Chapter 9: Money Can’t Be Spent Recklessly

The warm sunlight poured through the library’s huge floor-to-ceiling windows and fell on Feng Nanshu, making her smooth long hair and thick eyelashes seem coated with a layer of pale gold.

She sat up straight with a serious expression, quiet and well-behaved.

Her slender fingers held the corner of a book page, gently turning it, her lively eyes brimming with purity.

After finishing the page, she pinched a prawn cracker and ate it with a crunching sound before turning to the next page.

After repeating this cycle a few times, the bag of prawn crackers gradually emptied.

It wasn’t until Feng Nanshu reached out again that she realized it was the last one. She looked up at Jiang Qin.

“I’m done eating. You can have the rest.”

Feng Nanshu’s eyes sparkled with delight as she ate the last piece and turned to the next page.

Jiang Qin stared at her for a while, feeling that Feng Nanshu really wasn’t joking with him.

She had truly agreed to lend him money.

But why did he have such an absurd feeling?

Shouldn’t she have him sign an IOU?

At the very least, shouldn’t she ask what it was for and when he would pay it back?

Jiang Qin possessed the soul of a 38-year-old uncle. He thought he should be able to see through a pure creature like a high school student at a glance, but he really couldn’t understand Feng Nanshu’s actions.

However, this was also quite normal. He hadn’t interacted with rich women before being reborn, so it wasn’t strange that he didn’t understand them.

Perhaps all rich women were like this.

At 4:30 in the afternoon, Feng Nanshu suddenly slipped a bookmark into the book, stood up to smooth her skirt, and returned the book to the shelf.

She left at this time every day, clearly under strict curfew.

But this time, before leaving, Feng Nanshu paused and turned to wave goodbye to Jiang Qin.

She wasn’t that aloof after all…

Jiang Qin watched her leave, then turned to look out the huge floor-to-ceiling window. Through the glass, he could clearly see the black Bentley parked downstairs.

The driver wearing white gloves had already opened the door and was waiting respectfully, while the bodyguard stood on the side of the open door, his expression serious and alert.

Feng Nanshu calmly walked out of the library, got into the car without a word, and disappeared down the street before dusk amid the roar of the engine.

“The golden house and the beautiful face turned out to be the same person.”

“…”

“Suddenly feeling a bit hungry. Let’s go home first.”

Jiang Qin put the book “Guide to Being a Kept Man” back on the shelf, rode his bike back to Hongrong Homes on North 2nd Road, and bought a tray of soup dumplings at the entrance of the neighborhood.

Today was Wednesday, a workday.

Ms. Yuan Youqin was an employee at a government reception center, and Mr. Jiang Zhenghong worked at the health bureau, so there should be no one home now. He could only buy some soup dumplings to make do.

However, having eaten so much takeout and instant noodles in his previous life, he was now omnivorous and had no excessive requirements for food quality.

Moreover, the dumplings from this shop were indeed quite good—thin skins and plentiful filling. They even opened branch stores ten years later.

Jiang Qin picked up a dumpling from the plastic bag and took a bite. It was hot, oily and smooth, the same old recipe and familiar taste.

It was just that the weather was too hot now, and he started sweating after eating two.

Jiang Qin tied up the plastic bag, planning to eat the rest after getting home.

At 7 p.m., the night silently surged.

Mr. Jiang Zhenghong returned home with two plastic bags, changed his slippers, and sat down on the sofa with a thump.

His forehead was covered in beads of sweat and he was panting heavily, hurriedly calling Jiang Qin to pour him some water.

“Dad, where did you go? How did you get so tired?”

“Your mom said the vegetables at South Village Market were cheap, so I rode my bike for forty minutes and bought a bunch back, all your favorites.”

Jiang Qin put the glass of water in front of him: “Aren’t they only a few cents cheaper? It’s not worth the effort. Is our family that poor?”

Jiang Zhenghong took a sip of water and let out a satisfied “ah”: “This has nothing to do with being poor. You’re going to college, and after college you’ll have to get married. There will be lots of places to spend money in the future. Of course we have to save where we can. We can’t keep spending extravagantly!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the door hinge creaked and the door was pushed open again.

Mrs. Yuan Youqin came in with a department store shopping bag, looking triumphant and humming a tune.

Seeing this scene, the father and son couldn’t help but exchange a glance.

“What did you buy?”

“Sister Xu from our work unit said the department store was having a half-price sale on wool coats, so I got a great deal!”

Jiang Zhenghong’s eyes widened: “A wool coat? How much did you spend?”

Mrs. Yuan Youqin had a smug expression: “The original price was 888, now it’s only 488.”

“Dad, is this what you mean by not spending extravagantly?” Jiang Qin was shocked.

“You wasteful woman, it’s the dog days of summer now. Why are you buying a wool coat?!”

“What do you know? If it weren’t the dog days, it wouldn’t even be on sale!”

Jiang Zhenghong put on an air of authority as the head of the household: “Jiang Qin has finished his college entrance exams. Once the results are out, we’ll have to throw a banquet and pay his tuition. There will be lots of places to spend money.”

Yuan Youqin changed her shoes and walked to the living room: “Weren’t those my words? Also, did you go to South Village Market like I asked?”

“Of course I went. I did the math. The vegetables at South Village Market are a lot cheaper than downstairs from our building. We saved over twenty this time.”

“So we saved over three hundred today?”

It took Jiang Zhenghong’s mind a while to catch up: “Where did that three hundred come from?”

Mrs. Yuan Youqin held up the shopping bag in her hand: “I bought an 888 yuan coat for 488. Doesn’t that save three hundred inside and out?”

“Youqin, I really have to say, your view on spending is clearly wrong.”

“Jiang Zhenghong, in all the years I’ve been married to you, I haven’t bought any clothes. You’re criticizing me over one wool coat?”

Jiang Qin watched from the side with a smile, feeling that this long-lost family squabble was heartwarming.

His old man was still in his prime, strong and healthy, his hair not white at 53, and he hadn’t secretly driven for a ride-sharing service to earn money for his son’s down payment only to faint in the car.

His birth mother was still young and loved to look beautiful. With a bit of spare cash, she would go shopping at department stores. She hadn’t gotten to the point of not daring to buy meat to save money.

This was absolutely the happiest thing for him after being reborn.

However, his watching the show and laughing on the side was truly despicable. He soon brought trouble on himself, receiving a unanimous side-eye from his parents.

“Jiang Qin, what are you laughing at? Do you also think I shouldn’t have bought this wool coat?”

Jiang Qin contained the smile on his face: “Mom, I’m going to make big money in the future. I won’t let you buy outdated discounted clothes anymore, and I won’t let Dad go to such a far-off market anymore.”

Yuan Youqin’s expression was slightly stunned, and her gaze instantly softened: “This is my good son. Don’t learn from your dad, always being so stingy.”

“When was I ever stingy…”

Jiang Zhenghong’s voice weakened a bit, clearly lacking confidence. But when he turned around, he found that his wife had already opened the shopping bag, and inside were rolls and rolls of toilet paper.

“What is this?”

“The reception center’s inventory. The leader said to replace it all, so I took it home. You thought you were the only one who knew how to be thrifty and save?”

Yuan Youqin spoke in an irritated tone and turned to enter the kitchen.

Jiang Zhenghong was dumbfounded, thinking, this is entrapment!