Chapter 2

To put it bluntly, all this trouble had come about because of the job inheritance.

Ye Xiangdang was a demobilized soldier with strong work ability and good relations with the leaders at the bus station. He had thought of a way to secure another job quota for the family: he would take early internal retirement, let one of the children take over the position, and then the bus station would rehire him.

In these years a job at the county bus station was still an excellent choice—a state-owned unit with good wages and benefits, and very respectable when mentioned. Naturally Ye Xiangdang and Liu Lizhen wanted to leave such a good job for their biological daughter, Ye Mingzhu.

They wanted both face and substance, so they came up with a lousy idea: secretly have some little hooligans frighten Ye Wanqing, ruin her reputation, and trick her out of the county town.

That way Ye Wanqing not only could not take over the job, but the reasoning would also be on the couple’s side, and outsiders would not say they were biased.

In her previous life at this time Ye Wanqing had already been working as a temporary ticket seller on the buses for more than a year. Every month she handed her entire wages over to Liu Lizhen without keeping a single cent for herself. The family had never said she could not take over the job. She was just at the age for work while Ye Mingzhu was still only fourteen, so she had assumed it would certainly be her turn.

She had even planned that once she became a formal employee she would treat the family well, especially Ye Mingzhu even better. She had never imagined an “accident” like being bullied by little hooligans would happen.

She had always believed it was this “accident” that forced the family to marry her off far away, which was why she had hated Ge Yuan so much, thinking he had ruined her.

Only much later did she learn there were other reasons behind it.

Ge Yuan was not the one who had harmed her at all. He had actually rescued her from a group of little hooligans who had turned a fake act into real malice. It was only because he himself was drunk that he had taken liberties with her and carried the black pot for it……

Ye Wanqing finished her meal at a leisurely pace and put down her bowl and chopsticks.

“I can give up the job inheritance, but I will not marry into Niujiao Town.” She stated it outright. “The one who has an engagement with the Wang family of Niujiao Town is Ye Mingzhu. Their son has always liked Ye Mingzhu. You wanting me to marry over there is not hoping for my good—it’s fearing I won’t suffer enough in the future. If you truly want what’s best for me, don’t bring this up again.”

“This……” Liu Lizhen had not expected Ye Wanqing to know the inside story. Her expression immediately became complicated, and she could not help looking toward Ye Xiangdang.

Ye Xiangdang picked up his water cup and said lightly, “If you don’t want to marry, that’s fine too. Then go to Niujiao Town and learn tailoring from someone. Once you learn it, it will be a skill you can rely on so you won’t have to worry about having no way to make a living.”

“I don’t want to learn tailoring either. I just want to stay in the county town and do the things I want to do.” Ye Wanqing stood up. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll go back to my room.”

“Wait!” Liu Lizhen suddenly grew anxious and grabbed her. “You can do anything you want—just don’t stay in the county town!”

Ye Wanqing pulled her hand back. “Isn’t it enough that I’m not taking over the job?”

Liu Lizhen still wanted to say more, but Ye Xiangdang stopped her. With a serious face he asked solemnly, “Older girl, did you hear some idle talk from someone?” Otherwise, why had her attitude changed so drastically?

Ye Wanqing curved her lips. “What idle talk?”

Meeting Ye Xiangdang’s silent, probing gaze, she simply laid it out: “Talk about how I’m not your biological daughter?”

“What nonsense are you saying?!” Liu Lizhen’s face changed in an instant. She was so angry her hands trembled. “Did your eldest aunt say something to you to make you spout this nonsense? I carried you for ten months and gave birth to you—how could you not be my daughter? I’ve raised you all these years!”

Ye Wanqing: “Since I am biological, then are you willing to let me take over the job? Once I have a good job, I will definitely be filial to you both from then on.”

The room fell into a deathly silence.

After a long while, Ye Xiangdang sighed and said lightly, “Since you already know about this, we won’t hide it from you any longer…… You really are not our child. Back then your eldest aunt had too many children and couldn’t raise them all, so she gave you to your mother and me.”

“Old Ye!” Liu Lizhen stamped her foot in urgency, not wanting Ye Xiangdang to say it out loud.

But Ye Xiangdang raised a hand to stop her and continued, “I also admit that although we tried our best to treat you and Mingzhu equally, we didn’t do it that well. That was our fault. But we raised you to this age, brought you from the countryside to the county town to live a better life, let you study and trained you to become capable. We don’t ask for your gratitude or any repayment—only that you can understand us a little.”

“I know.” Ye Wanqing nodded.

“Tomorrow I’ll take you to learn tailoring.” Ye Xiangdang stood up.

“I’m not going.”

Ye Xiangdang, who had almost been moved by his own words, stiffened at once.

Ye Wanqing closed the door, took a candle out of the drawer, and lit it.

The Ye family lived in a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment. The master bedroom was occupied by Ye Xiangdang and his wife. This secondary bedroom was shared by her and Ye Mingzhu, with two 1.2-meter small beds placed side by side.

Ye Mingzhu often slept at Grandma Ye’s place and most likely would not come back tonight.

Outside, Liu Lizhen “bang bang bang” slapped the door hard. One moment she was fake-crying and cursing her as an ungrateful wolf who did not care about her parents; the next she insisted Ye Wanqing must go learn tailoring, or do something else outside—anything as long as she did not stay in the county town.

Now that the truth was out, she seemed even less restrained.

After making a fuss for a while, Liu Lizhen finally tired herself out and quieted down. But soon she cried out in alarm again: “Ye Wanqing, the bicycle you rode out—why didn’t you bring it back? You didn’t lose it, did you?”

Ye Wanqing: “……”

After so many years she truly had no impression of any bicycle. She touched the lock key in her pocket and figured the bicycle had probably been left in that alley from today.

She would go look for it tomorrow.

Besides finding the bicycle, she also had to think about what kind of small business would make money. She wanted to become independent from the Ye family, and the first requirement was economic independence—otherwise everything was empty talk.

This era was full of business opportunities everywhere. She already had an idea of what she wanted to do, but she had handed over every month’s wages and now had not a single fen of capital. What should she do?

The next day.

Ye Wanqing got up and found she was the only one at home. The stove in the kitchen was cold, and the cupboard holding food and bowls had been locked.

After washing up, she stood in front of the mirror and neatly braided her waist-length shiny black hair into two plaits that hung in front of her. After checking that she had not left anything behind, she went out.

Rubbing her empty stomach, she walked out of the stairwell. Grandma Chen who lived downstairs had just returned from buying vegetables and greeted her: “Girl, going to work? You got up late today—not as diligent as usual.”

Ye Wanqing smiled and shook her head. “I won’t be riding the routes anymore.”

“Why not? Riding the routes is such a good job! The monthly wages aren’t low, the work isn’t particularly tiring, and later there’s the chance to take over and become formal. Girl, don’t fail to treasure it!”

“The family is letting Ye Mingzhu take over the job. I’m preparing to find work myself.”

Grandma Chen was even more surprised. “Mingzhu is only fourteen, and you’re already eighteen. How can they do that?”

Ye Wanqing pressed her lips into a smile, looking helpless. “I only found out yesterday that I was adopted. Giving the job to Ye Mingzhu isn’t wrong, and I won’t feel uneasy about it…… Grandma, I still have things to do, so I’ll go first.”

“Ah…… ah, all right.”

After walking a few meters, Ye Wanqing could still feel Grandma Chen’s surprised and gossipy gaze on her back.

No doubt the news would spread throughout the bus station before the day was over.

From now on she wanted to be independent and keep her distance from the Ye family. She also did not want her reputation to be affected, so stating her position early was important.

In her previous life the news that she was “not the Ye family’s biological daughter” had struck her dumb. She had been lost and heartbroken for a long time. Never mind Ye Xiangdang and his wife—she herself had hidden the matter tightly for fear others would find out, as if that way she could treat everything as her own delusion and still be a daughter of the Ye family……

But what happened later? The news that she was an adopted daughter still spread, turning her into an ungrateful wolf who messed around with men and did not know how to be grateful.

Now, she would not do that again.

Ye Wanqing went to the area near the alley from yesterday and searched for a while. She found her bicycle at the corner.

She unlocked it and was about to push it away.

She felt a little regret at not seeing Ge Yuan, but she still had things to do and could not waste too much time.

Who would have thought that the moment she turned the bike around she would discover a tall figure standing a few meters away at the base of the wall. The man wore a short-sleeved white shirt and black work pants. Those deep, dark eyes were fixed on her—who knew how long he had been watching.

Ye Wanqing smiled brilliantly. “What a coincidence, meeting again.”

Ge Yuan: “……”

Shouldn’t this little girl scream the moment she saw him and then turn and flee in panic? Had she still not recovered from being kissed silly yesterday? She hadn’t been like this before!

“What coincidence? Aren’t you afraid of me?” Ge Yuan asked in a rough voice, trying hard to put on a fierce look.

“Afraid of what about you?” Ye Wanqing smiled slyly. “Afraid you’ll kiss me?”

Heavens!

Ge Yuan nearly jumped. He widened his eyes in disbelief. “How can you have no sense of propriety at all? You… you can’t be like this!”

“The one with no sense of propriety is you, right? Yesterday you kissed my lips swollen. When I went back……”

“You were found out?” Sweat broke out on Ge Yuan’s back.

“……” Ye Wanqing glanced at him and laughed softly. “By the time I got back it had already gone down. But I found it quite interesting. You look like such a bastard, yet it turns out it was your first time kissing a girl.”

“You… you… how do you know?”

“You had no sense of measure at all.”

“I… I……”

Afraid he would run off again, Ye Wanqing stopped teasing him and instead asked, “By the way, do you have any leads for temporary work? I want to start a small business but have no capital, so I want to work and save some money first.”

Ge Yuan immediately said, “I have money. I’ll give it to you!”

Having been together for so many years in her previous life, Ye Wanqing subconsciously did not treat Ge Yuan as an outsider. She was only a little curious and deliberately asked, “Why would you give me money?” Yesterday he had been so scared he fled in panic, yet today his courage had grown and he even knew how to chase people?

“I kissed you yesterday, so I should pay!”

Ye Wanqing: “……”

Hah!

What did he take her for?

She glared fiercely at the block of wood in front of her, and still angry, kicked him in the shin. Then she stepped onto the bicycle and rode off. She pedaled very fast, not looking back no matter how Ge Yuan shouted behind her.

Ge Yuan chased for a while but could not catch up. Seeing Ye Wanqing’s figure growing farther and farther away, he could only stop in confusion.

A cool breeze blew past. He shivered and rubbed his arms.

“Sss, freezing this big brother to death!”

Riding past a barbershop, Ye Wanqing’s peripheral vision swept across the notice posted at the entrance, and an idea suddenly formed in her mind.

She got off the bicycle and pushed open the door into the barbershop.