My cousin's wife is a quick and efficient person. She cleared out the things in the house in no time and piled them under the window by the door. To prevent them from getting wet in the rain, she covered them with an old plastic sheet.
The hair perming tools in the room had long been moved out, leaving only a bed and two long benches.
It turns out that when Master Wang slept here, he would put two chairs together at night, lay a felt mat on top, and then put on a quilt.
Qin Xiaoyu followed suit, first setting up a makeshift bed and letting her younger sister and Hanhan lie down on it. The two children were just as frightened as she was.
"Let's leave it at that for now, sister-in-law, you should go back. The rain is going to get heavier soon," Qin Xiaoyu said worriedly as she listened to the rumbling thunder in the distance.
“I want to stay with you. What if someone comes here and causes trouble? You won’t have anyone to protect you,” my cousin-in-law said worriedly.
"Sister-in-law, you should go back. I'm worried about Tang Long being home alone. It's okay, I can manage." Qin Xiaoyu picked up an umbrella, handed it to her sister-in-law, and pushed her out the door.
"If you need anything, just let me know. I'll bring you food first thing tomorrow morning."
Qin Xiaoyu didn't dare to remove the window panel. Although she couldn't see the light, she felt safer that way.
She sat on the bed with her two children in her arms, her mind wandering, and before she knew it, the whole night had passed.
Tiny beads of sweat appeared on her little sister's forehead; her fever had subsided. Qin Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief. She moved her arms, which had become stiff from being weighed down by the children, to the edge of the bed.
They should stay here for a while, and then they'll have to cook for themselves; they can't always rely on their cousin-in-law to bring them food.
The plumbing is readily available, but going to the toilet is inconvenient; we have to go to a public toilet outside a residential area far away. These issues can be overcome as long as no one causes trouble.
As if in response to her idea, a loud bang came from the doorway, and it exploded.
"Who is this?! How rude of them! They threw things out without even saying anything! What if they get them wet in the rain!"
The landlord has arrived. Qin Xiaoyu guessed it; she was in for a tough fight.
She took a deep breath and opened the door. The landlord, hands on his hips and face full of anger, glared at her rudely.
"I rented this house, right? The contract is still valid. You filled the house with stuff without my permission, and now you're blaming me for cleaning? I didn't ask you for a cleaning fee." Qin Xiaoyu's voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear.
"Who do we have here? Principal Qin, huh? Hey? Why aren't you at the beauty school? Why are you here?" The landlord, seeing Qin Xiaoyu fall into the water, naturally had to kick her a few times. He'd been waiting for this day for ages, how could he let it slip by?
"This is my rented apartment. I can come whenever I want." Qin Xiaoyu wasn't afraid of her at all.
"That sounds nice, but I've heard it's not like that at all. I heard that Principal Qin had an affair and got the school taken back? I said, no way, Principal Qin may be a young widow, but she's not exactly beautiful. How could she have hooked up with the commander's son? That's nonsense." Seeing that there were more pedestrians at the intersection outside, the landlord deliberately raised his voice to attract attention.
Some people weren't in a hurry to go to work; they slowed down and gathered together gradually.
This was the last thing Qin Xiaoyu wanted to see. She didn't want to reveal her whereabouts, as it would be troublesome if it attracted her opponents again.
“It’s none of your business. If I’ve broken the law, the police will come and arrest me. I’m free now, so I haven’t done anything wrong.” After saying that, Qin Xiaoyu turned around and went into the house, slamming the door shut.
"Open the door! I haven't finished speaking yet! My things are all ruined by the rain, you have to pay for them!" The landlord continued to find fault.
Qin Xiaoyu pretended not to hear and took the two children to wash up.
"Who are you? What are you yelling about? Do you want a beating?" came her cousin's voice from outside. Qin Xiaoyu quickly opened the door.
My cousin's wife brought the food. She handed the nylon bag to Qin Xiaoyu and said, "Eat your food and close the door!"
Qin Xiaoyu obediently closed the door before taking out a large aluminum lunchbox from her bag. The children were hungry and looked at it expectantly.
My cousin's wife must have gotten up very early. The porridge was thick and creamy, and there was a big bag of brown sugar next to it. There were fried eggs, a few pieces of pickled cucumber, and sesame oil in the small lunchbox.
The landlord came to cause trouble for Qin Xiaoyu, but the sudden appearance of her scheming cousin-in-law was a bit overwhelming for her.
The two were roughly evenly matched, and she wouldn't gain the upper hand in a real fight, so she left dejectedly.
"Sister-in-law, I'll try to cook something. Don't bother sending it to me; it's too much trouble for you."
"It's alright, cooking isn't tiring. I'm going back now, Tang Long has a bit of a fever," my cousin-in-law said apologetically.
"Did you get caught in the rain yesterday? Let's go back quickly, or should we take you to the hospital to get it checked out?" Qin Xiaoyu panicked.
"It's not that serious. They're such big kids, what's there to be afraid of? Just take good care of these two little ones, I'll come back tonight." My cousin-in-law said and left in a hurry.
Although it was daytime and there was plenty of light outside, Qin Xiaoyu still didn't remove the window shutter. The lights were on inside, and a few rays of sunlight shone through the gaps in the window shutter, but Qin Xiaoyu didn't have the courage to live in the sunlight.
She couldn't understand why she was living such a failed life.
Suddenly the room went dark, the lights went out. The little sister jumped up in fright and threw herself into her arms.
"It's nothing, it's nothing, it's just a power outage." Qin Xiaoyu thought for a moment, no, it must be that the landlord turned off the power. This woman really knows how to cause trouble.
Qin Xiaoyu didn't dare leave the two children alone in an unfamiliar environment, so she took them with her to the landlord's house.
"Why is the power out?" Qin Xiaoyu didn't want to waste time arguing with her.
"You're asking me? I'd like to ask you that. What did you promise me back then?"
"What did I promise?"
"You said you'd pay my electricity bill!" the landlord said matter-of-factly.
"You!" Qin Xiaoyu almost laughed out of anger.
"Isn't that what you said?!" The landlord was unwilling to compromise and became even more arrogant.
"I was the one who said it. Back when I was still operating here, the daily electricity consumption was very high, so I offered to cover all the electricity bills, including yours. But lately, I've been going to the beauty school, and this place has been empty. Why should I still have to pay your electricity bills?"
"Ha, that's not how it works. Everyone says Principal Qin is a man of his word, a man of principle. How come now that his clothes have been torn off, he's gone all out to rip off his face too? You're not short of money. You should keep your promise." The landlord sneered.
What if I don't pay?
"Then don't use electricity." The landlord adopted a dismissive stance, as if to tell the tenant to leave.
"How much money do you want?" Qin Xiaoyu had no choice but to give in; she had nowhere else to go.
"What are you talking about? Don't you know how much money I need and how many kilowatt-hours of electricity I use per month?" The landlord curled his lip.
"Okay, here's two hundred, is that enough?"
"Okay, two hundred it is. Don't say I'm being stingy; you gave it to me voluntarily. But I'll contact you again if there are any future expenses." The landlord wanted to play the long game and didn't want to drive Qin Xiaoyu away all at once.
After leaving the landlord's house, Qin Xiaoyu didn't go straight home. She needed to buy a lot of food in case of emergency.
She went to the nearest hardware store, but there weren't many people inside, and the selection was pitifully small.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
