Chapter 21: Shut Up Part 2

A wave of drowsiness hit Zhou Yi suddenly. She yawned compliantly and said languidly: “I’m not short on money, and I’m not in the same line of work. What would I do with your badge? Keep it and whip yourself to keep slaving away for work.”

Mu Qinglin hadn’t expected something already in someone’s hand to be given back. And the person returning it was shamelessly drifting off to sleep. This was quite the blow to her pride.

Maybe she should just pin it to her clothes?

Before she could, the person with tears glistening at the corners of their eyes mumbled sleepily, as if talking in their sleep: “Since you’re so capable, you shouldn’t spend your whole life as a small reporter. What a waste.”

Mu Qinglin froze. For a moment, the small, exquisite badge in her palm suddenly felt heavy, tugging at her heartbeat. Unbidden, Fu Xiao’s words from the return flight surfaced in her mind: “It took you two years to fully adapt to 《Safe Jiangping》, but only a week to adapt here. Have you thought about why?”

Outside, the wind had stopped. The rain was beginning to soften.

Mu Qinglin’s shoulders relaxed. Holding the badge in her palm, she asked the steadily breathing Zhou Yi, “You don’t want the gift. Does that mean you’re not angry anymore?”

Zhou Yi’s response was slow. Four or five seconds passed before she answered, “That’s impossible. I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”

“…”

“But you’re lucky you ran into someone like me who doesn’t hold grudges. As long as I don’t think about it, we can still get along fine.”

Zhou Yi pressed the hand warmer against her suddenly hungry stomach and turned her back to Mu Qinglin. “I’m hungry. When the IV’s done, you’re treating me to dinner. Once I eat well, I’ll forget about it today.”

That’s all?

Was Teacher Jiu being overly generous?

Heh…

Seems she really is a softie.

And a softie who can read people’s hearts with a single offhand remark.

Mu Qinglin looked down at the badge in her palm for a long time, then tucked it into the zippered pocket of her jacket.

After Zhou Yi finished her IV, Little Hu ordered her to stay for twenty minutes of observation before letting her go.

By then, sickly Zhou had recovered about half her energy. She led Mu Qinglin all the way to the skewer hot pot place across from the grain and oil shop, claiming you could see stars from the second floor.

Mu Qinglin really wanted to remind her that she shouldn’t be eating something this heavy while recovering, and that the sky had been overcast with rain for days. There were no stars to see.

Glancing up casually, she was surprised to find a genuinely glittering night sky, even more dazzling than the usual clear nights.

Mu Qinglin laughed softly, thinking this was the second “clearing after the rain” she’d encountered tonight.

Both courtesy of Teacher Jiu.

…

During these days of illness, Zhou Yi had survived on sheer willpower alone. Her stomach was completely empty. Mu Qinglin didn’t dare order the spicy pot Zhou Yi wanted. Instead, she got half mushroom broth and half tomato. Zhou Yi complained and picked at it the entire time.

Eventually, she must have grown tired of complaining. She slouched into the small chair lazily, hands stuffed in her pockets, biting the zipper of her puffer jacket and pulling it all the way up. The chair rocked back and forth to her rhythm.

Mu Qinglin hadn’t been off the long-haul flight for long and didn’t have much appetite either. After a few bites, she set down her chopsticks and ordered two beers, sipping slowly.

Zhou Yi finished counting a patch of stars and noticed. She asked lazily, “Why do you love drinking so much?” She drank during her tattoo recovery period, and now at hot pot too. The addiction was staggering.

Mu Qinglin rested one arm on her knee, the other wrist hanging down, fingertips lightly tapping the rim of her glass. “Ever heard of drowning your sorrows?”

“Uncultured. Never heard of it.” Zhou Yi roasted herself but didn’t spare Mu Qinglin either. “So you’re a bit broke. Big deal?”

Mu Qinglin paused, then smiled. “Yeah. Just a bit broke. How about Teacher Jiu treats this time?”

Teacher Jiu: “In your dreams…”

Zhou Yi glanced at the glass in front of Mu Qinglin and asked, puzzled, “Is it really that good?” She remembered it being spicy and easy to go crazy on if you drank too much.

Mu Qinglin held out her glass. “Want a sip?”

Zhou Yi immediately shrank half her face into her puffer jacket to hide, simultaneously pulling her chair back to create distance, making her position clear through action.

Mu Qinglin withdrew the glass and brought it to her own lips, finishing what was left. “Even if you wanted, I wouldn’t let you. Not just today.”

Zhou Yi stared at her. “Reason…”

Mu Qinglin: “Hoodlums are easy to deal with. Drunks are not.”

“I never should have given you a nice look.”

Zhou Yi rose mercilessly and walked off.

Seeing she couldn’t be stopped, Mu Qinglin called the boss to count the skewers and pay, which took a good five minutes.

She expected Zhou Yi to have bolted by the time she got out. Instead, she was leaning against the wall by the entrance, one leg bent, looking up at the sky. When she blinked, her lashes brushed against her slightly long bangs.

She knew how to wait for someone now. Talk about rapid progress.

Mu Qinglin thought with gratification.

Zhou Yi saw Mu Qinglin come out from the corner of her eye. She straightened up on her own and strolled forward.

Mu Qinglin followed quietly behind.

Near eleven o’clock, the people in Red Gate Alley gradually dispersed, leaving behind a ground full of somber loneliness.

Zhou Yi and Mu Qinglin walked over it, their long and short shadows occasionally crossing.

Passing the bun shop, Granny Miao was watching the provincial station’s evening news. As luck would have it, it was the very clip Mu Qinglin had shown Zhou Yi at the clinic.

Zhou Yi listened to a few lines she didn’t fully understand. The half-grasped resonance prompted her to ask Mu Qinglin something before she could think better of it. “Will you be going to that department in the future?”

Mu Qinglin: “Which one?”

“The one that dragged you on the trip.” Zhou Yi sidestepped a lifted tile, grumbled a couple of complaints at it, then continued: “You spend your days finding dogs for one household and cats for another. Just goofing off over there would already make you stand out. If the bosses aren’t blind, they’ll definitely want you.”

Mu Qinglin looked at Zhou Yi. “You think?”

Zhou Yi pouted. “What do you mean, ‘you think’? Whether you come across well on camera or not, shouldn’t you know best?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what?”

There was a hint of a smile buried in Mu Qinglin’s eyes. “You think I stand out?”

“I’m blind. Or you’re deaf.” Zhou Yi stepped up and down on the steps, denying it coolly.

Complimenting someone to their face was way too embarrassing. She had her pride.

Mu Qinglin didn’t give Zhou Yi a chance to dodge. She quickly hooked an arm around her neck and pulled her close, pressing against her. “So you really think I’m great?”

Zhou Yi couldn’t break free. She rolled her eyes and said, “Sister, you’re wonderful. Sister, you’re amazing. Sister, you’re so great I could croak. Now can you have some shame and go back to being the low-key guardian of cats and dogs?”

“You’ve found me out. How am I supposed to keep a low profile now?” Mu Qinglin leaned on Zhou Yi, doubled over from the way Zhou Yi’s “on the verge of losing it” tone made her laugh so hard.

Zhou Yi wanted to squat down right there and catch Mu Qinglin off guard, since she was using her like a walking stick. But as her gaze swept over Mu Qinglin’s face, she changed her mind.

She really was eye-catching.

Though her smile had no dignity to speak of, it somehow looked even better than her composed, effortless appearance in front of a camera.

…

Zhou Yi lowered her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, deciding to let the insufferable woman gloat a little longer.

Once Mu Qinglin tired of laughing, she rested her chin on Zhou Yi’s shoulder and said, “Zhou Yi, there’s something I don’t know if I should bring up.”

Zhou Yi: “Spit it out.”

Mu Qinglin pulled her hand from her pants pocket and held it against Zhou Yi’s waist to gauge. “With your height, if you jumped, do you think you could clear my knee?”

“??” Who was she looking down on?

Zhou Yi moved Mu Qinglin’s hand, which had changed from hooking to draping across her front, and guided it around behind her.

Mu Qinglin was confused and wanted to turn around.

Zhou Yi: “Keep walking forward.”

Mu Qinglin: “Then what are you doing back there?”

Zhou Yi’s gaze traveled down to the back of Mu Qinglin’s knee. She flexed her ankle and said seriously: “Testing whether I can clear your knee by jumping.”

Mu Qinglin: “The knee is in the front…”

Before the word “front” could leave her lips, Mu Qinglin’s right leg buckled violently. She stumbled and started to go down. Luckily, no one was in front of her. She swayed for two steps and barely caught herself. Turning around, Teacher Jiu’s chin was slightly raised, her face full of defiance. “Clear the knee?”

More than clear. With just a casual move of hand or foot, Teacher Jiu had her completely at her mercy.

Mu Qinglin let out a long sigh and took out her phone to check the time.

Seeing the new WeChat notification icon, she walked up to Zhou Yi and tapped her arm. “Can I open the door to your WeChat dungeon now?”

Zhou Yi tucked her arm away to dodge, then shrugged. “My hand says it’s too tired to tap.”

Mu Qinglin: “My hand says it can handle it.”

“…” Zhou Yi glanced at Mu Qinglin and kept walking.

Not refusing meant agreeing?

Mu Qinglin grasped the deeper meaning and quickened her pace. “I’ll fish it out myself?”

Zhou Yi the Mute said nothing.

Mu Qinglin observed for a moment, then cautiously reached into Zhou Yi’s pocket.

Inside, her soft little hand was clenched into a fist. This was her standard winter routine, using the pitiful warmth of her palm to heat her fingertips.

The phone was squeezed to one side by her fist.

Mu Qinglin only needed to pinch a corner to pull it out easily.

“Show your face…” Mu Qinglin held the phone up to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi, hating the cold, tucked her chin into her jacket and refused to look up. She mumbled at her: “Six nines.”

“What?”

“The password…”

Mu Qinglin tapped it in. Sure enough.

She quickly navigated the WeChat blocklist while making small talk to distract Zhou Yi, just in case she changed her mind.

“Is nine your lucky number?” Mu Qinglin asked.

Zhou Yi: “No…”

“Then why is your password all nines, and your name is Little Jiu?”

“My parents’ birthdays are in September. They got married in September. They found out they had me in September. Little Jiu is the nickname they gave me.”

Zhou Yi spoke without the slightest hesitation, and her voice gave nothing away. But for some reason, when Mu Qinglin saw her tip her head back and count the faint points of light in the distant sky one by one, the quietness of her profile made it feel like a silent storm was raging inside her.

Mu Qinglin turned off the phone and slipped it back into Zhou Yi’s pocket.

Before withdrawing her hand, she turned it over, nudged one finger aside, and checked the temperature.

Cold as always.

“Missing them?” Mu Qinglin asked.

Zhou Yi curled her fingers back and let out a soft laugh. “What’s there to miss about dead people?”

Mu Qinglin said nothing.

If dead people weren’t worth missing, then why were her eyes, hidden deep in the darkness, quietly reddening?

When the two got back to Buddha Demon, Tang Yuanzhou had been waiting anxiously for a while.

Hearing the door open, he came over immediately. “Why so late?”

Zhou Yi pointed at Mu Qinglin with her chin. “She eats slowly.”

The practiced blame-shifting showed no trace of unusual emotion. This version of Zhou Yi was best left undisturbed.

Mu Qinglin could only accept it humbly. “My fault…”

The truth was that someone had been enchanted by counting stars and couldn’t tear herself away. How would a recently pardoned sinner dare to rush her?

Tang Yuanzhou was no fool. He naturally didn’t believe Zhou Yi, but he couldn’t be bothered to ask and went straight to scolding. “Are you going up to clean up and sleep or not? Your health barely improves and you want to act up again?”

For once, Zhou Yi didn’t talk back. After dawdling on the way home, her nose was indeed feeling chilly.