Chapter 23: Can a Girl Truly Be with Another Girl? Part 3

Released on December 31, 2025

After a moment, someone in a white coat sat down beside her, saying casually, “Got everything settled? Old Li said he saw you walking, so I guessed you’d be here.”

“Mingfang.”

Zhang Mingfang sat cross-legged, propping her chin on one hand. Hearing this, she shot her a glance. “What’s wrong? Had a change of heart?”

But the woman leaned back, lying on the grass. The sunlight filtered through the pine needles above, leaving a mottled pattern on her face, hiding her emotions at the corners of her eyes.

She spoke in a faint tone. “Luck will choose me, right?”

“…”

Zhang Mingfang turned to look at her for a long time. “Of course.”

“Lin Wanjia, next winter, let’s take the little one and go climb Tianshan.”

Lin Wanjia kicked her side and laughed. “You sure have big dreams! It’s not ‘far,’ but we’d have to take a train to Lanzhou, then into Urumqi. It’s dozens of hours! If you want to go, go by yourself. I’m not going.”

Zhang Mingfang lowered her eyes and sighed softly.

Yes, why is it so far? Why is it so slow? Why won’t time give me any?

She tugged on the woman’s arm.

“Fine,” the woman conceded. “I’ll go with you. Let’s make a deal: the turn of the millennium. We’ll spend New Year’s on Tianshan. How about it?”

“…Alright.”

The crowd dispersed, Lin Wanjia was gone, and the shop gradually grew quiet.

It was a workday, and there was still some time before noon. Only the occasional idle passerby wandered in to ask about prices; one person was enough to handle them.

Yue Chengqi hadn’t finished organizing the stock, so she focused on looking around the room, trying to get a clear picture of the “territory” Lin Wanjia had left behind.

Though it was a grocery and produce store, the vegetable portion wasn’t large. It consisted mostly of long-lasting items like radishes that didn’t require daily restocking. This was understandable; since Lin Wanjia was alone, vegetables required going to the market before dawn, while fruit was mostly picked up in the afternoon. Other general goods were delivered. She had clearly made a calculated choice.

A choice based on balancing effort and gain.

Yue Chengqi categorized the goods on paper—she had only been a clerk before and hadn’t cared about these things, but now that they were in charge, she began a more detailed reorganization.

This process made her realize Lin Wanjia’s other purpose for keeping this prime location: she was using it as the prototype for a community store.

In 1998 An City, the concept of a “community” wasn’t yet mature, and the idea of building commercial zones around residential areas was still in its infancy. But Lin Wanjia’s current method was the embryonic form of a community shop. She had even paved the way; when community groups formed in the future, she could move her shop and be several steps ahead of everyone else with a stable customer base and substantial profits.

This person is the real commercial genius. Perhaps Su Ye was only inspired by her to do everything that followed.

A genius like that…

Yue Chengqi bit the end of her pen, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy.

Her head received a heavy swat. The girl scolded, “Don’t bite your pen! Those things are toxic!”

“That was debunked ages ago. It’s not toxic.”

Su Ye glared at her. “Debunked where? Show me!”

Chengqi forgot. There were no cell phones or internet now. Families poor enough didn’t even have TVs; they were living through hard times, having to mooch off Lin Wanjia’s TV.

Yue Chengqi ducked her head, surrendering, and silently put down the pen.

Su Ye said wistfully, “So, we’re the shopkeepers now?”

Yue Chengqi: “To be precise, we’re laborers.”

Su Ye glared again. “You’re my* laborer! Don’t forget what you called me the first time you saw me.”

Yue Chengqi went silent.

If Su Ye hadn’t reminded her, she really would have forgotten this was her aunt. Su Ye was just too lively—so lively it made her dazed.

In the later years, she would never have heard Su Ye jumping around like that, cursing someone until they wanted to bury themselves in the dirt.

The younger girl took this silence as submission and huffed, lying back. “We can finally discuss how to do business.”

Yue Chengqi looked at her.

She watched those big eyes sparkling, looking at her with genuine sincerity.

A strange silence fell between them. The one who had started the topic was still looking at her, but the expectation in her eyes gradually turned into confusion. She tilted her head. “Can’t you say it?”

“…?”

Su Ye’s intention was to hear this mysterious person talk about how she should do things. After all, this person seemed to know more. But when she truly wanted to rely on her, the other girl just looked blank.

Chengqi just stared back with those big eyes, filled with confusion.

Hey, come to think of it, Yue Huan’s eyes are actually quite beautiful.

There wasn’t much makeup to enhance them; her eyebrows were dark and thick in just the right way, the corners of her eyes tilted up slightly, and her pupils were a shallow black with a glint in the center. For a moment, it seemed even her blinking slowed down.

From the corner of her eye, Su Ye could see Chengqi’s well-shaped nose; the bridge was tall, giving her face a much more three-dimensional look.

It seems… she really is…

Quite good-looking.

Su Ye blinked slowly, then suddenly averted her gaze.

Her heart was about to leap out of her chest. Why was she suddenly so nervous?

Yue Chengqi snapped out of it at the same moment, rubbing her temples. “Oh, you were asking me how to manage the shop…”

She turned her head, adopting a very relaxed tone. “We’ll just take it as it comes. It’s my first time in full charge too. I don’t know.” Only she knew how flustered she was internally.

Su Ye pressed a hand to her chest and gave a quiet “Oh.”

The air fell back into a strange silence until—

“Yue Huan!” / “Su Ye, I have a question for you!”

They turned their faces almost simultaneously. The moment their eyes met, they quickly looked away again.

Su Ye spoke first. “You go first. You seem more urgent.”

Yue Chengqi: “I wanted to ask, since Sister Wanjia lends money to so many people or rents out stalls at low prices, why does that Zhao Qiang next door hate her so much?”

The moment she finished, Su Ye slammed her hand onto the chair’s armrest, completely shattering the previous romantic atmosphere. She said through gritted teeth, “That guy is a shameless piece of work!”

“He wasn’t originally a live-in son-in-law, but he didn’t have money to marry a wife. He heard somewhere that Sister Wanjia was kind, so he came to borrow from her. Of course she wouldn’t lend it! Sister basically only lends money to help girls. Even if it’s a couple, she writes on the IOU that the money is lent to the woman for her own use. That scumbag couldn’t get the money but wanted to climb into Auntie Zhu’s shop, so he just threw caution to the wind and became a live-in son-in-law. Then he started badmouthing Sister Wanjia… talking about it makes me angry again! Don’t stop me, I’m going to trash his shop!”

Yue Chengqi quickly lunged forward to wrap her arms around Su Ye’s waist, patting her soothingly. She praised, “Sister Wanjia truly is a good person. Don’t get tangled up with such a creep.”

“Besides, in the future for all of us, he won’t be there.”

Su Ye calmed down instantly.

Calmed down a bit too much.

She pulled out of Yue Huan’s embrace and looked into those eyes. “What you told that doctor, the future of 2023?”

Yue Chengqi didn’t admit it, but she didn’t deny it either.

“Is it real?”

Still, there was only silence.

Su Ye watched her, cupping Chengqi’s face. “In that future, am I there?”

“Yes.”

The next question came with a trembling, quiet voice. “Are you there?”

“…Yes.”

“And… Sister Wanjia?”

Yue Chengqi squeezed out a smile. “Yes.”

Su Ye’s lower eyelids instantly turned red. She gripped Chengqi’s jaw. “It’s real, right?”

Yue Chengqi looked at her, her lips twitching slightly. She said, “It’s fake.”

I’m sorry, Auntie Su Ye.

It wasn’t entirely fake, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. She didn’t yet know the consequences of letting her know everything. She couldn’t admit it.

Her eyes were clear, seemingly trying to use a very sincere look to make Su Ye believe her. But the words that left her mouth were accompanied by a laugh—a cold and stinging one. She chuckled, “How are you so easy to fool?”

“…Get lost!” The girl kicked her in the leg, laughing dryly. “You dead liar! I hope you lose every penny in business!”

Yue Chengqi went silent, then said gloomily, “Then won’t you lose too?”

Su Ye was so choked up with rage she had to stomp her feet several times to clear her chest. She shouted, “Go away! Honestly, you’re so annoying!” She grabbed a nearby cushion and hurled it into Chengqi’s arms, gritting her teeth. “Tomorrow I’m going back out to sell things on the move. You look after the shop yourself. I can’t stay still!”

Yue Chengqi nodded innocently.

The more innocent she looked, the angrier it made Su Ye—angry enough to want to bite her.

Just a little bit more, just a tiny bit, and Su Ye would have told her the secret that she knew she wasn’t an ordinary person—after all, her entrance was so miraculous. But this bad person was actually teasing her on purpose! Teasing her was one thing, but then she turned it around and shut her down. This person was truly…

Too wicked!

The girl in her green youth naturally wanted to protect those she cared about by keeping their secrets. She’d nearly been tricked into revealing one, and the person she cared about was intentionally upsetting her. It made her fiery temper flare even higher. She paced the room twice and waved her hand dismissively. “I’m going out. I’m going right now.”

Yue Chengqi didn’t know why she was angry—rather, she often didn’t know why Su Ye suddenly got mad—but she still took two quick steps to stop her, asking, “What were you going to ask when you called my name?”

Su Ye glared at her fiercely. “None of your business! I’m not telling you. You missed your chance!”

She wasn’t about to say that in that moment, she wanted to ask why Chengqi protected her so much, or if she was one of those “homosexuals.” As for now… ask my foot! Go live the rest of your life alone!

Yue Chengqi: “…” So just because she said she was easy to fool, it ended like this?

But the girl had already rushed out with her organized boxes. Yue Chengqi raised her hand but couldn’t stop her. After a long moment, she lowered her hand and let out a soft sigh.

I’m sorry.

But letting someone know the ups and downs of the future beforehand… I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

She was afraid of hurting Su Ye. she didn’t dare.

But she would have to say it eventually. She needed to think more about how to tell her.