into the river, or hanged themselves.
Jiang Yu was really afraid that, in places she couldn't see, her second sister was being tormented to death by her in-laws, just like those other new brides.
Fortunately, the son of the family that was the second sister's arranged marriage was a kind and honest man, even though he had a slight limp in one leg. Despite being five years older than the second sister, he treated her with great respect.
His family was worried that his second sister would run away, so they locked him and her in a room. He didn't even want to touch her, saying he would only talk to her if she was willing to...
Jiang Yu heard all of this from her second sister later.
Having been abandoned by her own parents at the man's house, the second sister was completely heartbroken. After marrying into the family, she cut off all contact with her family and never returned home.
Now my second sister and brother-in-law have gone to the city. Although my brother-in-law has a limp, his hands are very dexterous. My second sister has learned how to use a sewing machine, so she and her brother-in-law went to work in a foreign trade processing factory that makes bags.
My second sister operates the sewing machine, and her husband is responsible for assisting her, cutting off loose threads and sewing on straps. The couple heard that they can earn over 100,000 yuan a year, and with the help of their family, they have already bought a house in the county town. Now, their hard work has finally paid off.
Because of this incident, Jiang Yu became completely disgusted with his parents and older brother. He didn't even want to go home unless it was a holiday or something he had to go through the motions.
Just thinking about his older brother's shameless, freeloading attitude made Jiang Yu's hands itch.
He was no longer the helpless young boy who couldn't save his second sister.
If my brother dares to plot against his precious daughter, Shan Yan won't even need to lift a finger; he can beat him so badly that his own parents won't recognize him!
"Sigh! Little Fish, do you think there's any way to help Grandma Juying keep this little bit of money?" Jiang Xiaoman couldn't help but feel melancholy after she finished being angry.
"This money isn't much, but Grandma Juying is so old, and she doesn't have any money on her. What if she gets sick... Oh? I've got it!"
Jiang Xiaoman's eyes lit up; she suddenly had a great idea to fight back against the vampires.
However, Jiang Yu needs to cooperate with him in this battle.
"Tell me quickly, what do you want me to do?" Jiang Yu also became interested.
"Come closer..." Jiang Xiaoman beckoned to him mysteriously.
...
The next morning, worried that Grandma Juying would go to the mountains to look for stalagmites early, Jiang Xiaoman went to her house without even having breakfast.
Grandma Juying's house is a bit far from the village, but it is quite large. She probably thought that if her son had more children after getting married, the house would not be big enough, so she simply asked the village to exchange it for a larger plot of land.
However, the village has limited space, so if the homestead area is large, the location will naturally be remote.
Moreover, Grandma Juying's red brick house must have been built quite a few years ago. Perhaps because they ran out of money while building it, the outside wasn't even plastered with cement or lime. The red brick walls were left exposed, and over time, weeds and pine needles grew out of the gaps!
Fortunately, Jiang Xiaoman arrived in time. Hearing that her son was so poor in the city that he had no food to eat, Grandma Juying got up early in the morning to feed the pigs and chickens at home. Now she has finished breakfast, picked up her basket and woven bag, and is planning to go into the mountains to look for stalagmites.
Jiang Xiaoman quickly stopped the old man.
“Grandma Juying, I’ve gotten in touch with a reporter for your Xiaozhu! The reporter said there are too many people in the city demanding back wages, and they’ll only help Xiaozhu get his money if there’s a reason.”
"The reporter said that Xiaozhu only has an elderly mother living in his hometown. If you have a headache or fever and urgently need money for medical treatment, they can definitely help Xiaozhu get back the wages that the factory owes him."
"So we discussed it and decided that if Xiaozhu calls back later, you should tell him that you are sick, have no money for medical treatment, and have borrowed a lot of money from the villagers, just waiting for him to pay his salary so you can get medical treatment. What do you think?"
Jiang Xiaoman leaned close to Grandma Juying's ear and loudly explained the plan that he and Jiang Yu had discussed the night before.
However, what he told Grandma Juying was only one part of the elaborate scheme.
Sure enough! When she heard that she could get her son's wages back by pretending to be sick on the phone, Grandma Juying readily agreed.
Jiang Xiaoman took the opportunity to remind her that whenever her son called these past few days, he should tell her that he felt unwell all over and that he had accumulated a lot of debt to pay for medical treatment, because reporters might record the calls.
"Good, good, good! Xiaoman, you young people are so quick-witted! I just don't believe it! Our elderly parents are waiting for money to treat their illnesses, and that heartless factory boss still won't pay my Xiaozhu's wages?"
Grandma Juying agreed with Jiang Xiaoman's idea and immediately promised to cooperate with her son.
After rehearsing their story with Grandma Juying, Jiang Xiaoman finally clicked on the profile picture of "Vampire Xiaozhu," which was heavily beautified...
Chapter 155
Jiang Xiaozhu is really shameless. He's probably convinced that his mother will send him every penny of the money from selling wild vegetables. He just accepted Jiang Xiaoman's friend request and then brazenly sent her a voice message.
The gist of it is that he has already told his mother that from now on, all the money from selling mountain products should be transferred directly to him.
Jiang Xiaoman sneered, found a secluded spot, opened the voice message, automatically switched to a creditor's tone, and sent two longer voice messages to Jiang Xiaozhu—
"Brother Xiaozhu, it's like this, your mom did ask me to sell some mountain products twice recently, which totaled exactly two hundred yuan."
“I was going to transfer it to you, but your mother suddenly fell ill this morning. She probably caught a cold while looking for stalagmites in the mountains. She didn’t have any money and said that you didn’t have enough money for the trip after the New Year, and that you took all the money you had at home with you. So she had no choice but to borrow five hundred yuan from me to see a doctor.”
"If you don't have time to come back for the time being, could you please return the remaining three hundred yuan to me? We're all neighbors, so I don't really want to come to you specifically for a few hundred yuan. But Grandma Juying said that all the money in her house is with you, and she doesn't know how much her illness will cost. Why don't you just transfer two thousand yuan to me first, and I'll use the rest for your mother's medical treatment?"
After sending those two voice messages, Jiang Xiaoman never received a reply from the other party.
That evening, after Jiang Xiaoman finished editing the videos he had filmed that day and saw off the last villager who came to deliver a package, he suddenly thought of Jiang Xiaozhu, who hadn't replied to him yet. He couldn't help but pick up his phone, take a couple of sips of water to moisten his throat, and then switch to his "good neighbor" mode, sending a voice message—
"Brother Xiaozhu, your mom will probably have to go to the town clinic for an IV drip tomorrow. They don't offer credit there. If you're too busy to come back, don't forget to send your mom some money! I think Grandma Juying's health has been really bad lately. She's been seriously ill, so you should buy her some chicken and meat to help her recover!"
Jiang Xiaoman's carefully edited voice message failed to send.
It's not that his internet bill is overdue; the other party has blocked him...
"Pfft, hahaha, I'm dying of laughter! How could Jiang Xiaozhu be like this? He's both wicked and cowardly! He has no guts!" After hearing about Jiang Xiaoman's experience, Jiang Yu laughed so hard that he almost fell off the bench.
If an ordinary person hears that their mother back home is sick and they have no money, they would beg their grandparents to send money back home.
He's the one who's good!
Upon hearing that his mother was sick and needed money, he immediately blocked the neighbor who had informed him!
"Laugh it off! Anyway, we've achieved our goal. This guy definitely won't dare to ask me for money again." Although the process was a bit bizarre, the result was good in the end.
Jiang Xiaoman didn't expect the other party to have a change of heart and actually come back to their hometown to take care of their sick mother when she said those things.