Chapter 40: Vanity as Productivity, Our Source of Sustenance
When Jiang Bo first met Jiang Xiaoyuan, she had already been worn down by the turmoil of this world, her spirit broken, with “grin and bear it” written all over her face. Empress Dowager Jiang was obsessed with appearances her whole life, never developing the ability to see beyond the surface. She mistakenly thought Jiang Xiaoyuan was a naturally meek person… just a bit unreliable.
He never imagined that a domesticated lamb could bite, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to react.
Jiang Xiaoyuan, having held back for too long, fully unleashed her sharp claws and teeth. She adopted a cold dignity, reminiscent of the time she stormed into Feng Ruixue’s store to demand justice. Her long, elegant eyebrows tilted slightly, and she didn’t even look at Jiang Bo. Her chin and her slender neck formed a subtle arc. Her pale profile, framed by a few strands of loose hair, resembled a fallen princess—still wearing her crown, no matter how defeated she appeared.
Jiang Xiaoyuan said, “If I’m doing something wrong, tell me, and I’ll fix it. Just let me know what you want me to do ahead of time. Even if I don’t know how, I can learn. As long as it doesn’t involve flying to the moon, I’ll figure it out. But I won’t resign on my own. Even though you only pay me a pittance each month, you still think it’s a grand favor.”
She sharply turned her gaze toward Jiang Bo, giving him a cutting look: “There will come a day when you can’t afford me—just wait.”
Back when Jiang Xiaoyuan obeyed everything anyone said, Jiang Bo found her pathetic. He couldn’t stand people who were timid and meek; it made him want to kick them.
But now, amid his shock, he was starting to see Jiang Xiaoyuan in a new light.
“Wow,” Empress Dowager Jiang mused, her tastes peculiarly twisted, “she’s got some character and knows how to put on a show. I like it.”
Jiang Bo slightly restrained himself and spoke in a reasonable tone: “You know, paying attention to your appearance doesn’t always require money. Sometimes putting in effort is more important. Expensive items have their way of being worn, and cheap ones have their advantages too—look.”
Jiang Bo stretched out his wrist and pointed to his watch to Jiang Xiaoyuan. This weirdo actually wore a women’s watch shamelessly.
Jiang Xiaoyuan took one glance, then indifferently looked away. “Fake. Cheap. If you don’t have money, just buy a regular fashion watch. The last thing I can stand is vain men flaunting luxury brands… half-men, half-women types!”
Jiang Bo refused to believe that this rural girl could discern real from fake at a glance, assuming she was just saying it out of spite. Proudly, he lowered his sleeve: “It cost just over fifty bucks. Apart from not keeping time very well, to most people, it’s indistinguishable from the real deal. To be honest, I do own a real one, but nowadays with smartphones always in hand, who’s going to bother with the three hands of a watch? Accuracy means nothing to me anymore. Sometimes I forget whether I’m wearing the real or the fake one myself. Vanity? What is vanity? Vanity is productivity—it’s our bread and butter! Are you really going to despise your own patron saint?”
Jiang Xiaoyuan: “…”
She had already acknowledged a faceless, bald ancestor earlier, and now “Vanity” itself had become her new ancestor.
Are there any normal ancestors left in this world?
Jiang Bo: “How much did your belt cost?”
Jiang Xiaoyuan: “… Six yuan.”
Jiang Bo scrutinized her: “There’s a wholesale market near us, you know that, right?”
Not only did Jiang Xiaoyuan know, she had even been there once with Chen Fangzhou.
Empress Dowager Jiang: “They sell knockoff Hermès scarves wholesale for five bucks apiece—whatever style you want. The only problem is, they fade if they get wet. But who washes belts for fun? Worn like this, isn’t it classier than that… that sackcloth strip you’re wearing?”
Jiang Xiaoyuan’s worldview shattered. Looking at Jiang Bo again, she suddenly felt like everything about him was fake. “That cartilage in your nose isn’t some knockoff too, is it?”
Jiang Bo exploded immediately: “You’re talking nonsense! This natural, unadorned face is 100% genuine!”
Jiang Xiaoyuan: “Heh, shameless.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Jiang Bo roared, “I’m your boss!”
Jiang Xiaoyuan sneered coldly, leaning back against the car seat, her hands spread out, her face still streaked with tears, full of scorn.
Jiang Bo opened and closed his mouth three times, and was so angry that smoke came out of his head.
Jiang Xiaoyuan thought indifferently, “If he fires me, fine. Ten years from now, I’ll be back, and I’ll make sure to slap his face swollen.”
But Jiang Bo didn’t fire her. Instead, without any warning, he pulled out five hundred yuan from his wallet and handed it to her.
Jiang Bo: “Here, take this—it’s your commission for the freelance work you did during this trip.”
Jiang Xiaoyuan: “…”
Jiang Bo: “What, just because I insulted your belt, you don’t want the money anymore?”
Jiang Xiaoyuan snatched the money: “Don’t act like you’re being generous—it barely covers my taxi fares for the past few days!”
Jiang Bo: “…”
After a moment, something seemed to occur to him, and he scratched his nose before saying to Jiang Xiaoyuan: “By the way, let me take a look at the presentation slides you made.”
Jiang Xiaoyuan had an epiphany. Since she had to fight through thorns and thistles, why should she pretend to be obedient? From that moment on, she exposed her true nature, entering a daily battle with Empress Dowager Jiang.
This fighting spirit permeated every corner of her life. If Jiang Bo got angry because her work wasn’t professional enough, she would silently endure it, only to throw herself into studying afterward, even if it meant living in the library or dying in the study room. She wouldn’t eat or sleep until there was nothing for him to criticize.
But if Jiang Bo dared to nitpick over petty things, like forbidding her from attending other teachers’ classes, she would mercilessly fire back, wielding a verbal cannon with relentless fury. They would spar fiercely in the realm of “sharp-tongued insults,” with Empress Dowager Jiang ultimately losing the battle.
From then on, Jiang Bo wouldn’t provoke Jiang Xiaoyuan unless he had a legitimate reason.
Though Jiang Bo felt he was a terribly spineless boss, when the one-month probation period ended, he somehow forgot to fire Jiang Xiaoyuan.
During the day, if Boss Jiang didn’t summon her, Jiang Xiaoyuan would rush between various classes at the school. As long as her schedule didn’t conflict, she’d attend every lecture she could, with a class attendance rate higher than most students.
Eventually, “Assistant Jiang” picked up a new gig—signing in for students who were skipping class.
One day, the instructor for the Basic Special Effects Makeup course noticed this phenomenon and called out to Jiang Xiaoyuan, who had just signed in for someone else: “Hey, you there.”
Several students who knew her real identity laughed.
Instructor: “Weren’t you called ‘Lin Xueyan’ last week? How come you’re ‘Huo Ling’ today? What, does your family run a police station, constantly changing names?”
Jiang Xiaoyuan stretched out her hands, pulling her eyelids to the sides: “Teacher, you’ve misunderstood. It’s all thanks to your excellent special effects makeup lessons. Today, I transformed myself into Lin Xueyan. Please, give me your critique.”
The instructor didn’t critique her and promptly kicked her out.
Jiang Xiaoyuan was juggling multiple roles, spinning like a top. Qi Lian had one thing right—over time, she had grown accustomed to it.
Once, Jiang Xiaoyuan couldn’t get enough sleep, but now, with seven hours in bed each night, she felt restless and irritable, as if something was wrong with her.
And speaking of Qi Lian…
Qi Lian still frequently dropped by, probably just to check if she was still alive. At first, he invited her out for meals, but after realizing she barely had time to sit down and eat properly, he stopped bothering her with invitations. Instead, he always brought something—either snacks or fashion magazines she might like—small, inexpensive things that were neither too burdensome to accept nor reject.
Jiang Xiaoyuan repeatedly assured him that the virus hadn’t bothered her in months and had probably died off by now. But Qi Lian seemed deaf to her hints and kept coming.
She couldn’t do much about him, occasionally overthinking the situation, but then quickly reined herself in. After all, she herself had been rather heartless before. She hadn’t taken any of her ex-boyfriends, like Huo Boyu, to heart, so she was able to relate to Qi Lian’s apparent indifference.
Fortunately, she didn’t have much time to think about it.
When the weather finally warmed up completely, Jiang Xiaoyuan took a day off to visit Sister Zhang. For more than half a year, she had either been studying at school or running around with Boss Jiang. Her daily expenses were minimal, except for occasionally buying a few high-quality knockoffs as per the Empress Dowager’s orders. With little to spend on, she had managed to save some money, so she bought a box of milk and some nutritional supplements before heading over.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay long.
Before her seat even warmed up, the mother of the foolish boy from next door came over. She didn’t enter the house but lingered at the door, pacing back and forth, loudly making insinuations, implying that Sister Zhang was trying to blackmail her family.
Sister Zhang’s home was already bare, and with her having partly lost her ability to work, and her daughter Zhang Tian still in school, their situation was dire.
Sister Zhang: “I’m really sorry, we still owe you…”
From outside, the foolish boy’s mother interjected at the right moment: “These are tough times indeed! Some people are out there pulling scams, and now they’ve brought it home to the neighbors! Even rabbits don’t eat the grass near their own burrows!”
Jiang Xiaoyuan was just about to speak when the foolish boy’s mother cut her off. Jiang Xiaoyuan looked around, frowning. Although she was still poor, she no longer had to rely on five hundred yuan to survive. Her innate tendency toward “generous poverty” stirred within her, and she waved her hand, saying, “No need, I didn’t come here to ask for money. Keep it—for all the help you gave me before. Without you, I don’t know where I’d be now—probably at the bottom of some cliff. If you ever run into trouble in the future, just let me know.”
After saying this, Jiang Xiaoyuan felt a bit regretful, worried that Sister Zhang might actually take her up on the offer—she wasn’t as resourceful as Qi Lian, after all.
But Zhang Xiuqin wasn’t surprised. She just smiled awkwardly and thanked Jiang Xiaoyuan repeatedly, like a chanting a sutra.
The sharp voice of the foolish boy’s mother pierced through the door again, “Some people get sick—who knows if it’s just timely or if they’re waiting to blame others. I’m telling you, there are people in this world who are shameless! Saying my son scared her into having a heart attack! Why didn’t lightning from the sky scare her into madness instead?”
Zhang Tian suddenly stood up, the chair legs screeching loudly against the floor.
Sister Zhang quickly shouted, “Tian Tian! Where are you going?”
Zhang Tian turned her head abruptly, glaring furiously at the dark, dull floor. In that moment, Jiang Xiaoyuan felt as if all the humiliation in the world was written on the young girl’s face.
The three of them sat in silence. The tension in the room was so thick that even a pin drop could have pierced the air, while the foolish boy’s mother outside seemed to be putting on a one-woman show.
Jiang Xiaoyuan stood up and said softly, “I’ll be going now.”
“Go slowly, go slowly,” Sister Zhang hurriedly said, giving Zhang Tian a push with her emaciated hand, “Go see your sister off.”
Zhang Tian said nothing and silently followed Jiang Xiaoyuan outside. As they opened the door, they came face to face with the foolish boy’s mother. The foul-mouthed woman froze for a moment, clearly not expecting to see Jiang Xiaoyuan, who looked a bit unfamiliar and somewhat fashionable. After sizing her up, she forced a fake smile and turned to Zhang Tian, “You’ve got guests at home, huh?”
Zhang Tian slightly raised her chin, her face full of hatred.
Jiang Xiaoyuan didn’t say anything. She carefully stepped past the dirty, dog waste-filled alleyways.
Suddenly, Zhang Tian spoke from behind her, “Sister, sometimes I just don’t understand—why do bad things always happen to my family?”
Jiang Xiaoyuan had no answer for that—no matter how hard her own life was, she was still an adult facing adult difficulties, but Zhang Tian wasn’t even fifteen yet.
Jiang Xiaoyuan asked, “Have you applied for low-income assistance?”
Zhang Tian replied, “Yeah, otherwise, we’d starve to death.”
Jiang Xiaoyuan didn’t know what else to say, so she resorted to a typical adult’s empty comfort, “Study hard. When you succeed in the future, things will get better at home.”
“‘Things will get better in the future’—those words are useless,” Zhang Tian said indifferently. “Things are bad now, and even if they improve later, I’ll still remember these days. Other girls talk about being fourteen or fifteen and their memories are about food, drinks, fun, and good-looking boys. What about me?”
Jiang Xiaoyuan: “…”
“This is the only time I get to be this age,” Zhang Tian said, her tone calm but cold. “And that’s fine, but what about my mom? I may have twenty-four, thirty-four, and forty-four ahead of me, but does she? Just look at her. There’s no guarantee she’ll live long enough to see ‘better days,’ and if she doesn’t, then her whole life will have been bad.”
Zhang Tian’s words pierced Jiang Xiaoyuan’s heart, instantly bringing her back to that cold winter village, with her grandmother watching her leave from afar.
How long could her grandmother wait?
With this thought, it felt like there was a countdown clock ticking behind her, urging her onward. She wished she could succeed overnight, buy a house in this city, and bring her grandmother to live with her.
Behind them, the foolish boy’s mother, perhaps emboldened by their distance, started yelling again, “Some people are just destined to be poor! Messing around with all sorts of nonsense! You’re just a lowlife—living off men!”
Suddenly, Jiang Xiaoyuan shoved her bag into Zhang Tian’s hands. “Hold this for me.”
Then she marched straight toward the foolish boy’s mother. Before the woman could react, Jiang Xiaoyuan, taking advantage of her height, slapped her across the face without warning.
Jiang Xiaoyuan: “I will teach you some manners on behalf of your mother.”
Without waiting for a response, she grabbed her bag from Zhang Tian, and without looking back, quickly walked away—just in case the foolish boy’s mother recovered and came at her, as she wasn’t prepared for a hair-pulling fight.
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