But the girl wasn’t angry. Her eyes didn’t even turn red. Instead, her mouth dropped open in shock. She whispered, “I’m going to be that amazing in the future? People will actually copy my homework? Back in school, we only ever copied from the best students. Wow.”
Her self-satisfaction instantly choked Yue Chengqi, leaving her speechless.
After a long time, she squeezed out: “You certainly have a large heart.”
“What do you mean!” Su Ye nudged her. “Let me ask you: is my business philosophy still ‘Health and Happiness for Ten Thousand Households’? Did she copy that word for word?”
“Yes, she copied it. And she achieved it too.”
Su Ye smiled tenderly, tapping the nose of the person in front of her. “Big dummy Yue Huan. Such a childish temper, and you call me ‘little.’ If she can do it well and work alongside me for the happiness of more people, isn’t that enough?”
“…” Yue Chengqi was stunned.
First, she had never considered the issue from that perspective. After she had defaulted to Wang Mingming being an antagonist, she seemed to have automatically erased all the effort the woman put in, even ignoring the precious love and value for girls that Su Ye discovered so easily.
She would reflect, but not now, and not here.
Second, Su Ye’s smile was too soft—so soft that Yue Chengqi felt a bit dazed. She dizzily remembered her own childhood and the things that happened later.
When she was five, she was playing in Su Ye’s shop. Someone tried to steal the large umbrellas Su Ye gave away at the door. She had hugged the bucket of umbrellas and sat on the steps alone. By the time Su Ye found her, she had been soaked like a drowned rat.
Su Ye hadn’t used an umbrella either. She just knelt in front of her, becoming a drowned rat as well. One hand rested on her knee, the other tapped Yue Chengqi’s nose.
“Little dummy Qi-qi. Such a childish temper!”
Ten years later, she had used the exact same words to scold her with a smile. At that time, Yue Chengqi had insisted on studying liberal arts and management. Yue Wenfeng couldn’t change her mind, and they were in a cold war.
The already mature woman had come out during a break in her meetings to take care of the person who had secretly come over to do homework. After learning the whole story, she had said the same thing.
The sediment left by time gave that sentence a different flavor—a bit of teasing, which, along with her curly black hair, fell into the depths of Yue Chengqi’s heart.
She didn’t expect that after another seven or eight years, she would hear it again. This time it carried the adorable aura of a teenager, instantly draining Yue Chengqi of the strength to speak.
She acted shamelessly, falling into Su Ye’s lap. She insisted stubbornly, “You haven’t experienced it. You don’t know. I know.”
“Alright, alright,” Su Ye hugged her helplessly. “I haven’t experienced it. I’ll listen to you.”
“Let’s drop the subject. How about I take you to do something very meaningful in a couple of days?”
Naturally, there were no problems with the investigation into Red Sun. Thus, before officially signing the contract with Su Ye, they sent over three trial electric water heaters and an engineer to accompany them. The intention was for it to be a perk for Su Ye so she could try them out. But Su Ye led the engineer to the front of a welfare institute.
The orphanage wasn’t in the An City urban area; it was in a surrounding county town, requiring a half-hour drive to reach.
Yue Chengqi pushed the wheelchair and looked up at the rusted copper-plated sign. The words on it had faded until they were almost invisible, leaving only traces that read: “An City Children’s Welfare Institute.”
The engineer looked up. “Are you sure you want to donate them here? This model is our most advanced product. It’s very precious. For them, a gas water heater should be enough, right?”
Su Ye said, “I’ve already made the arrangements. You just go in and install them. Other people will lead you to the other two units later.”
The engineer shrugged. “Well, alright. It’s up to you. You’re a kind-hearted girl!”
Su Ye smiled shyly, glancing at the person pushing her wheelchair. “Ah Huan, do you want to go in for a look?”
Yue Chengqi withdrew her gaze. “You were here… from birth until fifteen?”
Su Ye lowered her head, gently rubbing her legs. “Yes. From birth until fifteen. Except for school, I never left this place.”
That was why she knew this place needed the equipment most. It was fine in the summer—when the noon sun was strong enough, the children would each grab a basin. After half an hour in the sun, they could bathe.
Most of them were girls, so no one cared about being shy or privacy. Having a bath at all was good enough.
But the winter was different. In winter, they could only boil water once a week. After only a few people bathed, the water would be cold. The rest could only huddle their arms and wait in line with longing eyes.
An City’s economy wasn’t great. There was certainly no extra funding to arrange hot water systems for these few welfare institutes. This orphanage used very, very old gas water heaters that had long since rotted away. They didn’t dare turn them on.
Su Ye looked up at the decaying sign, suddenly feeling a surge of emotion.
Was it always this dilapidated? But she used to love this place. She had never looked down on it, nor had she ever felt it was shabby.
No wonder that person said those who leave can never come back. But she had come back. And she had come back with wonderful new things.
Su Ye rocked her wheelchair. “Let’s go in, Ah Huan.”
But Yue Huan didn’t move—or rather, she didn’t walk forward. Instead, she moved to the front of the wheelchair, tidied Su Ye’s collar, straightened her stray hairs, and re-tied her ponytail. Only then did she half-kneel in front of her, saying with a smile, “You’re the Big Sister here. Today is an important day for the Big Sister to come home. You have to look beautiful!”
The girl felt like she was about to cry.
She couldn’t cry. Crying here would be embarrassing.
She introduced the small courtyard to the person pushing her wheelchair.
In the center of the yard was a very large tree. It had even cracked the red bricks on the ground. Tied to the tree were messages each child had written to themselves.
On the left was a row of rooms for the children, all filled with communal platform beds. Near the courtyard wall was a toilet. In the last two years, a kind person had renovated it and donated flush toilets, so the children no longer had to go to the bathroom in groups.
The row on the right was the activity room. Normally, children too young for school played there during the day, and all the children played there on weekends. It was one of the few joys they had.
The small, cramped room in the middle was the Director’s room.
“Our Director Mama has never changed. She might be the only one willing to do this thankless job.” Su Ye wheeled around leisurely. As she turned, she locked eyes with a somewhat haggard-looking woman.
Her body went stiff. The other woman was also trembling slightly.
Yue Chengqi tactfully let go of the handles and stood a short distance away.
The haggard woman took two hesitant steps toward Su Ye and couldn’t help but ask, “Are you… Little Leaf?”
Sunlight filtered through the leaves of the tree. Dust was clearly visible, floating gently between the two.
Su Ye curled her lips, tilting her head slightly with a touch of playfulness. “It’s me. Long time no see, Mama Mingyue.”
Li Mingyue, 51 years old, the director of this orphanage and the ‘Director Mama’ to these children.
Li Mingyue trembled as she took another two steps. “Didn’t you say you were going to prove you were doing great out there? Why are you… why are you in a wheelchair?”
Su Ye looked down. “It was just an accident. Don’t worry, my legs aren’t broken. Mama Mingyue, I am* doing very well. These water heaters today are a sponsorship from a factory I’m partnering with.”
“…” Li Mingyue’s lips twitched, not knowing what to say. She walked a few more steps, finally seeing clearly the girl who had shed her fifteen-year-old innocence.
And the girl who had been away from home for five years finally saw her face clearly.
Time had not been kind to this woman who handled all the household chores, large and small. It had left one mark after another on her face. Fine wrinkles clustered at the corners of her eyes—each one a trace of a child’s growth.
The oldest one was the most troublesome, setting a terrible example for the younger children, making them harder to manage and even more exhausting.
The woman’s hand trembled as she reached out to gently touch Su Ye’s cheek. But the girl silently moved her wheelchair back half a turn, avoiding the touch.
Li Mingyue understood. “You still hate me, don’t you?”
Hate her for not letting Su Ye go with the family that wanted to adopt a boy and a girl. For forcing her to stay in the orphanage and suffer for so many more years.
Su Ye shook her head. “I don’t hate you anymore. I know that was the best solution you could think of back then. And thinking about it now, that family really wasn’t good. I was just too young back then. Rest assured, I don’t hate you.”
“Then…”
“I don’t hate you, but I can’t forgive you either. Furthermore…” The girl tilted her head to look at her with a smile. “I’ve met many people who love me very, very much. I have a ‘Mom’ who loves me very much now too. Just as you said, once you go with your family, don’t ever look back.”
“So, I won’t look back anymore. After delivering today’s items, I’m going to find my ‘Mom’.”
Su Ye’s smile deepened, as if she had returned to her purest childhood years. She said slowly, “She’s still waiting for me to come home.”
The person who always wore a single braid draped over her shoulder. The person who would wear a light blue floral dress and wait for her to come home.
Li Mingyue smiled. “That’s good. I was worried that she only used her connections to handle the adoption because she wanted to sell you or use you to earn a bride price. Seeing you doing so well… that’s truly good.”
She looked at Su Ye’s face, which still had a bit of baby fat, for a while longer. She laughed with relief, a heavy burden finally lifted from her shoulders. Her steps became lighter as she walked over to direct the engineer.
Yue Chengqi finally walked back. “She seems like a good person. She was still wishing you well at the end. Not a bad person.”
Su Ye looked at the woman’s back and nodded. “Not a bad person. Just a bit obsessed.”
“Forget it. Let’s not talk about it. Today you saw my biggest secret. How are you going to compensate me, ‘Big Yue Huan’?”
It was indeed the biggest secret. Not the relationship between Li Mingyue and Su Ye, but the person who handled the adoption…
“Was it Sister Wanjia?”
Su Ye nodded.
Yue Chengqi didn’t know how to describe her current feelings. ‘Filled with respect’ wasn’t enough; she even felt like running back and kowtowing to Lin Wanjia.
Five years ago, Lin Wanjia couldn’t have been more than twenty-four. She actually dared to use her connections to handle an adoption? Wasn’t she afraid that if her connections weren’t strong enough in the future, the child wouldn’t be able to get a household registration?
Su Ye laughed. “I know what you’re thinking. Shouldn’t you have guessed it by now? Sister Wanjia’s connections are very strong. There’s no need to worry.”
Yue Chengqi knelt in front of her wheelchair, gently picking a stray flower petal that had fallen on Su Ye’s head. She said, “Since that’s the case, tonight… I will tell you about my mother too.”
![Us Outside of Time [Rebirth]](https://i1.wp.com/dobytranslations.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/rebirth.jpeg?resize=151,215 "Us Outside of Time [Rebirth]")
