Reborn in the 1970s — Married a Proud Rough Man

”When are you visiting your family?” Qin Zhao asked.

”Jie Jingsi doesn’t dare visit my family with me,” Qin Mei said without skipping a beat. ’Could I just tell them I don’t want to go? Wouldn’t that hurt their feelings?’

’She couldn’t do something so heartless.’

Jie Jingchen’s expression instantly went numb. ’Qin Mei is setting me up. Even if I don’t go with her now, I’ll have to visit her family with her eventually.’

Qin Mei covered her flashlight and gave Jie Jingchen a challenging look. ”What? Am I wrong?”

”No,” Jie Jingchen said through gritted teeth. ’I’ll take the fall for this one. Later, I’ll get my brother-in-law’s number from Qin Xiang and find a good time to call and explain things to him properly.’

”Why?” Qin Zhao’s voice came through the phone.

”He’s right here. Ask him yourself.” Before she even finished speaking, Qin Mei shoved the phone at Jie Jingchen. ”Here. My older brother wants to talk to you.”

The corner of Jie Jingchen’s mouth twitched. He took two steps forward, took the phone from Qin Mei, and spoke in a low voice. ”Brother, it’s Jie Jingchen.”

Her throat was parched, so Qin Mei went to a nearby shop to buy an ice cream bar. Uninterested in Jie Jingchen and Qin Zhao’s conversation, she wandered over to a group of elderly folks who were chatting and cooling off in the shade of a tree, listening in on their gossip.

The group was talking about Jie Jingwei’s banquet from the day before. But when they saw Qin Mei approach, the few who had been chatting so enthusiastically promptly fell silent. One by one, they made excuses, fanned themselves with their cattail-leaf fans, and left.

Qin Mei ate her ice cream bar, completely baffled. ’Weren’t they having a lively conversation? Why did they scatter like startled birds the moment I came near?’

Only one old woman remained, sitting and intently sewing a cloth shoe.

”Miss, are you hot?” Qin Mei asked, sitting down across from her and watching her work. ’Now that’s a truly handmade cloth shoe.’

The old woman looked up, gave Qin Mei a disdainful glance, and said, ”Even your mother-in-law has to call me Auntie.”

Qin Mei choked for a moment, but her smile was perfectly sincere. ”That’s only because you look so young.”

Older people love being told they look young, and the woman wasn’t one to hold a grudge. Besides, you can’t stay mad at a smiling face, and Qin Mei was quite the sweet-talker. ”You’re a smooth talker, child.”

”So, Auntie, are you hot?” Qin Mei asked. ’She seems like a straightforward person,’ she thought. ’I’ll just call her Auntie. If I compliment her on looking young and then call her Granny, she’ll probably get mad at me.’

”It’s a scorcher today. Of course I’m hot,” the old woman grumbled. This was a prime spot, right in a breezy corridor and shaded by the tree, so all the neighbors liked to gather here.

It wasn’t a good place to bring children, though. There was a snack shop right next to it, and kids were always clamoring for a treat. It was too much for one’s wallet to handle.

Qin Mei got up, bought another ice cream bar, and came running back cheerfully. She offered it to the old woman. ”Auntie, this is for you.”

The old woman was stunned and refused without a second thought. Times were still tough for everyone. ’Sure,’ she thought, ’life is much more stable than it was a decade ago, and things are looking up, but I can’t bring myself to spend money on an ice cream bar. I’d rather buy grain.’

”Auntie, I already bought it. If you don’t eat it, it’ll melt, and that would be a waste,” Qin Mei urged. ’People from this era are so principled,’ she mused. ’Life is hard, so they don’t take advantage of others, and they don’t let anyone take advantage of them, either.’

”You eat it,” the old woman insisted, still refusing to take it. ’The Jie Family might be wealthy, but their money doesn’t grow on trees.’

”I can only eat one. Anymore and I’ll get a stomachache, and medicine costs a lot more than an ice cream bar,” Qin Mei said, feeling a bit helpless. ’You try to do something nice and treat someone, and you still have to work this hard to convince them.’

The old woman glanced at Jie Jingchen, who was still on the phone, then looked back at Qin Mei. ”Give it to Jing Si.”

”He’s busy on the phone.” Qin Mei turned to glance in Jie Jingchen’s direction. ’Do they really have that much to talk about?’ she wondered. ”I reckon he won’t be done anytime soon. The ice cream bar will have melted by the time he hangs up.”

The old woman figured Qin Mei had a point. She hesitated, looking at the ice cream bar held out in front of her, and swallowed hard. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to eat it. She did. She just couldn’t bear to spend the money on one for herself.

Seeing that the ice cream bar was indeed starting to melt, the old woman stuck her needle into the cloth shoe, placed it in her sewing basket, and took the treat from Qin Mei. She carefully tore off the paper wrapper, took a lick, and thought, ’This is delicious.’

Qin Mei was satisfied. In that moment, a friendship was forged over a shared ice cream bar. But one wasn’t enough for Qin Mei, so she went and bought two more. ”Here you go, Auntie.”

”Oh my, I can’t let you spend so much money on me,” the old woman said, flattered. ’This girl is surprisingly kind,’ she thought. ’A bit of a spendthrift, though, throwing money around like that. Then again, seeing as Jie Jingchen is still on the phone, that phone bill is the real heart-breaker.’