"What will happen if my identification can't be resolved?"
The wrinkled piece of paper was brought out of the room by Jiang He and handed to Xu Qing, who asked.
"You'll just be an unregistered citizen, there's nothing you can do," Xu Qing answered offhandedly.
Seeing Jiang He standing there motionless, he thought for a moment and continued to explain, "Without an ID card, you can't enjoy any rights or benefits. Food, clothing, housing, and transportation all rely on money. Except for some small underground factories, all other jobs require an ID card. That's the first thing, you won't be able to find work or support yourself."
"Second, you don't have a place of your own, and you can't rent one either. Whether it's a hotel... oh, I mean an inn, whether it's an inn or anything else, you need an ID card to get in.
Then, you can't travel far, can't take high-speed trains or long-distance buses... Nowadays there are no horses, so you have to take various vehicles to travel a long distance."
"Third, if there is a dispute, you can't... never mind, it's too complicated and you won't understand. Essentially, if there's any problem, the authorities won't handle it, because you can't lodge a complaint or anything like that without an identity, and essentially there's no way to process it."
What Xu Qing had said didn't seem to matter much to Jiang He—at least not for now. In her understanding, there was no impact except for housing and earning money.
"So you're saying... as long as I can find a way to make money and find a place to live, the ID isn't that important?"
"No, there are still many other things you won't be able to do," Xu Qing shook his head. "Big and small issues alike, such as a mobile phone, accounts on the internet, bank cards... big matters like getting married, having children, registering your children—these may seem far-fetched, but they are some of the most important matters in a person's life. Without an ID card, all of these are irrelevant to you."
If living was just for the sake of surviving and nothing else was needed, being a drifter without ties wouldn't be much affected by lacking an ID; you could live like a SanHe God.
But once she got familiar with this world, if she wanted to be a normal person, an ID card was essential.
"Why didn't you come twenty years earlier... Dealing with residence registration has gone straight from easy mode to hell mode now," Xu Qing couldn't help but grumble as he stood up to get his computer from the bedroom, opened the web browser, and looked up the issue of unregistered citizens.
The household registration system, which had been built and perfected over decades, now had very few loopholes, making it difficult for a person appearing out of nowhere to obtain legal status.
"Or perhaps you would like to try asking for help from the authorities in this world? Maybe you'll receive great treatment, or you might lose your freedom."
Xu Qing asked casually, "After all, this kind of thing is too shocking, I don't know what will happen... Based on my guess, it's more likely you'll be treated well, but whether it's a blessing or a curse is hard to say; it's difficult to lead a normal life."
"Are you going to hand me over to the authorities?"
"No, just... never mind, go study for now, learn about the history or something. After you have a basic understanding of modern society, then you can decide for yourself."
Jiang He pursed her lips and after a moment of silence said, "…Is it troublesome for me to stay here?"
"It's manageable, as long as you don't start fights or anything. Actually, it's quite nice."
Xu Qing clicked the mouse. Winter Melon leapt up from the floor onto the desk, nuzzling his arm with his head and then meowing.
"Eh, I forgot to feed you..."
He stroked the cat's back a couple of times and picked up the plump Winter Melon to find the cat food in the corner and pour some into its bowl.
"If there's nothing else, get on with your studying."
"Okay."
Jiang He didn't say anything more, gave him a deep look, and turned to go back to her room.
...
The night grew deeper.
By ten o'clock at night, Xu Qing stretched out on the sofa, jiggled the mouse to shut down the computer. His search had turned up all sorts of things, with a wide time span, but almost no useful information.
He leaned back on the sofa and pondered for a while, then picked up his phone and scrolled through Weixun for a moment, choosing a contact to message.
His best buddy, Qin Hao, was now a proud community policeman—though he wasn't sure if Qin had finished his probation period yet.
Qin Hao responded quickly, and after a few whimsical exchanges, Xu Qing thought better of asking directly and instead invited him for a skewer feast over the weekend.
They're part of the system, after all, so they should know a thing or two… right?
After putting everything in order, Xu Qing went to the bathroom to take a shower. He stripped off his clothes, then thought better of it and dressed again, almost forgetting that there was now a guest of the opposite sex in the house.
Shaking his head, he went to the bedroom to grab pajamas and came out again. He hesitated at the door of Jiang He's room but didn't call her to take a bath, considering that the habits of ancient people had to be changed gradually, and he had also forgotten to buy her pajamas.
Having only been out of the house once that day, skipping a bath wasn't a big deal.
Yeah, not a big deal.
After showering with his mind on other things, Xu Qing refilled Winter Melon's food bowl with some water, turned off the living room lights, and went back to the bedroom, ready to sleep.
A moment later.
The door to Jiang He's room made a soft sound and cracked open a slit. After peering out several times, a shadowy figure clutching clothes sneaked off to the bathroom.
...
For the next two days, Jiang He rarely went out. She spent the daytime comparing two books and studying them laboriously. In the evening, she followed Xu Qing on a stroll to familiarize herself with the surroundings and then they would find a small restaurant for dinner.
Before they knew it, Saturday arrived, and the handwriting input device Xu Qing ordered from a shopping site was delivered. He tried it on the computer; it could not only recognize handwritten traditional characters, but its voice recognition was also very accurate. He then began teaching Jiang He how to use the computer.
He hadn't been idle over these two days either, downloading a bunch of historical science videos for her to watch in her spare time.
"What's that?"
In the afternoon, Jiang He, who was getting a bit tired from watching videos on the computer, asked curiously about the cat food bag in Xu Qing's hands.
She had seen him feed the cat several times, but those small pellets didn't look like food.
"Cat food," Xu Qing replied.
"Cat food?"
"Yes, food for cats."
"You have special food for cats?" Jiang He looked somewhat dazedly at the chubby cat, once again reevaluating her understanding of the world.
"..."
Xu Qing said helplessly, "It's not what you're thinking. This is manufactured, not grown… Who would idle around growing food for cats."
Knock, knock, knock.
As they were talking, there came a knock at the door. Jiang He no longer displayed the wariness she had upon first arriving, watching Xu Qing receive the takeout from the delivery guy in yellow, thanking him, and closing the door.
"I have something tonight. I'm going to meet a friend soon and ask about your identity issue. Just stay home, and if anything comes up…" Xu Qing, as he placed the fast food on the table, instructed, "I'll teach you to use the computer to communicate with me over long distances. Don't go wandering outside."
"Okay."
Jiang He nodded, unwrapped the packaging, took a bite of the burger, and found the strange food quite tasty; she liked it a lot.
"Why is cat food made like that… can't you give it this instead?" Jiang He still found it rather incredible that even cat food was specially made. Was this the extravagance of a wealthy landlord?
"This is unhealthy," Xu Qing said nonchalantly.
"..."
Jiang He's chewing paused.
The burger had lost its appeal.