CH 11

Ordinary and uneventful days pass quickly.

When Ruan Su first came to Ji’s house, it was still late summer, but in the blink of an eye, it was already late autumn. After these few months, Ruan Su gradually adapted to this kind of life. The tenth day of each month was payday. On that day, Ruan Su received a text message notification from the bank and discovered that her salary for this month was unexpectedly three hundred yuan more than before. She specifically asked the finance department and her superiors and learned that it was because of her excellent performance that they gave her a raise in advance. On this day, because of these three hundred yuan, she happily went to buy half a roasted duck and some white fungus. Lately, the weather has been dry, so she would stew white fungus soup every few days.

Under her careful care, Ji Mingchong’s complexion improved somewhat compared to before. He even gained two pounds when he was taken to the hospital for various check-ups last time.

Because of these two pounds, Mother Ji has become a bit closer to her than before.

When Ruan Su returned home, Maodou had already come back from school.  Mother Ji went to the neighbor’s house to learn knitting from Grandma Wang, so Mother Ji was not at home. Ruan Su walked towards the bedroom and heard Maodou’s voice coming from inside, which made her stop in her tracks.

Maodou talks to Ji Mingchong every day. Sometimes it’s a short conversation to report on his kindergarten situation before sneaking out to watch TV, and sometimes it takes more than half an hour as he confides his worries.

Children also have secrets, but Ruan Su had no intention of prying.

However, the door was not closed, and she caught a few sentences of what Maodou said—

“Uncle, the day after tomorrow is my birthday…

“Actually, not every kid in the class celebrates their birthday at the kindergarten. I lied to Xiao Min and told her that my birthday is on Saturday.”

Ruan Su was taken aback. She ran to the calendar and sure enough, Mother Ji had circled and marked the day after tomorrow in red, showing Maodou’s birthday.

Nowadays, kindergarten classes have their own group chats, but Mother Ji isn’t very familiar with using WeChat, so she isn’t in the group. Whenever there’s something happening in the class, the teacher always calls Mother Ji directly. Maodou is a sensible child and knows that his family is not doing well, so he wouldn’t ask Mother Ji to celebrate his birthday at the kindergarten. Maodou has been in kindergarten for two years and has never celebrated his birthday there. The teachers don’t enforce a rule that every parent has to buy a cake for their child on their birthday. Maodou’s teacher knows about his family situation and would prepare a small gift for Maodou on his birthday, without letting the other children know.

Because children say whatever comes to their mind, if they knew it was Maodou’s birthday, they would definitely congratulate him but also ask why there’s no cake.

This would embarrass Maodou, as children also have their pride.

Although the teacher feels sorry for Maodou, the teacher wouldn’t buy him a cake to celebrate. If the kindergarten administration and other parents found out about it, it wouldn’t be appropriate.

As for Mother Ji, she has been taking care of her son every day, which has already made her tired. Naturally, she didn’t notice Maodou’s true thoughts. Maodou also never made a fuss about this matter. So, on Maodou’s birthday, Mother Ji would only buy a small cake from the bakery to avoid wasting money. She wouldn’t eat it herself, Ji Mingchong couldn’t eat it either, only Maodou would eat it.

Ruan Su believes that if Mother Ji knew that Maodou wanted a big cake, Mother Ji would buy it for him no matter what.

But now, if Mother Ji were to find out… it would only make the old woman blame herself for neglecting her grandson’s needs.

After much contemplation, Ruan Su decided to discreetly resolve the matter. After dinner, she used taking out the garbage as an excuse to go to the cake shop near the residential area. She ordered a two-layered large cake and also went to the pizza shop to pre-order pizzas and snacks.

On the day of the birthday, Ruan Su took a few hours off work and left early. Instead of directly bringing the cake to the kindergarten, she went home with the intention of picking up Mother Ji. When Mother Ji saw her carrying the cake box, she was momentarily stunned.

“So, that’s how it is,” Mother Ji murmured.

After entrusting Ji Mingchong to their neighbor, the two of them went to the kindergarten.

Ruan Su had already discussed with the kindergarten teacher the day before, and the teacher was waiting at the entrance to lead them to the classroom.

Maodou was very happy today. He thought that he would only have a small cake for his birthday, but he didn’t expect his Aunt and Grandma to bring a two-layered cake, as well as pizza, fries, and cola!

The children in the class were also ecstatic, as they all loved celebrating birthdays!

Mother Ji looked at her grandson’s excited and flushed face, unconsciously smiling.

Suddenly, the kindergarten teacher standing next to Mother Ji said, “Junting’s Grandma, at first, I thought Miss Ruan was Junting’s mother. But then I saw how young she looks and realized it couldn’t be.”

Because the kindergarten teacher mentioned Ruan Su, Mother Ji instinctively shifted her gaze to Ruan Su, who was busy distributing pizza to the children.

Ruan Su has become thinner. Sometimes even Ji Mu couldn’t help but think, “If this girl’s kindness is really just a disguise, then she’s really amazing.“

Ruan Su has never deliberately tried to please anyone at home, and she has never shown a look of grievance. It seems like everything she does is natural, as if… she has been living in this family for a very long time and has already become a part of it.

After Maodou’s birthday, the Ji family returned to their usual daily life. One day, Ruan Su came back from work after buying groceries and saw Mother Ji sitting on the sofa being busy. Upon inquiring, she found out that Mother Ji had actually taken up some work from the factory!

Ruan Su could hardly believe her ears.

Mother Ji still said in a calm tone, “I’m idle anyway. It was introduced by Grandma Wang next door. The work is not difficult, just folding packaging boxes.”

This was the result of Ruan Su’s efforts over the past few months. Otherwise, in the past, Mother Ji Mu would never have explained so much to her.

“Is there no money at home?” Ruan Su suppressed the bitterness in her heart and asked.

Mother Ji said, “Folding one earns thirty cents, and in the time I’m idle for a day, I can fold a hundred.”

Her tone was indifferent, as if she didn’t think it was a big deal.

Ruan Su calculated it, thirty cents for one, then a hundred would only be thirty yuan!

She knew that Mother Ji was not always idle at home. Every two hours, she had to turn Ji Mingchong over and feed him liquid food at regular intervals. Now she had to take on such work at the factory…

“I have money,” Ruan Su looked at her. “My monthly salary is enough to cover the expenses of a family. As for the nursing fees for Mingchong, I have enough savings to provide for him.”

“You keep that money,” Mother Ji also had her own insistence. “I’ll do what I can when I can. If I can’t do it, I won’t force myself. Although the money is not much, it can still subsidize our lives. As for you, Ruan Su, what I said earlier still stands. If you’re willing to stay here, I won’t drive you away. But whenever you want to leave, I won’t stop you either. You’re still young, and there’s a long way ahead of you. It’s not a bad idea to save some money for yourself.”

Ruan Su felt warmth in her heart.

People are inherently compassionate, she had always believed. In this world, most things are exchanged with sincerity. Although Mother Ji still didn’t consider her as family, it was much better than before. Right now, Mother Ji didn’t accept her money because Mother Ji didn’t see her as part of the family. She believed that one day Mother Ji would accept it. Until then, she shouldn’t do anything to disrupt the existing rules.

Ruan Su didn’t attempt to argue with Mother Ji anymore. She simply made a soft sound of agreement as if she had taken it to heart.

The situation in the Ji family wasn’t terribly dire, at least that’s what Ruan Su could see. Mother Ji still had some savings to sustain their lives, and Maodou’s biological mother paid a considerable amount of child support every year. Mother Ji even opened an account in Maodou’s name to save the money… This family was slowly moving forward. Even Ruan Su couldn’t help but pray silently, hoping for a miracle that Ji Mingchong would wake up. Only then would this family truly become better.

Ruan Su entered the room and took advantage of the faint sunlight that could still reach the room. She bathed Ji Mingchong in the sunlight and picked up the newspaper she had received at the medical center today, her face filled with a sense of desolation as she read aloud.

In the medical examination center, there are many magazines and newspapers. She usually takes the financial newspaper.

For someone like her, who is not knowledgeable in this field, the financial newspaper is terribly boring and dry… The colorful entertainment section is much more appealing.

But unfortunately, none of the information she found about Ji Mingchong’s preferences had anything to do with the entertainment industry.

He enjoys playing golf, fencing, and rock climbing.

He used to be known as a business genius in people’s mouths.

She thought that he should be interested in the content of financial newspapers. So on normal days, apart from chatting with him about daily life matters, she would read him these financial news articles. Sometimes she would even search for some jokes to tell him.

“The European and American stock markets have suffered a ‘major hemorrhage.’ Looking at the weekly trend, the three major US indices all experienced a decline last week…”

Inside the room, the young woman’s voice was gentle. If someone were to see this scene, it would be a picture-perfect tranquil moment.

The man was lying on one side while the woman sat beside him, holding a newspaper. Sunlight streamed into the room, making it slightly warmer on this late autumn afternoon.

Ruan Su wasn’t very familiar with finance. Sometimes, as she read, she even paused at the wrong places in sentences.

As she pronounced those professional terms, she felt her tongue almost tying itself in knots. After a moment, she reluctantly put down the newspaper and unconsciously leaned towards Ji Mingchong, her face filled with pain. She said, “I have a terrible headache. This stuff is so boring. How can anyone enjoy reading these newspapers? It’s unbelievable…”

Mother Ji stood at the doorway, listening to Ruan Su’s soft complaints, and a rare smile appeared on her face.