Chapter 42 - Needing More Work (1/2)

YanMingXiu didn’t realize that anyone was peeking at him. He pushed down his cap, locked the doors and went downstairs.

ZhouXiang had been bending over hiding on the stairwell. He was even afraid to breathe too deeply. It wasn’t until he saw that YanMingXiu had walked out the building’s door through the stairwell did he dare to stand up. His heart continued to beat wildly as he silently looked at the closed security door, feeling all sorts of emotions.

Why would YanMingXiu be here? He shouldn’t be living here. Even if he was to disguise himself very well, coming and going from this place every day, he will definitely be discovered by people nearby. No celebrity has ever lived in such a densely populated old neighborhood. This would certainly cause an inconvenience to a celebrity’s livelihood.

But on their last phone call before his accident, YanMingXiu had said, “I will stay in your home and wait for you to come back.” ZhouXiang couldn’t get his mind off this thought. So he actually clearly remembered every word that YanMingXiu said. In fact, he can even remember the tone that YanMingXiu used when he said these words, as well as the penetration of this sentence in the surrounding quiet air, reaching to the bottom of his heart.

Could it be that he had really been waiting for him to return all this time?

It merely just crossed ZhouXiang mind, then he immediately rejected this thought.

He’s already dead. Why would YanMingXiu wait for him? People who over-estimate themselves would always live harder days. YanMingXiu appearing here is very likely because he had to come back to get something. After all, he had lived here for a year. Everywhere in this condo is full of his traces.

Whatever the truth may be, one just needs to open the door and go in to take a look and will know. But ZhouXiang didn’t dare. He was already scared out of his wits seeing YanMingXiu suddenly coming out of the condo.

ZhouXiang decided to check and see if the spare key was still in the fire hydrant box and then plan again.

He snuck down the stairs like a thief. His eyes kept moving, looking at his surroundings as his ears carefully try to distinguish any subtle sounds. After all, he is now considered to be ‘someone else’. If he hastily goes in, then he’s really a thief.

After he determined that there was no one around, he quickly opened the fire hydrant box and reached his finger into the place where he had hidden the key. With a touch, sure enough, he felt a small piece of metal. He took it out and saw that it was really his spare key!

The only people who knew of the location of this spare key are him and YanMingXiu. But he only mentioned this once to YanMingXiu when he had just moved in. Most likely he (YanMingXiu) had long since forgotten about this. So after his accident, the key had just stayed there, not having been touched.

ZhouXiang was unexpectedly overjoyed. He really wanted to open the door right now and to see what changes there have been with his condo. This unbearable excitement seemed to be rushing out of his body, but he exerted all his energy to suppress this urge.

He put the key back in its original place and planned on waiting till a time that he thinks is safe before coming back. In case there is someone in the condo… in case someone suddenly comes back, this is a risk that he can’t take.

ZhouXiang left his former home.

He decided to look into how his things were managed after his death, especially with his assets. There was ¥200,000 in the bank account that was his hard-earned money from his many years of work. He must find a way to get it back. Otherwise, with just his meager salary of ¥3,000 a month, he still had to pay rent and support two adults. Adding on, the debt he incurred while staying in the hospital is still unclear.

After he got home, he saw ChenYing looking at an ad with her reading glasses. ZhouXiang walked over and noticed that it is a job advertisement from a housekeeping agency.

ZhouXiang creased his brows, “Mom, you’re almost sixty; you still want to work as a housekeeper?”

ChenYing is still looking at it intently, “It’s not a housekeeper, but a caretaker (T/N). I ran into my former colleague in the supermarket today. Her daughter-in-law just gave birth to a child. Do you know how much a caretaker gets paid a month?”

T/N: the term used is 保姆. It refers to a person that is hired to care for both newborn child and the mother in the month after birth.

ZhouXiang shook his head.

“¥6,000,” ChenYing sighed, “That is really good money. Just working for a month and can earn ¥6,000. I wanted to go get some training to become a caretaker.”

“Mom, does this kind of training require money? The employer will give ¥6,000 but the intermediary fees will be withdrawn. At most, you’ll get is half in your hands.”

“Half is fine too. It is still better than just sitting here. Earning any little bit helps.”

Looking at ChenYing’s pale face and thinly frail body and thinking that she still have to worry about working for a living at this age, ZhouXiang’s heart burst with waves of sadness.

But he can’t stop her. They are really desperate for money right now. What ChenYing said is right, earning every bit helps. He turned over the ad and felt that it was done too simply and look disreputable, “Mom, this doesn’t look reliable. It could be a scam. Wait till I can go with you.”