Qiao Lanshu had been away from home for several months, so naturally she couldn't tend to the household.
As for Qin Yuanzheng, he had to go to the military base, and the work there was very busy — leaving early and returning late was his usual routine.
As a result, there were no adults at home most of the time; often it was just the three children.
Mornings were manageable, because Qin Yuanzheng got up very early and would cook breakfast for the kids.
Of course, Qin Yuanzheng cooked as simply as possible — he would never put thought into meals the way Qiao Lanshu did, who, whenever she had time, would rack her brain to prepare something special for the children.
His breakfasts were simple: soy milk, fried dough sticks, and steamed buns, or millet porridge with steamed sweet potatoes and pickled vegetables.
Luckily, the children weren't picky eaters — mainly because they didn't dare to be picky with him. So during the months Qiao Lanshu was away, the children behaved quite well.
Lunch was even easier to sort out. Most of the time, Han Ye would simply take Qin Qiao'an and Qin Qiaoxia to the Public Security Bureau canteen to eat.
Han Wenlin's workplace wasn't far from the school, and since there was an internal canteen, it was convenient for the kids to go there for meals.
Occasionally, when they didn't go to the canteen, Han Ye would cook himself.
Of course, his cooking skills were inherited from his father, Han Wenlin — absolutely terrible. The food he made was awful.
Even Qin Qiao'an, who adored him the most, couldn't, in good conscience, force himself to praise it.
One day after lunch, the two brothers were about to head out to play as usual. Before leaving, Han Ye reminded Qin Qiaoxia, saying, "Xia'er, don't go out while you're home alone, alright? Your brothers are going out to play for a bit, and we'll bring you a popsicle when we come back."
Qin Qiaoxia was sitting at the desk by the window in her room, with a thick wuxia novel placed on the desk. She nodded and said, "Got it. And don't go picking fights out there either. Mom's not home, so no one's going to have your backs."
When Qin Qiao'an thought about how, after every incident, he would be punished with horse-riding stance, his legs went weak just thinking about it.
Han Ye tugged at Xiaxia's braid and teased her: "Alright, alright, look at you sounding like such an old stick-in-the-mud."
With that, Han Ye took Qin Qiao'an and ran out the door.
Han Ye rode his old twenty-eight-inch bicycle, carrying Qin Qiao'an on the back, and headed to the area near the clothing market in Wencheng.
The streets there were lively and bustling — there was everything: music stores, dance halls, places where young people went roller skating, playing arcade machines, and even billiards.
These were all things that had become popular in recent years, and young people loved them.
Han Ye enjoyed playing arcade games too, but recently, he wasn't taking Qin Qiao'an out just to play.
His main goal was to do some business, to make some money.
Han Ye rode the bike to the side of a big building on the street corner, where five or six teenagers in their early teens were already waiting.
Beside them stood three or four bicycles, with large bags strapped to the rear racks and front bars.
Han Ye rode over and asked them, "So, what goods do you have today? Still selling clothes?"
One of the teens, around Han Ye's age, said, "We've got clothes today too, but since you don't have much time, you should sell cassette tapes."
With that, he took a bag off his bicycle, untied the rope, and revealed a bag stuffed full of cassette tapes.
Each tape had a cover photo of various singers — most of them were Teresa Teng.
The boy handed the tapes to Han Ye to look at and said, "These are cheap. One-fifty each, and you can make fifty cents profit per tape. Interested?"
These tapes weren't originals — they were copies people had made by recording over blank tapes. Of course, plenty of people didn't care whether it was original or pirated.
As long as they could listen to the songs, and it matched the singers on the covers, that was enough.
The price was several times cheaper than the authentic ones.
Plus, this item was selling really well right now — there was no worry about finding buyers.
So, besides setting up stalls to sell clothes, these young men had recently made selling these cassette tapes their main hustle.
Han Ye, because he had school, didn't have as much time. He didn't source the goods himself, nor did he find people to help him.
What he did was cooperate with these young men — he and Qin Qiao'an would take the goods and sell them, and the other party promised to pay him a certain amount per tape sold. The more he sold, the more money he made.
That was enough for him. He had no intention of making a career out of it, nor did he dream of getting rich. He just thought doing business was interesting and that he could learn a lot from it, which was why he did this kind of thing.
He nodded, had Qin Qiao'an pick up the tapes, and said to the teenagers, "Alright, this is good. I'll take them. We'll meet here at six this afternoon?"
The other guy nodded: "Don't be late, remember."
So Han Ye took Qin Qiao'an, lugged that big bag of tapes, and left.
They found a spot in the busy marketplace, set the goods down on the ground, and started setting up their stall and hawking their wares with practiced ease.
Qin Qiao'an had never experienced anything like this before either.
At first, Qin Qiao'an felt too embarrassed to shout out their sales pitch, and when people asked about prices, he was too shy to answer.
It was Han Ye who taught him what to say and encouraged him to shout it out boldly.
After a while, Qin Qiao'an's courage grew. Once he successfully sold his first tape, he got incredibly excited, like he'd been injected with adrenaline.
Han Ye said to him, "Xia'er is home alone right now. These next few days, we can't stay out too late — we need to get home early."
Qin Qiao'an immediately said, "Big brother, don't worry! I guarantee we'll sell out before dark!"
Qin Qiao'an grabbed passersby and enthusiastically pitched: "Songs by Hong Kong and Taiwan stars! We've got Teresa Teng, we've got Alan Tam! One-fifty each, five bucks for three! It's a steal for you!"
Han Ye listened nearby and thought — something about that didn't sound right?
Before he could figure out what, the passerby started complaining: "Do you think I'm stupid? One-fifty each, and you're giving me three for five bucks? Give me four for five and I'll buy."
Qin Qiao'an couldn't agree to that.
So he said, "How about this: six bucks. Six bucks for four. Deal? Can't go any cheaper."
Han Ye: "..."
Luckily, Qin Qiao'an still managed to make a sale in the end — two bucks eighty cents, selling two tapes.
After the customer left, he muttered to Han Ye, "That guy was so stingy. He haggled with me over twenty cents and wouldn't budge a penny."
But well, one-forty apiece still made a profit, so Qin Qiao'an had sold them anyway — after all, he needed to get home early today, so he had to sell out quickly.
The two brothers set up their stall in the busy market and were doing booming business.
Xiaxia was still home alone, reading her book.
Lately, she had noticed that Han Ye was taking Qin Qiao'an out every single day to do something or other — there wasn't a day they weren't rushing out.
And every time they came back, it was quite late.
Han Wenlin couldn't keep Han Ye in check, and Qin Yuanzheng was too busy to pay attention.
And the only person who could truly keep both brothers in line, Qiao Lanshu, still had over a month before she'd be back.
With that, the two brothers were like young calves that had slipped their ropes — running wild and free all day.
Every time Han Ye came back, he would bring Xiaxia some snacks, stationery, books, or little accessories and hair clips that girls liked.
Xiaxia knew he had plenty of money, so she never asked questions.
During pauses in her reading, she also felt that Han Ye was acting a bit strangely, because books were expensive, and no matter how much allowance he had, he couldn't afford to spend like that.
While turning a page, Xiaxia glanced at the fountain pen on the desk, musing for a brief moment, but soon she couldn't be bothered to think about it anymore.
Because the book was too good, and she was once again immersed in the storyline.
She had a habit: whenever she came across a well-written sentence or phrase in a book, she liked to copy it down.
She picked up her notebook and pen, and after copying a few pages, realized that the notebook was full.
She closed the notebook, opened the drawer of the desk, and rummaged inside—no new notebooks left.
So she took a one-yuan coin from her little savings jar, turned around, and headed out the door, planning to go to the stationery store near the military compound to buy a new one.
The area around her was all familiar; although she rarely went out alone, it was broad daylight now, so there was nothing much to fear.
Xiaxia came out of the military compound, crossed one street, then walked forward to the intersection, crossed another street, and there was a large stationery store.
As Xiaxia arrived at the entrance of the stationery store, she suddenly ran into someone who looked very familiar.
It was her former classmate, Li Taohua.
Li Taohua's parents had both been suspended from their jobs and were now stuck at home with no work.
With their bad moods, they naturally took out their frustrations on the children.
Especially Li Taohua.
Wang Lanying felt that if Li Taohua hadn't deliberately bullied Qin Qiaoxia in the first place, none of this chain of events would have happened.
So she scolded Li Taohua every day, and sometimes even hit her.
Li Taohua couldn't stand staying at home, so she kept running outside, and over time, she made quite a few friends on the streets.
When Xiaxia arrived at the stationery store, she happened to see Li Taohua standing at the street corner with five or six boys and girls, chatting and laughing.
The older ones among those kids looked about thirteen or fourteen, while the younger ones were around Li Taohua's age—nine or ten. They were all just a bunch of semi-grown children.
But judging by their clothes and manner, Xiaxia could tell they didn't look like students; they seemed more like the kind of kids who had started working early to make a living.
While Xiaxia was sizing them up, Li Taohua happened to turn her head and caught sight of her in one glance.
Li Taohua's expression froze for a second, then immediately darkened, her face twisting with venom as she glared viciously at Xiaxia. She pointed at Qin Qiaoxia from across the street and shouted loudly: "Qin Qiaoxia!"
The friends beside Li Taohua immediately asked: "Taohua, who is she?"
Someone said, "Is she that bitch you were talking about?"
"Which bitch? Not the one who got Taohua's parents fired, is it?"
With so many friends backing her up, Li Taohua felt smug. She wasn't afraid of Han Ye or Qin Qiao'an anymore—she had plenty of friends, and they'd all have her back.
She shouted loudly: "That's her! Don't let her get away—today we're going to teach her a good lesson!"
The moment Li Taohua shouted that, Xiaxia made a snap decision and turned to run.
Li Taohua hadn't expected Qin Qiaoxia to bolt without saying a word, so she immediately started chasing: "Chase her! Don't let her get away!"
Her friends were loyal enough and went after Qin Qiaoxia with her, yelling things like "Stop running!" and "Catch her!"
Qin Qiaoxia wanted to run back toward the military compound, but Li Taohua's group had numbers on their side and had already started to surround her. Not only was the direction to the military compound cut off, but so was the way to the police station.
Qin Qiaoxia steeled herself and ducked into the crisscrossing alleyways.
Xiaxia didn't exercise much; her only hobby was reading, so she wasn't a fast runner.
However, Li Taohua and her group were all noise and bluster, so they weren't exactly fast either. Listening to their racket, she darted randomly through the alleys.
Soon, she found herself in a run-down area of old houses.
Before the reform and opening up, this place had been a large compound with many people living there.
But after the reforms, these houses had become too old, many had collapsed, so the residents had all moved away.
She ran frantically among the broken walls and ruins until, in a weed-choked, abandoned courtyard, she spotted a disused dry well. The well was filled with sandy soil, but it still looked nearly two meters deep.
Xiaxia was panting heavily, her legs weak, and she couldn't run anymore.
But she couldn't let Li Taohua and her group catch her either—if they did, who knew what kind of bullying she'd endure. Those people were thirteen or fourteen, and a couple of boys among them. She was scared.
Without hesitation, she pushed aside the overgrown weeds and dead branches, and using the footholds carved into the well wall, she carefully climbed down into the well.
The well was dry—no water, just damp sand and stones. The walls were covered in moss, and it was pitch black inside. She was frightened, crouching at the bottom and straining to hear what was happening above.
She heard Li Taohua yelling: "Where did she run off to? I just saw her coming this way! Did any of you see her?"
Someone said, "No, we were all right behind you."
"She definitely seemed to run this way—could she have gone into one of those broken-down houses?"
"Those houses look so old. If we go in, won't they collapse on us? Look, half of them are already rubble."
"Would she really hide in there? Maybe we should just go. This place is too remote and creepy."
Li Taohua said in fury: "Qin Qiaoxia is my enemy. If I get my hands on her, I'll beat her up good—I'll scratch her face to pieces!"
"Could she have gone that way? There's a small path over there."
"Come on, let's go check. Don't let her get too far."
The group of five or six babbled and chattered, ran through the overgrown courtyard, cut into a side alley, and with a clatter of footsteps, they were gone into the distance.
In the weed-covered corner, down at the bottom of the dry well, Xiaxia crouched, and only then did her taut nerves begin to relax.
She had just been sprinting for over half an hour, and she still hadn't caught her breath. Every inhale made her chest ache.
Her arms and legs were weak, and she slumped to sit on the ground, quietly listening to the sounds outside.
Those people were running around the ruined courtyard, their voices rising and falling, sometimes near, sometimes far.
Xiaxia knew—they realized she was hiding, or at least that she hadn't gotten far, so they were running around the area looking for her.
She couldn't go out now, and she was terrified they'd find her, her heart pounding anxiously in her chest.
