Although Liu Hongjuan kept nagging Chen Man to embrace full-time motherhood, and Zhong Kaihui also said she should stay home and enjoy life, in his heart he believed that even having a baby shouldn’t stop her from working and earning money!
After all, Chen Man’s salary covered the household expenses, while his was being saved.
Zhong Kaihui was genuinely anxious. “Wife, what happened? What did you do to get fired?”
He urged, “I always said you don’t know how to handle people. Did you off your boss? Don’t worry, I’ll go with you. You go apologize to your boss and talk it out properly.”
Zhong Kaihui looked around, his gaze quickly locking onto the office, and tried to drag Chen Man over.
He lavished so much gentleness on outsiders that he couldn’t be bothered to understand his own wife, assuming it was all Chen Man’s fault.
Chen Man dodged his hand, picked up her canvas bag, and walked toward the elevator.
Zhou Liangliang said, “You can’t just cling to the job like this! Hurry up and pack your things—that spot will be free for me to put my bag.”
“Chen Man, why are you so stubborn? Can’t you stop being so willful? I’m only doing this for your own good!”
Seeing her about to leave, Zhong Kaihui hurried to grab the lunch boxes, not forgetting to sweet-talk Zhou Liangliang: “Junior, please help put in a word with Chen Man’s boss. She doesn’t have any special skills, but she can endure hardship. She can’t lose this job she worked so hard to get.”
Zhou Liangliang: “Our company doesn’t keep idle people either. If she can endure hardship, she might as well go work at a construction site…”
Finally free from Chen Man’s deadpan expression, Zhou Liangliang happily took out her phone, snapped a photo of Chen Man and Zhong Kaihui’s backs, and sent it to the small group chat with coworkers, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
Zhong Kaihui talked as he hurried toward the elevator. Chen Man pressed the close button, and in the last second before he could catch up, the elevator doors shut.
Zhong Kaihui was bewildered, even a little shocked. He froze for a moment before frantically pressing the elevator button.
The elevator was already descending. Chen Man watched the numbers flickering downward and suddenly felt that the elevator was actually quite fast. Usually at this hour, she had to rush home to cook, and racing against the clock, the elevator always felt painfully slow—even slower than taking the stairs.
She lowered her eyes and smiled, then took out her phone to check the time. The bank was already closed.
She could only wait until tomorrow at noon—if there were no meetings, she’d come early to reissue the bank card that Liu Hongjuan was holding.
That card wasn’t linked to WeChat; Liu Hongjuan kept it for household expenses, and not much was spent each month.
She did the math in her head. Even after subtracting living expenses from her monthly salary, there should be over twenty thousand left in that card—enough to tide her over for several months, so she wouldn’t have to worry too much about buying her maternal grandmother’s medicine.
Her rent was paid with occasional bonuses the company transferred to WeChat and some transportation reimbursements. She had put that money into funds and earned a bit.
It counted as her secret savings, but the rent had used it all up, leaving only a little over a hundred now.
Clearly not enough.
Before, she hadn’t thought it necessary, but now she had to link her salary card to her phone as well.
Afterward, she’d also need to buy a phone for her grandmother so they could keep in touch more easily. The rental apartment had no rice cooker or other basics—all of those needed to be bought too.
She noted down everything she needed to buy one by one. By then, the elevator had reached the underground garage, so she put away her phone and went to get her electric scooter.
First she’d go back to the rental apartment to check on her grandmother, then deal with the bank card.
Her electric scooter pulled out of the garage, and behind her, Zhong Kaihui chased after her.
He hailed a taxi and told the driver, “Sir, quickly follow that woman on the white electric scooter ahead.”
Chen Fangchun was anxiously pacing around inside the apartment. It was her first time staying in the city, and she wasn’t used to the toilet and didn’t dare go out. Having held it in all morning, she was restless, standing by the window and watching outside.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, she immediately went to wait at the entrance, and sure enough, Chen Man had returned.
“Grandma, why are you standing here? Why aren’t you lying down?”
Chen Man held the takeout in one hand and took Chen Fangchun’s hand with the other. After changing into slippers, she led her to sit on the simple wooden sofa.
Chen Fangchun said, “Manman, is work hard for you? Is it far? I… I’m just a burden here. I want to go back…”
“Grandma, didn’t we agree? From now on, we’ll stay here. I’ve already asked Auntie Wang next door to look after your chickens and vegetables.”
Chen Man took out the takeout and snapped apart a pair of disposable chopsticks for Chen Fangchun, wiping them clean.
“Grandma, tonight I’ll go buy a gas stove, along with bowls and chopsticks. From now on, you cook for me, okay? This takeout doesn’t taste good at all, and it’s unhealthy. I can’t cook myself, and every time mealtime comes around, I really miss your cooking. Grandma, just think of it as helping me out.”
In truth, Chen Man had long since gone from never having done a day’s hard work to being skilled in the kitchen.
If Liu Hongjuan went out to play cards, Chen Man would bring food to the office. Liu Hongjuan wouldn’t let her order takeout, saying it was too expensive—one takeout meal cost as much as a whole day’s groceries. On that point, Chen Man actually agreed.
But because she brought food and reheated it, quite a few coworkers at the office had complaints, saying she made the microwave smell. Even though there wasn’t much of a smell, Chen Man carefully wiped it down several times after every use.
Part of why she was so thin was exhaustion—after work she had to go home and cook for that mother and son, and do the housework too.
Chen Fangchun looked Chen Man over carefully. She looked very thin, her eyelids soft, making her seem weary. Those eyes no longer had their former lively sparkle.
Chen Fangchun sighed. “You… oh, fine. I’ll stay and cook for you.”
Chen Fangchun had originally intended to say that since Liu Hongjuan was idle, with her cooking, Chen Man shouldn’t have to bother herself—but thinking of what Liu Hongjuan was like, she changed her tune.
Chen Fangchun then remembered the suitcase Chen Man had pulled in. It had been too late last night to ask. “Manman, what’s in that suitcase? Is it your luggage? Aren’t you going back?”
She added, “How could you just leave Xiaohui behind? You have to go back! Don’t worry, I’ll stay here. I’ll have the food ready, and you can come pick it up.”
After saying it, she felt that all this back-and-forth was quite a hassle. Chen Man was tired from work—with that kind of time, she’d be better off lying down and resting.
Chen Fangchun wanted to go back again.
If she were told now about Chen Man divorcing Zhong Kaihui, Chen Fangchun would surely stubbornly believe it was because of her interference.
Chen Man’s voice dropped a few degrees, and her movements slowed as she ate. “You don’t know anyone or anything here. I was afraid you’d be scared, so I came here to keep you company for a while, to help you adjust first.”
“I don’t need that. You don’t need to come over at night. Go back. What could possibly happen to an old woman like me? Don’t keep running back and forth.”
Chen Man completely lost her appetite. She took a breath and said firmly, “Grandma, you know I’m closest to you. Before, I didn’t have time, but now that I’m working, I finally got to bring you here to live with me while you’re sick. I already feel guilty enough having you stay in this place. If you won’t let me stay with you, I’ll feel terrible—I’d be worrying about you even at work.”
This was not up for negotiation. She was not going to leave her grandmother abandoned in the countryside again.
She had brought it up with Zhong Kaihui several times before, only to be refused, and with Liu Hongjuan being the way she was, Chen Man feared Chen Fangchun would be mistreated, so the matter had been dropped.
Chen Fangchun looked at Chen Man, swallowing everything she wanted to say, not daring to say anything more.
After Chen Man finished eating and gave a few reminders, she headed back to work.
The moment her electric scooter left the apartment complex gates, Zhong Kaihui emerged from the corridor.