Chapter 24

Ye Qingshui miscalculated. It took her over an hour just to deliver food to Shen Weimin.

Because she ran into a bit of trouble on the way, by the time she got home, she went into the woodshed and touched the pot of chicken soup that had been simmering — the fire had long gone out, and half of the soup was gone. Her mother and grandmother had already drunk some.

Ye Qingshui glanced at the sun. Although she didn’t feel she had been particularly slow, Xie Tingyu had definitely run out of patience by now. After spending a year with him in her previous life, if she didn’t learn anything else, she did become quite sensitive to when he would get angry.

She often provoked his anger, but she also thoroughly figured out how to calm him down.

When Ye Qingshui brought the chicken soup to Xie Tingyu, he was lazily leaning against the bedpost and said blandly, “You’re back.”

“That was pretty quick.”

His tone was flat, making it hard to tell whether he was being sarcastic. But it was sarcasm.

Ye Qingshui nodded. “You’ve probably been waiting a while, huh? Hungry? Have some chicken soup first.”

Xie Tingyu wasn’t particularly pleased, but when he saw how disheveled Ye Qingshui looked, his irritation subsided a little. This was the worst injury he had ever suffered in his life. No one was there to look after him, nothing to help pass the time. The radio had died after playing all morning.

Now not even someone to bring him food — this kind of “novel” experience was, to him, truly awful.

But his gaze slid over to her face. The girl looked an utter mess. Beads of sweat sparkled on her forehead; the visible part of her face was flushed from the heat. Sweat dripped from her chin. Her mask was covered in dust from the road, already dirty.

Even though she’d been delayed for a long time, she came straight to feed him as soon as she got home. That counted as having some conscience, barely.

He said lightly, “Squat down. Come a little closer.”

Ye Qingshui didn’t know why, but she obediently did as told.

Xie Tingyu lifted his relatively uninjured left thumb and brushed it across her ear. The small ear was warm and tinged with red — maybe from shyness. His thumb hooked around her mask strap, unfastened it, and tossed it aside.

When his warm fingertip touched her ear, it tickled a bit. She instinctively pulled back, only for Xie Tingyu to twist her ear firmly and roughly yank off her mask.

He said in disgust, “Go wash your face and come back.”

Ye Qingshui let out a breath and reminded herself to tolerate it — he got injured protecting her, after all. So she ran out, scooped up a ladle of water, washed her face clean, and returned to the room.

When Xie Tingyu looked at her again — now freshly washed — water shimmered on her fair face, clear and soft. Her two long braids hung smoothly down to her waist. She picked up the bowl, ladled some soup, and habitually blew on it. The warm chicken soup gave off the cozy feeling of home.

There were red dates, goji berries, astragalus, angelica — all ingredients for promoting blood circulation and replenishing energy. It was clear that the one who made it had put in a lot of thought.

Actually… Xie Tingyu didn’t know that the astragalus and angelica were things Ye Qingshui had gathered from deep in the mountains to nourish her body, and she’d just tossed them into the soup while she was at it. But even such casual attention to detail was touching. The herbs were added just right.

After finishing a bowl of chicken soup, Xie Tingyu finally asked, “Why is there chicken today?”

To Xie Tingyu, chicken wasn’t anything special. But to the poor Ye family, the taste of chicken might be something they didn’t even get once a year. Hens were for laying eggs — if you killed one, you’d get no more eggs. Not even a woman in confinement might be lucky enough to drink chicken soup. Xie Tingyu had originally wanted to ask someone to buy some malted milk powder…

Upon hearing this, Ye Qingshui said coolly, “Not only is there chicken today — there’ll be chicken tomorrow and the day after, too. And all this chicken was earned through hard work in that black market you’re so against.”

Xie Tingyu’s dark, deep eyes dimmed slightly. Drinking this soup, bought with the woman’s blood and sweat, left him with a strange mix of emotions.

He finished the soup, then pointed to the cupboard with his left hand.

“My wallet’s over there.”

Ye Qingshui looked confused.

Xie Tingyu said, “There’s some money in it. Take it and use it for household expenses.”

Ye Qingshui was about to wave it off and say no need, but the truth was, she really had put in a lot of physical labor for him these past few days — working outside and still having chores to do when she got home. Taking care of him was no easy task. She pulled out his wallet and took five yuan as labor compensation.

Xie Tingyu watched her take the money with a sweet smile on her face, looking as obedient as a little wife, and felt a strange warmth in his heart.

But then again — falling for him would be really hard.

Xie Tingyu said calmly, “Shuiya, I actually see you as a younger sister.”

He paused, then added, “If you need money, just use mine. Don’t go risking yourself in the black market…”

She lowered her head, seemingly lost in thought, her long lashes drooping. From Xie Tingyu’s angle, her emotions were hard to read — she looked a little sad, maybe even angry?

Ye Qingshui had just been feeling happy about earning five yuan. But those words felt like a bucket of cold water poured over her. Xie Tingyu’s money didn’t come easy. In her past life, he’d handled all the household finances and saw himself as the head of the house, which gave him the right to boss her around and treat her harshly. And now he thought treating her as a sister was that easy?

Ye Qingshui thought it over and felt it didn’t sit right. Money earned herself was the only kind she could spend freely and happily.

She shook her head. “I don’t want it. Who’d even want to be that kind of ‘sister’?”

Xie Tingyu looked into her eyes and saw the determination there. He said seriously, “You’ll suffer a lot.”

Ye Qingshui was furious. For a long time, she couldn’t think of any good curse words, and in her anger, she blurted out, “rлю6люte6r ¹ I looked it up and this doesn’t really translate into any words, maybe just some gibberish .”

She shoved the money into her pocket, quickly cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks, and stormed out of the room.

When they were younger, Xie Tingyu occasionally used that phrase to curse at Ye Qingshui, calling her stupid and foolish. She’d asked him several times what it meant, but he never told her. Eventually, after being driven to tears, he finally admitted, “It’s a curse word.”

He had told Ye Qingshui, “If I ever say something wrong or lose my temper, remember to use that phrase on me.”

“Because the way I act when I’m angry is just too stupid. But you mustn’t use it on others — it’s a terrible insult.”

Xie Tingyu watched as the little girl stormed out, clutching the bowl, fuming…

And then…

His face slowly turned red. From the base of his neck all the way up to his cheeks.

That village girl — she used it so fluently, yet still pretended not to know what it meant.

…

Ye Qingshui washed the dishes. Although the household included someone who ate the food she earned through “black market profiteering” while still criticizing it inside and out, she herself remained firmly committed to her side hustle. Due to price inflation, black market trading did have its problems.

But she asked herself honestly — she hadn’t earned a single penny dishonestly. She absolutely hadn’t price-gouged. Every cent was earned cleanly and justly, without taking advantage of others’ desperation.

The state-run restaurants sold meat buns for 10 cents each. She sold them for 3 cents, and hers tasted great — clean and hygienic. You’d be hard-pressed to find a black market seller with a conscience like hers.

Fortunately, Ye Qingshui was no longer the silly, naive girl she used to be. Otherwise, Xie Tingyu might really have talked her into giving up her money-making efforts today. But now, after counting her cash, her mood instantly brightened again.

She never dared to hide her money in her room — if word ever got out about her black market dealings, it would be trouble. She hid the money deep in the stove ashes, sealed in a metal can.

Ye Qingshui counted her bills. After nearly two months of hustling, the small change had finally turned into large denominations — she now had some “big unity” bills (100 yuan notes).

She happily pulled out three of them, along with some smaller notes, totaling 31 yuan and 58 cents. As for grain and meat coupons, she’d saved up quite a lot. Since the coupons had to be used within the month or they’d expire, she planned to give them to Qian Xiangdong to sell off for some extra cash.

This month she had started doing business with Qian Xiangdong. Today he handed her one yuan — that was the leftover profit after covering costs and splitting shares. Ye Qingshui carefully placed that one yuan into the tin can. If she could earn one yuan a day net, that meant thirty yuan a month. At this pace, buying a car in half a year wouldn’t be a problem.

After counting, she neatly put the money back in the can, her heart full and satisfied.

She cheerfully washed her mask, hung it to dry, took a sweet midday nap, then headed off to work in high spirits.

Xie Tingyu watched as Ye Qingshui returned in a great mood, took a fragrant nap, and left again — without saying a single word to him.

Hah…

The dazzling afternoon sun shone down on Ye Qingshui. She lay on the ground, her still-developing chest rising and falling rhythmically, her two pale legs sprawled out carelessly. As she slept, her cheek rubbed off the mat and ended up covered in dust.

Fool.

Xie Tingyu couldn’t stand the sight and turned his head away.

Author’s note:

Brother Yu: Getting emotionally beaten every day.

Daily struggle: Why does Shuiya like me so much?

What should I do?

So conflicted.

Ping Shengjun: Emmmmm…

I don’t have the heart to interrupt your bittersweet dilemma.

Support Sansukini on Ko-fi

Thanks for visiting. If you like this story, then I’m shamelessly asking you to visit NovelUpdates and give a 5⭐ review. (人❛ᴗ❛)♪тнайк　чоц♪(❛ᴗ❛*人)

You can also check out my other translations Here