After they’d laid their feelings bare, Xie Yushu gazed at his face for a long while. Her fingers itched to pinch his cheeks, but she held back.
She put on a stern face and urged him, “It’s late. You should go home.”
Su Chi didn’t want to leave just yet. He wanted to stay a little longer with her. He didn’t speak—just quietly looked at her.
Then it struck him—she’d come back so late, she probably hadn’t even had time to eat. He grew worried.
He asked, “Why are you back so late tonight?”
“Had some things to take care of—came back late.” Xie Yushu didn’t go into detail. She knew Su Chi was well-behaved and wouldn’t press.
He knew she’d been running back and forth between town and the village lately, rarely home. He didn’t pry. He lifted his face and said, “Are you hungry? Let me make you some noodles, okay?”
Xie Yushu frowned. “Isn’t it too much trouble at this hour?”
She wasn’t good with noodles, and she knew that here, making noodles meant starting from scratch—kneading, rolling, cutting—a whole complicated process. Just thinking about it made her head spin.
Su Chi didn’t think it was a bother. He was used to it. “No trouble at all. I’m fast. You go rest in your room for a bit, and it’ll be ready before you know it.”
“Alright.”
She said he could use whatever he found in the kitchen, so Su Chi busied himself in Xie Yushu’s house.
As she watched him hurry about before leaving, Xie Yushu—who had “done all the bad deeds”—finally let out a breath.
She’d had Tian Fūlang spread the news of her impending marriage throughout the village. One of her goals was to see Su Chi’s reaction—to confirm whether he had feelings for her.
If he did, she figured he’d be sad, maybe secretly shed a few tears, and she’d find out. Then she could ask him if he wanted to marry her—shutting Tian Fūlang up, gaining some peace, and getting the Su Chi she longed for all at once.
A perfect two birds with one stone.
But she’d never expected Su Chi to be so bold—cornering her at her house late at night, begging her not to marry someone else, saying he wanted to be her husband.
She was stunned, but also relieved, secretly overjoyed, and a little guilty.
She’d used the lowest tactic to make Su Chi give in—making a shy young man come to her and ask for a commitment.
Xie Yushu, you’re truly terrible.
Su Chi, unaware of her silent remorse, focused on making her a simple meal.
He rummaged through Xie Yushu’s kitchen—there wasn’t much flour, but enough. There were also vegetables, eggs, and in the cupboard, several thick slabs of salted fish.
He kneaded the dough first, rolled it into a large, even sheet of medium thickness, folded it layer upon layer, then sliced it into thin strips with the knife pressed against his knuckles.
He picked up the noodles and gave them a shake—they were perfect, each strip nearly identical in width. Enough for two portions.
Before going to her room, she’d told him to eat with her, so he made enough for two.
He boiled the noodles first and fished them out. Then he fried two eggs in hot oil until golden on both sides. He poured in hot water, and the broth instantly turned milky white. He added freshly washed greens and a small spoonful of lard to enrich the flavor.
The fried eggs were golden-brown on both sides, the whites slightly crisp at the edges, the yolks still runny—one gentle poke with chopsticks and the golden center would flow out.
He poured the broth and vegetables over the noodles and called Xie Yushu to eat.
Inside her room, Xie Yushu was counting the twenty guan of silver that Du Yinghua had helped recover from the gambling house. Her savings had suddenly doubled.
That morning, Ye Youchun had called her away—something had happened at the ferry. The Du family wanted her there, and apparently, Miss Du had thrown a huge fit.
When she arrived, she understood why.
Du Yinghua, Yang Shuang, and several of the ferry’s other investors were gathered in the council hall, their faces dark as they looked down at the offender.
Azi waved her over discreetly.
Luo Qi knelt below, her face ashen.
Xie Yushu knew—Du Yinghua had found proof that Luo Qi was the spy, and was now dealing with her.
Earlier, Du Yinghua had deliberately spread false information through the ferry workers, to lure the snake out of its hole and catch Luo Qi in the act.
Luo Qi wasn’t clever to begin with. After scheming to push out the original Xie Yushu, she’d grown arrogant, emboldened by Fan’s backing.
As a result, the trap set for her caught her red-handed—no explanation could save her now.
This time, the trap set by the Du family had cost Fan’s Trading Company a significant sum. That loss would inevitably be pinned on Luo Qi. She knew she was finished—already a discarded pawn.
Fan’s ambition to take over the ferry was old news. The company was now in decline, resorting to such schemes to squeeze out dirty money.
When Luo Qi was caught, she was terrified. She knelt before them, pleading nonstop, saying she’d been foolish and knew she was wrong. She offered to trade information about Fan’s Trading Company in exchange for leniency.
But Du Yinghua sneered at the offer, calling her stupid—the information she’d provide might be false, or even deliberately misleading.
Xie Yushu stood silently beside Du Yinghua, watching as they dealt with Luo Qi.
Head bowed, Luo Qi caught a glimpse of Xie Yushu out of the corner of her eye.
What was that failure doing here? To watch her humiliated?
She laughed bitterly to herself. What goes around comes around. Karma had finally caught up with her.
That failure must be feeling pretty pleased with herself.
In the end, Luo Qi was expelled from the ferry. None of the businesses owned by the families connected to the ferry would ever hire her again.
The punishment seemed mild, but in reality, it made Luo Qi unemployable throughout Songwan Town and the surrounding towns.
Once word got out, no one would hire her.
Though Luo Qi hadn’t actually caused any substantive damage to the ferry, the others couldn’t swallow their anger—she’d nearly made fools of them all.
With everything settled, Luo Qi closed her eyes and accepted her fate.
After it was over, Du Yinghua handed Xie Yushu the twenty guan recovered from Zhengda Gambling House and told her she wanted to be friends.
Money made everything easy. Xie Yushu readily agreed, took the silver, and bid her a cheerful farewell.
The day hadn’t been wasted after all.
By the ferry dock.
As Xie Yushu walked away, she didn’t spare Luo Qi a single glance. After being thrown out, Luo Qi found herself following Xie Yushu as if pulled by some invisible force.
“Yushu, I still remember the first time you brought me here.”
Luo Qi looked at Xie Yushu walking ahead, her voice dripping with sentiment, as if they were still old friends.
“You told me you’d found work—and it was as a steward at the ferry. How impressive. And me—I was still working the fields back then. But you never looked down on me. You even found me work here that wasn’t too hard. I truly was grateful to you back then. I wanted to be your best friend for life.”
Xie Yushu didn’t respond. Ahead, there was a drink stall. She browsed the choices for a while, finally settling on a bowl of red date and osmanthus drink. She sipped it contentedly.
Cold, refreshing, and delicious!
She paid and left the stall.
Luo Qi: …
She hurried after her, still talking to herself: “Yushu, we’ve known each other for all these years—”
Finally, Xie Yushu reacted. She stopped and gave Luo Qi a cold, emotionless glance. “Even now, you’re still lying. Saying you wanted to be my best friend for life—how laughable.”
Just moments ago, she’d looked at her with hatred. Now she was putting on this fawning “old friend” act. It was obvious she wanted something—wanted Xie Yushu to play the fool and let her latch on again.
“Yushu, I—”
“Seventh Niang.” Xie Yushu called her by that old name, her voice unexpectedly soft.
Luo Qi shuddered. It had been so long since she’d been called that.
Maybe—maybe she didn’t hate her as much as she thought.
Her lips trembled as she was about to speak. But before she could, Xie Yushu reached out her hand—palm up, right in front of her.
“Over the years, I was foolish. I let you take advantage of me in so many ways—buying fabric, dining out, and even helping your family when things were tight. I don’t remember all the details, but roughly, it comes to about four or five guan.”
Luo Qi’s head snapped up in horror—how could she say such a thing?
Xie Yushu sighed. “I’ll give you a friend’s discount—just give me five guan.”
“You!” Luo Qi stared at her in disbelief, a bitter taste rising in her throat. She was furious.
“And that time you set me up at the gambling den—I lost forty guan. Half of that ended up in your pocket, didn’t it?”
This wasn’t a question—it was a threat.
Xie Yushu knew that all of Luo Qi’s money had gone to her family. She was the only daughter, with six older brothers—the whole family depended on her for everything.
Getting twenty-five guan out of her would be harder than climbing to heaven.
But when someone did wrong, they had to pay the price, didn’t they?
Why should the original owner have suffered so much, died with such bitterness, for nothing?
“Twenty-five guan—not a single coin less. Otherwise, your family…”
Xie Yushu knew exactly what her family situation was.
This struck at Luo Qi’s weak spot. She lost control and screamed, “This has nothing to do with my family! All of it was my fault alone—I was greedy, I betrayed my friend, I deserve to die.”
Xie Yushu sneered. “Everything you took from me went to your family. Why do you think they should get off scot-free?”
She knew Luo Qi was filial—raised by her parents to believe she was the family’s pillar, the support for her six brothers. Whatever she earned, she gave to them.
Luo Qi’s face went ashen. After a long pause, as if steeling herself, she finally spoke, her voice trembling. “I’ll find a way to pay you back. Just… don’t go to my family.”
—
Xie Yushu walked inside and saw two bowls of noodles on the table—one large, one small—steaming and fragrant.
Su Chi handed her a pair of chopsticks and pushed the larger bowl toward her. “This is a bit simple. Tomorrow, I’ll make you egg and shredded pork sauce noodles, or braised pork rib noodles—which would you like?”
“Either is fine.” Xie Yushu wasn’t picky—as long as he made it, anything was good.
She sat down and picked up a bundle of noodles with her chopsticks. Before she could even take a bite, she was struck by how perfectly uniform and neatly cut they were—as if made by a modern machine. How could human hands be so skilled?
“They look great. How is this simple? Cutting noodles is a lot of work.”
She hadn’t eaten all evening and was starving. She bent her head and slurped down half the bowl in a few quick mouthfuls.
After taking the edge off her hunger, she bit into the crispy, runny fried egg—even the greens were sweet with flavor.
Halfway through, she realized there were two eggs nestled in her bowl. Glancing at Su Chi’s small bowl, she saw only a few lonely greens.
“Both eggs for me? Aren’t you having any?”
He’d been quietly happy watching her eat so contentedly. Caught off guard by her question, he paused before answering, “Mm, I’m not hungry. I fried both for you.”
“Eat up—it won’t taste as good cold.”
Xie Yushu didn’t like how he always put her on a pedestal, always giving himself so little. It had happened too many times.
She told him that from now on, they’d have the same amount. Otherwise, she wouldn’t eat.
He held back a smile and said yes.
He felt she sounded like a pouting child—she’d done this before too.
He really wasn’t hungry, but seeing her eat so heartily, he found himself finishing his own bowl without realizing it.
Xie Yushu ate quickly. She finished the entire large bowl of noodles, even drinking the broth.
Then she got up to walk Su Chi home.
After the ferry matter was finally settled, she’d rushed straight to Qianwan Village and spoken to the village chief about that abandoned compound. She wanted to buy it or rent it.
Before leaving, the property’s caretaker had discussed it with the village chief—they had urgent business and no longer needed the place. After taking all the valuables, they’d left the deed with the chief to handle as she saw fit.
The property was huge, and the village chief hadn’t been able to deal with it, so it had sat idle.
The matter was tricky.
First, the price was daunting. Some villagers had shown interest before, wanting to use it as a fish processing site—since that’s what it had been originally. A few families had discussed pooling money to rent it, but the price had scared them off.
Second—
The house was haunted!
Ever since the villagers had tried to acquire it half a year ago, strange noises had been coming from the long-abandoned estate.
Rumors spread that the previous owners had fled for that very reason!
For a while, everyone was on edge. People would rather take the long way than walk past that direction.
Still, a few brave souls—either skeptical of such superstitions or simply in too much of a hurry to care—still used the shortcut.
Xie Yushu found the story intriguing and asked around a bit more, which was why she’d gotten back so late.
Just thinking about Su Chi, fighting his drowsiness, standing at her gate waiting for her return late at night, made her heart melt.
Truly foolish.
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