“I’m done washing, Cen Cen.” Leng Bingqin held up her favorite pair of panties, waving them in front of Ji Nanchan’s face.
Ji Nanchan remained unruffled as she instructed, “Hang them out on the balcony to dry. Once you’re done, go take a bath immediately.” She sighed inwardly, pressing a hand to her forehead: First she lost her memory, then got hit on the head by a rock now she’s completely brain-dead.
“How about we take a bath together? I can scrub your back for you.” The little maid made grabbing motions with her hands, her smile gradually turning mischievous.
Ji Nanchan clutched her flat chest in alarm, hastily dodging the groping hands. “No! We’re not at that stage yet.”
“Oh.” Hearing the refusal, the little maid puffed out her cheeks and trudged dejectedly toward the balcony.
Ji Nanchan wandered around the living room, somewhat satisfied with the little maid’s tidying efforts. But the moment she sat on the sofa, she noticed something amiss something hidden beneath the cushion was poking her butt!
Suspicious, Ji Nanchan pulled out a dirty garment, then another, and another, until she had yanked out a whole pile. She quickly yanked open the coffee table drawer, all the small items usually left out had been crammed inside haphazardly, along with a single slipper.
Pressing her head to the floor to check underneath the sofa, sure enough, it was also stuffed with dirty clothes and slippers. So much for thinking this woman was adorably helpless after losing her memor, it was all an act. “Leng! Bing! Qin!” Ji Nanchan roared at the ceiling.
Hearing the shout, the little maid hurried anxiously into the living room. “What’s wrong?” When she saw all her hidden items uncovered, she clung to the sliding door, too afraid to speak. If she had cat ears, they’d be flattened against her head by now.
Hands on her hips, Ji Nanchan glared furiously, like an enraged parent ready to breathe fire. “Is this what you call cleaning?”
Terrified, the little maid defaulted to playing pitiful, her eyes welling up with tears as she clung to the doorframe, not daring to respond.
This time, Ji Nanchan was genuinely furious. Seeing the girl remain silent, she kicked aside the dirty clothes and stormed over. “Say something! Cat got your tongue?”
Leng Bingqin bit her lip and twisted her fingers. She had indeed hidden everything out of laziness, and now she hemmed and hawed, unsure how to explain.
“No more allowance, and no more Genius Phone.” Ji Nanchan seized the chance to revoke her earlier promise, then turned and marched toward the small bedroom, her mind clearly made up.
The door slammed shut with such force that the little maid flinched, tucking her head in fear. Hearing that everything was gone, even the coveted bucket of cotton candy she’d been dreaming of seemed to drift away.
Her head drooping, she gathered the dirty clothes from the floor and carried them to the balcony, stuffing them one by one into the washing machine. After dealing with the laundry, she began organizing the trinkets in the coffee table.
The thought of having no allowance and going hungry again tomorrow filled her with such grievance that tears began to fall, plopping down one after another. She had it all planned out: buy a five-yuan bread each day for lunch, save up her allowance for a week, and she could bring home that adorable cotton candy sheep. Now it was all ruined.
Ji Nanchan’s anger dissipated as quickly as a breath here one moment, gone the next. When no one was looking, she cracked the door open a sliver and watched as the little maid dutifully tidied everything up. Nodding in satisfaction, she thought to herself: Seems like a fierce temper is the only way to keep people in line.
The more Leng Bingqin thought about it, the more wronged she felt. After crying her heart out, she wiped her tears haphazardly, pushed open the main door, and headed straight into the yard.
Ji Nanchan didn’t pay it much mind, leaning against the headboard to play on her phone until her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep.
Her sleep was restless, filled with bizarre and peculiar dreams.
When she woke again, she squinted at her phone, it was already 1 a.m.
Light seeped through the crack under the door, falling across her face. She thought to herself, Why didn’t the little nanny turn off the lights before going to bed? What a waste of electricity. She had no choice but to get up and head to the living room.
The door was wide open, and the biting wind of a late autumn midnight swept through the hall, sending a shiver down her spine. She hurried to the bedroom, turned on the light, and found no trace of the little nanny. Only then did panic set in.
Grabbing the T-shirt that Leng Bingqin had worn, Ji Nanchan rushed into the yard and called out, “Fugui!”
Hearing her voice, Fugui, looking as though he had just woken up, slowly emerged from his doghouse.
Ji Nanchan fastened his leash and held the T-shirt up to his nose. “Smell this, go on, smell it.”
Once Fugui had familiarized himself with the scent, she hurried into the alley, hesitating as she looked in both directions.
Ji Nanchan hadn’t even realized it herself, but at that moment, she was more flustered than ever before more anxious than when a mission had gone wrong.
“Let’s go, Fugui,” she called softly, tugging on the leash. Fugui lowered his head, sniffing the cobblestone path as he led the way to the right.
She had no confidence in whether this method of searching would work, but she had no choice but to follow Fugui’s lead.
Most of the streetlights in the alley had long fallen into disrepair, with only a few still working. The terrain was complex, and the environment was far from safe. What if we run into trouble? The more Ji Nanchan thought about it, the more uneasy she became.
They walked a long stretch without spotting even a shadow of the little nanny, let alone the girl herself.
Ji Nanchan crouched down and held the T-shirt in front of Fugui again. “Smell it once more, please. I’ll give you an extra chicken drumstick when we get back.”
“Whimper,” Fugui let out a soft whine, then strained against the leash and charged forward.
After wandering around in circles, they finally spotted a small, huddled figure near the grocery store.
The temperature had dropped sharply at night, and even though Leng Bingqin was wearing a fleece-lined sweatshirt, it couldn’t ward off the damp, penetrating cold.
She had pulled the hood over her head and was crouched in a corner, shivering all over. Her slender frame was curled into such a small ball that she was hard to notice at first glance.
When Ji Nanchan found her, her hands were tucked into her sleeves, with only one finger extended as she rubbed at the cotton slippers on her feet.
The Mickey Mouse pattern on the slippers was covered in mud, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t clean it off. Stubbornly, she kept rubbing at it, clearly cherishing her new slippers.
Every time Ji Nanchan saw her pitiful state, she fell into a deep sense of guilt. I could have just taken her to the police station.
But somehow, without realizing it, she had developed an unspoken selfish desire.
Instead of immediately dragging Leng Bingqin away, Ji Nanchan crouched down beside her. “Little one, why aren’t you going home so late at night?”
“Hmph!” The little nanny wrinkled her nose, shifted her feet with effort to turn away, and ended up facing Ji Nanchan with her back.
Knowing she was still sulking, Ji Nanchan took off her own coat and draped it over the girl’s shoulders. “You can be angry, but you shouldn’t catch a cold.”
The little nanny rejected her kindness, shaking off the coat and continuing to ignore her.
Ji Nanchan then wrapped the T-shirt around the girl’s neck. “It’s so cold outside. Let’s go home.”
“No.” Even with her memory loss, her stubbornness remained unchanged.
In the middle of the night, who had the patience to linger outside? And it was freezing cold!
Ji Nanchan picked up the coat from the ground and stuffed it into the little nanny’s arms. Without another word, she scooped her up in a perfect princess carry.
If Ji Nanchan didn’t have such strong core strength, she wouldn’t have been able to execute such a flawless squat clean and jerk.
If Leng Bingqin weren’t so thin, she wouldn’t have been tossed around like a fish on a chopping block.
Floating up and down in the air, she flailed her arms, slapping Ji Nanchan’s shoulders randomly, and cried out, “Put me down!”
Ji Nanchan scolded her impatiently, “You were the one who made a mistake first. I only said a few words, and you ran away from home. Don’t be so petty.”
The little nanny suddenly fell silent, then seized the opportunity to bite her shoulder.
“Ouch! Don’t bite me!” Ji Nanchan winced in pain and nearly let go.
The little nanny, acting stubborn, refused to let go. “You bullied me, so I’m biting you!”
Stopping in her tracks,
Ji Nanchan endured the pain and stood still. The words, “Actually, we’ve only known each other for three days. Maybe I should take you to find your family,” were stuck in her throat, unable to come out.
Leng Bingqin released her bite and buried her face in Ji Nanchan’s chest, not daring to cause any more trouble. “Are you angry?” she asked.
“Let’s go home,” came the cold reply. This time, it was Ji Nanchan’s turn to sulk.