The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 733: Chapter 717: I Am Not a Slut 28 (January Monthly Ticket Bonus)

Anning lingered around Xiao Yuan for quite a while, only returning home in the evening.

As they walked out side by side, they appreciated the scenery of the late autumn campus.

Suddenly, Anning stopped in her tracks.

Xiao Yuan tugged at her: ”What’s wrong?”

Anning pointed ahead: ”That’s my eldest sister. Who is the guy with her?”

Xiao Yuan followed her gaze and saw Jiang Anan talking to a male student.

Jiang Anan handed over a package to the guy, who took it, and then she passed some money to him too.

The guy didn’t decline at all and took it smoothly.

Anning watched this scene and said to Xiao Yuan, ”You go back first. I need to ask my sister later. Also, could you find out about that guy for me?”

”Okay.”

Xiao Yuan agreed and turned back.

Anning caught up with Jiang Anan: ”Eldest sister.”

Jiang Anan was quite startled when she saw Anning: ”What are you doing here?”

Anning linked arms with Jiang Anan, and as they walked, she said, ”I have a high school classmate here. I went out to eat with him today and took the opportunity to come over here.”

”Oh.”

Jiang Anan seemed to have something on her mind; her mood was somewhat low.

”Eldest sister, I saw it.”

Anning cut straight to the point: ”Who is he?”

Jiang Anan felt a bit guilty: ”He... you saw it.”

Anning nodded: ”I saw you giving him money.”

Jiang Anan’s face turned red immediately: ”He’s my boyfriend. He’s doing his master’s here. We’ve... we’ve been dating for almost two years. He said not to go public with our relationship until he graduates.”

”Have you been giving him money all this time?”

Anning squinted and asked.

Jiang Anan nodded: ”Yes, I have, but not much. You know I didn’t earn much in the early days.”

How could it not be much? Jiang Anan dropped out of school after high school. She was skillful, learned the trade in less than two years, and started working for a salary. In the first year, her pay wasn’t high, but later, her wages kept increasing because of her skills; for the last two years, Jiang Anan’s salary was not less than that of some office workers.

”Has he made any promises to you?”

Anning asked Jiang Anning.

Jiang Anan shook her head: ”He is from our hometown. His parents also worked around here, but then his father passed away. His mother is raising him and his younger sister, and life has been very hard. We were high school classmates. Back then, he would just eat steamed buns with pickles...”

His hardship is his own; you can’t sacrifice so selflessly just because he’s suffered.

Anning shook her head inwardly: ”He didn’t pursue you in high school, so how come he chased after you when you met again these past two years? Eldest sister, you haven’t seen him much since high school graduation, right?”

Jiang Anan lowered her head, even more downcast: ”No, I ran into him two years ago and helped him out. After that, he started pursuing me, saying he liked me. He also said he wanted to marry me after he graduated... I only graduated from high school. I don’t have any diploma, just working in a restaurant. What could he want from me?”

Anning didn’t ask any further and just went home with Jiang Anan.

Once home, Anning didn’t tell Mr. Jiang or Mrs. Jiang about this.

Jiang Anan was grown up and had her own ideas about what to do. Telling their parents would do no good and might even make things harder for Jiang Anan.

Yet, in the evening, Anning chatted for a long while in Jiang Anan’s room, trying to find out more about Jiang Anan and the man named Zhou Chong.

Speaking of which, Zhou Chong was from the same village as Anning’s grandfather, not far from Jiang Village. When it came to his family, Anning did have some slight recollection.

Since they both hailed from their hometown to work in the city, Anning remembers Mr. Jiang mentioning with regret when Zhou Chong’s father passed away.

In Anning’s memory, there was indeed such an incident, but she didn’t know the specific details.

However, what Jiang Anan said about Zhou Chong being a really good guy, a man of loyalty and deep emotions, was true.

But Anning didn’t see it that way.

If Zhou Chong truly valued loyalty and deep emotions, why would he keep a relationship with Jiang Anan for nearly two years after spending her money, treating her as nothing more than an ATM?

Moreover, back in high school, Zhou Chong showed no interest in Jiang Anan and barely stayed in touch afterward. Why did he suddenly start pursuing Jiang Anan two years ago?

It was probably because he found out Jiang Anan was working in a restaurant and making a decent salary.

He just wanted to find a hardworking and honest girl who would finance his education without complaint, and, once he was successful, he could ditch her without much effort.

In a word, they were not a match. Even if Jiang Anan felt sad, she was powerless to refute.

A girl who only graduated from high school and worked in a restaurant with no particular strong points, and a man who graduated with a master’s in medicine, were clearly mismatched.

While Anning saw things clearly, Jiang Anan was hopelessly entangled in Zhou Chong’s web of lies.

After returning to her room, Xiao Yuan sent Anning Zhou Chong’s information.

After reading it, Anning sneered. She was truly disgusted.

Zhou Chong was sweet-talking Jiang Anan into spending money on him while at school he was cozying up with a junior. If this wasn’t playing two ends against the middle, then what was?

Anning saved the information. She planned to reveal it bit by bit to Jiang Anan, to spare her the distress of hearing it all at once and possibly causing psychological issues.

In the following days, Anning, Anan, and An Ping went shopping for clothes.

They bought a few sets of autumn and winter clothes for themselves and also for Mr. Jiang and Mrs. Jiang.

When Anning got home with the clothes, she heard Mr. Jiang on the phone.

She placed the clothes in the living room and after washing her hands, heard Mr. Jiang saying, ”However much we gave for Hai Ming and Hai Chang’s weddings, we give the same now.”

Then, she heard a male voice: ”But that was then, and this is now. Hai Ming and Hai Chang got married over a decade ago.”

Mr. Jiang laughed: ”Your Haiyang only got married last year. Whatever you gave Haiyang’s wife, give the same to Hai Chao’s wife. That shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

Anning immediately knew Mr. Jiang was talking to Third Uncle Jiang about the matter of giving red envelopes.

Back in their hometown, relatives from the same clan wouldn’t give wedding money, but the elders are expected to give red envelopes to the new bride. In recent years, as people’s lives have improved, the amounts in these red envelopes have been increasing annually, and now there’s even competition over whose bride gets the most at their wedding.

She then heard Third Uncle Jiang saying something about how Eldest had asked, and also said not to give too much.

Anning chuckled.

After Mr. Jiang hung up, he sat down on the sofa: ”What’s Uncle Jiang trying to say, telling us specifically not to give too much?”

Anning sat down laughing: ”Isn’t Uncle Jiang’s intention clear? All of his children are already married, but we three sisters at home are not, and neither is Anna in his family. If you give too much to Hai Chao’s wife now, Uncle Jiang will have to match it when we get married. That’s three times for him to consider. He feels it wouldn’t be fair to him. Plus, whatever red envelope you give ends up in Hai Chao’s wife’s hands, and Uncle Jiang doesn’t benefit from it directly, so of course he isn’t happy.”

All these calculations over a mere red envelope made Anning not even know what to say about Uncle Jiang.

Mr. Jiang sighed: ”It’s all because of a lack of money.”

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Jiang became unhappy: ”What do you mean ’because of a lack of money’? It’s their own greed. Back then, you found plenty of work for him, but he was lazy and unwilling. Plus, by watching our three daughters, they even toyed with the idea of having one adopted into your family to support theirs. It’s because of this mindset that they don’t want to work hard. Otherwise, would their lives be like this?”

Mrs. Jiang’s words left Mr. Jiang at a loss for words.

Because everything Mrs. Jiang said was true, Mr. Jiang couldn’t object.

”Let it be.”

Mr. Jiang waved his hand: ”Just give the same as we did for Haiyang’s wedding. If he’s not happy with it, that’s his problem. When our children get married in the future, whether he wants to give more is up to him, even if he gives nothing, we shouldn’t get upset over this.”

”I wouldn’t care for his measly amount of money.”

Mrs. Jiang pursed her lips and went back to the kitchen to cook.