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Chapter 10
Once the chili sauce was ready, they packed it into glass jars, filling a large jar and several smaller ones. Jiang Yu’s mouth began to water as she excitedly exclaimed, “Wow, there’s so much! We should be able to eat this until the baby is born!”
Jiang Zhe felt his eyelids twitch. He wasn’t someone who ate much chili, and for him, this amount would last a lifetime. He kindly reminded her, “I think you could eat a little less. This can last a long time.”
Jiang Yu could avoid other pregnancy cravings, but if it meant avoiding chili, she felt it was better to just perish.
She reasoned with Jiang Zhe, “You don’t understand the joy of those of us who love spicy food! My sister-in-law also craved spicy food when she was pregnant.” Jiang Zhe perked up and listened carefully, but Jiang Yu quickly realized that if she continued, she might expose too much information, so she awkwardly laughed and clarified, “I meant my cousin’s wife!”
The original character was an only daughter, but she had many cousins because her dad had several siblings.
Though Jiang Zhe didn’t know much about her family, he did know that they didn’t like spicy food. He had been to her house a few times and hadn’t seen anyone eating spicy dishes.
He was curious about Jiang Yu’s change in taste, but he understood that this might be a secret that shouldn’t be revealed. Once it was out, their relationship could drastically change. So, he chose to guide her by asking, “They say that if you crave sour food, you’ll have a boy. If you crave spicy food, you’ll have a girl. What did your sister-in-law have in the end?”
Jiang Yu rolled her eyes at him. “We have plenty of girls who love spicy food. It’s not like they all give birth to girls!”
“However, I do really like daughters.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yu remembered her previous views and suddenly wanted to test Jiang Zhe’s stance.
She hesitated and said, “Jiang Zhe, um, since I’m an only child, my parents actually want me to have a child who shares our family name.”
In reality, it wasn’t the original owner’s parents who wanted that. It was Jiang Yu herself. After all, legally, a child’s surname could follow either parent’s. She felt justified in fighting for her rights.
Traditionally, children would take the father’s surname. Jiang Yu knew she was like this, and Jiang Zhe was as well. Though she felt Jiang Zhe was different from most men, she still worried he might be stubborn about surnames. However, Jiang Zhe didn’t show any signs of shock or unwillingness. Instead, he said, “That’s fine.”
Jiang Yu had prepared herself for a tug-of-war over the issue, but she didn’t expect him to agree so quickly. With her prepared arguments going nowhere, she felt puzzled and asked, “Why did you agree so easily?”
They had only come out after finishing their meal, and it was getting dark. The neighborhood was lively, with families out playing. Jiang Zhe looked at the crowd not far away, filled with parents and children, a scene that had been a dream for him during his childhood. He had imagined it, yearned for it, but had never experienced it.
His feelings toward his parents didn’t compare to the deep bond he felt for Grandma.
“My surname isn’t that important. Plus, the child is the one you’ll be giving birth to. If you want them to share your surname, why not?”
“That’s great.”
Jiang Yu felt that she had crossed into this world, had a child, and that her child had a good father. This feeling was quite wonderful.
There were quite a few people on the playground, and Jiang Yu thought it would be nice to take a walk over there. So, she asked Jiang Zhe, “Shall we go for a walk?”
Jiang Zhe usually returned home after finishing his work outside. Once he was home, it felt like a turtle retreating into its safe shell, filling him with a sense of peace. He hadn’t really done leisurely activities like walking outside much, and he wasn’t particularly fond of it.
However, since Jiang Yu had brought it up, he felt unsure of how to refuse, even if he wanted to. After hesitating for a moment, he looked up and saw her eyes, which seemed more beautiful than the stars in the sky, and he froze. Then, for reasons he couldn’t explain, he ended up agreeing.
“Sure.”
In the square, some people were selling balloons, and small stalls had glowing toys for kids. The area was filled with trees, and the air was fresh. It seemed there weren’t any large factories nearby, so compared to their apartment complex, the sky and scenery here were much nicer and more natural.
The night had a slight chill, but Jiang Yu didn’t feel like retreating indoors at all. Instead, she slowly walked along the sidewalk. When she saw a primary school nearby, she curiously asked, “You didn’t attend elementary school here, did you?”
“No.”
In reality, he had wanted to attend school here as a child because his parents were always busy and only his grandparents understood what he truly needed. He had mentioned it to his parents, but they said the educational resources in this area weren’t as good.
However, his good friends all went to school here. At the so-called better school his parents mentioned, he faced more ridicule from classmates and teachers who told him to “reflect on why others weren’t bullied.” Eventually, his grandfather noticed something was wrong and took him to the school to talk to the teachers. After scolding his homeroom teacher, those who had bullied him were less brazen.
If he were to talk about his past in front of her, he would likely be mocked.
Jiang Zhe didn’t want Jiang Yu to think of him as weak and useless, so he preferred to keep quiet about his past.
As they walked, they came across two boys surrounding a smaller boy, threatening him, “Hand over all your money!”
The small boy looked frail, dressed poorly, and was trembling like a fragile reed in the wind. He weakly replied, “I’ve already given you all my money. There’s none left.”
His display of weakness only encouraged the others, who began to kick and taunt him.
As someone who loved spicy food and wasn’t weak in spirit, Jiang Yu felt a surge of anger upon seeing a child being bullied. She completely forgot that she was a pregnant woman in need of care and rushed forward, rolling up her sleeves, glaring fiercely at the two boys, and scolded, “What are you doing?”
Although Jiang Yu was a pregnant woman, the two boys, even if they were intimidating towards the small boy, were still just elementary school kids. As soon as they saw an adult arrive, they fled, leaving the small boy who had been robbed.
Jiang Yu walked over, helped the small boy up, and asked with concern, “Are you okay?”
The boy was dirty and covered in leaves. He had been robbed several times, with the bullies threatening him to hand over his money at this hour. In the past, he had felt lonely and helpless, never thinking someone could help him. He was momentarily stunned, looking at Jiang Yu blankly, and said, “Thank you, thank you, sister.”
Jiang Yu brushed the leaves off him and gently asked, “They’ve bullied you more than once, haven’t they?”
The boy nodded, tears welling up in his eyes. “They took my money. It was for breakfast this morning from my dad.”
He would probably go hungry for several mornings to come.
Jiang Yu understood how uncomfortable it felt to go to class on an empty stomach. She thought she could help the boy, so she asked, “How much did they take from you?”
The boy, still unaware of Jiang Yu’s intentions, honestly replied, “Twenty yuan.”
Jiang Yu checked her pockets, realizing she didn’t carry cash since she rarely used it when going out. Not a single cent was in her pockets.
She turned to Jiang Zhe, who was watching her from a short distance, and called out, “Do you have cash? Twenty yuan?”
Jiang Zhe’s eyes flickered as he pulled out his wallet. He indeed had cash inside. Unlike Jiang Yu, he sometimes encountered situations where cash was necessary, so he always kept some ready.
He handed her a twenty-yuan note, and Jiang Yu gave it to the small boy.
Twenty yuan might not seem like much to adults, but for a child, it was a significant amount. The boy stared blankly at Jiang Yu, and his first reaction was to refuse, “Sister, I can’t just take your money.”
Jiang Yu didn’t expect the boy to be so polite. She gently said, “But if you don’t have money, you can’t have breakfast. You’ll go hungry. I also have a little baby now, and if I see my baby going hungry every day because of money, I would be very sad.”
The boy hesitated.
Clearly, he was tempted, but his pride made him instinctively refuse.
What seemed like a small amount to an adult could indeed be a lot for a child.
Jiang Yu thought for a moment and suggested, “How about this? Consider this money as a loan. You take it for now, and when you have money later, you can return it to me through my grandma.”
The little boy finally agreed to accept the money and bowed deeply to thank her, “Thank you, sister.”
Jiang Yu found it a bit amusing to see the little boy thanking her so formally. She took the opportunity to give him some advice, saying, “If you’re being bullied outside, you should tell your parents. If you don’t, they will keep bullying you.”
The boy spoke timidly, “But my parents are very busy with work.”
“They work hard to earn money for you to go to school. If they saw you getting bullied, they would be so sad.”
However, Jiang Yu remembered that some parents tend to blame everything on their children, so she added a few more words, “Even if your parents don’t have time to take care of you, you can still talk to your teacher or a trusted adult. If that doesn’t work, you can even go to the police. For children, these things may seem big, but for adults, they are just small matters. Letting them handle it is much easier than you suffering in silence.”
“Of course…” Jiang Yu thought back to her own childhood when, trying to be cool, she never wanted to tell adults about her problems and would just confront those annoying boys one-on-one.
“When it’s absolutely necessary, you can grab a broom or a stick or something handy and bravely fight back. If they see that you’re fierce enough and not afraid to fight, they will be scared of you, and they won’t bully you anymore. Remember, you’re afraid of pain, but they’re not made of iron; they’re afraid of pain too. As a boy, you need to be braver. Aunty was also always fighting when she was young. You probably didn’t expect that, did you?”
Not only did the little boy not expect this, but even Jiang Zhe was surprised. He had thought Jiang Yu was the gentle type, at least much gentler than the previous version of her, but he didn’t expect her to be so fierce as a child.
He couldn’t imagine her fighting with boys.
The little boy shook his head.
However, Jiang Yu’s words did provide him with some insight. Suddenly, he felt enlightened and knew how to deal with his current predicament. He bowed to Jiang Yu gratefully and said, “Thank you, sister. I know what to do now.”
Then the little boy excitedly ran off with the twenty yuan.
Jiang Yu turned back to look at Jiang Zhe and found him watching her. Remembering her earlier advice about teaching the little boy to fight, she suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and asked, “Um, was it a bit inappropriate for me to teach him to fight?”
Jiang Zhe shook his head. “If he follows your advice, he won’t be bullied anymore, and he’ll be very grateful to you.”
Jiang Yu chuckled, then continued, “Were you a bit surprised that I fought when I was younger?”
Jiang Zhe nodded.
Jiang Yu said, “That’s because my dad told us that our family’s children could only pay for medical expenses, but we couldn’t be beaten up. Plus, I was a bit reckless back then. Although my dad said I could tell the family if something happened, I thought I could handle it myself. So, ever since preschool, I often fought with boys.”
Many boys back then would pull girls’ hair for fun. Jiang Yu had many reasons to fight: the boy sitting behind her would pull her hair, and some boys in class would insult her deskmate, while others would slack off during group duties.
Every time she was called to the principal’s office, her dad would go. After apologizing, he would take her out of school and immediately encourage her, even buying her something as a reward.
Later, in middle school, when she saw the girls around her being demure, she gradually learned to temper her temper.
As Jiang Yu walked and shared her fond memories with Jiang Zhe, he felt a warm sensation in his heart. All his worries seemed to melt away, and he felt reassured that even if she knew about his past, she wouldn’t look down on him.
Around them, there were quite a few pedestrians, and the atmosphere was harmonious. Jiang Zhe didn’t feel uncomfortable encountering strangers anymore; instead, he enjoyed the current state. If he could, he hoped she could stay here forever.
***
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Ayalee[Translator]
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