Qiao Man knew that people in this world were enthusiastic, but she hadn’t expected them to be so proactive.
She stopped and looked at the crowd behind Auntie Qi, only to find the elderly residents in the small square all staring at her.
Qiao Man felt the small hand gripping hers tighten slightly. She squeezed An’an’s hand back reassuringly and said to Auntie Qi, “You flatter me; I just made some chicken soup noodles.”
“See! I told you it was chicken soup! I just—”
A man’s excited voice suddenly popped out from the crowd, but it cut off abruptly.
Auntie Qi was smiling at Qiao Man, then looked as if she had just noticed An’an. She said to Qiao Man, “Is this your child? Are you raising her alone? We’re all neighbors here; as the saying goes, a near neighbor is better than a distant relative. If you ever need anything, just come to me for help.”
“That’s right, young lady. You just moved here so you don’t know, but everyone in this community knows each other. Helping each other pick up kids or watching the door is common practice.”
Qiao Man looked past Auntie Qi. Seeing the inquisitive gazes of the crowd, she immediately understood what was going on.
She realized this was a great opportunity!
Qiao Man suddenly let out a heavy sigh, looking at An’an with a face full of pity. Her voice even trembled slightly: “I didn’t want to say anything at first, but considering we’ll be living here for a long time and everyone is so kind-hearted, I’m not afraid to share our family’s shame.”
Whenever there was gossip, everyone’s attention became exceptionally focused, and they all pricked up their ears.
Qiao Man leaned into her performance: “This is my sister’s child. My sister passed away from an illness two years ago. I was out of town at the time, so the child went to her father. I heard the man remarried, so I rushed back. Custody was granted to me, and from now on, it will just be the two of us living together.”
After Qiao Man finished speaking, she lowered her head as if wiping away tears, while secretly winking at An’an.
An’an blinked her large eyes, looking at Qiao Man in confusion: “Auntie…”
Why was her aunt crying? She seemed so afraid of her father. But she remembered two days ago at her father’s house, her aunt had clearly flipped the table and scared her father’s entire family into shivering in the corner.
An’an’s small head was full of doubts, but she simply lowered her head and rubbed a small pebble on the ground with her foot. Either way, her aunt was just like her mom—whatever she did was for her own good.
Unlike An’an, the “melon-eating” crowd’s blood began to boil after they exchanged glances—there was nothing left to misunderstand!
If the father had been even remotely decent to the child, custody would never have been granted to the aunt. Looking at the child’s skin-and-bones state, she must have been abused.
Though they had seen many things like this, seeing and hearing it in person still made them furious.
Grandma Zhang rushed over first, cursing the scumbag. Someone pulled at her, reminding her there was a child present. She sighed and bent down to smile kindly at An’an: “Is the girl four years old? You’re so sensible, helping your aunt carry so many things.”
Qiao Man patted An’an’s small head: “Call her Grandma Zhang.”
Logically, Grandma Zhang was old enough to be Qiao Man’s grandmother, but people always liked being addressed as younger.
An’an said timidly, “Grandma Zhang, I’m six and a half. I’ve already started school.”
Nowadays, six-and-a-half-year-olds were usually 1.3 meters tall and quite sturdy. How could this little girl look like she had come out of a refugee camp? It was obvious she had suffered from long-term lack of food and water.
Now, heartache appeared on the faces of the elderly. “Is he even a biological father? No one said he couldn’t remarry, but he shouldn’t treat a child like this!”
“Exactly! Xiao Qiao, is it? Are you the only one left in Jiangcheng? Where are your parents? How do you plan to make a living?”
“They passed away a long time ago. My only relatives left here were my sister and my former brother-in-law, and my sister passed away two years ago…” Qiao Man’s expression darkened. As if mentioning a painful memory, she sighed deeply, cutting off the gossiping inquiries and forcefully shifting the topic back to Qiao Ya’s ex-husband, Liang Zhendong.
“Speaking of which, I feel my sister’s sacrifice wasn’t worth it. Back then, Liang Zhendong begged and pleaded to marry into my family as a matrilocal son-in-law. He promised to help my parents take care of the house and the business, but as soon as they passed away, he showed his true colors. He kicked me out and seized my family’s property.”
The crowd gasped: A matrilocal son-in-law taking over the estate after the family was gone!
“I could have lived with that, but I couldn’t stand that he married right after my sister died. After they had another child, he mistreated An’an everywhere. A six-year-old child is as thin as this…”
When it came to children, everyone could empathize. They began to curse Liang Zhendong as a deadbeat scumbag with righteous indignation.
Grandma Zhang suddenly said, “I know this kind of man best. Don’t think just because the court gave you custody that he’s done; he’s probably still counting on the child to support him in his old age! He might even try to find the child in secret. Don’t worry, we’ll all help you keep an eye out!”
“Xiao Qiao, don’t worry. We have nothing to do all day, so we’ll keep watch for you here. If anyone comes snooping around for you two, we’ll drive them out!”
Qiao Man had achieved her goal. She thanked everyone while pretending to wipe away tears.
The atmosphere grew harmonious. Grandma Li asked Qiao Man, “What is the child’s name?”
Grandma Li’s daughter lived across from Qiao Man. She came every day to help her daughter clean and cook, and she happened to encounter Qiao Man and An’an looking at the apartment that day.
“Her formal name was originally Qiao Yanning, but after my sister died, her dad changed it to Liang Ting to follow his surname. I just went to change it back today, and I handled the transfer procedures for the Happiness Primary School nearby. Her nickname is An’an.”
Hmph! Not only was he a matrilocal son-in-law, but the scumbag even went back on his word! Seeing that her family was gone, he changed the child’s name and treated her poorly. How wicked!
Qiao Man lowered her head and met An’an’s eyes. Only An’an saw the cunning smile in them.
The scumbag Liang Zhendong had no idea that he had become famous in the Happiness Community today—with a reputation so bad that everyone wanted to hit him. Furthermore, not everyone in this group was from the Happiness Community; there were visitors like Grandma Li. Soon, everyone in the vicinity would know about this scumbag.
This was exactly the effect Qiao Man wanted.
She had to find a way to support herself and An’an. She didn’t just want to raise An’an to be healthy; she wanted her to be like other children—able to buy whatever she wanted and learn whatever she wanted. Therefore, she had to work hard to earn money.
But because of this, she couldn’t watch over An’an every second. If that scumbag came to snatch the child or cause trouble, she would have helpers.
The crowd, satisfied with the gossip, was reluctant to leave. They surrounded Qiao Man and An’an with various questions, and no one mentioned whether Qiao Man was a human trafficker anymore.
Anyone could see that the little girl was indeed quite dependent on Qiao Man, and everything in Qiao Man’s hands was bought for An’an. What human trafficker would invest so much?
Someone asked Qiao Man, “Have you found a job since coming to Jiangcheng?”
Qiao Man shook her head, and people began talking at once, telling her where there were job openings recently.
“Who’s out here selling things again? Auntie Zhang, have you forgotten the time that salesman almost tricked you out of your entire retirement pension?”
Suddenly, a resonant female voice rang out from behind the crowd. Grandma Zhang, who had been called out, brightened her eyes and turned to walk out: “Big Mei is back! I was just looking for you. Oh, is this what your Old Cheng caught today?”
A tall, sturdy woman stood outside the crowd carrying a red plastic bucket. Her cheeks were puffed out and she had a stern face, looking quite difficult to talk to.
The onlookers dispersed; only neighbors like Grandma Zhang dared to approach her.
Xiong Mei glanced at Qiao Man and An’an in the crowd, gave Grandma Zhang and the others a perfunctory nod, then raised her head and shouted to Qiao Man: “Xiao Qiao, aren’t you a chef? Help me clean these two fish.”
After saying that, she walked straight forward with the bucket. “I don’t know where that old man got these snakeheads from. They’re so slippery, I can’t catch them at all.”
Qiao Man exchanged a few pleasantries with the crowd, acting as if she didn’t see their disapproving looks toward the landlord Xiong Mei, and pretending not to hear their whispers about how Xiong Mei liked to bully people. She then led An’an away.
The two large figures and one small one walked quietly one after the other. It wasn’t until they entered apartment 201 that Qiao Man put down her things, went to the kitchen, and asked Xiong Mei, “Auntie, how would you like to eat these fish?”
Xiong Mei washed the fishy smell off her hands, expressionlessly took a small cake from a snack box, turned around and stuffed it into An’an’s hand, and said stiffly, “What kind of fish would a kid like you know how to make? I’ll let your Old Man Cheng clean them in a bit.”
She saw An’an holding the cake, looking at Qiao Man helplessly. Only after receiving Qiao Man’s permission did the girl earnestly thank her. Her tense face finally softened, and she said to An’an, “Go watch TV outside. You and your aunt will eat at Grandma’s house tonight.”
Once An’an skipped away, Xiong Mei glanced at Qiao Man and said, “They didn’t make things difficult for you, did they? They’re just talkative and nosy, but they aren’t bad people.”
Qiao Man smiled. Her landlord had called her back because she feared those people would say inappropriate things in front of the child.
In truth, Qiao Man wasn’t exactly a submissive person. If Auntie Xiong hadn’t immediately taken some money from the rent and returned it to her a few days ago upon learning she was raising her sister’s child alone—even saying the rent would be six hundred from then on—Qiao Man wouldn’t have actually come to help kill fish today.
It was also thanks to those few hundred yuan from Auntie Xiong; otherwise, after paying the rent, they would have been left with nothing. This was all the fault of the system that brought her here.
At that time, she was on a mission. On the verge of death, she was transported here from the end of the world by the system. Her injuries had healed miraculously, but it was only after waking from a five-day coma that she realized she had traveled to Sister Qiao Ya’s world.
Due to the different flow of time between the two worlds, she arrived to find that Sister Qiao Ya had only been passed away for two years in this world. Her young daughter, An’an, whom she often mentioned in the post-apocalyptic world, was now only six years old.
There was still time for everything.
Qiao Man didn’t know what the system had done to the people of this world, but it had arranged the identity of Qiao Ya’s biological sister for her, helped her win custody of An’an, and even made the scumbag Liang Zhendong’s family fear her… However, while the system had done everything, the only loophole was—she had no money.
Perhaps the system hadn’t realized that, unlike the end times, it was almost impossible to move an inch without money in this world.
Even the rent money was borrowed from An’an—of course, it was taken from the child support Liang Zhendong had given her.
However, the economic level of this city wasn’t high to begin with, and An’an’s annual child support wasn’t much. If Auntie Xiong hadn’t given her those few hundred yuan, let alone buying school supplies for An’an, they would have had to pick up vegetable leaves from the market to eat these past two days.
Qiao Man pulled back her thoughts. Remembering her promise to make chicken soup wontons for An’an tonight, she thanked Auntie Xiong and intended to take her leave.
Auntie Xiong, with her stern face, paused her hand while washing vegetables and turned around to ask fiercely, “What is there to eat if you go back! You’ve spent all that little bit of money these past two days, haven’t you? Look how thin the child is. Are you going back to eat instant noodles with her? Stay and eat fish.”
Qiao Man smiled bitterly. Auntie Xiong was really blunt.
Just as she was about to explain, Auntie Xiong pushed her out: “I’m not comfortable with the child being alone. Go watch her.”
Helpless, Qiao Man ducked into the kitchen. “I’ll wash the vegetables. Just let me do some work; the work can count toward the meal.”
She said this with a playful smile. Auntie Xiong knew she was joking and let out a huff, then suddenly asked, “Have you found a job these past few days? What kind of work are you looking for? I’ll ask my son to keep an eye out for you later.”
Qiao Man shook her head. “Thank you, Auntie Xiong, but I don’t plan on working for someone else.”
Seeing Auntie Xiong furrow her brows, she quickly explained, “I want to find a way to work for myself. An’an is still young and needs me to take care of her; being my own boss is more flexible.”
She saw Auntie Xiong’s brow furrow even tighter and thought she was going to continue persuading her, but then she heard Auntie Xiong hit her where it hurt: “You want to start your own small business? Do you have the capital?”
Qiao Man: “…”
Her biggest problem right now was exactly the lack of money!
Before Qiao Man could answer, An’an ran in holding Auntie Xiong’s phone: “Grandma.”
It was a call from Auntie Xiong’s husband, Old Man Cheng.
Auntie Xiong wiped her hands, patted An’an’s head, and went out to take the call.
In the kitchen, Qiao Man heard Auntie Xiong’s loud voice shouting: “If you aren’t coming back for dinner, then what about these two fish? I don’t know how to clean them! You old geezer…”
Qiao Man lowered her head and met the eyes of the snakehead in the bucket. She suddenly smiled, grabbed the snakehead with precision and force, and struck the head hard with the spine of the knife. The struggling snakehead instantly went still. Then came the gutting, deboning, and filleting…
Auntie Xiong walked back in with her phone, frowning. The vegetable market had long since closed, so she could only ask her neighbor, Auntie Wu, for help.
She calculated that those two snakeheads were four or five pounds each. One could be given to Auntie Wu, and the other should be enough for the two adults and one child. She also had a piece of pork belly in her fridge, which would be perfect for twice-cooked pork.
Auntie Xiong was cursing the old man in her mind. Just as she stepped into the kitchen, she suddenly froze—
On the cutting board in front of Qiao Man lay the two cleaned snakeheads. She asked, “Auntie Xiong, how would you like to eat these fish?”