Ji Changze took care of the doctor, found a hospital, and played chess with Father Liu for a while before taking his leave.
Liu Huifen didn’t feel that her brother-in-law was a jerk anymore and dared to take advantage of them.
Where was Changze trying to take advantage of them?
He clearly always believed that he would make great achievements in the future, so he’s taking advantage of it! That’s why he needed Changguang’s upfront investment.
Look, Changze was making money now, and he returned the money!
And also sent them something.
Ji Changze was not surprised by Liu Huifen’s sudden enthusiasm for himself.
People were like this; when a black spot suddenly appears on a blank sheet of paper, it will be particularly noticeable.
On the contrary, if a white dot appears on a piece of black paper, everyone will be happy that his prodigal son has turned back.
Liu Huifen kept walking Ji Changze to the entrance of the alley. A neighbor who lived in this alley, saw them and asked curiously, “Huifen, who is this?”
If this had been asked before, Liu Huifen would have answered it awkwardly and casually.
“My younger brother-in-law!”
Liu Huifen held her head high, and she looked proud:
“He works in Shanghai and earns a lot of money a month. He came back to see us, and he bought us some malted milk.”
She deliberately pronounced the words malted milk extra heavily.
Sure enough, when he heard ‘malted milk,’ her neighbor’s face showed envy. Looking at Ji Changze all the time and seemed to like him more:
“You’re such a promising young man. You’re still young. Do you have a girlfriend?”
If it were other people of the same age, they would be embarrassed to be praised and asked about their beloved ones, but not Ji Changze.
He smiled and said, “My betrothed and I are getting married soon. It’s just a couple of days away.”
“Aiyo… that’s a happy occasion, congratulations.”
When the neighbor saw that Ji Changze had a girlfriend, she quenched her desire to introduce him and left after a few more pleasantries.
Liu Huifen waited for him to leave before she looked surprised and asked, “Are you going to get married in a couple of days? How come you didn’t tell us?”
“Isn’t it wrong to see you and my Older Brother having to take time off from work?”
Ji Changze was still smiling and laughing as usual: “I don’t want to bother you so much when I get married.”
If it had been before, Liu Huifen would have been disgusted to see him like this, thinking that the younger brother-in-law just didn’t treat them as a family and didn’t invite them.
But now she not only didn’t think so but also felt warm and comfortable.
Changze was really looking out for them.
He would rather his Older Brother and Sister-in-law not go when he got married than to delay their work.
How can there be such a good brother-in-law in the world?
Liu Huifen was moved by her own assumption and immediately said with certainty, “Don’t worry, our younger brother is going to get married. We can definitely take a day off. Tell me the dates, and your Brother and I will bring gifts to attend.”
Changze came bringing them malted milk just now. They must also bring plenty of gifts for his wedding.
Ji Changze: “Don’t spend money, Sister-in-law. It’s not easy for you and Older Brother to earn money. I didn’t have much money before. You two subsidized me. Now I have money. It’s my turn to subsidize you.”
“You child, just listen.”
Liu Huifen patted him with the loving face of a ‘sister-in-law like a mother’:
“We know your intentions, but we definitely want to bring a gift when you get married.”
Ji Changze looked reluctant and immediately thought of something. He said to Liu Huifen, “Sister-in-law, it’s no big deal whether it’s a formality or not, I’ve got everything set up, but there’s just one thing I need you to help me with.”
“What is it? Go ahead and tell me, if your sister-in-law can do it, I will definitely do it for you!”
Ji Changze: “It’s Xiaolu. Wasn’t she sick with a fever earlier? The village has been saying this and that all along. Before I didn’t go to Shanghai, it was nothing, but now that I’ve gone to Shanghai and made some money, I’m afraid that people will see my situation and say something unpleasant.”
With that, he coughed a few times, “Wasn’t I going to take Xiaolu to the hospital? But it’s not something you can get done in a day or two, and when I get married, Xiaolu definitely is not well enough for me to be able to say anything about it, and I don’t care about that. But I’m afraid that others would say something.”
What he said was implicit, but Liu Huifen already understood it.
Ji Changze was afraid that when he got married, someone would think An Xiaolu wasn’t good enough for him.
She immediately said, “Don’t worry, when the time comes, I will definitely support Xiaolu.”
Come to think of it, Liu Huifen was quite impressed.
Unexpectedly, Ji Changze was still a dedicated person.
He usually looks so unreliable, but he was also very responsible.
But think about the cheeky way he used to take advantage of the situation, and today she just knew that ‘I will have a future you’re pre-investing’ thing.
Those above seem to be nothing.
Ji Changze didn’t go back immediately after leaving the Liu family but went to buy some wedding candy first.
Candy was very common in later generations.
But right now, wedding candy was a rare thing, and most people were reluctant to buy them, even when they got married.
Not to mention someone like Ji Changze, who buys a big bag.
Ji Changze guessed correctly because he returned from Shanghai and made money, many villagers were discussing this.
The villagers were like this. It’s not bad intentions; they don’t have any. But to say that they would want people to be better, it was certainly not the case.
Besides, people nowadays basically haven’t studied much.
In other words, they had their own judgemental views.
Before, Third Brother Zhang spread in the village that Ji Changze couldn’t make any money and that it was definitely a lie when he said he was going to Shanghai.
The villagers believed it, and they all said that Ji Changze couldn’t make any money.
Now that he has made money, they still don’t feel like they have been slapped in the face.
Instead, they continued to follow along and talked about something else.
Third Brother Zhang didn’t take the lead.
He is working hard at home to train his voice skills in imitating various people. His parents, two brothers, and sisters, including nephews and nieces, all know that he was practising his skills to go to Shanghai. No one could disturb him, and everyone spoke softly and moved lightly like a thief.
It wasn’t Third Brother Zhang; it was someone else.
That’s right. After all, no one in the village had any grudges with An Xiaolu’s family.
She was the one who hadn’t been brave enough to go tossing around the An’s home since the last time Ji Changze had done all sorts of ‘miraculous’ things.
Today, knowing that Ji Changze is back, or back in the limelight, Grandma An was up in arms.
That was what she thought.
In the past, Ji Changze was an ignorant and lazy punk who had to be raised by his parents. So, it’s okay for him to have a crush on An Xiaolu.
But now, Ji Changze was promising.
After easily getting three wheels and one ring, would he still value the mute An Xiaolu?
She wouldn’t if she was him anyway.
Grandma An felt herself trembling with renewed vigour.
An Xiaolu’s family, disabled, sick, and mute, had no backing from Ji Changze. She can do whatever she wants.
As a result, she was on her way to shake them up with her authority when Mother Ji blasted her out.
Mother Ji’s slaying power was something that could stun Ji Changguang.
Although Ji Changguang himself wasn’t very clever, Grandma An wasn’t much better.
Besides, Mother Ji grew up in the village, and her ability to swear was much better than Ji Changze, and Grandma An, who got scolded by her a few times, was stunned silent.
And just like that, Mother Ji was still unrelentingly yelling at the door.
Finally, she felt tired of standing at the door and went back to An Xiaolu’s yard. It turned out they were sitting on a bench across a short wall and started pointing fingers.
Grandma An thought her skin was thick enough.
Unexpectedly, she wasn’t only no match for Ji Changze, but also no match for Ji Changze’s mother.
She simply came out of the house and took the ‘grandmother’s side’ of the gossip about An Xiaolu, in passing:
“It’s not that I despise her. It’s just that she’s mute now, disabled for lack of a better word. Ji Changze had valued her before, but now he has gone to Shanghai. There are many beautiful girls in Shanghai. Ji Changze has made money now. What kind of girl couldn’t he get? How can he value An Xiaolu?”
Although the villagers all knew what Grandma An was like.
But there was some truth to what she said.
Grandma An talked everywhere, and the village was led astray.
They all discussed it one after another. Ji Changze wouldn’t really abandon An Xiaolu, right?
In that case, An Xiaolu would be miserable.
But think about it, if they were younger and making a lot of money, they wouldn’t be happy to marry a mute ah…
Besides, An Xiaolu’s family still had two parents who were a burden.
Originally, they all thought that this marriage might not be possible.
As a result, Ji Changze started from the village entrance, scattering wedding candies at the sight of anyone, with joy written all over his face.
When people asked him, he answered:
“I’m getting married to Xiaolu, aren’t I? Let’s spread the joy and welcome it.”