Chapter 26

Was Ruan Qing planning to commit murder? Of course not, and Nian Qi hadn’t even told her what his profession was. Ruan Qing was actually talking about hiring him as a housekeeper, explaining,

 “We call it domestic work here. It mainly involves cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, and that sort of thing. I can pay you three thousand yuan a month, with meals and lodging included.”

Ruan Qing had always used hourly cleaners before, but never found one she was completely satisfied with. Some had ruined her clothes, some used abrasive sponges to clean the TV and monitor screens, and others had chipped her valuable porcelain pieces, which were seldom used but very expensive.

 Of course, it could also be that Ruan Qing was simply picky and didn’t like settling for anything less than perfect. When Zhao Hao had qualities she valued, she could put up with him, but after he cheated, she wasn’t willing to settle anymore. As for the cleaners, since it was a straightforward transaction—money for labor—why settle? If one didn’t meet her standards, she would just switch to another, which led to her frequently changing them.

Just two days before Nian Qi arrived, she had dismissed the previous cleaner and hadn’t hired a new one. After having a “hidden ancient man” in her home, she was afraid of anyone else finding out, so she decided to hold off on hiring someone. She figured she could manage the housework herself for a while, but she never expected this ancient man to be so diligent and skilled.

Of course, she had other thoughts in mind too. Ruan Qing felt that if Nian Qi continued to live off her money without contributing, it would seem like he was freeloading. She had already supported Zhao Hao and discovered that a man who freeloads for too long becomes increasingly disappointing.

 The dream of “raising and nurturing” a man had long since faded, now she preferred someone who was self-reliant. For Nian Qi, this could also serve as a transitional period between the old world and the new.

Three thousand yuan wasn’t much—housekeepers in top-tier cities usually made six or seven thousand. In a smaller city like Jiangcheng, the average was around four thousand five hundred.

But if Nian Qi ever left her in the future, it was unclear how much he could earn on his own, so starting with a lower salary would mean he wouldn’t face too much of a financial shock later on. After considering every aspect, Ruan Qing believed it was a win-win situation.

However, Nian Qi, eager to earn money, thought it over briefly, stirring the soup pot as he decisively declined, “There’s no need for that. I’m already grateful for you taking me in, so it’s only right that I do something to repay you. How could I possibly take money?” He smiled and served her some soup.

“You just need to provide the grocery money, and I’ll handle everything at home. You can focus on your work.”

His bright and cheerful smile, without a hint of complaint about the chores, thoroughly charmed Ruan Qing. “But… if there’s labor, there should be payment. I can’t just let you work for free,” Ruan Qing said, feeling it wouldn’t be right.

If Ruan Qing paid him for his work, their relationship would be too clearly defined. What he wanted was for the lines between them to blur. She had the kindness of providing him shelter, and he had the gratitude of taking care of her. When the lines between them were sufficiently blurred, even if his identity couldn’t be resolved, he could confidently say, “I have no way to repay your kindness, except to offer myself to you.”

Nian Qi’s little scheme was rattling away in his mind, but unfortunately, Ruan Qing couldn’t hear it. In fact, Ruan Qing was even a bit pleased, thinking that Nian Qi was someone who knew how to show gratitude. As expected of an ancient person, he had a traditional sense of honor. An ancient person should be someone who didn’t care about money but valued loyalty and relationships, which matched her romantic fantasies from her youth. It was indeed thrilling to “raise” an ancient man like this.

The meal was delicious—Ruan Qing had to admit that Nian Qi had a real talent for this sort of thing.

Ruan Qing was already considering whether, once his identity issue was resolved, it might be worthwhile to send him to a culinary school like New Oriental to formally learn cooking and even get a certification. After all, in a society governed by the rule of law, if he still wanted to wield a knife, it would have to be a kitchen knife.

“Hey, why haven’t you asked me anything?” Ruan Qing couldn’t help but ask. “The emperor, for example.”

Ruan Qing was dying to know. “Why haven’t you asked why we no longer have an emperor?”

On the night Nian Qi time-traveled here, she had bombarded him with the facts that there was “no longer an emperor” and that “men and women are equal.” She had expected him to react with shock and disbelief, to exclaim, “How can there be no ruler for the nation?” Then she would have had a perfect opportunity to teach him about the concept of the people being their own masters and the superiority of a socialist system. But to her surprise, Nian Qi had simply said, “What’s that got to do with me?”

Nian Qi continued, “If there isn’t one, then there isn’t one. The sky hasn’t fallen, has it?”

Ruan Qing was speechless.

Nian Qi seemed indifferent. “I’ve lived all these years and never once seen the emperor. He never gave me a mouthful of food or a single coin. Everything I’ve eaten and worn has been earned day by day.” He almost let slip “earned knife by knife” but caught himself just in time. “Now that I’m here, I’m eating your food. Your money is earned day by day through work.”

“So, what difference does it make whether there is an emperor or not?”

Ruan Qing felt a little exasperated. “You’re not like the ancient people I imagined at all.” She had expected him to be more affected by such a monumental change, maybe even pound his chest in grief.

Nian Qi was puzzled. “What do you think ancient people were like?”

“Weren’t they supposed to revere the emperor as if he were the sun?” Ruan Qing replied.

“You’ve overthought it,” Nian Qi said. “Ordinary people wouldn’t want an emperor. If there’s an emperor, that means paying taxes.”

“I’ve sometimes traveled deep into the mountains and come across remote villages. They were hiding there to avoid tax collectors, with a few families escaping together generations ago. After a hundred years, they’ve never left the mountains, still using the era name of the previous dynasty.”

“Without an emperor or tax collectors, they cleared the land in the mountains and lived better than they would outside, where they could hardly get enough to eat.”

Ruan Qing wasn’t entirely unaware of these things, but she’d read too many novels and enjoyed the idea of people from the past being shocked to learn they could live without an emperor. Nian Qi, however, didn’t give her that satisfaction. Very few things seemed to truly shock him.

She thought about the knife hidden on top of her wardrobe. It had blood on it, and judging by the amount, it could have been enough to kill someone. If Nian Qi were a modern person and had shown up with a bloody knife, Ruan Qing would definitely have called the police. But since he was a time traveler from ancient times—a world she saw as full of violence and conflict—it seemed likely that, if he had killed someone and then experienced the marvel of time travel, there wouldn’t be much else that could truly surprise him.

Nian Qi had no idea what Ruan Qing was thinking. He urged her, “Don’t let the soup get cold. It’s better when it’s hot.” The soup was light, something he had learned from Auntie Niu, and perfect for drinking in the summer.

Ruan Qing took a sip, and her mouth filled with a subtle, savory flavor from the bones and meat. Instantly, all thoughts of violence and conflict faded away.

Before the sun had fully set, a delivery arrived—it was the textbooks Ruan Qing had bought for Nian Qi. “Do you want me to go over them with you?” she asked.

Nian Qi said, “No need.” The videos he watched had subtitles, and learning characters through them turned out to be a fast method for him; he was picking it up quickly. He picked up a middle school chemistry textbook, flipped through it, and told Ruan Qing, “There are some characters I don’t recognize, but it’s fine. I can guess their meaning.”

Ruan Qing assured him, “You don’t need to do the exercises or take exams. As long as you understand the main points, that’s enough.”

Nian Qi read a few pages seriously and then asked curiously, “What’s the use of learning this?”

“There isn’t any specific use, but…” Ruan Qing thought for a moment, choosing her words carefully. “Let me put it this way:”

“There’s a difference between types of salt. Table salt is what we use for cooking, it’s safe to eat. Industrial salt is used in manufacturing, it’s toxic.”

“People who have had nine years of compulsory education wouldn’t eat industrial salt. But an uneducated old woman in a rural area might see that industrial salt is cheap and buy it for cooking.”

“And then, it could end up poisoning her whole family.”

Ruan Qing explained, “The reason I’m asking you to learn this basic knowledge is so you don’t make these kinds of mistakes.”

Nian Qi understood. “Alright, I’ll study seriously.”

Ruan Qing had been truly busy these past few days, with a deadline approaching to hand over a house to a client. She didn’t have much time to check on Nian Qi, but he was indeed quite trustworthy. He diligently studied at home, learned to use household appliances and gas, figured out how to order takeout, and even used his phone to order groceries from a nearby supermarket.

Whenever Ruan Qing came home, there would always be a hot meal waiting for her. The fridge was stocked with vegetables, meat, eggs, cola, beer, and even her snacks. If she ran out, Nian Qi would find the exact type from the packaging and buy more for her. The house was always spotless, and the laundry was washed, dried, and folded neatly.

One day, when she called out from the study room, “Don’t put it on the sofa; just leave it on the bed,” the clean clothes were soon placed neatly at the foot of the bed. It was such a comfortable life—completely different from when she had been with Zhao Hao, that troublesome guy.

She never wanted to be the “big sister” in a relationship again; taking care of someone was too exhausting. Being taken care of was much more enjoyable.

Three or four days passed quickly, and then one day, Nian Qi suddenly asked, “Do you like spicy fish stew?”

Ruan Qing replied, “You’re craving spicy fish stew? We can go out and eat it when I get back tomorrow.”

“No,” Nian Qi said. “I wanted to ask if you’d like to have it. If you do, I’ll make it for you.”

Ruan Qing was so surprised that she almost dropped her chopsticks. Although Nian Qi truly had a talent for cooking, he had always followed Aunt Niu’s videos and made simple home-style dishes.

“Did Aunt Niu even teach spicy fish stew?” she asked in surprise.

Nian Qi replied, “I’ve finished all of Aunt Niu’s videos. I’ve watched other people’s cooking videos too.”

Ruan Qing was skeptical. “Spicy fish stew is a bit too complicated, isn’t it? It feels like something you’d only get at a restaurant.”

But Nian Qi said confidently, “It’s not complicated at all. I’ve already mastered it. As long as you don’t mind using a lot of oil.”

Ruan Qing waved her hand dismissively. “That much oil doesn’t matter. Go ahead and make it.”

Nian Qi put down his chopsticks and immediately took out his phone to order the fish, handling the process with practiced ease. He had fully adapted to the convenience of smartphone use.

Ruan Qing couldn’t help but feel a wave of emotions. Amid her thoughts, she suddenly remembered to ask, “Do you still have enough money?”

With all the elaborate meals recently, she figured the funds must be running low.

Nian Qi said, “There’s still enough to buy the fish,” and showed her the balance on his phone.

Ruan Qing chuckled and promptly picked up her phone. “Let me transfer some money to you.”

After some thought, Ruan Qing transferred him three thousand yuan: “Anyway, you’re the one buying groceries and other household items, so you can take care of everything together.” Nian Qi agreed quite naturally.

The next day was the inspection day for the hard renovations. Ruan Qing took along an intern assigned to her by the company and went over early in the morning. They worked non-stop all day and only finished by the afternoon. Completely exhausted, she had the intern drive while she rested in the passenger seat, scrolling through her phone.

Suddenly, she noticed dozens of unread messages in the usually quiet neighborhood group chat. This chat mostly consisted of mundane things like “@Building Manager, there’s dog urine in Elevator No. 2, please ask the cleaner to take care of it,” or “Hey neighbors, is it just me or is the hot water out in the whole building?” It was always low-traffic because, in modern society, not many people are eager to socialize with their neighbors. Seeing so many messages at once was unusual and clearly indicated something had happened.

Ruan Qing opened the chat, scrolled to the top of the unread messages, and started reading quickly.

Neighbor A: [Really?]
Neighbor B: [The lobby guard told me.]
Neighbor C: [Scary!]
Neighbor D: [Couldn’t they catch him? Was the police called?]
Neighbor B: [Video]
Neighbor C: [Terrifying, so agile! Must be a seasoned thief!]
Neighbor A: [Whoa, is that even real? It looks like some kind of martial arts trick!]
Neighbor A: [@Building Manager, the property management needs to give us an explanation. We can’t live in fear!]
Neighbor C: [@Building Manager]
Neighbor D: [@Building Manager]
Building Manager: [Dear residents, please don’t worry. We just had a meeting. Starting yesterday, we’ve already increased night patrols. Today, we decided to add another security shift and increase the frequency of night patrols.]
Building Manager: [Protecting the community, brought to you by Rundi Property Management. Trust Rundi for your peace of mind.]
Building Manager: [Community Direct Sale: XX Brand Mineral Water.jpg]
Building Manager: [Click on this image and scan the QR code to make a purchase.]

Ruan Qing quickly understood: there had been a break-in. Living on a high floor, she wasn’t too concerned, as burglars typically target the lower floors, with the third or fourth floor being the highest they’d go. But since she was bored on the drive, she clicked on the video shared by a neighbor.

The footage was clearly from a security camera and had already been edited. The first time she watched it, all she saw was a dark figure flash across the screen near the residential area’s fence. In the second playback, which was slowed down, the shadow was still extremely quick. It seemed to leap straight up and over the fence from a standing position—an incredible move that resembled the “sprouting from the ground” technique in martial arts! And that fence had coiled barbed wire on top! Yet the figure just jumped right over it. Impressive.

The video wasn’t finished; it was a compilation of several surveillance clips, all processed. In the next segment, filmed from a different location, the figure was closer to the camera, making it a bit clearer in the slow-motion replay. As Ruan Qing marveled at the thief’s agility, she suddenly noticed something odd. The thief was wearing a baseball cap, and that hat looked disturbingly familiar.

“…”

Ruan Qing, “!!!”