Chapter 86 — IAVD (QT) Chapter 86

Ji Jingyu disliked her former name very much.

The two characters Zhaodi simply and contemptuously denied a girl’s meaning of existence, as if she had been born solely to summon a younger brother for her parents, useful for nothing else.

After dropping out of high school and going out to work, every time she reported her name, it would attract strange looks.

Later, she went through great trouble to change her name and cut off all contact with people she had known before. No one called her Ji Zhaodi anymore. After more than ten years, she finally forgot about that scar.

Returning to the past, everything was good, except that the name was unbearably painful.

When Li Shengnan called her by that name, she was unhappy, but that was her best childhood companion. The other girl was ignorant and innocent, and saying anything would be useless, so she endured it.

When that woman called her that, it automatically turned into noise in her mind. She did not listen and did not keep it in her heart.

But now, even her dad was calling her Zhaodi.

Ji Jingyu closed her eyes, her face showing pain.

Ji Xiu was slightly startled. He stepped back and supported her. “What is wrong? Zhaodi? Zhaodi?”

Hearing it again and again, Ji Jingyu forced herself to open her eyes. She grabbed Ji Xiu’s wrist, her serious gaze carrying a trace of pleading. “Dad, I am fine.”

So, please stop calling her Zhaodi.

Ji Xiu did not understand the meaning behind that look. He relaxed, rubbed the little girl’s messy short hair, and showed a warm, honest smile. “As long as you are fine. Come, let us go home. Dad brought you a gift.”

Ji Jingyu froze for a moment, looking up at her dad’s familiar smile. Her heart lightened as well.

No matter what, at least Dad was still alive, right?

The father and daughter returned home. The house was still empty.

Ji Xiu glanced around. He did not see the original body’s wife and did not bother to look further. He directly untied the woven plastic sack on his body and took out the gifts.

On this trip back, besides bringing back a small sum of money, the original body had also bought gifts for his wife and daughter.

Whether to give the wife’s gift could be discussed later. But the daughter’s gift could not be forgotten.

“Here. The doll you wanted.”

Ji Jingyu blankly accepted it. Looking at the palm-sized Barbie doll in a beautiful wedding dress, she blinked uncomfortably.

Did she actually like this kind of thing when she was little?

Too childish.

“Do you like it?” Seeing her expression was off, Ji Xiu casually asked.

Ji Jingyu did not want to hurt her dad’s feelings. She forced a fake smile. “I like it.”

Ji Xiu could see her reluctance and felt a bit puzzled. If he remembered correctly, before the original body left home, the little girl had clutched his clothes and begged for this doll for a long time.

But little girls’ preferences changed quickly. It was normal for her to like something else after half a year.

Ji Xiu did not dwell on it and reminded her, “If you do not like it, when there is a market day in town, Dad will take Zhaodi there. You can take whatever you like.”

Ji Jingyu twisted awkwardly. “Dad, can you stop always calling me Zhaodi.”

“Do not like that name?” Ji Xiu smiled. “If you do not like it, in a couple of days Dad will take you to town to change it.”

Ji Jingyu’s mind exploded.

So easy to talk to? Her eyes widened in shock.

At this moment, Ji Xiu was tidying the other things in the sack and did not notice her expression, missing her emotional change entirely.

Ji Jingyu took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

Perhaps Dad had always been this easygoing. In her previous life, he had refused to let her change her name simply because she picked the wrong timing and happened to catch him when he was angry.

After persuading herself, Ji Jingyu patted her chest, forgot about what just happened, and jumped in front of Ji Xiu. “Really? Then it is settled. I want to change my name.”

“Definitely changing it. If you want to change it, we will change it.” Ji Xiu replied casually, put away everything from the sack onto the table, then turned and walked toward the back of the kitchen. “I will go rinse off. When your mom comes back, tell her for me.”

Ji Jingyu responded.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten minutes passed. When the sound of a woman cursing came from outside the door, Ji Xiu had just finished rinsing off.

“Ji Zhaodi, you little wretch. You still dare to run when you see me. If I do not teach you a proper lesson today, you will never learn to listen…”

Ji Xiu lifted the curtain and came out, his face dark.

The woman waved a broom and chased Ji Jingyu around the courtyard. Seeing someone suddenly appear from inside the house, she stopped, stunned. “Husband? When did you get back?”

Seeing that Ji Zhaodi had dodged far away and had not been hit, Ji Xiu relaxed slightly. Then he looked at the original body’s wife, his gaze somewhat cold.

The woman awkwardly put down the broom and tugged at her clothes. “What are you looking at me for? You just got back, you must be hungry. Wait, I will go heat up some food for you. You eat something first. Tonight we will cook a proper meal…”

She rambled on as she brushed past Ji Xiu toward the kitchen. Ji Xiu was about to call out to stop her when he suddenly noticed Ji Zhaodi staring fixedly at them. He paused slightly.

Divorce would be simple, clean once and for all. But would the little girl be afraid?

Some children were like this. No matter how excessive their parents were, they did not want their parents to divorce. Losing either parent gave them a feeling of being abandoned, of being cast aside. In serious cases, it would leave childhood trauma in their hearts.

The reason he had been able to mention divorce on the very first day before was because his daughter had already been grown up then and had no interaction or emotional bond with the other party, so he could cut things cleanly.

But Ji Zhaodi was only twelve this year. She had been mother and daughter with that woman for more than ten years.

With that hesitation, the woman had already slipped into the kitchen. When Ji Xiu wanted to speak again, he had missed the best opportunity.

Ji Xiu sighed inwardly. He did not chase after her, but looked at Ji Zhaodi and beckoned. “Come here. Let Dad take a look. You were frightened, right?”

Ji Zhaodi ran over in small steps, her expression aggrieved. She pouted but did not say anything, looking obedient.

Ji Xiu felt even more heartache. He rubbed her head. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he did not.

Forget it. He would observe for a few more days.

…

“What? You want to change that dead girl’s name?”

At the dinner table that night, upon hearing Ji Xiu announce his decision, the woman slammed her bowl down with a bang and shouted, “Why change it? I think this name is very good. If you had not said keeping her would bring us a younger brother, I would have stuffed her into a toilet and drowned her at birth. Keeping her was only because she could bring us a big fat son. Now everything is fine, why change the name?”

Ji Xiu’s face cooled. “I am informing you, not discussing it with you.”

“What? Fine then. Ji Xiu, you heartless man. You talk to me like this now. What do you mean? Am I doing this for myself? Is it not for your Ji family bloodline? Otherwise, why would I struggle to give birth to a son? Do you even have a conscience saying this…”

The woman went on endlessly. Seeing that Ji Xiu’s attitude did not change, she threw down her chopsticks, sat on the ground, slapped her thighs, and began to wail loudly.

“My fate is bitter. I suffered and took medicine for your Ji family’s seed. I prayed to gods every day and asked everywhere for secret prescriptions. Now you are pretending to be a good person, wanting to change that dead girl’s name. Pity my unborn son…”

Her drawn-out voice carried to the neighboring houses. Soon, people holding bowls and chopsticks came over to watch the commotion.

Seeing the woman crying on the ground, Ji Xiu sat calmly on a stool with a cold expression. Naturally assuming it was a marital quarrel, Third Aunt Liu from next door spoke up to mediate. “Ji Xiu, you finally came back. How can you treat Chunfang like this? You work outside. Is it not Chunfang who manages everything at home? You cannot be heartless…”

Suddenly, a young woman’s voice interrupted. “What does Chunfang manage? Is she not pressing Zhaodi to do all the work every day while she cracks sunflower seeds and visits people everywhere? That counts as managing?”

Third Aunt Liu choked. Thinking about it, that was indeed true.

She was using the usual lines she used to persuade other families, but the Ji family’s situation was obviously different. The Ji family’s woman had been lazy ever since she married in. When the elders were still around before the family split, she barely counted as diligent. But once the family split and no one managed her, she completely let herself go. Every day she only thought about slacking off and squeezing labor out of her eldest daughter.

The Ji family’s eldest daughter, Ji Zhaodi, was known throughout the village as a sensible child.

She started sweeping at three or four, washing clothes at six, cooking at seven. Later, after she started school, she still had to cook for the lazy woman before carrying her schoolbag out the door. After school, she had to herd the cattle before she could do her homework.

If the lazy woman lost money playing mahjong, it was even worse.

The lazy woman liked to pick on her. Often, she would come home and, without a word, grab a broom and beat her.

A good little girl, ending up with such a mother, must have committed sins in a previous life.

Ji Xiu was fairly doting on his only daughter, but farming at home could not earn money, so he had to go out to work every year. He could only come back during Spring Festival and busy farming seasons.

Ji Zhaodi lived under the lazy woman’s hand. It was pitiful.

Thinking of this, Third Aunt Liu felt a sharp pain in her heart and could not say another word to mediate.

What was there to help such a woman for?

Her face darkened. She turned and went home with her bowls and chopsticks, not wanting to watch such a pointless farce.

Seeing her leave with long sighs, the others also felt there was nothing interesting left. They casually said a few words and dispersed.

Tian Chunfang looked at the dispersing crowd. Her wailing stopped halfway. Her face turned alternately green and white, stiff and ridiculous like a clown.

Ji Xiu calmly looked at her. “Have you thought it through?”

Tian Chunfang clenched her teeth. Thinking that crying did not work, she switched tactics. She closed her eyes and flopped backward, lying on the ground without care, kicking her legs like a hooligan, stubbornly refusing to get up.

“I do not care. The name cannot be changed. If it is changed and I cannot give birth to a son later, what then? Who will take responsibility? Ji Xiu, explain clearly. Is this such a simple matter of changing a name? This concerns our precious son.”

Ji Xiu’s expression grew colder. He stopped looking at her. He picked a few pieces of food into his large bowl and then put a few chopsticks of food into Ji Zhaodi’s bowl. He stood up and said, “Come, Zhaodi. Dad will go to your room and see how your studies are progressing.”

Ji Jingyu quickly held her large bowl and followed.

The father and daughter left Tian Chunfang alone in the living room, neither paying her any attention.

Tian Chunfang was so angry that her eyes turned red. She shouted curses at the top of her lungs, from Ji Xiu’s ancestors eighteen generations back to Ji Xiu himself, her wording full of rustic rural flavor.

She cursed until the food went cold, yet no one came out. She angrily pounded the ground.

And in Ji Jingyu’s room, Ji Xiu was holding an important meeting with the little girl.

“Zhaodi…”

“Dad, you said you would not call me that.”

Ji Xiu looked apologetic. “I forgot. I will not call you that again. Daughter, Dad wants to ask you something. If…” He hesitated for a moment, then still spoke his thoughts. “If I divorce your mom, would you be afraid?”

Ji Jingyu’s eyes instantly lit up, but she was afraid of revealing her excessive happiness and quickly covered it up.

After all, in front of her dad, she had always been the pitiful little girl.

Her voice trembled with excitement. “D divorce?”

Ji Xiu heard her trembling voice and thought she was scared. He hurriedly explained, “No. Dad knows you cannot bear to part with her. I am just asking. What I mean is… if possible, I would prefer to persuade her to come to her senses. But if she cannot and it comes to divorce, would you be afraid? Would you resent me?”

Ji Jingyu widened her eyes. “Of course not. I know Dad is doing it all for my good.”

Ji Xiu secretly let out a breath of relief. “That is good. With your words, I have a bottom line. Dad will weigh the remaining matters accordingly.”

Ji Jingyu thought to herself that actually, divorcing directly would be quite good. Why not just divorce? She did not want to repeat her previous life at all.

But thinking about how her dad and that woman had lived together for more than ten years and were husband and wife, there must be feelings. Wanting to salvage the marriage was normal. She felt regretful for a while but did not say anything in the end.

After saying what he wanted to say, Ji Xiu looked at his daughter’s obedient appearance, filled with affection. He changed the subject. “Eat first. After you finish, give me the bowls and chopsticks. I will take them out. You finish your homework and then sleep.”

Ji Jingyu nodded, pretending to be obedient as she leaned over the kang table and finished the food in her bowl. She handed over the empty bowl. Ji Xiu rubbed her head, turned, and left. After he disappeared from sight, she touched her head in confusion.

After reliving her life, it seemed Dad had developed a habit of liking to rub her head?

But this feeling was not bad.

Hehe. Ji Jingyu hid under the blanket and laughed softly, the corners of her mouth rising uncontrollably. This action always made her feel deeply cherished.

…

After Ji Xiu went out, his expression remained cold.

Seeing that crying and making a scene were useless, Tian Chunfang felt that her ultimate trump card was not worth using on this matter. With a bored pout, she stood up, patted her butt, and went back to the bedroom to sleep.

Ji Xiu looked down at the empty bowl in his hands, then up at the bowls and chopsticks on the table.

She was not even willing to pretend anymore?

He shook his head and began cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, carrying them back to the kitchen to wash.

Rural people were used to bathing before dinner for coolness, so that after eating, it was convenient to gather at the small shop, waving palm fans and chatting to cool off.

But the Ji family had made such a scene today that no one came out to cool off.

Ji Xiu had no mood to go out either. After cleaning up, he turned and entered the bedroom. In front of Tian Chunfang’s smug face, he took out a bamboo mat from the cabinet, carried it straight into the courtyard, spread it out, and slept under the open sky.

Above him was a sky full of stars. The deep blue night sky was exceptionally beautiful. The cool summer night breeze was far more refreshing than resting indoors.

Ji Xiu had traveled all day to return, his body tired, his mind relaxed. He quickly fell asleep.

From the window, Ji Jingyu observed this and also relaxed, going to bed with peace of mind, still thinking about changing her name with Ji Xiu the next day.

Only in the master bedroom did Tian Chunfang lie with her eyes wide open, angry all night without sleeping.

…

The next day, Ji Xiu woke amid the chirping of insects. He looked at the slightly bright eastern sky, put away the bamboo mat, and knocked on Ji Zhaodi’s door.

The door opened. The little girl slipped out sneakily, as if afraid Tian Chunfang would hear and start another ruckus.

Ji Xiu laughed. “Go wash up. Dad will take you to town to change your name.”

Ji Jingyu’s eyes lit up once more.

The father and daughter fetched water in the courtyard to wash their faces and brush their teeth. After tidying up, Ji Xiu went inside to get the household registration booklet and took Ji Jingyu out to town.

The city was far and required taking a vehicle.

But the town was not far. Walking, it was only two or three li away. Walking leisurely, stepping on dew, facing a salted duck egg yolk-like beautiful sunrise, they arrived in just over twenty minutes.

It was still early. The police station had not opened yet. They would eat something first to pad their stomachs.

Ji Xiu familiarly found a breakfast shop that was tucked away yet bustling and called Ji Jingyu to sit down.

“Hungry? The beef rice noodles and soup dumplings here are very good.”

Ji Jingyu sat opposite him, her eyes full of curiosity as she looked around.

In her previous life, she had never gone out to eat breakfast with her dad and did not know there was such a booming breakfast shop in town.

Hetian Town was a small town with underdeveloped commerce and simple folk customs. Many people were used to being self-sufficient. Only truly good and cheap food could survive in such a remote place and earn unanimous recognition from locals.

Seeing how familiar the surrounding customers were, all regulars, the food here must taste good.

But Dad had always been frugal. No matter how much money he earned outside, he was never extravagant.

Their family’s economic level in the village was average, but their food standard was low. They ate very simply. Why would Dad be willing to bring her out to eat?

Ji Xiu called to the owner, “Boss, two bowls of beef rice noodles, three baskets of soup dumplings.”

The owner responded and got to work.

Ji Jingyu immediately stopped thinking about it. In her previous life, she had built her career on good cooking. Her palate had grown picky. Eating the food at home had been torture these past few days, living like hell. Now that she could eat out, who cared about so much else.

Ji Xiu withdrew his gaze. Seeing Ji Jingyu’s expectant expression, he smiled warmly and casually explained, “This is an old shop. When I was apprenticing with my master, I would come here occasionally. The owner’s skills are very good. These past few years when I was away, I often thought about it. It was not easy coming back, so I wanted to bring you to try it. Wait and see. You will definitely like it too.”

Ji Jingyu became even more eager, her eyes almost glowing.

She stared eagerly at the owner, waiting for her breakfast to arrive.

Not long after, the two bowls of beef rice noodles were served.

This was a local specialty. The broth was simmered with braised beef, resulting in a rich aroma and full beef flavor.

This shop was among the best of them.

In the large bowl, the rice noodles were thin and white, the broth bright. On top were tender scallions, large pieces of beef, finely chopped pickled vegetables and sour long beans. The combination was pleasing to the eye and looked delicious.

The smell was fragrant. Without even leaning close, one could smell the mouthwatering beef aroma.

Ji Jingyu’s eyes lit up instantly.

The owner laughed, seeming to find the little girl amusing, and reminded her, “There is chili oil on the table. Add it yourself if you want.”

Ji Jingyu nodded and quickly opened the jar of chili oil.

She was fond of hometown flavors. Later, when she left home to work elsewhere, no matter how many years passed, she still liked spicy food. This habit never changed.

When the lid was opened, the chili oil inside was rich, spicy, and aromatic, bright in color. Just smelling it made one’s mouth water.

Ji Jingyu carefully scooped a spoonful into the bowl of beef rice noodles. Instantly, the surface of the beef broth was stained with an appetizing, beautiful color.

Her eyes nearly squinted shut with happiness. She carefully tasted a sip of the soup, then picked up some noodles and put them into her mouth.

The soup was fresh and delicious. The rice noodles were tender, breaking with a bite. Coated in beef broth, her mouth was filled with the rich aroma of beef and chili oil.

“Delicious.”

This taste was incredible. It was probably the result of the owner’s many years of focused refinement. It was not inferior to her own cooking at all, perhaps even better.

Seeing her happy expression, Ji Xiu could not help but laugh. “If it is good, then eat. It is all yours. No one is fighting you for it.”

Ji Jingyu nodded and buried her head like a little squirrel, eating happily.

After a while, the soup dumplings were served as well.