Chapter 60: Arranging Jobs
Jiang Moli took absentminded sips of her mung bean soup while replying to An Hui, "That did happen, but after I reasoned with them and appealed to their better nature, they all promised to pay back the money in the next day or two."
Seeing Jiang Moli’s confident expression, An Hui and Ma Hongmei secretly exchanged a look.
They both thought that Jiang Moli was young and naive, easily fooled by her uncles.
’If they were going to pay it back, they would have done so long ago. They wouldn’t have dragged it out until now.’
However, as the mother-in-law, it wasn’t her place to interfere in her daughter-in-law’s family affairs.
So she said, "It certainly isn’t easy for your father to support such a large family on his salary alone. As their daughter, I won’t say anything about you helping out your family. Just be sure to think things through before you act, and don’t be rash or impulsive. If there’s anything you can’t handle, you can always ask us."
"Don’t worry, Mom. I’m not a ’brother-coddler’."
An Hui and Ma Hongmei both looked puzzled, clearly not understanding the term.
Jiang Moli took a sip of her soup and explained succinctly, "It’s someone who takes from her husband’s family to fill the bottomless pit of her own. A ’brother-coddler,’ for short."
Ma Hongmei’s face cleared. "That’s a novel term."
An Hui said to Jiang Moli, "You only have one brother. You should still help him out as much as you can."
"Well, since you brought it up, Mom, it’d be ungracious of me to refuse. My brother wants to learn how to drive; could you and Dad arrange it?"
It wasn’t a difficult request, so An Hui agreed.
But after agreeing, she couldn’t help but wonder, ’Was my third son’s wife deliberately setting a trap for me?’
Then again, she thought, ’This daughter-in-law is just a sweet, simple girl. She doesn’t have the brains to play those kinds of games.’
But An Hui didn’t know that the most skilled hunters often appear in the guise of prey.
...
The promise of a job was like a huge, fragrant piece of fatty meat dangling before the three Ruan brothers.
The next day, the three brothers showed up at Jiang Dahai’s door, carrying the money they had scraped together, ready to pay their debts.
Ruan Fuguo said, "Dahai, this is the money I borrowed from you. It’s 135 in total. Go ahead and count it."
Ruan Fuguo was perfectly clear on the matter. ’Once I have a job, how could I not make money? I can’t lose a huge opportunity over a small sum.’
Therefore, he didn’t dare play any games with the amount he owed; he repaid every last cent.
It was the same for the other two brothers, Ruan Fuqiang and Ruan Fushun. They paid off everything they had owed the Jiang family over the years in one go.
"Dahai, we’ve paid the money back. So, when will Moli be able to arrange those jobs for us?"
"Moli said she’ll arrange them one by one after the Dragon Boat Festival."
Having gotten a firm answer, the three brothers left in high spirits.
Jiang Dahai watched the three brothers’ departing figures, feeling none of the joy he should have from getting his money back.
At first, he had felt terribly guilty about his daughter tricking his brothers-in-law into repaying the money with a fake promise of jobs.
He had lived an honest and upstanding life for decades and had never cheated or deceived anyone.
He had always assumed his three brothers-in-law couldn’t pay him back simply because they were struggling financially.
It was only today that he finally saw the truth.
It wasn’t that they didn’t have the money—they just had no intention of ever paying him back.
Although he had verbally admonished Jiang Moli for being disrespectful and usurping his authority, Jiang Dahai tucked away the money from his brothers-in-law after work and went to deliver it to her.
This whole debt-collecting affair made him realize that he was getting old, and that his daughter had truly grown up. She was level-headed now and knew how to use her wits to handle things.
That was why he felt confident entrusting the money to her.
...
「At the entrance to the Military District Courtyard.」
Jiang Dahai handed Jiang Moli an envelope full of money. "Your uncles asked about the jobs. I said what you told me to and sent them on their way. But we need a proper solution for this. We can’t just keep stringing them along."
"Don’t you worry about it. I have a plan."
"What are you planning to do?"
"I can’t reveal heavenly secrets. But since you’re here, why not come in for some tea?"
Jiang Dahai glanced at the heavily guarded gate, then waved his hand in refusal. "I can’t. I’ve got a job, and the client’s waiting. Just keep the money safe, and don’t spend it frivolously."
With that, he hopped on his bicycle and rode away.
Seeing Jiang Moli come back alone, An Hui reflexively glanced behind her. "Where’s your father?"
"He left."
"Honestly. He so rarely comes all this way. Why didn’t you invite him in to sit for a bit?"
"He’s in a hurry to get home and earn money for his coffin."
Seeing her flippant attitude, An Hui couldn’t help but ask with concern, "Did your father come for a particular reason?"
’After all, she just visited her family yesterday. If something had come up, a phone call would have sufficed; there was no need for him to come all this way.’
Jiang Moli casually tossed the envelope in her hand, saying cheerfully, "My three uncles paid up. He came to give me the money."
An Hui and Ma Hongmei were both astonished.
’They actually paid it back?’
’If they were really that honorable, they wouldn’t have delayed for so long.’
In any case, it was a good thing the debt was settled. Times were tough for everyone, and having some cash on hand would make life much easier.
An Hui was lost in her pleasant thoughts, completely unaware that Jiang Moli was about to stir up a whole lot of trouble.
After dinner, Jiang Moli made a call to the family residential area of the machinery factory.
When Jiang Peng got home after the call, Jiang Dahai pulled him aside to question him. "What did your sister want?"
"She wants me to go back to our old hometown tomorrow and pick some plums for her."
Plum Valley, as the name suggested, was famous far and wide for its abundance of large, crisp, and sweet plums.
Jiang Dahai was baffled. "But she just took a huge bag of them home yesterday. Did she finish them all already?"
"How would I know? That’s just what she said."
With that, Jiang Peng ducked back into his room.
In truth, Jiang Moli had also given Jiang Peng another task, but for now, Jiang Dahai couldn’t know about it.
Early the next morning, Jiang Peng headed back to his old hometown with his two childhood friends, Shi Yu and Zhang Lei.
「In Jiang Dashan’s plum orchard.」
Yang Chunxiang and her daughter-in-law were helping Jiang Peng pick plums.
It wasn’t even the Dragon Boat Festival yet, so there weren’t many ripe plums on the trees; they had to be carefully picked one by one.
As she picked plums, Yang Chunxiang tried to cozy up to Jiang Peng. "Xiao Peng, what’s your sister been busy with lately?"
"She’s busy arranging jobs for my uncles."
Yang Chunxiang’s heart leaped in shock. The two large plums she had just picked tumbled from her hand and hit the ground with a PLOP.
She didn’t even bother to pick them up, grabbing Jiang Peng and peppering him with questions. "Your sister is arranging jobs for your uncles? What kind of jobs? When did she say this?"
"She mentioned it on the day of her bridal homecoming visit... Anyway, she said she wouldn’t be helping arrange jobs for any relatives who still owed money and hadn’t paid it back."
Yang Chunxiang was both shocked and frantic.
Shocked that such a wonderful opportunity existed and she was only now hearing about it.
Frantic because her family still owed Jiang Dahai money, which meant they were excluded from the scope of this "job arrangement."
Yang Chunxiang forgot all about picking plums. She turned and rushed home to talk it over with Jiang Dashan.
...
"Mom! Mom! Sister Lili is arranging jobs for her uncles!"
Jiang Shuixian ran frantically into her family’s cornfield, whispering the news to Ding Yuzhen, who was fertilizing the young corn stalks.
Ding Yuzhen was still holding a grudge against Jiang Dahai for embarrassing her before, so she was too proud to go near Jiang Peng herself. But, worried that Jiang Dashan’s family might be getting some advantage behind her back, she had sent her daughter, Jiang Shuixian, to spy on them.
’I can’t believe she actually overheard something!’
’That damn Ruan family! They sure move fast!’
Ding Yuzhen threw down her manure scoop and shot off toward Jiang Dashan’s plum orchard.
’I have to find Jiang Peng and get to the bottom of this!’