Heart-to-Heart, Wife

Seeing that expression, Li Lan couldn’t bear to tell Zhu Qing that the figure had actually been rounded up.

When she and Zhu Qing were dating, Zhu Qing was already working as a preschool teacher. In order to understand her little girlfriend better, Li Lan had once asked around about Zhu Qing’s job.

The bilingual kindergarten was privately run. Zhu Qing’s main job there was as a foreign teacher’s assistant, an employed staff member supporting the foreign teachers’ classroom activities. Of course, Li Lan had also learned that the foreign teachers earned three hundred thousand a year, while Zhu Qing’s annual salary, after deducting social insurance and housing fund... was thirty thousand.

Li Lan had felt heartache for her back then, and had almost handed over her supplementary card on the spot.

But she also knew Zhu Qing’s personality; Zhu Qing would never take her money directly. She could only think of other, subtler ways to make it up to her. For example, buying houses and cars for her, covering all the family’s expenses, and seizing every holiday that allowed gift-giving to buy whatever Zhu Qing had mentioned wanting and give it to her...

“Three thousand!?”

Back in the present, the astonishment and disgust on Zhu Qing’s face made Li Lan feel a helpless sort of emotion.

Li Lan pinched the bridge of her nose. “What do you think?”

She had never really understood why Zhu Qing wanted to be a preschool teacher.

Preschool teachers were busy and exhausted; from the moment they started in the morning until they finished at night, they were on the run nonstop. Children’s troubles, adults’ nitpicking, and a salary that was nowhere near proportional to the labor involved.

Every time Li Lan returned from a business trip and managed to squeeze out a few days of leave, Zhu Qing could hardly stay home with her.

Li Lan was actually somewhat dissatisfied about that.

Zhu Qing’s eyelids twitched three times, and she blurted out, “Three thousand? That’s not even as good as being kept by you.”

Li Lan froze, visibly stunned.

After blurting it out, Zhu Qing caught sight of her expression and hurriedly explained, “I don’t mean I’m lazy and living off you while rotting at home waiting for you to support me. I mean I could actually make more money; I’m not limited to a three-thousand-a-month level!”

Zhu Qing’s expression was unusually earnest. Thinking back to the days when she made over ten thousand a month, she remembered how she had once thought the hourly rate translation work offered her—based on resources, connections, and seniority—wasn’t high enough. Looking at it now, that had been heaven!

Li Lan’s gaze seemed almost tangible as it settled on Zhu Qing; it looked as though she wanted to see through her outward appearance and straight into her heart.

After a long moment, Li Lan said calmly, “Not bad.”

This time, it was Zhu Qing’s turn to freeze.

Not bad?

Not bad what.

A beat later, Zhu Qing realized Li Lan was replying to her line about being “kept by you.” Her face instantly flushed red. “Th-that... still doesn’t sound very good, does it.”

Even the “does it” came out with a soft, embarrassed lilt.

Zhu Qing bit hard on her lip.

She knew Li Lan had money; keeping eight or ten of her wouldn’t be any trouble. But Zhu Qing, why did your mouth never have a lock on it!

You’re making yourself look like an idiot!

Li Lan gave a cold laugh. “I think it’s very good.”

Zhu Qing shrank her neck and didn’t dare say anything.

The atmosphere between them turned strange.

On a summer morning with only the two of them alone, Zhu Qing had already asked the wrong question and lost face; she stopped pretending and asked the question she had been struggling with these past few days.

“Li Lan, what do you think of me, really?”

Li Lan had already noticed she had a whole stomachful of questions to ask, but she hadn’t expected this one.

She had thought Zhu Qing would ask, “Why did we get divorced?”, “What exactly is going on between us now?”, or “How did we meet?” After all, waking up one day to find you had a lover—anyone would question and probe that relationship first.

She hadn’t expected Zhu Qing to ask what Li Lan thought of her.

Li Lan lowered her hands and leaned back slightly in her chair; it was the posture of someone recalling and considering something.

What did she think?

The day she met Zhu Qing, she had, for the first time, understood her own aesthetic preferences so clearly.

One early spring afternoon, on the university lawn, Zhu Qing crouched down to shake hands with a calico cat, her face lit with a brilliant smile.

Bright as morning light, radiant as the sun; it was as if if you got a little closer, you could be soaked through by her warmth.

Li Lan had few ties to family, a person as cold as a hidden lake and crane shadow, with a heart as chilly as her nature. Success in her career had not brought enduring happiness; her desires were so sparse that once wealth accumulated to a certain stage, it was merely numbers to her.

If she were to say what her impression of Zhu Qing was, it would probably be this: meeting Zhu Qing had let her confirm, as never before, her own aesthetic preference; it had made her certain that she was a living person with feelings and desire.

Any one of those words, said aloud, would sound sentimental. After a moment of silence, Li Lan lowered her eyes and said indifferently, “You’re still young; the future is bright.”

Who hadn’t been young before? Was youth some eternal, unchanging capital?

Zhu Qing knew that wasn’t the answer she wanted, so she pressed again. “Then do you like me?”

Li Lan didn’t answer this time.

After waiting a long while with no sound, Zhu Qing felt she had overstepped and said softly, “Alright. If you don’t want to say it, then don’t. But there’s one question you have to tell me.”

Her tone at the end was very serious.

Li Lan looked up, signaling for her to continue.

Zhu Qing clenched her fist, took a deep breath, and spoke with clear, deliberate emphasis, one word at a time.

“Did I cheat?”

Li Lan: ...

Zhu Qing’s knuckles went white from how tightly she was gripping them; her eyes were wide, and her lips were pressed into a thin line. She was clearly so nervous her brain had stopped working.

Li Lan had the bizarre feeling that her answer mattered immensely; yes or no seemed enough to alter Zhu Qing’s mental state.

What was going on in this person’s head, anyway?

A trace of teasing flickered through Li Lan’s mind, but in the end, she still softened.

“No.” The last syllable carried the faintest sigh.

Zhu Qing let out a breath, her whole body going from taut wire to a lump of soft cotton candy.

“That’s good.”

Zhu Qing wasn’t stupid enough to ask what conflict had come between them. If Li Lan had wanted to say it, she would have made it clear from the beginning and drawn the boundaries.

If she didn’t want to say it now, then the conflict was probably still ongoing, but there was still room for change.

As long as she hadn’t been the one straying with another man, Zhu Qing could seize the chance.

Zhu Qing didn’t ask any more questions. She quieted down and pulled the tossed salad in front of her, finishing it in a few big bites.

“Here,” Zhu Qing said, swallowing the last cherry tomato before handing her phone to Li Lan. “This is my photography blogger account; you can take a look and see if you like it.”

On the screen was her homepage, with around six hundred thousand followers; she could count as a blogger with some name recognition.

Li Lan didn’t know anything about Zhu Qing’s past, and she hadn’t known Zhu Qing had photography skills, so she looked very carefully.

Zhu Qing’s style was a lot like her personality: fresh and natural. Even her filters were usually natural ones, and the tones she edited them to were all very transparent and clean.

A cat stretching lazily on the mountain road after a rainstorm had been placed at the top of her page by Zhu Qing, and Li Lan liked it very much.

“If you think it’s okay, just call me whenever you need photos taken.” Zhu Qing sounded happy.

Li Lan couldn’t refuse. Her cool voice warmed a little. “Okay.”

—

After breakfast, Li Lan returned to her room, probably to deal with work.

After tidying up the kitchen, Zhu Qing hurried to take care of her own matters.

First on the list was the kindergarten.

Zhu Qing hadn’t found any group chats related to the kindergarten on WeChat; otherwise, she wouldn’t only now be learning she still had this plain little job that paid three thousand a month.

After thinking it over, she focused on an app she hadn’t used before, but had long heard of by name.

Blue background, white swan pin.

She tried logging in with her phone number, and sure enough, it worked. The moment she came online, a stream of “ding ding ding” notifications started up.

Zhu Qing found her superior’s contact information in the app and called.

The kindergarten was very concerned about her condition; they had visited before she woke up. As soon as the call connected, they asked whether her body was feeling any better.

Zhu Qing briefly explained her situation.

Her injury counted as a work-related injury, so she had paid leave. The hospital recommended two weeks of rest, but since she had memory loss, she wasn’t sure whether it would affect her later work.

“I may not be able to continue working after this...” Zhu Qing said awkwardly, secretly thinking: hurry up and show some disgust, then fire me, give me work injury compensation, and N++.

“Your health comes first. As for the memory loss, we’ll assess it after your leave ends,” came the reply from the kindergarten, full of glowing humanity. “Even if you can’t continue in the job, we’ll compensate you according to insurance. Just focus on recovering; we wish you a speedy recovery.”

Zhu Qing’s brow twitched. She had never seen a boss so eager to keep an employee “with an illness,” and quickly said, “Besides sick leave, I may also need to take a longer leave.”

Zhu Qing coughed lightly and sighed. “Something came up at home suddenly. You know how it is at my age; I’ve got to start looking after the family. Even a little thing makes it hard to get away. Getting injured like this really affects family harmony.”

“And now that I’m sick, it might drag on for quite a while. At the very least, it’ll be two or three months; add on sick leave and it could easily become four or five months.”

The other end of the line fell silent.

Zhu Qing waited hopefully.

As far as she knew, a boss who could offer a three-thousand-a-month salary in such a city where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold had to have a heart blacker than black gold.

There was only the possibility of them draining the last drop of blood from you; there was no chance of you taking your money and then asking for extended leave, letting the boss support you.

Speaking of three thousand, using a university graduate like her as cheap labor—was this a distortion and regression of society, or a moral collapse of humanity...

Just as Zhu Qing was once again wailing uncontrollably over her three-thousand-a-month salary, the other party finally spoke.

“Then that works out perfectly,” the other person said with sincere, genuine laughter. “By the time your sick leave ends, summer vacation will be starting too. From June to September, take your time off first; anyway, you get paid for every day you work, so take as long as you like.”

Zhu Qing: ............

Zhu Qing hung up with complete coldness.

Paid for every day you work.

No pay when you take leave.

She opened her bank balance and, sure enough, found that there were only four digits before the decimal point.

Three thousand a month was a general term, a beautified one. Sometimes you think you’ve gotten the worst treatment, but if you think about it, maybe not; there’s always worse.

For example, no base salary if you don’t work.

For example, her six-figure savings had turned into four digits, and she was paying money out just to go to work.

Zhu Qing held back the urge to curse, threw her phone onto the bed, and rubbed at her throbbing forehead in anger.

How did she end up with such a job!

Just then, her phone chimed with a new message.

After lying there for two minutes, Zhu Qing finally got up, her face gray as dead wood. She swiped open the phone, dead inside.

Then her gaze froze; it was as if she had been nailed to the spot.

Her pupils contracted sharply, and her breathing stopped.

In Zhu Qing’s eyes, the dead ash burst into sparks and exploded into a blaze of light.

She sprang up, her fingers trembling slightly above the screen—

One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand...

“Notice of family card limit change.

Wife has adjusted the total monthly limit of the family card she gives you.

The total monthly family card limit has been changed from ￥50,000 to ￥100,000.”