Zhao Shutong looked at her, opened her mouth to say some comforting words, but found that any language seemed pale and powerless at that moment.
She sighed and patted Feng Miwan’s shoulder.
“Miwan, don’t overthink it… Maybe, just maybe, it really is a misunderstanding? Doctor Xiong, she…”
She couldn’t even convince herself. After all, on Qixi Festival, at the Moon Elder Temple, hanging a Fortune Plaque with a man—this scene was really hard to explain as “just ordinary friends.”
The atmosphere grew stagnant for a moment.
Zhao Shutong felt that just sitting there like this wasn’t a solution, so she stood up.
“Um… you sit here for a bit and calm down. I’ll go buy some food from nearby, and we can turn our sorrow into appetite!”
With that, she quickly left the tea stall.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Moon Elder Temple.
Xiong Yibai and that “handsome young man” walked side by side down the ancient street.
Xiong Yibai said helplessly,
“Alright already. I’ve accompanied you to hang the Fortune Plaque with your ex. Your wish is fulfilled—can you let me go now?”
“Coming to the Moon Elder Temple with you on Qixi Festival feels way too mismatched. If I’d known today was Qixi, I absolutely wouldn’t have come out with you.”
That “handsome young man”—none other than Ren Queyue—exclaimed dramatically upon hearing this,
“Wow, Xiong Yibai! Can’t you read the room?!”
“It’s your honor to participate in Qixi activities with someone as dashingly handsome as me, okay?”
“Look at that reluctant face of yours—like I’ve kidnapped you or something!”
As she spoke, she deliberately puffed out her chest and gestured for Xiong Yibai to look around.
“Can’t you see those passing girls staring at me with googly eyes?”
Xiong Yibai glanced faintly at her.
“So that’s why you cut your hair a bit shorter and insisted on wearing a mask to act all mysterious and cool?”
Ren Queyue pointed at her cropped haircut in rebuttal.
“I cut my hair because it needs a trim every month to stay in top shape!”
“I wore the mask because the osmanthus here is too fragrant! My nose is sensitive and can’t handle it, okay? What do you mean ‘act cool’? Am I that kind of person?”
Xiong Yibai didn’t bother arguing with her and nodded along.
“Fine, whatever you say.”
As they walked, they arrived at a handicraft stall.
The stall was adorned with many semi-finished embroidered Fortune Bags and various silk threads. A kindly faced auntie was calling out,
“Handmade Fortune Bags! Embroider your heartfelt wishes inside and take the blessings home!”
Xiong Yibai’s footsteps halted.
Her gaze fell on those small, exquisite Fortune Bags.
Seeing a customer stop, the stall owner auntie smiled warmly and introduced them.
“Miss, buy a Fortune Bag? You can embroider it yourself and put your most important thing inside. It’ll bring luck and fortune!”
“We have an unwritten rule here: one per person max, and it’s best to give it to the one you love most—that makes it the most efficacious.”
“The most important thing… the one you love…”
Xiong Yibai repeated softly, her mind flashing to Feng Miwan holding the championship trophy and smiling at her, and the dependent yet anxious look in her eyes when she carried that coin.
A thought emerged—she wanted to make a Fortune Bag and give it to Feng Miwan.
Let her put that “Destiny Coin,” burdened with so much weight, inside.
From then on, her luck would be guarded by Xiong Yibai herself.
“Auntie, give me a material kit,” Xiong Yibai said to the stall owner.
“Right away! Miss, have a seat here and take your time embroidering—no rush.”
The stall owner enthusiastically ushered her to a small stool nearby and handed her a kit with fabric, needle, thread, and stuffing cotton.
Ren Queyue watched in disbelief as Xiong Yibai actually sat down, picked up the needle and thread, looking ready to do some needlework.
“No way, Xiong Yibai? You’re for real? Do you even know how to do this stuff?”
She knew Xiong Yibai had never done handicrafts like this.
Xiong Yibai didn’t look up; she was already figuring out how to thread the needle and replied faintly, “I’ll give it a try.”
Ren Queyue found Xiong Yibai’s clumsy threading—completely different from surgical suturing—both novel and amusing.
She simply dragged over a small stool, sat next to Xiong Yibai, propped her chin on her hand to watch, and couldn’t resist teasing,
“Tsk tsk, live long enough and you see everything. Even the great Doctor Xiong has her day. Which is harder, this technique or suturing a patient?”
Xiong Yibai focused intently on wrestling with the disobedient needle and fine thread.
“Shut up.”
Ren Queyue, bored of her own teasing, pouted and watched patiently for a while longer.
Just as she grew truly restless, her butt itching like it had nails in it, ready to slip away again, a nearby table with a young man and woman making Fortune Bags seemed to hit a snag.
The girl, who looked young, furrowed her brows at the fabric and needle in her hands. She kept failing at one step and sighed in frustration.
She glanced around and her eyes landed on Xiong Yibai at the next table, who seemed reliable in her own crafting. After hesitating, she spoke up.
“Um… sorry to bother you. Do you know how to do this step?”
Xiong Yibai, absorbed in her own work, looked up in confusion.
“You’re asking me? This is my first time too. You should ask the stall owner.”
The girl’s face flushed red at that, and she froze awkwardly.
Ren Queyue couldn’t stand it anymore. Though impatient, she had a heroic streak for helping those in need.
She stood up and waved at the stall owner auntie, who was tending other customers nearby.
“Auntie! Over here! This young lady needs some technical guidance—could you come over?”
The stall owner hurried over and patiently demonstrated for the girl.
With the problem solved, the girl shot Ren Queyue a grateful look.
“Thanks so much!”
Ren Queyue waved it off dashingly, her eyes above the mask crinkling in a smile. “No problem, small thing!”
However, the boy at the girl’s table had been glancing at Xiong Yibai from the start, his eyes full of undisguised admiration and heat.
Seizing the moment, he boldly asked Xiong Yibai directly,
“Beauty, are you two… a couple?”
Ren Queyue nearly choked on her own saliva. “Of course not!”
The girl, apparently the boy’s sister, quickly tugged his arm and scolded softly,
“Little bro! What kind of nonsense question is that? They’re girls! That’s so rude!”
She had clearly recognized Ren Queyue as female, given her voice.
But the boy looked utterly shocked, pointing at Ren Queyue with a raised voice.
“What? Sis? She’s a girl? Why would a girl dress so cool and get a guy’s haircut?”
