Chapter 314: Qin Jingru

Li Aihua's physical fitness had improved; Zhang Ping'an used to have to hold back, but now he could let loose.

The next morning, after Zhang Ping'an got up and finished his workout, Li Aihua was already up and exercising before he could even call her.

"Do you know the benefits of Body Refining now?"

"Mm, hehe."

After reaching Body Refining Great Accomplishment, one can expel impurities from the body, and by persisting in exercise and stretching, one can still clear out the excess waste in the body every day.

It's like those people who can take a high-level dump every day without needing to wipe—it means the intestinal tract is cleaned very thoroughly.

At the end of the year, Zhang Ping'an's younger brother brought everyone a surprise (or shock); he was seeing someone, and the whole family was quite stunned.

"Xiao Le, is this... really?"

"Hehe, really. She's also from the Textile Factory, in the Technical Section."

"..."

"Dad, Mom, I want to go back to our hometown and have Uncle Laiyou change my age."

"Hey, you rascal."

Zhang Laohan naturally understood what Zhang Xile meant; he was only seventeen this year and not old enough to marry.

"Hmm... who is the girl?"

Because Zhang Xile had long since reached Body Refining Great Accomplishment, he was more mature than his peers, and coupled with the fact that he occasionally drank Tiger Bone Wine, his body's yang energy was vigorous.

The Textile Factory was a place where yin flourished and yang declined, and since his younger brother Zhang Xile was a handsome man with a square face, he was naturally popular, though Zhang Ping'an hadn't expected things to develop so quickly.

"Qin Jingru. Although her family is from the countryside, ah right, she seems to be from the same village as Dongxu's wife." Zhang Xile suddenly remembered Qin Jingru saying she was from Qin Family Village.

"Uh, it's Jingru? She's twenty-three, right? She isn't married yet?"

Back then, Lao Jia and Jia Dongxu had wanted to introduce Qin Jingru to Zhang Ping'an, but Zhang Ping'an had declined; he hadn't expected that she would now be seeing his own younger brother.

Over the years, Zhang Ping'an hadn't really paid much attention to Qin Jingru, only knowing that her family had moved to the city and was living in his grandfather's Siheyuan.

Although he and Qin Dabao were both in the Procurement Section now, they didn't run into each other many times a month.

"Ping'an, what are you muttering about? You know Qin Jingru?"

"I know her, she's the cousin of Dongxu's wife."

"Ah?"

"What a coincidence?"

They had only seen Qin Jingru when she was a child, including Zhang Ping'an; they had barely seen her since she moved to the city.

In the original story, Qin Jingru was always discriminated against because of her rural household registration and felt inferior, but she wanted to live a city life and was eventually tricked into marriage by Xu Damao; in any case, her ending wasn't very good.

Zhang Ping'an remembered Jia Dongxu telling him that Qin Jingru seemed to have graduated from high school and now had a job and a proper city household registration, so he figured it wouldn't be like the original story.

"You two keep seeing each other, but we'll have to wait until you're eighteen at least. I'll go back and change your age up by two years."

Zhang Laohan was happy to see this; the girl was a Technician, everything about her was good, and being able to hold a grandson sooner was a good thing—after all, his eldest son Zhang Ping'an had also had his age changed up by two years.

"Alright, Dad."

After the meal, Dong Dani found Zhang Ping'an; she was a bit worried about her youngest son's situation.

"Ping'an, go to Dongxu's house and ask about that girl."

"Sure."

Zhang Ping'an didn't drag his feet and went straight to the Jia Family; he also wanted to know about Qin Jingru's current personality, though since she could be introduced to him back then, he figured she couldn't be bad.

"Uncle, you mean my little uncle is seeing Jingru?" Qin Huairu said with a look of surprise.

"Yes, it shouldn't be a case of having the same name, right? A Technician at the Textile Factory."

"No, that's Jingru, but their age difference is a bit large. Before, I even planned to..."

"Cough, cough, Huairu, tell your uncle about Jingru's situation."

Jia Dongxu had only mentioned his cousin at the time and hadn't said her specific name, so he interrupted Qin Huairu's spell-casting in time.

"Oh, oh, okay." So Qin Huairu told Zhang Ping'an everything she knew in one go.

Ever since Qin Dabao's family moved to the city, Qin Jingru had transferred to a city school; her grades in junior high were quite good, and she even skipped a grade, graduating from high school at the same time as Yushui, despite being a year younger.

Qin Jingru had completely lost the inferiority of a rural person; after entering the Textile Factory, she became one of the factory beauties, her standards were high, and she hadn't dated anyone until now.

Qin Dabao didn't know whether to be happy or depressed now; he was happy that his daughter was independent, but depressed that girls her age were already mothers while his daughter hadn't even dated anyone.

If Jia Dongxu had wanted to introduce her to Zhang Ping'an back then, he definitely would have nodded in agreement.

When Zhang Ping'an returned home, Dong Dani greeted him impatiently.

"How is that girl?"

"She's quite good, it's just that she's over twenty."

"What's the situation?" Dong Dani frowned subconsciously; it was rare for a girl to be unmarried after twenty these days.

Zhang Ping'an gave a rough account of Qin Jingru's situation, and Dong Dani nodded in sudden realization; as long as she wasn't some messy person, it was fine.

Since everything had been inquired about clearly, Zhang Laohan returned to Zhang Family Village the next day to change Zhang Xile's age.

"Jingru, you're the cousin of Dongxu's wife?"

"Ah? You know Sister Huairu?"

"We live in the same courtyard, and Dongxu is my own nephew."

"..."

When Qin Jingru was seeing Zhang Xile, she had asked about his family situation; when he mentioned Zhang Ping'an, she felt the name sounded familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere, but she couldn't recall it after thinking about it, so she didn't take it to heart.

Now that he said it like this, she remembered—wasn't he the uncle who gave her an apple at the banquet back then? He had also visited her home a few times afterward and called her father brother.

Now she was seeing his younger brother; wouldn't she have to change how she addressed him to 'Big Brother' in the future? Wait, then what should I call my father?

Qin Jingru hurriedly shook her head, casting the strange thoughts out of her mind.

"This... should have no impact, right? We aren't close relatives," Qin Jingru asked doubtfully.

"..."

"Of course it doesn't count, it's just a bit troublesome in terms of how we address each other."

"That's fine, we can just address each other separately when the time comes, can't we?"

"Hehe, so you're agreeing to marry me then?"

"Yo, Xiao Le, it's true that I was the one chasing you, but it seems you aren't old enough yet, right? Little Xile."

"I'm not little."

Seeming to realize that what he said was too ambiguous, Zhang Xile changed the subject.

"Ahem, my dad changed my age for me, I'll be twenty next year."

As soon as Zhang Xile finished speaking, Qin Jingru's eyes glowed green, which made Zhang Xile feel a bit overwhelmed; many female employees at the Textile Factory looked at him just like that.

The Textile Factory was already full of female employees, and Zhang Xile, a person with an excess of yang energy, coming here to work was like Tang Seng falling into the Kingdom of Women; every eligible female employee wished they could devour him.

"Alright, sister will wait for you to come and marry me," Qin Jingru said, turning shy as if she felt she had just frightened this good younger brother.

Qin Jingru naturally wanted to get married sooner; for one, she wasn't young anymore, and for another, there were quite a few little hussies around eyeing her position, so it was for the best that Zhang Xile could change his age.

"Dad, I'm seeing someone," the first thing Qin Jingru said when she returned home from work in the evening shocked Qin Dabao.

"Really? Whose child is it?" Qin Dabao asked with a face full of surprise.

"My colleague, he hasn't been working here long, he's in the Finance Section, his name is Zhang Xile, he is, he is..."

"He is what?"

"He is Huairu's younger uncle."

"Ah?" Qin Dabao frowned and thought for a moment before saying.

"Is he Ping'an's younger brother?"

"Mm."

"How old is he?"

Qin Dabao didn't have much of an impression of Zhang Xile; when he sent Qin Huairu off to be married back then, it seemed Zhang Ping'an didn't have a younger brother yet.

"Seventeen."

"..."