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墨書 Inktalez
Since the last time I helped the female neighbor fix her plumbing, I have been feeling unwell. Every day after work, I unconsciously look up, hoping to see her window lit, wishing for a chance encounter, and secretly wishing for her water or electricity to malfunction again.
For several days, I dreamt about her. I’m not afraid of being laughed at; after more than thirty years of being a bachelor, I find myself becoming less pure.
It was another weekend when the doorbell rang. Barefoot, I hurried to open the door in a rush. It was really her!
"I’ve been at my child’s grandmother's place these past few days and brought back some local specialties. Here’s a little something for you as a thank you for your help. I’ll be bothering you more in the future!"
As the days passed, it seemed like her home’s utilities understood my feelings; there would be a small issue today and another tomorrow. She would ask me to check them, and I was more than happy to oblige.
She told me her name was Qiu Ying, from Sichuan Province. She met a man from Jiangbei Province while working in a factory in the south. They got together, but just when their child was about to be born, the man suddenly disappeared without a word.
She took the child to his hometown, where the grandfather was sickly and the grandmother was completely unreasonable: "You say this child is my son’s? Do you have any proof? What do you want here? No money and no life! Get lost, you vixen! You look like someone who isn’t decent!"
At first, her family wanted her to marry a man over ten years older to exchange for her brother’s marriage. She ran away from that marriage and hadn’t been heard from for years. Now she returned with a child, fearing that she might give her parents a heart attack. She was just getting by in Jiangcheng as a single mother with a baby, living hand-to-mouth…
I cursed the man for his irresponsibility but felt envy and jealousy: good women are all taken by pigs!
To thank me for my help, she occasionally cooked special dishes and invited me over. As our relationship grew closer, my little schemes became more refined.
I shared my troubles: my parents were disappointed in me, and I felt spiritually empty… My friends joked that I was so poor I only had Mao Zedong left.
She once half-jokingly asked me, "With your good conditions, why don’t you find someone… are you… incapable?"
Wow, that was quite bold! Should we give it a try?
Brother Xiong came by again amidst his busy schedule to check on me, this single dog. After a few drinks, he suddenly blurted out without any context: "Old Hu, something's off with you; confess honestly—did you pick up a wallet or eat bee poop? No wait, did you steal someone’s stuff… or steal someone?"
I couldn’t help but admire Brother Xiong’s professional sensitivity. I confessed all about my “romantic encounter”: "Man, I'm about to lose control!"
Previously, I used to order takeout during lunch at work. Ever since becoming neighbors with Qiu Ying, she “commanded” me: "You have to come back at noon to help me with the baby; otherwise, I won’t even get to eat!" This reason was hard to refuse, and I enjoyed being under her thumb.
The child babbled happily with tiny hands reaching out for me to hold him while drooling all over my face. It made my heart flutter.
Qiu Ying busily worked in the kitchen with the ingredients I brought back, saying, "Let My Son recognize you as his godfather, okay?"
I wanted to ask: Can his biological mother and godfather give Little Treasure another brother or sister to play with?
Someone had come to her house—a woman who looked big, dark, and rough, resembling a more comical version of Zhu Bajie’s grandmother.
As I stood there, the old woman glared at me with her triangular eyes and demanded, "Who are you? What do you want?"
"He’s my landlord, lives across from me, here to collect the rent," Qiu Ying replied nervously, as if something unspeakable had happened between us.
I decided to play along with the misunderstanding. "It's two thousand two hundred a month, six thousand six hundred for a quarter. Hand it over."
"What? A tiny house like this costs two thousand two hundred a month? Why don’t you just go rob someone?" The old woman glared fiercely before turning to Qiu Ying. "Hurry up and come home with me! Even though My Son is wandering around without a trace, the child is the root of our Old Wu Family!"
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