Chapter 70: The Good Big Sister of the Children

“Do you need a napkin?”

“Uh… ah… ya… xiang…”

“So I’m saying, she probably doesn’t have much time left.”

“It’s just that she isn’t clean… urgh… right…”

“When you’re around someone who’s terminally ill with a strange disease, it always smells bad. My grandpa was like that too, you’ll get used to it.”

“How could anyone get used to that…”

An Jing threw up all her lunch, patted her throat and gagged again, then took the napkin Zhang Qiyu handed over, wiping her mouth over and over again.

“Xiao Xiao, you really do act like a girl sometimes.”

“Is there a reward for this?”

“It’s just end-of-life care, what reward do you want? Don’t you have any kindness in your heart?”

“Damn…”

An Jing looked at her in shock.

“Those two words coming out of your mouth, why do they sound so damn weird?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You’re the infamous she-devil of the class…”

“Boys just don’t get it.”

Tsk—

Zhang Qiyu rolled her eyes, ignored An Jing, and walked straight to the door, waving at her, “Alright, hurry up, how much longer do you want to stay in there?”

“I’ll go back myself!”

“Tang—so you don’t want your reward, huh?”

“Shit, there really is one?”

An Jing was a little surprised.

“Of course there is. What do you take me for?”

Zhang Qiyu crossed her arms, then lowered her head and called out to the little boy who was still playing marbles with a runny nose, “Shunshun, we’re leaving now.”

“Okay!”

The little boy didn’t even look up.

“Bye, big sis!”

“Thunk.”

A marble hit another and knocked it right into a little pit in the concrete.

The boy cheered like he’d just won the world championship, muttering something under his breath as if he were giving an acceptance speech and ceremony.

“Oh right, Shunshun.”

Zhang Qiyu took off her backpack, rummaged through it, and pulled out two packs of crispy noodles and a carton of milk.

“If no one makes you dinner tonight, go to your aunt’s house and find Mom. If you’re really hungry, eat some snacks to fill your stomach first.”

“Crispy noodles!”

He chattered excitedly.

“Take them, take them. I’ll come again tomorrow. Let’s have breakfast in the courtyard!”

“Got it, Qiyu-jie!”

The little boy finally got her name right.

Zhang Qiyu waved, then pushed An Jing—who had just finished washing her hands by the well—out of the courtyard.

She acted as if she didn’t care about the difference between boys and girls, slinging an arm around An Jing’s shoulder.

“Hey, how far have you and Yingying gone? Have you done it yet?”

“What do you mean, done it…”

“Held hands? Hugged? Kissed?”

Zhang Qiyu teased An Jing with great interest.

Seeing her face grow redder and redder, she couldn’t help but clap and laugh.

“Ha! I knew it, you’ve kissed!”

“Hey—!”

“Don’t let Yingying bully you, okay? If she pushes you onto the bed, you have to remember to say no.”

“Wait—”

“She’s never dated a boyfriend before, right? But I always feel like she’s pretty innocent in this area.”

“Innocent? What kind of innocent?”

An Jing thought of the manga Zhu Ying had read.

“I just feel like she thinks love and life are really simple things, so she never considers the consequences of what she does.”

“Huh… is she really like that? I thought she was always really good at handling relationships…”

“That kind of thing is different.”

Zhang Qiyu poked An Jing’s cheek.

“Anyway, just be careful not to get bullied. When she plays around, she doesn’t know how to hold back.”

“Damn… don’t tell me it’s really…”

“Really what?”

“N-nothing!”

An Jing pulled a bitter face.

She finally understood—if Zhang Qiyu was the big demon, then Zhu Ying was the little demon.

The two of them were unexpectedly similar in some ways…

The two walked back along the same road, and when they left the alley, An Jing felt like the street seemed much wider than when they’d come.

Sure enough, everything is about comparison.

They continued up the long slope, heading straight for the mountaintop this time.

Even though there were several taller mountains behind it, so even here, it still felt like only halfway up.

The houses at the top were built even closer together, and Zhang Qiyu led her through the alleys like she knew them by heart.

Finally, they stopped in front of a kindergarten.

Honestly, you couldn’t even tell it was a kindergarten—it just looked like a small courtyard house, no different from the nearby farmer’s homes.

But there was a sign hanging by the door: “T Leaf Mountain Kindergarten.”

These kinds of urban village kindergartens were mostly just to earn some meal money, helping the local residents look after their kids.

As they reached the door, a man was brushing paint on the wall, with three buckets of different colored paint on the ground.

He was an ordinary middle-aged man, wearing a gray short-sleeved shirt in chilly weather, and his left arm hung empty at his side—nothing there.

“Dad!” Zhang Qiyu called out.

“Qiyu, you’re back.”

The man didn’t even turn his head, just swept a bright stroke of yellow across the gray-white wall.

“So you finally decided to repaint the wall?”

“Yeah, people keep telling me this place doesn’t look like a kindergarten at all, haha. I specially bought red, blue, and yellow paint. Look, just paint it in stripes—one blue, one yellow, one red. How’s that?”

“Looks great!”

Zhang Qiyu didn’t seem embarrassed at all to have a disabled father.

She smiled and patted An Jing’s shoulder.

“Qi Qi’s Father, I brought a classmate over to play.”

“Oh?”

The middle-aged man finally turned around, looking a little embarrassed at An Jing.

“Oh, a pretty girl. She’s just as good-looking as the last one who came by.”

“Uh…”

An Jing was a little dazed.

She’d always heard that Zhang Qiyu’s family had some money, that every week they’d go to T City for the weekend, always driving.

But her father… didn’t look like someone who could drive.

No, actually, they didn’t look rich at all!

“My hand, it got broken on the job. Sorry about that…”

“Uh…”

“You’re surprised, aren’t you?”

“Yeah… you must have heard the rumors, right?”

“That’s right. I heard you always get picked up by car on Fridays after school.”

An Jing didn’t hide her doubts.

She wasn’t prejudiced, she just thought it was a bit much to pretend to be well-off when you weren’t.

“That’s my dad too, but he’s my stepfather.”

“Huh?”

“My mom got divorced. She lives with my stepfather in T City. I usually live here with Qi Qi’s Father, and only go to my mom and stepfather’s place on weekends.”

Zhang Qiyu explained patiently.

“That’s complicated.”

“If it’s complicated, just don’t overthink it. Come on, get inside!”

“Go in for what?”

An Jing looked wary.

“You’re not planning to prank me again, are you?”

“What? Is that really what you think of me?”

“Well, you’re not exactly a good person…”

An Jing muttered under her breath.

“Qi Qi’s Father, are we having rice cake soup again today?”

“Yes.”

“Oh right, Qi Qi’s Father.”

After pushing An Jing through the door, Zhang Qiyu glanced slyly at her.

“Is this one a boy?”

“Huh?!”

The middle-aged man’s mouth fell open. He lost his grip on the brush and accidentally smeared the wall.

“See you in a bit!”

But Zhang Qiyu just strolled inside like nothing had happened.

As soon as An Jing walked in, she felt something was off.

A whole group of little kids swarmed around her, all round-faced and lively, like a bunch of friendly puppies.

“Wow, new big sister!”

“Hello, big sister!”

“Big sister, you’re so pretty!”

“Big sister, when you grow up, can you be my bride?”

Damn… which precocious little brat is this…

If this were a comic, An Jing would have several pound signs popping up on her forehead by now.

“Qiyu-jie!”

“Qiyu-jie, you’re back!”

“Why aren’t they dismissed yet?”

“Dismissed? Their parents come home late, so they stay here for now and eat dinner here later.”

“Can’t they go home by themselves?”

“Not all of them live nearby. Some are a bit farther—three kilometers at most. You can’t let kids this little walk home alone, right?”

“That far?”

“Yeah, it’s cheap here. Honestly, it’s more like a daycare than a kindergarten.”

Zhang Qiyu chuckled, pulling a big handful of cola candies from her pocket and handing them out one by one.

“Xiao Xiao, you’re the best behaved, here, big sis will give you two more!”

“Wow, Qiyu-jie is the best!”

“Yay!”

“Qiyu-jie, Qiyu-jie!”

“Hey, don’t stick your hands out so far, you’ll get the table dirty. Did you wash your hands?”

“No!”

The kid answered righteously.

“No candy if you don’t wash your hands!”

So a bunch of boys ran off to the faucet.

There were about twenty kids, and Zhang Qiyu knew every single one.

She handed out candy to each, and pinched every little face along the way.

Of course, she loved to ruffle the boys’ hair, and even teased them on purpose.

Some of the more hot-tempered ones were even teased into tears.

Watching those little boys cry, she’d laugh heartily and say, “I’ll give you one more,” and when they smiled through their tears, she’d add, “Just kidding, I changed my mind…”

Each and every one of these kids was like a top actor in front of her.

Their face-changing speed left An Jing absolutely stunned.

But even though she loved teasing them so much, when she came back just now, the kids still liked her so much!

What a contradiction.

“Hey, what about my reward?”

An Jing suddenly remembered, glancing at Zhang Qiyu, who’d just stood up again.

Just now, when she was squatting, she was about the same height as the kids, totally blending in as the king of the children, not out of place at all.

“Reward?”

Zhang Qiyu smirked, “A child’s smile is the best reward, isn’t it?”

“Yeah right, liar! I knew you’d trick me again—last time you even stole my chicken leg!”

“That was because Xiao Ru was too shy to ask you, so I helped her out.”

“Like I’d ever believe you!”

“Then what if I give myself as your reward?”

“I don’t want you!”

“Fine, here’s your reward—a super big handful of cola candy! Happy now?”

Zhang Qiyu stuffed a big handful of cola candies into An Jing’s pocket, laughing triumphantly as if her plan had succeeded.

“Haha, An Jing, you’re just too funny.”

Zhang Qiyu laughed so hard she almost doubled over.

“Do you know how cute your face looks right now?”

An Jing didn’t say anything.

She just silently gave her two middle fingers.

Of course, she wasn’t actually mad.

Maybe Zhang Qiyu isn’t as bad as I thought after all?