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“There’s something to do.”
Zhuang Jie replied: Sleep well.
She finished annotating He Niaoniao’s homework, casually set it on the bedside table, pulled up the blanket, and went to sleep.
That night, the weather was nice. Zhuang Jie planned to wash her hair before heading to the pharmaceutical factory.
She filled a basin with warm water and carried it into the courtyard under the sun. Just as she was about to take off her coat and start, she hesitated and looked at He Niaoniao.
“Hey, kid. Want to earn some pocket money?”
He Niaoniao, lying over her desk doing homework, nodded immediately.
Zhuang Jie rolled up her sleeves. “Wash my hair. Twenty yuan.”
“I still have homework to do.” That little amount didn’t interest He Niaoniao.
“Thirty,” Zhuang Jie said. “Massage my scalp for ten minutes too.”
“Fifty.” He Niaoniao named her price in one breath.
“Deal. Fifty it is.” Zhuang Jie agreed without hesitation.
He Niaoniao first wet her hair, then squeezed out shampoo and began massaging her scalp with quick, practiced little hands.
When it was time to change the water for a second rinse, she suddenly took out her phone.
“Sis, second basin is half price. Twenty-five.”
“What?” Zhuang Jie lifted her foam-covered head to look at her.
“Second rinse is discounted.” He Niaoniao wasn’t intimidated at all. Since returning from Shanghai, her pocket money had been cut off by Dar Hao, and she only had ten yuan left.
“Fine, half price then,” Zhuang Jie said lazily. She didn’t bother arguing and just wanted to finish washing her hair first.
“Cash or WeChat?” He Niaoniao crouched down and asked again. “If you want conditioner, that’s another twenty-five. Total one hundred.”
……
In the end, He Niaoniao got her money, finished washing her hair, and rode off on her bicycle like the wind.
Zhuang Jie blow-dried her hair, put on light makeup, wrapped herself in a down jacket, pulled up the hood, and rode an electric scooter to the pharmaceutical factory.
On the way, she saw Chen Maidong standing at a street corner.
Just as she was about to greet him, she noticed a girl walking toward him, with the neighborhood committee director following behind.
Zhuang Jie understood immediately.
She took a closer look at the girl, rode past Chen Maidong, and gave a light whistle.
“Hey, brother. Waiting for good news!”
Chen Maidong turned around—but by then she was already gone, riding off like a gust of wind.
Chapter 15: Matchmaking
Zhuang Jie was stopped by security at the factory gate.
She regretted riding the electric scooter. After calling a contact inside, she fixed her makeup and waited to be picked up.
After filling out the registration form, her acquaintance led her in and introduced her to the person in charge. The rest was up to her.
Zhuang Jie handed him a cigarette as thanks.
“No big deal,” the man said, taking it. “But you should be mentally prepared.”
Zhuang Jie listened.
“The factory’s performance has been bad this year, and management is a mess. Around May Day they restructured everything and brought in a professional team.”
“External management team?” she asked.
“Yeah. The old management was chaotic—this guy’s brother-in-law, that one’s cousin-in-law, everyone could interfere. If you want to run things properly, you have to clean house.”
He paused.
“They’re strict now. The person in charge is from our town, he’s easy to talk to—but whether your proposal gets approved depends on upper management.”
“Got it,” Zhuang Jie nodded.
After the introduction, she spoke briefly with the manager, got a polite but firm refusal. The welfare supplies had already been set half a month ago—organic vegetables supplied by local farms.
Zhuang Jie was surprised.
The manager smiled. “The town assigned quotas too.”
She understood and left after exchanging WeChat.
She didn’t land the deal, so she started thinking of other ways.
Back home, she secretly logged into He Niaoniao’s livestream account. The girl occasionally streamed herself eating roast chicken and complaining about Dar Hao, and had nearly five thousand followers.
Watching the replays, Zhuang Jie nearly went blind with anger.
He Niaoniao didn’t just roast Dar Hao—she roasted Zhuang Yan, her teachers… and even her.
In the livestream, she didn’t call her “sister” or “Zhuang Jie.”
She called her Red Queen.
And her own username was Beautiful White Queen.
……
Zhuang Jie was still looking up what “Red Queen” and “White Queen” meant when Chen Maidong sent her a WeChat message:
Grandma’s making noodles tonight—knife-cut noodles, Henan stew noodles, Lanzhou noodles, Xinjiang mixed noodles. What do you want?
Zhuang Jie replied: I’m cooking at home tonight.
Chen Maidong: Doesn’t affect you cooking.
She thought for a moment.
Fine, you guys eat first. I’ll come after I’m done.
He asked again: So what do you want?
She replied: Anything. As long as it tastes good, I’m not picky.
She spent the whole afternoon figuring out livestreaming.
In the evening, she cooked dinner, delivered food to Dar Hao at the factory, then went to Chen Maidong’s house.
She didn’t go in immediately. Instead, she stood outside calling a friend who was an online influencer, asking how to gain followers and run a livestream.
When she hung up, she saw him at the door.
“What did Grandma make?”
“Knife-cut noodles,” Chen Maidong said, turning back. “I’ll serve you a bowl.”
Zhuang Jie followed him inside, shivering slightly.
The house was warm, the stove burning.
She warmed her hands over the fire. “Where’s Grandma?”
“Visiting neighbors.”
He brought her noodles.
She ate a few bites. “How was the blind date?”
“Didn’t work out,” he said casually.
“That girl was actually pretty decent. I know her brother—what was his name again…”
She frowned, trying to remember.
“We met him when processing production permits. Big guy, arms swinging like he was swimming when he walked. Funny as hell.”
She laughed, then took off her down jacket. It was too warm inside.
“Her brother’s got issues,” Chen Maidong said, crouching to adjust the stove coal.
“You’re going to stir coal while I’m eating?” she said, covering her bowl.
He paused, then didn’t continue.
“He just took too many hormones. His mom even asked me to recommend a hospital. I did.”
Zhuang Jie glanced at him, then at the exposed waistband of his underwear when he bent down.
“Does your underwear feel comfortable?”
“Pretty good. Just a bit plain.”
“You’re really something. The lighter the color, the better the underwear.”
Chen Maidong adjusted his waistband calmly. “I like something… bold.”
“I should buy you elephant trunks then.” She burst out laughing.
He looked at her quietly, cigarette between his lips.
She waved it off. “You’ll understand when you see it.”
Then she looked at her bowl—and suddenly lost her appetite.
“If you can’t eat, don’t force it,” he said, making her some eight-treasure tea.
“I’m heading back,” she said.
“Grandma will be back soon,” he replied. “She asked what you wanted to eat at noon.”
“Fine. I’ve got nothing else to do anyway.”
She sat on the sofa waiting.
“You went to the factory today?” he asked, eating her leftovers.
“Yeah. I wanted to talk about welfare contracts.”
“Big companies are hard to deal with. They prioritize local farm produce first. Last year everyone got a box of yams and red dates.”
“Zhou Village’s jujube forest?” she said. “I passed there last September when the road was being repaired. The whole valley smelled sweet—like dates in the wind.”
“Zhou Village built an industry around it. The jujube sales are good. The government’s been pushing rural revitalization. Lots of returnee graduates starting businesses.”
“What good policies? I didn’t benefit from any of them.”
“You’re a returnee graduate starting a business?”
“Am I not?” she shot back.
“I don’t know. Go ask the town office.”
He finished eating.
“You ate the last bowl?”
“Yeah.”
“That was mine!”
“I ate leftovers. Is that illegal?”
“…No.”
He continued calmly. “There are tax breaks, rent subsidies, and loan support for returnees.”
“I didn’t get any of that!”
“Why should you?”
“Because I’m a returnee entrepreneur!”
“What exactly are you running?” he asked lightly.
She paused.
Realized he had a point.
Too lazy to argue, she let it go.
The room was too warm, making her drowsy. Her gaze landed on a family photo on the wall.
“The couple in the middle—your parents?”
“Ten years ago,” he said.
“They remarried?”
His phone rang.
He answered.
It was his mother.
The call was brief—checking on him, asking if he’d be free during Spring Festival.
He replied flatly: “We’ll see.”
The line stayed quiet for a long time.
Then his mother asked, “How tall are you now?”
“About 180. Haven’t measured.”
Silence again.
Zhuang Jie couldn’t stand it anymore. She drained her tea and stood up.
“You want to see her, just say it,” she muttered.
“I don’t.”
“What’s there to be ashamed of? Missing your mom is normal.”
She waved it off. “Forget it. I’m leaving.”
Before going, she said lightly, “If you miss your mom, go see her. Me? I miss my dad so much I even wish about it before sleeping.”
Then she rode off.
At home, He Niaoniao was arguing loudly with Dar Hao.
“I don’t care about Tsinghua or Peking University! I’m going to Harvard, MIT, Stanford!”
“You could grow wings and fly for all I care. Now—do your homework!”
Dar Hao had been tagged in the class group: He Niaoniao hadn’t finished homework, handwriting messy, even copying online essays.
He Niaoniao stormed upstairs.
Zhuang Jie stood with her tea.
“Raising a kid is like raising a plant,” she said calmly. “You don’t water it, fertilize it, and expect it to grow on its own.”
“You’re talking because it doesn’t hurt you,” Dar Hao snapped, dragging her into the school parents’ group. “From now on, you supervise her homework.”
Zhuang Jie sighed and went upstairs to soak her feet.
He Niaoniao was lying in her bed doing homework, sucking on a lollipop.
Seeing Zhuang Jie, she froze—then realized she was in the wrong bed.
She instantly lifted the blanket.
And her nose reddened.
