As time passed, the sun slowly rose above the horizon, but the wind still carried a chill. Lin Aiyun pulled her thin jacket tighter around herself, took one last look in the direction Zhuang Dongping had gone, and turned to walk back toward the main building.
Along the way, her brow remained furrowed. Her thoughts churned back and forth, and she temporarily set aside her original plan to make another qipao for Zhuang Dongping as a thank-you gift.
Besides, the gifts she’d given today were already quite valuable—more than enough. There was no need to go out of her way to send a qipao, especially after what had happened this morning. She simply wasn’t in the mood anymore.
Forget it. Since she felt uncomfortable and suspected yesterday’s incident was connected to Zhuang Dongping, it was better to keep her distance in the future to avoid any awkwardness.
Lin Aiyun had never been one to make things difficult for herself. Having reached that conclusion, she made up her mind: unless absolutely necessary, she would avoid contact with Zhuang Dongping from now on. After all, they’d only met a few times, and the bond between them wasn’t that deep.
Back in the embroidery room, she saw the others diligently working on their pieces. The sight filled her with motivation. After briefly sketching out the outline of her new piece in her mind, she quietly selected embroidery fabric and needles from the cabinet, ready to begin her new “journey.”
She knew there were two ways to accumulate points quickly. First, quantity over quality—”small profits but quick turnover.” By producing more pieces, she could accumulate points through volume. Simple embroideries took much less time than complex ones.
Second, quality over quantity. In the association, the better the piece, the higher the points and price it commanded. The only downside compared to the first method was that it took more time—fine work required patience.
After some deliberation, Lin Aiyun chose the second path. She’d come to the association to learn and grow, with ambitions of making something big of herself. If she kept churning out simple pieces she’d already mastered, how would she ever advance?
With that decided, she didn’t rush to start stitching. Instead, she pulled out a large notebook from her bag, thought for a while, and began sketching and writing with a pencil. This was her usual preparation for major works—a notebook for recording inspirations.
She was so focused on her drawing that she didn’t even notice when the sun climbed higher and midday arrived. It wasn’t until Yang Xi tapped on her desk that she looked up abruptly. “What is it, Sister Yang Xi?”
“It’s lunchtime! Go eat, or all the good stuff at the cafeteria will be gone.” Yang Xi looked at Lin Aiyun’s dazed expression and hid a chuckle behind her hand. “Aren’t you hot? You’re sweating.”
Hearing that, Lin Aiyun raised her hand to her forehead and indeed felt a thin layer of perspiration. She smiled sheepishly. “It’s an old habit—once I start drawing, I lose track of everything else.”
She also noticed that Yang Xi and Qin Shuang had already packed up, apparently heading home for lunch. Zhang Yaoyao was standing nearby, meal ticket and lunchbox in hand, clearly waiting for her.
“I’ll be right there—sorry to keep you waiting.” Lin Aiyun quickly took out her meal ticket, which she’d just received yesterday, and her lunchbox, which she’d thought to bring this morning. Unlike the cafeterias of later times, which provided utensils, these days everyone brought their own. After eating, you’d wash them yourself or take them home to wash.
“No rush, take your time.” Zhang Yaoyao smiled, her large eyes curving into crescent moons. She glanced curiously at Lin Aiyun’s notebook, but it had been closed, so she couldn’t see anything. “Being focused is a good thing.”
“Exactly. I have a hard time staying focused on anything.” Qin Shuang shook her head, then glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “We’ll head off first.”
“Okay.”
Soon, Qin Shuang and Yang Xi left together.
“Let’s go too. You haven’t been to the cafeteria yet, have you? I’ll take you.” Zhang Yaoyao naturally linked her arm with Lin Aiyun’s, and the two walked closely together toward the cafeteria, turning quite a few heads along the way.
From snippets of whispered conversations, Lin Aiyun pieced together that Zhang Yaoyao was regarded as the “flower” of the association—the equivalent of a class or school beauty.
She couldn’t resist teasing her about it. Zhang Yaoyao’s cheeks flushed pink as she shot Lin Aiyun a look. “That’s just them making things up.”
Then she fell silent, studying Lin Aiyun for a moment before quirking one corner of her lips. “I think that title’s about to change hands, Miss Lin. Don’t you agree?”
“I was wrong—don’t make fun of me.” Lin Aiyun knew Zhang Yaoyao was teasing her on purpose and quickly begged for mercy.
Their laughter didn’t stop until they lined up at the cafeteria. With so many people around, it was no longer appropriate to continue, so they quieted down.
The gender ratio at the association was heavily skewed—it was rare to see even one man for every ten women. So at a glance, the cafeteria was filled with women in all sorts of dresses and outfits—a feast for the eyes.
Lin Aiyun felt like she didn’t have enough eyes to take it all in—looking at this one, admiring that one—she was having the time of her life. This place was heaven!
Just then, two women in the neighboring queue, holding newspapers, suddenly gasped and covered their mouths. “Jiangming Province has been successfully liberated!”
One of them even burst into tears. Seeing this, Lin Aiyun stepped forward and offered her handkerchief. She barely managed to suppress her own excitement, though her voice trembled as she spoke: “Hello, my hometown is Jiangming Province. Could I take a look at that newspaper?”
“A fellow townsman? Of course, here you go.” The crying woman, upon hearing Lin Aiyun’s familiar hometown accent, broke down even harder, but she didn’t forget to hand over the newspaper.
Lin Aiyun’s hands trembled as she took the paper. Zhang Yaoyao, who had witnessed everything, quickly reached out to support her, silently lending her strength.
The headline on today’s paper was the liberation of Jiangming Province—bold, oversized black characters that hit her eyes the moment the paper was opened. Lin Aiyun took a deep breath and forced herself to quickly read through the rest of the smaller text.
All those thousands of words combined to say one thing: Jiangming Province, which had been under fire for over a month, had finally ceased hostilities and officially entered its reconstruction period. Communications and transportation would gradually be restored as well.
This meant they could finally get in touch with family and friends back home! Though she’d known deep down that nothing catastrophic was likely to happen, without communication and without seeing anyone in person, she could never fully relax.
She returned the newspaper to her fellow townsman, a smile on her face, and offered a few words of comfort.
“Congratulations, congratulations.” Zhang Yaoyao’s lips curved into a genuine smile as she offered her heartfelt congratulations. Having lived through war herself, she could deeply empathize.
“Thank you!”
Lin Aiyun’s heart was ablaze with excitement. She planned to tell Zhang Wenhua and the others the good news as soon as she got home tonight. She could already imagine their faces.
She reined in her emotions for now, and just then it was their turn to get food. The association’s cafeteria offered excellent dishes—considering the majority were women, the meals were refined, with a good balance of meat and vegetables, healthy and nutritious.
Perhaps because the food was good, or maybe because of the good news, Lin Aiyun finished every last bite. Seeing her eat so heartily, Zhang Yaoyao also found herself eating a little more, and even the dishes she’d grown tired of suddenly tasted different.
Both were tidy by nature and couldn’t stand bringing dirty lunchboxes back to the embroidery room, so they washed them at the cafeteria before leaving. There was plenty of time for a midday break, and Zhang Yaoyao offered to show her around. The two went out and walked through the association from top to bottom.
In the afternoon, Lin Aiyun’s mind was too occupied to settle down, but she didn’t want to waste time either. She decided to embroider a simple lotus piece and managed to finish it just before work ended.
“Aiyun, want to walk out together? My husband can drop you off—we’re going the same direction.” Zhang Yaoyao’s bright, delicate face leaned in, her gaze sweeping over the elegant lotus on the embroidery frame. A flash of admiration crossed her eyes.
“You embroider so well. What stitch is this? I’ve never seen it before.”
Lin Aiyun smiled and picked it up for Zhang Yaoyao to examine more closely. “To be honest, I don’t know exactly what stitch it is. I just figured it out on my own.”
That wasn’t entirely false. In her previous life, Xiao Cheng had hired several embroidery masters from different schools to teach her at home. On one hand, he wanted her to have a hobby so she wouldn’t get bored; on the other, seeing how much she loved it, he wanted her to choose which style she wanted to focus on.
But in the end, she couldn’t bear to give up any of them. She learned them all and slowly developed a stitching method that combined the strengths of each school. Traces of each style could be found in her work.
“This part looks like Beijing embroidery,” Zhang Yaoyao said, pointing to a detail on a lotus leaf.
“Does it?” Lin Aiyun naturally didn’t dare admit it—how could a newcomer from out of town possibly have learned Beijing embroidery? There was no way to explain it, so she could only laugh it off.
Zhang Yaoyao nodded but didn’t press further. She returned the fabric to Lin Aiyun and sighed, “Truly, the younger generation is formidable. I heard you don’t have a teacher yet? That’s amazing. Aiyun, you’ll have to guide me sometime.”
“I wouldn’t call it guiding.” She shook her head, put the fabric back in her cabinet and locked it, planning to take it to the registration desk tomorrow to exchange for points and a bonus—though she wasn’t sure how much she’d get.
“Let’s go. But I might not be able to take you up on your offer today—my husband said he’d pick me up too.” Lin Aiyun gave Zhang Yaoyao a playful wink and shifted the subject in a half-joking manner.
Hearing this, Zhang Yaoyao shot her a teasing glare. “Fine, next time works just as well.”
After a moment’s hesitation, she stepped forward and took Lin Aiyun’s hand, a little embarrassed. “To be honest, I’ve been in the association for less than a year. You’re the most compatible friend I’ve met here. I hope we can keep getting along well.”
“Of course. I hope so too.” Lin Aiyun squeezed Zhang Yaoyao’s hand back, speaking earnestly, word by word.
The two exchanged smiles, gathered their things, and walked out arm in arm, making sure to lock the embroidery room door behind them.
At the entrance, they spotted Xiao Cheng waiting by his car. Tall and handsome, he drew more than a few glances from passersby.
Zhang Yaoyao turned to look at Lin Aiyun, noticing her unusual expression, and immediately understood their relationship. She teased, “That’s your man? No wonder you can’t take your eyes off him.”
Lin Aiyun nodded openly. “Mm, let me introduce you.”
“Huh?” This was the first time Zhang Yaoyao had experienced this kind of situation, and she was caught off guard. She only snapped out of it when Lin Aiyun pulled her over.
Back in the association, the other women would always keep their distance when their husbands came to pick them up, as if afraid that if they didn’t watch closely, their men might be stolen away by her—this so-called “seductress.”
That was one of the reasons she had so few friends in the association.
Some people seemed to harbor innate hostility and prejudice against beautiful women with alluring looks. Zhang Yaoyao had seen it so many times she’d grown numb. After all, when the heart is dirty, everything looks dirty.
But Lin Aiyun had actively brought her forward and offered to introduce them. That was a rare occurrence.
“Xiao Cheng, this is Zhang Yaoyao, my colleague from the same embroidery room.”
“Yaoyao, this is my husband, Xiao Cheng.”
Lin Aiyun gave a brief introduction, her eyes sparkling with a smile as she looked at them.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
The two exchanged polite nods and nothing more. Lin Aiyun didn’t mind. She insisted on staying with Zhang Yaoyao until her husband arrived, no matter how much the latter tried to decline.
Fortunately, Gu Yuan arrived not long after, driving an army-green jeep—quite imposing, looking like a military vehicle.
“My husband works at the military district hospital,” Zhang Yaoyao explained.
Just as she finished speaking, a man in a white shirt and black trousers stepped out from the driver’s seat. He was about the same height as Xiao Cheng, with a stoic expression. Only when his gaze fell on Zhang Yaoyao did a hint of tenderness show.
His skin was very fair—almost porcelain—with the veins on his neck clearly visible.
“Xiao Cheng?”
The moment he spoke, everyone was stunned. They knew each other?!
Leave a Reply