Chapter 566: Cannon Fodder Daughter and Her Cannon Fodder Dad (6)

The clothes were indeed not cheap.

Shen Yan specially used fabric coupons that the whole family had saved for a long time to buy fabric for Shen Yaoyao, then hired a tailor to make this beautiful white dress for her.

In this era, most of the streets were black and gray. A white dress like this stood out conspicuously no matter where it was, and with Shen Yaoyao’s fair face, it truly looked like a crane among chickens.

Jiang Lai’s reminder pained Shen Yan’s heart too.

“Yes, let’s change the dress first, and wear it again when we return.”

Since arriving in the city, Shen Yaoyao had never worn dull clothes, as Shen Yan always dressed her very prettily.

But this time going out to dig for coal nuggets, no matter how finely dressed, it was of no use, because just standing behind that coal field would get your face covered in coal dust blown by the wind.

Jiang Lai carried a basket to the coal field, watching as Jiang Li, that boy, considerately and attentively laid down his clothes on a stone.

“Sister Yao Yao, you sit here, I’ll dig for coal nuggets and split half with you.”

Shen Yaoyao looked around, seeing only a few children with facial features barely discernible wrapped in coal dust, hesitated for a while, then nodded.

“It’s all my fault, I’ve been coughing constantly. Next time let Jiang Lai stay home to rest, and I’ll come with you, you can teach me how to dig for coal nuggets.”

Mentioning Jiang Lai made Jiang Li furrow his eyebrows.

When Jiang Lai was lost, he was too young to remember much. Shen Yaoyao came for two or three years before Jiang Lai was found and brought back.

To Jiang Li, he felt that Shen Yaoyao was more like family to the Jiang Family.

So he remained wary of Jiang Lai, not allowing her to bully Shen Yaoyao.

Once Shen Yaoyao was settled, Jiang Li carried his basket on his back, holding the pliers, without looking back, walked into the piles of coal slag.

This coal field was right next to the adjacent steel plant, becoming the economic lifeline of the entire city.

Behind the coal field, coal slag piled up like small mountains scattered, all of which were coal burnt by the steel plant and transported here waiting for the coal field to recycle.

But sometimes the coal field doesn’t clean promptly, so they temporarily heap the coal slag here, leading children from the small town to carry baskets and pliers to wander through the coal heaps after meals.

Not every piece of coal slag contains coal nuggets, so you have to use pliers to chip away, breaking up the slag to reveal the hard stuff inside, which is the coal nugget.

If lucky, one could chip out half a basket in a day.

If unlucky, like the original owner when he came to chip, each time couldn’t even cover the bottom of the basket, and returning home covered in dust, would even get scolded by Shen Yan.

Jiang Li was experienced, had good eyesight, and moved swiftly, managing to dig out quite a bit after tapping for an hour.

Additionally, he could sell some of the coal nuggets he dug out, bringing the rest home. As a result, not only did he earn praise from Shen Yan, but he could also save some pocket money.

So each time without being urged, Jiang Li came over carrying a basket himself.

Shen Yan also felt for him, unable to stop Jiang Li’s ability and willingness.

Otherwise, she would’ve only let Jiang Lai do this kind of work.

A short distance from the coal heap, a few boys gathered whispering.

Jiang Lai was looking for coal nuggets, with Little Buding yawning idly by her ear.

“Go to that third heap, there’s a big chunk not completely burnt, once dug out, your work today can be finished early.”

Little Buding didn’t want to watch Jiang Lai scrape in the coal heap.

Who was looking down on who?

His partner was Little Buding, how could she be wasted here?

Jiang Lai walked over and started digging as Little Buding indicated.

Soon, a large piece of coal slag rolled down, and after tapping away the slag outside with the pliers, it was indeed a coal nugget bigger than a fist inside.

The pliers couldn’t grip it; Jiang Lai used her hands to move it into her basket.

At this time, coal was a scarce resource, and although some well-off families in the early sixties had already started using gas, most families still mainly used coal for burning, selling for thirty cents a pound.

A coal nugget chipped out like this, though low in purity, could still sell for twenty-three cents.

Jiang Lai needed money, so she had to seize every opportunity to earn it.

This place was indeed a treasure trove, probably some worker lost focus and tossed out unburnt coal slag.

Jiang Lai filled her basket directly, but there was still quite a bit left in the coal slag heap.

After thinking for a bit, Jiang Lai took off her jacket, covered her basket with it, and was just about to get up when a sound of beating and fighting came from behind her.

It was faint, like someone had been gagged and pressed into the coal dust hitting, but Jiang Lai was very sensitive to these sounds.

“Don’t look; your brother is being beaten up by a group of thirteen or fourteen-year-old boys.”

“Oh, scared me, I thought it was someone else.”

If it were someone else, she would have gone to act bravely for a just cause.

Little Buding saw her fluid movements in lifting her basket to leave, helplessly reminded her.

“These boys are all orphans; they don’t pull punches when beating people.”

“Hmm.”

“What if they beat Jiang Li to death?”

“Then I’d simply have one less brother.”

Families with many children in those days were all desperate to send them away; what’s wrong with having one less?

Jiang Lai was unusually indifferent.

Little Buding almost began to reflect on whether he was being too sanctimonious.

Just when he thought Jiang Lai was about to leave, unexpectedly, she turned around and walked to the coal heap in the distance.

Just then, a shadow shrieked and ran past.

Clean clothes all over, no need to see the face to know it was Shen Yaoyao.

She ran quite fast, those few kids didn’t chase her, continuing to press and beat Jiang Li.

One of the boys was especially tall, though very skinny, and his whole face was pitch black, one could still see the sharp edge of his eyebrows and his ruthless eyes.

He should have just finished beating Jiang Li, standing up as if savoring it, flexing his wrist.

The remaining three boys held Jiang Li down together, barely able to pin the sturdy Jiang Li to the ground.

Jiang Lai quietly picked up two pieces of coal nuggets from her basket.

“That’s enough.”

Her voice caught their attention, the tall boy turned his face to look at her, his eyes wary and sharp.

One of the boys pinning Jiang Li raised his head and looked at Jiang Lai, immediately shouting.

“Get lost, or we’ll beat you too!”

“No can do.”

Jiang Lai weighed the coal nuggets in her hand.

“You’re beating my brother, if you beat him to death, I wouldn’t be able to explain when I get back.”

After saying that, without giving them time to react, Jiang Lai directly threw the coal nuggets in her hand, one after another.

With three cries of pain.

The three boys pressing and beating Jiang Li, each covering their heads, were rolling in the coal dust.

Jiang Li abruptly raised his head, took a deep breath, and then started spitting coal dust, his whole face blacker than the bottom of a pot, leaving only two bright red eyes staring at Jiang Lai.

His eyes were a bit complex, and Jiang Lai saw from within, touched.

What a worthless thing.

The tall boy standing aside did not make a move, silently watching Jiang Lai, without saying a word.

Jiang Lai stepped forward to pull Jiang Li up.

Then looked at the boy behind.

“Next time before you beat my brother, ask if I agree.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep