Chapter 2 p2
The next day at ten o’clock in the morning, the train arrived at its destination. Bai Qingyu, carrying his son, followed the map he had looked up and headed towards the job market.
“Dad, look.” Bai Xiaocha, while playing, suddenly took out two red bills from the cotton shoes. These shoes could make money!
Bai Qingyu was stunned, then realized that the kind auntie must have put them in after finishing the shoes, a red envelope for Bai Xiaocha.
There were so many good people in the world.
Bai Qingyu said, “Auntie gave them to you, keep them safe, I’ll buy you food later.”
“Okay,” Bai Xiaocha obediently put the money back into the shoes, all the way inside so they wouldn’t fall out.
Bai Qingyu adjusted the strap of the basket. His gaze was suddenly drawn to the rental ads on the electrical box.
[Near the subway, two bedrooms and one living room, whole apartment for 9000] [[Single room in Roma neighborhood for 2600] [Basement with 10 square meters of space for 800] [Sublease one bedroom and one living room for 3000]…
So, so expensive! No wonder it was a first-tier city!
In their village, you could rent a small house with a yard for two hundred yuan!
Bai Qingyu touched the money in his pocket. He could probably only afford a basement, which wouldn’t do. Little Tea wouldn’t grow tall. His little one grew slowly and needed a place with good sunlight to grow up healthy.
Speaking of which, he didn’t necessarily have to rent a house. He could live in a park, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, but staying in rainwater for too long could make one sick. Or maybe live under a bridge?
Bai Qingyu adjusted the strap, calmly looking away from the rental ads. His current goal was to find a job that included accommodation.
Bai Qingyu had done his homework three days ago through Nancheng TV. One kilometer east of the train station was a market, where the Liuqing District of Nancheng City organized a job fair, mainly for people with special employment difficulties and migrant workers who had just arrived in the city.
Bai Qingyu had a lot of luggage and couldn’t squeeze in, so he stood on the periphery and observed.
At this moment, a professional woman, about thirty-five years old, with a name tag on her chest, followed by an assistant, walked towards Bai Qingyu.
“We need to pay attention to the difficulties of special groups and provide appropriate guidance—” The woman paused.
“District Mayor?” The assistant followed his superior, Ms. He Ying’s gaze, and saw an honest-looking man hesitating. His blue clothes, liberation shoes, and the basket on his back were out of place in the metropolis. He looked lost in the face of the bustling job fair, his fingers nervously rubbing the strap of the basket.
The assistant, remembering his superior’s words, took the initiative to ask, “Hello, do you need any help?”
Bai Qingyu, “Hello, I’m here to find a job.”
The assistant pointed to the “Employment Consultation Office” on the left, “If you don’t have a clear plan yet, you can go there and consult with experts about employment directions.”
Bai Qingyu grasped the strap of the basket, “Okay, thank you.”
“Thank you, sister.” Bai Xiaocha observed the outside from the gap in the basket. He couldn’t see the person because the direction was wrong, so he repeated his father’s words in a childish voice.
The assistant was surprised, “You have a child in your basket?”
Bai Qingyu, “Yes, I have to work and take care of my child at the same time.”
“Oh…” The assistant looked troubled. That would make it difficult to find a job.
Bai Xiaocha piled up the soft cushion and blanket under his feet to elevate himself, pushed hard, and finally popped his head out of the edge of the basket, pushing aside the sunshade cloth. He didn’t need the sunshade, but Bai Qingyu was afraid of having his ID checked three times a day, delaying his job search.
He Ying glanced over casually, and her gaze stopped. This child… the upper half of this child’s face looked familiar to her.
Bai Xiaocha used his toes to hook onto the bamboo strips and pushed, revealing his entire face. It was too boring being covered by the cloth. He was like a little snail trying to get out of its shell.
He Ying’s gaze was fixed on his face – the upper half of his face was familiar, but the two round, chubby cheeks diluted the familiarity a bit.
The assistant said to Bai Qingyu, “You’re so young, if you send your child to nursery school, it’ll be easy to find a job.”
He Ying glanced at the assistant. Do you know how much nursery school costs in Nancheng?
He Ying asked Bai Qingyu, “Did you graduate from high school? What can you do?”
“Nanny? Sanitation worker? Gardener? Chef, dishwashing…” Bai Qingyu listed a series of competitive occupations. He was very strong and would definitely do a good job.
As for education, Bai Qingyu was a little ashamed. The tea deity hadn’t gone to school, only reading and writing in the divine realm, and learning about the human world by watching TV with Old Man Deng.
“I haven’t been to school… but I can read and write, and I can use a smartphone,” Bai Qingyu said neither humbly nor arrogantly.
He still knows to go home when it rains… The assistant pursed his lips to hide his surprise. It was rare to miss nine years of compulsory education at this age. A young single father… looking like he came from a remote mountainous area, just experienced a round of targeted poverty alleviation, was encouraged by the cadres, and finally willing to come to the city to make a living.
He Ying looked at Bai Xiaocha again. She really liked this child. If she could help, she would, “Does the child cry a lot?”
Bai Qingyu, “He doesn’t cry.”
“If you’re willing to be a nanny, I can introduce you to a job with room and board. The employer is usually not home, so it’s quite free.”
Bai Qingyu had met so many kind people along the way that he didn’t even consider the possibility of being tricked, “I’m willing! I eat little, sleep little, and I’m strong. I’ll definitely satisfy the employer.”
He Ying, “The employer has a bad temper. You and your child should avoid him, and you can get a few extra months’ salary. If you can’t stand his bad temper, you can quit anytime.”
Bai Qingyu, “It’s okay, I have a good temper.”
He Ying, “Okay, it’s settled then. I’ll call the housekeeper, you can go to the address on this. Lin Mi, take him to the intersection to take bus 505.”
After Bai Qingyu left, He Ying thought about the child’s face and called her nephew’s housekeeper, “I’m introducing someone to be a nanny.”
The housekeeper asked in advance, “What’s wrong with this person?” This aunt was in charge of poverty alleviation. She would casually introduce unemployed disabled people with good character to Young Master He as nannies, with room and board and five social insurances and one housing fund. Anyway, Young Master He was a workaholic and usually not home. It was just to make the place feel lived in.
He Ying, “There’s nothing wrong with him.”
The housekeeper relaxed, just about to entrust him with important tasks, when he heard his aunt say casually, “He has a child with him. Arrange a bedroom far from He Renyuan’s room, don’t let He Renyuan find out.”
The housekeeper: ???
Who didn’t know that Young Master He didn’t like children, these creatures that existed outside the law? He Renyuan preferred rules and order. Human cubs both escaped legal rules and had no life order.
The housekeeper asked cautiously, “Is he your friend?”
He Ying, “No, I met him at the job fair. It’s hard for him to find a job with a child.”
“What if Mr. He finds out?”
He Ying, “If he finds out, they’ll have to leave. I just felt sorry for the child and wanted to provide him with a temporary place to stay. Help me cover it up.”
The housekeeper, “Okay. Anyway, Mr. He is never home. He probably won’t find out for a few months.”
An hour and a half later.
The housekeeper looked at Bai Qingyu, who looked like he had walked out of the seventies, and the overly adorable child behind him. He slapped his thigh. Wrong, he was wrong, very wrong.
No wonder Aunt He Ying felt sorry for the child. Weren’t this child’s features a replica of their young master’s childhood? He Ying had watched He Renyuan grow up, of course she would be kind-hearted.
“They look alike, five parts alike, no, seven parts alike…”
Meeting is fate. It was indeed quite unbearable to see such a child suffering outside.
But putting him in the house was different. There was a vague sense of fulfillment, as if the young master had started a family. Otherwise, only the housekeeper and the nanny were amusing themselves in this house. He Renyuan was never home, and they felt guilty taking the salary.
“Mr. Bai, come with me,” the housekeeper said with a smile, “You can put the child down, can he walk?”
“He can.”
Bai Qingyu put down the basket and took out Bai Xiaocha.
Bai Xiaocha had been looking at the world from inside the basket. Now his vision was wide open. He held onto his father’s leg and looked around.
Such white walls, such a smooth floor.
[He looks so smart, precocious.] Housekeeper Qi Yun thought.
Bai Qingyu said, “Cha Bao, this is Housekeeper Grandpa.”
“House-keeper-Grand-pa,” Bai Xiaocha raised his round head and said slowly.
[He doesn’t sound like the young master when he speaks.] The housekeeper thought. He Renyuan was eloquent and spoke quickly since he was a child. When he was a lawyer a few years ago, he was even more sharp-tongued, intimidating, and humiliating the other party. But in the past three years, he had become taciturn, often seen lost in thought.
Bai Qingyu, “My name is Bai Qingyu, this is my ID card. His name is Bai Xiaocha, Cha Bao, tea as in tea leaves.”
[Tea? Mr. He loves to drink tea. The basement is a tea warehouse.]
The housekeeper said, “Come, this is your room. The windows are double-glazed and soundproof. It’s best to close the doors and windows when playing with the child.”
“Wait, let me think again.” The housekeeper frowned. Although this room was diagonally opposite to the young master’s room, He Renyuan would pass through the first and second floors. Only the third-floor guest room was never used by him. If Bai Qingyu was placed on the third floor, even if Cha Bao accidentally ran out and was playing in the living room, he wouldn’t be seen.
In this mansion, He Renyuan lived on the second floor, the housekeeper and nanny lived on the first floor, and the third floor could only be occupied by He Renyuan’s permission. Qi Yun hesitated for a second, but decided to go for it. Anyway, Aunt He Ying asked him to cover it up, so he would.
“Qingyu, do you mind living on the third floor?”
Bai Qingyu, “Anything is fine.”
Housekeeper Qi arranged a guest bedroom with an east-facing balcony for Bai Qingyu. The room was large and had all the necessary furniture, but there was no mattress on the bed.
The housekeeper explained, “The young master never brings guests home, so the guest rooms are always vacant. The mattress is stored next door. I’ll find someone to help you move it later.”
“Thank you, Uncle Qi, I’m used to sleeping on a hard bed, no need to trouble yourself.” Bai Qingyu had brought his own bedding. After it was laid out, the modernization level of the entire room instantly regressed by decades.
Qi Yun’s eye twitched. He said, “Mr. He often stays at the company and only comes back for one night a month. When he comes back, you and the child should go to bed early and stay out of each other’s way.”
Bai Qingyu, “Uncle Qi, what are my duties?”
Qi Yun paused. Actually, they didn’t have much to do. But, a mansion needed to have its standards. Their main tasks were to maintain the mansion and the garden.
“You usually just weed the garden and clean the third-floor guest rooms until they are spotless, ready for guests at any time.”
Bai Qingyu, “Understood.”
There seemed to be nothing else for the housekeeper to do. Qi Yun paced back and forth, finally taking out the large bread box he had “conveniently” brought with him and handing it to Bai Xiaocha, then saying casually, “Settle in today, come down for meals at mealtime.”
Bai Xiaocha held the big bread and exclaimed in amazement.
The housekeeper felt like he had gone back twenty years, facing the young master.
…
It was Bai Qingyu’s first day on the job, and he wanted to perform well. He broke off a piece of bread for his son and said, “I have to go to work. Will you stay in the room, bask in the sun, and sleep?”
Bai Xiaocha took a bite of the soft bread, “Okay.”
“Dad, I want water.” He was already a sensible child, he knew to drink water with bread.
Bai Qingyu gave him water, then took out a diaper from the basket. When Bai Xiaocha was awake, he would express his need to go to the toilet, but it was hard to say when he was asleep. So Bai Qingyu always put a diaper on him, especially after drinking water before bed.
The diaper was made of two layers of pure cotton cloth sewn together with a thin layer of white cotton, reusable.
He didn’t like disposable diapers.
Once, a careless tourist threw a bag of used disposable diapers from the cliff. They piled up under the tea bushes on the cliff and hadn’t decomposed after several years. Bai Qingyu was quite disgusted and had to turn into a human to shovel them away.
Diapers were good, pure cotton, easily decomposed.
Bai Qingyu sat on the floor and disassembled the soft rattan bag that held the bedding, reweaving it into an open oval basket.
Bai Xiaocha sat opposite him, focusing on eating the bread, his movements as if in slow motion, unhurried, making sure each bite was accurately delivered to his mouth, not wasting a bit of cream on the bread.
Bai Qingyu suddenly stared at Bai Xiaocha for a while, then patted his head. He always felt that it wasn’t just disposable diapers that had fallen from the cliff, but something else…
There must have been other difficult-to-handle garbage that took him a lot of effort.
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Mr. He: Garbage?
Pft-! ML labeled as garbage. 😂