Soon, the gate opened.
A young man stood there, his eyes filled with impatience, a restrained, icy aura radiating from his body.
Ying Sisi could sense it immediately, and her heart tightened. Gathering her courage, she asked, “What’s wrong with you? You look really angry.” She glanced around—the courtyard was completely quiet. Was no one else home?
After taking a few steps forward, she noticed the messy room in the side building.
It was Qin Yanci’s room.
He had originally lived in the main house, but his elder brother already had three children—one currently still in the hospital. Two boys and one girl: the eldest daughter was seven, the second son five, and the youngest three.
The children’s shared sleeping arrangements had taken over Qin Yanci’s original room.
Was that why he got angry and smashed things?
His temper really was quite bad.
She deliberately covered her mouth and exclaimed, “Ah—did a thief break into your house?”
Qin Yanci opened his mouth slightly. “Mm.”
Ying Sisi walked inside. The bed, table, boxes, and clothes were all overturned and scattered.
She began straightening the table and chairs.
While lifting the bed, she said, “Ah Ci, I can’t move this—can you help me?”
Qin Yanci still didn’t speak, but he came over to help.
The two of them worked together to set the bed upright. Ying Sisi then closed the door, but the room was still cold.
The heating radiator must have broken.
Was he not cold at all?
She reached out and grabbed his hand. The icy coldness pierced straight into her body, making her shiver. Enduring it, she tried to warm him with her own hands.
“Your hands are so cold. Aren’t you freezing? How do you never take care of yourself? Have you eaten?”
This sudden contact and concern was like a beam of warm light slowly melting the ice around him. At that moment, something in his heart loosened, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
“No.”
“Try to see if you can fix the heating first. I’ll go make you something to eat.”
“Okay.”
Only then did Ying Sisi feel relieved and go to the kitchen.
There was only half a bowl of rice and two eggs left.
Even the stove had gone out.
Had the Qin parents moved back to their work unit?
Had they forgotten about Qin Yanci?
She had thought children with parents would be well cared for.
So an unloved child was no different from an orphan.
She used a fire tongs to take a new coal briquette to the neighbor’s house to exchange for charcoal.
The neighbor looked like she wanted to speak but hesitated.
Ying Sisi said directly, “Auntie, if you have something to say, just say it. I can handle it.”
The neighbor waved her hand, but still said, “I just heard… Yanci might have some mental issues. He likes to fight. You should be careful.”
“Mental issues? He looks fine. Does he hit people for no reason?”
“Well… yes. He’s jealous and holds grudges, his personality is twisted. When he was in school, anyone who scored better than him got beaten. He would explode over small things, like a madman. His family is really sinful—they knew his temper was unstable but still sent him far away for labor, and even arranged a marriage for him.”
Such a pretty and hardworking girl… and yet her own son was so outstanding, but even his partner wasn’t this good-looking.
“Maybe there’s some misunderstanding,” Ying Sisi said. “Thank you for the charcoal, auntie.”
She left with a heavy mind.
Back at the Qin house, she passed by the side room and glanced in.
The “jealous, vengeful, emotionally unstable” person the neighbors described was carefully checking the heating radiator.
With his eyes lowered, he didn’t look like someone with a twisted personality at all.
But the faint hostility he occasionally revealed did make her a little afraid.
She decided to observe him for now.
If it really didn’t work out, she could always run away from the marriage.
After all, no one had asked for her opinion when the engagement was made.
She returned to the kitchen, added coal, and started cooking rice.
Qin Yanci walked in. “Sisi, the heating is fixed.”
Ying Sisi smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. “Amazing.”
She took out a carefully wrapped pastry from her pocket and brought it to his lips.
“Reward for fixing the heating—ah~”