Brainoid

However, even if Qi Min will one day become a person who affects the world before Nick, who is involved in the labor movement, at this time, she and Anton can still only live in a rented apartment and do doctoral work similar to 996.

People like Qi Min, who are accustomed to living on their own, have no special talents, and rely solely on luck for everything, will most likely not be able to do well. Therefore, she has long recognized this. Although she had to go to the laboratory due to the pressure of studying for a Ph.D., when she did not have to stay in the laboratory, she was still keen on attending Yelena's PARTY and playing everywhere with Anton. .

It doesn't cost Yelena's money to party with her, but renting a car with Anton requires some financial foundation. Fortunately, she and Anton only have to pay one rent, and their daily expenses together can be covered by Anton's salary. Therefore, Qi Min's salary is like an extra "bonus" that can be used as he wants. flower.

It can be said that the two of them still lived a relaxed and happy life. Spend a full day every week researching food, rent a car and go out for fun every two weeks, and don’t be too vague when buying some non-daily necessities. Qi Min's salary would definitely be difficult to live on, but it would be more than enough for fun.

But the bad thing is that consumption will escalate. Even if the Bolsheviks have a natural resistance to consumerism, they will not be able to withstand some unexpected increases in expenses.

One day when Anton was delivering food, he took the road under the river embankment in order to take a shortcut. When he passed an iron bridge on his motorcycle, a package under the bridge made a high-pitched and strange sound.

Just because Anton stopped to watch, when Qi Min got home, he found that he had an extra daughter for no reason.

Anton found an abandoned baby and took it home temporarily to save his life. This child looks like he may have been born only a few days ago, and his appearance is hard to tell at such a young age. But from the note in the quilt wrapped around the baby, written in crooked English and Chinese, asking passers-by to adopt the child, it seems that he must also be of Chinese descent, or at least of mixed Chinese descent.

As an orphan who was trafficked to the United States and lost his family and homeland, Anton felt very pity for the baby. Originally, I wanted to wait until the child recovered and send her to an orphanage, but because the child was so thin and small, I was afraid that she would not survive in a local orphanage, so I raised her at home for a week without sending her out.

Qi Min originally hated children, especially naughty children and crying babies. But the miracle is that the child Anton picked up does not like to cry at all, but actually likes to laugh. Although she looks a bit ugly, she still looks cute and cute if she can't stand it. She doesn't choose the brand of milk powder when she drinks it.

Qi Min felt that the child was quite easy to raise, which made her feel that it was not necessary to send her to an orphanage. And considering that as a child with Chinese ancestry, she will most likely be discriminated against in this small place where red necks are the majority. Her future situation will even be worse than Anton's. After all, Anton was adopted and taught by a Chinese restaurant owner who was Chinese when he was a child. If this child goes to an orphanage, he will face the fate of being raised by white people. The gap between appearance and identity can be a bit fatal.

So she and Anton discussed it and did something very Bolshevik - they decided to adopt the child and completely bypassed the complicated adoption process, registering her as their biological child.

Because the child was just born, this operation only requires the birth certificate to be fooled, and it will not attract any attention. Moreover, if the child's identity is listed in Qi Min's name without getting married, according to the policy, the local government will also give food stamps and rent subsidies to single mothers (referring to those who are not legally married). This money should not be wasted.

The specific operation still requires some skills, but the government management in this small and broken place is also quite chaotic. After some operations, Qi Min succeeded in emptying his daughter, and incidentally received food worth half of her graduate student salary. Vouchers and rental subsidies.

She also discussed with Anton how to name the child. Although he is the descendant of two Bolsheviks, in order to survive in the American environment, he cannot have an ideological name. In the end, they decided to call the child "Meme", and the nickname was "Mimi". This sounded neither mainstream in the United States, nor very Chinese, nor ideological, but also a bit... They are fashionable and they feel pretty good about themselves.

Because Mimi was well-behaved and quiet when she was young, it didn’t take much effort to raise her. Anton and Qi Min tried their best to ask for leave without angering their boss, so they could cope with taking turns "on duty".

Anton is very serious and responsible when he is "on duty". Although he is not professional and scientific, he is at least dedicated. But many times when it was Qi Min's turn to be "on duty", when he came home from get off work, he would see Qi Min playing with her daughter happily, as if he couldn't tell that there was a mess elsewhere in the house. No one could stand it if this happened too many times, but seeing that Qi Min and Mimi were really having fun, Anton had to silently clean up all the garbage they created.

For Qi Min, the biggest embarrassment is that she really has to use her food stamp card to buy things. Although the money she earns is indeed low-income, in her opinion, no matter what, people studying for a doctoral degree should not receive this kind of social welfare. Although this is money from the U.S. government, it is indeed taken from the people who pay taxes. But for poor people, they shouldn’t have superfluous thoughts. No matter where they come from, if you have money, you have to spend it.

But every time she took out this card at checkout, the salesperson's encouraging smile made Qi Min feel a little embarrassed.

But whether it's embarrassing or spineless, her income level doesn't allow her to refuse the single mother's subsidy. Moreover, Anton's salary originally could cover the expenses of two people, and Qi Min's salary could be the icing on the cake. But after having one more Mimi, not only did the cost of raising a child increase, Anton also had to take time off frequently and have his salary deducted. Finding a temporary nanny when neither of them can take leave will cost more money, and Qi Min's salary and subsidies are also stretched.

Now I definitely can’t go out and play every two weeks. Spending one day a week studying food has turned into spending time studying food for babies every day. Just save money on non-daily necessities. Even if you have money, you don't have time to buy them. If you have time, you might as well take Mimi out for a walk in a stroller.

After a month like this, Anton and Qi Min took a look at their income and expenditure records. Even if the food stamps and rental subsidies were all spent, the surplus this month would only be double digits.