The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead-Chapter 160 - 157: They’re Stupid with Lots of Money

Gao Shu was not polite and said coldly, "Ever since you moved here, you’ve been looking for trouble every other day, obviously doing it on purpose."

"We’re looking for trouble every other day? When? What trouble? Let’s talk it out today. I really want to see what exactly you two spouses intend to do by bullying a military family member. You’re even from the big courtyard’s military offspring, and I truly look down on you."

Just when the confrontation was at its peak, the situation suddenly changed as Lu Jingqiu carefully pulled Jiang Nanzhou aside, waiting to watch the drama unfold.

Jiang Nanzhou saw her little maneuver and smiled helplessly, knowing that Wei Jincheng had important things to do tomorrow and today was not the day for a fight so he hurriedly intervened, "Don’t we have things to do? Let’s hurry up and leave. Whatever issues you have, we can talk about them some other day."

After saying that, he pulled Wei Jincheng and walked out.

Lu Jingqiu also pulled Xue Jianian and left.

As a result, the tense atmosphere was abruptly dispersed by Jiang Nanzhou’s forceful intervention.

Xia Lin watched them leave, her eyes red with anger, "They are too bullying. That Ms. Xue is nothing but a shrew, and her man is no good either."

Gao Shu patted her and coaxed, "Alright, let’s have less to do with such unrefined people from now on."

"And what Lu Jingqiu and Comrade Jiang said was too harsh. You city folks aren’t that great either, twisting other people’s words and still acting so self-righteous."

She had always thought that Jiang Nanzhou was outstanding, as tender as when he saved her, not as cold as he seemed on the outside. Who would have thought he’s not good at talking round the issues?

Gao Shu frowned helplessly, "You really shouldn’t have said that just now. Jingqiu is getting married, and if her fiancé finds out she used to chase a guy to the countryside, it could easily lead to misunderstandings."

"It was just a comment. I even thought about inviting Comrade Jiang over for a meal at our home. He is my lifesaver after all—how could I not wish him well... Alright, here we have a rare holiday, and this is what happens."

...

After Jiang Nanzhou pulled Wei Jincheng away, they didn’t say much and soon parted ways.

On the way, Jiang Nanzhou sighed, "Had I known back in Ten-miles Village, I wouldn’t have lent a hand, it saved me a lot of trouble."

Lu Jingqiu, on the other hand, laughed it off, "No matter who you saved, saving a life is always right. If you hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have carried me from the train station to the hospital back then."

Jiang Nanzhou smiled, "That’s true."

"Xia Lin is tricky; my mom even said she can extract three meanings from a single sentence and told me to keep my distance from her."

"Aunt Zhou is right, you should keep your distance from now on."

Lu Jingqiu snorted lightly and glanced at him sideways, "And that includes you."

Xia Lin was clearly looking out for her own interests while already enjoying what she has, wasn’t she interested in Gao Shu? Reborn to stand side by side with Gao Shu, she went through college and made money again.

Now what is she doing with Jiang Nanzhou? In her previous life, Xia Lin cheated on Wei Jincheng, but this life, she wouldn’t even think about it.

Suddenly, Lu Jingqiu had a moment of clarity and wrapped her arms directly around Jiang Nanzhou’s waist—not allowing it to happen.

Jiang Nanzhou, feeling the hands that reached out, tensed up a bit; did this girl realize that even the slightest flirtation from her was more than he could handle?

"Jingqiu, I only like you," he said.

"Can you guarantee you will always like only me?"

"I can, I swear." As he spoke, one hand had already left the handlebars of the bike.

Lu Jingqiu quickly stopped him, "Don’t."

When they arrived at the house, two tilers, along with a few young men, were already placing the floorboards.

The walls inside the house had also been repaired and needed to dry for a few days before painting could begin.

Jiang Nanzhou checked the water pipes in the back, which were against the west wall. He moved some old bricks from the front yard and mixed cement, ready to build a pond himself.

Lu Jingqiu also helped carry bricks. The small pond was quickly taking shape; the bottom was supported by a wooden board, while the overhanging parts were propped up by two wooden sticks.

The structure was completed quickly enough, though the applied cement was uneven. Thankfully, the two craftsmen in the front helped smooth it out.

Seeing the sweat on Jiang Nanzhou’s forehead and knowing his hands were dirty, Lu Jingqiu quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped it for him. Initially, she hadn’t thought much of it, but upon unintentionally seeing his flushed ears, she suddenly felt embarrassed herself.

With other people around, the two of them momentarily became awkwardly shy before moving on.

By noon, the floorboards were in place, needing cement to fill the seams and to be smoothed out, a job that would have to wait until the afternoon.

During the lunch break, Lu Jingqiu showed the two tiler uncles her design for the kitchen cabinets.

It was to be built using the kitchen wall, in a U-shape by the window, and covered with ceramic tiles on the outside.

The kitchen wall was also to be tiled, only halfway up.

The tiler uncles helped take measurements and calculated the area, saying, "We can do this job. After this, the roof of the house will be done by afternoon. Young man, you bought too much cement. Even after the kitchen is finished, there will be some left over. Can you return it?"

Jiang Nanzhou said, "There’s no returning it, how much can we save?"

"About four or five bags left."

Lu Jingqiu said, "The floor of the woodshed also needs to be cemented."

Jiang Nanzhou said, "Then use it for the woodshed."

The tiling uncle nodded. These two were wealthy, doing up their house nicely. They’d made the woodshed open-style and didn’t even store firewood in it, yet they still wanted a concrete floor. They wanted ceramic tiles for the kitchen too. The money they were spending could almost get you a job.

At noon, Brother Zhang rode over on his bike and said, "Comrade Jiang, let me take you two to see some porcelain shards."

Jiang Nanzhou asked, "Is it far?"

"Quite some distance, on the edge of town."

Neither of them had eaten, but it was the only time Brother Zhang had free around noon. Without much fuss, they got on their bikes and headed towards the West Suburb.

After almost an hour of riding, they arrived in front of a large courtyard.

Brother Zhang knocked first, "Uncle Lew, we’ve arrived."

"Come on in."

The door hadn’t been knocked more than a few times when a voice came from inside. An old man in his fifties opened the door and hurriedly welcomed them in, "Xiao Zhang told me yesterday, these two comrades are the ones looking to buy porcelain shards, right?"

Jiang Nanzhou replied with a smile, "Yes, Uncle Lew."

Brother Zhang, on the other hand, didn’t go in. He said to them, "Comrade Jiang, Comrade Lu, go ahead and choose in the courtyard. I have to rush back to work, so I’m heading back first."

Jiang Nanzhou promptly offered Brother Zhang a cigarette and said, "We’re really indebted to Brother Zhang, you’ve gone through a lot of trouble for us."

Brother Zhang accepted the cigarette with a smile and replied, "Hey, it’s just a bit of legwork, don’t mention it, I’ll be off now."

"Alright then."

Uncle Lew also cautioned, "Take it easy on the road."

"Got it."

After seeing Brother Zhang off, Jiang Nanzhou turned to Uncle Lew and offered him a cigarette, asking, "Uncle Lew, where are your porcelain shards?"

Uncle Lew looked at the cigarette—these weren’t sold at the local supply and marketing cooperative and he chuckled, "They’re in the backyard. I’ll take you to have a look."

The Lew Family only had a five-room main house and two western wing rooms. The front courtyard was spacious, but the back courtyard was even larger. In the corner, many porcelain shards were piled up, covered in dirt and broken pieces, clearly untouched for quite some time.

"There are many different patterns here—five pieces for a dollar, ten pieces for fifty cents. Delivery is not included, you can pick them out yourselves."

Lu Jingqiu said, "Okay, we’ll take a look ourselves first."

They needed around one hundred and fifty pieces for their kitchen splashback, and about the same for the cabinets, so they decided to buy three hundred pieces in total.

After explaining, Uncle Lew helped them clear some straw from the surrounding area so that they could search more easily.

Jiang Nanzhou looked around and couldn’t tell what looked good or bad, but thought it all seemed fine.

There were many white pieces with flowery patterns, and some with images of ancient ladies. Lu Jingqiu took a fancy to a set of porcelain tiles with raised rose petals, but unfortunately, there were only a few pieces available.

Eventually, they found a set with a light green pattern of circles and squares, which looked very attractive when pieced together. However, they weren’t very many of them. After counting with Jiang Nanzhou and Uncle Lew, they had a little over fifty pieces.

But then they remembered the lower part of their wall would be covered by cabinets, so there was no need to tile there; just a couple of layers of tiling above the cabinets would suffice. The tiles for above the cabinets were white with red paintings of flowers and birds and a few green leaves, with a flat surface. After some searching, they agreed this was the best-looking and most plain, luckily also having over a hundred pieces available.

"Uncle Lew, we’ll take these two types, can you help us calculate how much they cost?"

"In total, ten dollars and seventy cents. You probably can’t haul these back yourselves, right? Do you need my help with delivery? If I help with loading and deliver them to you, it’ll be three dollars in total. If you’re short two or three pieces later, just come to me, I won’t charge you for them."

Jiang Nanzhou quickly agreed, "Sure, we’ll trouble you then, Uncle Lew. I’ll give you a deposit now."

They gave Uncle Lew two dollars as a deposit and provided him with their address, and he said he could deliver the tiles between two and three in the afternoon.

Only then did Lu Jingqiu and Jiang Nanzhou step out of the gate.

"Hungry, aren’t you?"

"Yes, it’s almost two."

"Let’s go, hop on, we’ll hurry to a restaurant and see if there’s still food available."

Jiang Nanzhou led her back the way they came. They were both unfamiliar with the area, and after riding for ten minutes without spotting a state-owned restaurant, they encountered a roadside pastry vendor instead.