Chapter 4
Nan Shuyin, five years old. Cause of illness: fracture of the lower leg and fracture of the ribs.
Qiao Yan glanced at the records on the bedside table, then casually placed the fruit she had brought on the cabinet and a small brown bear plush toy on Nan Shuyin's bedside table. Her gaze shifted to the little girl, noticing that she was only half the length of the hospital bed, so thin that there wasn't a bit of flesh on her face.
The nurse went over and glanced at her IV drip. "It's not a brother, it's a sister."
"Sister?" Nan Shuyin's gaze shifted from the teddy bear to Qiao Yan, and she tilted her head. "Who are you?"
The nurse suddenly looked at her warily.
Qiao Yan smiled and half-squatted by the bed. "Your brother and I only met recently. He came to the new district to see me a while ago."
Nan Shuyin thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "I remember now! I know my brother went to the new district yesterday, but he hasn't come back yet."
Didn't they come back?
Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door, and Qiao Yan knew something was wrong.
The door opened, and a boy with bruises and welts around his mouth and eyes entered.
Damn it, Nan Yayin is here, even though she was originally waiting for him. Qiao Yan had a feeling that he would definitely yell at her, point at her and curse her out before kicking her out.
Qiao Yan sighed, but things didn't turn out the way she expected. Nan Ya Yin didn't kick her out immediately. Instead, she placed a small cake by the bedside, patted her sister's head, and then said fiercely, "Come out with me."
Qiao Yan gave a wry smile.
"What are you doing here?" Nan Ya Yin pulled her outside, away from the clinic, before confronting her.
Qiao Yan knew she couldn't bring herself to talk about money or transactions with him right now, lest she anger him. "I've come to give you something."
"What?"
She pulled out the loose five hundred interstellar coins from her pocket. "You didn't get this yesterday, did you?"
Nan Yayin didn't want to accept it, but it was money. With money, she could eat and pay for medical expenses today. After thinking about it, she accepted it anyway.
"Alright, you can go now." Nan Yayin decisively walked towards the clinic.
Qiao Yan had a headache, grabbed his clothes, and struggled violently again.
"Don't touch me!" Nan Ya Yin's voice wasn't loud, but her face was full of resistance, so much so that she frowned when her sore spot was touched.
Qiao Yan raised the item, saying, "I'm sorry, I wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday. Would you do me the honor of having a meal with me?"
Nan Yayin scoffed, "Give me a damn reward." Then she quickly walked forward.
This is such a headache; she really won't listen to reason.
"I'll pay your sister's medical bills as payment for the meal we had."
Qiao Yan followed behind him and saw him stop, knowing that things were probably settled. She noticed his hand tightening its grip on the money, then turned and said, "Let's go."
Qiao Yan breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, I'll check if there are any restaurants around here."
The two stood in the wind waiting for Qiao Yan's search results, only to find two breakfast shops that had already closed. Was there not even a proper restaurant in the old town?
Nan Yayin scoffed, "Save your energy. People in the old town cook for themselves. It's nothing like what you guys do."
Qiao Yan turned off the terminal. "Okay, I'll take you to the new district, and then I'll bring you back after we eat."
"I don't want to." Nan Yayin firmly refused. He missed the bus yesterday and spent the whole night at the transportation station. He couldn't go to work today either, and now he didn't want to go to the new district at all.
Qiao Yan became troubled again, and asked her to think of any other solutions.
Nan Yayin glanced at her and asked, "Do I have to have a meal with you before you'll pay for my sister's medical expenses?"
Thank you, Nan Yayin.
Qiao Yan replied calmly, "Yes."
"You pay for the groceries, and I'll cook," Nan Yayin thought to herself.
“Okay.” Qiao Yan nodded. “You give me directions.”
She walked toward the clinic, and Nan Ya Yin followed behind her, about two meters away.
"Get in the car, should I sit in the front or the back?" Qiao Yan asked him.
Nan Yayin opened the back door and got in, only to find Qiao Yan also sitting in the back. She angrily asked, "Who's driving if you're sitting in the back?"
Qiao Yan looked puzzled. "The hovercar can drive automatically. You give it a command and it will follow."
Having inadvertently revealed her lack of common sense, Nan Ya Yin leaned against the car door and said, "Then you shouldn't sit in the back either."
"Why?"
Because he didn't want to, but the car belonged to her, he had no right to say that, so he turned his head away and said, "For no reason."
Qiao Yan just wanted to sit closer to confirm if the pheromones really worked. Seeing Nan Ya Yin today made her wonder if she had misjudged yesterday and it was all just a hallucination. Hearing this, Qiao Yan had no choice but to get out of the car and sit in the front.
Nan Yayin was in the back seat. Now that she was in someone else's car, she wasn't as bold. She huddled in the corner and spoke softly. Fortunately, the recognition system was cleverly placed next to her seat so it didn't miss her instructions.
The two were taken to a vegetable market in the old town. Qiao Yan looked at the oily sewage on the floor and suddenly felt as if he had returned to the time when he was still fighting on the front line.
Nan Ya Yin, with her hands in her coat pockets, urged her when she saw that she hadn't come in, "Hey, how are you going to pay if you're standing outside?"
They had agreed that she would pay, but he was going to rip her off.
Qiao Yan walked in. The market was very dark, and it was an old building that looked like it had been there for many years.
"Do we have to buy it here? Why not go somewhere else?" Qiao Yan suspected that the food here might not be very clean.
"It's cheaper here," Nan Ya Yin said, seeing her bewildered expression. "You think it's dirty?"
"Then go back to the new district." That's what he wanted to say, but then he thought about Nan Shuyin's medical expenses.
Qiao Yan thought to himself that he had only been away from the front lines for a few years, yet he couldn't even adapt to this kind of environment. Back then, there were times when he would spend a whole day in a sewage pit to avoid strange beasts.
She wanted to say she didn't care, but then she thought about how these things were going to be eaten, so she said, "Let's go somewhere cleaner. You've cooked a meal, so you should give it to your sister. A cleaner place is better for her wound."
After hearing this, Nan Yayin turned around briskly and said, "Tch, she just thinks it's dirty."
We moved to a new market; it wasn't very big, but at least it was cleaner and brighter.
Nan Yayin picked out vegetables in front, while Qiao Yan followed behind to pay. Nan Yayin thought to herself that it was fortunate they came to this new market; the old one only accepted cash. That Qiao Yan guy only knew how to mess with her account; in the end, he'd be the one paying.
"Oh dear, this can't be cheap," the butcher said from the side.
"What can't be cheaper? This isn't that fresh. If you lower the price of this piece, I'll buy some other meat." Although Nan Yayin wanted to take advantage of him, she wanted every piece of meat to be spent wisely. It wouldn't do to make her bleed a lot; she wanted the money to end up in his hands.
Qiao Yan was willing to make amends, and for the sake of the future transaction, she had nothing to say. However, with so much raw meat that needed to be frozen, she could have opened a new butcher shop. The shop owner here was already looking at her with suspicion, afraid that someone was going to ruin his reputation.
“Okay!” Nan Yayin looked at what she was holding and what Qiao Yan was holding. “Let’s go back and cook.”
"Won't it be a waste to buy so much?" Qiao Yan asked him.
"No way." Nan Ya Yin was in a good mood, then suddenly remembered, "You're not going to go back on your word and make me pay you back, are you?"
Qiao Yan earns a lot but spends little. To be honest, it was only at this time that she realized she was actually quite wealthy.
She said casually, "It's not that petty."
Nan Yayin scoffed.
It was probably because of this incident that Nan Yayin spoke a little louder when she was in the car.
The car took him to his place. Qiao Yan looked at the building, which resembled an ancient building with only stairs and no elevator. The handrail on one side was so rusted that it looked like it was about to crumble.
“I live on the third floor.” Nan Yayin took out her keys. “Let’s go.”
It took the two of them three or four trips to empty the car of all the food. Qiao Yan looked at the groceries and realized that they probably couldn't even fit them all in her own refrigerator.
“You’re a young lady, why don’t you just wait outside?” Nan Yayin inserted the key into the lock.
Qiao Yan: "?" So all that buying and carrying things resulted in her not being able to even get into someone's house?
“I never said I was a young lady,” Qiao Yan replied.
"Who cares if you are or not?"
Nan Yayin opened the door, and Qiao Yan followed her in before realizing that he hadn't been wrong after all.
The house was cluttered with things, and there was a faint smell of smoke and alcohol emanating from somewhere. It served as a three-in-one living room, kitchen, dining room, and living room.
As soon as Qiao Yan walked in, she felt like she had nowhere to put her feet. There was a quilt on the sofa, and she didn't know where to sit.
Nan Ya Yin knew what she was thinking just by looking at her. "Don't sit down, just stand here."
"Is that how you greet people?" Qiao Yan laughed in exasperation. In the end, she just stood there, watching Nan Yayin busily put away the groceries she had just bought. He was quick and efficient, and soon he was ready to start cooking.
“You’ve already found my sister and know I’m short of money, so I have nothing to say.” Nan Ya’yin put the vegetables into the sink. “If you had come a few days earlier, it would have been cleaner. I’m not in the mood to do this now.”
"Is someone chasing after debts?" Qiao Yan realized that only Nan Ya Yin's place seemed relatively clean, so he moved closer to the stove.
Nan Ya Yin's hand trembled as she lit the fire. "It's not something I owed."
He then chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Even if I wanted to borrow it, no one would lend it to me."
Qiao Yan thought about it and figured that the conditions he offered should be acceptable to Nan Ya Yin. It was a good deal for her right now. Just as she was about to speak, she heard the sound of the door to the inner room opening.
The house was small, and any noise could be heard clearly. Before Qiao Yan even looked over, she smelled a mixture of alcohol and decay. She could smell it with the door closed, but now that it was wide open, the smell was simply pungent.
Upon hearing the sound, Nan Yayin immediately stepped back, only to find Qiao Yan right behind her. The two bumped heads together, and for a moment, it was unclear who was in more pain.
This scene was witnessed by a middle-aged man who had just come out. The first thing he noticed was not the person, but the noble air about Qiao Yan.
Her jewelry, her obviously expensive clothes, and the air of wealth she exuded set her apart from the rest of the old town's residents.
"Oh!" He perked up immediately, and only then did he finally see that the person who had been bumped into the rich lady was actually his son.
“I thought someone was bringing me money this morning, but it turns out you caught a big fish to offer to your old man.” Nan Ze rubbed his hands together. “I knew we wouldn’t have given birth to such a beautiful girl for nothing; it was the right decision not to sell her.”
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