He went along with what the woman said and spoke, “Even if we won’t stay long, we should still buy what’s needed. A table doesn’t cost much.”
Although he truly didn’t have much money right now. Last time he gave Jiang Qingmi three thousand, and after paying eight hundred for rent, he had less than two thousand left.
There were still twelve days until payday.
He felt that money could always be figured out somehow. Life still had to go on. How could they eat every meal looking at that uneven, battered table?
And besides…
He glanced at the woman’s small, delicate, beautiful face and felt that she shouldn’t be living like this.
Just as he looked over, Jiang Qingmi happened to lift her eyes and meet his gaze. His breathing faltered, and he awkwardly looked away.
Jiang Qingmi said, “The injury on your head hasn’t fully healed yet, right?”
“Almost. I just need to keep taking some medicine and get the stitches removed later,” the man replied casually, not taking it seriously.
“The wound will heal, but don’t you want to recover your memory? Don’t you want to continue treatment?” The woman’s tone was light, her expression calm, without emotion.
But Qing Yanshen instinctively became alert. He felt that on the surface she was asking if he wanted to recover his memory.
But what she really meant was, don’t you want to remember me?
He quickly dropped his earlier nonchalance and said seriously, “I want to recover my memory.”
I want to remember you.
He wasn’t sure if that answer was good enough, so he looked at her somewhat nervously, waiting for her reaction.
But—
“Since you want to recover your memory, shouldn’t you save money? No need to buy the table. I think this one works fine.” Jiang Qingmi rolled her eyes. If she knew what he was thinking, she would probably roll them even harder.
“The hotel refund is with me. Come over every day to eat. Just treat it as if you’ve paid for meals.”
“Of course, my cooking isn’t that great. If you don’t want to come, I’ll give you the money.”
Of course Qing Yanshen wanted to come. He wished he could stay with the mother and daughter all the time. Without hesitation, he said, “No need! I really like your cooking. I’ll come every day.”
That was the truth. Jiang Qingmi’s cooking wasn’t heavily seasoned. It had a homely taste. Even a few simple dishes made him feel completely satisfied.
Jiang Qingmi didn’t eat much this time. One reason was that she had overeating yesterday and still felt uncomfortable, so she didn’t want to experience that again. Another was that she thought her cooking was just average, and she was already tired of it.
The man, on the other hand, ate as if he had been starving for three days. Even at Sisters’ Home Cooking he hadn’t eaten this much. He even finished the tomato and egg soup completely, leaving nothing behind.
Qing Yanshen gathered the dishes and said, “I’ll wash them. You watch Tuantuan.”
Jiang Qingmi didn’t stand during the ceremony. After eating, she didn’t want to move and just wanted to lie on the sofa and rest.
She only reminded him, “Put on an apron so you don’t dirty your clothes.”
Qing Yanshen glanced at the pink apron hanging on the wall and responded, “Okay.”
He quietly put it on. It was a bit small, and it felt slightly strange.
Hearing the sound of him washing dishes, Jiang Qingmi looked up from her phone. She saw the tall man dressed in black, broad-shouldered with strong arms, wearing a pink apron, and couldn’t help but smile silently.
After washing the dishes, Qing Yanshen played with Jiang Tuantuan for a while. Jiang Qingmi stayed on the sofa, scrolling through her phone. Sometimes she checked messages from the Qing family, and sometimes she looked for nearby part-time jobs to see if she could earn some money.
“I’m off tomorrow,” the man suddenly said.
Jiang Qingmi responded with an “Oh” while still scrolling, then casually asked, “How many days off do you get in a month?”
“Four. We don’t work when it rains either.”
Thinking of what Zhao Zheng had said, Qing Yanshen looked at Jiang Qingmi. “There’s a large underground shopping center nearby. They sell everything. Do you want to go take a look?”
“They sell everything?” Jiang Qingmi became interested. “Let’s go check it out tomorrow.”
Maybe she could find some way to make money.
Night fell, and it was already completely dark. At eight in the evening, Qing Yanshen took out the trash and went downstairs, preparing to return to the dormitory.
But he suddenly thought of something. He went back to the construction site, picked up several discarded wooden boards, and returned to the dorm.
With nails and a hammer, clanging sounds filled the room. In less than half an hour, he had made a smooth wooden table.
He had seen Wang Ge do the same thing before. The table Wang Ge made was still being used in the dorm by everyone.
Jiang Qingmi wouldn’t let him spend money to buy one. But this one didn’t cost anything, so there shouldn’t be a problem, right?
To be honest, he didn’t know how he and Jiang Qingmi used to get along before he lost his memory. But now, he was quite afraid of making her angry. He wanted to do everything she said, just to listen to her. Only then did he feel at ease.
Before losing his memory, he was probably someone who listened to his wife completely. It seemed ingrained in him. Even though he couldn’t remember their past, he still subconsciously wanted to obey her.
“You’ve got your wife here, so why don’t you stay with her? Why do you keep coming back to the dorm?” Monkey was completely puzzled. If he had such a beautiful wife, he definitely wouldn’t come back to the dorm.
Actually, Wang Ge and Zhao Zheng had been wondering the same thing, but they didn’t feel comfortable asking. Now that Monkey had brought it up, both of them quietly listened.
Qing Yanshen placed the finished table by the door to take it over tomorrow. Hearing Monkey’s question, he pressed his lips together and ignored him.
Is it that he doesn’t want to?
Otherwise, who would want to return to the dorm and face a group of grown men, especially a certain one who didn’t like to keep clean?
At that moment, he deeply understood Wang Ge’s situation.
Wang Ge had been living in the dorm for two months. This time, his wife was probably really angry and refused to let him come home.
On the surface, Wang Ge said he didn’t care about going home, that he’d just have to listen to his wife nagging anyway. Staying in the dorm playing games was much more comfortable and free.
But Qing Yanshen knew that was only on the surface.
Because he had once accidentally seen Wang Ge’s computer left on. The screen showed a chat record with the contact name “Wife.”
“Wife, can I come home today? I was really wrong. I won’t gamble anymore. I reflect on myself every day. I’ve stopped playing games, and I even eat less now. I’ve lost weight! Wife, don’t you feel bad for me anymore? Wife, please, I want to go home. I was wrong…”
The reply from the other side was simple and direct:
“Get lost!”
He only glanced at it before looking away, not reading further. After all, it was someone else’s privacy.
Still, he felt a little surprised. In private, Wang Ge could actually say such mushy things. The contrast was too great.
He didn’t gamble or play games. He listened to his wife.
He wondered when Jiang Qingmi would finally relent and let him move back so the three of them could live together.