Chapter 2
Old Madam Qiao lived on the same floor as Qiao Nian, so the first thing she did after waking was check on her granddaughter. The housekeeper was keeping watch outside Qiao Nian’s room and told her that Qiao Nian was still asleep and hadn’t woken up yet. The old madam felt relieved. As long as Nian Nian could sleep, her body would have a chance to recover.
Old Madam Qiao invited all the household staff who hadn’t eaten yet to join her for lunch. Afterward, she went to the kitchen to make brown sugar rice cakes for Qiao Nian.
Brown sugar rice cakes were quite easy to make. First, brown sugar, coconut milk, and water were mixed to make a brown sugar syrup. Then, glutinous rice flour was added to form a batter. Finally, raisins and red dates, which Qiao Nian had loved as a child, were sprinkled over the top. After forty minutes of steaming, all that remained was to sprinkle on some white sesame seeds before serving.
However, achieving the exact level of sweetness, softness, stickiness, and rich fragrance that Qiao Nian loved required very precise proportions.
In the past, nobody had made brown sugar rice cakes quite to Qiao Nian’s taste like her mother. After Qiao Nian’s mother passed away, Old Madam Qiao had to make them countless times before she finally managed to recreate that familiar flavor.
As she worked, the old madam continued pondering the dream.
At her age, she had experienced more dreams than she could count, but never once had she woken up remembering every scene, every conversation, and even the facial features of the people in her dream so vividly.
That little girl, who looked so much like Qiao Nian and spoke in such a sweet, childish voice, had said someone would scatter soybeans across the square on the eighteenth. She had also mentioned an acupuncturist named Chu Jingzhi.
And today was only the eleventh…
“Aunt Qiao, Miss Qiao is awake.”
Old Madam Qiao was standing by the stove, lost in thought, when the voice of Du He, the household cook, suddenly came from behind her.
The brown sugar rice cakes had just finished steaming. The old madam turned off the heat and walked out of the kitchen toward the living room. Qiao Nian was slowly emerging from the elevator, supported by Aunt Zong, the housekeeper.
One glance was enough to make Old Madam Qiao’s eyes redden again.
Qiao Nian wore white, long-sleeved pajamas with matching trousers, embroidered with pink thread. She had just taken a shower, and her long hair was about seventy percent dry. The hot water had brought a faint flush to her otherwise pale complexion, but her lips were still somewhat colorless, and her steps were slightly unsteady.
Yet Qiao Nian was still beautiful, possessing the fragile beauty of someone chronically ill, a sight that stirred both heartache and tenderness.
“You took a shower right after waking up?” Old Madam Qiao held back her tears and walked over, nagging, “You’re the cleanest one in this family! Nobody else is as obsessed with cleanliness as you!”
Then she turned her nagging on the housekeeper. “Xiao Hui, you spoil her too! Just because she wants to bathe, you let her? Don’t you know how weak she is right now?”
Zong Hui replied calmly, “Yes, Aunt Qiao, unlike me, you certainly don’t spoil Miss Qiao. If Miss Qiao told you she wanted a bath, you’d insist on bathing her yourself.”
Old Madam Qiao: “…”
Qiao Nian lowered her eyes and smiled faintly. The little old lady liked people with a sense of humor. The more the household staff bantered with her, the more entertaining she found life.
Knowing it was time to apologize, Qiao Nian lowered her gaze and said, “I’m sorry I made you worry last night, Grandma.”
Old Madam Qiao glared at the housekeeper, then at Qiao Nian. Once Zong Hui had helped her granddaughter sit at the dining table, the old madam finally spoke in a meaningful tone. “If you’re really sorry for making me worry, you should start taking your blind dates seriously!”
Qiao Nian braced a hand against the table and made as though to slowly stand up. “Grandma, I’m going back to my room.”
Old Madam Qiao hurriedly pressed her back down. “Hey, hey! All right, all right, I won’t say another word about it! I’ve made you some rice cakes, and they’re still hot. Have a couple of bites.”
The rice cakes had just come out of the steamer, so they were easy to cut once removed from the mold. Old Madam Qiao returned to the kitchen, sprinkled them with sesame seeds, and cut them into pieces. She selected the two softest, stickiest pieces from the center, placed them on a plate, and set it before Qiao Nian. “Go on, try them. Be careful, they’re hot.”
Qiao Nian actually couldn’t remember why Grandma had made her brown sugar rice cakes, but she could guess that she must have said something while barely conscious.
She picked up a piece with her chopsticks and blew on it gently. Then she took three successive bites, tasting the portions with raisins, red dates, and white sesame seeds. The raisins and red dates Grandma had chosen were just the right sweetness for her, and the sesame seeds were wonderfully fragrant.
After tasting everything carefully, Qiao Nian looked up and said, “If our family ever goes bankrupt, I can go sell rice cakes on the street with you. I think they’d become an internet sensation.”
That was her way of praising how delicious the rice cakes were. Old Madam Qiao laughed and patted her granddaughter’s head, then suddenly twisted her ear. “Hey! You little brat, why are you cursing us with—”
Before she could finish, something about those words struck her as familiar.
That little baby in her dream had also liked saying outrageous things!
Old Madam Qiao stopped twisting her ear and rubbed it instead. After pondering silently for quite a while, she asked, “Nian Nian, I have a performance with my square dancing group next week, on the eighteenth. Would you come watch?”
Qiao Nian scooped up a spoonful of pumpkin porridge that Aunt Du had brought over. Without looking up, she asked, “Another blind date?”
The housekeeper burst out laughing beside them.
The old madam had pulled far too many tricks to arrange blind dates for Miss Qiao. Having a prospective partner “accidentally” faint into Miss Qiao’s arms was one of her milder schemes, but Miss Qiao saw through her every single time.
Old Madam Qiao shot the housekeeper an embarrassed glare, then shook her head solemnly at Qiao Nian. “Grandma swears there absolutely won’t be any blind dates this time!”
That dream had simply left her rather anxious, and she wanted Nian Nian to accompany her.
Qiao Nian raised her eyes and studied Grandma’s expression. Reluctantly convinced, she agreed. “All right. I’ll come watch.”
Old Madam Qiao finally relaxed and began telling her granddaughter a few amusing stories about the dance troupe to make her smile.
The first night of every rut was always spent in agony for Qiao Nian. For the following four days, she would be as weak and exhausted as someone suffering from a bad cold, with little appetite. Old Madam Qiao knew her granddaughter didn’t want her to worry, so she did her best not to show her concern.
After accompanying Qiao Nian through her afternoon snack, the old madam saw that she still looked weak and told her to return to her room to rest. She then went back to her own room to discuss adding a performance on the eighteenth with the dance troupe leader.
The troupe leader knew that Old Madam Qiao came from an extremely wealthy family. She always went along with whatever the old madam wanted, so naturally, she agreed and promised to cooperate.
Afterward, Old Madam Qiao made preparations on two fronts. First, she instructed her driver and bodyguard, Tan Meiju, to devise a plan for dealing with the possibility that someone really would scatter soybeans on the eighteenth.
Second, she called the housekeeper, Zong Hui, into her room and instructed her, “Xiao Hui, help me find out whether there’s an acupuncturist named Chu Jingzhi in our city. Chu as in ‘charming and moving,’ Jing as in ‘Peking opera,’ and Zhi as in ‘willow branch.’ Whether you find her or not, don’t tell me the results just yet. Wait until I come home from square dancing on the eighteenth, then tell me.”
Zong Hui: “…Is she very beautiful?”
For the old madam to remember someone’s name so clearly and specifically ask for an investigation, she must have heard about the woman from one of her friends in the dance troupe.
Was she trying to introduce yet another prospective partner to Miss Qiao?
Old Madam Qiao replied with a perfectly straight face, “An acupuncturist! She’s an acupuncturist! Can’t I be looking for someone to treat Nian Nian’s illness? Xiao Hui, you’re so shallow!”
Zong Hui said, “Yes, yes, I’m terribly shallow. I’ll remember that and make sure to investigate thoroughly for you. Now, esteemed and not-at-all-shallow Old Madam Qiao, if I find her, would you like a photograph?”
Old Madam Qiao: “Yes.”
·
At seven o’clock on the evening of the eighteenth, Old Madam Qiao began dancing in Mingyue Square right on schedule with her old friends from the dance troupe.
July was hot, but the elderly ladies were in high spirits. Who cared about the heat? Each of them waved a decorative fan as they danced, looking thoroughly cheerful and festive.
But Old Madam Qiao was actually very nervous.
If she said she didn’t believe that dream, why had she made preparations in advance? She had even installed two cameras ahead of time to see whether anyone would throw objects from above and to record evidence if it happened.
But if she said she believed the dream, why hadn’t she dreamed of that little baby again all week? Heaven knew how many times she had silently repeated, “Please let me dream of the baby tonight,” before falling asleep!
If nothing happened today, she would never believe in superstitions again for the rest of her life! She wouldn’t even burn incense for her ancestors anymore!
Qiao Nian disliked crowded places. She also hated being surrounded by Grandma’s friends and questioned about what kind of girls she liked.
She wore a hat and a face mask, covering herself thoroughly, and stood quietly beside the third row, watching Grandma dance.
Grandma loved dancing. Although her movements weren’t always precise, every gesture carried the particular charm of an elderly person appreciating her own dancing. It was easy to sense the simple, heartfelt joy she took in it.
Qiao Nian took out her phone, snapped two photographs of Grandma, and recorded two short videos.
Just as the barbecue restaurant next door started playing its second song, Qiao Nian’s ears suddenly pricked up. She heard a faint rattling sound from one of the apartments upstairs, as though someone were shaking marbles or something similar. Her sharp gaze immediately turned toward the building.
A shirtless, overweight man suddenly appeared on a fourth-floor balcony and shouted, “You fucking want to dance? I’ll make you dance yourselves to death—”
The man raised a bucket full of beans high above his head and hurled its contents toward the dancing old ladies with a loud clatter.
He emptied three buckets in succession!
Qiao Nian immediately rushed toward Grandma. At the same time, she heard someone behind her shouting through a megaphone, “Ladies, don’t move! Don’t run! Cover your heads and crouch down! Lower your center of gravity! Be careful not to slip—”
Seeing Qiao Nian running toward her, Old Madam Qiao cried out anxiously, “Nian Nian, slow down!”
Qiao Nian lowered her center of gravity and kept her balance steady. As an S-class Alpha with exceptional agility, she wasn’t someone who would fall easily. She quickly bent down and hurried over, positioning herself behind Grandma to shield her. Then she took off her hat and placed it on Grandma’s head to protect her from the falling soybeans.
As soon as Qiao Nian removed her hat, her long hair billowed in the summer breeze. She turned her head toward the residential building, her bright, piercing eyes flashing sharply.
One of the elderly ladies crouching nearby noticed Qiao Nian’s beautiful eyes. Even in the middle of the chaos, she covered her head and shuffled closer to ask, “Isn’t that Nian Nian? Nian Nian, do you have a girlfriend yet? I have a young granddaughter from a distant branch of the family who’s coming back from abroad. If you’re free, why don’t you two meet?”
Qiao Nian: “…Thank you, Grandma Song, but I’ve been a little busy lately.”
Amid the commotion, Old Madam Qiao lowered her head and stared at the soybeans scattered across the ground.
She couldn’t believe someone had actually scattered soybeans…
Then did that mean Chu Jingzhi really existed, too?!
Old Madam Qiao raised her head with a smile. “Old Song, our Nian Nian is about to have a girlfriend! There’s no need to introduce anyone!”
Qiao Nian: “?”
Since when was she about to have a girlfriend?
·
Old Madam Qiao had made arrangements in advance, but all of them had been carried out discreetly.
For example, when the incident occurred, she had arranged for Tan Meiju to use a megaphone from the children’s toy stall to shout instructions telling everyone not to run, rather than rushing over to protect her personally. As long as nobody ran, nobody would fall and get injured.
She had also installed cameras, so they already had direct evidence. All they needed to do was report the incident to the police.
In addition, she had specifically paid several sanitation workers to pretend they just happened to be working overtime nearby. They quickly swept up all the soybeans scattered across the square.
The fourth-floor resident was apprehended. He was a middle-aged man whose business had lost money, whose stock investments had failed, who had gambled, and who had gone through a divorce. Every day, he heard the piercing music coming from downstairs and assumed the elderly women doing square dancing were responsible. Furious and determined to get revenge on them, he had resorted to this.
The man had already been taken away, and there were sufficient grounds to open a criminal case.
Qiao Nian remained with Grandma’s friends until the square had been cleaned and everyone had left safely. Only then did she accompany Grandma home.
Qiao Nian was even more shaken by the incident than the old madam herself. Again and again, she reminded her softly, “Grandma, if you ever encounter a chaotic situation like that again, you must stay exactly where you are. Don’t run. Don’t move.”
As people aged, they lost calcium from their bones, and most elderly people suffered from osteoporosis. As the saying went, their bones were brittle, making them especially vulnerable to fractures from falls.
“I know, I know. Grandma definitely won’t run around.”
Old Madam Qiao smiled throughout the entire journey, agreeing with everything Qiao Nian said. Once they arrived home, she declared that she was drenched in sweat and urgently needed a shower, using it as an excuse to send Qiao Nian away.
Whenever the old madam bathed, Zong Hui had to accompany her, so naturally, the housekeeper followed her into the room.
The moment the door closed, the old madam anxiously asked Zong Hui, “Well? There really is someone named Chu Jingzhi in our city, isn’t there?”
What Qiao Nian didn’t know was that ever since Old Madam Qiao saw those soybeans, her heart had been pounding wildly and hadn’t slowed down for even a moment!
She had actually experienced a prophetic dream!
And it was an adorable baby from the future who had delivered that prophecy!
Zong Hui helped the old madam sit down, then answered very seriously, “No.”
“Huh?”
The old madam stared in disbelief. “How could there not be?!”
Zong Hui laughed. “I mean, there isn’t one in our City A. But there is one in neighboring City O!”
The old madam angrily pushed Zong Hui’s forehead. “How dare you tease me like that! Hurry up and tell me everything!”
Zong Hui explained, “After you told me about her on the eleventh, I found her almost immediately. She has profiles on Little Green Book, Feishou, and Doule, and she even has an online shop on Maibao. She’s such a beautiful young woman!”
Old Madam Qiao was so pleasantly surprised that she hardly knew what to say.
Could it be that Nian Nian’s mother and Alpha mommy were watching over her from heaven and had joined forces with that little baby to deliver Nian Nian’s future wife right to her doorstep?!
She would burn incense for the whole family in a little while!
The old madam urged, “Quick, quick! Where are the pictures? Let me see!”
Zong Hui took out her phone, opened Chu Jingzhi’s Little Green Book profile, bent down, and handed it to the old madam. “Here, take a look for yourself.”
The old madam put on her reading glasses. After just one glance, she let out several loud cries of “Oh my, oh my, oh my!” before looking up at Zong Hui.
“Her figure is that stunning?!”
Her figure was so stunning that the old madam hadn’t even noticed her face. Her attention had gone straight to the woman’s body!
Zong Hui knew the old madam wasn’t conservative in the slightest, nor was she someone who judged people by their appearance. Smiling, she said, “Her face is gorgeous, too!”
The old madam lowered her head to look at the phone again, only to let out another string of delighted exclamations.
Oh my, she was beautiful!
Just look at those eyes, so bright and lively!
And those poses in her photographs, so playful and adorable!
The little baby in her dream really did bear quite a resemblance to this Chu Jingzhi, who had such a beautiful face, such a stunning figure, and such a radiant smile!
Zong Hui said, “I looked into her background. She’s Dr. Chu, and she’s highly skilled in medicine. Perhaps she really can cure Nian Nian.”
The old madam murmured to herself, “That’s right, that’s right. I can bring Nian Nian along and take her to see Dr. Chu first, to get her illness treated…”
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