Chapter 41

Zhou Sao ran away?

Ye Wanqing had just taken a bite of watermelon and nearly choked. After carefully swallowing it, she looked at Zeng Li, who had rushed over in a panic. “What happened? Catch your breath first and tell me slowly.”

Zeng Li’s face was full of anxiety, looking like she was about to cry. “I was in the back kitchen preparing the evening steamed dishes. While I was working, I called for Zhou Sao to give me a hand, but she wasn’t in the shop at all! When I came out and checked, something felt wrong. Then I discovered that all the money in the cash drawer was gone, and everything Zhou Sao kept in the shop had disappeared too! Wuwu…”

Losing several hundred or even a thousand yuan was a huge responsibility. If she had to pay it back, it would cause serious trouble for her family. Zeng Li didn’t dare think about it. As she spoke, tears streaked down her face and her legs went weak.

“How could this happen?” Ge Yuan stood up with a frown, his eyes sharp and cold. “I’ll go check Zhou Sao’s house!”

Wei Hong and Wei Jun also grew anxious. “What about the shop then?”

Fatty Wang’s mother heard the noise and ran out of the kitchen. She slapped her thigh in distress. “What are we going to do? It’s all my fault! How could I not notice that Zhou Sao was no good?!”

Zhou Sao had always seemed honest and straightforward. No one expected her to have the nerve to do something like this.

“Everyone calm down first!” Ye Wanqing said.

The moment she spoke, the others quieted down and waited to hear what she would decide.

Because she had been preparing for the college entrance exam, Ye Wanqing hadn’t gone to the shop much in the past month or two. She only sent Wei Hong and Wei Jun once a week to keep an eye on things—partly to stop the staff from getting any improper ideas, and partly to give the two of them some training.

There were three employees in the shop. Fatty Wang’s mother acted as the manager. She usually handled the cash register and sold the braised dishes, and she had worked with Ye Wanqing the longest, so she was the one Ye Wanqing trusted most.

Zeng Li was Aunt Plum Blossom’s youngest daughter. She had excellent cooking skills. After Ye Wanqing trained her, she put her in charge of the back kitchen. Zhou Sao was quick with her hands, so she was mainly responsible for daily cleaning.

In theory, Zhou Sao shouldn’t have had access to the shop’s money. But today was the day Ye Wanqing finished the college entrance exam. Everyone wanted to have a good meal at home and didn’t want to tire Ye Wanqing out, so they had Fatty Wang’s mother leave early to prepare a big meal. Zeng Li in the kitchen couldn’t watch the cash register at the same time… and that was how Zhou Sao found her chance.

Ye Wanqing said, “There’s no need to panic. We collect the day’s earnings every night. Even if Zhou Sao ran off with the money, it would only be today’s takings at most. The loss isn’t that big—it won’t hurt us seriously.”

“Zeng Li, you and Fatty Wang’s mother go back to the shop first. Since the steamed dishes for tonight are already prepared, just finish today’s business properly. Wei Jun and Wei Hong… you two go help as well. Just help serve dishes, wash some bowls, and tidy up.”

“After closing tonight, Fatty Wang’s mother, remember to hang a sign at the door saying the shop will be closed tomorrow so everyone can rest for a day.”

“Brother Yuan, please go check on Zhou Sao’s situation. If her whole family has run away, report it to the police first, then ask around and see if anything unusual has happened in her household recently. Look for any clues.”

After arranging everything one by one, Ye Wanqing smiled gently. “I just finished the exams today and I’m actually quite tired. Why don’t we properly celebrate tomorrow when everyone has a day off? Right now I just want to take a good bath and get some sleep.”

She was the most important person to look after at the moment, so of course everyone agreed with whatever she said.

Ge Yuan’s eyes were serious. He nodded at once. “You rest well. Don’t worry about anything else. I’ll handle it properly for you.”

Liu Lixiu quickly spoke up. “I’ll go heat some water in the kitchen right now.”

Wei Hong and Wei Jun stood up as well. Wei Hong said, “We’ll go with Fatty Wang’s mother to the shop and help.”

The others also started moving.

“Then I’ll leave it to all of you,” Ye Wanqing said with a smile in her eyes, nodding calmly.

Seeing how composed she was, the tension in everyone’s hearts suddenly eased. They relaxed again, and the matter of Zhou Sao absconding with the money no longer seemed like such a big deal.

Still, whenever they remembered that today’s takings were four or five hundred yuan, their hearts ached a little… The loss might not be devastating, but it wasn’t small either!

Four or five hundred yuan could buy a lot of things these days!

—

Ye Wanqing hadn’t been lying. She really was exhausted.

Ever since she started studying at Third Middle, she had been working as if she had been injected with chicken blood, studying nonstop. After discovering how terrible her scores were in politics, history, and geography, she had compressed her daily six hours of sleep down to four.

One day was fine. One week was fine. But keeping it up for more than two months, nearly three months, truly required inhuman willpower.

Fortunately, Ye Wanqing had done a lot of physical work since childhood, so her body was in reasonably good condition and her energy was stronger than most people’s. On top of that, Ge Yuan had been taking care of her the whole time, letting her catch more than half an hour of sleep on the way to and from school every day. That extra hour or so of rest was what allowed her to hold on.

But before the exams ended, she had been able to keep herself tightly strung. The moment the exams were over and she finally relaxed, the fatigue that had been building up all winter came pouring over her like a flood—endless and overwhelming.

Losing a few hundred yuan really wasn’t a big deal to her. She only felt a little regret over Zhou Sao’s betrayal, but she wouldn’t let it bother her for long… Thinking about it too much would affect her sleep, and that simply wasn’t worth it.

After taking a bath and lying down on the bed, Ye Wanqing quickly sank into sleep.

The moonlight was like water, sweeping away some of the summer night’s stuffiness.

A soft, lingering breeze blew in through the window, gradually lowering the temperature in the room.

An electric fan at the foot of the bed blew gently. A bunch of fresh wildflowers stood in a coarse porcelain vase on the dressing table, filling the room with a light floral scent. Even in her dreams, a faint, contented smile appeared on Ye Wanqing’s face.

When Ge Yuan finished handling the matter and came back, he stood outside the window and saw her sleeping with calm, peaceful brows. The messy anger in his heart was immediately suppressed, and he couldn’t help lowering his head and smiling.

Afraid she would catch a chill, he walked into the room, picked up the thin blanket that had been kicked to the foot of the bed, and draped it over her waist and stomach. Looking at her quiet, delicate sleeping face, he couldn’t resist kissing her forehead once.

One kiss didn’t feel like enough. His lips slowly moved downward until they found hers.

Warm and sweet, just like holding a mouthful of honey…

For a while now, in order not to disturb her studies, he hadn’t claimed any of his own “benefits.” Kissing her stealthily like this now made him feel a little restless and impatient.

Just as he was lost in the moment, a sudden elderly cough sounded.

Ge Yuan jolted in shock and looked out the window. Old Zhong pointed at him with his cigarette, full of disappointment. “Still not getting out? What are you trying to do?!”

“……”

Ge Yuan had no choice. If he didn’t leave, it looked like Old Zhong planned to take root right outside the window.

The improper fire in his heart made his head go blank for a second. He blocked Old Zhong’s view, lowered his head, and kissed his little woman hard once more before walking out of Ye Wanqing’s room under Old Zhong’s warning gaze.

Once outside, he still argued reasonably, “We’re almost getting married. What’s the big deal about kissing a couple of times in advance? We’re at home—no one else saw!”

Old Zhong slapped him on the back in anger. “Can’t you restrain yourself a little? Be careful you make the girl too embarrassed and she refuses to marry you!”

“She likes me so much—she won’t.”

“You’ve got some thick skin.”

“Wasn’t it you who taught me…”

“You little bastard, what did you just say?”

“I said…”

The old man and the young one walked away bickering. Lying on the bed, Ye Wanqing turned over and faced the inside of the bed. Suddenly her eyelashes fluttered, and the corners of her lips curved into a sweet arc.

Her tall man had actually learned to do things on the sly. He really was making progress.

She had originally planned to properly reward him tonight, but Zhou Sao’s matter had distracted her and made her forget. This stolen kiss… mm, she would just count it as a reward for how well-behaved and good he had been.

—

The next day.

Without an alarm clock disturbing her peaceful dreams, Ye Wanqing slept straight until ten in the morning before opening her eyes in a daze.

The electric fan by the bed had been blowing all night, yet the sun outside was already high. The tree leaves seemed to give off a faint glow under the sunlight. Bright sunlight poured in through the window, casting a lattice of patterns on the floor.

Oh no!

She sat up abruptly. When she saw that it was already past ten, she immediately grew anxious.

She quickly washed up, grabbed two biscuits from the aluminum lunch box for breakfast, and was about to rush out of the room when she suddenly remembered something: oh… she had finished the exams. She didn’t need to go to school anymore.

Her mood suddenly relaxed, as if a hundred-jin burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Ye Wanqing happily took a bite of biscuit and squinted up at the sky.

“Wanqing, you’re up?” Fatty Wang’s mother walked into the courtyard. Seeing her like this, she smiled. “I was just saying you should be getting up around now. What do you want to eat—rice noodles or noodles?”

Ye Wanqing smiled and didn’t stand on ceremony. “Rice noodles. It’s been a long time since I had them.”

The rice noodles from Qingshui County were truly excellent.

In later years, most rice noodles were machine-made. At this time that technology didn’t exist yet, so they were all made by hand—one sheet of rice noodle skin at a time—then taken home, cut with a knife, and boiled.

Machine-made rice noodles were evenly thick, each strand about two millimeters thick and half a centimeter wide.

Handmade ones came in whole sheets and weren’t completely even in thickness. The thinner parts became almost as transparent as wet paper after boiling, while the thicker parts held up better to cooking and weren’t as firm as the machine-made ones.

In theory, the even thickness of machine-made noodles should make them taste better, yet Ye Wanqing just preferred the handmade ones.

Once bought, the sheets were cut into strips about a centimeter wide, boiled briefly in water, and as soon as the water boiled they were scooped into a bowl. Soup and toppings were poured over them, mixed well, and they tasted especially good. The thin handmade noodles absorbed the flavor much better than the machine-made ones.

Thinking of this, Ye Wanqing couldn’t help swallowing.

Fatty Wang’s mother was thoroughly familiar with the kitchen in the little courtyard. She went to the stove, quickly brought water to a boil, and dropped the cut rice noodles in to wait for the water to bubble again.

She had already prepared wood-ear and shredded-pork toppings that morning, and the soup was heating in the pot. As soon as the noodles were ready, they could eat.

A few minutes later the food was ready. The moment Ye Wanqing saw the snow-white rice noodles soaking in brown meat broth, topped with a thick spoonful of wood-ear and shredded pork, with green coriander and bright red chopped chili piled on the side, her appetite opened wide.

Fragrant and spicy. Two bites of noodles followed by a sip of soup were especially appetizing.

After sending everyone out to handle matters the previous evening, Ye Wanqing herself hadn’t even eaten dinner. She had just washed up and gone straight to sleep. Getting up so late today, she really was starving.

She quickly finished a whole bowl of rice noodles, rubbed her stomach, and leaned back against the chair, looking extremely satisfied.

Zhou Sao’s matter the day before had left Fatty Wang’s mother feeling uncertain. She sat in the chair, thought it over for a long time, then finally probed carefully, “Wanqing, how do you plan to handle Zhou Sao’s matter?”

Ye Wanqing opened her eyes and asked first, “What happened with Zhou Sao’s family?”

“Ge Yuan came back yesterday and said that Zhou Sao’s husband had been gambling outside and lost so badly they practically stripped him of his underwear. Afraid people would come looking for him, he decided to hide somewhere else. Zhou Sao is an honest person. She was probably forced into a corner by her husband and had no choice but to steal the shop’s money and run with him…”

Fatty Wang’s mother sighed. “Her son is paralyzed in bed, and her daughter-in-law gave birth to a child at the beginning of the year. The baby is only half a year old now. Who knows where their whole family can run to.”

To be honest, if Zhou Sao’s family situation hadn’t been so difficult, Fatty Wang’s mother wouldn’t have been the first to look after her and recommend her to work in Ye Wanqing’s shop. She never expected something like this would happen.

Ye Wanqing frowned. “Her husband is still gambling?”

“Yes… So how do you think we should handle this?” Fatty Wang’s mother smiled a little cautiously. “The money Zhou Sao took definitely can’t be recovered. Four or five hundred yuan… that’s not a small amount.”

“One matter is one matter. You don’t need to worry about the money. Even if we can’t get it back from Zhou Sao, I won’t make you and Zeng Li pay for it. However, when you choose staff in the future, I hope you won’t take on a charitable mindset and hire people just because their families are in difficulty.” Ye Wanqing’s voice was a little serious.

“Yes.” Fatty Wang’s mother looked a bit sheepish, though she still couldn’t completely agree in her heart.

It wasn’t Zhou Sao’s fault that her family was unreliable. Most of the time this incident was forced on her. No one wanted things to turn out this way.

To tell the truth, she still felt quite a bit of sympathy for Zhou Sao.

“You think Zhou Sao’s husband’s business has nothing to do with her?” Ye Wanqing could see exactly what she was thinking and shook her head. “I admit Zhou Sao is quick with her hands and careful in her work, but her personality is also too soft. This time she could be forced by her husband into stealing the shop’s money. Tomorrow she could damage the shop’s interests for the same reason or something else. What I need are employees who do their jobs for wages, not timed bombs. So it’s best to guard against that kind of situation.”

If Fatty Wang’s mother kept thinking this way, Ye Wanqing would even have to consider whether to continue letting her be the shop manager.

Although her own personality was slow to warm up, she wasn’t a cold person either. But in a situation like Zhou Sao’s, she would definitely never let Zhou Sao stay in the shop.

Rules make the circle. From a small shop up to a multinational company, if there were no systems or regulations and everything relied only on personal relationships, it simply couldn’t go far.

After Ye Wanqing pointed this out, Fatty Wang’s mother didn’t know whether she truly understood or was only pretending, but she nodded anyway. “I understand.”

“Thank you for making breakfast for me. Tonight I’ll cook. Bring Fatty Wang and your husband over for dinner. We’ll set out two tables in the courtyard and have a lively time together.”

“Alright!” Fatty Wang’s mother clapped her hands and brightened up. “Your Ge Yuan has been showing off your cooking skills outside all the time. My husband is even curious whether your ancestors produced an imperial chef. If he knows you’ve invited him to eat, he’ll definitely be over the moon.”

Ye Wanqing: “……”

So while she had been shutting out the outside world these past month or two, what good things had her rough man been doing behind her back?

—

Fatty Wang’s mother had barely left when Wei Jun and Wei Hong arrived with Ge Yue.

Afraid of disturbing Ye Wanqing’s sleep, they had taken Ge Yue over to the Ge family’s little courtyard early in the morning. Now they had come to see whether Ye Wanqing was awake.

“Beautiful Sister-in-law!” The moment Ge Yue saw Ye Wanqing standing by the well cranking water, she cheered and charged over like a little cannonball, hugging her small water bucket, her round little face full of joy.

“Little Moon.” Ye Wanqing put down the water-cranking handle, crouched down, and hugged her soft little body.

“Ah… finally got a hug.” Ge Yue hugged her arm in return and rubbed her cheek against it, sighing softly like a little adult. “I missed you to death. It’s been two whole months without a hug.”

“……” Ye Wanqing was startled, then couldn’t help laughing as she tapped the tip of Ge Yue’s nose. “You’re such a little monkey.”

Wei Jun and Wei Hong were also thoroughly amused by Ge Yue’s childish words. Even the usually shy Wei Jun laughed out loud.

Wei Hong spoke up directly. “Little Moon, you don’t need to be sad. I didn’t get a hug either, and your brother definitely didn’t get one either. None of us got to hug your Beautiful Sister-in-law. We’re all suffering together.”

Ge Yue tilted her head, thought for a moment, then pouted unhappily. “But I’m beautiful! Brother even gets kisses, and I don’t get any!”

Wei Hong: “……Am I not beautiful?”

Ge Yue looked her over, held up a small chubby hand to show the length of a jujube, then thought about it and made it a little smaller. “You’re only this much beautiful.”

She wasn’t finished. She opened both arms wide and drew a big circle. “Beautiful Sister-in-law is this beautiful!”

Wei Hong wanted to cry. “You little brat!”

Ye Wanqing: “……”

Yes, yes, yes—whatever Little Moon said was right! She turned her head and planted a big kiss on Ge Yue’s chubby little cheek, making the child shrink her neck and laugh “haha,” saying it tickled, her eyes curving into two little moons of delight.

After laughing and teasing for a bit, Ye Wanqing noticed that Wei Huainong and Liu Lixiu weren’t there and asked where they had gone.

Wei Hong scratched her head and stammered, “They didn’t go do anything special—just went out to buy a few things.”

Ye Wanqing didn’t think too much of it and asked, “Will they be back for dinner tonight? We’ll set out two tables in the courtyard. I’ll cook and make up for the meal we missed yesterday.”

“That sounds great!” Wei Hong bounced up excitedly the moment she heard. “Jie, I love the food you cook the most!”

What did beauty matter? Food was far more important!

—

Ge Yuan was gone the whole morning and only returned near lunchtime. As soon as he came back, he walked up to Ye Wanqing holding four hundred yuan.

“I found Zhou Sao and her people. This money is what I took back from them. I exchanged it for clean bills. But in the moment I wasn’t careful and they managed to run off, so I couldn’t hand them over to the police. When I catch them again later, I definitely won’t let them off easy!”

Ye Wanqing’s eyes widened in surprise. “You moved this fast?”

She had thought Zhou Sao and the others must have planned it for a long time and arranged all sorts of escape routes. Finding them should have taken at least half a month. She never expected Ge Yuan to track them down so quickly.

Although the people themselves hadn’t been brought back, recovering part of the money was still good.

“Brother Yuan, you’re really amazing!” Ye Wanqing couldn’t help smiling. Seeing Ge Yuan standing by the well scooping up a handful of water to wash the sweat from his face, she quickly handed him the cloth nearby. “Thank you.”

“What is there to thank? Your good mood is what matters most.” Ge Yuan gave a bright, open smile. Seeing there were other people around, he could only suppress the restless feeling in his heart and lower his voice. “Keep me company more tonight?”

“What do you want to do?” Ye Wanqing raised her eyebrows and smiled as she asked.

Ge Yuan pressed the tip of his tongue against his cheek, his breathing deepened a little, and his eyes were full of eager anticipation. His whole body radiated a strong sense of aggression. “I want to kiss you to death.”

“Oh?” Ye Wanqing’s eyes held a smile as she refused to play by the rules and asked in return, “And if you can’t kiss me to death?”

Ge Yuan: “……”

“Then can I touch your abs and check how well you’ve kept your figure these past two months? If you haven’t kept it well, you’re not allowed in bed after we get married!”

“……” Ge Yuan nearly jumped!

He… when would his little woman stop being this bold and at least let him successfully “counterattack” once so he could see her face turn completely red with embarrassment!

His head went blank for a moment. Unwilling to admit defeat, he lowered his voice even further, the deep tone striking straight against Ye Wanqing’s eardrum. “You want to touch my abs—no problem. Going further down… is also fine. I guarantee you’ll be satisfied, mm?”

His eyes stayed locked on her, waiting for her face to turn red.

But…

Ye Wanqing widened her almond eyes in surprise. “Wow! Since you’re being so generous… can I bring a ruler to measure?”

Ge Yuan: “……”

A ru… ruler? No way!

Defeated again and again, he finally shouted in frustration, “Ye Wanqing!”

“Ah?”

“Can you be a little more reserved?” he said through gritted teeth.

“Why are you getting so worked up? Don’t tell me…” Ye Wanqing blinked, then held up her thumb and index finger and brought them closer and closer together. The suggestive meaning made Ge Yuan’s face explode red.

So annoying!

Ahhhhhh!

—

Ye Wanqing successfully made her tall man jump in place with her belly full of mischief, then found an excuse to pull him into the room and properly kissed him for a while until his fur was smoothed down again. Her mood grew even better.

She didn’t take the four hundred yuan Ge Yuan had brought back to heart. Having recovered it was simply having recovered it.

To her, although she clearly knew that four hundred yuan had strong purchasing power at this time, she didn’t lack that bit of money right now. Having seen tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands in later years, years of mental habit made her care even less.

It wasn’t until evening, when Wei Huainong and Liu Lixiu also returned, that they pulled her aside, smiled, and stuffed more than two hundred yuan in small bills into her hands.

“Wanqing, this is what your dad found today after running around all day. He tracked down Zhou Sao’s relatives and dug it out from her husband’s body… There isn’t much left. Don’t feel bad. Just take it for now—getting back whatever we can is still good, right?” Liu Lixiu smiled and patted the back of her hand. “You finally finished the exams. Don’t let yourself feel unhappy.”

Wei Huainong wasn’t good with words. After Liu Lixiu finished speaking, he simply nodded and smiled kindly.

Holding the thick stack of more than two hundred yuan in small bills—ones, twos, even a few jiao and fen… Ye Wanqing’s throat felt a little tight, and her nose stung.

She gently smiled, not knowing what to say, and could only reply, “Thank you. You’ve worked hard.”

This money… how could it possibly have been recovered from Zhou Sao?

Even the money from Ge Yuan’s side probably wasn’t either…

The moment she turned around, Ye Wanqing’s eyes reddened, yet her heart felt sweet.