Chapter 12: Inquiries

What is awkwardness?

This is awkwardness.

Lin Qiao had almost explained everything, but the girl’s shout made it impossible.

Ji Duo’s face darkened as he quickly buttoned up two more buttons. “Ji Ling, stop.” His voice wasn’t loud, but the girl didn’t dare run. She covered her eyes with her hands, “I said I didn’t see anything.”

“Why are you here so late?” Ji Duo didn’t address her comment.

Sometimes, being straightforward is the best explanation, especially when the other person is already overthinking.

Ji Ling peeked through her fingers and answered, “I don’t know what my parents were talking about, but they were secretive and wouldn’t let me do my homework in the study. I got bored at home, so I came over.”

Seeing Ji Duo’s straightforwardness, Lin Qiao’s embarrassment eased a bit. “I’ve returned the jacket, so I’ll head back now.”

Ji Duo nodded and told Ji Ling, “You’ll sleep in your parents’ room tonight.”

“Why?” Ji Ling was surprised. Then she saw Lin Qiao heading to the backyard, and her eyes widened. “She’s staying at our house! You’re making me sleep in my parents’ room because my room is taken, right?”

The young girl was quite sharp.

Ji Duo neither confirmed nor denied it. “Have you eaten? If not, ask Aunt Zhang to make you something.”

“I ate before coming.” Seeing Ji Duo heading back to his room, Ji Ling followed a few steps, blinking. “Is she your girlfriend, Uncle?”

Lin Qiao had just left when she asked this. Ji Duo frowned and glanced at her, “Who told you that?”

“If she’s not your girlfriend, why is she staying at our house?” Ji Ling giggled, her big eyes sparkling. “Uncle, am I right?”

Ji Duo should have explained that she was Ji Ze’s betrothed, but since Ji Ze and Ji Jun, along with Ye Minshu, were clearly unwilling, there was no need to tell the child. He simply said, “She’s the granddaughter of Grandpa’s old war buddy.”

Ji Ling clearly didn’t believe it, but she knew that asking wouldn’t get her anywhere if her uncle didn’t want to talk about something. Her big eyes darted around, and she moved closer. “Uncle, next time you take off your clothes, can you close the door?”

The young girl, acting like a little adult, sighed, “It’s just me, but it wouldn’t be good if someone else saw.”

“What have you been watching lately?” With his hand on the door frame, Ji Duo suddenly turned around.

Ji Ling’s eyes started to wander. “N-nothing.”

“Is it those cherry blossom dramas?”

After the reform and opening up, household TVs became more common, and cherry blossom dramas started flooding into the country, especially romance dramas. After a decade of extreme repression of male-female relationships, the more passionate the love, the more people watched with fascination.

Ji Duo wasn’t interested in what others watched, but Ji Ling was only in middle school. “Did your mom not let you watch, so you came here?”

“N-no.” Despite her denial, Ji Ling’s head drooped even lower.

Ji Duo could see through her. He meticulously buttoned his military uniform sleeves. “Come in. Let me see how far you’ve gotten with your homework.”

No matter the era, students always dread hearing about homework, especially from their stern uncle.

Ji Ling visibly hesitated. “Maybe I should go back. Uncle, you’re so busy, and you rarely get a few days off…” Before she could finish, she met Ji Duo’s calm gaze and immediately swallowed her words, feeling like crying without tears.

With Grandpa in the hospital and Grandma definitely not at home, she had calculated that no one would be around, not expecting to run into her uncle…

The next day, when Lin Qiao saw Ji Ling again, the girl had lost her previous night’s energy. Probably not well-rested, she was drinking porridge with half-closed eyes, her head nodding.

Aunt Zhang, smiling kindly, said, “Eat this, the yolk is big.” Seeing Lin Qiao, she also served her a bowl of porridge.

Lin Qiao thanked her and noticed Ji Duo wasn’t at the table.

“Uncle left early. He said he had something to do.” Ji Ling yawned, mixing the yolk into her porridge. Noticing Lin Qiao’s gaze, she rubbed her eyes and looked at her with a bit of confusion. “Are you really my grandpa’s war buddy’s granddaughter?”

“Is that what he told you?” Lin Qiao wasn’t surprised. Seeing the girl nod, she smiled and took a bite of the pancake. “My grandpa and Grandpa Ji were indeed old war buddies. They were in the same platoon during the war against Japan. Later, during the fight against the Nationalists, my grandpa even served as Grandpa Ji’s bodyguard.”

Aunt Zhang’s cooking was excellent. The pancakes were just the right thickness, sprinkled with scallions, and paired with porridge, Lin Qiao could eat two.

“Did I really misunderstand?” Ji Ling, disappointed, poked at her porridge with chopsticks, finding her favorite yolk tasteless.

Children have many thoughts, and Lin Qiao didn’t feel the need to explain repeatedly. She smiled and asked, “What grade are you in?”

“Seventh grade.” Mentioning school reminded Ji Ling of the previous night’s experience, and she couldn’t help but pout. “Sister, you graduated, right? If not, be careful. My uncle loves checking homework. If you see him, stay far away.”

“Did he check your homework last night?” Lin Qiao laughed. She couldn’t imagine the stern Ji Duo sitting at a table checking homework. Wouldn’t he scare people into not being able to write?

Ji Ling clearly didn’t want to recall it. She quickly finished her porridge. “I’m off to school!”

Once she left, only Lin Qiao and Aunt Zhang remained at home.

With nothing else to do, Lin Qiao chatted with Aunt Zhang while eating. “Auntie, are you a local from Yandu? Your accent doesn’t sound like it.”

Maybe their first meeting wasn’t pleasant, as Aunt Zhang seemed a bit reserved around Lin Qiao. “No, I’m from Baoding. I moved here after getting married.”

“That must have been many years ago. You must be very familiar with Yandu by now.” Lin Qiao propped her chin, her aggressive eyes curving, reducing the distance between them.

Aunt Zhang, tidying up Ji Ling’s dishes, said, “Not really. I used to live in Tongzhou and only came to the Ji family a few years ago.”

“Don’t you need to help take care of your grandchildren?”

“No, their mother takes care of them.”

Talking about her grandchildren finally brought a smile to Aunt Zhang’s face. “My son is a chef at a state-run restaurant. His salary is decent.”

Being able to stay home to take care of children meant the salary was indeed good. State-run restaurant chefs had skills, and even if they faced layoffs in the future, they would find jobs more easily than others.

Lin Qiao’s eyes curved. “That’s impressive. With your cooking skills, your son must have inherited your talent.”

“He’s not like me; his father was the real cook. He used to be an apprentice at the Eight Great Buildings. Unfortunately, he passed away early and missed the good times.” After chatting for a while, Aunt Zhang realized Lin Qiao was easy to get along with and gradually opened up.

Lin Qiao asked about the job market in Yandu, “Is it easy to find work here?”

“It depends on what kind of work. Temporary jobs are easy to find. There’s construction everywhere, and they need workers. But formal jobs are harder to come by. A few years ago, so many educated youths returned at once that there weren’t enough positions for them. Some are still waiting at home for news.”

Aunt Zhang looked at Lin Qiao with some confusion, seemingly not understanding why she would worry about finding a job with the Ji family backing her.

But Lin Qiao didn’t plan to rely on the Ji family for everything.

After all, the life-saving favor was kindness, but it was also Grandpa Lin’s duty as a bodyguard. Grandpa Ji remembered this favor and proposed the marriage. Seeking the Ji family to fulfill the marriage agreement was reasonable. However, asking for a household registration or a job would be exploiting the favor.

Lin Qiao wasn’t overly ambitious but knew she had to work hard to survive. Otherwise, when she realized the job market was tough, she wouldn’t have crammed for over four months to get into graduate school. Then, because her advisor was too picky, she had to revise her thesis several times, only to be told the first version was the best, leading to many sleepless nights…

Lin Qiao couldn’t rely entirely on the male lead. Even though she only had a high school diploma, which was sufficient for now, in another decade, she would face the wave of layoffs that would destroy countless families. To live a stable life, she needed to study for a few more years and get a college degree.

As for doing business…

It doesn’t require a degree, but it’s not as easy as novels make it seem.

First, profitable businesses are controlled by those with information advantages. Ordinary people wanting to start a business often can’t find the right opportunities. For someone like her, a time traveler unfamiliar with Yandu, it’s even harder. She wouldn’t even know where to start a small business.

While she was pondering this, Xu Li returned, carrying several bags. “Qiao Qiao, come and see how these clothes look.” She took out the clothes, all of which were the latest styles in Yandu, along with a pair of sneakers and a pair of pointed high heels.

“I passed by the mall and saw these in your size, so I bought them. Try them on, and if they don’t fit, I’ll exchange them.”

Buying them first and exchanging them later was a tactic to prevent Lin Qiao from feeling embarrassed about accepting them.

Lin Qiao appreciated her kindness and didn’t refuse, trying on each item as Xu Li suggested.

In the early 1980s, right after the reform and opening up, there were only a few styles of clothing available. However, the pair of Warrior sneakers were much more comfortable than Lin Qiao’s Liberation shoes.

The Liberation shoes of this era were not like the ones Lin Qiao wore during military training; they had very thin soles. With most roads being dirt paths, walking any distance would make her feet ache. Warrior sneakers might not compare to later sports brands, but their soles were thick and comfortable enough.

“They’re a bit loose, but with insoles, they’ll be fine.” Xu Li went back to her room to find a pair of insoles for Lin Qiao and picked up the high heels. “These don’t fit well. I’ll exchange them for a smaller size.”

Then she asked Lin Qiao, “You’ve been here for a few days, and I haven’t taken you out. Do you want to see a movie or go to a concert?”

---

“You said you have a girlfriend, and Grandpa still wants you to take her out?” That evening, when Ye Minshu came home from work, she heard Ji Ze mention this news and couldn’t hide her shock. “She’s a girl from the countryside. Does she even know what a concert is? Is your grandpa getting senile?”

Ji Jun, who was watching the news nearby, frowned at her words. “What are you saying?”

Ye Minshu realized her mistake. “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m worried about Xiao Ze. She’s only been here a few days, and Dad acts like he’s under a spell, insisting Xiao Ze marry her even though he has a girlfriend.”

“Isn’t that fake?” Ji Jun’s response nearly choked her.

Ye Minshu took a deep breath. “The issue isn’t whether it’s real or fake; it’s Dad’s attitude. She hasn’t even moved in yet, and he’s already like this. If she does move in, with Dad backing her, Xiao Ze won’t have a place to stand.”

This finally hit the mark. Ji Jun also felt that the old man was being too forceful, disregarding their wishes.

Back then, he was in his thirties. Now, in middle age and having been an official for many years, his perspective had changed. A girl with such strong opinions and the ability to sway the old man wasn’t his type.

“So what do we do? We can’t just not let Xiao Ze go, can we?”

Despite his frown, Ji Jun was reluctant to go against his father after all these years.

“If it comes to it, then I’ll go.” Ji Ze ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “It’s not like we’re getting married. Going won’t change anything.”

“How can that be? If it happens once, there will be a second and third time…”

Ye Minshu clearly disagreed but had no better solution.

As she fretted, she noticed a small figure sneaking out and raised her voice, “Ji Ling, where are you going?”

“I-I’m going to Grandpa’s house. Uncle is helping me with my homework.”

This was a lie. Ji Ling sensed the tense atmosphere at home and, unable to watch TV, decided to try her luck elsewhere.

Ye Minshu scolded her, “Your uncle is so busy, and you still ask him to help with your homework?”

Halfway through, she paused. “Right, how could I forget that the second son is still single…” Ye Minshu’s words were an unconscious mutter.