Ren Chaomei looked down at the money, then up at the man before her.
She had never been in a relationship in her entire life. She had always been single. There had been men who pursued her, but she had no interest in ugly ones. As for handsome men who came from wealthy families and had good personalities, she felt they were far beyond her reach.
The reason she had asked Ye Changqing if he wanted to date her was rather childish. She simply wanted to be a troublemaker in the Ren family. Seeing that Ye Changqing was handsome, she had impulsively blurted out the question.
But she didn’t regret it.
She turned her head toward the old house, and Ren Dahe’s smug old face flashed through her mind.
There was no way she was going to use the man in front of her as a stepping stone for the Ren family.
Ren Chaomei only hesitated for two seconds before firmly taking the one yuan. There was no yearning for love in her eyes, only a determination to get revenge on the old enemy who had wronged her!
“Fine. I’ll listen to you! My… boyfriend!”
“To help us understand each other better, I think I should properly introduce myself again. My name is Ye Changqing. I’m twenty-two years old. My father has passed away. You’ve met my mother, but I also have a younger brother, Ye Changming, and a younger sister, Ye Changle. They’re both still in high school. Until they become adults, I need to support this family…”
He rambled on with a bunch of things she already knew. When she had gone to the Ye family, Zhang Shujun had already told her everything.
But Ren Chaomei still waited until he finished before asking, “Do I still have to write that self-criticism? Three thousand words, you know!”
“Yes. If you’ve done something wrong, you have to accept the punishment.”
“I don’t want to write it.” Ren Chaomei defended herself with complete confidence. “You’ve already agreed to be my boyfriend, so why do I still need to write it? With this outcome, there’s no way I can genuinely reflect on my mistakes.”
Ye Changqing simply stared at Ren Chaomei. Hadn’t she said she would listen to him? How had the result turned out completely different from what he’d imagined?
“Go tell Uncle Wang that we’re dating. Tell him I’m not writing the self-criticism anymore.”
If he told Uncle Wang that, the man would definitely drag him into a long interrogation.
It was only a three-thousand-word self-criticism. Ye Changqing compromised. “Forget it. I’ll write it for you.”
“Ah~ Thank you~ You’re such a good person.”
After that, the two people who had never been in love before had no idea what to say.
The atmosphere fell silent.
They had never eaten pork, but they had seen pigs run. Ye Changqing pushed his bicycle and said, “Let’s go. I’ll go to your house and help with the work. There must be a lot to deal with there right now.”
“Ah, no, no, no!” Ren Chaomei frantically refused, grabbing his arm and pulling him backward. “You don’t need to go.”
“It’s just sweeping away the dust. There are already enough people. This afternoon, the team leader will call people over to repair the walls and put up the roof. They don’t need you.”
Looking at Ye Changqing’s scholarly, delicate appearance, Ren Chaomei said with utmost sincerity, “I’m dating you, not so you can come here and do this kind of heavy labor.”
Especially not to help Ren Dahe.
Although she would have to temporarily stay in the house once it was cleaned up, she didn’t consider the house her territory.
Ren Chaomei was telling the truth, but Ye Changqing somehow felt as though he had just heard a sweet declaration of affection.
She couldn’t bear to see him work.
In fact, he wasn’t that weak. But remembering what Ren Chaomei had said about how badly she got along with her uncle’s family, he decided to follow her wishes.
“Then I won’t go. Do you need anything? I’ll accompany you into town to buy it.”
Then he reminded her, “We’re outside, and there are people around. Don’t hold my hand.”
Remembering how this man had sent himself to the police station just to defend his reputation, Ren Chaomei immediately let go.
But as soon as she released his arm, she couldn’t help feeling wronged. “I only grabbed your arm. We’re dating, aren’t we? Can’t we even touch hands when we’re dating?”
From the first time Ye Changqing met Ren Chaomei, he had sensed that she possessed an unusually free and uninhibited spirit, far less constrained than ordinary people.
Knowing that Ren Chaomei had lost both her parents at a young age, Ye Changqing couldn’t help breaking everything down and explaining it to her.
“This is your production team. If people here see us, it won’t look good. They’ll gossip about you. If things between us don’t lead to marriage, those rumors could affect your chances of getting married in the future.”
Even after becoming a couple, Ye Changqing still wouldn’t let himself get too close to Ren Chaomei. When they stood together, there was enough space between them to fit another person.
What a thoroughly traditional man.
Ye Changqing had never met such a flirtatious female hooligan before, while Ren Chaomei had never encountered such an old-fashioned boyfriend.
Since she had never been in love, Ren Chaomei could only use the people around her as references.
For this kind of old-fashioned man, the only examples she had around her were Ren Dahe and Ren Guodong.
Thinking of Ren Dahe’s behavior, Ren Chaomei’s expression suddenly darkened.
She asked, “Do you smoke, drink, or gamble? Do you hit women? Will you give your money to me to manage?”
“I don’t smoke, drink, or gamble. I don’t hit women. Part of my salary will go to support my family. You can have the rest of my private money.”
There was something very clean about Ye Changqing. At first glance, he looked like a scholar, untouched by alcohol, women, money, or other worldly temptations.
But appearances could be deceiving. Ren Chaomei asked, “How can you prove it?”
“In the future, you can come with me when I collect my salary from my workplace. As for my private money, when you’re willing to marry me, I’ll let you manage it.”
Smoking, drinking, and gambling all cost money. Without money, you couldn’t indulge in any of them.
Verbal promises didn’t count as proof. Having spent so much time being argumentative, Ren Chaomei pressed him relentlessly. “What if I’m willing to marry you right now?”
Ever since Ren Chaomei had started asking whether he smoked, drank, or gambled, Ye Changqing had sensed her strong sense of insecurity.
Thinking about how this orphaned girl was treated in her uncle’s household, he said, “If you’re willing, then on my next day off, I’ll give you the money to keep. Consider it my betrothal gift and a token of my sincerity.”
Ren Chaomei was just about to ask if he was serious when she suddenly thought about how quickly people got married in this era.
If a man and woman lived close to each other, they could spend two or three years getting to know each other before marrying. But if they lived far apart, they could meet only two or three times before settling on marriage.
The distance between her and the Ye family wouldn’t be considered far in the future, but in this era, it was definitely a long-distance relationship.
Just meeting once required a four-hour journey. A relationship like that? Even a dog wouldn’t want it. You couldn’t even walk a dog for four hours in a day.
From the very first time she met Ye Changqing, Ren Chaomei wasn’t opposed to marrying him.
Her original intentions might have been bad, but her eyes worked perfectly well.
If she married Ye Changqing, she wouldn’t lose out at all. She could even ruin Ren Dahe’s plan to use his children to climb the social ladder.
His private savings had originally seemed irrelevant to marriage. Having never been in a relationship, Ren Chaomei hadn’t even thought about that before.
But since Ye Changqing was willing to give them to her, Ren Chaomei wanted to see whether he would actually follow through.
What if Ye Changqing was only good at making promises but had no intention of handing over his private savings? Then she could keep stringing him along and dump him when Ren Gan Ying started looking for her next potential partner.
She asked, “When is your next day off?”
“Sunday.” Ye Changqing added, “But it can depend on your schedule. I can switch shifts if necessary.”
“Then Sunday it is. Come on, I’ll take you to the river now and show you some hospitality as your host.”