Three days, they only used three days to finish visiting all the relatives, the rest of the days belonged to themselves.
Rarely gathered together, Mom and Dad decided to take them nearby to play a bit, stroll around the zoo, the aquarium, pick some greenhouse strawberries and so on.
It’s only during these few days of the New Year that they could reunite, so Nan Zhi and Song Qing simply threw aside work, almost accompanying the whole day. Song Qing even took Xiao Bao to set up a stall, selling the little lanterns he glued together himself. The price wasn’t high, five yuan per lantern—mainly for fun.
The QR code printed was Xiao Bao’s. The things he made himself being bought by others, and being able to receive money—for a child, there was no doubt it was the best kind of entertainment. That day the whole family wore Hanfu and came to an antique-style specialty shopping mall, walking around while learning to shout like vendors. For adults it was also quite interesting, let alone for children.
After playing and eating and drinking crazily for a few days like this, Mom and Dad’s vacation ended, and they had no choice but to say goodbye to them, taking Xiao Bao with them and leaving.
The fifteenth of the lunar calendar, Yuanxiao Festival \[Lantern Festival], was spent by just her and Song Qing together.
After celebrating, the two of them restarted their software. As usual, homepage recommendation before anything else, and free for the first three days for new users.
These three days wouldn’t show any results yet, but judging from the feedback, the reviews were quite good.
Probably a lot of people hoped to have a house of their own, one decorated completely according to their own wishes.
With the software handled, the two of them began following their previous plan—customizing an RV, and taking the driving test.
Nan Zhi had a driver’s license, the one taking the test was Song Qing. Although his legs had movement difficulties, she looked it up—getting a C-class license wasn’t a big problem.
Once both of them had a license, except for highways, on other roads she could switch with Song Qing if she got tired, going to sleep in the back. Song Qing was the same—it would be much easier and reduce the risk of fatigued driving.
They chose a one-on-one coach. Song Qing also learned fast—he got his license in just over a month. Right on time, the RV was also out of the factory. It came from another city. When they opened the door and looked—it was exactly what they wanted.
A small RV. The head of the car had a bed space, which they used to store clothes and luggage. Behind the car seats, on the left was a bathroom, on the right a washing machine, behind it a dryer, then the car door. Left of the door was a dining table, four seats, plus a table and two robotic arms that could be connected to computers.
Their work couldn’t be done without computers—even on the road, they had to use them anytime.
To the right of the dining table was the kitchen. The space between it and the bed was separated by a floor-to-ceiling cabinet. There was also one by the dining table side—this was to prevent the smell of cooking and eating from spreading to the bed.
A curtain hung between the two cabinets—when cooking, draw the curtain, and the smell wouldn’t pass through.
Above the cabinet was the bed. Under the bed were the nests for their two cats, and the litter box was under the washing machine.
Inside the car, they could go directly to the front seats—when in the wilderness, they didn’t need to get off to go to the front—safe enough.
All the facilities and layout in the car were agreed upon with the manufacturer early on, custom-made according to their ideas. For any uncertain parts before delivery, they had video calls repeatedly to confirm. The final result came out as expected—both of them were satisfied. After paying the final payment, they first drove to a nearby deserted place to test it out. Once they grasped the techniques and got familiar enough, they couldn’t wait to move in.
They stayed one night to feel it out—felt good. Everything was moved in properly. The next day, the two of them set off to another home of theirs in another city, bringing along more luggage, and then entrusted an agent to negotiate the matter of renting out the apartment.
Among those thirteen rooms of theirs, they didn’t use anything containing formaldehyde, just laid tiles and used water-based paint.
The wardrobes were made of white iron frames, then surrounded by sky blue fabric to make a walk-in-closet-like small space—no big issues. Then there were just the beds and sofas—all had been sterilized with anti-mite blue light, and the outer fabric washed again. Plus, they had been left empty for a few months—it was ready to be rented out.
That location was part of an urban village, and with pretty good renovation—one bedroom, one living room, one kitchen, one bathroom—just right for singles or young men and women. One unit could rent for about two thousand to two thousand five hundred. Demand exceeded supply, very competitive—all rented out in just half a month.
The units on the first floor came with private little courtyards—separated and exclusively enjoyed—so a bit more expensive, 2,500 yuan. The two on the third floor had big platforms, bigger than the first floor—2,800 yuan. The rest on the second floor were 2,100 yuan. The ones on the ground floor were 1,800 yuan—close to 30,000 yuan in monthly rent.
Adding the few from the hometown, around 37,000 yuan in total.
Thirty-seven thousand—Nan Zhi finally let out a breath of relief. She no longer worried about her future.
What is there that even thirty-seven thousandcan’t guarantee? Even if there is, worrying is useless, might as well just wait to die.
The matter of the rent was also settled, the two of them went on a trip to the rehabilitation center, found the master, and got the prosthetic adjusted a bit. Along the way they also asked: is there any way to relieve the pain at the contact point when wearing a prosthetic?
Song Qing said that every time he stood for a long time, that bone in the middle would ache—it kind of felt like walking on knees while kneeling.
This point, the master had no solution either. At most, just pad it a little thicker.
That’s exactly what the two of them did—stuffed some cotton inside. It could relieve it a little bit, and it was already much better than before. He could now manage to wear the prosthetic and walk for over an hour.
A pity that Mom and Dad never got to see it.
Song Qing had never stood up in front of Mom and Dad—not even before they left; he was still sitting. But actually, he had already stood up in their hearts long ago. So whether they saw it or not no longer mattered.
Nan Zhi would no longer get hung up on it. Song Qing too.
In May, the house in the city that Mom and Dad were paying off—its mortgage had already been paid off long ago. They even managed to save some money and were planning to change to a new house.
They found a new house that they were satisfied with. Mom and Dad even took a video and showed it to the two of them, to take a look and see whether it was suitable.
It was a top-floor duplex, with a big terrace. Four rooms downstairs, and the same upstairs. Each person could have a room on each floor, and there was one for her and Song Qing too.
This time Mom and Dad said, “That one is Xiao Bao’s, this one is your sister’s, and this one is yours and Song Qing’s.”
No longer: “The house is small, you’ll have to make do in the study for a while.”
Nan Zhi held her phone, looking at that house through the screen, unable to say clearly what she was feeling inside. It was like she had many things to say, but also nothing to say. In the end, it all turned into one sentence:
“Is the money enough? If not, we have some over here.”
Mom and Dad said the money was roughly enough. They could just pay a smaller down payment and repay more of the mortgage—no big problem. But the two of them still took out a sum of money, letting Mom and Dad pay a larger down payment and owe less on the loan.
This kind of thing like a mortgage—loan it for thirty years, and it’s like buying a house for the bank. The interest is terribly scary. So, if you can borrow less, borrow less.
Just so happened that recently they didn’t have much to spend money on anyway. Since they had extra in hand, there was no need to make family go borrow from others.
After hesitating for a moment, Mom and Dad still accepted the money.
The two of them moved quickly. On Nan Zhi and Song Qing’s side, they were driving around, stopping and going, playing while also checking out local development and children’s education. By the time they reached their first destination, Mom and Dad had already completed the procedures on their end—sold the house under their name and settled the new one.
The locations were all pretty good, so they were snapped up quickly. The two of them also acted fast, afraid that the longer the night, the more dreams it would bring. \[“夜长梦多” – an idiom meaning the longer you wait, the more unexpected things might happen; often used when making decisions quickly to avoid complications]
They had already found a renovation company and could start construction.
Which meant, she and Song Qing really had a room at Mom and Dad’s place.
Once the dust settled, Nan Zhi no longer paid attention over there and instead poured all her energy into the current region.
While other people traveled to bustling places to play, the two of them deliberately picked remote corners to burrow into. By the time the RV reached the villages and towns, it was already caked in mud, so dirty it didn’t look like its original shape.
The two of them didn’t even wash it, afraid people would see it was a new car and get bad ideas.
One was a weak woman, the other had mobility issues with his legs—being extra cautious wasn’t wrong. Looking a little filthy and pitiful was just right.
Anyway, it looked clean from the inside out.
Their outfits were kept low-profile too—so tacky even they themselves couldn’t bear to look, but since they didn’t rely on their faces or clothes to make a living, it didn’t matter.
At first, they didn’t have much courage—didn’t dare run into the deep mountains and forests. Mainly, it was also inconvenient for Song Qing, so they went to the plains—places where the economy hadn’t yet developed.
They didn’t trust the donation channels on the platforms—too many accidents had happened in the past. They weren’t exactly super rich either and wanted to spend their money on the blade’s edge, not for buying someone four- or five-thousand-yuan sneakers that even they couldn’t bear to buy, or to pay for tens of thousands in piano lessons.
They hoped their money could go toward helping poor students attend school—something like bursaries and scholarships.
Or say, for treating illness, emergency help.
It just so happened their professions were relevant. When they arrived at the place, and after getting a rough idea of the situation, one dove into a school they had already picked out to do volunteer teaching, the other became a disciple of an old TCM doctor in the township.
During the day, each of them was busy with their own tasks. At night, the RV parked at the school gate, picking up Teacher Song from inside, then driving to another location—sleeping in the same bed.
Teacher Song would ask Doctor Nan for money. One day he said, little classmate Gao Xiaoting’s backpack had long broken; he’d sewn it a few times and couldn’t patch it anymore. She needed a new one. Her family wouldn’t buy it. He wanted to use the reward for making it into the top ten to gift her a backpack.
Next day, he said, Zhang Pengpeng’s clothes were too thin. He always saw him shivering from the cold. Privately he asked, “Will your family buy?” Zhang Pengpeng shook his head.
So he told Zhang Pengpeng: as long as you help teacher wipe the blackboard after class, in return for labor wages, I’ll give you a set of clothes for this season.
Another day, he said: a few days ago he bought new shoes and socks for a kid whose shoes had holes. The kid’s grandmother specially expressed thanks—asked the student to bring over a small basket of eggs laid by their own chickens for him.
He didn’t take the eggs and gave them to the student—but he felt it was something worth showing off, so he wanted to share it with her.
Nan Zhi lay beside him in the RV, looking up at the night sky through the skylight on the roof, and didn’t keep her mouth shut—snorted disdainfully, then pulled something out to show him.
“See this? It’s a banner of honor.”
Song Qing took it and opened it. The big characters inside really were hers—his expression was shocked.
Nan Zhi’s voice was full of pride: “Got it from following my shifu on free clinics.”
The township health clinic where she worked regularly went into the countryside for free clinics—house-to-house visits to check blood pressure for elderly people with limited mobility, treat minor illnesses and so on.
This area was a heavy disaster zone of aging. Young people had all gone out to work. At home were only the old, weak, sick, and disabled. The roads were bad, and there were no cars. Most elders with illnesses simply couldn’t get medical attention.
So what they were doing was very meaningful—and it also helped her clearly identify which families in nearby villages needed help.
It was the most direct way to see the home conditions of each household, and the health of the elders inside. People who were reluctant to even spend a few yuan on medicine—how could they possibly have spare money to splurge on luxury goods?
In short, spending money on treating those elders—she felt was very worthwhile.
One helped the young, the other helped the old—the two of them were living exactly the kind of life they had agreed upon and imagined in the beginning.
Everything was very good.
Probably the happiest thing in this world is just like this.
At the right age, meeting the right person, just so happens the two have the same ideals and goals, and also just so happen to be free, then with a plan, walk hand in hand to do meaningful things, using up their whole lives.
【The End】