As they continued chatting, Feng Cui suddenly turned to Qin Ruan.
“Ruanruan, aren’t you planning to go to college?”
The question caught Qin Ruan completely off guard.
“Grandma Feng, I’m not very good at studying. I don’t plan to go to college. I’m happy with things the way they are.”
Feeling a little awkward, Feng Cui smiled.
“All right then. Young people should experience life in their own way.”
Knowing what Qin Ruan really meant, and worried Feng Cui might misunderstand and that it would affect the relationship between the two families, Hu Yufen explained,
“Don’t mind her, my dear in-law. She simply doesn’t like studying. We practically forced her to finish high school, and after graduating she absolutely refused to take the college entrance exam.”
Qin Ruan grumbled inwardly.
What’s the point of college anyway? I already went through university in my previous life. I don’t want to do it all over again in this one. I just want to make money as soon as possible… and then live an easy life.
As she thought about it, she already had a plan.
She intended to use items from this era and sell them to people in the twenty-first century through her Space Marketplace.
Although she couldn’t communicate directly with buyers, as long as she listed an item and someone followed her shop, transactions could still take place.
Likewise, if she wanted something from the modern world, she could simply search for it in the marketplace and see whether anyone was selling it.
Compared with a modern online shopping app, the Space Marketplace had only one real drawback: there was no customer service.
There was only the system.
She couldn’t contact buyers, and buyers couldn’t contact her.
Returns were also not allowed.
She had only recently learned about the no-return policy and immediately asked the system whether it was some kind of bug.
The system replied that every item sold through the marketplace had already been authenticated by the system, guaranteeing that it was genuine.
“If every item is authentic,” the system reasoned, “why would anyone need to return it?”
Besides, everyone using the Space Marketplace was a chosen host selected by the system.
After Hu Yufen’s explanation, Qin Ruan spoke again.
“Grandma Feng, I really don’t have any great ambitions. I honestly don’t want to go to college. I’m already nineteen years old. What I want is to make money as quickly as possible. Then, once houses can be freely bought and sold, I’ll buy lots and lots of them and live off the rental income.”
Feng Cui was surprised.
“Houses can be bought and sold?”
“Of course. Our country’s economy is gradually opening up and improving. Sooner or later, it’ll happen. Look—people once said many students couldn’t go to college, but now universities have reopened, haven’t they?”
Feng Cui nodded.
“That’s true.”
“So everything is changing little by little. There are so many people, yet not enough housing. Once the government builds more homes, they’ll naturally rent or sell them to recover funds for further development. Housing transactions will definitely become legal. Land transactions will eventually become legal too.”
Feng Cui nodded again.
“If that really happens, it’ll be wonderful.”
Hu Yufen immediately chimed in,
“That’s easy enough. When land and property can finally be bought and sold, our family will just buy a lot.”
Hearing her grandmother speak so confidently, Qin Ruan laughed.
“Deal, Grandma. When that day comes, make sure you buy plenty—for me, and for Uncle.”
She paused before adding,
“No, wait. One more person. Auntie has a baby on the way.”
“All right, all right,” Hu Yufen laughed. “We’ll buy enough for everyone.”
Feng Cui merely smiled without saying anything. She couldn’t bear to dampen their enthusiasm.
Everyone in the military compound knew only that Qin Ruofeng had come from a rural village. Few people knew anything about his actual family background.
That was why Shen Jianning had explained to her parents earlier that Qin Ruofeng had been adopted and was not the Qin family’s biological son.
The conversation continued.
Before long, the two men at the table had drunk enough that they began swaying in their seats.
“Grandma Feng,” Qin Ruan said, “I think Grandpa Shen has had too much to drink. Uncle’s drunk too. We should probably head home.”
Qin Ruofeng immediately declared,
“All right! I can still walk. Let’s go home.”
Shen Changfeng also stood up.
“I can still drink another round!”
Feng Cui walked over.
“Drink, drink, drink! If you keep drinking, I’m going to smack you!”
She raised her hand as if she were about to hit him.
Shen Changfeng quickly dodged.
“Ha! You missed!”
Shen Jianning couldn’t help laughing.
She walked over to support Qin Ruofeng.
“Let’s go home, Ruofeng.”
“Okay, honey. Let’s go home.”
Then he looked at Qin Ruan and his mother.
“Mom… Ruanruan… let’s go home.”
Qin Ruan stepped forward to say goodbye to Feng Cui.
“Grandma Feng, Grandpa Shen, we’re heading home now.”
“All right, off you go. I’ll help your Grandpa Shen get some rest.”
As Qin Ruofeng moved to help, Feng Cui immediately stopped him.
“You just go home. Don’t make things worse. If you stay, the two of you will just start drinking again.”
Qin Ruofeng chuckled.
“All right, Mom. Then we’ll be leaving. We’ll come visit you again after we get back from Yunnan.”
Feng Cui waved them off repeatedly.
“Hurry along, hurry along.”
At that moment, all she wanted was to separate her son-in-law from her husband.
Hu Yufen stood and said to the couple,
“My dear in-laws, we’ll be on our way now.”
Qin Ruan smiled and nodded before helping her grandmother to her feet.
Outside, she wheeled out the bicycle and looked at her uncle.
“Uncle, are you really drunk?”
“Not at all. You ride Grandma home first. Your aunt and I will walk back.”
Qin Ruan smiled.
“Okay.”
She then turned to her grandmother.
“Grandma, hop on. Let’s go home.”
After arriving home, Qin Ruan parked the bicycle in the yard and helped her grandmother inside.
“Grandma, have a seat for a while. I’ll go boil some hot water.”
“Ruanruan, don’t trouble yourself.”
“I’ll boil some water. When Uncle and Auntie get back, they can have some tea. Later tonight, we’ll just make something simple to eat.”
“All right. We’re heading back to Yunnan tomorrow anyway, so we’ll keep dinner simple.”
“Okay, Grandma.”
Hu Yufen smiled as she watched the busy young girl moving about.
Silently, she murmured in her heart,
Ruo Ruo… if only you were still alive. Look at your daughter now.
After the water had boiled, Qin Ruan returned and gently took her grandmother’s hand.
“Grandma, when we go back this time, I want to visit my father.”
Hu Yufen looked at her in surprise.
“Ruanruan… are you sure?”
Qin Ruan nodded seriously.
“Yes. I’ll visit him, and after that I’ll come back and stay with Uncle here at the military base.”
“In that case, you really should go say goodbye to him. It wouldn’t be right if he came back and couldn’t find you.”
Qin Ruan smiled.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking, Grandma.”
Hu Yufen gently patted her hand.
“Ruanruan, don’t resent your father. Even though he married into our Qin family, he truly loved your mother.”
“I know, Grandma. I’ve grown up now. I understand. I know Dad has had a hard life, so I never wanted to disturb him. This time I just want to tell him that I’ll be living here in Shancheng with Uncle from now on.”
“Good. Tell him. And whenever you return to Yunnan in the future, be sure to visit him.”
Qin Ruan smiled and nodded.
In truth, this farewell was more for the original Qin Ruan than for herself.
She personally had little attachment to the man.
In her previous life, Qin Ruan had lived a miserable life—both of her parents had abandoned her.
In this life, her mother was gone, and although her father still loved her, he had a new family of his own.