I couldn't take it anymore; when I went home for Chinese New Year, the family genealogy book ha

Jiang Shunde looked at the angry faces of Jiang Jianjun and Wang Xiuying, and felt helpless.

He picked up the teacup, drank the tea that had gone cold, and turned his gaze to Jiang Chen, who had remained silent throughout.

This village chief has been in the village his whole life and is a shrewd and calculating person.

He knew very well that the one who truly made the decisions in this family was no longer the honest and simple Jiang Jianjun.

Instead, it was this young man in front of me who looked very young, but whose eyes revealed a calm and unfathomable composure.

"I can't be bothered to waste my breath arguing with someone like your aunt."

Jiang Shunde subtly shifted his tone, revealing his true purpose for being there today—to test the waters.

"It's this money, 200 yuan per family. She doesn't pay, so someone else has to cover the shortfall. We can't expect the village to pay for it, can we? The village committee's accounts are as clean as their faces."

He carefully observed Jiang Chen's expression, and slowly said in a tone that was both pleading and even somewhat ingratiating:

"Chen'er, look at you, you are now the most promising young man in our Jiangjia Village, no, even in our entire town!"

"Everyone in the village knows you've made something of yourself, driving back in a luxury car, bringing glory to your ancestors!"

"So I was thinking... could your family... contribute a little more?"

Fearing that Jiang Chen would be offended, he quickly added a sentence to steer the matter in a more sophisticated direction.

"Consider it... setting an example for the villagers!"

After Jiang Shunde finished speaking, he seemed to feel that it was not specific enough, so he tentatively stretched out his hand and waved it in front of Jiang Chen.

"For example, how about...500 yuan?"

"It's not much, just a token of our appreciation. And it lets those who are dragging their feet and unwilling to pay see that the younger generation of the Jiang family are responsible and have a broad vision!"

Five hundred yuan.

In Jiang Shunde's view, this amount was just right—it reflected the "unique" status of the Jiang family without being unacceptable to the other party.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jianjun and Wang Xiuying nodded almost simultaneously.

"Sure! Uncle Shunde, no problem!" Jiang Jianjun agreed without even thinking.

"500 it is! It's only fair!"

In their view, their son is so successful now, so spending an extra three hundred yuan to set an example for the whole village and earn a good reputation is well worth it!

however.

Unlike his parents, Jiang Chen did not immediately nod in agreement.

He didn't say a word.

Under the somewhat surprised gazes of Jiang Shunde and his parents, Jiang Chen stood up.

He didn't look at anyone, but simply strode to the gate of the courtyard.

With his hands in his pockets, he gazed at the uneven, muddy road in the distance, clearly visible in the winter sunlight.

Several villagers on electric bikes were carefully weaving through the potholes of all sizes, their bikes bobbing so much that they looked like they were about to fall apart.

Looking at that road, a scene that had been sealed away for a very long time suddenly crashed into Jiang Chen's mind.

That was when he was in junior high school, also in winter.

It was a cold winter evening with rain falling.

He had a high fever, his face was flushed, and he was talking nonsense in bed.

We've run out of fever reducers at home, and the clinic is closed.

Without saying a word, Grandpa put on a worn-out raincoat, and rode his old, rattling bicycle—a 28-inch bike that rattled everywhere except for the bell—in the rain to the town seven or eight miles away to buy him medicine.

His father was working on a construction site in another city at the time, and his mother was taking care of him alone at home, which made her extremely anxious.

He still remembers how his grandfather touched his burning forehead before he passed away; those calloused hands were so warm.

"My dear grandson, don't be afraid, Grandpa will be right back."

But once Grandpa left, he was gone for a very long time.

It wasn't until late at night that two kind neighbors pulled it back in a handcart.

He was covered in mud and water, his face was pale, and he had a large gash on his forehead. Blood and mud were mixed together, making him look shocking.

That old bicycle had its front wheel deformed from a fall.

The box of fever reducers that he had been longing for was soaked in mud and water and was held tightly in his grandfather's hand.

Jiang Chen later learned that his grandfather had been on his way back when it was dark and the road was slippery, making it difficult to see.

The bicycle wheel suddenly sank into the biggest puddle at the entrance of the village.

The car went out of control on the spot, and the driver and the car crashed heavily into the cold, muddy ditch next to it.

Thinking of this, Jiang Chen's eyes slowly changed.

Jiang Chen smiled, but did not directly answer Jiang Shunde's question about "500 yuan".

He turned around and walked straight back to the living room.

Jiang Shunde and his wife Jiang Jianjun looked at him with puzzled expressions, wondering what he was up to.

Soon, Jiang Chen came out of the house.

In his hand, there was something new: a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes.

Under Jiang Shunde's utterly shocked gaze, Jiang Chen stepped forward and, without saying a word, shoved the entire carton of cigarettes into Jiang Shunde's arms.

"Ouch! Chen'er! What...what are you doing!"

Jiang Shunde was startled, feeling as if he were holding a red-hot iron in his arms. He quickly stood up and tried to push it away.

"I'm just here to discuss something! I'm not here to ask you for anything! That won't do! Absolutely not!"

A pack of Zhonghua cigarettes costs six or seven hundred yuan!

"Uncle, please take this."

Jiang Chen reached out and gently pressed down on Jiang Shunde's hand, which was not strong, but it carried an unyielding determination.

He still had that same smiling expression on his face, and his tone was so sincere that it was impossible to refuse.

"You've been running around doing all this for our village, talking until your lips are sore, and you haven't even had a proper rest during the Spring Festival. You've worked so hard."

"This cigarette is a small token of my appreciation as a junior. Please use it to entertain your relatives and friends during the New Year."

As Jiang Chen spoke, he took out the opened pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, and personally handed it to Jiang Shunde's lips. Then, with a "click," he lit it for him with a windproof lighter.

The movements were fluid and natural, as natural as breathing.

Jiang Shunde was completely bewildered by Jiang Chen's actions.

He took a drag of his cigarette in a daze, and the rich aroma invigorated him, but the heavy pack of cigarettes in his arms made him restless.

Without saying a word, Jiang Chen pressed Jiang Shunde back down onto the stone bench in the courtyard.

He pulled up a small stool and sat down opposite Jiang Shunde.

The atmosphere didn't seem like they were discussing donations; it was more like they were having a meeting to discuss an important project.

Jiang Jianjun and Wang Xiuying stood aside, watching their son's skillful and composed actions, completely unable to get a word in edgewise. They could only look at each other, filled with doubt.

Jiang Chen lit a cigarette, took a drag, and exhaled a string of beautiful smoke rings.

His eyes shone brightly amidst the swirling smoke.

He looked at Jiang Shunde, and slowly, finally spoke.

"Uncle, I think..."

"This road is patched up and looks rather uninteresting."

Jiang Shunde subconsciously nodded in agreement with his words:

"It's not very meaningful, but the village only has this much money. It's good enough if it can make up for it..."

Jiang Chen ignored his words and, pointing to the dilapidated road in the distance, continued in the tone of a planner surveying the landscape:

"Look, this road is already narrow, only three meters wide. Now that the village is better off, more and more people are buying cars. Let alone passing each other, sometimes when one car is parked on the side of the road, the other car has to carefully squeeze past it."

"Even if we fill in these big potholes, it's only a temporary fix. In less than two years, other places will be damaged again, and we'll have to raise funds again and repair them all over again. It's a waste of money and effort, going back and forth like this."

Jiang Shunde was stunned, forgetting to even smoke.

He felt that, in front of Jiang Chen, he, the village chief, was like a clueless elementary school student.

He knew all of this, Jiang Chen was well aware of.

He subconsciously followed Jiang Chen's words and said:

"That makes sense... but... the village really doesn't have that much money! To tear down the whole road, widen it, and rebuild it would cost at least several hundred thousand to a million! I don't even want to think about it!"

Jiang Chen's smile remained unchanged.

He flicked the ash from his cigarette and looked at Jiang Shunde's eyes, which were slightly widened in shock and confusion.

Then, he said something that Jiang Shunde and his parents would never forget.

"Uncle, so you should stop bothering with this fundraising."

"It's the Lunar New Year, it's not worth arguing and getting angry with someone like Liu Cuifen over two hundred yuan. You won't get anything out of it, and you'll just end up causing trouble."

Jiang Shunde was completely dumbfounded.

Are they no longer raising funds?

What should we do with the road? Should we just leave it in such a terrible state?

He was just about to ask a question.

Jiang Chen stubbed out his cigarette and threw it into the trash can next to him.

Then, he raised his head, meeting Jiang Shunde's bewildered gaze, and said, word by word, with perfect clarity:

"This road starts from the old locust tree at the entrance of the village and goes all the way to the three-way intersection at the entrance of the town. It is 3.2 kilometers long."

"Let's sit down and have a good chat after the New Year, when spring comes and the weather gets warmer."

Jiang Chen stood up and patted the dust off his pants.

He looked at the village chief, who was completely stunned, like a wooden or clay sculpture, and his parents, who were equally petrified.

Finally, he dropped the bombshell that was enough to detonate the entire Jiangjia Village.

"I'll take this road!"

"I'll pay for it all myself!"