Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Your motives aren’t pure.

Yue Chengqi stood by the window, watching Su Ye open her book with quite a bit of flair. Not knowing whether she was actually reading or not, but seeing that she had at least begun to flip through the pages, Yue Chengqi suppressed a smile and headed over to Lin Wanjia’s side, carrying the bowls and chopsticks.

Lin Wanjia was reclining in a lounge chair, basking in the starlight with a newspaper covering her face. Hearing the sound, she slightly lifted a corner of the newspaper. After seeing clearly who it was, she nonchalantly lowered the paper again and said lazily, “If you’re washing dishes, just get some water from inside and bring it out. The drain is at the base of the wall; be careful where you splash the water, as I don’t want to grow flowers for the time being.”

Everything she said was what Yue Chengqi would eventually do over and over again later on.

When Su Ye sold the house to Yue Wenfeng, she sold it as a complete unit. Consequently, a few years later, the wall in the middle of the courtyard would be torn down, turning it into a single, complete large courtyard. The sewage system remained unchanged, but water pipes were extended there, so there was no longer any need to carry water over to wash the dishes.

But later on, there wasn’t a single trace of Lin Wanjia’s presence here.

Just like during these few days in 1998, the people familiar in her memory had all appeared; while some passersby were insignificant and didn’t matter, the person before her now was someone she knew nothing about.

But the name “Everguest Mall” forced her to pay extra attention to this person who was likely very important yet had never appeared in her memory, as she attempted to find a trace of this person within her thinning childhood memories.

She hoped she could find some information about this person; for a transmigrator, having information was certainly much, much better than having none at all.

Perhaps because she hadn’t moved for a long time, Lin Wanjia pulled down her newspaper, revealing a pair of eyes that rested leisurely upon her. “What’s wrong? Can’t find the basin, or do you just not want to wash up?”

“No, that’s not it. I’ll wash them right away.”

Lin Wanjia looked at her and laughed, teasing, “Why are you always so nervous? Am I really that scary? I’m not exactly ugly, am I…?”

She stretched lazily. Yue Chengqi thought she was about to stand up, but she didn’t; after finishing her stretch, she lay back down in the lounge chair once more and began to hum a song.

She completely ignored what the other person was doing.

Indeed, after all, she couldn’t do anything anyway.

Yue Chengqi washed the dishes, perking up an ear as she tried to figure out what she was humming. It was unclear whether the song was too obscure or if the person humming was completely out of tune, but after listening for a long time, she still couldn’t identify what melody it was. Instead, she had become so engrossed that when Lin Wanjia called her name, it gave her a big fright.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Wanjia looked at her reproachfully. “I always feel like you’re afraid of me.”

“…”

“Don’t like to talk, huh? Fine, then just answer me.”

The woman sat with her legs crossed, propping up her chin. “Do you have family or friends here? Or are you, like Little Ye, someone who grew up in an orphanage?”

This part hadn’t been made up, and it wasn’t written on the ID card either.

Yue Chengqi thought for a moment. “I suppose I have friends.”

Yue Wenfeng and the other person were both in Qing City now. If she used the two of them to claim a connection, in the year 1998 when transportation wasn’t very developed, no one would go to Qing City to verify whether they actually knew each other… right?

“What do you mean ‘I suppose I have friends’? You either have them or you don’t. So, that means you don’t have any family, right?”

“Mhm.” I’m sorry, dear Sister Feng.

Lin Wanjia leaned back into her chair. “No wonder. No wonder Little Ye wanted to bring you back; it turns out you’re also a child who grew up in a welfare home. Have you been to school?”

“High school.”

Yue Chengqi originally wanted to say university, but considering she didn’t have a graduation certificate to back her up, saying university would make it too easy to slip up and be seen as a fraud. In the end, she still said high school.

This wasn’t exactly a lie, either.

Lin Wanjia didn’t know what she had thought of; she was silent for a long time before saying faintly, “That’s very good. Being good at studying is very good.”

Yue Chengqi put away the bowls and chopsticks, washed her hands, and hooked a stool over with her foot to sit beside Lin Wanjia. “I want to ask a question too.”

Lin Wanjia smiled. “Such a serious little kid. Go ahead and ask.”

“If you’re running a business, coming back so early every day, are you not doing business in the evening anymore?”

Lin Wanjia originally thought this question would be related to Su Ye; after all, little Yue Huan seemed quite concerned about Su Ye, but she didn’t expect the topic to actually fall on herself.

She raised an eyebrow. “Why ask this?”

“I want to see what the current market is like,” Yue Chengqi replied truthfully.

As for traveling back in time to catch the internet boom and becoming the number one person of the era—all of that was too far-fetched for her. She didn’t know how to do it, nor did she have the capital. Currently, the path Su Ye could take was doing business, which meant the only path available to her was also doing business—specifically, helping Su Ye gradually grow and strengthen the business. Therefore, observing the market was very important to her.

She couldn’t spend forever riding a bike and selling goods alongside Su Ye.

Lin Wanjia: “Do you want to open a shop too?”

“I’m currently thinking it over; one always needs something to do. Besides, relying on guerrilla tactics isn’t a long-term solution. You can’t even head out when it’s windy, frosty, rainy, or snowy. It’ll be even more of a headache once legal regulations become stricter in the future. Settling down is only a matter of time.”

“I see…” The woman seemed to be lost in thought, lightly biting the tip of her tongue. “Let me think about how to put this.”

“Because I’m not really short on money, and my business involves three interconnected shops selling fruits, vegetables, and daily necessities. You know that, right?”

Yue Chengqi nodded.

Lin Wanjia: “So the night business doesn’t make much sense; it doesn’t earn that much money, and it interferes with me enjoying life. However, you young people shouldn’t follow my example. The night business actually earns quite a bit. It’s pretty good if you can stay up a little for it.”

Yue Chengqi: “Can we work for you? We can run the night business on a profit-sharing basis; we only need to take thirty percent of the money earned.”

“…” Lin Wanjia looked at her, her fingers resting in front of her tapping lightly. “So this is your real goal, isn’t it? Your intentions aren’t pure, you know.”

She waved her hand. “Go on back, I’ll think about it some more.”

Yue Chengqi turned through a courtyard, closed the gate, and leaned against it, only then slowly exhaling a breath.

Her heart felt as if it were about to jump out of her throat. Lin Wanjia’s eyes were truly too sharp; that final look with a faint, ambiguous smile made it seem as though she had seen right through her in an instant.

She had a premonition that, aside from the information she had proactively revealed, Lin Wanjia would be the first and fastest person to guess everything she was hiding. This person was too powerful; she couldn’t understand why there was no place for her in the future business world of An City, while a plagiarism-freak like Wang Mingming instead held a position there.

Why was that…?

Her heart hung heavy, filled with a faint sense of unease. But when she walked to the window, she was amused.

Su Ye looked as if her face had smashed onto the desk; her shoulders were twitching slightly, and coming closer, one could even hear the snores of her deep sleep. Looking closely, drool was about to drip onto the pages of the book.

She really dislikes studying far too much. What will I do if I have to teach her some professional knowledge later on? Tie her hair to a beam or prick her thigh with an awl?

Even then, she might not necessarily wake up.

However, for now, she shouldn’t sleep in this shaded study with the window open. After all, there is still a bit of a chill in April; it wouldn’t be worth the loss if she caught a cold from sleeping too long.

Yue Chengqi walked over and pulled the person up from the chair. Seeing that it was her, the sleepy-eyed person simply let go of all her strength and fell straight into her arms.

Because she was so limp, she almost slipped directly onto the floor.

Yue Chengqi propped up her arms and, like pulling up a radish, yanked her up from the floor bit by bit, draping her over her shoulder. She then patted her face and said, “Go back to the room to sleep, okay? Don’t sleep here, or you’ll end up catching a cold.”

Not to mention her still-injured left leg; she insisted that long pants were uncomfortable to wear and, in such freezing weather, wanted to wear shorts that exposed a portion of her calf. Yue Chengqi looked down and felt certain that the leg must be covered in goosebumps; by the time the injury healed, the knee would likely be ruined by the cold as well.

She was just taking advantage of her youth to act recklessly, little knowing that she would have to atone for the flamboyance of her younger years in the future!

Thinking of this, the hand currently tucking the quilt over Su Ye paused for a moment, and her gaze immediately fell upon the leg.

She knew just how bad and painful Su Ye’s leg would be in the future; if she intervened slightly here… it should be fine, right?

Yue Chengqi bit her lip slightly, pondering for a long time before turning to go back out and bring in another blanket. Her hand then rested on the leg to check it.

Sure enough, it was freezing.

She wrapped the blanket around her legs twice, ensuring it wouldn’t fall off due to the common youthful habit of kicking off the covers that the young girl might have, then draped the quilt over her and tucked it in.

After handling all of this, the soundly sleeping person still showed no sign of waking, which made it convenient for Yue Chengqi to sit by her side and watch her, gently stroking her hand as she murmured, “Auntie Su Ye, what a coincidence. How is it that I happened to run into you of all people?”

“You must get better and be happy… That’s right, besides business, there is another important matter to be done.”

She thought for a moment, tucked in the quilt, and turned to leave the room.

After being here for so long, she had actually forgotten another very important matter—that scumbag woman who had appeared briefly and caused her Aunt Su Ye to lock away her heart for decades.

She had to find that woman. If she was sick, she would get her treated in advance; if she dared to abandon her Aunt Su Ye, she would tie her up and bring her back, locking her by Su Ye’s side.

She didn’t want to see that person silently clutching her shawl, back turned to the crowd and the fireworks, grieving in secret again when the New Year’s fireworks ascended into the sky.

It was far too heart-wrenching.

Behind her, the young girl opened her eyes a crack, gazing at the doorway that had been left slightly ajar. After a long while, she tucked half her head into the quilt, leaving only her eyes visible—yet they grew increasingly clear and bright, shimmering with a hint of an unusual sentiment.

“Little beauty, since I bought such a bundle of greens from you, how about throwing in a chili pepper?”

Yue Chengqi was still over here weighing items for someone when she heard an old woman bargaining with her in such a manner; just a moment ago, this person had already bargained away a one-mao remainder, and now a single chili pepper was worth more than a mao.

Yue Chengqi admitted to herself that she wasn’t particularly broad-minded, but Su Ye’s words were still echoing in her ears. She narrowed her eyes, came up with a better sales pitch, and smiled. “Of course! Why don’t you take a look at these eggs too? If you’re planning to make fried eggs with chili, I’ll throw in a green pepper for free.”

“Oh, that sounds great. I’ll take a tray then. Are they fresh?”

Yue Chengqi was calculating the bill with the person beside her while simultaneously trying to respond to the other, which made her head spin for a moment. Once she had collected the money, she was finally able to turn around completely and say, “They’re fresh; they were just brought in from Sister Liu’s shop!”

The old lady picked out a few, looked them over, and nodded. “Not bad. But are you stealing Little Ye’s business, or are the two of you working together?”

“I’m working for her.”

“Then she’s being a bit silly. Hiring a young girl to work for her—can the two of you even move the stock? Are you still looking for people? I have a nephew…”

Yue Chengqi forced a smile to keep her face from dropping, but she still immediately cut her off, picking a green pepper and stuffing it into the bag of eggs before pushing it forward. “These eggs are 2.2 catties in total, that’s six yuan and one mao. You can just give me six yuan.”

“Granny, women can hold up half the sky. That’s a good saying; you must remember it.”

The implication behind her words was clear to anyone. The old lady gave a resentful smile after taking the eggs, handed over the money, and left.

She only seemed to be muttering something under her breath, but it couldn’t be heard clearly.

Yue Chengqi didn’t bother with her; after all, it was 1998. Even in 2023, there were still people unwilling to change their ways of thinking, let alone in 1998 when the internet wasn’t developed at all. Getting angry with such a person was simply a way to shorten one’s own life.

She rearranged the vegetables on her newly borrowed tricycle, mentally prepared herself, and then raised her voice to start hawking.