Pretty idiots are born to be played with and ruined by their husbands.

Chapter 25 What are you doing at my doorstep?

Rental housing.

Ruan Zhijuan didn't wake up until almost noon again. He groggily got out of bed and his gaze fell on the coffee table, where there were a few bills, which Zhou Gangxun had left for him that morning.

Because of his unrestrained behavior, Zhou Gangxun didn't leave him much, but it was more than enough for Ruan Zhijuan to eat for two meals.

"What should I eat for lunch today..." Ruan Zhijuan thought to herself as she washed up. When she came out, she saw a dog glove and a woolen sock hanging on the clothesline on the balcony.

"Is it dry yet...? It's so hot, it must be dry by now..."

Ruan Zhijuan went to the balcony, wanting to take them down, but the clothesline was shortened too much for him; even if he stood on tiptoe, he couldn't reach it.

"Why is Zhou Gangxun so tall? He's already 1.9 meters tall. Humph, I haven't even finished growing yet. When I grow to two meters, I'll definitely lift the clothesline all the way to the roof..."

Ruan Zhijuan complained as she moved the small stool next to her feet, stepped onto it, and said, "This will work..."

"boom--"

Just as Ruan Zhijuan was getting a sock, the small stool under his feet suddenly broke apart. He swayed and fell off without warning, losing his balance and tumbling towards the window.

Half of his body was hanging out of the window, dangling precariously outside the building. The screen window was torn at some point, with a large, long tear, as if it had been cut with a knife.

The entire screen window was completely useless; it couldn't keep out mosquitoes or stop someone from falling.

"Oh my god, the screen window is broken..." Ruan Zhijuan climbed down from the windowsill in fear, clutching the sock, and retreated with lingering apprehension.

He had never hung clothes out to dry on the balcony; these tasks were always done by Zhou Gangxun, so he assumed that this had been the case since he moved in.

"That was so dangerous! If it hadn't gotten stuck in my waist, I would have fallen and died..."

Ruan Zhijuan rubbed her weak legs and muttered to herself as she returned to the living room, feeling an emptiness that she couldn't blame. She decided to blame Zhou Gangxun, since he was her husband.

Ruan Zhijuan took the ten yuan and the pork rib bun wrapped in paper and went downstairs.

He kept his promise from last night and took three... two... one piece of pork rib to the trash can to feed Xiao Hei. As for why it changed from three pieces to one, that didn't matter. Anyway, Xiao Hei was a dog and hadn't learned to count.

But Ruan Zhijuan couldn't find Xiao Hei after searching for a long time, so she put the ribs next to the trash can, secretly covered them with cardboard, said "This is for Xiao Hei", and went to buy lunch.

Hanging from the tree above his head, about ten centimeters away, was a small black dog with blood all over its belly, the blood already dried. Its mouth had been cut open horizontally with a knife.

Then it was wrapped with wire, as if punishing its dog mouth for doing something wrong.

……

Ruan Zhijuan went to a nearby restaurant and bought a bowl of cold noodles for 2 yuan. The box was full, and the owner even gave him a lot of peanuts.

Ruan Zhijuan bought another bottle of soda in a glass bottle for 1 yuan, hawthorn flavor.

"Wow, ten yuan can buy so much delicious food..."

When she got home, Ruan Zhijuan couldn't resist mixing the chili oil and peanuts on her noodles, picking up a piece with her chopsticks, and starting to eat it in the elevator.

"Ding—The elevator has arrived."

He ate as he walked out, and when he reached the stairwell, he saw a boy standing at his door.

"What are you doing at my doorstep?" Ruan Zhijuan chewed on her noodles, her slightly swollen lips glistening with chili oil, and blinked as she stared at the boy.

The boy's skin was very fair, almost unnaturally so, and there was something strange about it.

The white cotton short-sleeved shirt she was wearing was clearly a regular size, but it looked several sizes too big, as if there was only bones underneath and not much flesh left.

Ruan Zhijuan did not see his face.

Because his whole body was pressed against the door, leaving only his back exposed, his head was repeatedly banging against the door, "thump, thump..." as if he were knocking on it.

But the echo in the hallway somehow sounded just like the "bang bang bang" of chopping meat and making dumplings.

Upon hearing Ruan Zhijuan's question, the boy stopped banging on the door, and the corridor returned to silence.

"I can't open the door..." The boy's voice seeped out from between the door panels. His voice was very soft, sounding like he had a sticky, scarlet liquid in his throat, muffled and unclear.

Perhaps because his face was pressed so close to the door, the sound seemed to come from inside the house.

"I can't open the door..." the boy repeated.

Ruan Zhijuan's attention was still focused on the noodles he had just eaten. He licked his lips, which were still full of peanut flavor, raised his chin, and said matter-of-factly, "Of course you can't open the spicy one, this is my home..."

But why is the color of this door different from the one at his house?

It doesn't matter, as long as it's his house.

This guy must be envious of him having an apartment building.

In her past life, Ruan Zhijuan would sometimes do this when she was tired from working: stand at someone else's door, envious and wishing she had a home like that.

At that time, most of the houses in the village were low and crooked mud-brick houses, including Ruan Zhijuan's. Only a few households had one-story brick and tile houses, which were only able to live in after they went out to work in the city and saved up money.

This was enough to make Ruan Zhijuan envious, because the house didn't leak, wasn't damp, and had few insects.

When a family in the village built a two-story house, just like an apartment building or villa in the city, everyone rushed to see it, including Ruan Zhijuan. However, he still had to work, so he only glanced at it briefly before leaving.

The walls outside the house were painted white and covered with pink tiles, and there was a wall and fence.

There were many flowers inside, and cars were parked there. The people living there were all dressed very nicely, just like his pink shirt, and they all had the same smiles on their faces, as if they were very happy.

So when Ruan Zhijuan had nothing to do, she would often pass by the front door of that house, and sometimes she would even stand by the fence of the house, imagining that this was her own house.

They would also be thinking about which room inside should be assigned to whom.

The biggest room is for Mom and Dad, the second biggest is for myself. With a big house, who would want to live in that coffin-like little room? The rest can be chosen by my younger brother. If he has friends or a partner, he can bring them to live there too.

The house should have a clean bathroom, hot water that is always available, sturdy walls that are not as fragile as paper and can be easily torn, and free from insects crawling all over it, as well as dust that is difficult to sweep away and can be blown in by the wind.

After he died, he actually lived in such a house in the Ruan family.

It was even better than the house at the time, like a small castle.

However, you shouldn't be too stingy when choosing a partner.

Otherwise, if a boy like that, with his chubby face, sticks up to someone's door, and someone sees him, they'll definitely think he's a thief or a bad guy and beat him up. Or they'll have to take a stick and chase him away like a stray dog, and only dare to go home when everyone is sneaking around at night.

Ruan Zhijuan gathered the cold noodles, put them in a bag, proudly puffed out her chest, took out her keys, and cleared her throat affectedly. In a sweet voice, she boasted, "Move aside, I need to get my keys to open the door and go home. Go somewhere else."

Ruan Zhijuan had a bag of cold noodles slung over her wrist. As usual, she inserted the key into the lock, but instead of the expected smooth insertion and crisp turning, nothing happened.

He couldn't get his key into the lock no matter what he tried.

"Wha...what's going on? Why can't I open it..." Ruan Zhijuan panicked, her hands frantically trying to push the key up without even checking if it was in the right position. "It must be...not inserted properly..."

It took a lot of effort to insert even a small section of the key, and then it got stuck and couldn't be pushed in any further.

"This is my home...this is my home...I'm not lying, this isn't what I imagined..." Ruan Zhijuan pouted, looking aggrieved and panicked. Zhou Gangxun didn't abandon him, did he? He changed the locks, didn't he?

He made a "woofing" sound in his throat, his eyes red with anxiety. "Zhou Gangxun, you heartless bastard, you dog-hearted scoundrel! You were perfectly fine when you left this morning, but you changed the door while I was away..."

They must have docked his pay today to get rid of him, right? I wonder how much they docked... He's so poor, will he even survive after they docked his pay...? Ugh... You bastard, you Zhou bastard...

To avoid crying in front of the boys and not looking too pathetic, he pouted, tilted his head back, and sobbed...

Looking up, he noticed the door number was 906, the apartment upstairs from his.

Ah, so this isn't his house after all.

Ugh... Haha... Haha... It's alright then.

Ruan Zhijuan suddenly burst into laughter through her tears, her body still trembling as she smiled through her sobs. Zhou Gangxun hadn't chased him away; he had gone to the wrong place.

It scared him to death.

However, Zhou Gangxun is still a bastard, otherwise his tears would have been in vain.

The boy, forced to continue "facing the wall" with his face glued to the side, looked at Ruan Zhijuan, who was both crying and laughing: "..."

"No...it's nothing, hehe, I just went to the wrong house...hehe..." Ruan Zhijuan sniffled, gripped the key tightly, and pulled it out forcefully!

The door to room 906 was also shaken open a crack, but Ruan Zhijuan did not notice.

"I...I'm home, you can continue..." He happily jogged to the elevator, pressed the button, and waited for the elevator to come up and take him home.

The sounds of "bang, bang, bang" echoed again in the hallway.

Ruan Zhijuan looked over and saw that the boy had returned to the door of 906, his face and body pressed against the door as before.

Like human-shaped moss growing on a door, skin-colored, growing on the cold, damp, and shaded side.

Ruan Zhijuan seemed to know what was wrong with the boy; his face and the door were too perfectly aligned, as if his nose and all the protrusions had been shaved off, leaving no gaps.

The sleeves were empty, both arms were gone, and only the left leg remained, but the heel didn't touch the ground, it was just standing on tiptoe.

It looks like it's jumping.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

It's not banging on the door with its head, it's jumping.

No wonder he always heard banging noises at night; he thought it was someone upstairs chopping meat and bones.

It turns out he was skipping around in the stairwell at night when the message was sent.

"Ding—The elevator has arrived."

Ruan Zhijuan thought for a moment, then entered the elevator and pressed the button for the eighth floor.

As the elevator doors closed, the boy standing in front of room 906 slowly turned his head, finally revealing his face.