Chapter 4

Because Jiang Ruan didn’t bring home her daily wages last night, no matter how she explained it, her family refused to believe she had found a nanny job that paid more than her father’s salary.

The next morning, her older sister came again, whispered to their mother for a long time, and forcibly dragged her back to that annoying old lady’s house.

Her sister even threatened her, saying, “You better behave today. Make sure to please Da Bao and Xiao Bao’s grandmother. Eat less, and don’t ask for more food.”

Jiang Ruan thought about how at Qin Yan’s house, he let her eat until she was full, so why should she come to this old lady’s house to suffer?

She asked, “Sister, why do you insist that I become a stepmother to those twins? I don’t want to.”

Jiang Jianchun was furious. This foolish girl! She even realized that the leader’s mother liked her for her beauty. Since she was “dumb,” people assumed she couldn’t have children. The old lady already had two grandsons and only needed a pretty daughter-in-law to keep her son tied down, as well as a free nanny to care for her grandchildren. That’s why Jiang Ruan had this “blessing” of marrying into the supervisor’s family.

Jiang Jianchun said, “You eat so much, no ordinary family could afford to keep you. Plus, you’re not smart, and no one’s willing to marry you. Our parents are old, and we can’t let them worry about us anymore. Just stay here.”

But Jiang Ruan had already found a high-paying job!

Jiang Ruan replied, “Mom and Dad worried about my brother and sister, but they never had to worry about me. I’m not staying here. I’m going to Qin Yan’s house.”

Jiang Jianchun scolded, “A temporary job versus a long-term meal ticket—don’t you know which is more important? Take good care of Da Bao and Xiao Bao, and when you get old, they’ll take care of you. If you don’t behave, I’ll have Mom throw you out.”

If she got thrown out, Jiang Ruan would have nowhere to live, and people would ask about her family background when she tried to find work. Without it, who would hire her as a nanny?

Jiang Ruan felt utterly powerless. She hated Da Bao and Xiao Bao. They still wet the bed, and she didn’t want to wash their sheets. She also disliked the things the old lady said.

The old lady filled a big bowl of rice for Jiang Ruan, smiling as she said, “Ruan Ruan, don’t go back tonight. Sleep with Da Bao and Xiao Bao’s father, and you’ll always have enough to eat in the future.”

Jiang Ruan wasn’t dumb—it’s just that the rules in the post-apocalyptic base were different from those here. Her behavior, which was seen as normal there, made people think she was simple-minded here.

To avoid exposing her identity, she let them think she was foolish.

This old witch! She thought she could trick her into sleeping with her son with just a bowl of rice.

Jiang Ruan dumped the bowl of rice on the old lady’s face and shouted, “If you like your son so much, you sleep with him!”

She rushed outside and almost ran straight into Qin Yan, who was sitting in his wheelchair. She had been upset, but seeing him made her quickly brush off the grains of rice stuck to her from the fight with Da Bao and Xiao Bao, and she smiled.

“Brother Qin Yan, I was just thinking of going to your house. How come you’re here?”

Qin Yan, hearing the commotion inside and the old lady threatening to call the police, called them first himself, reporting that the family had kidnapped their nanny.

He was speechless. “When the police come, don’t say too much.”

…

Two teams of police arrived—one responding to the old lady’s call, claiming their nanny had assaulted someone, and the other responding to Qin Yan’s report of a kidnapping.

Da Bao and Xiao Bao, frightened, blurted out everything that had happened. They told the police that their grandmother had said their father liked pretty women, that the nanny ate too much, and that if she became their stepmother, she wouldn’t need to be paid. She’d sleep with their father and act as a free nanny, and they should call her “Mom” and behave.

The officers couldn’t listen anymore and gave the old lady a stern scolding. Qin Yan took Jiang Ruan home.

Once Jiang Ruan arrived,she made Ke Xiu leave in disgrace with just a few words..

During lunch, Qin Yan watched the nanny eat. No matter how upset she seemed, her appetite was enormous. She ate enough for four laborers. When she was filling her fourth bowl of rice, she hesitated and asked, “Brother, can I have one more bowl?”

The little nanny then asked if he had any wishes.

Qin Yan’s wish was not to become a stepping stone for the heroine like in his past life and for his mother not to end up becoming the heroine’s stepmother, as the plot dictated.

He told the nanny, “My wish is to stand again, but there’s no medical miracle.”

Jiang Ruan thought about it. The medical miracle he was referring to was based on this world’s medical standards. Her abilities in the post-apocalyptic world were weak, she couldn’t heal those who had been bitten and mutated by zombies or monsters, but she could heal wounds and mend bones.

In the apocalypse, warriors had extremely strong bodies, and minor injuries or broken bones could heal on their own, making her healing abilities seem useless.

But she thought she could try to heal her brother.

Jiang Ruan said, “Brother, if you let me eat my fill every day, I might be able to heal you.”

“I hate liars the most,” Qin Yan said sternly. “Don’t lie, okay?”

Frightened, Jiang Ruan didn’t dare say more. In this world, people saw her as foolish. She couldn’t let her brother think she was lying just to get more food.

She decided she’d heal his legs first, then explain. Besides, she wasn’t even sure how long it would take to heal him.

…

That afternoon, Qin Yan’s grandmother came by, asked a few questions, and made the nanny angry enough to leave. Then his aunt showed up and started arguing with the nanny, demanding that she leave the Qin household.

How ridiculous! What did his aunt have to do with the Qin family? She didn’t even have the same surname!

By evening, his cousin Qin Ao arrived. Qin Yan pretended to be asleep, ignoring the male protagonist, while the nanny exchanged a few words with Qin Ao and was fed a bit of his manipulative rhetoric.

The rules of the book world were strong, and the male protagonist was naturally likable—even the nanny smiled at him.

Qin Yan felt neither joy nor sorrow. He thought to himself, while he couldn’t resist the plot, maybe the nanny could. She was a bit dim-witted, so perhaps he should secure her first?

As he thought about it, he drifted off to sleep. In his dream, he felt someone touching his legs, gently tracing along his veins with a warm, soothing sensation that spread through his entire body.

His legs shouldn’t have any feeling, so Qin Yan assumed he was dreaming.

But a dream was fine, at least in it, his legs could feel warmth.

When he woke again, the moon was already high in the sky. The nanny had fallen asleep with her head resting on his legs, frowning slightly, seemingly annoyed that he wasn’t a comfortable pillow. She had eaten a great deal for dinner, so Qin Yan told her to go home for the night.

Jiang Ruan had just treated him once and wanted to ask for praise, but seeing his dark expression, she didn’t dare say anything.

She hesitated, thinking that tonight she must bring money home, or else her older sister would complain again, and her mother wouldn’t believe her.

“Brother, can I get paid daily?”

“Are you in such desperate need of money?” Qin Yan asked.

“If I don’t bring money home, my mom won’t believe I got a nanny job that pays fifty yuan a month.”

So that was it. She had only been sent to their supervisor’s house today by her own sister.

The world of this book wouldn’t let the little nanny stay by his side. It even went so far as to arrange a fate for her as a stepmother, quickly getting rid of her. Just as he had initially thought, the little nanny was a variable to the world’s fate, like a virus in a computer.

Suddenly, he felt hopeful again about changing the destiny written in the book.

Being paralyzed couldn’t be changed, but as long as he avoided becoming a stepping stone for the heroine and stopped his mother from becoming her stepmother, he’d already won.

Having made up his mind, Qin Yan told the little nanny, “You can go back now.”

“And the salary?”

“I’ll take care of it. Just go home for now.”

…

Jiang Ruan returned home empty-handed again, and her older sister scolded her for it after tattling on her.

Before Jiang Ruan came back, her older sister had already exaggerated the situation, but only told half of the story. The family had only heard one side.

This time, even her usually neutral second brother said, “Ruan Ruan, why did you hit the employer again? Now they want us to pay 200 yuan in medical fees. Our monthly salary, combined with Dad’s, mine, our older brother’s, and our two sisters-in-law’s, is only 200 yuan. If we pay them, what will we eat next month? You should just go back and continue working as their nanny.”

“What did Big Sis tell you? The police came today, and there was no mention of compensation. She’s lying.”

She grabbed her sister’s hand and said, “Let’s go to the police station and clear this up.”

“Why go to the police station? Haven’t you embarrassed us enough?” Jiang Ruan’s father chimed in, turning to his eldest daughter, “If you don’t tell the truth today, don’t come back here again.”

Jiang Jianchun wiped her tears and said, “It’s my supervisor’s mother. She came to me and said either we pay 200 yuan for medical fees, or I have to resign. What was I supposed to do?”

“I don’t believe he can do whatever he wants. He has a boss too, doesn’t he? We can go talk to his superiors.”

“Dad, what if he makes things difficult for me at work afterward?” Jiang Jianchun protested.

Their older sister-in-law finally understood. The eldest sister wanted to please her supervisor and was trying to push their naive younger sister into becoming a stepmother. The supervisor’s mother wanted a pretty woman who couldn’t have children to be a free nanny and keep her son tied down, and after some consideration, she reluctantly settled on their younger sister.

It was disgusting. Even if their younger sister was a bit naive, this was too much.

The sister-in-law said, “Dad, Big Sis has gone too far. If we send Little Sis to be a stepmother, how will our family hold our heads high? How can we face our colleagues and superiors at work?”

Just because the eldest daughter ate a bit more, they couldn’t send her off to be a stepmother. Jiang Baomin, their father, was horrified at the thought. He slammed the table and scolded his eldest daughter, “Jianchun, you’ve always had a much better life than your sister. What more do you want?”

Liu Jinyun, their mother, quickly defended her eldest daughter, “Jianchun is only trying to ease the family’s burden. Why are you scolding her?”

Feeling wronged, Jiang Ruan protested, “Mom, I’m your daughter too! Why do you always favor Big Sis?”

Jiang Jianchun pointed at Jiang Ruan and said, “You’re a fool who can’t find a job or a husband. How long do you expect Mom and Dad to support you at their age?”

As the argument continued, they didn’t notice a fashionable middle-aged woman, with permed hair, entering the courtyard. She cleared her throat loudly and asked, “Excuse me, is this Jiang Ruan’s home?”

The voice sounded familiar—it was Qin Yan’s mother.

Jiang Ruan stopped arguing and ran over to greet her, “Aunt Miao, what brings you here?”

Seeing a guest at their home, her older brother and sister-in-law felt embarrassed that outsiders had overheard their family quarrel. They quickly asked, “Yes, this is Jiang Ruan’s home. Did she get into trouble again?”

Jiang Jianchun sneered, “Of course. Why else would someone come looking for her this late? In the past month, our parents have bent over backward, apologizing to others. Has she ever learned her lesson?”

Miao Shufang frowned slightly. Her son had asked her to bring money to Jiang Ruan’s home to discuss hiring her. She had thought it unnecessary, but now she realized her son was being cautious for good reason.

She smiled and said, “It’s like this—Ruan Ruan has been working at my home on a trial basis for two days, and I’m very satisfied with her. I came to discuss with your family about officially hiring her as a nanny for 50 yuan a month, with three meals provided. Of course, we can provide accommodation too, though I understand she’s unmarried, so I’m not sure if your family would be comfortable with that.”