Chapter 41: I Want Candy, Come Pick Me Up, Okay? Part 1

If she could, Yue Chengqi wished time would rewind fifteen minutes. She wanted to give her past self—the one who had suggested walking with Yue Wenfeng—a solid thrashing.

What was I thinking? She and Yue Wenfeng hadn’t had anything to say to each other for years. Even having returned to the past and meeting this younger version of her mother, she still didn’t know how to bridge the gap.

What should they talk about? Work? Life? Her dating life? That was even more unrealistic. As a lesbian, she didn’t know the first thing about heterosexual romance!

Argh! Why throw such a difficult problem at me? Can’t I just leave right now?

Yue Chengqi walked with her head down, hands shoved in her pockets, lost in her own world until someone called out to her.

Yue Wenfeng sped up a few steps and grabbed her arm. “Kid, look where you’re going! There’s a huge pit right in front of you. Can’t you see it?”

“Ah, ah…” Yue Chengqi stumbled back a few steps as she was pulled away, dazed. Once she regained her footing, she realized she had been standing right on the edge of a construction hole.

She was so distracted she hadn’t even noticed her surroundings, yet the person walking behind her, despite the distance, had been keeping a close eye on her.

This wasn’t like Su Ye, who treated her specially because she suspected a secret identity. This was simply Yue Wenfeng instinctively sparing a sliver of her attention for her—even though she was technically a stranger.

It was because Yue Wenfeng was inherently good. Her mother was a wonderful person; it was life that was cruel. It was the hardships and the grinding years that had slowly worn her down into the person she became later.

But a mother wasn’t born a mother. Before that, she was just a happy, lovely young girl.

Yue Chengqi sniffled.

Yue Wenfeng patted her chest. “My goodness, what a scare! You came to keep me company. If you’d fallen in, I would have felt so guilty!”

“…I’m fine,” Yue Chengqi said slowly. “What about you? Are you tired?”

“Not at all. It’s just a few steps.”

The ice was broken. Yue Chengqi no longer kept her head down. she tilted her head slightly, looking at that familiar face, and tried to sustain the conversation.

“Why haven’t you bought a car? The commute from work to home isn’t exactly short.”

Yue Wenfeng raised an eyebrow. “I’m saving money! Besides, it’s just a short walk. There’s no need.”

Yue Chengqi probed, “For… marriage preparations?”

Yue Wenfeng laughed. “You… are you even a young person? Your thinking is so backward! I’m saving for myself, of course. So I can live a better, more independent, and freer new life. Marriage? Does that even require me to prepare? If it does, it means the man is useless. I’d be better off kicking him to the curb. Anyway, the next one will be even better.”

“…” Yue Chengqi was stunned. Holy cow, this is… this is so progressive. Did my mother really say things like this when she was young?

Help! Why is it that after coming back to the past, I’m finding that everyone is completely different from how they turned out in the future?

Yue Wenfeng asked, “Why’d you stop talking? Are you tired?”

Yue Chengqi snapped back to reality and replied, “A little. It’s been a long day. I’m… actually a bit dizzy from work.”

“Don’t push yourself so hard next time. You’re young; you have plenty of time to hustle. It’s no loss to earn a little less now. Otherwise, when you reach my age, you’ll just lament how quickly time fades.”

“…How old are you?”

“Almost thirty. Compared to you youngsters, I’ve really accomplished nothing.”

“…No, you’re amazing. You’ve put in so much effort to give us such a good business environment. Huh? Why did we stop?”

Yue Chengqi looked back. The woman’s eyes were sparkling as she asked softly, “Do you really think what we do is beneficial for your business?”

Yue Chengqi meant it. She had no reason to lie about this, nor did she need to flatter her. She nodded firmly.

The woman finally smiled and hurried forward. “That’s good. Thank you.”

“I’m here. Wait a moment, I’ll have Old Cheng drive you home. It’s not safe for a girl to walk alone at night.”

Yue Chengqi came to a halt and nodded. “I’ll wait for you.”

She stood in the shadow of a streetlamp, watching Yue Wenfeng break into a light jog. Her eyes stung. She couldn’t help but think of the topic every child eventually ponders—

If my mother had never entered that soul-crushing marriage, things would be better.

If my mother had chosen not to have me, things would be better.

Her relationship with Yue Wenfeng had been a standard mother-daughter dynamic, filled with both laughter and pain. She just didn’t know which year it was when they had fallen into that state of silence—where communication dwindled and arguments multiplied.

The “future” arguments still felt vivid. If everything could be snuffed out from the start, she would rather… no, that wasn’t right.

Yue Chengqi shook her head vigorously.

Stop overthinking!

A person had to go through experiences to become themselves. She had no right to deprive someone else of their invitation to the ball. Besides, she couldn’t stop it anyway… speaking of which, she hadn’t had a proper chat with Qi Sheng in days. She should talk to her tomorrow.

The invitations to the ball had already been sent out. How could she, the other lead dancer, not show up?

While lost in thought, Yue Chengqi saw Yue Wenfeng greeting a tall man in the distance. She watched them share a bag of snacks, laughing, seemingly discussing the future.

That was her father. The father who had been dead for fourteen years.

The girl took a step back, turning to walk deeper into the shadows.

People destined to meet would always meet again. There was no rush for this moment. Tonight, she would let the two of them have their time together.

Meanwhile, Yue Wenfeng stuffed two packs of biscuits into Cheng Pingshan’s hands and said, “Old Cheng, a young girl came with me. Let’s drop her off at home together, okay?”

Cheng Pingshan grinned foolishly. “That sounds great! I’m just getting off work. Call her over.”

Cheng Pingshan went into the car to change his clothes, while Yue Wenfeng turned back toward the streetlamp—

Eh? Where is she? Did she leave on her own?

Cheng Pingshan came out of the car and saw her still standing there. He asked, “Where’s the kid?”

Yue Wenfeng whispered, “She seems to have left.”

“I don’t know why, but she gives me such a familiar feeling. I’ll talk to her next time.”

“Alright. Let’s head home too. After paying the rent, I’ve saved up all of this month’s salary. I saved it exactly the way you told me to. We’re one step closer to financial freedom!”

Yue Wenfeng frowned and corrected him. “It’s yours. What’s yours is yours. Don’t lump us together.”

Yet, she couldn’t help but look back at the streetlamp once more, a faint, lingering worry for that girl in her heart.

*

It was Su Ye’s fourth day in the provincial capital, her last day of factory inspections.

Today was a factory for a Sino-foreign joint venture. Home appliances were just one of their lines. The person sent to meet Su Ye wasn’t a vice-director like at Red Sun, but merely a low-level clerk.

To be honest, other than the first day when Red Sun treated her visit with seriousness, the other factories had just been going through the motions. After all, she was only twenty, an individual business owner without even a proper company. It was normal not to be taken seriously.

But no one had been as contemptuous as the man today.

The man walked up with his nose in the air and snorted. “A cripple? Do you need me to push your wheelchair?”

“…No, thank you. I can roll it myself,” Su Ye replied.

“Fine then. How old are you? Can you even afford our goods? An City… what kind of backwater is that? They’re letting children handle contracts now?”

“I see you have a phone. Why don’t you call your parents and have them come over? Don’t waste too much of my time. We have to prepare documents for the Qining Group reception next month. I…”

Su Ye let out a cold laugh. She stopped rolling her wheelchair and looked up at the man, mocking him. “Are you really capable of taking orders? I highly doubt it.”

“What do you mean by that?” The man’s face darkened.

Su Ye turned her wheelchair in another direction and said, “I’ve made my judgment. I won’t waste any more of your time. You can go back to the office and continue pretending you’re involved in major projects.”

“After all,” the girl tilted her head, a smirk playing on her lips, “if you were actually important, you wouldn’t be here wasting time with me.”

“I’ll see myself out. No need to see me off. I wish you prosperous business and a speedy promotion.”

Su Ye hailed a taxi and got in without looking back, ignoring whatever ridiculous expression was on the man’s face. He would merely serve as conversation fodder for her phone call tonight.

And indeed, he became the topic of her call with Lin Wanjia.

Lin Wanjia turned the PHS phone volume to the maximum, placed it on the wooden table, and leaned back in a rocking chair. Zhang Mingfang sat beside her, fanning her as they listened to the “little brat” on the other end sounding off.

The girl’s pride was transmitted clearly across hundreds of kilometers. She giggled, “That guy’s face must have turned green! Hehe, that’ll teach him to mock me! Everyone else could receive me properly, but he couldn’t? He didn’t have time?”

“And he kept talking about preparing for the Qining Group. Is he even worthy? They’re already doing business with the foreigners, so why are they messing with our big domestic brands?”

Qining Group…

The person fanning the palm leaf paused for a moment, glancing at the person listening to the phone. When she saw the woman’s expression remained normal—even carrying a bit of a smile—she relaxed and continued fanning.

As for how foul the curses in her heart were, that wasn’t something to be said right now.

Once Su Ye had finished venting, Lin Wanjia smiled and tapped the phone’s microphone. Her fingernail clicked lightly against the screen, the crisp sound like a playful rap on the other person’s head across the line.

Lin Wanjia said, “Be that as it may, you shouldn’t be so impulsive in the future. If you’re unhappy, deal with it privately. You still have to maintain appearances with them.”

“Oh, perfect timing, Ah Huan is back. You two chat.”

Yue Chengqi walked over with exceptionally heavy steps. She pulled over a wooden stool and gulped down three glasses of water before she caught her breath. “You didn’t call the shop the last two days. I was afraid you were busy, so I didn’t dare contact you. Today was just too exhausting, so I came back early.”

This was in response to Su Ye’s question about why she couldn’t get through to the shop earlier. She glanced at Lin Wanjia and Zhang Mingfang and sighed. “We’ll talk about the details when you’re back. Long-distance rates are expensive.”

Lin Wanjia laughed. “No need to save me those few cents. Don’t forget your sister has eight shops worth of rent coming in. Take the phone to the side yard. Come back when you’re done, just don’t be too long.”

“Thanks, Sis.”

Closing the gate to her own courtyard, Yue Chengqi didn’t even have the strength to walk into the house. She slid down against the door, letting out a long breath. “How was it today?” she asked, unable to hide her exhaustion.

Su Ye’s voice softened considerably as she recounted the day’s events. Even with hundreds of kilometers between them and the crackling of the static, when their voices met, it always had a magical, relaxing effect. Their speech slowed, and their moods grew peaceful.

It was mystical.

After hearing her story, Yue Chengqi asked, “What was the name of that company?”

“A Japanese company. Something about cherry blossoms… I don’t remember.”

“It’ll go bankrupt within three years.” Yue Chengqi hugged her knees and tilted her head. “The Japanese economic bubble has burst. These small companies will go under one after another. Even their major domestic corporations are heading toward a slow death. So, don’t be angry. Three years from now, he’ll be out of a job.”

“…What an effective way to comfort someone. I feel better instantly.”

Yue Chengqi’s lips quirked up. Just as she was about to ask more, the girl on the other end beat her to it. “Why are you so tired? What happened today?”

— Meanwhile, on the other side —

“Every time I hear that group’s name, I feel sick. You really have a big heart, being able to use these things.” Zhang Mingfang rested her chin on her hand, fanning herself lazily as she complained without much heat.

Lin Wanjia just smiled. Her hands, somewhat rough from years of labor but exceptionally nimble, peeled a grape and held it to Zhang Mingfang’s lips. “Open up.”