Chapter 15: That’s Right, We’re a Team Now

Perhaps because Zhang Mingfang’s disdain was so obvious, her words left Yue Chengqi speechless for a long moment. It wasn’t until the woman came over to pull the IV needle out that Yue Chengqi let out a dissatisfied huff. “I think it sounds great. It’s much better than ‘Little Aunt’ or just ‘Auntie.'”

She had called her that since she was a child, and Su Ye liked it too. Su Ye always said it set her apart from all the other aunts—it was good, it was unique.

This is a title exclusive to Auntie Su Ye. You’re not allowed to dislike it!

“As long as you like it, it’s fine,” Zhang Mingfang said, dismissively patting Yue Chengqi’s head. “Anyway, we talked about making something delicious, but Little Su Ye got busy and another day has passed. How tragic.”

“I’ll cook for you,” Yue Chengqi offered. “I should make dinner for the two of them anyway.”

Zhang Mingfang looked shocked. “You? Stay in bed! You spent all of yesterday burning with a fever of thirty-nine degrees. You absolutely cannot catch a chill today, or all our hard work will go down the drain if that fever comes back.”

She sighed, resigned. “Since things have come to this, I’ll go do it.”

“Do you know what they like to eat? Especially Sister Wanjia—she has a rather strong palate.”

Zhang Mingfang let out a cold laugh. “Of course I know.”

Yue Chengqi pressed her luck. “You really like Sister Wanjia, don’t you?”

Unfortunately, the pursuit failed. Zhang Mingfang reached out and ruffled the hair atop Yue Chengqi’s head, her voice softening as if she were coaxing a toddler. “Big sister likes you too, okay? I like all of you.”

Her face was a mask of perfunctory indifference. She was clearly just humoring a child.

“Besides, haven’t you been to the market yet? Let me tell you, your Sister Wanjia is the jewel of that market. Everyone loves her, and I’m certainly no exception.”

But that wasn’t the kind of “liking” Yue Chengqi wanted to ask about. she could clearly sense something beneath Zhang Mingfang’s words—something deeper, more secret. It was hidden in the fleeting loneliness that flickered when she spoke, and in the grievance buried deep in her eyes.

Because they were of the same kind, one could recognize the other’s pain.

Still, does this woman really take me for a child who understands nothing? Su Ye is the one who’s the oblivious child here, alright?

Yue Chengqi suppressed her frustration.

She didn’t have a habit of prying, but she wanted to know exactly what kind of existence Lin Wanjia was. Why was there no trace of this person in the year 2023?

She was a truly mysterious woman.

Then there was that handwritten book. Zhang Mingfang’s handwriting wasn’t that neat, and she had never seen Lin Wanjia’s writing…

Could Lin Wanjia have written it for Su Ye? It would be normal for someone so beloved, someone who left things behind, to be treated like an untouchable White Moonlight, wouldn’t it?

Yue Chengqi asked casually, “Are there any writers in our alley?”

Zhang Mingfang barked a laugh. “What’s going on in that little head of yours? Who here would be that artsy?”

“You’ve clearly been idle at home for too long. Since your fever is down, go out for a stroll when you have time.”

“…”

“I’m off. Stay in bed and be good.”

Zhang Mingfang left without looking back, leaving Yue Chengqi alone to sigh in despair. The only lead had gone cold. She couldn’t exactly go and ask Su Ye directly, could she?

It was past nine in the evening when Su Ye finally returned. She was so exhausted that she collapsed onto the bed, unwilling to move even an inch. Even when food was brought to her lips, she couldn’t bring herself to eat; she didn’t even have the strength to open her mouth.

Yue Chengqi kept the food warm with hot water and sat gently by the bedside. “Rest for a bit, then get up and eat?”

The girl rolled over listlessly, staring at the ceiling with vacant, misty eyes. “I don’t want to eat. I’m so tired.”

She hadn’t gone out with her stall for a few days, and after a full day of hauling goods today, her physical strength had clearly failed her. It seemed one really couldn’t afford to be idle for too long.

Yue Chengqi sat down beside her, taking one of her arms and gently massaging it. “Let’s go together tomorrow,” she said softly. “We can take both the tricycle and the bicycle. It’ll be easier, and we can earn more.”

The girl nudged her waist lazily. “Massage my legs.”

Yue Chengqi obediently shifted her position and lifted one of Su Ye’s legs, gently kneading the calf muscle. The scratches from before hadn’t fully healed; they had scabbed over, but after today’s exertion, there were faint traces of fresh blood seeping through.

Seeing this, Yue Chengqi reached for the disinfectant nearby. “Let me do the work tomorrow,” she murmured. “You need to let your legs recover.”

“I’m not that fragile… Hiss, gentler…”

The girl cushioned her head with her hands, her gaze fixed on the ceiling. Her voice softened. “Yue Huan…”

No one answered.

“Yue Huan?”

The person being called only then realized she was the one being addressed—it had only been a few days, and she still wasn’t fully used to the name. She quickly responded.

Su Ye didn’t press the issue, only sighing. “Do you know a lot of things that I don’t?”

Thump-thump.

Yue Chengqi’s heart skipped a few beats. She bit the tip of her tongue. “I suppose? Why the sudden question?”

Didn’t she refuse to believe me before? Why the sudden desire for confirmation? Is she planning to back down and agree with what I’ve been saying…

Her mind began to race, already thinking of how to draft a transition plan for the business, completely forgetting the blurred words Su Ye had whispered while she was sick.

Words about her appearance, about her very existence.

In truth, Yue Chengqi had been unable to hide certain things from the start, but she didn’t know that. Instead, she was still racking her brain for a tactful, acceptable way to let Su Ye know more about the future.

Yue Chengqi thought for a moment and nodded. “I do know some things. But I’m not a bad person, and I’m not a monster. Are you willing to listen?”

The air fell silent. Their breathing grew light. Only their eyes, filled with their own separate worries, collided for a fleeting second before darting away, sinking into an even deeper silence.

Su Ye propped herself up halfway, her lower lip pulled tight, staring fixedly at the woman before her.

After a long time, she flopped back onto the bed, her black hair scattering across the mattress. She spread her arms wide, paralyzed against the bed as she stared at the ceiling. “Whatever,” she said blankly. “This world… let it be what it is.”

Yue Chengqi’s heart stirred. “Did something happen today?”

To make the energetic, money-driven Su Ye this despondent, the trouble must have been immense.

Su Ye asked, “If a very pitiful person came to steal your business, how would you treat her?”

“Wang Mingming?”

The girl shot up instantly. “You know her? Why would you think of her?”

Yue Chengqi frowned. “It really is her?”

“Answer me first,” Su Ye demanded.

“…It’s complicated.” If she spoke, she would inevitably have to talk about the future. She was worried that whatever entity prevented her from even speaking her real name would punish her if she spoke directly about future events.

Su Ye sighed. “Never mind then, don’t say it. It’s not her. Although she’s annoying, she runs her own clothing store now and is doing quite well. She wouldn’t come to steal my business.”

“Then who is it?”

“A girl from the market with the same background as me. She started riding a cart and selling things just these past two days. Every path she takes is a path I’ve already carved.”

She hadn’t expected that taking a two-day break would result in a competitor. Today, as she traveled through the streets and alleys, many people asked if her business had expanded, why she had two helpers now, and why the “other one” wasn’t lacking any stock and wouldn’t accept her recommendations.

She hadn’t earned much today. She was incredibly frustrated and felt an increasing sense of exhaustion.

Yue Chengqi switched to the other leg and asked gently, “So, what are your thoughts?”

Su Ye’s eyes shifted, and the rims turned red. “I… I actually think it’s a good thing. After all, it helps those who live further away. It’s good. But I’m just so… so frustrated.”

Watching her own customers become someone else’s, watching her money be earned by someone else—it was truly infuriating.

This frustration affected her productivity. Her extreme fatigue today was largely tied to this incident.

A finger reached out, gently wiping away a stray tear.

Yue Chengqi looked at the moisture on her fingertip, feeling helpless. “Why are you crying again? Let me see if those swollen eyes have made you ugly!” She reached out to turn Su Ye’s face toward her, teasing her.

The soft touch of a fingertip against the lower eyelid was enough to make one dazed; when it touched the cheek, a moment of startling clarity was followed by an instinctive urge to recoil.

“Yue Huan!” Su Ye barked playfully. She leaned forward slightly and bit down directly on the other woman’s finger, mumbling, “Don’t touch my eyes again.”

The fingertip trembled, accidentally slipping past those red lips. In the next second, it snapped back as if struck by lightning. Yue Chengqi pulled her hand back, clutching it to her chest.

She looked as if she had just seen a ghost.

Su Ye was stunned. “What’s wrong??” Why such a big reaction?

Yue Chengqi steadied her nerves. “…Nothing. I just touched your feet with this hand. It’s dirty.”

She silently rubbed her fingertip, hiding her hand away more discreetly. She forced herself to grip her own finger, holding down the pulsating blood vessel, forcing herself to calm down. “Continue,” she said with forced tranquility. “Do you have a plan to deal with it?”

Su Ye looked at her for a long time, not understanding her panic. She eventually lay back down and muttered, “She can do her business. I’m just a bit annoyed; I can’t exactly stop her from working.”

“We’ll just mind our own business. I’ll go see if there’s any work to be found in the Southside.”

Yue Chengqi looked at her, suddenly overcome with the urge to hug her, but she couldn’t. That would overstep the bounds of their current relationship. As it stood, even leaning closer required a great deal of mental preparation.

She could only increase the pressure of the massage to soothe the girl’s aches. “It’s okay to be frustrated,” she said quietly. “Don’t try to be a saint.”

If you aren’t a saint, that girl Wang Mingming probably wouldn’t dare to copy your business model and designs so shamelessly later on.

Su Ye looked at the wooden beams above. “Yue Huan, is the future definitely on the path of settling down into a stable business?”

Just hearing those words made it seem like the only way. After all, “stable” and “fixed” paired together meant “longevity.”

It sounded reliable.

But settling down meant losing many opportunities. She didn’t know if long-term stability was better, or if wandering around chasing opportunities was the way. For a twenty-year-old, this question was far too advanced.

To her surprise, Yue Huan didn’t rush to convince her this time. The woman paused for a moment, then said warmly, “The future is indeed on that path, but you don’t need to rush toward it so desperately.”

“There are two of us now. You aren’t fighting this battle alone anymore. You keep doing your daytime business, and I’ll handle the night shift for Sister Wanjia. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Su Ye pondered for a long time before she finally smiled. “How did I manage to trap myself in my own head? You’re right. We’re a team now.”

“Actually,” Su Ye said. “I lied to you.”