When the Fair Rich Beauty Becomes the Poor Girl

Chapter 2: 14 yuan (Part 1)

Shen He Xiang was stunned for a moment. Lin Can had always been in the palm of her hand. Never had she ever defied her like this!

Jiang Bao ignored the woman and fixed her clothes. She then reached out to her pocket and found at least 10 yuan in there, along with a set of keys.

The person on the bed was in a terrible state. Her neckline still had water stains, yet she looked more like a noble who met with misfortune rather than a miserable teenage girl.

Suddenly, Lin Can had become an entirely different person. She relied on her imposing aura to overwhelm the woman as she raised her voice and said, “What do you mean by that?”

Jiang Bao lowered her head and peeked at the pair of sneakers in front of the bed. She had mysophobia, but she had no other choice right now. She couldn’t possibly go in bare feet. It was filthier that way.

She got down from the bed and put on the shoes, then asked the woman blocking her way, “Are you Lin Can’s aunt?”

“Who else am I besides your aunt? What is wrong with you?” Shen He Xiang was even more perplexed. 

She turned her head and asked the nurse, “What exactly is wrong with her?”

The nurse hesitated as she spoke. “Over 6 minutes of drowning and suffocation will cause an irreversible cerebral brain injury. But she was rescued in time, which should be approximately 3 minutes from drowning. I would suggest doing a more thorough examination.”

She paused for a moment before she softly continued, “The patient’s condition has finally improved slightly. She absolutely cannot go into the water for a swimwear photoshoot these next few days.”

Shen He Xiang’s heart thumped loudly. She didn’t expect there really would be a brain injury. If this girl couldn’t go into the water, then wouldn’t that mean the money in her hands would fly away?

Jiang Bao finally understood. No wonder she felt lightheaded. It was because she had suffocated from near-drowning earlier. Don’t tell her that because the situation was aggravated, she had now become mad.

She quickly dismissed her worries. A few years later, when Lin Can came back to the Jiang family, she was still sane.

In October 2015, she was a sophomore at Massachusetts (MIT). The day before the debate competition, she had a sudden low fever and had to be absent from it.

She then learned that Lin Can was pushed by someone into the water and was sick for a week. Jiang Bao later also became ill for several days.

The timings coincided.

Shen He Xiang pondered for a while and asked, “What do you think, Lin Can? Do you want to take the checkup?”

Shen He Xiang wasn’t willing to waste money on this.

“I won’t do the checkup. I also won’t do the photoshoot.” Jiang Bao walked out of the hospital room after she spoke these words. The unpleasant smell inside made her feel suffocated.

When Lin Can disagreed with the medical checkup, Shen He Xiang let out a sigh of relief. But after hearing the following words, her face became grim.

Shen He Xiang was about to persuade her to change her mind. But looking at Jiang Bao’s pale face, and thinking about what the nurse said… She changed her mind and decided to let her rest for a few days.

This was her money tree. She needed to use it wisely in order to keep it in the long run.[1]

“We won’t go, then. Let’s go home, Little Can. You should recover faster. Since we’ve promised the others, we can’t keep them waiting for long.”

Jiang Bao fiddled with the phone in her hand as she walked and gently nodded her head.

The Nokia phone was completely out of battery and showed a black screen.

She didn’t have any money on her currently.

She needed to find a place to charge her phone, then she’d be able to contact the outside world.

Shen He Xiang saw her nod in agreement and was relieved. She exited the hospital gate and called for a taxi on the roadside.

This place was not the city center. Jiang Bao looked out of the car window at the scenery that was quickly left behind. Many of the buildings were old and dated from far back, seemingly quite rundown.

Twenty minutes later, the taxi driver pulled over as Jiang Bao followed Shen He Xiang and descended from the car.

This small district was located at the edge of the third ring of Ning City. There were only a few buildings in total, and the greenery was so scarce that it was pitiful to look at. Jiang Bao was following behind the woman as she examined this unfamiliar place.

Although she didn’t know what sort of miracle lead her to return to the past… and she even became Lin Can, after coming back to her senses, Jiang Bao slowly calmed down, pondering about her next step.

A ‘tu-tu-tu’ noise suddenly resounded behind her. A few seconds later, the motorcycle that was the source of the noise stopped beside Jiang Bao as the male rider laughed cheekily and extended his hand to shove her.

Jiang Bao was initially emotionally upset. Immediately, she felt like she wanted to blow up.

This person was sick in the head!

Shen He Xiang however, had a smile on her face. “You’ve returned.”

Jiang Bao was struck in a daze. It turns out they knew each other.

“Didn’t you say Lin Can was going for the photoshoot? Why didn’t you guys go?” The guy on the motorcycle asked.

Shen He Xiang replied, “She wasn’t feeling well.”

The guy on the motorcycle yawned. “Ok, then. Such a problematic person. Mom, you promised me I could change my phone. I want an iPhone 6 Plus with 128GB, worth 7788 yuan. Just giving me 8000 as a whole is enough.”

Shen He Xiang replied, “Didn’t you change your phone model at the beginning of the year? Why do you need to buy another again?”

“This is a new model. I bought it last month and received a premium worth 2000 yuan[2], so I’ve already saved you some money. Also, I’m already working and need to use a better phone to save face!” The motorcycle guy asserted eloquently.

Shen He Xiang would never refuse her son’s request. It just took two sentences for her to nod and agree to it.

She looked at Lin Can out of the corner of her eye. If she hadn’t been sick, there would have been 20000 yuan in her bank account today.

Lin Zhi sized up Lin Can with malicious intent and smiled as he said, “Lin Can, when your photograph is released, give me some. Quite a few of my friends want it.[3]”

Not to mention, Lin Can is really beautiful. Every time his friends set their sights on her, their eyes wouldn’t move away…… they would even ask about her.

Jiang Bao didn’t answer. What the hell was this?!

As the young lady of the Jiang family, Jiang Bao was always treated with respect and kindness by others. This was only her first day as Lin Can, and her limit had already been thoroughly crossed.

Lin Zhi realized he was being ignored and was displeased. “Why are you acting so proud? I’m talking to you. Are you deaf?”

He moved forward, wanting to pull her over, but Jiang Bao dodged by taking a step backward.

Shen He Xiang knew her son’s temperament. Normally, Lin Can would never cause a dispute with others, but she seemed to have changed into a different person today. She was afraid the situation would get worse, so she mediated between them and said, “That’s enough. Let’s go home and eat dinner.”

Lin Zhi smiled coldly. “I’m not in the mood to eat anymore. Give me some cash and I’ll find Yu Na Na for supper.”

Shen He Xiang took out five notes of one hundred yuan and stuffed them into his hand. The biker guy took the money and disappeared in a flash.

Before, Jiang Bao vaguely knew that Lin Can’s family didn’t treat her well, but she didn’t expect it to be this extreme.

She had mixed feelings about it as she followed Shen He Xiang into the building.

The elevator stopped on the 15th floor. Although the apartment layout was quite small, the living condition wasn’t that bad.

A little boy, around 10 years old, was watching TV in the living room.

There were three bedrooms, one for the married couple, another for the eldest son, and the last for the youngest… So Lin Can didn’t have a room herself.

—–

Footnotes:

[1] 细水长流: A Chinese idiom that in this situation means using something(property/belongings) sparingly so that it takes a long time to exhaust.

[2] 我上个月就买还得溢价两千: The original text was kinda confusing as he said he wanted to buy it but he has already bought it last month?? I’m not sure if I’ve interpreted this right but I’ll just assume he just bought a phone last month and last month meant the beginning of the year orz

[3] I used friends but it was originally 兄弟 which means brothers. In this case, he meant the friends he has a close relationship with as brothers.