Chapter 2

Qin Yan was woken up by the noise.

Although the person making the noise had tried to be quiet, he was still annoyed enough to want to rush out and tell the new housekeeper, whom he hadn’t even met yet, to leave.

He flipped over abruptly, but fell off the bed. That’s right, he was paralyzed, a cripple. How could he crawl out? Impossible. To call someone in to lift him back up? He’d rather die.

He was frustrated because his dream had been interrupted.

In the dream, he saw another version of himself—skin tanned to a light wheat color, healthy and full of energy. Especially those strong, capable legs, which made him jealous.

He saw the other version of himself, like looking in a mirror, and realized how unlikable he was when he was arrogant.

The version of him who could walk and jump said, “Cherish it, treat the new housekeeper better.”

He pinched his lifeless legs and sneered, “Why don’t we switch bodies then? You sit in the wheelchair, and the housekeeper can be yours.”

Before he could get a response, he was woken up by the noise of the new housekeeper preparing breakfast.

She didn’t even let him finish his dream. Qin Yan had no place to vent his frustration.

The door creaked open, and a small gap appeared as someone outside pushed it. The new housekeeper must’ve heard him fall and was peeking to see if she should come in.

Qin Yan lay on the floor, unable to see the door from behind the bed. He didn’t care to look either, deciding to just lie there quietly and wait for the pesky housekeeper to leave.

A dirty but pretty face, even smudged with dust, peeked from the foot of the bed, her bright eyes blinking as she watched him.

His mother had gotten him yet another pretty housekeeper. This one was the most beautiful yet. Did she think looks alone would lead to a successful childbearing?

A courtyard house near the Imperial City—those were already worth a fortune. So many housekeepers sent by their families thought they were gaining something valuable.

Qin Yan was both amused and irritated, staying silent to see how this new housekeeper would perform.

She was indeed beautiful, but not very bright, as she timidly asked, “Brother, if I lift you up now, you won’t take advantage of me, will you?”

She called him “brother” and asked him not to be inappropriate.

Qin Yan was speechless, wondering how long this housekeeper would keep up the act.

“Are you sure you can lift me?” he asked.

Before his paralysis, Qin Yan had been 185 cm tall. Even though he had lost weight, he was still over 60 kg. He doubted how this frail-looking housekeeper could lift him.

Jiang Ruan, who had come from a post-apocalyptic world, wasn’t very useful to her base. Her healing ability was weak, and she couldn’t hunt, so she barely received enough supplies to survive. In that harsh world, people evolved powers, while here, the environment was serene, and technology and agriculture were what mattered. To these people, Jiang Ruan’s physical strength made her a powerhouse.

Lifting someone weighing a hundred kilograms or more was no problem for her.

She squatted down and tilted her head, looking at the man on the ground. “Brother, I’m going to lift you now. Don’t be embarrassed.”

Qin Yan sneered. “If you can’t lift me, you shouldn’t bother coming back tomorrow.”

Before he could finish his words, Qin Yan felt himself lose balance. In the full-length mirror, the petite girl in patched-up clothes with messy braids was holding a much bigger man. She smiled like a silly, innocent child, and Qin Yan started trembling uncontrollably.

He wasn’t sure if it was out of shock or anger—or both.

Jiang Ruan picked him up effortlessly, her face beaming as she asked for his praise and even tried to please him by asking, “Brother, would you like to go outside to bask in the sun?”

…

To give her son and the housekeeper more time to adjust, Miao Shufang returned home at ten, finding the house spotless—even the cobwebs on the ceiling were cleaned.

The study door was open, the desk lamp shining bright. Her son was actually holding a book, How the Steel Was Tempered. Though he was holding it upside down, Miao Shufang was still happy.

She ran to the study, noticing that her son was wearing a different outfit than in the morning, with his hair trimmed neatly after more than a month of being untidy. There was also a pleasant soap scent—apparently, the housekeeper had given him a bath.

Her son’s face looked resentful, but Miao Shufang was still pleased. The anger and resistance made him seem more alive.

This new housekeeper had done a great job!

“Son, are you satisfied with this housekeeper? Should we keep her?” Miao Shufang asked cheerfully.

Qin Yan closed the book abruptly and pointed at his head with its corner. “Mom, is there something wrong with this new housekeeper’s head?”

He almost outright asked if she was mentally impaired.

He actually spoke, and said so much, even if it was with resentment. Anything was better than silence.

Miao Shufang was overjoyed and defended the housekeeper. “No, she’s just a little naive, but isn’t that kind of cute? Look at how hardworking she is—she bathed you and cut your hair. I couldn’t be happier with her.”

All that was left was to have a child. If a child was born, Miao Shufang would indeed give her the courtyard house.

Qin Yan seemed as if he’d suffered a great insult, the veins bulging on his hand. “I told her not to come tomorrow. You don’t need to find me another housekeeper either—I’m done.”

…

Jiang Ruan worked all day and got her daily wages. She returned to the crowded courtyard, where four families lived: her eldest brother and sister-in-law’s family, her second brother and sister-in-law’s family along with her parents, her aunt and uncle’s family, and Grandma Huang.

After arriving, Jiang Ruan spent several days sorting out all the family relationships. Her parents had married in an exchange arrangement—her father married her mother, and her mother’s brother married her father’s sister. The courtyard had been left by her grandfather to her mother and uncle. Her mother had given a room to her eldest brother and his wife, and Grandma Huang had been living there as well, making it a four-family residence.

It was late, and the four families had all gone to sleep. If she knocked now, her mother would scold her, so Jiang Ruan chose to doze off by Grandma Huang’s door.

Grandma Huang was the only one who wouldn’t scold her.

The door creaked open, and Grandma Huang appeared, holding a candle. The power was out, and during these power cuts, summer nights outside meant feeding the mosquitoes. She was a light sleeper, and she had heard Jiang Ruan climbing the courtyard wall.

The child had returned from the countryside over a month ago, but her appetite was too big, and her simple-mindedness made it hard to find a job, so her mother scolded her frequently—so much that she was too scared to even knock on the door when she came back.

Grandma Huang said, “Ruan Ruan, come sleep at Grandma’s.”

“Thank you, Grandma.”

Grandma Huang gave her a cooked ear of corn, knowing she would get hungry easily because of her large appetite, and told her to eat before sleeping.

“Did your employer make you do all the cleaning again today?” she asked.

Not only was she made to clean thoroughly, but some stingy employers would pay her just a few cents, only for her to return home and get scolded again.

Jiang Ruan didn’t take Grandma Huang’s corn. She had eaten well today, and though her employer’s brother was mean, he let her eat, and he had given her a fair wage.

She took out the money and said, “The employer’s brother gave me a dollar seventy today, Grandma. Can you help me see if it’s more or less than it should be?”

Her employer was fair, even paying her the daily equivalent of a fifty-dollar monthly salary.

Grandma Huang told her to put it away. “It’s more than what your dad makes. Now, sleep, and show it to your mom tomorrow. She’ll see that you can make money too.”

Early the next morning, Jiang Ruan was already up, helping Grandma Huang prepare breakfast and sweeping the courtyard when her mother came out to fetch water. Jiang Ruan paused, waiting for her mother to finish scolding before saying anything.

It was her way of handling things—if she didn’t let her mother finish scolding her, it would go on all morning.

“Where were you last night?” Liu Jinyun was already upset seeing her simple-minded daughter. She ate too much—more than the entire family combined.

“A girl spending the night out—doesn’t our family care about its reputation?”

Grandma Huang couldn’t help but intervene. “She came back last night, but you scold her so often she didn’t dare knock. She stayed with me.”

Jiang Jianchun, Jiang Ruan’s older sister, arrived carrying a dozen steamed buns and a pot of soy milk to win favor with her mother. She must have had something to ask for.

She said to Grandma Huang, “You’re just making trouble for yourself, Grandma. How can you coddle her when her own mom is trying to discipline her?”

Liu Jinyun asked her eldest daughter blandly, “How can you talk to Grandma Huang like that? No manners at all. Why are you here so early in the morning?”

Jiang Jianchun handed Grandma Huang two warm steamed buns, apologized, and then dragged the uneasy Jiang Ruan back home, complaining, “It’s all because of Little Sister. She didn’t go to my boss’s house to work as a nanny yesterday, and I got scolded by the supervisor. He said our family has no credibility at all. She has to go today.”

“I’m not going. I worked a full month, and he only paid me fifteen yuan. I got scolded by Mom for a whole day, and his mother wouldn’t even let me have seconds. I couldn’t eat enough there.”

“Where can you get enough to eat? Tell me. Why do you eat so much? Can’t you just endure it when you’re in someone else’s house?”

“Yesterday, I found a new nanny job. They let me eat my fill, and they pay me fifty yuan a month.”

“Jiang Ruan, have you learned to lie?” Jiang Jianchun clearly didn’t believe her.

Jiang Ruan took out her earnings from yesterday—one yuan and seventy cents. “This is my daily wage.”

“Huh, there’s no such thing as daily wages. You must’ve been dismissed because they weren’t satisfied with you. Stop messing around. Finish your breakfast and go to my boss’s house. His boy wet the bed again, and you need to change and wash the sheets.”

“I can’t go. I’m going to work as a nanny who feeds me well and pays more.”

Jiang Ruan’s second brother, who worked the night shift yesterday, was woken up by the noise. He grabbed a bun, ate, and said, “Then, of course, let Ruan Ruan do the job with better pay. It’s daily wages, so she won’t lose out. Just take it one day at a time.”

Jiang Ruan’s father was about to leave for work and added, “If it means she can eat enough, that’ll save some money. Let her finish her month at the hospital supervisor’s place, but no more after that.”

Jiang Jianchun was exasperated and whispered to her mom, “Mom, that’s my boss. How can I afford to offend him?”

“If your sister doesn’t want to go, what can I do? Unless your boss is willing to pay fifty yuan a month?”

Jiang Jianchun was furious. “My boss only makes sixty yuan a month himself!”

The eldest brother wanted to step forward, but his wife grabbed him by the ear and whispered, “We’ve already split households. What’s it got to do with you? The eldest sister and Mom are fooling you all. Little Sister actually earned thirty yuan a month, but the eldest sister took half to supplement her own family, and Mom kept quiet about it, scolding Little Sister for not earning enough and eating too much. Changing employers is for the best.”

The couple pushed their bicycles and left for work. Jiang Jianchun called after them, “Big Brother, Sister-in-law, come have some buns before you go.”

The sister-in-law smiled, “No, thanks. We’ll eat out.”

Jiang Ruan didn’t bother eating breakfast either, wanting to get to Brother Qin Yan’s house early. “Mom, I’ll go to work now.”

“Make sure to bring back your wages tonight.” Liu Jinyun stuffed two buns into her hands, telling her to eat them on the way, and gave her a bus pass. “Since meals are included, don’t stay there for dinner. Eat at the employer’s before coming home.”

“Okay.” Jiang Ruan was worried. After all, Brother Qin Yan had fired her yesterday. What should she do now?