Chapter 18

Although Shen Jianzhen had practically no ability to take care of herself, under Zhang Hongying’s guidance, she gradually started to pay more attention to personal hygiene.

Sometimes, Zhang Hongying felt like she was raising a child.

Even when her own son was young, she hadn’t worried this much.

Since her son had married into her family (as a son-in-law), he called Zhang Xiaoshu and Li Xiaofang “grandpa” and “grandma,” so he was mostly raised by Li Xiaofang.

Li Xiaofang was actually quite good at raising children. When Zhang Yuhao was little, he was fair-skinned and chubby, always neatly dressed—a very lovable child. It made Zhang Hongying wonder: if Shen Jianzhen had been born into her family, would Li Xiaofang have also raised her into a tidy, diligent girl?

Shen Jianzhen wasn’t picky about clothes. As long as Zhang Hongying gave her new clothes—regardless of the style or pattern—she liked them all.

Nowadays, Shen Jianzhen walked hunched over, her shoulders pulled up, dark and skinny. Who knows how long it had taken her in her past life to learn to walk tall like a regular person?

Anyway, this life, with Zhang Hongying around, she could at least help her avoid some of the detours.

Zhang Hongying didn’t understand why, even at Shen Jianzhen’s age, she still needed someone to remind her to wash her hair, bathe, or change clothes. Her homeroom teacher in her past life must’ve been really impressive to have led her down such a bright path.

If she had really gone to work on a factory assembly line, she might have been discarded soon after.

And with a family background like hers, clumsy at work and hard to marry off, she’d probably have ended up married to some old bachelor.

Zhang Hongying “raised” Shen Jianzhen up until the high school entrance exams. After the exams, during the holiday at home—which happened to be harvest season—Shen Jianzhen came to visit Zhang Hongying after helping at home.

Zhang Hongying was working at her shop, and Shen Jianzhen wandered around, looking at everything with interest.

Even though Zhang Hongying didn’t talk to her much, Shen Jianzhen seemed perfectly content.

After about an hour, Shen Jianzhen quietly said to Zhang Hongying, “That stall around the corner in the market—there’s something off about the person running it. You should be careful with her.”

Zhang Hongying asked, puzzled, “What’s wrong with her?”

Shen Jianzhen explained, “I’ve just been sitting here watching people come and go, and paying attention to how each stall is doing business.

Most customers spend a few minutes at each stall—they touch the clothes, ask questions, try them on, and bargain.

But that particular stall is different. When customers arrive, the owner gets overly eager, almost desperate for them to buy something right away.

And when the customers leave without buying, she stares after them, watching where they go to make a purchase.

I think she holds grudges and has a vengeful nature.

Fortunately, she sells ready-made clothes, and you do custom tailoring, so you’re probably not competing directly.

But like the book says: ‘Better to offend a gentleman than a petty person. Offend a gentleman, and the grudge is shallow; offend a petty person, and the trouble runs deep.’”

Zhang Hongying looked at her blankly. “I don’t understand.”

Shen Jianzhen clarified, “Basically, if you offend that kind of person, they’ll cause a lot of trouble.”

Zhang Hongying’s eyes shifted. She’d been running the shop for quite a while and hadn’t noticed anything strange. Yet Shen Jianzhen had spotted it immediately. It showed she had keen observational skills. Maybe she should let her stay on and work a summer job—help keep an eye on things?

So Zhang Hongying discussed it with Master Wang and arranged for Shen Jianzhen to help with trimming threads, keeping an eye on the stall when someone stepped away, and running errands between the two shops. Thirty or fifty yuan a month would be fine.

Zhang Hongying herself had been trimming threads at the village’s garment factory with Li Xiaofang since she was six or seven years old. Back then, a whole day of work earned just fifty cents. A decade had flown by, and wages had climbed significantly.

Shen Jianzhen had originally planned to find a summer job anyway. But the small factory in her village had power outages and couldn’t operate regularly. At best, she’d earn twenty yuan in a month. Now, working with Zhang Hongying meant she could hang out with her best friend, and whether it was thirty or fifty yuan, she was happy.

With a companion to walk to and from work with every day, Zhang Hongying didn’t even feel tired walking anymore.

Officially, her monthly income was just thirty yuan, so she couldn’t mention saving for a bicycle just yet.

She wondered, once she had saved enough for a bike, would Li Xiaofang feel sorry for her and offer to buy her one?

But thinking about the debt from building their house, Zhang Hongying wasn’t optimistic.

Zhang Hongying now had her own room, while Zhang Hongxing, when he returned home, still shared a room with Li Xiaofang and the others.

Looking at the painfully skinny Shen Jianzhen, her neck bones visibly jutting out, Zhang Hongying quietly said to her, “I’ve saved a bit of money in secret—my mom doesn’t know.

Let’s treat ourselves at the market and get something nutritious.

But don’t let it slip. If people ask what we ate…”

Shen Jianzhen instantly caught on, “We had noodle soup with pickled vegetables for lunch.”

Zhang Hongying gave her a thumbs up. “Exactly. Better to let people think I’m stingy than generous.

Otherwise, someone might try to take your place.

And if someone asks about your wages…”

“I’ll say I was bored after the exams and just came to hang out with you,” Shen Jianzhen interrupted.

“What if people criticize you for being old enough to help your family but instead just playing around?”

Shen Jianzhen was unfazed. “You take the reputation for being stingy, I take the one for being lazy.

Being called stingy doesn’t affect your chances of getting married. And as for me, I’m not planning to marry locally, so I’m not worried they’ll dig into my background in Qing Town.”

Zhang Hongying tentatively asked, “When you go out for school in the future, will you take me with you?”

Shen Jianzhen scratched her head, a little hesitant. “When I’m studying, I’ll live in a dorm. I don’t think the school will let you stay with me.

But once I graduate and get a job and a place of my own, I’ll definitely take you.”

Zhang Hongying said, “It’s just that I’ve never traveled far before. I’m scared to go out alone.

If you’re willing to bring me along, you don’t need to worry about anything else.

Everywhere has markets. I’ll just rent a place and keep doing tailoring.

It’s just when I don’t know the area or the market, I’ll need you to show me around a bit.”

Shen Jianzhen gave her a strange look. “You don’t know your way around, but neither do I. We’ll just ask someone.”

Zhang Hongying chuckled. “I’m just embarrassed to ask.”

Shen Jianzhen was confused. “Why be embarrassed to ask for directions?”

Zhang Hongying said, “I heard there are a lot of bad people out there. What if you accidentally ask the wrong person, and they trick you and sell you off?”

Shen Jianzhen scoffed, “If the world were really full of bad people, how could we go to school peacefully?

Don’t worry—if the only thing holding you back is fear, I’ll give you courage. That’s no problem.

But if you expect me to support you… well, that’ll have to wait until I earn enough money.”

Zhang Hongying burst out laughing. “Even if I’m not great at studying, I’m good at working. No way I’d need you to support me.

It’s just that I’m afraid to take that first step alone. I only dare go back and forth between Qing Town and Bai Town.

If you take me to a big city, once we get settled, I’ll probably end up looking after you more.”

Shen Jianzhen nodded furiously. “Yes, yes! I’ve been washing my hair once a week, changing clothes every couple of days—people don’t steer away from me anymore.”

Zhang Hongying was half-laughing, half-crying. How could someone be so contradictory—brilliant at studying but clueless at living?

Maybe her messiness had been a kind of protective shield, helping her quietly finish middle school without being bullied—because no one wanted to go near her.