Ye Qiu saw his sister limping towards her room, and he knew that tonight, her leg needed to be cured.
Now Ye Qiu walked to his room, pushed open the door, and entered. Initially, he thought that having not lived there for over a month, there would definitely be a musty smell inside.
Moreover, it was currently the moldy rain season.
Unexpectedly, upon entering, he found the interior spotless.
Ye Qiu guessed that it must have been his sister, Ye Xue, who cleaned every day. After all, his mother Chen Fang was with him at the hospital and his father, Ye Weidong, likely wouldn't do these things.
Ye Qiu looked around, and, just as the memories of the Ye Qiu he had merged with, there was an old wooden bed with a mosquito net, and on it, a blanket and pillow.
Near the window, there was a desk, not the kind for computers. The desk now held many books from junior high and high school, and there was also an old desktop computer on it.
According to the memories of that Ye Qiu, this old computer had been a gift from his father when Ye Qiu got into a key high school.
Unexpectedly, over the three years of high school, his grades got worse, leading Ye Weidong to become increasingly disappointed in him.
Ye Qiu, following those memories, turned on the computer and found that it indeed could access the internet. What he didn't expect was that the original Ye Qiu, besides being self-effacing, timid, and fearful, was actually rather sneaky; hidden in the computer were 5GB of adult movies, which he usually watched secretly with the door shut.
Ye Qiu stirred these memories, and they were as he had imagined.
As for the rest, Ye Qiu found nothing of note.
He had just set down the clothes he brought from the hospital and was about to go out when Ye Weidong and Chen Fang came back.
Seeing that the lights in Ye Weidong's room were still on, Chen Fang came over and asked, "Ye Qiu, haven't you gone to bed yet?"
"Mom, I haven't gone to sleep yet." Having been with Chen Fang for over a month, Ye Qiu had indeed grown much closer to this mother and had already accepted her in his heart.
Chen Fang opened the door and came in, saying, "It's very late, you should go to sleep soon. Also, tomorrow morning around five or six, you don't need to go help at the congee and noodle shop."
In the past, Chen Fang and Ye Weidong had both asked him to help, mainly because Ye Qiu's grades were so poor, they were afraid he would become lazy and unable to support himself.
But now that Ye Qiu still needed to recover, Chen Fang naturally let him rest at home.
"Mom, there's something I want to talk to you about," Ye Qiu said.
"What is it?" asked Chen Fang, as she stroked Ye Qiu's hair.
"There are two things."
"First, I can cure Sister's illness so she can walk normally like anyone else!" Ye Qiu declared.
"Really?" Chen Fang responded, still quite surprised.
Back when Ye Xue was just four or five years old, polio was very prevalent, and after Ye Xue contracted it, even with treatment, her right leg suffered sequelae, resulting in a thinner ankle with no strength, causing her to limp while walking.
From the time Ye Xue had that condition, Ye Weidong and Chen Fang constantly took her to the hospital for treatment, until the doctors declared it incurable, at which point they gave up.
Their daughter Ye Xue was growing up to be increasingly beautiful, but her limping right leg earned her mocking nicknames like "Lame-foot Princess," which was hard for her mother to bear.
Ye Xue had done well in both elementary and middle school, but staying in school was very inconvenient because of her condition. Moreover, she always faced mockery from others, which eventually led her to stop pursuing education after middle school and instead help out in the congee and noodle shop.
"Mom, why would I lie to you? Moreover, this afternoon, you saw me cure the deputy mayor's daughter's illness."
On this point, Chen Fang was naturally very clear.
If that were the case, Chen Fang felt it would be the most delightful thing.
"That's a good thing, I'll talk to your dad about it in a bit," Chen Fang said.
"Another thing, I think it's about He Xiaoqing," Ye Qiu said.
After all, he was no longer the Ye Qiu he used to be. But he knew that he had to make it clear sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner.
"What about Xiaoqing?" Chen Fang asked, puzzled.
"Mom, before my car accident, I was always clueless, but I know that you and dad, for my sake, afraid that I wouldn't be able to find a wife, had already spoken to the butcher He, arranging for me to marry He Xiaoqing after I finished high school."
By the time Ye Qiu had finished speaking, Chen Fang had already understood.
She hadn't expected that her previously foolish-looking son, who seemed to understand nothing, now understood everything.
"Go on," Chen Fang said.
"But, you know, Xiaoqing is not the type I like, and I couldn't possibly marry her in the future. So, I want you to clear things up with He Xiaoqing and her parents sooner, and stop her from helping out at the congee and noodle shop anymore, so as not to owe them more favors, which our family would find hard to repay."
For the past three years, following her parents' wishes, He Xiaoqing had prepared herself to marry Ye Qiu after he finished high school, hence she had considered herself his future wife and would help out at the congee and noodle shop whenever she had time or after work.
These matters were well known within the textile factory community, and even in the alley leading to Hengyuan Archway.
"Ye Qiu, is that really what you think?" Chen Fang asked.
Now she hadn't expected that Ye Qiu knew so much? Then why hadn't he spoken to her about it before the car accident, now that three years had passed?
"Mom, that is what I think," Ye Qiu said.
"Okay, I'll talk to your dad first," Chen Fang said.
Originally, she thought she understood her son very well, but now Chen Fang realized that she didn't understand her son at all.
But why had her previous impression of her son been like that? Now, after the car accident, why did Ye Qiu seem so changed!
"Is there anything else?" Chen Fang asked.
"No, that's all. I'm going to treat my sister later so that she won't have to walk with a limp tomorrow." Ye Xue was currently taking a shower.
Ye Qiu planed to treat Ye Xue's right leg after she had finished her bath.
Chen Fang went out to the living room where Weidong was tiredly sitting, drinking tea. Seeing Chen Fang come out, he asked, "Has Ye Qiu gone to bed?"
"Not yet. Weidong, I feel like Ye Qiu has changed a lot," Chen Fang said.
"He's still the same bear, what change?" In Weidong's impression, Ye Qiu had always been that timid, weak, shy, underachieving, useless son who was always too scared to look him in the eye.
However, the fact that Ye Qiu had treated the daughter of the vice-mayor was somewhat surprising to him.
He was also thinking about whether they still needed to make that hospital payment now that the money wouldn't have to come from a mortgage loan from the bank anymore.
After all, a hundred thousand yuan in mortgage loans would require paying interest every month.