Aunt Zhou took out her old-fashioned mobile phone, held it at arm’s length in front of her eyes, and opened the calculator app.
“Seventeen catties of cardboard, sixty cents per catty, that’s ten yuan and twenty cents in total.
Plus two yuan and seventy cents, equals…”
Aunt Zhou squinted her eyes and moved the phone a bit farther away.
“That makes twelve yuan and ninety cents!
Let’s round it up—you can just give me thirteen yuan.”
“Alright, alright, I’ll give it, I’ll give it, okay?” Boss Liu saw the collection truck arriving and didn’t want to argue with Aunt Zhou any longer.
When he usually collected goods, he would adjust his approach based on the person. For those who were shrewd but couldn’t bring themselves to haggle too aggressively, he wouldn’t dare to shortchange them at all.
“Have you finished counting that pile of yours, ma’am?”
Aunt Zhou also noticed the large truck parking nearby. Her eyes darted around. “Mm, one hundred and twenty bottles.”
Boss Liu: This shameless old woman!
There couldn’t be that many. He had just counted them himself—exactly ninety-eight bottles, not one more or less.
But if he said the count was wrong today, this old woman would definitely drag him into counting them over and over again, and the truck was already waiting.
Suppressing his frustration, he said, “Fine.”
He quickly paid Aunt Zhou her money and also gave Ruan Jinxiang one yuan.
Only then did Aunt Zhou lead Ruan Jinxiang out of the recycling station.
Once outside, she took out one yuan and stuffed it into Ruan Jinxiang’s hand.
“That Liu, the unscrupulous one, definitely shortchanged you on the bottles earlier too. He must have undercounted by at least a dozen or so.
This is the money for twenty bottles. Auntie helped you get it back, hehe~”
Ruan Jinxiang was still curiously staring at the small device in Aunt Zhou’s hand.
It could actually calculate just by tapping on it—no abacus needed. How convenient!
Hearing Aunt Zhou’s words, she quickly bowed gratefully. “Thank you, Aunt Zhou~”
She had just heard the boss address her that way.
Aunt Zhou: Sigh~ This girl, her mental state is really not right.
“Girl, next time you come to sell, don’t come here.
Follow this street to the end. See that tall building over there?
Sunshine Garden residential area. On the street behind it, there’s a recycling station. The boss there doesn’t cheat people.”
Ruan Jinxiang carefully memorized this and nodded eagerly. “I’ll remember.”
This Aunt Zhou clearly seemed kind-hearted and helpful, so Ruan Jinxiang quickly seized the opportunity to ask for advice.
“Could you help me take a look, ma’am? How much is each of these bills worth?”
Aunt Zhou looked at Ruan Jinxiang with even more pity in her eyes.
So she didn’t even know how to use money. It was a miracle she had survived this long.
She took out her own wallet and showed Ruan Jinxiang each bill, from one hundred yuan down to ten cents.
Just like she had taught her granddaughter when she was little, she explained, “Ten ten-cent coins make one yuan. Ten one-yuan coins make ten yuan, like this bill here…”
After teaching her once, Aunt Zhou noticed Ruan Jinxiang’s serious expression, her face tense with earnest concentration.
Looking closely at her features, Aunt Zhou thought to herself, no wonder she looked familiar—the more she looked, the more this girl resembled her Jiaojiao.
Thinking of Jiaojiao, Aunt Zhou couldn’t help but drift into a daze, finally shaking her head with a bitter smile.
To outlive one’s own children—both her son and daughter had passed away early. This was simply her fate.
Pulling herself together, she felt a bit closer to Ruan Jinxiang, seeing how seriously she was learning.
Playfully testing her, she asked, “Girl, what bill can you exchange for one hundred one-yuan coins?”
Ruan Jinxiang quickly picked up a red bill. “It’s one hundred yuan.”
“That’s right~ You’re such a clever girl~” she said in the tone she used to coax her granddaughter.
She even gave Ruan Jinxiang a thumbs-up.
Ruan Jinxiang had never been praised so directly and openly before. For a moment, her face flushed with shyness, and she lowered her head slightly, but her eyes sparkled brightly.
Aunt Zhou clicked her tongue inwardly, what a pity.
This girl’s eyes and brows somewhat resembled Jiaojiao’s, but even with a mother’s bias, she had to admit that this girl’s facial features were better proportioned, her eyes and brows more delicate—quite a bit prettier than Jiaojiao.
Who knows what happened to her face. If not for that large scar, she wouldn’t be any less attractive than those actors and celebrities.
She had seen a video on her phone that said the smarter a person is, the more prone they are to depression.
If it gets serious, they probably become mentally unstable.
Judging by this girl’s age, her parents were likely in their fifties or sixties.
How pitiful the hearts of parents are. Who knows how long this girl had been missing? Her parents must have been searching frantically, probably feeling as if their hearts were breaking.
Aunt Zhou felt a surge of empathy. “Girl, where is your home? Do you remember your parents’ phone numbers?”
If she could send her home, her parents would take good care of her.
She wouldn’t have to scavenge, going hungry one meal and full the next, or worry about curling up in some street corner one day and never getting up again.
Ruan Jinxiang widened her eyes. Phone numbers? What were those?
Seeing her reaction, Aunt Zhou sighed inwardly. “I’ll take you to the police station and ask the officers to help look into it, see if they can contact your parents.”
Today, Ruan Jinxiang had learned that the common people here dared to argue with officials, so she wasn’t afraid of seeing them.
But the moment she heard about going to the yamen, she grew fearful again.
Besides, she didn’t need the yamen’s help to find her way home—she already knew how to get back.
The whole situation was too strange, and she couldn’t explain it to Aunt Zhou.
She quickly waved her hands, shaking her head like a rattle drum.
Aunt Zhou, however, misunderstood. She thought Ruan Jinxiang’s intense reaction at the mention of going home and her parents meant she didn’t want to return.
She sighed inwardly. Who knows what had caused this girl’s mental instability.
It was likely related to her family.
Everyone has their own fate.
Even if she was mentally unstable, as long as she wasn’t harming anyone in her madness, her wishes should be respected equally.
She couldn’t force her own ideas on her under the guise of doing what was best for her—that wasn’t kindness, but self-satisfaction.
If she didn’t want to go home, perhaps her current way of life was the best for her.
She wouldn’t insist on helping her find her home or sending her back.
“Come on, Auntie will take you to eat.”
She was an old woman living alone, raising a little granddaughter. Life was hard, but at least she had a home and could manage to eat.
Looking at this girl, sallow and emaciated, her waist tied with a straw rope so thin it was nothing but bones.
Letting her have a full meal would be like accumulating virtue for her next life.
Not like this life.
Thinking of the hardships in this life, Aunt Zhou suddenly remembered something.
Her granddaughter was twelve now, old enough to understand.
She had to make sure to tell her, in case she fell seriously ill one day and passed away suddenly, leaving no time to explain.
When she died, she must never be buried with that scoundrel.
Better yet, not buried in her hometown at all—far, far away from that scoundrel!
Ruan Jinxiang looked at Aunt Zhou, who seemed to be gritting her teeth.
But upon closer look, it didn’t seem so.
She quickly waved her hands. “It was all thanks to you, Elder, for standing up for me earlier. I should be the one thanking you—”
But she didn’t know if thirteen yuan was enough to buy two buns to treat the old woman.
She had been hoping this money could buy some grain so she and Ya Ya wouldn’t go hungry tonight.
Her father had taught her to read and to repay kindness with kindness. She knew it was proper to thank Aunt Zhou for stepping in to help.
But she only had this much money, and to survive, she had to set aside propriety.
Ruan Jinxiang was still torn between filling her stomach for the evening and observing proper etiquette when Aunt Zhou had already pulled her over to her electric scooter.
“No need to be so polite. Come, sit on the back seat. Let’s go to the morning market to eat.”
Ruan Jinxiang was practically dragged onto the back seat by Aunt Zhou, who left no room for refusal.