Chapter 19

Shu Chi hadn’t expected Ding Ya’s brother to suddenly say something like that. For a moment, she didn’t react.

She never looked like the clever type to begin with. Plus, with the scar on her face visible up close, many people’s first impression was that she wasn’t easy to get along with.

Ding Shuqing thought so too.

He was of average height and hadn’t expected this fierce-looking person to be about his height. Immediately, his tone turned a bit harsh.

Xiaohu knew she couldn’t insert herself into this scene. She obediently stood to the side picking out yogurt, so well-behaved it was almost heartbreaking.

Ding Ya: “Bro!”

She tugged at Ding Shuqing. “What are you talking about? It’s not that dog.”

Ding Ya: “My little dog at home. I posted it in the family group.”

Ding Shuqing realized he’d misunderstood and apologized.

Shu Chi just stood there through it all. She shook her head. Seeing how awkward Ding Shuqing looked, she asked, “You also know the person who gave Ding Ya the electronic dog?”

Ding Ya glanced at Ding Shuqing.

Her brother shoved his hands in his pockets, pretending nonchalance. “Don’t know them. That dog is really expensive. Anyone giving it to her had ulterior moti… Wait, you know what we’re talking about too?”

Ding Ya was dying of laughter inside. With a perfectly natural face, she nodded. “She used to play this game too. She also had an electronic pet like that.”

Ding Shuqing looked at Ding Ya. He felt there was no way it was such a coincidence.

But seeing Ding Ya’s determined expression and this woman’s seemingly fierce but actually quite honest demeanor, he immediately believed it.

“That much of a coincidence?”

He even muttered to himself: “You two don’t even look like you’re from the same generation.”

Shu Chi heard it. Her hand on the cart tightened slightly. Ding Ya shooed her brother off to buy seafood, then walked over to Shu Chi and apologized.

“Sorry, my brother’s blunt.”

Shu Chi shook her head. She looked at Ding Ya. “You today…”

She said three words as if they’d cost her all her oxygen. Ding Ya waited ages for the rest. Just looking up at her like this was tiring. She complained, “Why are you always like this? Don’t leave me hanging. You need to finish your sentence.”

One was pushing a cart, one standing off to the side. Shu Chi wore a red-and-white plaid scarf around her neck today. Anyone looking would think their outfits matched a bit.

Shu Chi glanced at Ding Ya. The other had her head down, puffing her cheeks as if angry.

Still no reaction from Shu Chi after all that. Ding Ya suspected her frog-boiling plan had failed. But the moment she looked up, her gaze met Shu Chi’s.

They’d locked eyes many times since reuniting this way. The closest was during that photo shoot.

But back then, Shu Chi’s every muscle resisted, like powerful prey Ding Ya had lured over, past the effects of the tranquilizer.

Their gazes carried a strange, brief submission, and perhaps something else.

Back then, Ding Ya thought, She doesn’t recognize me.

Now Shu Chi still didn’t recognize me.

Ding Ya’s goal wasn’t for Shu Chi to recognize her, but for Shu Chi to like the current her.

This person’s features weren’t delicate either. Her eyelids seemed single-fold at first glance, but looking closely, one was single, one was double. At least there wasn’t a size difference.

Her pupils were very dark. Staring at someone, combined with that scar on her face, she’d probably scare kids to tears.

Yet feminine traits still showed on this face.

Ding Ya had no fondness for kissing. In adolescence, reading shojo manga, there were detailed descriptions—the heroine’s feelings about kissing.

Like sinking into cotton.

Ding Ya had eaten cotton candy many times but couldn’t imagine it. She dated briefly in university and only found it boring. Less enjoyable than a meal.

But now, she actually had desires toward Shu Chi. She wanted Shu Chi to hold her, to bite her fiercely.

Have I gone mad?

Ding Ya abruptly turned her face away, instinctively wanting to find her brother.

But the moment she took a step, a hand shot out and yanked her back.

This hand was very strong, gripping her wrist with force that seemed ready to crush her.

Unlike the pampered Ding Ya, Shu Chi had worked for so many years, from factory girl to boss. The hardship of making a living clung to her skin; her hands were the hardest hit.

Ding Ya’s hands were very soft. Shu Chi already knew this.

Back at Willow Garden, they’d held hands.

Ding Ya’s hands were also very small. Shu Chi’s palm could completely envelop them.

In this instant, Shu Chi felt Ding Ya was like a plate of fish, as if having completed all preliminary stages, just waiting to enter someone’s mouth and feel that tender texture.

Ding Ya nearly crashed into Shu Chi’s body. She instinctively cursed.

Shu Chi asked, “Why didn’t you send me a WeChat message today?”

She’d already pulled her back but didn’t let go right away. Instead, she quite naturally looked down at Ding Ya and said the words Ding Ya wanted to hear.

Clearly a case of the willing walking into the trap, yet Ding Ya felt it was reversed.

Why is my heart pounding so hard? Where did it go wrong?

Do I really like her this much?

Why is it that when we’re both women, she’s so much taller than me, like she could completely embrace me?

Then if…

Ding Ya hadn’t expected so many messy thoughts to flood her mind. She said instinctively, “Why should I message you?”

Luckily, this area wasn’t too crowded, and their movements weren’t that exaggerated. But Ding Ya caught sight of the child hugging yogurt and looking over.

Xiaohu tilted her head, grinning so wide her front teeth showed.

Ding Ya’s sense of shame instantly flared up. “You’re not my…”

“Ding Ya!”

Ding Shuqing’s voice came from over there. Her brother had bought a big lobster and was calling her over.

Ding Ya ran.

Shu Chi’s hand, shaken off by Ding Ya, hung at her side. A lock of hair at the back of her head lifted as she lowered it.

Xiaohu came over, put the yogurt in the cart, and asked Shu Chi, “Do you like this older sister?”

Shu Chi asked seriously, “Why do you ask?”

She didn’t have that dismissive, “kids talk nonsense” attitude adults have. Getting along with the child, she had no sense of condescension.

Even without crouching down, Xiaohu felt like she was Shu Chi’s friend. No wonder she, like Yu Xinyi’s daughter, loved clinging to Shu Chi.

This feeling is so nice.

“Because you didn’t want her to leave.”

Xiaohu clung to the cart as she pushed forward, at the same time wanting to watch the delivery bags flying overhead again.

Her hair clip sparkled. She shook her head as she scolded Shu Chi: “Auntie Shu Chi is really dumb after all.”

Shu Chi smiled. “I don’t.”

Jing Yuqi had to travel for a fashion show, so naturally Xiaohu was going home with Shu Chi. The way the child bought things was exactly like her mom—like hoarding dozens of pounds for the New Year.

For whatever she grabbed extra, Shu Chi would put it back.

Xiaohu pouted and said, “Why is it that kids’ noses grow when they lie, but adults don’t get any punishment?”

The words weren’t meant to mean anything, but Shu Chi thought of how, back then, she’d let Bean Sprout think she was a man without refuting it.

Was I really without selfish motives?

My selfish motive was: if I were a man, then everything Ding Ya talked about for the future, I’d at least have a slight chance of making real.

Starting with marriage.

Even if I don’t have much education, society is always more tolerant of men.

The criticism women face when starting a business—Shu Chi and Jing Yuqi had felt it deeply over the years.

Back when they started working, among those from the same hometown who’d made something of themselves, their marriage choices were far more numerous than Shu Chi’s and Jing Yuqi’s.

After all, Shu Chi had facial disfigurement, was too tall, lacked education.

Jing Yuqi was an unmarried mother, overly voluptuous, too fiery-tempered.

Any reason could be twisted into something not wife-material. If the genders were reversed, the narrative would be different.

Even if she really could forgive my deception, do I even have the right to stand by her side?

Shu Chi sighed. In this moment, she somewhat understood what her stubborn inability to let go was about.

“How’s this one? Looks pretty tasty, right?”

Ding Shuqing asked Ding Ya.

Ding Ya seemed a bit distracted. “Mm.”

She was pale. When she exercised too much, she’d look flushed all over. Ding Shuqing let out a “Hey.” “Why is your face all red? Is it really this bad? Just a few steps and you’re this winded.”

Ding Ya glared at him. “Bro, can you tease me less?”

Ding Shuqing: “I only said one thing.”

Ding Ya huffed, not knowing where the irritation came from.

Even when they got home to eat, her mind still replayed the look in Shu Chi’s eyes from earlier.

And the temperature of Shu Chi’s hand.

Her hands really are so rough. Dark too, like she’d done some serious labor.

But back then, she really did run her own shop. Did she have to work from dawn to dusk?

With only her in the shop, how hard it must have been.

Why?

She’s not much older than me. What about her family?

When she lied to me about being in university, she was clearly university age.

Did she not go after senior high?

But I’m getting more and more curious.

~

On Friday, Shu Chi cooked a meal for Xiaohu. After eating, she took the child to the park and also to the hospital to visit Yu Xinyi’s daughter.

Yu Xinyi and Shu Chi were from the same hometown. The kids sat together watching TV while she and Shu Chi sat outside drinking tea.

She asked Shu Chi, “Everything okay lately?”

Though from the same hometown, ten or even eight villages apart still had differences. With Yu Xinyi as comparison, every time Shu Chi went home for the holidays, family would nag at her.

Even though she’d successfully started a business and was a boss now, in others’ eyes, Yu Xinyi still lived the best life.

But Shu Chi didn’t really care. She went back once a year, tops.

She nodded. “Pretty good.”

Yu Xinyi: “My mom came a while back and asked about you.”

Shu Chi: “Is that so?”

She asked again, “Auntie isn’t trying to set me up, is she?”

It was rare for her to show this expression. Yu Xinyi laughed. “Yeah, she worries a lot.”

Shu Chi and Yu Xinyi’s relationship had grown closer over the past few years. Families hadn’t known each other originally.

The power of shared hometowns was strong, fully on display in this regard. People could be overly enthusiastic sometimes, and one had to manage that.

Shu Chi’s face twisted. “No need, really.”

Yu Xinyi teased, “Don’t worry. After how your last blind date turned out, when people heard about setting you up, no one was willing.”

Shu Chi breathed a sigh of relief.

Yu Xinyi asked again, “I heard from Little Qi that you have a situation?”

The breath Shu Chi had just released came right back. Just then, Xiaohu came over to grab fruit and overheard, adding—

“Yes yes yes! It’s a pretty older sister!”

Yu Xinyi looked completely unsurprised by the gender.

Her eyes were full of teasing. “Really?”

Shu Chi’s scalp tingled. Nodding wasn’t right, shaking her head wasn’t either.

After a long pause, she finally sighed. “I don’t know.”

It seems… I don’t dislike Ding Ya. But can this be considered liking?