Beautiful Fools Were Born to be Spoiled by Their Husbands - Chapter 10

The icy glare in Zhou Gangxun’s eyes made Wang Fucai feel incredibly restless, and that smile of his made Wang’s skin crawl.

Forced by instinct, Wang took two steps back. He guiltily rubbed the back of his neck and offered a strained, dismissive laugh. “Now… now, don’t be like that. I just saw that you and your wife are new around here, unfamiliar with the place and the people…”

Zhou Gangxun let out a cold snort, then turned and began walking toward his assigned section of the construction site.

Wang Fucai watched Zhou’s retreating back. Despite the sun hanging high in the sky and the sweltering heat, he felt a chill run through his entire body, as if he had plunged into an ice cellar.

“Is there really something filthy about this land?” Wang Fucai recalled the words of the Feng Shui master the developer had brought in before construction began. The man had said this plot of land was shaded and prone to malevolent spirits, a place where things were restless. He’d warned that the things beneath the ground were hungry, and that no one should remain in the construction zone after eight o’clock at night.

“Can it really be that wicked? Whatever, the project is almost finished anyway.”

Thinking this, he raised a hand to rub his sweating neck. As he did, he felt a faint, dull ache.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but the way Zhou Gangxun had stared at him just now… it looked like he wanted to snap his neck.

Wang Fucai shook his head indignantly. He wouldn’t dare!

He vented his frustration on the resting migrant workers, putting on airs as he cursed and barked orders. “That’s enough resting! Everyone get to work! Anyone being lazy or slow gets a day’s wages docked!”

“If you don’t want to work, pack your things and leave!” Wang Fucai intentionally raised his voice so that the departing Zhou Gangxun could hear him. “Don’t act like a big shot here. This site doesn’t lack for one of you, and it won’t miss one of you either.”

He wanted Zhou Gangxun to know that he was the boss of this site, and Zhou was nothing but a brick-lifter.

With just one word, he could make it so Zhou didn’t even have bricks to move, and he could ensure no other site would take him either.

When that time came, and Zhou was so destitute he couldn’t even feed himself, would that beautiful wife of his still stay?

She’d have to rely on Wang Fucai to take care of her.

Clutching his money, Ruan Zhijuan headed straight for the market near their rental, humming a song he’d made up himself. “Peaches, peaches, fragrant and sweet peaches…”

When he reached Wu’s Fruit Stall, he recognized the peaches inside immediately. They were his peaches.

Except these peaches were all in perfect condition, not bruised or rotten.

Hmph. That dog of a man, Zhou Gangxun, really did buy me cheap, damaged peaches.

“Mister, I want these beautiful big peaches.”

“Coming,” Uncle Wu, who was inside watching the midday news, called out. He turned down the volume on the TV. “In 1992, a total of four serial killings involving dismemberment and cooking of remains occurred in Hong Kong…”

Hearing that someone was there for peaches, Uncle Wu quickly grabbed a bag and hurried toward his big customer, Ruan Zhijuan. He saw Ruan squatting by the peaches, talking to them like some pampered young master. Because of the sun, the boy’s small face was flushed red, and a mist of heat clung to his thick, curled eyelashes.

His face was actually quite flushed, making the man wonder if he had a sunburn.

However, the “big customer” Ruan Zhijuan only had a budget of thirty yuan today.

Uncle Wu smiled and said, “These peaches are 12 yuan per jin. For thirty yuan, you can get about six of them.”

The TV continued to buzz unclearly in the background. “…In 1992, a total of four serial killings involving dismemberment and cooking of remains occurred in Hong Kong…”

“Then I’ll take six, please…” Ruan Zhijuan looked at the dates next to the peaches and swallowed hard. He felt that if he ever became rich, he would surely turn into a bad person.

He hadn’t been in the fruit shop long, yet his heart had already wavered many, many times…

“Uncle, these are dates, right? Why… why are they so big?” Ruan Zhijuan stared with wide, unblinking eyes, his little mouth murmuring, “This big… being this big must mean they’re very sweet, right?”

Seeing how likable the lad was and how he kept licking his lips at the basket of dates, Uncle Wu laughed. He picked out two large, sweet red dates and gave them to Ruan Zhijuan to eat. “Are you with the fellow from last night?”

Only two people had bought these expensive peaches so far.

One was that handsome laborer from last night, and the other was the beautiful boy in front of him. If they weren’t together, why would they come one after the other? Besides, they shared a certain “couple’s look”—they looked like they belonged together.

Ruan Zhijuan’s eyes brightened as he happily munched on a date the size of three fingers, shaking his head dismissively. “No, we are not.”

The shopkeeper must be talking about Zhou Gangxun.

Ruan Zhijuan’s heart immediately filled with snobbery. Zhou Gangxun was so poor, so dirty and smelly. Who knew what he looked like last night? He probably crouched over the cardboard box of rotten peaches like a stray dog on the side of the road, picking through them one by one. He might have even gotten into a fight with a wild dog over them, ending up with a mouthful of dog fur.

So, he didn’t want anyone to know he and Zhou Gangxun were a family. He had his own money now, and he could buy his own peaches.

Ruan Zhijuan’s eyes grew a bit red as he bit into the date. “Sweet… so sweet, so yummy.”

He couldn’t control his gaze, and his eyes drifted to the mangoes a short distance away. They were bright yellow. He had eaten them back at the Ruan house, along with mango sticky rice.

Ruan Zhijuan felt like a mouse that had fallen into a grain bin, wanting to take a bite of everything he saw.

Uncle Wu chuckled and picked a perfectly ripe small honey mango. He peeled it and handed it to Ruan Zhijuan. “Little one, do you want to pick the peaches yourself, or should I do it for you?”

Peaches had fuzz on them, and touching it made him itchy all over. He didn’t want to pick them himself, so the “naughty” Ruan Zhijuan took a bite of his mango and ordered Uncle Wu, “You pick them for me, Uncle Shopkeeper. I want the pink ones, the big ones, the pretty ones.”

As he spoke, he made a little room for Uncle Wu, his small face tensing into a serious, meticulous expression as he began his supervision.

Uncle Wu laughed to himself. This kid picked peaches like he was picking a spouse—they even had to be pretty. “What counts as pretty? Is this one pretty?”

The two of them huddled together, heads close, studying the peaches.

As they picked, Ruan Zhijuan suddenly heard a complaint. “Oh, this weather is truly hot.”

The voice sounded like an old grandmother, laced with a helpless sigh.

It was quite hot; Ruan Zhijuan felt the same. He reached up to touch his hot, flushed cheeks and shifted his parasol toward himself. He even stuck a few fingers into the nearby freezer. Now, that was cool.

Uncle Wu, half in the shade and half in the sun: “…”

The freezer, holding human body parts for the first time: “…”

But just as Ruan Zhijuan moved, there came another sound. “Sigh, this weather is truly hot…”

This time, the voice sounded like it was right against his ear, chillingly cold, as if a draft were blowing inside.

Ruan Zhijuan rubbed his ear and looked around, but he didn’t see any elderly person.

Finally, his suspicious gaze landed on Uncle Wu.

The completely oblivious “near-elderly” Uncle Wu weighed them in his hand. “Alright, this is about right.”

He stood up and leveled the scale nearby.

Ruan Zhijuan watched as Uncle Wu placed the peaches on the scale. His eyes didn’t blink once, his face practically screaming: I’m watching you, don’t you dare try to trick me.

He looked quite authoritative, putting on a good show.

But how could he actually read it? The scale was covered in numbers and looked like a clock face.

He was just imitating Zhou Gangxun. When Zhou looked at houses, he would follow the agent around the rental, tapping and looking at everything as if he knew exactly what was going on.

It was all an act. Zhou had never rented a house before; he used to live in a mansion.

So, Ruan Zhijuan followed suit and put on an act so that no one would cheat him.

However, that bewildered, beautiful face of his practically had the words “I don’t know how to read this, go ahead and cheat me, I’ll even say thank you afterward” written all over it.

“Our shop sells things based on conscience, we never cheat anyone on weight.” Seeing Ruan Zhijuan’s serious expression, Uncle Wu smiled and made a promise. He pointed to the numbers on the scale, teaching Ruan how to read them. “Look here. Six peaches, just under two and a half jin. That’s 28 yuan, so I owe you two yuan back.”

When Ruan Zhijuan heard there was money left over, he felt certain that Uncle Wu hadn’t made a mistake. He willingly handed over the thirty yuan he had been clutching tightly the whole way.

Uncle Wu didn’t have any small change on him, so he went inside to find some for Ruan.

Ruan Zhijuan squatted by the peach stall, loyally guarding his peaches.

His gaze flickered every now and then toward the red grapes nearby. These… these must be delicious too.

“Little one, do you like eating peaches…?” An aged, rasping voice abruptly came from the creaking rocking chair beside Ruan Zhijuan. It sounded identical to the one that had been complaining about the heat earlier.

“Grandmother will give you another one, alright?”

Ruan Zhijuan looked over. It was a white-haired grandmother wearing a black embroidered cloth hat. On her feet were matching black embroidered shoes that didn’t quite touch the ground. She was grinning at him with a silent, toothless smile.

Her complexion was a bit poor, though a dull, grayish-blue and her smile was a bit strange, more of a skin-deep grimace that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Give me one?”

Ruan Zhijuan’s mind was filled with the thought of getting an extra peach. His eyes lit up instantly. He hadn’t even noticed when the grandmother had suddenly appeared in the rocking chair that had been empty just moments ago. He nodded quickly. “Yes, yes, please…”

The grandmother didn’t leave the chair. Her stiff arm, which had been hanging by her side, reached toward the peaches with jerky, mechanical movements. A “cracking” sound of bones echoed as she felt through the peaches, selecting one.

On her upper body, she wore a purplish-red robe with side-fastenings, embroidered with golden bats clutching longevity peaches. Below, a dark blue skirt covering her legs was embroidered with peonies and plum blossoms. The sleeves and pant legs underneath were very long, completely covering her hands and feet.

She was bundled up so tightly that not an inch of skin was showing, making anyone looking at her feel stifled.

“Sigh, this weather is truly hot…” The sigh was clearer than before, pressing against Ruan Zhijuan’s eardrums, sounding like someone exhaling their very last breath, with nothing left to follow.

Like a dead person. Like a person who had been dead for days and whose body had already been buried.

But Ruan Zhijuan had never seen a dead person, except for himself in his dreams, so the thought never even crossed his mind.

Ruan Zhijuan blinked as he stared at the grandmother’s clothes. He thought to himself, Of course it’s hot. She was wearing seven layers on top and five on the bottom, a mix of winter and summer clothes, including padded cotton layers.

It was more layers than he had ever piled on himself when he first saw all those beautiful clothes at the Ruan house.

He looked at the gold-threaded embroidery. He didn’t dare touch it with his hands, so he just “touched” it with his eyes. He blinked and said, “Grandma, these clothes must be very expensive, right?”

Otherwise, why would she still be wearing them in this heat?

When he got his first expensive outfit, he’d been just as reluctant to take it off.

It was a pink outfit, the fabric smooth and soft, much more comfortable and better-fitting than the clothes his parents had given him before. It was embroidered with several large pink flowers, seemingly with the same kind of gold thread.

Looking at it now, the flowers and pattern were quite similar to what the grandmother was wearing.

It was on the day he was sold to the old blind man. At first, he had been wearing tattered cloth clothes, but then he hit his head, and after that… he saw himself wearing those new clothes.

He liked them very much, so much that he never took them off, even while sleeping.

But hadn’t he died after hitting his head? How did he end up putting them on?

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