Chapter 43.2

During the following day, both Jiang Rou and Li Xiao were extremely busy.

Li Xiao was so busy that he even stopped opening his stall. Even Jiang Rou’s classmates inquired about why her husband wasn’t setting up a stall in University Town anymore. They even said that his noodles were both cheap and delicious, and whenever they mentioned that they were Jiang Rou’s classmate, he would always give a bit extra.

Jiang Rou simply replied that he had found a new job but didn’t provide any details.

In truth, she wasn’t sure herself. Li Xiao came home very late every day, then he will quickly wash up, and then went straight to bed.

An An had become tanned from spending so much time with her father, but Li Xiao still remembered to apply sunscreen and put a small hat on her during the day. However, that was the extent of his care.

Her small hands had turned dark, and there was still dirt in the gaps of her fingernails.

Li Xiao spent his days out running errands and would return in the evening to hand An An over to Jiang Rou. After dinner, he would go out again.

One evening, while Jiang Rou was bathing An An, she discovered that An An’s hands were sticky and covered in something unknown. There was even a piece of meat in her pocket.

It was enough to drive anyone crazy.

After a while into the first semester, the old professor who taught diagnostic studies not only covered the theoretical aspects but also began guiding them through hands-on practice step by step.

The old professor was a veteran Chinese medicine doctor specially hired by the school. He had treated patients for a lifetime and his words were quite pragmatic. He told them that mastering just pulse-taking was a skill that many traditional Chinese medicine practitioners never fully grasped. He was certain that, out of the thirty students in the class, only one or two would likely make significant progress.

He commented that traditional Chinese medicine was a field that depended heavily on talent and advised them not to practice on others if they didn’t fully understand it.

This left the entire class in a somber mood, feeling that their chances of making a name for themselves in the field seemed slim.

Despite this, they were still very enthusiastic about practicing pulse-taking. They eagerly checked each other’s pulses while flipping through books, trying hard to understand the complex concepts described in their books.

—o—o—

After class, the professor encouraged them to find more people to practice on.

When Jiang Rou returned from the restroom, a boy sitting in the back, who had been nudged by others, spoke up, “Jiang Rou, can I take your pulse?”

The boys on either side of him suddenly burst into excited laughter.

Jiang Rou didn’t think much of it and replied, “Sure.”

She sat down and extended her hand to him.

The boy placed his fingers on her wrist and, after a while, said, “Alright.”

He didn’t say anything else.

Jiang Rou withdrew her hand, turned around, and opened her book, ready to read.

At that moment, someone from the back began to speak, their voice carrying a hint of malice. “So, how is it? Can you read it accurately?”

The boy laughed and replied, “It’s definitely quite different.”

His voice was not particularly low, so everyone within earshot could hear.

“Hahaha, is it because Liu Wenjing is a virgin?”

A girl sitting in the middle, whose name had been mentioned, immediately blushed and lowered her head.

Jiang Rou realized she had been mocked and her expression darkened instantly.

Instead of losing her temper, she turned around with a forced smile and asked the boy who had just taken her pulse, “Classmate, may I take your pulse too?”

The boy looked up at the sound of her voice and, with a nonchalant tone, responded, “Sure.”

He extended his hand.

Jiang Rou, with an expressionless face, placed her hand on his wrist and then loudly announced, “The pulse is thin and weak, floating and slow. There are signs of kidney deficiency and impotence. I suggest you use your hands less in the future and take better care of your health.”

“……”

The class fell into a momentary silence, and then someone’s suppressed laughter broke the quiet, followed by a burst of general laughter.

The boy who had his pulse taken reacted immediately and stood up, and shouted: “Damn, what are you talking about?”

Jiang Rou wasn’t afraid. She also stood up and slammed the books from his desk onto him, her face cold as she retorted, “I’m just speaking the truth. What, can’t you handle the truth?”

The boy hadn’t expected her to take such action. He winced from the pain in his stomach and his expression changed, feeling quite embarrassed. He angrily shouted, “Say it again? Did I say something wrong? You’re not even a virgin, and you’ve already had a child.”

Jiang Rou shot back without hesitation, “Whether I’m a virgin or not is none of your business. Just because I’m not a virgin, does that mean I deserve your discrimination and mockery? Your mother wasn’t a virgin either—why don’t you make fun of her for giving birth to a piece of trash like you?”

“You guys still think you’re doctors? No wonder traditional Chinese medicine is declining. It’s because of scum like you.”

“Damn it, try saying that again. Do you think I won’t hit a woman?”

“Hit me then. If you dare, just go ahead.”

As their argument grew more intense, two boys nearby quickly intervened to de-escalate the situation, “Forget it, forget it. Class is about to start, don’t bother with her.”

“The teacher is coming, sit down quickly.”

Confronted with Jiang Rou’s resolute attitude, the boy endured, eventually kicking Jiang Rou’s desk hard with a scowl before sitting down begrudgingly.

Jiang Rou, looked at him, then kicked his desk even harder, causing it to fall on him. Then she took her book and moved to another group.

The boy’s expression changed again. He tried to get up to continue the confrontation but was held back by his two desk-mates.

The boys in the back row, observing Jiang Rou’s retreating figure, couldn’t help but mutter to their classmates, “I didn’t expect Jiang Rou to have such a temper, she looked so gentle…”

Jiang Rou’s desk-mate, focused on his homework, didn’t look up and said, “It’s their fault anyway.”

The boy beside him nudged his arm and whispered, “Stop talking. Xu Xiaowen’s family is quite influential. I heard he was originally a transfer student from Western medicine and is planning to switch majors in his second year.”

The desk-mate brushed off the nudge and continued working on his problems.

Jiang Rou didn’t pay much attention to the incident. Since the beginning of the semester, she hadn’t stayed on campus and hadn’t developed close relationships with her classmates. Even after attending classes for several months, she only knew a few class officers, while others just seemed familiar.

Perhaps because of this, some of the boys felt she was easy to bully.

This behavior made her very uncomfortable and reminded her of how girls had to be cautious when carrying sanitary napkins to the restroom, as if it were something shameful to be seen by boys.

She resolved to teach An An to respond bravely to ridicules in the future.

—o—o—

As the end of the semester approached, Li Xiao informed Jiang Rou that he planned to resign soon. Jiang Rou had long advised him to quit, as he was exhausted from juggling two jobs—thus losing so much weight.

Li Xiao shared the same thought but, being someone who preferred to be fully prepared, he hadn’t resigned without being completely sure.

However, when Jiang Rou was waiting for him to quit, Li Xiao suddenly came home with unexpected news, as if a pie had fallen from the sky.

“Chang Yong asked me to stay until the end of the year. He told me that, besides the year-end bonus, there’s a lottery with the grand prize being a house. He said the house could be mine.”

Li Xiao was intrigued.

Jiang Rou gasped in surprise, “What did you just say?”

She doubted if she had heard correctly.

Could there really be such a good thing?

Seeing her dumbfounded expression, Li Xiao managed to suppress a laugh and added, “That house was newly developed a couple of years ago and is considered a high-end community. By the time it’s on the market next year, each unit will cost around seventy to eighty thousand.”

Jiang Rou held her breath. Currently, in G Province, a one-hundred-square-meter property was roughly thirty to forty thousand, so a house costing seventy to eighty thousand was indeed quite impressive.

However, she quickly thought of another issue. “Wouldn’t it be a bit inappropriate? If we took the house and then resigned, it might seem a bit unethical.”

Li Xiao did not share this concern. “What’s wrong with that? Do you think Chang Yong is a fool? If I resigned and left directly, you don’t think people would question how he took care me?”

Jiang Rou took a while to understand what he meant. Li Xiao was known as Chang Yong’s savior and capable subordinate. Those who knew the situation understood that he was leaving to go solo, but those who didn’t, might think he had been wronged by Chang Yong.

After all, Chang Yong was in business. If his reputation was damaged, no one would dare to work with him.

Li Xiao explained, “He used the company’s prize to repay his favor, so he didn’t lose any money, and I gained from it. If word got out, his reputation would still be good. It’s a win-win situation, so what’s the problem?”

He continued, “In his eyes, that house would be given away to anyone.”

Jiang Rou couldn’t help but sigh, “You businessmen really do have all sorts of tricks and schemes.”

She couldn’t have thought of that.

Li Xiao laughed. If these were considered schemes, then what about his recent negotiations? Were those just empty tricks?

Jiang Rou quickly pushed the matter out of her mind. The thought of getting a large house for free made her excited. “Once you get the house, let’s quickly move our household registration here. Then next year, my younger sister can come here to school, and the year after, An An can start kindergarten here.”

She had already checked. Currently, there were no restrictions on household registration in G Province as long as one bought a house.

Li Xiao said, “Alright.”

Jiang Rou lay on the bed, a bit thrilled as she said: “I must be dreaming, right? When the time comes, I’ll handle the renovation. We’ll go for a minimalist style. The way Chang Yong’s house was decorated was too awful.”

Li Xiao laughed at her. He was also happy; he hadn’t expected to have a house so soon. He hugged Jiang Rou and gave her a passionate kiss. “Sure, go ahead. Whether it’s minimalist or whatever style you choose, you can decorate it however you like.”

An An, who had been sleeping, must have woken up at some point. Seeing her parents hugging, she crawled over to try and separate them.

Jiang Rou was startled. “When did she wake up?”

Li Xiao, feeling helpless, got up and moved aside. “I don’t know.”

An An squeezed in, hugged her mother, and even wiped her mother’s face with her small hand.

Jiang Rou was both amused and helpless.

Li Xiao was already used to it.

—o—o—

A few days later, Li Xiao returned with several house layouts for Jiang Rou to choose from. “Chang Yong asked me to pick one myself. I brought them back for you to look at. Which one do you prefer?”

He added, “They’re all on the same building, two households per floor. This one is on the seventeenth floor, 120 square meters. This one is on the ninth floor, slightly larger at 125 square meters. The thirteenth floor one is the biggest, 130 square meters, but the first two are four-bedroom apartments, while this one is three-bedroom.”

Jiang Rou preferred the one on the thirteenth floor, mainly because of its good layout. The center was a large living room, with the master bedroom and a secondary bedroom facing south on either side, ensuring good ventilation. There was also a small room on the north side that could be used as a study.

Seeing that Jiang Rou couldn’t let go of the thirteenth-floor apartment, Li Xiao raised an eyebrow and asked, “You like this one?”

Jiang Rou nodded; she really liked the mid-floor unit.

Li Xiao, who actually preferred the one on the seventeenth floor for its better view, said, “Alright, I’ll talk to Chang Yong tomorrow. I visited the houses today, and all three were good. The thirteenth-floor one is next to a slightly smaller unit, also three bedrooms and two living rooms but with only one bathroom. I’ll see if I can negotiate an internal price; if possible, Zhou Jian can handle it.”

Jiang Rou agreed, “Yes, we can’t let Zhou Jian work so hard and get nothing in return.”

Although Zhou Jian wasn’t that kind of person, he would likely be very happy to get a house, even if it was a smaller one.

“But do you have the money?”

Li Xiao responded firmly, “No money, but we can get a loan from the bank.”

‘Alright, he was much smarter than I had thought.’ She was just about to remind him to go to the bank.

—o—o—

During the final exams, Jiang Rou couldn’t focus on the house anymore. She even wished she could bury herself in her books.

She studied while eating, and while she’s on the bed and was about to sleep, she would even review her notes. She used to think her memory was good, but now she regretted not having a bigger brain.

To enhance her memory, she reviewed while drawing with her hands and had Li Xiao quiz her.

Every time she couldn’t remember, she would angrily scratch her head.

An An found this version of her mother a bit frightening. For the first time, she clung to her father instead.