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Chapter 52
After Granny Zhou had tidied everything up, she filled up a whole bag and placed it on the front rack of her bicycle. The quality of a 28-inch rack was no joke, a bicycle could bear the weight of two to three hundred jin, and it was the main means of transportation at that time.
An ZhiAng also took out a package of green bean cakes from her satchel and put it on the table inside the house. She went out and said to Granny Zhou, “Granny, I don’t know what you like to eat either, so I brought you some green bean cakes.”
She didn't say that she had made them herself, because the green bean cakes looked very nice, and they definitely didn't have any at home. Even someone as carefree as An ZhiAng would have realized this.
Granny Zhou's health was not as well maintained as the old lady in their house. When she smiled, you could see that most of her teeth were already missing. "You silly girl, why spend so much effort on me? Granny's teeth are not good now, I can only drink thin congee. Don't bring these things next time, listen to me. If you have money, buy some tasty food for yourself and take care of your health."
An ZhiAng quickly smoothed things over and said, "Granny, don't worry. ZhiXia is not lacking money now, she's even richer than me. My second brother contributed 100 yuan and my third brother 50 yuan for ZhiXia's pocket money. My mom probably subsidized quite a bit behind the scenes too..."
An ZhiAng raised his eyebrows at ZhiXia, "Little sister, am I right?"
ZhiXia just smiled. Zhou ZhiZhi, who was standing next to her, had her mouth half open in surprise.
She had known since she was little that her aunt's family was wealthy, but she didn't expect them to be this wealthy.
Her cousins weren't even married yet but could give their little sister tens or hundreds of yuan as pocket money. One could imagine that what they had in hand was even more.
Both she and her eldest brother were already so old, yet after decades of hard work from her parents, she had overheard them discussing that the family had saved only a dozen or so yuan.
But it was also normal. Apart from the yields from the fields, the countryside didn't have any other income, so it was not easy to earn money. After receiving rations for the year’s labor and deducting the annual expenses, many families did not have enough to cover their costs and still owed money to the village.
Even Granny Zhou was shocked by the An family's wealth.
But after thinking about it, she felt at peace. There's a saying that even a rotten boat has three catties worth of nails. The An family was once a prominent rich family in Jincheng, and her son-in-law was a high school principal with a good monthly salary. With several children who were all working and not yet married, it was normal for them to have saved up some money.
She just didn't expect that they would give so much pocket money to ZhiXia. It seemed that they were quite fond of this girl.
When leaving, An ZhiAng suddenly remembered, "Oh yes Granny, my dad told me to let you know that An MeiYun is getting married in three days. Come over if you can make time.”
"Oh, I see." Granny Zhou wondered again, since she hadn't heard anything about her dating, how did she suddenly decide to get married?
Perhaps they didn't have deep feelings from not being together often. After finding out An MeiYun was not her real granddaughter, Granny Zhou's remaining feelings for her had also faded.
Plus, whenever An MeiYun came to their house before, she always had a disgusted attitude, and was very arrogant towards Zhou's children. Granny Zhou didn't get angry back then for her daughter’s sake, but now, she just felt more and more annoyed thinking about it.
"The persimmons on the mountain have also ripened. I was just regretting earlier that time was too tight and I didn't get to go pick them. It happens that I can go in a couple days and bring back some for you guys..." Granny Zhou chattered on, repeatedly urging them to be careful on the road. She watched their figures disappear before turning back into the house. Zhou ZhiZhi took out Zhou Yuanyuan’s clothes from the house and handed them to her. She suddenly remembered, "Granny, could these clothes have been bought by ZhiXia? I felt the fabric, it seems quite nice. With the pocket money her cousins gave her, could she have spent it all on buying clothes?"
It wasn't surprising that Zhou ZhiZhi would think this way. Although she had always known her aunt’s family was well-off, her Aunt Zhou was relatively frugal with her own children. For her cousins on the maternal side, it could only be said she treated them decently. But she did subsidize Granny Zhou quite a bit.
Even so, in the eyes of others, it was still extremely generous.
Zhou Yuanyuan stroked her new clothes lovingly and pouted, "Do you even need to ask? Of course ZhiXia bought them for me. When has Aunt ever bought us new clothes? At most she would bring back An MeiYun’s hand-me-downs and distribute them to us."
For them, even An MeiYun's hand-me-downs were very good. Zhou Yuanyuan had been happy to get hand-me-down clothes in the past, even if the sizes didn't quite fit she could alter them.
But An MeiYun's words were hurtful to their self-esteem, saying that they were rag pickers and only deserved to wear her old clothes.
Young girls cared a lot about face too. Hearing these words, she didn't dare tell the adults at home, but remembered it in her heart.
After that, when Aunt Zhou brought back clothes, she was reluctant to take them, and was criticized by her mother for it.
Because for them, making a new piece of clothing not only required money, but also fabric tickets. It was not easy to make a new one every three to five years, most were handed down from older to younger siblings until they really couldn't be worn before ripping them up to patch shoes.
Granny Zhou didn't understand the situation. She tapped Zhou Yuanyuan on the forehead, "You silly girl, don't be too arrogant. Look at the other girls in our village, whose clothes aren't covered in patches?"
"That's different." What Zhou Yuanyuan cared about was not whether the clothes were new or old, but the contempt from An MeiYun. "Ah, I already told you you wouldn't understand. I won't explain it to you. I'm going back to try on my new clothes."
At the moment she first learned An MeiYun was not a blood relative, Zhou Yuanyuan admitted she did feel a bit of schadenfreude. Who made her look down on them before?
Moreover, there was no harm without contrast. Compared to An MeiYun's arrogance and sharpness, ZhiXia was gentle and generous, and people naturally liked those who were gentle and nice to them. Who would like someone who looked down on them all the time?
Zhou Yuanyuan thought that even if ZhiXia gave her used clothes in the future, she would definitely not dislike them, because unlike An MeiYun, ZhiXia would not say such contemptuous words.
Besides, in the countryside, not to mention picking up used clothes, even children's diapers were reused by others. It was nothing unusual or shameful at all.
What was shameful was the derisive charity from others.
It was very late when An ZhiAng and ZhiXia got off their bikes.
The early autumn night was chilly. Fortunately, ZhiXia was wearing long sleeves.
An ZhiAng was wearing short sleeves, but boys had more vigorous internal heat. Coupled with the exercise from biking, he was not cold at all, and his back was even sweating so much that you could see the wet outline of his shirt.
"Fourth brother, when are you leaving?" Although she knew that once An ZhiAng left this time, he would be embarking on the bright future he deserved, ZhiXia still felt reluctant to part.