Chapter 16

When Qin Zhengqing looked out at the iron gate, he saw not only his mother but also his sister-in-law, who was accompanied by a woman he didn’t recognize.

Recalling the agreement with the nanny, that any unfamiliar visitors needed to be cleared before entering the house, he inquired, “Mom, sister-in-law, who is this lady you brought along?”

“Oh, she’s your sister-in-law’s niece from her maternal family. Her name is Ke Xiu. Now, Second Brother, Mom’s here today because there’s an important matter to discuss with you. That nanny you hired? She’s trouble. Not only did she talk back to me and lock me outside, but she’s also been stealing eggs from your house.”

If he hadn’t spent the afternoon with the nanny, Qin Zhengqing might have been swayed by his mother. However, from their conversations earlier, he had already heard about the locked gate and the eggs. These were the two most “serious” complaints the old lady could come up with, which meant she couldn’t find any other faults with the nanny.

Qin Zhengqing, slightly annoyed, said, “Mom, without concrete proof, you shouldn’t accuse someone of theft. Did you actually see the nanny steal the eggs?”

“Do I have to see it? She’s been slacking off recently, running out in the mornings and afternoons. I followed her secretly and saw her pulling ten eggs from a cloth bag and selling them sneakily. If that’s not stealing, what is?”

Qin Zhengqing couldn’t help but laugh. “Those ten eggs were payment from Qin Yan. She counted them out in front of me today. Please don’t spread false rumors.”

Old Lady He was momentarily speechless. The rumor about the nanny stealing eggs had already been circulating for two days, and it was too late to take it back.

She quickly pulled Ke Xiu forward and said, “This is your sister-in-law’s niece. She’s been here before you got married. You don’t remember?”

Qin Zhengqing shook his head, honestly replying, “Why should I remember her? I don’t. No impression at all.”

Old Lady He was at a loss for words but introduced Ke Xiu again, agitated, “Look at Ke Xiu, your sister-in-law brought her here as a reliable nanny. She’s such a good girl, yet your wife refuses to hire her. Now, open the door and let us in so we can have a face-to-face conversation and sort this out.”

Qin Zhengqing sighed, “Mom, I’ll open the door if you ask Ke Xiu to leave. I won’t let her in.”

His sister-in-law became furious. “Ke Xiu is my niece. You’re disrespecting her, and by extension, you’re disrespecting me. Second Brother, how can you do this?”

Qin Zhengqing, apologetic, said, “I’m sorry, but I promised the current nanny that Ke Xiu wouldn’t enter the house while she’s gone. A person must keep their word. I won’t let her in.”

“Have you read too many books that your brain’s gone soft? You’re the employer, and she’s just a nanny. Since when does the employer have to listen to the nanny?” Old Lady He was incredulous.

Initially, Qin Zhengqing planned to open the door once Ke Xiu left. But now, even if she walked away in shame, he no longer wanted to open it.

“Mom, I’ve told you many times, just because we pay someone doesn’t mean we’re above them. We pay the nanny to work, and she provides a service. It’s a mutual relationship built on respect. It’s getting late, Mom. You should go home, and we can talk about this tomorrow.”

Miao Shufang sat there, stunned, watching her scholarly husband stand his ground against his own mother with such logical precision. Her heart stirred, and her cheeks flushed. “Son, educated people are different, aren’t they? Your father speaks so convincingly, even if I don’t entirely agree. It just sounds so good. What do you think?”

“Yeah, sure,” Qin Yan replied absentmindedly.

He had expected his father to defer to his grandmother, as he always had, especially in trivial matters like this.

What had Jiang Ruan said to his father that made him so determined to keep Ke Xiu out this time?

After dinner, Qin Yan mentioned he wanted to go for a walk, and Qin Zhengqing accompanied him. They walked and talked for over an hour, eventually finding themselves near the alley leading to Jiang Ruan’s house.

…

Jiang Ruan was busy bathing Grandma Huang. She had considerable strength and easily lifted the old woman onto a bamboo lounge chair in the courtyard to let her hair dry before returning inside.

Meanwhile, Liu Jinyun had injured her back. Though not as severely as Grandma Huang, the doctor still advised her to stay bedridden for seven days.

In the heat of summer, going without a bath even for a day was unbearable, and Liu Jinyun hadn’t bathed in three days. Seeing Jiang Ruan taking care of Grandma Huang, she felt increasingly uncomfortable.

“Jiang Ruan, go boil some water and bathe me as well,” Liu Jinyun ordered.

Had this been when Jiang Ruan had just returned from the countryside, she wouldn’t have dared refuse. But now, she was renting Grandma Huang’s house with her own wages and contributing half of her salary to her family. She didn’t eat at home anymore and only took care of Grandma Huang because the old woman had always treated her kindly, without expecting anything in return. She wanted to repay her for that kindness.

Liu Jinyun had never been good to her, and Jiang Ruan had no desire to bathe her. She took a vegetable basket and went to wash vegetables at the shared courtyard sink, muttering, “I still have to make dinner.”

Pork bones and white radish, she was making soup. There were also goji berries and dangshen—expensive medicinal ingredients. It was clear that the ungrateful girl was planning to make bone soup with hand-pulled noodles for Grandma Huang.

Thinking about the girl’s cooking, Liu Jinyun swallowed hard and grumbled, “I’m your real mother, yet you’ll only take care of a stranger. Can’t you bathe your own mother?”

Jiang Ruan skillfully set the pork bones to stew and began kneading dough. She then responded with her own thoughts. “You have four children, yet you treat me the worst. If you’ve fallen, why don’t you ask Big Brother or Second Brother to take care of you? You like Eldest Sister so much, call her to come bathe you.”

“Your sister’s pregnant; she can’t exert herself.”

“That’s her problem, not mine.”

“I should have strangled you when I had the chance, knowing how heartless you’d be.”

“Just pretend you did.”

At that point, her sister-in-law had already brought out a basin of hot water from the kitchen and called her younger sister-in-law to help. “Mom, we’ll bathe you.”

Even combined, their strength couldn’t match Jiang Ruan’s. It took them ages to get Liu Jinyun inside without hurting her further.

As they struggled, Liu Jinyun grew more resentful. “That girl washed Grandma Huang’s hair twice and made her feel so comfortable. How could she treat her own mother like this?”

Her younger daughter-in-law smiled sarcastically. It was true that Jiang Ruan had been dutiful when she first returned, cooking all the meals and doing all the laundry for the entire family. But her mother had been impossible to please. Now, things were different.

The elder daughter-in-law remained silent. After they finished bathing Liu Jinyun, her husband carried her outside to cool off while the two women hurried back to the kitchen to finish cooking dinner.

It was exhausting—truly exhausting.

“Mom, how about we eat noodles tonight? I can fry some eggs and boil some instant noodles,” suggested the elder daughter-in-law, eager for something quick and easy.

“Fine, noodles it is,” Liu Jinyun agreed. Though egg noodles couldn’t compare to bone soup noodles, they’d have to do.

Sitting under the eaves, she saw Jiang Ruan knead dough and crack six eggs into it at once. That many eggs would make the noodles smooth and chewy, but it was such a waste. Meanwhile, her real mother and siblings were eating instant noodles, yet Jiang Ruan had no intention of cooking something nice for her family.

She couldn’t help but sneer, “You’ve got eggs to give to outsiders, but not your own mother. I really raised a daughter for nothing.”

Jiang Ruan, feeling indignant, thought to herself, If only I could be as eloquent as Brother Qin Yan. She couldn’t hold back her retort, “Eggs cost seven cents each. I handed over 25 yuan—enough to buy 350 eggs. If you want to eat some, just go buy them.”

Liu Jinyun nearly choked in disbelief.

Just then, the second daughter-in-law came out with an empty basket and asked, “Mom, we bought 30 eggs just two days ago. Why is there only one left?”

Earlier in the morning, there were 21 eggs. With Liu Jinyun at home all day, it wasn’t possible for an outsider to have taken them. She was convinced it was Jiang Ruan, thinking Who else would use six eggs just to knead dough?

She immediately started cursing, “What kind of upbringing does the Jiang family have? No stealing, no robbing—Jiang Ruan, you’ve been stealing eggs from your employer, and now you’re even taking them from home. Just wait until your dad beats you to death!”

Old Lady Huang, who had no children of her own, had been receiving Jiang Ruan’s meticulous care for several days. She had come to see Jiang Ruan as her own granddaughter and couldn’t stand hearing anyone speak badly of her.

Old Lady Huang scolded back, “Baomin’s wife, is Jiang Ruan really your own daughter? Why are you falsely accusing her of stealing?”

In the past, when he came home, dinner would be ready. Now, it was all arguments. Jiang Wanshan, the eldest brother, wished he could just stay at work, but with his mother injured, how could he avoid the situation?

He said, “Mom, it’s just a few eggs. If they’re gone, they’re gone. I’ll go to the state-run restaurant and buy some braised dishes and steamed buns.”

Braised dishes were expensive, and Liu Jinyun wasn’t willing to spend that kind of money. “Jiang Ruan has been stealing eggs from her employer’s house for a while, and the employer’s family has caught her several times. Now our eggs are missing, and there haven’t been any outsiders here. If it wasn’t her, do you think it was me or Old Lady Huang, the two of us who can’t even move properly?”

Everyone fell silent at that.

Jiang Ruan used to be afraid of Liu Jinyun and never dared to talk back. But now that she wasn’t dependent on her for food, she felt confident. In the post-apocalyptic world, she was an orphan. Whoever treated her well was family, and whoever didn’t was just a bad person in her eyes. It was that simple.

Angry, Jiang Ruan said, “You have no proof, but you’re accusing me of stealing eggs. You’re a terrible person! I don’t believe you’re my mother. Even if you are, I don’t acknowledge you anymore.”

“Elders are never wrong, Ruanruan. You can’t say that,” her older brother spoke up. “Even if she’s not great, she’s still your mom.”

Jiang Ruan replied, “Big brother, I know you and sister-in-law treat me well, but mom doesn’t. I won’t recognize her anymore. From now on, if she dares to insult me, I’ll insult her back. If she hits me, I’ll hit her back. If she arranges a marriage for me, I’ll arrange one for her. Whatever she does to me, I’ll do to her.”

Her logic was simple and straightforward. After more than a month of enduring, this was Jiang Ruan’s way of fighting back. Maybe one day she’d find a better solution, but this was all she could do for now.

Liu Jinyun, unwilling to let it go, called the police, reporting that eggs had been stolen and accusing her own daughter of being the thief.

The police were exasperated. It was just 20 eggs, and the accused was her own daughter. How big a deal could it be? They suggested Jiang Ruan compensate for the eggs by buying 20 more.

Jiang Ruan refused. As the situation dragged on, Qin Zhengqing arrived.

Though late, he had heard the whole dispute clearly. His son hadn’t let him intervene earlier and waited until the neighborhood police arrived before calling him in to explain.

“She didn’t steal the eggs,” Qin Zhengqing said. “The eggs were given to her by my family. If you don’t believe my statement and think I’m covering for her, I have other evidence. But once I prove she’s innocent, I’d like Jiang Ruan’s mother to explain something. Why do you dislike your own daughter so much that you’d rather call the police and accuse her of being a thief? Emotionally, it doesn’t make sense. It really doesn’t. I’ll prove she’s not a thief. Can you explain your actions?”