“Mommy, what are you doing?” Little Mingzhu tilted her head up and asked in confusion.
Pei Shijin looked down at Little Mingzhu. The child’s innocent puzzlement made her even more shy, her ears turning bright red. “Mommy… Mommy is palpating.”
Lu Yixue let out a puff of laughter, her warm breath spraying onto Pei Shijin’s palm, which burned so hot that she immediately pulled her hand away.
“I was going to say that I dreamed last night of constantly hurrying along a road, chasing the person ahead, but it felt like I could never catch up.” Lu Yixue restrained her smile and continued with a sorrowful expression.
Pei Shijin’s expression changed slightly. What did Lu Yixue mean by that? She pretended not to understand. “Then it’s best to let go of your obsessions. If you want a consultation, please sit down. If not, please leave and don’t hold up the people queuing behind you.”
The chair had been sat on by who knew how many people, and Lu Yixue, with her germaphobia, would never sit on it.
Lu Yixue seemed to see through Pei Shijin’s little scheme. She didn’t fuss or hesitate but sat down directly, placing her wrist on the pulse pillow. “Trouble you.”
Pei Shijin pursed her lips. If she shifted her gaze just a little to the side, she could see Little Mingzhu’s bright, eager eyes, as if urging her to hurry up.
She cleared her throat lightly and placed her fingers on Lu Yixue’s wrist, focusing her mind to take the pulse.
The pulse was much more steady and strong compared to a few days ago. Pei Shijin pondered for a moment. “There’s no problem. Since you feel like you’re not sleeping well, drink two doses of calming decoction. The calming decoction isn’t given out for free. If you need it, you can come to the clinic to get it prescribed.”
“Alright, thank you.” Lu Yixue placed the water cup she was holding with her other hand on the table and pushed a cup toward Pei Shijin.
Little Mingzhu beside her immediately explained, “Mommy, this is the sour plum soup we brewed for you! We specially chilled it in ice water! The cup was picked out by Mingzhu—it’s Superman! Mommy is even more awesome than Superman!”
Pei Shijin’s heart softened completely, and the words of refusal she had prepared wouldn’t come out. “Thank you, Mingzhu. Go find a spot in the rest area in the back and wait for Mommy, okay? Mommy will be off work soon.”
“Mm-hmm, we’re here to pick up Mommy from work!” Little Mingzhu said proudly, then looked toward Lu Yixue with a hey-hey. She hadn’t forgotten her lines as the little commentator.
Lu Yixue ruffled the little one’s head. “Very good.”
This woman was actually using Little Mingzhu’s sweet words to erode her defenses!
Pei Shijin watched as the two settled in the rest area behind her, and the next patient had already sat down in front of her. She took a sip of the sour plum soup and then focused on consultations.
When she was focused, time always passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, Pei Shijin realized there were no more residents in line—it was time to get off work.
The Superman cup on the table was already empty. In that short half hour, Pei Shijin had unwittingly drunk it all down.
It was delicious. She loved it and wanted more.
Once she packed up, they could head home. After a busy day, she didn’t want to waste off-work time on group dinners. Instead, she gave each person a five-hundred-yuan bonus to spend however they liked.
With Lu Yixue and Little Mingzhu’s help, Pei Shijin finished even earlier than usual.
“Mommy will take you to eat dinner—super tasty spicy hot pot.” Pei Shijin asked for Little Mingzhu’s opinion.
“Yay, yay!” The little one wasn’t picky and trusted her mommy’s taste. “Charge! Mingzhu is hungry.”
Pei Shijin didn’t ask Lu Yixue. If she didn’t want to go, that would be even better.
Naturally, Lu Yixue wouldn’t oblige her.
Song Zonghui used the excuse of preparing for a sharing session and asked Pei Shijin to help pack food for her, opting out of intruding on this family of three.
Before Pei Shijin could respond, she had already slipped away. Pei Shijin could only send her a message asking what dishes she wanted.
The family of three walked along the road, the setting sun stretching their shadows long and close together, intimate and sweet.
Along the way, Pei Shijin occasionally glanced at the dust and wrinkles on Lu Yixue’s expensive suit, wondering when they had gotten there.
Even her fair cheek had a smudge of dirt, as if pulling a fairy from the ninth heavens down to earth, adding a touch of “human smoke” to Lu Yixue.
Pei Shijin knew Lu Yixue’s germaphobia only applied when conditions allowed her to maintain the cleanest environment and most dignified appearance. When she pulled all-nighters on research breakthroughs, she could wear the same outfit for three or four days. When she got trapped during field surveys in the mountains, she could survive on raw meat and blood…
But Pei Shijin had never seen Lu Yixue voluntarily do menial chores. More likely, the Eldest Young Lady would hire a moving team and supervise leisurely from the side.
“Stop.” Lu Yixue grabbed the distracted Pei Shijin. If she hadn’t, Pei Shijin would have intimately collided with the telephone pole.
“Yeah, yeah, Mommy! Teacher taught us to watch the road when walking!” Little Mingzhu said sternly to Pei Shijin.
Pei Shijin’s face flushed red with embarrassment. “Sorry, Mommy was wrong.”
“Admitting mistakes and correcting them makes a good child! Awarding Mommy a red flower sticker~” Little Mingzhu covered her mouth and giggled. She had gotten to play teacher for once.
“What were you thinking about?” Lu Yixue asked casually, as if offhand.
“Nothing.” Pei Shijin showed clear rejection and resistance, so Lu Yixue didn’t press further.
Pei Shijin agonized alone for a moment before pulling a small pack of tissues from her pocket. “You have dirt on your face, left cheek.”
Lu Yixue took the tissues, pulled one out, and dabbed one corner against her face. “Here?”
“No, a bit more to the left.” Pei Shijin said.
“Here?” Lu Yixue’s finger jumped to the other side of the smudge.
After several back-and-forths, Lu Yixue’s finger moved like a master edging artist. She had known her face was dirty all along and was just waiting for Pei Shijin to notice.
Pei Shijin realized she was being teased.
She stopped talking, and the atmosphere grew a bit awkward.
“Wipe it for me, please, please.” Lu Yixue mobilized her facial expressions into a pleading, pitiful look.
This was one of the tactics she had summarized from multiple TV episodes, novels, and comics—if the other person liked you, they wouldn’t refuse ninety-nine percent of the time.
The power of the Eldest Young Lady acting cute was no less shocking than an iceberg exploding.
Pei Shijin’s heart raced so fast that her fitness tracker issued an alert—thankfully on vibrate mode, felt only by her.
She stiffly took the tissue from Lu Yixue’s hand and gently pressed it to her face, rubbing lightly.
Dry tissue didn’t work well; it only removed a layer of dirt, leaving more on Lu Yixue’s face.
Pei Shijin balled up the tissue and tossed it into the roadside trash bin. “Can’t wipe it off. Wash your face when we get to the shop.”
Her toss hit dead center, drawing cheers from Little Mingzhu, who wanted to try.
This greatly eased Pei Shijin’s embarrassment. She made another tissue ball for Little Mingzhu. “Give it a shot.”
“But it’s clean paper—such a waste~” Little Mingzhu was a thrifty good kid who wanted her red flower sticker!
Pei Shijin unfolded the tissue, quickly rubbed it on Lu Yixue’s face, balled it up again, and handed it to Little Mingzhu. “Now it’s dirty.”
The bewildered Lu Yixue: ?
How had this tender, flirtatious moment turned into this? Lu Yixue couldn’t figure it out and could only attribute it to Pei Shijin being the variable in her playbook.
Anyway, Little Mingzhu had a blast tossing it several times until the small pack Pei Shijin brought was all used up, ending with lingering excitement.
Pei Shijin clapped for Little Mingzhu, who hadn’t made a single hit. “After dinner, Mommy will take you to the night market, okay? We’ll play ring toss and balloon darts.”
“Yay!”
The three continued on. Little Mingzhu was originally in the middle, but Lu Yixue suddenly circled to the other side, leaning close to Pei Shijin. “Is my face clean now?”
Every tossed ball had rubbed against Eldest Young Lady Lu’s face, turning the dirty cheek thoroughly red.
“No, still needs washing.” Pei Shijin glanced at the cheek where the dirt was barely visible. Tissues definitely hadn’t cleaned it; she wasn’t lying.
“Okay.” Lu Yixue gave Pei Shijin a wistful look before returning to her original spot.
Pei Shijin shivered from that gaze. If she weren’t certain this was Lu Yixue, she would suspect the woman was possessed or swapped.
The odd expressions Lu Yixue made on this stretch of road probably exceeded all those from her previous twenty-plus years combined.
Full of human vitality—no, childlike liveliness.
Only Lu Yixue knew how much knowledge she had absorbed lately and the impact it had on her mind—not any less than her first twenty years.
The rest of the way passed without incident, and the three smoothly arrived at the spicy hot pot shop.
This shop had self-serve meats and veggies, an open kitchen, and hygiene standards top among nearby eateries.
It offered diverse flavors too—you could choose non-spicy tomato or bone broth bases that only shared the “hot” with spicy hot pot.
Pei Shijin chose bone broth for herself, coaxed Little Mingzhu into tomato, while Lu Yixue picked the original flavor.
The Eldest Young Lady rarely ate street food and wasn’t familiar with spicy hot pot.
She observed Pei Shijin’s ingredient choices. This dining style was great for gauging preferences—recommend inviting crushes to spicy hot pot.
Lu Yixue noted this major discovery in her mental little notebook.
For veggies, Pei Shijin took mostly baby bok choy and romaine hearts, over ten slices of potato, plenty of kelp, and just one each of others to seem balanced.
But for mushrooms, only enoki—no king oyster, shiitake, or button mushrooms. Probably didn’t like them.
Corn kernels, tofu, and duck blood: two or three pieces each—not too much, decent acceptance.
Meats were even: chicken, beef, fish, lamb all similar amounts, moderate like the corn.
Beef tendon balls and shrimp paste slightly more at four each, but still less favored than potatoes and veggies by volume.
For staples, Pei Shijin picked and chose, finally taking beef tendon noodles and potato vermicelli.
“Why didn’t you pick anything? Nothing you want to eat?” Turning to see Lu Yixue’s empty basin, Pei Shijin paused, her heart sinking. Still looked down on this kind of place?
Before Pei Shijin could spiral further, Lu Yixue grabbed tongs and loaded up a pile of shrimp paste. “I was just observing.”
Then she turned and grabbed a huge pile of beef—Lu Yixue was used to steak and thus favored beef.
For veggies, she preferred broccoli and loaded a pile.
Finally, she balanced with a little of everything, including unfamiliar items apparently called hot pot meatballs.
“Can you eat all that?” Pei Shijin eyed the heaping basin, doubting Lu Yixue had brought her brain.
Lu Yixue wasn’t particularly skinny—or rather, lean and toned. She looked paper-thin but had a layer of firm muscle over solid bones, with meat where it counted—great to the touch.
Despite her workaholic tendencies, she exercised two or three times a week and had trained in combat sports before.
“Can’t finish? Takeout. No waste—learn from our Mingzhu.” Lu Yixue smiled faintly.
“Du du du! Mingzhu will supervise Mommy and Mama!” Lu Mingzhu puffed out her little chest proudly.
“Alright.” What more could Pei Shijin say? She waited for them to finish selecting, then led them to weigh and pay.
Pei Shijin pulled out her phone to pay. The three together came to over two hundred eighty yuan—enough for her and Song Zonghui for two or three meals usually.
She’d see how many meals it took Lu Yixue to finish.
While waiting for the spicy hot pot to cook, the three found seats.
Little Mingzhu and Pei Shijin sat on one side, so Lu Yixue sat opposite Pei Shijin.
Their eyes met, silence hanging between them. Pei Shijin rubbed the seam of her pants, unsure what to do next.
She pulled out her phone, thinking to watch cartoons with Little Mingzhu, when Lu Yixue said, “Mingzhu, the gift for your mommy.”
“It’s right here!” While helping Mommy move things earlier, Lu Mingzhu had stashed the gift in her little backpack and forgotten about it amid the busyness.
“Ta-da-ta-da~” Little Mingzhu provided her own BGM as she pulled the gift box from her backpack. “Mommy, this is the lamp Mommy and I assembled together. It can keep you company while you sleep~”
Pei Shijin’s nose tingled. She had noticed the item Little Mingzhu was carrying early on and guessed it was a gift for her, but holding it now still moved her deeply.
Especially hearing it was handmade by the two of them—her heart melted. Having this daughter was one of the greatest fortunes of her life.
“Oh yeah, Mommy! Mommy and I moved to the building across from yours. Can you come live with us?” Little Mingzhu suddenly remembered the task her Mommy had given her and blurted it out.
Pei Shijin, who was deeply moved, widened her eyes. Damn it, at this moment, she really wanted to throw all caution to the wind and agree to Little Mingzhu.
