TTTQF Chapter 14

I Have to Raise My Little Brother

Is he calling him Brother Sanshui? Who is Xiao Shitou, and why is he being sold? Selling people is illegal! Wait, in ancient times, it seems that buying and selling people was allowed. Bah, what are you thinking about now!

Jiang Miao pinches himself for a moment, promptly suppressing the unfounded ideas that are running wild in his mind, and focuses on the two people in front of him.

They come just after Jiang Miao finishes his confrontation with Xu Sheng. At that time, the onlookers probably feel a bit embarrassed, so they rush over to buy his buns like crazy. In no time, they buy almost all the steamed buns. He and Daniu are just getting ready to work when they suddenly notice two people approaching them.

One is a woman in her thirties, not very tall, wearing coarse clothes, and carrying a basket with incense and paper money inside. She looks like a pilgrim heading to Puling Temple.

The other is a six or seven-year-old boy, who stares at Jiang Miao’s face with a slightly puzzled expression. After Jiang Miao asks them how many buns they want, the boy suddenly speaks up.

“Are you calling me Brother Sanshui? Who are you?” Jiang Miao has no memory of the two, so he can only pretend that his memory is not good.

“I am Xiaowu, Xiao Shitou’s good friend. He introduced me to you and said you’re his brother, so I should call you Brother Sanshui.” After saying that, Xiaowu looks at his mother, as if to confirm whether he said it right, because when he just spoke, his mother pinched him.

From this sentence, Jiang Miao guesses some information. These two people in front of him don’t seem to be very familiar with the original owner. At most, they are from the same village. He first heaves a sigh of relief, then remembers the name mentioned twice in their conversation, Xiao Shitou.

Is he the original owner’s younger brother? Jiang Miao doesn’t expect to find the original owner’s relatives so soon. He thinks he would have to earn money first and then inquire everywhere to find his family. While he’s happy, he can’t help feeling a little uneasy. But for now, the most important thing is what Xiaowu said at the beginning.

“It’s Xiaowu, I’m sorry, brother’s memory isn’t very good. By the way, you just said something about Xiao Shitou being sold?” What’s going on? Did something happen in the original owner’s family, and they want to sell the child for money?

Just as Xiaowu is about to speak, the woman beside him quickly interrupts, “Jiang Ge, don’t listen to his nonsense. He’s just a kid who doesn’t know any better, he hears something and thinks it’s true. There’s no such thing at all! If you’re busy, then go ahead, we’ll leave first.” She doesn’t want to say more, to avoid causing trouble.

“Wait,” Jiang Miao can’t let them leave like this, so he quickly steps out from behind his stall and stops the two of them, “Auntie, you’ve come all this way and haven’t eaten yet, have you? I still have a few buns left. If you don’t mind, just have them here. It’s been many days since I’ve been home, and I also want to hear news about Xiao Shitou.”

The woman hesitates for a moment, but eventually sits down with him under a tree behind the stall. Xiaowu takes the buns from Jiang Miao’s hands, saying, “Thank you, Brother Sanshui,” and then quickly adds, “I was telling the truth just now, it’s what Xiao Shitou himself told me!”

“What else did Xiao Shitou told you?” Jiang Miao coaxes softly.

“Xiao Shitou says he has to do a lot of things every day, and he’s very tired, but he dare not stop. If he stops, his mother will scold him, and sometimes even hit him. He also says he can’t eat enough every day. When he’s hungry, he can only drink more water. One time, he drank too much and wet the bed at night, and was punished to kneel for a whole morning. He also says he overheard his dad and mom saying they want to sell him, so he asked me to help him find his brother and ask if his brother can buy him back. He promises he will work hard…” Xiaowu tells Jiang Miao everything Xiao Shitou said, sometimes pausing to think for a moment before continuing.

When Jiang Miao hears these words, an inexplicable emotion suddenly emerges in his heart, making him feel very sour, and his nose also feels sore. He needs to tightly cover his chest with his hand to prevent this emotion from leaking out. Are the original owner’s parents really like this? It seems that he has no parental relationship in this life either.

The woman is a little stunned when she hears this. Her son didn’t tell her these things. Although she also knows that the Jiang family isn’t very good to the child, she didn’t expect them to be so excessive.

Under Jiang Miao’s silent gaze, she awkwardly smiles and says, “Actually… it’s not about selling him. I heard it seems like they want to find another family to adopt Xiao Shitou… Jiang San’s wife gave birth last year, right? Life is getting tougher and tougher. They say… they can’t afford to raise Xiao Shitou anymore.”

Jiang Miao is stunned. He thought the original owner’s family wanted to sell Xiao Shitou, but now it seems that it’s not the case.

“Find another family to adopt him?” Does this mean Xiao Shitou was originally adopted? Then what about the original owner’s family? From Xiaowu’s hope for him to save Xiao Shitou, to this woman not mentioning their parents at all, Jiang Miao probably guesses that the original owner’s parents should have passed away.

“Uncle Jiang says he can’t afford to raise Xiao Shitou?” Jiang Miao’s tone is low, and his head droops, looking desolate, which makes the woman also feel uncomfortable. She originally thought it was someone else’s family matter and she shouldn’t get involved, but just now hearing her son say that and thinking about Xiao Shitou’s pitiful appearance, she can’t help feeling angry.

“Well, it’s not really that they can’t afford to raise him. I guess they just don’t want to anymore. I heard that when Jiang Lao San wanted to adopt Xiao Shitou, his wife disagreed, saying that she wanted to take her nephew from her mother’s family to raise instead. Jiang Lao San thinks highly of your kinship, so he ended up adopting Xiao Shitou. It was fine at first, but since his wife suddenly got pregnant two years ago, Xiao Shitou’s life has been tough. When she gave birth last year and it turned out to be a chubby boy, Xiao Shitou’s life became even harder…”

She rambles on about many things concerning the Jiang family, some of which she witnessed herself, and some of which she heard from other neighbors. Sometimes, it really breaks her heart to see the child working so hard at such a young age.

Jiang Miao feels even more uncomfortable after hearing this. He had also experienced the hardship of living under someone else’s roof, but at that time, he was already in his teens and understood everything he needed to understand. He also knew that in this world, no one would be good to you for no reason.

“Thank you, Auntie and Xiaowu, for telling me these things. Since Uncle Jiang already has his own child, I’ll take Xiao Shitou back and raise him. As long as I have something to eat, he won’t go hungry,” Jiang Miao says.

“But you’re only seventeen yourself. If you have a child with you, it’ll be difficult to talk about marriage in the future,” the woman sighs. She finds Jiang Ge a bit gloomy, not very talkative, but when something happens, he’s very responsible. However, with both his parents gone and no property or land in the family, having to raise a younger brother, which girl would be willing to marry him and suffer?

“It’s too early to talk about marriage. I’ll work hard to make money in the future and strive to live a good life as soon as possible,” Jiang Miao never thought about getting married and having children before, and now he won’t even consider it. He didn’t expect the original owner to be so young. According to modern standards, he won’t even be an adult until next year!

The woman thinks for a while and makes a suggestion: “How about… you first send Xiao Shitou to your second uncle’s house. Xiao Shitou is already big enough now and doesn’t need someone to take care of him. Just give him something to eat, and he can help with some work. You can also give them a little subsidy every month, and your aunt won’t disagree. When you get married, you can bring Xiao Shitou back.”

“No, my second uncle’s family must also have difficulties. How can I be so selfish? It’s okay for now. Xiao Shitou will be grown up in a few years, and then I can consider marriage.”

Listening to the tone of this woman and then thinking about the matter of Xiao Shitou being adopted out, it’s clear that his second uncle and second aunt must not be very willing to accept them. Since the original owner only has one close relative, naturally Xiao Shitou should be brought back to be close to him.

Jiang Miao is a lonely person in modern times, and what he desires most is to have a relative so that wherever he goes, he has someone to care about him.

“In that case, that’s fine. In the future, the two of you brothers can support each other, and things will surely get better,” the woman says.

“Yes. By the way, Auntie, when are you going back to the village? When the time comes, I’ll go back with you,” Jiang Miao doesn’t know where home is, and it’s not appropriate to ask, so he can only rely on them to lead the way.

The woman says, “My parents’ home is here. After paying respects at the temple, we’ll need to go there as well. It might take a while, so if you can wait, join us tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll walk back together. We should be able to make it home before dark.”

Jiang Miao agrees to wait here tomorrow noon, and the woman nods before taking her child up the mountain

While they are talking, Daniu instinctively goes to the front to check the stall and do some work. Seeing Jiang Miao looking deeply troubled now, quite different from just now, he can’t help but feel worried.

Since Jiang Miao hasn’t sorted out his thoughts yet, it wouldn’t be appropriate to say much now. He forces a smile and says it’s nothing. Seeing that Jiang Miao doesn’t want to say more, Daniu doesn’t pry further, turning to mention that a customer had just reserved a bamboo steamer of buns, saying they would come to pick it up soon and had given twenty wen as a deposit.

Hearing this news, Jiang Miao feels somewhat relieved. Because he feels that the most important thing now is to earn money well, as he now has a younger brother to support! He just doesn’t know if he can successfully bring Xiao Shitou out smoothly tomorrow?

“Brother Daniu, what filling did the customer want for the buns?”

“The customer said any filling is fine.”

Getting the reply, Jiang Miao nods, then with a strange feeling in his heart, he quickly rolls out the dough and fills the buns. In no time, the buns are ready. He places the steamer on the pot, adds a few more sticks of firewood to the fire basin, and then sits quietly at the front. The red flames reflect on his face, accompanied by the crackling sound of the firewood. At this moment, Jiang Miao suddenly feels calm. But he knows that obstacles may come and go, and he can only deal with them as they come. Everything will have to wait until tomorrow!

Not long after, the fragrance of the buns spreads from the steamer. Jiang Miao lifts the lid, presses the buns’ skin with chopsticks, and finds them steamed well. He then takes them out and sets them aside.

A bamboo steamer holds about eighty to ninety buns. Jiang Miao pulls out a few uncut pieces of oil paper from under the cart and wraps them into four large packages before putting them in.

Just as he finishes packing the buns, a person comes over from the front, pays the remaining money, and takes the buns away. Holding the buns, the person walks straight to a carriage and says, “Young master, I’ve bought the buns.”

“Put them aside for now. When we arrive there later, share them with others.”

“Yes.” The person agrees, but feels puzzled inside. Since the young master doesn’t eat them himself, why did he order so many buns? However, the buns do smell delicious, and he plans to eat more of them later!

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