The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 570 Braised Pork
Jiang Weiguo glared at the three fraudsters, his expression serious, his aura powerful, and his physique imposing. Even though he was an elderly man, passersby would think he could take on three people at once.

Qin Huai was frantically thinking, An Youyou was expressionless, and Shi Dadan gave up and looked at the two of them with a look of "what should we do?" Qin Huai gave An Youyou a look that said, "You have to think of a way!" An Youyou returned Qin Huai's look with a look that said, "How am I supposed to think of a way?" This part wasn't written in the script before.

"Who are you three? How did you find out about us? What's your purpose? Stop flirting and tell me!" Jiang Weiguo said sternly.

Qin Huai: ...That's not how you use the word "exchanging glances".

Seeing that buying the fruit basket and milk would be a waste if she didn't say anything, An Youyou gritted her teeth and, regardless of logic or whether it was in the script, loudly proclaimed, "Because my grandma left behind a diary!"

Jiang Weiguo looked at An Youyou with some suspicion, but showed no intention of opening the door to let the three of them in. He remained standing at the door and asked, "The diary?"

“Yes!” An Youyou thought for a moment about the circumstances under which she would write in her diary and said, “My grandma has a diary in which she writes down the cost of raising each of her younger brothers and how much money each of them needs to give her in the future so that she can break even.”

"It records some things from the past. Towards the end, the diary only has four names: Xiaoqi, Xiaojiu, Grandpa Jiang, and Chen Shun. My grandma didn't want to marry my grandpa back then, and she passed away after giving birth to my dad. She left behind this diary, saying that my dad could use it to inherit her estate. And then..."

An Youyou told Jiang Weiguo the story she and Xu Chenggang had made up again.

As Jiang Weiguo listened, his brows relaxed, and he seemed to believe most of it. He turned around, pushed open the tightly closed door, and said, "It's windy, let's go inside and talk."

Only then were Qin Huai and his two companions allowed to enter the house.

Where is the diary?

As soon as Qin Huai and the other two sat down in the living room, Jiang Weiguo asked coldly.

“It’s already lost,” An Youyou said, speaking before Jiang Weiguo could frown again. “But I remember writing about you in my grandmother’s diary.”

Jiang Weiguo asked, "What is it?"

An Youyou thought for a dozen seconds and said, "One year during Chinese New Year, you made potato dumplings for everyone. They were especially delicious, and everyone enjoyed them very much."

Jiang Weiguo: ...

“When my grandma first found you, you had fainted from hunger on the street. My grandma thought you were tall and looked like you could fight, so you would definitely be a good fighter in the future. But she didn’t expect that you didn’t know how to beg for food. You didn’t even know how to kowtow when begging. After raising you for several months, you only ate and never got any food. My grandma didn’t want to raise you anymore.”

“Back then, my grandma thought you were a burden, but in the end, you were the one supporting the others, and my grandma became the burden.”

"Alright, that's enough." Seeing that An Youyou still wanted to say something, Jiang Weiguo interrupted her, "You are the boss's granddaughter."

After saying that, Jiang Weiguo called out loudly into the inner room, "Lanhua, we have a guest."

According to the private investigator's findings, Jiang Weiguo's wife is named Zhao Lanhua, who is 11 years younger than him, and the couple has five sons together.

If Jiang Weiguo was a robust old man, then Zhao Lanhua was a very well-off old lady. Zhao Lanhua smiled and came out of the inner room with a teacup, pouring a cup of tea for each of Qin Huai and the other two.

The cup was a standard large teacup used in the countryside, with plenty of tea leaves. When hot water was poured in, steam rose up along with the aroma of tea. Qin Huai had drunk a lot of good tea at Yunzhong Restaurant and Zhiweiju, and could tell from the aroma that Jiang Weiguo's tea was of good quality.

Shi Dadan was able to tell from the Valentino badge on Jiang Weiguo that the Jiang family's economic conditions were not bad.

An Youyou couldn't tell anything. She didn't know Valentino, couldn't taste the quality of tea, and didn't even know much about milk tea. She was the kind of person who wouldn't be able to tell what flavor a cup of jasmine milk tea tasted like.

In An Youyou's view, Thirteen, who had once been the most successful and supported the entire beggar team, was indeed not wealthy in his later years because he had too many sons.

His clothes were bulging and dusty, and he lived in a house in the countryside. The house was quite big, but there was hardly any furniture. His life was far worse than that of Lin Qi and Xu Chenggang.

At least there's a mahjong table in their nursing home.

After pouring the tea, Zhao Lanhua smiled at the three of them and went back to the inner room to continue listening to Huangmei Opera. Because the door was not closed tightly, the music from the Huangmei Opera playing on the radio came out from inside, and it was clear that the radio's sound quality was not very good.

"You're the eldest son's granddaughter, your name is..."

“An Youyou,” An Youyou said quickly.

"And you two?" Jiang Weiguo looked at Qin Huai and Shi Dadan.

Qin Huai quickly said, "My name is Qin Huai, and his name is Shi Dadan. We are both Youyou's friends and we came here with her."

Jiang Weiguo then softened his tone, giving Qin Huai and Shi Dadan a more friendly look, and turned to An Youyou: "What brings you here?"

An Youyou followed the script this time: "Nothing much, I just wanted to come and see you. Grandpa Lin and Grandpa Xu also wanted to know how you are doing. They are both doing well in the nursing home."

"The nursing home has a nice environment."

Jiang Weiguo didn't understand why An Youyou emphasized the nursing home, but her expression softened and her tone became much gentler: "How are the two of them doing lately?"

An Youyou immediately began the process, telling Jiang Weiguo about the recent situations of Lin Qi and Xu Chenggang, including the fact that Xu Chenggang had inherited Chen Shun's estate.

During that time, An Youyou drank three cups of tea, and her mouth was almost dry from talking.

After hearing about the recent situation of the two old friends who had been begging for food together for decades, Jiang Weiguo did not show much emotion. He simply nodded to indicate that he understood, and then said, "After your grandmother passed away, I did indeed receive several dozen silver dollars from her inheritance."

"I don't know if she wrote in her diary that when I was young I was saving money, hoping to one day go back to Beiping and buy back the family restaurant."

“I have never touched those tens of silver dollars from back then. They probably wouldn’t be worth much now, but they were your grandmother’s inheritance. Logically, I should return them to their rightful owner.”

"Please sit here for a moment, I'll go find where it is." After saying that, Jiang Weiguo got up and went into the inner room to look for Dayang, without saying a single unnecessary word.

As soon as Jiang Weiguo left, An Youyou jumped up excitedly and whispered, "My money!"

"I knew Thirteen was the best! He didn't spend a single silver dollar and kept it all! That's great, I can get my money back!"

Qin Huai expressed his bewilderment at An Youyou's excitement. Aside from a few rare and valuable ones, silver dollars were generally worthless. Jiang Weiguo's several dozen silver dollars were likely worth far less than Lin Qi's three gold bars, yet An Youyou's excitement was at least ten times greater than her excitement at Zhang Daqian's painting.

"The silver dollars you left behind back then probably aren't worth much now," Qin Huai whispered a reminder.

"I know, but that's my money!" An Youyou's voice was soft, but her tone was high, filled with barely suppressed excitement and agitation. "My money!"

"My God, I never thought I could still get the money I left behind back then!"

"I'm going to buy another small table when I get back, and spread all those silver dollars on it!"

Qin Huai & Shi Dadan: ...

I really don't understand you three-legged toads.

An Youyou continued to sigh softly, "I really didn't expect that Thirteen himself is so poor that he can't even afford to live in a nursing home and can only live in the countryside. He still has the silver dollars I earned back then that he hasn't been willing to spend."

"Sigh, no wonder Thirteen is so poor now. He has no business sense at all. He should have exchanged those silver dollars for gold bars."

"However, when I died, gold bars seemed to be hard to buy, with a huge premium. I only accumulated so many silver dollars because I couldn't buy gold bars." Qin Huai: ...Youyou, do you have some misunderstanding about poverty? Among your group of underlings, Jiang Weiguo is probably living the most comfortable life right now.

Qin Huai silently took a sip of tea and asked another question he wanted to ask: "Why didn't you just tell Jiang Weiguo that your family was having financial difficulties and you wanted to borrow some money?"

An Youyou sighed: "I would like to say that, but I feel like Thirteen doesn't have any money to give me."

As she spoke, An Youyou looked at the living room wall and said, "The house that Thirteen lives in is the same as mine, so he must be just as poor as me. He's even worse off than me. At least I have a junior high school diploma, but he doesn't even have one. He's so old, he won't be able to find a job if he goes out."

"Hey, if I had known Thirteen was so poor, I would have given him special treatment and brought him two cases of milk."

"Besides, his temper is terrible now. I know that people's tempers worsen when they're broke. I was also bad-tempered when I was broke in my first life. Thirteen has been poor for so many years, so it's understandable that his temper is so bad. Not to mention that he's been good at fighting since he was a child. Even now that I can't fight, he should still be pretty good at fighting."

What if he hits me?

"He doesn't have the money to pay my medical expenses."

Qin Huai: ...

Just as An Youyou finished her quiet sigh, Jiang Weiguo came out carrying a wooden box.

The wooden box looked quite heavy and made a dull thud when placed on the table.

Jiang Weiguo opened the wooden box, which was full of silver dollars. Some were in decent condition, while others were blackened and severely oxidized. He estimated there were more than 100 dollars, far exceeding the number Xu Chenggang had said Jiang Weiguo would receive.

“It’s all here. This box is made of sandalwood; you can take it with you,” Jiang Weiguo said. “Where do you live?”

An Youyou was a little confused, but Qin Huai quickly reacted and said, "Stay in town."

"How did you get through today?"

“There are minibuses in town that can pick up and drop off people in the village. It costs 10 yuan per person per trip. You can call us anytime if you need one.”

Jiang Weiguo said, "It's too expensive. Normally, it costs 6 yuan for a pick-up and drop-off."

"How many days are you staying?" Jiang Weiguo asked again.

“Five days,” An Youyou said.

Jiang Weiguo nodded, seemingly lost in thought. After more than 40 seconds, he continued, "Okay, you can take the leftovers with you."

Three people:?
"I don't have any good food at home right now, so I won't keep you any. There's some braised meat in the fridge for you to take with you. There's a noodle shop called Liu Er in town, and the braised goose across the street is pretty good. You can go there and order plain noodles with the braised meat, or you can buy half a braised goose if you want."

Do you have any dietary restrictions?

“I eat everything,” An Youyou said.

"I don't eat cilantro," Qin Huai said.

“I have a big appetite,” Shi Dadan said.

Jiang Weiguo nodded: "Then come again tomorrow."

Three people:? ? ?
After saying that, Jiang Weiguo turned to Zhao Lanhua inside the house and shouted, "Lanhua, call Butcher Zhang and tell him to come over and slaughter the pig tomorrow morning."

Zhao Lanhua, no longer listening to Huangmei Opera, ran out of the house in surprise and even panic, asking, "Slaughter a pig? Which one?"

"Big Flower".

"Big Flower?!"

“Old man, there are still several months until the New Year. If we slaughter the big one now, we'll only have the second one to eat for the New Year. Besides, it's not the best time to sell it. The big one only weighs so much now, and we've raised it for more than half a year. How many times have we slaughtered it…”

"Kill it tomorrow," Jiang Weiguo said decisively. "Eating Erhua during the New Year is the same. The family won't miss out on that. Xiao An has come all this way, so we must kill Dahua."

After saying that, Jiang Weiguo turned to An Youyou and said, "Call a van to pick you up. Remember to bargain with them. I'll go get you some braised meat."

"There are still a few apples at home, I'll give you three."

Jiang Weiguo went back inside.

Zhao Lanhua glanced at Qin Huai and the other two, somewhat surprised, and then went inside to make a phone call.

Qin Huai and the other two were left looking at each other in the living room.

An Youyou was genuinely touched and whispered, "Thirteen people are so kind. They only have one pig at home, but they're willing to slaughter it for us to eat during the New Year."

Shi Dadan cautiously stated, "There should be at least two pigs."

Qin Huai was also a bit confused, not understanding what was going on.

He felt that Jiang Weiguo's living conditions should be quite good; he gave away a sandalwood box so readily, but why did he handle the pig-slaughtering incident so...?

Are pigs rarer than boxes made of rosewood?
"I'll call the van first," Qin Huai said. "We'll buy some more food and come over for dinner tomorrow. Hey, did Grandpa Jiang leave us his phone number or add us on WeChat?"

An Youyou quickly said loudly, "Grandpa Jiang, how about we add each other on WeChat? What time should we come over tomorrow?"

"Just come over in the morning," Jiang Weiguo said in a strong voice, as he came out carrying a large bowl.

The braised meat in the bowl had already cooled down, and the oil had frozen, so it didn't smell very fragrant, but it still looked very appetizing and must taste delicious.

Braised meat far exceeding the skill level of a typical restaurant chef.

Jiang Weiguo handed the large bowl to Shi Dadan: "Remember to bring the bowl over tomorrow."

Qin Huai and the other two left, somewhat bewildered, carrying the braised meat.

When Qin Huai reached the village entrance to wait for the van, he belatedly realized, "In our current situation, is it inconvenient to talk to Grandpa Jiang about Master Xia Murui?"

"It's not very convenient," Shi Dadan said, holding the braised meat.

Qin Huai thought so too: "Grandpa Jiang looks quite healthy. I'll send a message to Zhao Cheng'an and have him talk to Master Xia Murui."

"They communicate well with each other, fellow apprentices."

“A few days ago, Master Xia transferred another 10 yuan to Zhao Cheng’an as pocket money. I’m really afraid that Zhang Guanghang will report Zhao Cheng’an for fraud and send him to jail.”

(End of this chapter)