At that moment, Bei Qinghuan, who was outside the house, could barely hold her position any longer.
You see, in order to hear clearly without being discovered, she was in a half-squatting horse stance, pressed against the wall.
It was like high-difficulty yoga!
It wasn’t easy for her!
Hearing the family argue back and forth about Tao Su, Bei Qinghuan wanted to take the opportunity to change her position.
However, just as she straightened up, her head bumped against the frosted glass of the back window.
A sharp shout came from inside, “Who’s there! Who’s standing there!”
Bei Qinghuan froze. She glanced back at the man standing in the middle of the alleyway holding a lunchbox, then turned and ran for it.
She couldn’t be blamed for being disloyal. As “Representative Jing’s orderly,” it wouldn’t be a big deal if he were seen.
But it was different for her.
If she were discovered, there was no telling what methods they might use to deal with her.
Jing Xiao, forcibly left behind in the alleyway: “…!”
He really couldn’t accept this girl’s food for free!
As for Bei Qinghuan, she had bolted out of the alleyway, but then she remembered she hadn’t retrieved her lunchbox and had to stop in her tracks behind the house.
She cautiously peeked out and saw that the Qin family had already chased out of the house and were standing at the mouth of the alleyway, looking around.
Bei Qinghuan quickly ducked her head and hid.
Jing Xiao stood his ground without moving.
When he heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind him, he acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing. He lifted the lunchbox in his hand, tapped it, and mimicked a cat’s meow. “Meow, meow, you naughty kitty, where did you run off to?”
The three members of the Qin family at the entrance of the alleyway looked at each other. Just as they were about to leave, Jing Xiao turned his head. “Oh, Factory Director Qin, what are you and your family doing…?”
Qin Dagang immediately nodded and bowed. “Ah, Representative Jing, are you, uh, looking for a cat?”
Jing Xiao replied with a straight face, “Yes, a little stray cat was just starting to come play at my place, but it suddenly heard a mouse squeak outside and ran off.”
Mei Suqin forced a smile. “Is that so… I never would have guessed that Representative Jing would like cats.”
Jing Xiao’s expression was indifferent. “You never would have guessed? Then your judgment isn’t very good.”
Mei Suqin: “…”
Is he talking about me? What did I do to offend him?
Qin Zhenghua rubbed his nose. “Dad, Mom, why don’t we head back first.”
“Right, right. Representative Jing, take your time looking. We were just… uh, we were just out for a walk, a walk.”
The three members of the Qin family immediately went back inside.
Jing Xiao picked up the last piece of Sweet and Sour Fried Fish from the lunchbox, ate it slowly, and closed his eyes in enjoyment.
Mm, not bad at all. His mood was much better now.
The little lass was truly foolish. In fact, she didn’t even need to press against the wall to hear the people inside clearly.
He had been standing here enjoying his food and had heard everything just fine.
This Factory Director Qin’s family was truly unscrupulous. Their son already had a woman and a child on the outside, yet they were still scheming to have the little lass marry into their family.
He couldn’t stand this kind of sanctimonious hypocrisy.
If necessary, he could help the little lass out.
He would consider it repayment for her food.
The moonlight was hazy.
Jing Xiao took the lunchbox and left.
When Bei Qinghuan peeked out again from the other end of the alleyway, there was no one there.
Hah, what a character. Last time she lost a silver bracelet, and now she’d lost a lunchbox.
Nothing good ever happened when she encountered that man.
But now, No. 3 Courtyard was pitch black; it was obvious no one was around.
That “orderly” probably didn’t even live here.
She couldn’t very well go and complain to his superior, Representative Jing, over a lunchbox, could she?
Bei Qinghuan had no choice but to go home.
Fortunately, today hadn’t been a total loss. At the very least, she now knew that Tao Su was indeed the woman behind Qin Zhenghua’s back.
Look at that, another reason not to marry into the Qin family.
When Bei Qinghuan got home, Yan Guifang inevitably asked a few questions. “You went to eavesdrop, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“What did you hear?”
“Qin Zhenghua has a woman in the place where he was sent to work.”
Yan Guifang was a little surprised, but she quickly figured it out.
“I knew it. Last year, several people who were sent to Jiangtong came back, but Qin Zhenghua didn’t. I suspected back then that he had a woman there. At the time, you still couldn’t come back, so I didn’t dare say anything, to save you the heartache while you were away.”
Bei Qinghuan smiled nonchalantly. “Mom, do you know the address of the place where Qin Zhenghua was sent?”
“What are you planning to do?”
“I want… to make the Qin family stop pestering me.”
Yan Guifang looked at her daughter for a long while before saying, “I’ll go ask around tomorrow.”
Bei Qinghuan was satisfied. Just as she was about to leave, Yan Guifang called out to her, “Where’s your lunchbox?”
Bei Qinghuan stammered, “…Uh… I was halfway through listening when Mei Suqin seemed to have seen me, so I ran, and the lunchbox… fell…”
“Aiyo, I traded cloth ration coupons with a demobilized soldier for that lunchbox. It’s good quality. Look at you… Tell me, where did you drop it? Should I go look for it?”
“Mom, I forgot! I’m going to paint. I’ll paint more and buy you ten lunchboxes!”
Bei Qinghuan spent most of the night painting, but she didn’t dare to wake up late the next day and obediently went out to buy groceries.
As she reached the entrance of the Family Compound, the old man at the gate poked his head out and shouted, “Hey, Youya’er, there’s something for your family!”
This old man was a solitary elder who had been at the factory for a very long time. He had even been hired by Bei Wenxuan.
So, he had watched all the children like Bei Qinghuan grow up.
Even though he had long since retired, he had nowhere else to go, so he still lived in the guardroom, which saved the factory the trouble of arranging for a night watchman.
Bei Qinghuan walked over, pouted, and glared. “Grandpa Gou, don’t call me by my nickname, don’t call me by my nickname, don’t call me by my nickname!”
The old man shot her a disdainful glance. “Don’t call you by your nickname? When you were little, your parents begged me to call you that. I called you Youya’er for three years and Duofa’er for two years before you finally grew new teeth and more hair!”
“You said it yourself, that was when I was little! I’m grown up now. If you call me that again, I’ll call you by your nickname too! Grandpa Gou!”
The old man’s surname was actually Gou, but he himself felt it was an unseemly name. When people asked, he would always say his surname was Ju.
Only Bei Qinghuan had heard her father mention this.
The old man bared his teeth. “Heh! You little brat! Fine, fine. But what was your proper name again? I can’t remember.”
“Then you can just call me Old Bei’s kid, or Yan Guifang’s little girl, how about that? Grandpa Gou!”
“You cheeky little girl, just you wait. I won’t stoop to your level. Take your family’s lunchbox.”
The old man tossed out a lunchbox hanging in a net bag.
One look at the style and she knew it was the military-issue kind.
Bei Qinghuan was pleasantly surprised.
Comrade Correspondent was quite conscientious after all, he’d brought it back himself!
Bei Qinghuan was pleased, but she didn’t take it. She said to the old man with righteous confidence, “Grandpa Gou, I’m going to buy groceries now. I’ll get it on my way back.”
“Alright, Youya’er.”
Bei Qinghuan spun around and glared at him. “…!”
The old man taunted, “Duofa’er?”
Bei Qinghuan gritted her teeth. “Grand. Pa. Gou!”
The old man paid her no mind, turning back to switch on his radio and listen to Pingtan.
Alas, the mischievous child had grown old