Around five twenty in the afternoon, under the sunroom, Nan Zhi’s parents’ friend sat on the sofa, Song Qing then went to pour water.
The electric wheelchair was easy to control, one hand was enough, freeing up one hand, doing small things was still considered convenient, steadily delivered the cup to the tea table, in front of that young man.
That young man had been sizing him up the whole time, stopping many times at the place where his leg was broken. Song Qing lowered his head to look at his leg, honestly and squarely told him, “Had an amputation due to a car accident.”
He nodded, “I know, Aunt Tang mentioned a bit.”
Paused, then said: “Aunt Tang has a doctor friend at Nan Zhi’s hospital, I heard her say, at that time in the hospital you couldn’t afford the medical expenses, it was Nan Zhi who helped pay.”
This matter at first no one knew, later the cashier slipped up, the whole hospital came to know.
“Mm.” Song Qing answered honestly, not hiding at all, “Later it was also her who brought me back home, gave me a place to live, food, drink, clothes and daily needs were also handled by her.”
Fang Guanqi raised his eyebrows, relying on a little girl for food, drink, clothes and living—what’s the difference from being kept \[包养 baoyang, literal: “being kept” or “sponsored,” implying a patron-dependent relationship, often with romantic/sexual overtones]? Most importantly, he not only wasn’t ashamed, he even spoke of it with an air of pride, as if it was something to be proud of.
“Are you hungry?” When Nan Zhi’s parents called this morning, they faintly mentioned a friend would be coming. When he was almost there, they called again to let Nan Zhi pick him up. The time in between was seven or eight hours—meaning, he probably hadn’t eaten for seven or eight hours.
“Should I go make food for you?”
This was his first time entertaining someone. In the past when guests came to the house, his uncle and aunt were afraid those people would say they were ordering him around, or feel sorry for him and make things awkward, so they usually had him avoid them.
So he didn’t know how to get along with a strange man.
Fang Guanqi shook his head, “I already ate in the car.”
Song Qing nodded, “Then should I take you for a walk?”
Fang Guanqi thought for a bit, then nodded his head.
So Song Qing operated the wheelchair and took him for a stroll inside the house.
The first floor was quite big, had three rooms and a living room, square in shape, arranged in a row. In front of the rooms was the sunroom, also very big. The three rooms and one living room were of equal size, and since they were next to each other, the rooms and living room all had great lighting.
The room on the right belonged to Nan Zhi. Saying it’s one room, it was actually two: one indoor, one outdoor sunroom.
Nan Zhi liked to sleep in the room with a roof, but worked in the outside sunroom, doing things under the sun.
Right now two desks were placed side by side in the corner, with two computers, one for each of them, each had their own desk.
Beside his desk was a rack, on it were flowers he brought back from the hospital, and a few pots were ones he rescued from the yard.
When Nan Zhi left, she was afraid the flowers raised indoors would die from no one watering, so moved all of them outside. Some couldn’t handle the harsh outdoor weather and died, some instead grew better, and after some trimming, only the main stem was left, still placed outside.
Those empty pots were cleaned, had trimmed branches inserted into them and were kept indoors.
After this winter passed, once they grew roots, they’d be moved outside again.
Beside that were the two people’s luggage—many. Nan Zhi’s car was small, couldn’t fit that much, so everything was mailed in advance. After they arrived, they picked them up at the delivery station.
A total of four big boxes, some things had already been taken out and used, some Nan Zhi said she didn’t know how long they’d stay, so didn’t arrange them, to avoid needing to tidy again later.
Song Qing listened to her and didn’t touch those.
He introduced one by one to that young man. Next to Nan Zhi’s room was her grandma’s place. The two rooms were next to each other, convenient for looking after one another.
Next to Nan Zhi’s grandma’s room was the living room. On the left side was a guest room, which hadn’t been used for a long time. They used it for storing miscellaneous items. The sunroom in front was used for laundry and drying clothes, followed by the kitchen.
There were two kitchens. The big one was next to the laundry room, had an earth stove and chimney, used when burning firewood.
One was next to Nan Zhi, in front of Nan Zhi’s sunroom. It was indoor, mainly for boiling and stir-frying things.
Nan Zhi cooked using the modern kitchen. Her grandma liked using the other side’s earth stove. When cooking, she had to tend the pot fire by the side.
She said when she was young, she super hated tending the pot fire. Later, when the two of them cooked together, as long as they had enough time, they would always use that stove. She’d tend the fire, Song Qing would cook.
Song Qing, like reciting family treasures, told all this to the young man.
The young man said his surname was Fang, given name Guanqi – Fang Guanqi. The name sounded very nice. “Guanqi but does not speak” – just by hearing it, you’d know it came from a scholarly family.
Song Qing – Song Qing himself didn’t know the meaning of his own name. Probably “pine green”, parents hoped he would be like a pine tree, evergreen and never fading.
Song Qing took him around inside the house, then brought him outside to wander, talking about fish, talking about flowers and grass, talking about cats.
Today the sun was okay, the cats rarely came out, crouched by the fish pond watching the fish, occasionally stretched out a paw trying to scoop at them.
Before Nan Zhi left, she reminded him to keep an eye on the cats, don’t let them fall in the water.
But there were stairs in the water, and the water’s surface was very close. Just ahead was the pavilion, made of wood. Nan Zhi especially tied some thick ropes on the railings near the water’s surface, just in case the two of them fell in.
If they really fell in, they could use their claws to hook onto the thick ropes and climb up, so generally it wasn’t a big problem.
Both cats were wandering under the pavilion outside. When they saw a stranger, with a sniff, they darted into the corner.
After a while, they came back out again, following along the wheelchair and burrowing into his arms.
One cat was a bit more timid, but when the two cats were together, however one acted, the other would do the same. So both cats dove into his clothes.
One burrowed into his sleeve, the other from the hem of the coat.
He was currently wearing that black windbreaker jacket, very loose – plenty roomy for two cats. It’s just that the one in the sleeve made the clothing puff up.
He took it out and placed them both in from the collar, letting the two cats curl up together.
When they were together, they would be a bit braver, quietly stretching out their heads to peek at the unfamiliar-to-them person.
Fang Guanqi noticed. These two cats were very familiar with him – that kind of reaction doesn’t come in just a day or two. At the very least, they had been around him for a while.
He was curious and asked, “How long have you and Nan Zhi been living together?”
Song Qing thought for a moment, replied, “About half a year, I think.”
Half a year, truly not a small number.
While speaking, the two had already returned to the sunroom in front of the living room. Song Qing opened the collar, letting the two cats freely get down to the floor.
Without the protection of someone familiar, as soon as their paws touched the floor, the two cats immediately ran off without a trace.
Inside the room – it didn’t matter.
Song Qing didn’t bother with them. He heard the washing machine in the laundry room next door sound its end-of-cycle tone and operated the wheelchair to go over.
Fang Guanqi was idle and bored anyway, so followed along to take a look. He saw that person sitting in the wheelchair, finding his way around skillfully, going straight to the cabinet to get the hangers, then taking them out to hang the clothes from the washing machine.
None of them were his. At a glance, it was obvious they belonged to the little girl — if not pink, then white, and there were even a few pieces of the little girl’s underwear.
His expression was calm as he hung them on the hanger, like he’d done it countless times before, not even the least bit shy. But when Fang looked over, he hid those few pieces of underwear behind the clothes, with a look like “I can look, but you can’t.”
This person clearly already treated himself as one of the owners of this place.
After finishing one round, he carried over the dirty clothes in the corner and continued washing.
After washing, he used a lint roller to stick off the cat hair on the living room sofa, then called Nan Zhi to ask when she was coming back. He was going to cook.
She probably replied something to him over there, and he turned the wheelchair to head to the kitchen.
Fang Guanqi followed.
A person with disabled legs couldn’t use the big kitchen, so he used the small kitchen on the left. The small kitchen passed by Nan Zhi’s sunroom, and Fang Guanqi’s gaze once again fell on the computers in the corner.
Those two computers were the same model, only difference was one was white, the other black. On them were stuck all sorts of cute little stickers — clearly not something a boy would pick. It was probably also bought by Nan Zhi.
He also noticed that the clothes being dried in their yard were mostly fluffy animal-themed loungewear, not much trace of a man could be seen.
Most likely still all bought by Nan Zhi.
“What do you like to eat?” Song Qing was taking out the foods Nan Zhi liked. Halfway through, he remembered that today there were three people eating, so he added another sentence.
Nan Zhi asked him to help entertain the guest — taking care of the food naturally meant this person was included too.
Fang Guanqi didn’t answer, instead asked him, “You usually cook? You wash the clothes, do the housework?”
No wonder Nan Zhi was willing to spend money to support him. A person who could cook and do housework, and looked good too — basically a nanny-type. Who wouldn’t like that?
Song Qing gave an “mm” sound, then added: “Sometimes it’s Nan Zhi too.”
“What’s your relationship?” Fang Guanqi asked again.
Song Qing frowned.
What was his relationship with Nan Zhi?
He really couldn’t say for sure. It had always been Nan Zhi who defined the relationship between the two of them.
Anyway, if she said “Mom,” then it was “Mom.” If she said “family,” then it was “family.” Whatever she said, that’s what it was.
Lately she hadn’t said anything, so he didn’t know what their current relationship even was.
“Not sure.” He had always been practical. Whatever he thought in his heart, that’s what he said — he spoke the truth in his heart.
“Not sure?” Fang Guanqi raised his eyebrows, carefully pondering the words, and observing the person who said them. The other’s expression was still the same, not brushing it off, so it was probably truly “not sure.”
“What do you like to eat?” Song Qing had already finished taking out the food Nan Zhi liked, and asked again for the second time.
“How long are you two planning to keep doing this?”
Song Qing was holding a bunch of food in his arms, and looked up at him.
Fang Guanqi told him frankly, “Do you know why I came?”
Without waiting for him to reply, Fang Guanqi continued, “Her family does Western medicine, our family does Chinese medicine. The two families have long wanted a union of Chinese and Western medicine. It had been arranged before, and we’ve met a few times. This time is to finalize it. If all goes well, we’ll get married next year. When that happens — what will you do?”
Song Qing was gathering the food ingredients that had almost fallen. Upon hearing that, his movement stiffened.
“Actually, having a ‘nanny’ who can cook and do housework is pretty nice.”
These words were deliberately meant to humiliate, but the other party didn’t catch it — he even secretly let out a breath of relief.
A slow-witted and stupid man.
Fang Guanqi made his judgment, and a trace of contempt unconsciously appeared in his eyes behind the lenses.
“What do you like to eat?” This was the third time Song Qing asked.
“Steak. I like steak cooked to seventy percent doneness.”
Fang Guanqi paused for a moment, then added: “Where do I stay?”
Song Qing went to lead the way. On the first floor, only the guest room on the left side was still unoccupied.
Originally there were two rooms, he and Nan Zhi slept in one room. But after receiving the phone call this morning saying her parents, siblings, and a friend were coming, they were afraid of people gossiping, so they split into two rooms.
Now Song Qing slept in Nan Zhi’s room, Nan Zhi slept in her grandma’s. The only one left was the guest room next to the laundry room, and the second floor.
The first floor wasn’t even fully occupied — there was no need to move upstairs. Upstairs, her parents would have one room, the older sister and younger brother each a room — just enough to be distributed evenly.
As the two passed through the living room, the person behind suddenly paused and asked: “Where do you stay?”
Song Qing stopped the wheelchair, turned around and pointed to the corner, “I live in that room.”
“What about Nan Zhi?” Fang Guanqi asked again.
“Nan Zhi lives in her grandma’s room.” He pointed to the room next to his own.
Fang Guanqi’s brows furrowed tightly. After a long while, he said: “I’ll stay in your room. You stay in this one.”
As he spoke, he already wheeled his suitcase toward the room on the right.
Song Qing followed behind him. After a long time, he said: “Alright.”
There were some of his things inside. He went in to tidy up. Halfway through packing, looking at the clothes and personal items inside the suitcase — messy because there hadn’t been time to fold them properly — he felt a little confused.
She called him “little wife,” yet still let another man move in.
Said with her mouth it was her parents’ friend, but in truth he was here to confirm the date — in the future, they were going to get married.