42: Ruthless but Not Accelerating the Flowering

  It was a dark journey. Jiangnan, who was almost ten years older than Zhao Min, seemed to have nothing in common with this girl.

  It took more than twenty minutes to reach where Zhao Min lived.

  The small county town was not very prosperous, and it could be called a slum. After passing through rows of old tube-shaped buildings, Zhao Min led Jiangnan into a small courtyard. The courtyard was not big, and one could almost bump into the wall when turning around. There were a few withered lilac bushes and a bicycle that was so old that it couldn't be any older parked in the corner.

  Jiangnan coughed twice and said, "I won't go in. You should be careful when you go to and from get off work next time."

  Zhao Min regained the innocent smile that she should have at her age, "We're already home, come in and have some water, I haven't thanked you yet."

  "Still not..."

  "I'm not afraid, so why should you, a grown man, be afraid?" Zhao Min said first.

  Jiangnan was speechless after being teased by a little girl, so he had to follow Jiang Min into the house. The room was deserted, and inside was the kitchen. A gas stove and an iron pot made up the home. There was only a bed in the bedroom, and two small cabinets were filled with middle school textbooks.

  "Please sit down. I'll pour you some water. Didn't you ask me to pour you some water in the practice room just now?" Zhao Min said mischievously.

  Jiangnan looked around and the only place he could sit on was the bed. There was a photo album on the headboard, which contained some photos of Zhao Min alone and some photos of the family of three.

  Jiangnan frowned and looked towards the kitchen. While Zhao Min was not noticing, he secretly took out a wad of money from his pocket. This was all the money he had, about two thousand yuan, and stuffed it under his pillow.

  "The water is cold. I'll boil some more." Zhao Min lifted the curtain and came in.

  Jiangnan moved away from the bed unnaturally, "It's okay, just sit for a while, there's not that much to do, haha."

  The reason why Jiangnan left money for Zhao Min was not out of kindness, but just to make himself feel at ease. This money might not matter to him, but for Zhao Min it was the financial source for her to finish high school. Although she was also a poor person, at least she got to go to college as she wished.

  "Do you usually eat out?" Jiangnan asked for the sake of conversation.

  Zhao Min smiled and poured water for Jiangnan. "How can I have so much money? I can cook myself. By the way, boss, are you hungry? My food is delicious. Can I make you a bowl of noodles?"

  Jiangnan shook his head quickly, "You misunderstood, that..."

  "Haha, boss, please stop talking about this and that. I talked a lot today, and no one talks to me usually." Zhao Min muttered, exposing his arms and putting them into his sleeves to prepare to cook noodles.

  "That..."

  "What's wrong?" Zhao Min turned around and looked at Jiangnan and said.

  Jiangnan couldn't bear to disappoint Zhao Min who was so enthusiastic. "Then don't call me boss, just call me big brother. I'm only a few years older than you."

  Jiang Min pursed her lips and nodded. She had a small ponytail like a green onion tied at the back of her head. She had a pointed chin and an oval face. Although she was a beauty, Jiang Nan didn't think of her that way at all.

  "You make the noodles, I'll walk around in the yard." Jiangnan said, and just as he turned around and opened the door to go out, he heard a voice from behind, "Be careful!"

  "What's wrong?"

  "Bang!"

  Jiangnan felt his nose getting sore and he almost shed tears. He had noticed it when he just came in. There was almost a wall outside the small courtyard, and he actually bumped into it.

  "Haha, I told you to be careful." Zhao Minle covered her belly with her hands, and when she bent down, her white neck was exposed.

  Jiangnan sat in the small courtyard, holding a cigarette in his mouth, and took out his phone, "Hello, my wife is still awake?"

  Yang Jiarui said, "Why haven't you come back yet?"

  Jiangnan looked at Zhao Min who was busy in the kitchen and said, "Oh, it might be a little late to go back. It's okay here. I'm studying. You should go to bed early and don't have to wait for me. Maybe when you wake up, I'll be in your bed."

  "Go." Yang Jiarui blushed with embarrassment.

  Just after hanging up the phone, Lin Yingying called. Jiangnan shook his head and said helplessly, "I said good sister, what's wrong?"

  "How is it? Will you come back in the evening?" Lin Yingying seemed to be taking a shower.

  "I can't sleep on the street even if I don't go back, and there are two beautiful ladies waiting for me in the hotel, how can I not go back?"

  "My dear, have you hooked up with a girl? Be careful not to get sick. If you infect me, I will kill you." Lin Yingying said it in a relaxed manner.

  As he was talking, Zhao Min came over with noodles in his hand, "Brother, the noodles are ready, you can eat them now."

  Jiangnan quickly made a gesture to keep quiet.

  "Who's talking?" Lin Yingying asked cautiously, then smiled and said, "Don't forget to use a condom, this little place is probably not clean."

  Jiangnan looked at Zhao Min who was coming over and quickly hung up the phone, as if he was afraid that Zhao Min would hear Lin Yingying's kind reminder.

  "Brother, the noodles are ready, eat them while they're hot." Zhao Min wiped his hands with his apron.

  Jiangnan stood up, smiled, and followed.

  The dining area was even simpler. Two people sat on the edge of the bed and pulled over a small cabinet to use as a table.

  Jiangnan was holding a large bowl of noodles and glanced at Zhao Min's bowl. It seemed that the girl was quite hospitable. Her bowl had a lot of noodles, while Zhao Min's bowl was mostly filled with soup.

  "I'll give you some evenly. You can't eat so much." Jiangnan said as he held the bowl and was about to pour it into Zhao Min's bowl. Zhao Min hurriedly guarded his own territory, "No, ah..." A stream of noodles just hit Zhao Min's chest. In a hurry, Jiangnan hurriedly took a tissue from the bedside to wipe it for Zhao Min.

  While wiping it, I apologized, saying that this girl doesn't wear much at home, and her hair must have been burned hard, otherwise why would her face be so red.

  Jiangnan felt something was wrong as he was wiping. Why was the tissue in his hand so thick? He picked it up and was dumbfounded. It was an unused sanitary napkin.

  Zhao Min blushed and said nothing, lowering his head to drink the soup in the bowl.

  "Sorry, I don't know..." Jiangnan said, looking at Zhao Min's wet chest, with a light blue T-shirt sticking to her chest. Since Jiangnan is much taller than Zhao Min, he can almost see everything on the girl's body. Doesn't this girl even wear a bra?

  The two round bulges looked like two small white porcelain bowls placed on the chest, except that there were two light pink cherries on the white porcelain bowls.

  Zhao Min seemed to notice that Jiangnan's gaze was wrong and lowered his head even more. Jiangnan secretly cursed himself for being shameless and concentrated on the noodles in the bowl. It was the first time he ate noodles boiled in plain water and enjoyed it so much. The softness of the salty noodles was just right. Who says a good cook cannot cook without rice?

  After the meal, the two of them had no more words to say. After eating a bowl of noodles, Jiangnan felt warm inside. Although something was a little awkward, he actually had a feeling of home, and Zhao Min seemed like her real sister, very warm and caring.

  "It's getting late. I'm going back." Jiangnan said to Zhao Min who had packed up his things.

  Jiangnan had just stepped out of the bedroom door when the lights in the room suddenly went out. Jiangnan thought there was a power outage. Just as he was about to say what a coincidence, a pair of hands wrapped around his waist. There was no one else in the room, so who else could it be but Zhao Min?

  "Zhao Min...you..." Jiangnan didn't know what to say for a moment.

  "Brother, I know you don't want me to work in a place like that. I've also seen the money you left for me. To be honest, I really need money, but I don't know if I can pay you back. Even if I can pay you back in the future, I don't know if I can find you again. I went to work in the karaoke room, and I was mentally prepared. My classmates said that it was a dirty place. I knew that one day I would die there. Instead of giving my virginity to those people, I might as well give it to you, as a way for me to repay you." Zhao Min said softly, with her face pressed against Jiangnan's back, feeling his broad arms.

  Jiangnan closed his eyes slightly. For the first time, he felt ashamed as a man, even as a human being. He also felt ashamed of such a happy and carefree thing. Hearing such things coming out of the mouth of such a little girl undoubtedly had a huge impact on his heart.

  Jiangnan calmed down and said, "Zhao Min, I don't mean anything else, and you called me boss. I am a rich man, and rich people don't care about this little money. This money is important to you, but your future and your love are more important to you. If your brother really did something to you today, how can you hold your head up and call your brother a human being in the future..."

  "No! I know that my body is not well developed and my breasts are not big. My classmates call me an airport girl, but my brother is my benefactor, so I should repay him. Look at my family, there is nothing. The only thing I can give you is myself. Don't you agree to this little request? How can I hold my head high in the future?"

  As Zhao Min spoke, she pressed her chest even more closely against Jiangnan's back, as if she was afraid that Jiangnan would not be satisfied with her.

  Jiangnan pried Zhao Min's hands apart. He was really scared. If he hadn't happened twice with the two guys in the hotel today, he didn't know if he would have done something outrageous.

  Jiangnan just opened his arms and before he could turn around, Zhao Min stuck to his chest like a rice cake, hugging his waist tightly.

  "Zhao Min, if you want to hold your head up in front of others, you don't have to rely on this method. My brother knows a sister who also works in a nightclub. That kind of place is even more excessive than the ones in our county town, but that sister has never crossed her bottom line in the past few years. You are still young, and you will meet a boy who makes your heart beat. If you give yourself to your brother, what will you give to your boyfriend? Listen, Zhao Min, any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem. You shouldn't get stuck in a dead end at such a young age, understand?"

  Jiangnan said this while holding up Zhao Min's pointed chin with both hands. Even in the middle of the night, one could still see the innocence in this little girl's eyes and her vision for the future.

  If a man wants to get a woman, he should at least not destroy her future.

  Seeing that Zhao Min had no intention of letting go, Jiangnan said after a while, "I have two more friends, and one of them is my brother's girlfriend. They are waiting for me in the hotel. Even if you don't care about yourself, you can't let that sister be sad, right? I know what you mean. How about this, like you said, you take us around the fun places around tomorrow, just like my brother hired a little tour guide, okay?"

  Zhao Min's eyes widened, and he let go of Jiangnan after a long while, "Really?"

  "Yes! But you are not allowed to work in that kind of place anymore, understand?"

  "Yeah!