Dating Myself - Chapter 30

At midnight, the IV room had only a few people, but it wasn’t quiet. A young man leaned back in an IV chair, watching a video with the sound on. A new baby cried uncomfortably, and his mother paced back and forth, hushing him while they waited for the IV.

After a few jokes, Jian Yixi finally calmed down and told An Mu everything that had happened. An Mu listened intently, occasionally commenting but not wanting to discourage her. She only offered a few suggestions on how she could have handled the situation better. For example, she should have secretly recorded the abuse the first time it happened. This would have prevented them from harassing her adoptive parents and would have allowed her to leave sooner.

Seeing Jian Yixi lower her head in disappointment, An Mu stopped and complimented her instead. “I didn’t expect you to solve this yourself. You’re great, you’re amazing. You’ve done so well. This is also a good way to warn your adoptive parents and let them know you’re not doing well. This way, they won’t be too surprised when you try to leave the household registration, and they’ll be happy for you.”

When the topic of the household registration came up, Jian Yixi looked worried. “They said I have to move my household registration before the National Day holiday, or they won’t let me. They also said I can only move it to Weicheng. I was going to ask Maomao tomorrow if I could move it to her family’s household registration.”

An Mu shook her head. “That probably won’t work. The household registration management here is very strict. You can’t do it without connections. Even if Maomao wants to help, her family might not agree. And doing so would be like offending your parents. Weicheng is a small place. What if they seek revenge on Maomao’s family?”

Jian Yixi’s eyes widened. “They’re not criminals. They wouldn’t go that far, would they?”

“How do you know they wouldn’t?” An Mu picked up a paper cup and brought her another cup of hot water. “The moment they decide to help you, they’ll become a thorn in your parents’ side. If I’m not mistaken, you don’t have your household registration book yet, do you?”

Jian Yixi lowered her eyes and nodded weakly. “No, they said I can have it when I’m ready to move my registration. They won’t let me keep it now since it’s an important document.”

It was just an excuse. Jian Xiangwei and his wife believed Jian Yixi wouldn’t be able to find a way to move her registration. They wanted to make her back down and stall for time. After a month, the Jian Yihu situation would have settled down, and they would have plenty of time to deal with her.

An Mu said calmly, “So think about it. If you ask them for your household registration book, will they give it to you easily? They’ll definitely go with you to handle the process. Once they meet Maomao’s family or any other person you’ve found in Weicheng, they might threaten or bribe them. Will those people still help you move your registration then?”

Jian Yixi’s face turned pale. She couldn’t drink the water and put it on the nightstand. “What should I do? I was thinking I would just find someone and pay them to move the registration.”

Jian Yixi had ten thousand yuan. Her adoptive parents had secretly given it to her before she came to Weicheng. They were afraid she would have to rely on her birth parents and wouldn’t feel confident if she didn’t have money. Jian Yixi initially didn’t want to take it, but her adoptive parents told her it was her New Year’s money from over the years and insisted she take it. Jian Yixi knew that her New Year’s money as a child was only five or ten yuan, which later increased to twenty or fifty. It had only reached a hundred yuan in the last two years. There was no way it could add up to ten thousand yuan. Besides, she knew that New Year’s money was just a formality. The money given to her would be given back to others, so there was no leftover money.

She had to take the money and planned to secretly give it back to them when she visited them for the New Year. She never thought she would have to use it so soon, both for the registration and for renting a place. What she didn’t expect was that she couldn’t even pay to move her registration. No matter how much money she had, it wouldn’t compare to the Jian family’s wealth. For the sake of face, Wen Qiaoyun and her husband could easily bribe anyone who could help her. Her mere ten thousand yuan was nothing compared to their wealth. If they couldn’t bribe someone, they could threaten them. In the end, she couldn’t win.

The atmosphere grew heavy. An Mu reached out and hooked Jian Yixi’s chin, teasing her like a puppy with a smile. “If you call me ‘master,’ I’ll teach you two methods.”

Jian Yixi’s eyes widened, and her eyelashes shimmered in the cool light. “You have a way? And two of them?”

Jian Yixi’s eyes lit up. She believed that if An Mu said she had a way, it must be a good one. Before she even heard the methods, the gloom disappeared, and she put her hands together, bowed playfully, and said with a smile, “Please guide me, Master!”

An Mu saw that she had sweated and the fever had gone down, so she was in a good mood. She ruffled her head and replied, “Good student,” before speaking. “The method is simple. You can buy a house in Weicheng and get a new household registration with the new address. It doesn’t matter if you’re a minor. They won’t be able to say anything.”

Jian Yixi’s smile froze. “That’s the method you’re talking about?” She suddenly looked deflated. “Look at me. There’s only one word written all over me. Can you see it?”

An Mu felt like laughing. She nodded seriously. “I can see it.”

“What word?”

“Foolish.”

“It’s ‘poor’!”

Jian Yixi leaned weakly against the headboard, sighing as if she had lost all hope. “I’m too poor to buy a house. Even if I borrow from my adoptive parents, they would have to sell everything they own to get enough money. Even if they could manage the down payment, they would have to pay the mortgage, and I’d also have to rely on them for my tuition for the next two years. The financial pressure on them would be too much. I can’t be that selfish.”

An Mu knew she would say that. She rubbed her disheartened little head. “So there’s a second method. You can be added to my household registration.”

Jian Yixi looked at An Mu, blinking her long eyelashes, thinking she had misheard. “Aren’t you from out of town? My parents said I have to move my registration to a Weicheng address.”

Jian Yixi didn’t want to agree to that condition at first, but the police had arrived, and time was short. She was afraid that if she pushed Jian Xiangwei too hard, she wouldn’t be able to get rid of them. So she agreed.

An Mu uncrossed her legs and crossed them the other way. The light blue curtain was only half-drawn. She sat outside the curtain while Jian Yixi was inside. “It’s fine if I move my registration to Weicheng, right?”

Jian Yixi looked at her in disbelief, her dark, clear eyes seeming to have a layer of blue film over them. The wider she opened them, the more surprised and confused she looked. “It’s not as simple as you make it sound. This is a household registration! You can’t just do that on a whim. Where is your original registration?”

“Where?” An Mu repeated.

Everyone knew that students from Beijing had a lower score requirement to get into Tsinghua and Peking University. With only two years until the college entrance exam, was An Mu crazy? Jian Yixi went from disbelief to astonishment. “Are you kidding? The college entrance exam is so close. Even if you move your registration here and then move it back, it’ll probably be too late, right? There must be a time limit for local students to register for the exam, right?”

An Mu said calmly, “So what? Do you think only people from Beijing can get into Tsinghua and Peking University? If you have the ability, you can get in from anywhere.”

“Even if you have the ability, your family won’t agree!”

“In my family, I get to decide.”

Despite An Mu’s words, Jian Yixi shook her head. “Even if your family agrees, I can’t. If you were from somewhere else, it would be fine, but not from Beijing. I can’t let you take that risk.”

An Mu raised an eyebrow. “You don’t believe in my ability?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you; it’s that there’s no need to take a risk. It’s like thousands of soldiers trying to cross a single log bridge. You have a clear path that you can walk on steadily. Why would you want to squeeze with everyone else? You’ll just get all sweaty and tired.”

“But this is the cheapest and easiest way.”

Jian Yixi smiled bitterly. “But you can’t joke about your future. I’ll think of another way.”

An Mu held the paper crane in her hand. She knew Jian Yixi wouldn’t agree to either of these methods. She told her all this just to make it easier for her to accept the third method. “It looks like… I’ll have to teach you the third method.”

“There’s another way?”

Jian Yixi had just taken a tissue to wipe her sweat, but she put her hand down again. Her sweaty forehead had wet her hair, and the heat on her face had faded. The redness was gone, and the slap marks on her cheek became visible. An Mu glanced at the red marks, and her good mood instantly soured.

“The third method is a little more complicated. I will buy a house, and the property title will have both my name and yours on it. You can use this house to get your household registration, and when the college entrance exam is over, you can transfer the house back to me.”

“No!” Jian Yixi shook her head before An Mu could finish. “What you’re saying is getting more and more ridiculous. Buying a house is not a small matter. Even if your family is richer than mine, I can’t let you waste so much money for me.”

“How is this a waste? It’s an investment and for my convenience.” An Mu patiently explained, “Housing prices are always rising. Buying a house now means its value will increase. Besides, my current apartment is a bit far from school. It’s not convenient to ride a bike to and from school in the winter. I might as well buy a house across from the school. When I have to stay on campus in my senior year, my home will be right across the street, making it easy to go home on weekends. It’s a win-win situation.”

Jian Yixi frowned, wiping the sweat from her forehead. After a while, she said, “That’s what you say, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Stop thinking that way. I was planning to move even without this. Weicheng is colder than I thought. I don’t want to ride my bike in the wind and snow in the winter. It’s not just freezing; it’s also exhausting.” An Mu paused, then said, “So, don’t feel pressured. I’m just doing this for myself. You can help me look for a place and save me a lot of trouble.”

Jian Yixi lowered her head and remained silent for a long time before looking up. Her eyes, which had just calmed down, were red again. She wasn’t an idiot. She knew that even if everything An Mu said was true, her initial reason for buying the house was because of her.

“How much will it cost… the transfer fee?”

“You don’t have to worry about the transfer fee. I’m the one buying the house, so I should pay for it. When you transfer it back to me in the future, you can pay for the transfer fee yourself.”

In the future…

In other words, she didn’t have to pay a single penny right now? There was no better way. Jian Yixi, who was poor, couldn’t refuse even if she wanted to.

“You still have to tell me the transfer fee so I have an idea.”

“I’m not sure. It depends on the house price. It’ll probably be a few tens of thousands.”

A few tens of thousands…

Jian Yixi instinctively swallowed. A few tens of thousands was a huge amount of money for her. But she quickly perked up and said to An Mu, “I’ll go with you when you transfer it.”

“You have to go anyway. How else would we put your name on the property title?” An Mu knew what Jian Yixi was thinking. She wanted to see how much the transfer fee would cost so she could save up the money and give the house back to her as soon as possible.

Buying a house was not easy. Considering that buying a new house was not as convenient as a second-hand one, An Mu decided to look for a second-hand house. She immediately took out her phone and started searching for suitable houses on an app. The two of them looked through the listings together and chose two close to the school. They planned to contact the owners the next morning and try to buy a house as soon as possible to get the household registration moved.

After a few IV bags were finished, Jian Yixi’s fever had completely gone down. The red marks on her face were not as noticeable. The two of them, who hadn’t slept all night, yawned as they left the hospital. The sky was getting bright, and a bus was slowly stopping at the bus stop. An Mu was about to hail a taxi, but Jian Yixi grabbed her and rushed to the bus, waving at the driver to wait.

They ran onto the bus and paid the fare. Jian Yixi’s energy, which she had saved up all night, was gone. She held onto the back of a chair and managed to sit down, leaning her head on An Mu’s shoulder. “My head is spinning. Let me lean on you for a bit.”

An Mu turned to look at her. The morning sun shone through the bus window, casting a mottled light on her. The fine hairs on the side of her face were clearly visible. Her eyelashes were long, black, and curled. Tiny dust particles danced in the sunlight. One of them landed on the tip of her eyelash. When the bus started and swayed, the speck of dust swayed with it but didn’t fly away.

An Mu had a slight case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. For example, she had to get rid of the red dots on her WeChat to feel comfortable. She looked at the speck of dust on Jian Yixi’s eyelash for the whole ride. She wanted to pinch it off but was afraid the bus would sway and she would accidentally pull off her eyelashes, so she just kept looking and didn’t do anything.

The bus stopped at a red light. An Mu took the opportunity to reach out to her eyelash. But the long eyelashes, which had been closed, suddenly trembled and opened. Jian Yixi’s dark eyes met An Mu’s fair and tender hand. From her angle, she could see An Mu’s palm, which looked pink, as if she had been pressing it against something for a long time before finally deciding to lift it.

Jian Yixi couldn’t help but remember her tailbone being touched. Was An Mu using this… this hand to touch me? What… what was she trying to do now that I’m asleep?

No, no, stop overthinking. There must have been something on my face, and she was just trying to wipe it off. She definitely wasn’t trying to take advantage and touch my face!

“Do I… have something on my face?”

An Mu nodded and carefully pinched off the speck of dust from her eyelash. “It’s this.” An Mu seriously dabbed her fingertips to show her. The speck of dust was on her hand, like a cotton fiber in water. The tiny amount of oil on her fingers made it invisible. You couldn’t see it unless you looked closely, and even then, you might not be able to.

An Mu knew it was there, so she could vaguely make it out, but Jian Yixi couldn’t. The morning sun was bright on her fingers. From her angle, she could only see that her fingers were slender and as smooth as jade. There was nothing else.

“Did you see it?” An Mu dabbed her fingers again, getting rid of the speck of dust that only she could see.

Jian Yixi fluttered her long eyelashes. “Uh… I think so… I saw it.” Even though she didn’t actually see it, if An Mu said it was there, it must have been. Why would she lie? The logic was sound. Jian Yixi used the same logic to figure out the tailbone incident. An Mu must have been helping her wipe off dirt!

“After we have breakfast and go home, you should go straight to sleep. I’ll get you a leave of absence from school.”

Jian Yixi was startled. “I have to go to school. Don’t we have to read the investigation report? There’s only you and Maomao. I don’t feel secure enough. It’s foolproof with me there.”

“Don’t worry. Even if Maomao fails, I have a way to make the school remove our punishments.”

“It’s too much trouble. It’s better if I go.” Jian Yixi refused to hear any “buts.” She rested her head on An Mu’s shoulder again. “It’s a deal!”

There’s no way to deal with myself.

An Mu: “Then if you feel unwell, you have to take a leave of absence immediately.”

“Don’t worry~ I won’t force myself.”

I’ll believe you when I see it.

Feeling sluggish on a Monday is not only for people who work but also for students. Why does the weekend pass by so quickly? Why can’t the dreaded Monday just go away? In the morning class, the students were all listless. They recited the text as if they hadn’t eaten enough. Only when their teacher, Old Hu, left did they perk up and start discussing the gossip about Jian Yihu.

Fortunately, Jian Yixi sat in a corner, and the students in front and behind her couldn’t get close enough to ask for inside information. The students in front were afraid of being caught by Old Hu if they turned around to talk, and the students behind her couldn’t get her to turn her head no matter how many times they poked her. The only one with an advantage was Xie Maomao, who, despite her carefree nature, knew that some things couldn’t be overheard. She was so curious that she leaned close to Jian Yixi’s ear to whisper.

[What’s this about your sister’s suicide?]

Jian Yixi glanced at her and crooked her finger helplessly. Xie Maomao happily leaned her ear in.

[The suicide was fake. My parents are on my sister’s side. I’ve already turned on them and left the Jian family.]

Xie Maomao rubbed her ear in disbelief. “Is that true?!” She quickly whispered again. [What do you mean? You ran away from home? What are you going to do now? Where are you living?]

Jian Yixi knew how curious Maomao was, so she briefly told her everything that had happened in the last two days. Maomao’s expression changed dramatically. She slammed the desk in anger when she heard how Jian Yixi was being bullied. She excitedly chewed on the corner of her book when she heard about An Mu taking her to the hospital. When she finished, Maomao, who was almost leaning on Jian Yixi, looked at her with an unusually serious expression.

“After listening for a while, I’ve figured out three things.”

“What three things?”

“First, they’re worse than animals. Second, you’re braver than you look. And third…”

Maomao suddenly smiled mischievously and lowered her voice to a whisper.

“An Mu definitely has a secret crush on you!”