Chapter 10

After school, at the school gate, Jiang Ruan saw Han Qingqing being picked up by a family member. She heard Han Qingqing call him her second brother and happily jump into his arms. He affectionately ruffled her long hair and even split open a meat bun, feeding her the filling while eating the bun skin himself.

Jiang Ruan touched her own chin-length hair, thinking she wanted to grow her hair long too. Back in the apocalypse, water was so scarce that she never had the chance to grow her hair out. Now that she was here, she had decided she would grow it long.

Qin Yan noticed too. Han Qingqing’s second brother was overly protective of her, to the point of being unreasonable. In their previous life, Qin Yan had been endlessly annoyed by him. Even after Qin Yan made it clear that he didn’t like Han Qingqing, her second brother would come up swinging, making trouble wherever he could. It was as if his brain had been eaten by a dog.

If he hadn’t been paralyzed, Han Qingqing’s brother wouldn’t have stood a chance against him.

Qin Yan noticed the envy in Jiang Ruan’s eyes and asked, “Jealous of people who have a brother?”

“I have a brother too, so I’m not jealous,” Jiang Ruan replied. “My sister-in-law is really nice. Last night, she taught me how to use sanitary pads and even made me drink brown sugar water.”

In the apocalypse, she had never experienced anything like that. Last night, when her stomach suddenly hurt, and she saw blood, she thought she was going to die. Her mother scolded her for making a fuss, but it was her sister-in-law who boiled hot water for her, helped her clean up, and taught her how to use sanitary pads. The brown sugar water was sweet, warm, and comforting. Her sister-in-law was really kind. The few liquor chocolates she had saved were meant for Grandma Huang and her sister-in-law.

Qin Yan was speechless: “That’s a private matter. Don’t talk about it so casually.”

“I’m not saying it casually. I’m only telling you,” Jiang Ruan said innocently.

Qin Yan was again at a loss for words. Since when had she started thinking of him as someone she could talk to about personal things? Did she see him as a brother? Or as someone she admired?

It wasn’t that Qin Yan was being arrogant. After all, he was the classic “villain” type: handsome, cunning, and highly skilled in antiques and curios. He had earned a fortune through clever deals. The more eccentric and crippled he became, the more girls seemed to obsess over him—which he absolutely despised.

Suddenly, Qin Yan asked, “You’re only seventeen, right?”

“Yes, why?”

“Don’t get into any relationships,” Qin Yan said, grasping for a reason.

Jiang Ruan noticed Mu Xuehui, now friends with Han Qingqing, saying something to Han Qingqing’s second brother. Her gaze followed his, and she saw Han Qingqing’s brother looking at Qin Yan in his wheelchair with hostility—something Jiang Ruan didn’t like.

She instinctively stood in front of Qin Yan, raised her chin slightly, and stared back at them. Han Qingqing tugged at her brother’s sleeve, and the three of them went into a nearby steamed bun shop.

Still thinking about the topic of early relationships, Jiang Ruan asked curiously, “I’m seventeen. My mom said I could get engaged now, and once I’m eighteen, I can get married. Would that count as early dating?”

Qin Yan suddenly remembered: it was 1979, and they were still using the marriage law from the 1950s. Girls could get married at eighteen. But by next year, the new marriage law would raise the age. He quickly rephrased his argument, “If you don’t get married now, think about it—six hundred yuan a year, three thousand yuan in five years. Do you know how much you could do with three thousand yuan? The two-story house my family lives in only cost six thousand. But if you get married early, you’ll have to take care of more than one person, cooking and cleaning for free, waking up the earliest, sleeping the latest, and everyone will order you around without paying you. They might even complain that you eat too much and yell at you every day.”

Getting married, especially becoming a stepmother, would mean taking care of an entire household without pay, while being criticized. In contrast, being a nanny for just Qin Yan was much better. She got paid more than her father did, had free meals, and Qin Yan had never once complained about how much she ate.

She nodded eagerly, “Brother, could you hire me for five more years?”

Qin Yan turned to see her earnest and nervous expression. He countered, “Can you promise not to get married for five years? If you can, then I can hire you.”

“Of course!” Jiang Ruan agreed instantly. “Even if your legs get better, you have to keep me hired, and then I won’t need to get married.”

His legs get better? Qin Yan thought, looking down at his numb legs. There was no chance of that. That was why he loved dreaming—because, in his dreams, his legs had feeling.

Qin Yan thought hiring her for the long term would prevent the little nanny from developing a crush on him. She was simple, but pure-hearted. If he gave her a goal, she likely wouldn’t get distracted by silly romantic thoughts.

“Alright, let’s do that,” Qin Yan said. “No matter what happens, I’ll hire you for five years. Come on, let’s go to the wonton shop and eat some steamed buns.”

The steamed buns cost one yuan per basket, and each basket had five buns. Not many students could afford to eat them, so the shop only had one table occupied by three customers—Han Qingqing, her new friend Mu Xuehui, and her second brother, who was treating them.

Han Qingqing didn’t like sweets but loved meat, so as usual, she ate the meat filling while her brother ate the bun skins. The buns were small, and since she only ate the filling, she didn’t get much. Just as her brother was about to order more, the last ten baskets of freshly steamed buns were snatched up by Qin Yan. Any more would take twenty minutes to prepare.

Han Yunqing, Han Qingqing’s second brother, had no good impression of Qin Yan. He had heard from his sister’s friend that the boy in the wheelchair had made Qingqing cry earlier. Now, seeing that the buns his sister liked had been completely bought out by Qin Yan, his frustration grew. He deliberately raised his voice, “Ten baskets? Can you even eat that many?”

Qin Yan calmly sterilized his chopsticks and then the bowls with hot water before handing one to Jiang Ruan. His deep, steady voice was pleasant to the ear. “You can let your sister only eat the filling, but I can’t buy ten baskets of buns for my little nanny? And it’s not like I’m spending your money. Mind your own business.”

He poured vinegar into a dish and patiently taught Jiang Ruan how to eat without burning her mouth. Mu Xuehui, watching from the next table, was stunned. Qin Yan’s gentle demeanor was unexpectedly captivating. No wonder, in their previous life, she had fallen for him so easily—just one smile could make her infatuated for days. Sadly, in that past life, he rarely smiled.

Spending a lot to buy ten baskets of buns and being so attentive to his little nanny—Mu Xuehui assumed Qin Yan was doing it deliberately to attract Han Qingqing’s attention.

Han Qingqing, blushing from seeing Qin Yan’s gentle and handsome behavior, stopped eating just the meat filling and picked up a whole bun. “Second brother, he’s my classmate. Don’t pick on him,” she said.

The shop owner came over to ask whether Qin Yan wanted a large or small bowl of wontons. Qin Yan glanced at Jiang Ruan, who had already finished three baskets of buns, and hesitated over estimating her actual appetite. Finally, he said, “Let’s start with three large bowls of wontons.”

Jiang Ruan, with a bun dipped in vinegar, brought it to Qin Yan’s mouth and said, “Thank you, brother. You should eat one too.”

Feeding him in front of everyone—was the little nanny doing it on purpose or unintentionally? Didn’t she know that this would only provoke the competitive nature of the girls at the next table, including Han Qingqing? The idea of someone unattainable is always more desirable, and now those girls would likely focus on him even more.

Qin Yan had intended to make sure the little nanny wasn’t looked down upon, but now he felt like he’d inadvertently gotten himself caught up in it. A bit annoyed, he turned his head away and said, “You eat it yourself.”

…

Jiang Ruan usually returned home at around 9 p.m., went to bed after washing up, and left early the next morning before anyone at home was awake. She only came home to sleep but had turned in her wages, so her mother would leave the door open for her at night.

Today, because she had eaten steamed buns with Qin Yan, she returned half an hour late. Her second brother had been waiting at the gate for a while. When he saw her, he ran to the corner and called out, “Ruan Ruan!”

“Second brother,” Jiang Ruan answered cheerfully, turning to Qin Yan in his wheelchair. “Look, Qin Yan, my second brother came to pick me up too.”

Qin Yan grumbled, “Your second brother never looks for you unless there’s something up.”

As they talked, her second brother arrived and said, “Mom asked me to come get you. She wants you home early today so she can take you shopping for clothes. We’re going to the department store right now.”

A little over a month ago, when Jiang Ruan had first arrived home, she had hardly any clothes. It had only been a year since the start of the economic reform, so salaries hadn’t increased much—thirty to fifty yuan a month for most people—and families were still struggling. They couldn’t afford to buy Jiang Ruan new clothes. But for a girl her age, wearing patched-up clothing was almost unheard of. Jiang Ruan had been working odd jobs, wearing clothes that were heavily patched. It wasn’t until Qin Yan’s mother gave her a few sets of her old clothes that she was able to change out of them.

Now, her mother suddenly wanted to buy her new clothes—there had to be a reason. Jiang Ruan asked, “Why the sudden interest in buying me clothes?”

Her second brother explained, “Earlier today, a police officer came to our house and said you helped catch a criminal. They gave a reward of one hundred yuan. Mom already picked up the money. Since you earned it, it’s only fair that it’s spent on you. Hurry, don’t make Mom wait too long or she’ll get mad again. I’ve got a night shift to get to, so I’ll leave now.”

“Helped catch a criminal?” Jiang Ruan thought back. When she had first returned to the village, she had been nervous about being exposed, as she was surrounded by familiar faces. Just as the educated youth were allowed to return to the city, she had taken the opportunity to leave. On her way back, she had encountered a group of men who were surrounding her. When she asked them what they wanted, they responded with creepy smiles. The moment one of them touched her clothes, Jiang Ruan had beaten them up. The men were furious and had threatened to kill her, saying they’d have some “fun” with her first.

Those men were clearly bad news, so Jiang Ruan had broken their legs.

When she returned to the city, she learned about the laws in this world: even if they were bad people, if you injured or killed someone, you had to be held accountable. It wasn’t like the apocalypse. She had been terrified and told no one.

Now, not only did she not need to be afraid, but she even got a reward. The heavy weight she had carried for over a month lifted, and she told Qin Yan, “Qin Yan, I’m going to find my mom.”

“Go ahead.”

But Qin Yan was thinking, There’s no way her family would spend all that reward money on her. My mom’s back—maybe I’ll drop by and see about getting her to the department store too.

…

When Jiang Ruan arrived at the department store, her mother was already angry. Her second brother, Jiang Jianchun, quickly pulled her mother aside, saying, “Come on, Mom, let’s take her to buy clothes. Don’t make her wait too long.”

They were actually going to buy her clothes. If they were going to do it, then she was all for it—it was her reward money, after all.

In the women’s clothing section on the first floor, Jiang Ruan tried on three new outfits, each of them beautiful. She decided to stop trying more and asked, “How many outfits are you going to buy for me?”

“Just one,” said Liu Jinyun, who was in a surprisingly good mood today. “Pick one from these three.”

Each outfit cost thirty to forty yuan, an expensive purchase that most families could only afford once a year. Jiang Ruan hesitated, unsure of which one to choose, thinking that if Qin Yan were here, she could ask for his opinion.

The store clerk, observing Jiang Ruan’s beautiful features and slender figure, noticed that she wasn’t actually foolish as she might seem. She just appeared innocent and naïve, like a child who had been sheltered from the world and was now stepping out into it. People might think she was slow-witted, but in reality, she was a grown woman with the pure heart of a child. However, she was learning fast, and before long, she would become sharp.

The clerk, thinking of her relative in the next city who had a genuine mental disability, commented to Jiang Ruan’s mother, “My nephew is really slow, but your daughter only seems to react a bit slower than normal. Are you sure you’re willing to let her marry someone like him?”