The Qin family had many members. Even if they ate sparingly, a single meal would still consume two to three jin of grain.
In a day, they needed at least four to five jin.
In a month, that added up to more than a hundred jin.
Even three to four hundred jin would only last about three months.
And the next summer harvest was still far away.
Not to mention that the children’s tuition fees were also a major expense.
There were three children. Two studied in the town, where tuition was relatively cheaper.
But even then, each of them still had to pay about five yuan per semester, not including miscellaneous school fees and other expenses.
The third studied in high school in the county. Just the tuition alone was fifteen yuan per semester, and there were plenty of other expenses that couldn’t be avoided.
Altogether, one semester of expenses for the three children would cost at least forty to fifty yuan.
Although Qin Zhiyi now earned twenty yuan a month, it was still only a drop in the bucket.
What’s more, she knew that prices would continue to rise year after year in the future.
So finding other ways to earn money had to be put on the agenda.
“When do you go to work?” she asked.
“After breakfast,” Qin Zhiyi replied. “Why?”
Xu Sangluo shook her head and asked another question. “How far is the brick factory from home?”
“About half an hour on foot.”
Xu Sangluo silently calculated the distance and time.
Qin Zhiyi grew more puzzled. “Do you need to take care of something? Or bring something?”
Xu Sangluo came back to her senses. She instinctively wanted to shake her head, but after thinking about it, she nodded instead.
“I want to go to the town to take a look today. I might pass by the brick factory, so I thought I could bring you lunch.”
Qin Zhiyi paused mid-motion while stirring the vegetable porridge and turned to glance at her.
But with the kitchen filled with smoke and steam, he couldn’t clearly see her face. He could only make out those bright, watery eyes that looked especially clear and pure.
“You don’t have to,” he said. “I brought some dry rations.”
After speaking, he put down the spoon and walked out of the kitchen.
Xu Sangluo understood his personality well enough—he hated troubling others—so she could only shake her head helplessly.
She took a large bowl, picked up a piece of braised pork belly and some braised pork intestine with chopsticks, sliced them, placed them in the bowl, and then poured a spoonful of sauce over them.
At that moment, Qin Zhishu also walked in.
Seeing Xu Sangluo take several bowls to cool the porridge, he stepped forward.
“Sister Sangluo, let me do it.”
Xu Sangluo steadily ladled porridge into the bowls while replying, “No need. Go read your books.”
Then she paused and added, “By the way, will you come back home for lunch, or eat at school?”
The school Xu Sangluo used to attend had a boarding system and even provided meals.
Usually she only returned to the Xie household during summer and winter vacations, but even then she was arranged to work temporary jobs in the factory.
Half the money she earned went to Liu Xiuhe, and the other half went toward tuition.
The amount she could actually keep for herself was at most one or two yuan.
That had to cover all her living expenses—aside from food—for an entire semester.
“We come back to eat,” Qin Zhishu said.
Then, understanding what she meant, he added, “Xiaoyu can cook lunch.”
Xu Sangluo wasn’t related to them in any way. It wouldn’t be right to let her keep cooking for them all the time.
Hearing this, Xu Sangluo couldn’t help frowning. “Wouldn’t Xiaoyu be in too much of a rush to come back?”
Although the school had a two-hour lunch break,
the round-trip journey alone took more than an hour. Adding the time needed to cook would make everything extremely rushed.
Qin Zhishu shook his head. “Xiaoyu is taking another day off today.”
With some at school and others at work,
only the injured Mother Qin, Xu Sangluo, and little Qin Yan would be left at home.
They couldn’t possibly ask Xu Sangluo to take care of both the elderly and the child.
So Qin Zhiyi had arranged for the three children to take turns taking a day off.
Xu Sangluo immediately understood their arrangement.
Helplessly, she said, “I won’t say anything else, but cooking a few meals isn’t a big deal. Don’t keep being so polite with me. Besides, I have to eat too. You’re worried about troubling me, but I’m worried about troubling you.”
After saying that, seeing Qin Zhishu looking helpless and unsure of what to say, she laughed again.
“Besides, you all refuse to accept money for food or rent from me. You won’t even let me cook. If that’s the case, how could I have the nerve to eat, drink, and live here for free?”
Qin Zhishu pushed up his glasses, looking somewhat helpless. “Big Brother said you already paid enough for several months. And you even bought us so many things.”
“How can gifts count toward that? And as for the rest—do you know how expensive rent is outside? Do you know how much a single meal costs? That little bit isn’t even enough to cover one month.”
The corner of Qin Zhishu’s mouth twitched. Adjusting his glasses, he gave her a look that clearly said, Do you think I’m Qin Xiaoyan?
Xu Sangluo was amused by his expression and couldn’t help reaching out to rub his head.
But the moment she finished, her hand froze.
Qin Zhishu froze too.
Then his face flushed instantly, turning red all the way to his ears as he quickly stepped back half a step.
Yet as if afraid she might misunderstand, he forcibly stopped himself midway.
Xu Sangluo’s hand was still on his head, and she felt a bit awkward too.
When she had died in the car accident, she had already been forty years old.
To her, the still youthful and tender Qin Zhishu looked like nothing more than a child.
At the countryside guesthouse she once ran, most of her guests were elderly people bringing their grandchildren.
After spending so much time around kids of all ages, she had picked up certain habits.
The gesture just now had simply been instinctive.
But since it was already done…
She silently recited to herself:
As long as I’m not embarrassed, the embarrassed one will be someone else.
So she quickly rubbed his head once more before naturally withdrawing her hand.
“Alright. Adults’ matters aren’t for kids to worry about. Your big brother is right—your job right now is to study hard.”
Qin Zhishu, however, couldn’t remain calm like she did. His face was red as an apple.
Rarely losing some of his usual composure, he muttered, “Y-you’re only three years older than me.”
Xu Sangluo raised an eyebrow and lifted her chin slightly.
“As long as you call me ‘Sister,’ that makes me your elder.”
Qin Zhishu: “…”
Even though it was clearly flawed logic, he couldn’t think of how to refute it for the moment.
Just then, both of them heard some noise coming from the courtyard.
Xu Sangluo walked forward curiously to look outside.
Qin Zhishu, still blushing, secretly let out a sigh of relief and lightly patted his face.
Qin Zhiyi was entering the courtyard, holding a bicycle with one hand.
Xu Sangluo looked surprised.
Then she heard Qin Zhiyi say, “If you’re going to town, ride the bike there. Can you ride one?”
Xu Sangluo was even more surprised now, and she couldn’t help but smile.
So this guy had gone out to borrow a bicycle.
Looking at the well-maintained Phoenix-brand twenty-eight-inch bicycle, she nodded decisively.
“Yes.”
Although she hadn’t ridden one in more than ten years.
“When the time comes, who should I return it to?”
“I’ll return it when I get back. If they need it sooner, they’ll come to get it,” Qin Zhiyi said.
Xu Sangluo nodded, then curved her eyes and gave him a bright smile.
“Thank you.”
Qin Zhiyi paused for a moment while setting down the bicycle. He glanced at her, then nodded.
At that moment, Qin Zhiyu walked out of the room while yawning.
Although she didn’t have school today, she still had to wake up early to wash clothes and take care of their mother, so sleeping in wasn’t an option.
For that reason, she had even borrowed her second brother’s small alarm clock last night.
When she saw the two people in the courtyard, she looked a little surprised.
It was normal for her eldest brother to wake up early, but why was Sister Sangluo up so early today as well?
“Good morning, Big Brother. Sister Sangluo.”
“Morning, Xiaoyu.”
“Sister Sangluo, why are you up so early?”
The weather was getting colder and colder. She didn’t even want to get out of bed anymore—every day she just wanted to curl up under the blankets and sleep forever.