Ning Yuan chuckled: "We're quite familiar with each other, so why would I make unreasonable demands? I just hope you can find me two trustworthy and skilled people to help me keep things under control when I'm selling goods!"
Rong Zhaonan was taken aback, then asked thoughtfully, "You're asking for bodyguards?"
He looked the petite girl up and down: "Aren't you going to take the college entrance exam? And you're also getting involved in running a small business selling antiques? How are you going to get into university like this?"
He thought she would ask for something, like being transferred back to the provincial capital, finding a good formal job, or getting into a good school, or even just helping her family with something.
He will try his best to help her.
Unexpectedly, she asked for a bodyguard, seemingly planning to make this antique dealer a long-term job.
Ning Yuan curled her lips and said, "Taking college entrance exams doesn't stop me from doing small business. It's not something to be ashamed of."
In 1979, which is this year, the state will issue a document allowing individual businesses to register business licenses, and the first batch of individual businesses will appear in Wenzhou in 1980.
But that's the official one. In reality, street vending has sprung up all over the country in the last two years, with many people setting up stalls secretly.
Her plan is to run a stall and do some small business while getting into university, so that she can earn enough to own her own small shop.
so……
“I just need money. I have to support myself.” Ning Yuan shrugged.
Rong Zhaonan replied casually, "I'll take care of you. Just focus on your studies."
Ning Yuan was stunned: "..."
He wants to support her?
In an instant, it felt like a strange electric current had passed through her ears, causing an inexplicable surge of emotions within her—
It's warm and soft, like drinking sweet hot milk tea in winter.
"What, you don't believe me?" Rong Zhaonan looked at her calmly.
She stared blankly at him, meeting his deep eyes, and suddenly closed her eyes in embarrassment: "Never mind, don't say that."
Someone had said this to her in a past life, and it had moved her when she was naive and inexperienced.
And what happened? The person who said those words ended up with a highly educated, well-paid female confidante.
Ning Yuan's feverish heart calmed down.
She scoffed, "Can you support me for the rest of my life? You'll always have to go back to the capital. Besides, I don't need you to support me."
Seeing that Ning Yuan's expression was a bit off, Rong Zhaonan frowned slightly: "Now that you are my nominal partner, it is only right that I pay you my salary to support your studies."
Ning Yuan sat back down on her chair, but chuckled lightly: "Even if you're a real couple, you should say things like that less often, because in the end it will all turn into—"
She paused, then didn't continue.
Rong Zhaonan picked up the conversation: "Turn into what?"
Why does this long-haired rabbit suddenly look so tired and indifferent? Did he say something wrong?
Ning Yuan held her teacup and said slowly, "This sentence almost always ends up being—you have food to eat, isn't it because I support you!"
Even if I sincerely support you at the beginning, if a woman quits her job to have children and stays home, she will eventually become a parasite in other people's eyes, living off him.
Even if a man doesn't say it, he will subconsciously think so.
Not to mention housewives who spend all their time taking care of children. With their palms up, they seem to be inferior, even though taking care of children is more tiring than going to work.
It will also become—isn't it just taking care of a child?
Rong Zhaonan looked at her, his brows furrowing: "Not all men are like that. Many of the aunties in our compound don't work. Their husbands hand over their salaries, and they take care of the home front, looking after the children and their in-laws. They live very harmoniously."
Ning Yuan smiled, rested her chin on her hand, and asked, "Do all the aunties in your compound have nannies to help take care of their children?"
Rong Zhaonan paused for a moment, then looked at her thoughtfully: "Yes."
Indeed, there were not only nannies, but also guards, personal secretaries, and drivers. Even more so, because of the abundance of fruit trees and shrubs in the yard, the logistics unit regularly sent gardeners over.
Ning Yuan lowered her eyes and said calmly, "With someone to take care of the children and someone to do the housework, the most tedious and boring tasks like cleaning up after the children and doing all sorts of chores are shared. Of course, this reduces a lot of conflicts between husband and wife and mother-in-law."
Rong Zhaonan paused for a moment, then realized that made sense.
Ning Yuan: "I know that in capitalist countries there is a type of woman who marries a rich man and is called a full-time housewife. It seems like she doesn't have to do anything but shop around and is chauffeured around."
She sighed softly, "But 99% of women are ordinary people who don't have the means. Even those wealthy wives abroad, when their husbands are having affairs, don't they just have to endure it?"
Rong Zhaonan stared at her thoughtfully: "You seem to know quite a bit."
She spoke of 'foreign countries' with such familiarity, but where would a commoner like her come to have access to such bourgeois things at this time?
Ning Yuan didn't notice the probing in Rong Zhaonan's tone, and just tugged at the corner of her mouth: "The husband's business doesn't belong to them. How much they can get after the divorce depends entirely on the man's conscience."
Don't say the industry didn't belong to them; later generations of heartless men directly used fake business transactions.
Transferring assets, shorting companies, and even creating marital debts to force wives to leave the marriage with debts are also common practices.
Even fathers and sons can turn against each other when faced with self-interest, let alone husbands and wives who are not related by blood.
Rong Zhaonan frowned slightly: "You're generalizing. There are still loving couples in real life, and wives who take care of their families and children are respected by their husbands."
Ning Yuan stared at him for a while, then suddenly couldn't help but shake her head and laugh as she picked up her teacup: "Tsk..."
Rong Zhaonan was somewhat displeased: "What are you laughing at!"
He didn't like her like this, as if she were a woman who had seen through the world, listening to a younger person telling a childish joke.
Seeing his displeasure, Ning Yuan rested her chin on her hand and asked, "Captain Rong, let's not even talk about whose marital problems or affairs are being spread around. How can you know what's going on in someone else's bed? What we can see is what others want us to see!"
She twitched the corner of her mouth: "Besides, why should someone spend their whole life gambling on the probability of someone being good to them? When things are good, you get everything; when things are bad, you get nothing."
Rong Zhaonan looked at her with a deep gaze: "What you said may be true, but there are always people who are not like that, who genuinely want to be good to someone."
At this moment, Ning Yuan was like a disheartened passerby, coldly observing the joys and sorrows of human life.
Facing his scrutinizing gaze, Ning Yuan said unequivocally, "I believe that there are always lucky people who find perfect love, but gambling your youth on someone being good to you is also gambling. And gambling always results in losing nine out of ten times. I don't think I'm that lucky."
She nestled lazily in her chair: "But if I can be good to myself, that's a sure thing."
Two lifetimes of experience have taught her that it's already difficult enough for a person to control their own life, so don't presume to control other people's lives.
Rong Zhaonan stared at her for a while, then smiled and asked casually, "Ning Yuan, where did you learn all this? Did your mother teach you?"
If he remembered correctly, her parents were servants in the Ning family. They had very low levels of education and could probably only recognize two characters at most. How could they possibly know anything about Confucianism?
Old Tang would never discuss matters of the bed with a young woman.
Ning Yuan's hand holding the teacup stiffened, and she cursed inwardly for being so spineless—when it came to the topic of 'relationships,' she had a stress reaction because of her past life!
How can people not be suspicious when someone makes so many outdated statements?!
Although Rong Zhaonan has not yet grown into a powerful figure who will command the winds and waves in the future, he is already very perceptive.
What if they think she's a spy?
“I… all of this was taught to me by Grandma Xia. You’ve forgotten, she studied abroad and knows a lot!” Ning Yuan exhaled slowly, speaking calmly.
Grandma Xia is unpredictable and strongly encourages girls to be independent, so it's not surprising that she would say something like that.
Seeing Ning Yuan's guilty look, Rong Zhaonan said calmly, "Hmm."
She was lying, and he knew it.
He didn't continue the topic, lowering his eyes to drink water: "What kind of bodyguard do you want, and for how long?"
Ning Yuan thought for a moment, then leaned closer to him and gestured with a number fifteen: "I won't make things difficult for you. My requirements aren't high. Just someone at Chen Chen's level, I'll only ask them to help out on weekends and pay them... fifteen yuan a month."
The two of them only earn thirty yuan a month and only need to work four days a month. Just thinking about it makes her heart ache – she only has about three hundred yuan in savings, and she can't afford to spend less!
Rong Zhaonan nearly choked on his water. Rui Feng raised an eyebrow and laughed in exasperation.
He sneered and pinched her soft, round face, stretching it into a pancake shape with both hands.
"Do you know who Chen Chen is? He's the top fighter in the entire army. He works as a bodyguard. Do you know what level of leader he'll be bodyguarding?"
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