Chapter 8: Fun

Fu Xiao froze for several seconds, then said in a deadpan voice, “When I was practically on my knees begging you to give me a spin, where was your soft spot for me?”

Mu Qinglin replied, “Didn’t I just say it depends on the moment.”

Fu Xiao: “What moment?”

Mu Qinglin glanced at Zhou Yi’s retreating back and said, “Maybe when a crab suddenly stops walking sideways. When a little mutt suddenly stops barking. Or when a hedgehog suddenly stops bristling.”

Fu Xiao nudged the intern beside her who had come along to watch and learn, and asked in all seriousness, “Was what Sister Mu just said in human language?”

The intern’s mouth hung open for ages. “Uh…”

When Zhou Yi came back, the place was eerily quiet. Only the work area, separated by a single door, still had people passing through from time to time.

She didn’t think much of it.

This was the living area, after all. At most, only Tang Yuanzhou, Yang Ling, and her were ever here.

“Brother, I got the soy sauce,” Zhou Yi called toward the kitchen.

The words had barely left her mouth when Little Hei, who handled all the logistics and errands, pulled open the glass door connecting to the work area. He wedged his head between the door and the frame and said quietly, “Brother’s in a bad mood.”

Zhou Yi frowned.

Could it be that she came back too late and the pot really burned through?

“I’ll go check,” Zhou Yi said.

“Hey, you… never mind. Just be careful,” Little Hei sighed, pulling his head back in.

Zhou Yi was baffled.

It was just a pot. Was it really necessary to act like she was walking into certain doom?

She ambled leisurely toward the kitchen, only to be stopped in the doorway by Tang Yuanzhou’s roar: “Stay right there!”

Zhou Yi froze. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Yang Ling also wore a dead-serious expression.

That definitely wasn’t about a burned pot.

“What happened?” Zhou Yi asked cautiously.

Tang Yuanzhou’s expression was grim. “That day I was out, that bastard came looking for you again?”

So he was worried about her safety. “Relax, this time he didn’t even get a hand on me,” Zhou Yi said proudly.

Tang Yuanzhou: “Because Mu Qinglin was there?”

“How did you know?” Zhou Yi asked, surprised.

Yang Ling obligingly opened her phone, which displayed the surveillance feed from the shop’s entrance.

Except it wasn’t Mu Qinglin dealing with those thugs. It was Zhou Yi shutting Mu Qinglin, who had just helped her, outside the door with a smug look on her face.

That expression was honestly more punchable than the bastard and his goons combined.

…

“I must have had lard for brains,” Zhou Yi said immediately. She firmly believed in knowing when to bow to the times.

Tang Yuanzhou snorted coldly. “Don’t insult lard like that. No dinner for you tonight.”

“!!” Zhou Yi’s eyes went wide as dinner plates.

Tang Yuanzhou ignored her shocked expression, picked up an insulated food container from the stove, and handed it to her: “Braised spare ribs.”

Zhou Yi blinked, then immediately reached for it with both hands. “I knew you weren’t that heartless…”

“I am…” Tang Yuanzhou said. “These aren’t for you.”

“Then who?”

“Take them to the provincial TV station and apologize to Mu Qinglin.”

It felt like Zhou Yi had been kicked from a hundred feet up and shattered on impact. “She tricked me first!”

“She saved you first,” Tang Yuanzhou said impatiently. “Are you going or not?”

Seeing that Tang Yuanzhou was genuinely angry, Yang Ling quickly stepped in to mediate. “Little Jiu, that Miss Mu saved Yuanzhou before, and now she’s helped you. Morally and logically, you can’t treat her that way. We should have some conscience.”

Zhou Yi obviously knew all that. Why else would she have left such a big “thanks” on the door?

She glanced at Tang Yuanzhou, took the food container, and said, “Got it…”

Yang Ling patted Zhou Yi’s shoulder. “Hurry on, then…”

Her gaze swept over Zhou Yi’s wrist and she asked curiously, “What’s this?”

Zhou Yi shielded it with the food container and mumbled, “Nothing. I’ll go deliver this first.”

Zhou Yi strode quickly toward the exit.

The moment she hit the street, her pace immediately turned sluggish.

Was she really going to deliver it?

How humiliating.

But…

Zhou Yi tilted her head and looked at the hand tucked in her pocket.

With the wrist guard Mu Qinglin had given her, shoving her hands in her pockets no longer meant fumbling with sleeves for ages and ending up even colder than before.

She had also taken her to the affiliated high school today.

And that bastard…

“Ugh!” Frustrated, Zhou Yi channeled that burst of energy into a sprint all the way to the provincial TV station.

“Come to the front gate.” Zhou Yi messaged Mu Qinglin on WeChat.

Mu Qinglin was walking toward the cafeteria with Fu Xiao when she suddenly received this message. She casually typed back: 【?】

Zhou Yi: 【??】

Mu Qinglin: “…”

Mu Qinglin: 【Which front gate?】

Zhou Yi snapped a photo and sent it.

“Xiao, go ahead and eat. I need to step out for something,” Mu Qinglin told Fu Xiao.

Fu Xiao was exasperated. “Is there really that much public interest to cover that you can’t even spare time for a meal?”

“It’s not work-related…” Mu Qinglin said. “I’m going to meet someone at the entrance.”

Mu Qinglin went outside and searched for ages without finding any trace of Zhou Yi. The WeChat messages weren’t getting replies either, making her seriously suspect she’d been duped again.

“Sister Mu…” someone called out nearby. Mu Qinglin turned and saw Little Liu coming out to pick up a package. She casually asked him, “Have you seen Zhou Yi?”

“Zhou Yi?” Little Liu couldn’t place the name at first. After a few seconds of thought, it clicked. “Oh! That girl who’s super funny! She’s over in the guard booth chatting with Old Cai.”

“Old Cai?” Mu Qinglin thought she’d misheard.

Old Cai was past sixty. His daily routine consisted of sipping tea, listening to opera, and reminiscing about the old days. What could a young girl like Zhou Yi possibly have to chat with him about?

By the time Mu Qinglin made her way over, she finally understood what “getting along famously” meant. Old Cai’s face was a map of wrinkles from grinning, and Zhou Yi wasn’t much better, her smile stretching from ear to ear.

Knock knock! Mu Qinglin rapped on the glass window.

The old man and the young woman inside both turned to look at her.

Mu Qinglin nodded at Old Cai in greeting, then looked at Zhou Yi, whose face had gone completely blank. She crooked a finger at her and tilted her head toward the outside.

Mu Qinglin was certain her gesture was crystal clear, but Zhou Yi acted as if she hadn’t seen a thing. She turned back to Old Cai with another beaming smile.

Mu Qinglin was frustrated.

Why had she even come out here looking for trouble?

After the two of them chatted for a reluctant half-minute more, Mu Qinglin finally heard the door open.

Zhou Yi walked out carrying a white insulated food container and held it out to her. “Brother’s giving this to you.”

“Tang Yuanzhou?” Mu Qinglin was puzzled. “What’s this for?”

Zhou Yi couldn’t get the words out. “To apologize.”

Those four syllables reached Mu Qinglin’s ears as a flat, monotone buzz. She couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

“Cat got your tongue?” Mu Qinglin asked.

Zhou Yi shot her a dagger glare and ground out through clenched teeth, “To. Apologize!”

What on earth?

“Say it more clearly,” Mu Qinglin honestly didn’t take the container.

Zhou Yi’s arm ached from holding it up, so she shoved it into Mu Qinglin’s arms and explained unhappily, “It’s about that time I locked you outside. Brother saw it on the surveillance.”

So that was it. “Got scolded?” Mu Qinglin asked.

Her acquaintance with Tang Yuanzhou went back only as far as those few days in Southwest. They weren’t close, but one thing was certain: Tang Yuanzhou was a man of loyalty.

There was no way a guy like that would let Zhou Yi mess with his savior on his own turf, especially after said savior had stepped up to help.

Zhou Yi’s cover was blown, but she didn’t show an ounce of embarrassment. “Do I look like someone who’d just take a scolding?”

Weren’t you the one who came running to deliver food personally?

Mu Qinglin couldn’t say that out loud. It would only stir up trouble.

Right in front of Zhou Yi, Mu Qinglin unscrewed the lid of the food container. A rich aroma wafted out, making stomachs rumble with craving.

Not Mu Qinglin’s stomach.

Mu Qinglin’s gaze shifted from the beautifully braised ribs, traveled past Zhou Yi’s midsection, and settled on her face. “You want to take the container back today?”

Zhou Yi turned her face away and resolutely didn’t look. “Yes…”

“I eat really slowly. Can you wait?”

“Not to brag, but when it comes to perseverance, if I say I’m number one, no one in Red Gate Alley dares claim the title.”

“Alright then. Let’s go.”

“Where?”

Zhou Yi was led by Mu Qinglin to the parking lot.

“Standing around eating gives you indigestion. Want to wait up here?” Mu Qinglin rolled down the driver’s side window halfway and said to Zhou Yi, who stood outside with a dazed expression.

Zhou Yi climbed in with a big stride and scoffed, “Could you be any more high-maintenance?” It was just a few ribs. Was it worth walking nearly ten minutes to the car? And with the heater running!

…

It was kind of warm.

“Go ahead and eat…” Mu Qinglin passed over the food container.

Zhou Yi, who had been fiddling with the air vent, stopped and turned to look at Mu Qinglin. “What?”

Mu Qinglin: “I already ate. Not hungry.”

Zhou Yi smiled. “Then why’d you make me come all the way out here?”

Mu Qinglin: “If you bring it back untouched, can you explain that?”

That was indeed impossible.

Zhou Yi took the food container without ceremony, set it on her lap, and dug in with chopsticks.

Mu Qinglin watched the blissful expression on her face for a while, then silently took out her phone and sent Fu Xiao a WeChat message: 【Can you grab me a meal?】

Fu Xiao: 【Not coming back for a while?】

Mu Qinglin: “Mm.” With the way someone was gnawing every last bit of grease off the bones, she estimated she’d be here well past midnight.

Fu Xiao: 【/OK】

Mu Qinglin turned off her phone, spun it once on her fingertip, and suddenly spoke. “Zhou Yi…”

Zhou Yi didn’t even look up. “Hm?”

Mu Qinglin studied Zhou Yi’s profile, her expression uncharacteristically serious. “In certain situations, there’s no shame in yielding. Some people you can argue with all you want. Others, there’s absolutely no need to butt heads with.”

Zhou Yi understood what Mu Qinglin was getting at.

She gnawed on a rib, and a vivid scene from Red Gate Alley not long ago flashed through her mind.

“Was it really you who dealt with the bastard and his crew?” Zhou Yi asked.

Mu Qinglin leaned back and laughed. “How would I have that kind of power? They got arrested for their own crimes. However…”

“However what?”

“The people who arrested them were people I found,” Mu Qinglin said. “My colleague’s brother is a cop who happens to cover that area. I asked him to keep an eye on things for a few days.”

“Oh…” Zhou Yi chewed slowly at the meat in her mouth. “Why’d you ask him for help?”

Mu Qinglin set down her phone and turned up the heater a notch. “You really don’t know?”

Should she know?

Fine…

Mu Qinglin’s earlier comment about “yielding” had been pretty obvious. If Zhou Yi still couldn’t figure it out, her brain might as well go in a pot.

But those three words, was it for me, were too scalding to say.

After some thought, Zhou Yi played dumb and tossed the question back. “Respecting your elders and caring for the young?”

Mu Qinglin was surprised. “Where did you hear that?”

“I didn’t go looking. Your colleagues were chatting and I eavesdropped.”

“You know, you don’t have to say ‘eavesdropped’ so proudly.”

“Alright…”

“Is this conversation officially dead now?”

“No…” Zhou Yi turned to look at Mu Qinglin, her face earnest. “You still haven’t said whether it was because of respecting your elders and caring for the young. If so, you should be specific about who.”

Mu Qinglin was suffocating. This was worse than the conversation being dead.

Nobody would buy that “respect your elders” nonsense.

She wasn’t some saint.

“Stop staring. It was because of you.” Mu Qinglin pushed Zhou Yi’s head back, not letting her piercing gaze burn a hole through her.

Zhou Yi refused to be controlled and immediately turned back. “Like the wrist guard? Was that also to bribe me?”

Of course not. The bribe was just a convenient excuse.

Mu Qinglin replied in her mind, but what she said aloud was, “Sure, let’s go with that.”

“Tsk…” Zhou Yi’s look toward Mu Qinglin grew more and more disdainful. “You really think too much.”

“?!” Mu Qinglin really wanted to curse someone out.

Yes, she had called Fu Xiao that day because those thugs needed to be dealt with, and it had little to do with Zhou Yi. But at its core, wasn’t it because she’d seen too many miserable scenes of Zhou Yi getting manhandled?

Ungrateful wasn’t enough. Now she accused her of overthinking?

Heartless wretch.

Mu Qinglin rested one finger on the steering wheel, and as her gaze swept past Zhou Yi, she couldn’t keep her smart mouth in check. “Why don’t you just crawl into the food container and fish around?”

Zhou Yi, who was seriously fishing for ribs in the container, turned her face. “Do I look like a rice bucket to you?”

Well…

No.

A rice bucket didn’t look this good.

But aside from the nitpicking, she really had never seen anyone eat with such single-minded devotion, their head practically buried in the container.

Mu Qinglin’s silence confirmed Zhou Yi’s suspicion. Being someone who cared about face, Zhou Yi immediately slapped on the lid and went for the car door.

Mu Qinglin lunged sideways and grabbed Zhou Yi’s wrist. “No, you don’t!”

Zhou Yi didn’t believe her. “Then what did you mean by that?”

That she was just nitpicking?

Mu Qinglin could picture a hundred different ways Zhou Yi would blow up if she said that. She wasn’t stupid enough to pick a fight for no reason.

After a moment’s thought, Mu Qinglin came up with a different reason that was worded differently but probably close in meaning. “You’re fun to mess with.”

Zhou Yi let out a cold snort and said haughtily, “Fun or not, I’m not letting you play with me.”

With that, Zhou Yi got out of the car carrying the food container.

The first few steps were full of swagger, but the moment the wind hit, she immediately tucked her neck in like a turtle and ran off cursing under her breath.