Chapter 87: Family Background
Bitter winter. Kaner Village.
Jiang Mianmian only just learned the name of her village: Kaner Village.
‘Kan’ means a step, right? A village with lots of stairs?
It felt like a slightly unlucky name; ‘Kan’ also seemed to imply an obstacle.
However, listening to the villagers say “Kaner, Kaner,” it actually sounded quite pleasant.
It was dark.
The wind outside sounded like a baby’s cry, sobbing incessantly.
Jiang Mianmian’s family sat around the table for dinner.
Because the winter was so cold, she rarely went out to stroll around the village, so she didn’t know exactly how the village was doing.
But during dinner, she would listen to her family chat, and it seemed there had been great changes.
Of course, the most obvious change was in their own home.
Elder Sister and Elder Brother slept in separate rooms now.
Elder Sister had her own independent room.
There was an extra little cabinet for hiding things.
That pair of beautiful embroidered shoes with beads was no longer left by the bedside; they were kept in the cabinet drawer. Jiang Mianmian couldn’t just open that drawer at will; if she did, Elder Sister would get angry with her.
But Elder Sister was all bark and no bite; she would just yell at her at most.
Jiang Mianmian would stand there acting pitiful, her big eyes blinking until they were moist, and Elder Sister would immediately regret being too loud and apologize to her.
Jiang Mianmian didn’t know why she possessed this strange skill without anyone ever teaching her.
Elder Brother also had a separate room. It had a desk, wooden windows, and a bed.
The family had added two more rooms. Now her home had courtyards in the front, back, left, and right.
Father, Mother, and Jiang Mianmian shared one room, and Jiang Mianmian had an extra little bed.
Elder Sister had a room, Elder Brother had a room, there was a storage room, and a room for entertaining guests.
When villagers came to see Father, if it was windy or raining, they would go to the guest room.
It faced the big tree by the entrance, and the view was excellent.
The room was quite simple. It just had a few cushions and a table.
There were no cabinets, but there was a shelf, and a few books were displayed on it.
Every villager who came in would be very respectful when they saw the books.
In this era, books were extremely precious, often secrets that great families did not pass on to outsiders.
Ordinary people couldn’t understand them even if they got their hands on books, because they had no opportunity to learn.
Every family regarded them as family heirlooms.
Therefore, the two young masters on fine horses who had gifted books to Jiang Mianmian’s family were truly wonderful people.
She wondered how they were doing now. Ancient times were truly slow with long distances; Jiang Mianmian could walk now, yet they hadn’t sent a single letter. Sigh, they were so young, surely they wouldn’t have died, right?
The books displayed in the guest room were ones Elder Brother had recopied.
Besides the improved living conditions, the next most obvious change was in their meals.
Now, there was a meal of solid food every day.
Jiang Mianmian was a little worried that Elder Sister ate too much, making her face too round and too fat to get married.
It seemed she was overthinking it; in these times, if a family had a plump girl, she was very easy to marry off.
Much easier than those girls who were as fragile as willow branches in the wind.
Many people had already come to the house to inquire about Elder Sister.
Father and Mother were not in a hurry. Elder Sister was even less so.
Jiang Mianmian admired Father very much; she felt that Father could sell the whole village by himself, and everyone would still count the money for him.
In any case, after Master Liu’s family died, her family was the one that benefited the most.
Their status in the village seemed different now, but they hadn’t moved into Master Liu’s house, even though the villagers had sincerely invited them to.
Father had only asked the villagers to help repair their house.
And Master Liu’s large courtyard had become the place for the village to gather and practice martial arts.
Father oversaw the inspection of the other rooms, and families in the village whose houses were too dilapidated, about to collapse, or unable to withstand the winter were moved into Master Liu’s house.
The mansion was quickly partitioned, becoming like a chaotic tenement.
Everyone was very grateful to Father, feeling that he was different from others. If someone else had risen to power, they certainly would have been reluctant to give up Master Liu’s large mansion. Yet Mr. Jiang was kind-hearted, thinking only of the whole village, leaving the good places for the villagers.
Father had also kept some space, saying it depended on everyone’s performance; if they performed well, it could be a reward.
It was said that after the spring, they would be able to distribute farmland, so everyone was training hard and looking for work like crazy, trying to perform better.
In reality, when Jiang Mianmian eavesdropped, she heard Father explain to Mother: “Too many people died in that place, it’s unlucky, the line of sight is bad, and it’s too easy to breach. We aren’t in a hurry; let’s not live there first.”
Anyway, now the whole village praised Father for everything. She felt like her Father was the reincarnation of a great philanthropist of nine lifetimes.
Everyone also praised Mother, saying she was diligent and virtuous. They praised Elder Brother, saying he was young, promising, and righteous; Elder Brother led the whole village in sword practice and had great authority.
They also praised Elder Sister, saying she looked round and blessed… Of course, they also praised Jiang Mianmian, saying she was beautiful and looked like Father.
Jiang Mianmian felt that her family had become the new Master Liu; it was probably the feeling of being the Master Jiang.
She had experienced a small leap in class. Jiang Mianmian felt she had become the daughter of a small landlord, and life was quite comfortable.
When your status is high, the people around you are kind and amiable. At least in the village, it was like that.
Dinner. The family ate very attentively as always.
Father picked at his vegetables while eating.
Jiang Mianmian had extra minced meat and egg custard rice, which also contained bits of wild vegetables. She also drank the wild vegetable and minced meat soup Mother had cooked.
Elder Sister ate very seriously; she didn’t talk much while eating.
Elder Brother also ate very seriously; his appetite had increased, and with his large amount of exercise, he ate a lot.
In fact, he could eat a lot before, but he hadn’t been able to eat his fill at every meal. His face looked like Mother’s and wasn’t thin, but his body was very thin. It was only in the last half year that he had slowly grown stronger.
The whole family could eat their fill, so they felt life was good and secure.
After dinner was Jiang Mianmian’s favorite time. At this time, the family would sit together and chat. This habit felt very good. She could also conveniently learn about some things outside.
Elder Brother Jiang Feng spoke first: “Father, I heard the bandits in Jishan County have taken a second county and are already very close to the Prefecture City. Now everyone in the county town is terrified. My friends want to move to our village; is that okay?”
Jiang Changtian nodded: “Yes. Let them bring their families over, and pick some clever ones to scout for news outside. Once they arrive in our village, they must follow the village’s new rules. See if there are any other clever young men you can bring back as well.”
Jiang Yu spoke up: “Father, A-Cui said she is getting married; can you go over to preside over it?”
Jiang Changtian nodded. However, he looked at the round-faced Sister Yu and said: “Wait until spring, Father will hire a female teacher for you, so you can learn some things.”
Jiang Yu:…
Qin Luoxia chimed in: “You do need to learn some things.”
Jiang Mianmian gloated on the side, *ho ho ho*, she didn’t have to; she was still young.
Then she heard Father say: “Your sister also needs to start her education.”
Jiang Mianmian:…
Jiang Mianmian was scooped up into Elder Brother’s arms.
“Father, will the Prefecture City be taken?” Jiang Feng asked, stroking his sister’s head with concern.
Jiang Mianmian was also curious, tilting her head back, her eyes wide.
Father said: “Yes, it should be soon.”
Jiang Yu had starry eyes. Father was so amazing; he knew about things so far away while at home. She wondered if Father knew about the restaurant in the Prefecture City. She heard there was a restaurant in the Prefecture City called ‘One Bowl Can’t Pass,’ and the meat inside was fragrant enough to kill you.
“Husband, then what should we do?” Qin Luoxia asked, a bit flustered. She had a natural fear and panic regarding war.
Jiang Changtian grabbed his wife’s hand and rubbed it, saying: “It makes no difference. Whoever comes, we will listen to whoever is in charge.”
Jiang Mianmian nodded. Right, right, right, Father was right. Matters regarding the Prefecture City were too far away from their village; they had nothing to do with them.
Jiang Feng changed the position of his hand that was rubbing his sister’s skull, switching to rubbing from the back of her head upwards.
“Father, then let’s take people to attack the county town. We can coordinate from the inside and outside. My little friends and I have already scouted it out. As long as we take down the county government office, those wealthy families won’t dare to do anything; they will only care about fleeing to save their lives. When the Prefecture government office is taken by the Rebels, they will definitely need new subordinates.” Jiang Feng said with bright eyes.
Jiang Changtian knocked his son on the head: “We do not do things against righteousness. We are here to live a good life; do not talk about killing and fighting. Remember, we raided the bandits’ lair, but it wasn’t to take weapons or rob things—those were just incidental. The main point was to benefit the villagers and the passing merchants. When doing things, one must have a justifiable reason.”
Jiang Feng understood and nodded: “Then Father, if the county town is in chaos, can we go to help maintain stability?”
Jiang Changtian nodded: “Yes.”
Jiang Mianmian:…
She suddenly felt that she hadn’t been a landlord’s daughter for long, and it was possible she would soon become the daughter of Rebels. The family background was changing too fast…
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