The Landlady and The Amnesiac

20

Chapter 20 – Grandma Luo’s Dumplings

Unlike Zhao Pianpian, Jiang Sihan had always felt that the amount of good people in the world did not outnumber the bad. When it came down to it, no matter whether there were more good people or bad people, there were even more people who were indifferent. Somewhere in the gray area, not good yet not evil, they were stingy with their help and would be more wicked than evil people if others’ interests clashed with theirs.

However, this grandmother-granddaughter pair of landlords he encountered were an exception.

They were genuinely good people.

Jiang Sihan believed that they didn’t have an easy life, but whether it be Grandma Luo or Luo Bei standing before him, both of them had a soft heart. Just like the late-night dumplings in autumn, as he was holding the food container, he felt overwhelming warmth.

Of course, he was also prideful. His pride made him unable to ask for money from his parents to get him through these difficult times. He couldn’t even accept his friend’s good intentions when he invited him to stay in his home for some time. Yet, for some reason, although his ears would turn red when the pair of granddaughter and grandmother gave him food from time to time, he didn’t feel embarrassed.

“Would you like to come in and sit down?”

Jiang Sihan regretted it the moment he said this sentence.

He wasn’t an expert in handling interpersonal relationships, his social conduct wasn’t sophisticated enough either, but he knew there was a difference between men and women. He couldn’t even be considered to be Luo Bei’s friend. It was really inappropriate to invite a girl into a single male’s dwelling in the middle of the night.

On the contrary, Luo Bei nodded, unaffected, “Okay.”

She was a normal person. If she didn’t know that Jiang Sihan had a bright future, if she didn’t know that this young man had no other thoughts in his head other than to pursue his dreams, she wouldn’t have nodded in the first place.

Her parents ran away when she was in her teens, leaving her and Grandma alone. Although Uncle Cheng was there to protect them and there were neighbors taking care of them, it was inevitable that she would come upon unexpected situations.

Luo Bei must learn to protect herself and her grandmother. Grandma was the owner of this building by name, but she was the one managing the building.

To have made this building so safe and harmonious, other than Uncle Cheng’s protection, it was also due to Luo Bei’s own capabilities.

The basement room was a studio apartment. The furnishings were very simple; there was a bed and a table, as well as an armoire that Grandma Luo gave away for free since she wasn’t using it anymore. Other than that, there was nothing else.

Luo Bei originally thought that a man like Jiang Sihan would definitely not keep his house clean. Instead, she had her face slapped; the floor was extremely clean, almost gleaming under the light. The bedding was simple, the sheets washed to the point they lost their color and on top was a blanket. He kept everything very neat and tidy.

The stainless steel bowl was filled with steaming hot instant noodles, the delicious scent permeated the air.

Luo Bei suspected Jiang Sihan must hate instant noodles.

Otherwise, as soon as he came in, he wouldn’t have picked up the stainless steel bowl and headed to the kitchen.

The room only had one chair. Luo Bei simply took a seat on his bed. Jiang Sihan came out of the kitchen and handed her a bottle of mineral water.

“I don’t have any other drinks here.” Jiang Sihan was embarrassed when he said this.

“It’s okay.” Luo Bei accepted it. “I haven’t drank beverages since I turned eighteen, those things make you gain weight.”

Instead of sitting on the bed with Luo Bei, Jiang Sihan stayed in place. He opened the lid of the food container and swallowed his saliva upon smelling the appetizing aroma of the dumplings.

He loved dumplings, but the quick-frozen dumplings in the supermarkets were not cheap and he could eat more than twenty in one go.

The dumplings that Grandma Luo made, with skin she personally rolled, looked different from store-bought ones.

“You have to mix the medicine with water before taking it. If you drink a cup before bed at night, you’ll probably be all better in a few days.” Luo Bei thought about it and said, “Honestly, it’s just a cold. Whether or not you take medicine, it’ll be good in a week. But the situation’s different now. I heard there’s a flu going around, so it’s better to drink some medicine as a precaution.”

After Jiang Sihan ate a dumpling, his stomachache lessened a great deal, “Yeah, thank you…” Probably scared of coming off as indifferent, he added, “The dumplings taste really good.”

“My Grandma’s dumplings are the best. People who are on a diet can eat ten at a time.”

Jiang Sihan glanced at her, “You’re on a diet?”

Luo Bei wasn’t particularly thin, but she was slender and was thin by normal standards. She actually said she was trying to lose weight, Jiang Sihan didn’t understand women’s logic.

Weren’t fat people usually the ones losing weight?

How come even a thin person was trying to lose weight?

Luo Bei said smoothly, “Of course, see, you’re thinner than me.”

After speaking, Robbe also fell silent.

She thought that this might make Jiang Sihan uncomfortable. After all, he wasn’t this thin because he wanted to lose weight, it was because he was starved.

Just as Luo Bei wanted to make excuses for herself, Jiang Sihan laughed and said, “I wasn’t this thin before either. After leaving home for half a year, I’ve lost twenty to thirty pounds. I myself don’t know what I got myself into.”