Chapter 15: Getting Dressed

Song Youyou had quite a fruitful trip to the black market.
She managed to buy a cleaned wild rabbit and several types of vegetable seeds. The auntie selling the seeds, upon learning that she planned to grow them on her balcony, immediately told her that her husband could make tin planters specifically for balcony gardening. Song Youyou happened to need those, so she left her address for the auntie to deliver them later.

After leaving the black market, she used up the last of her soon-to-expire meat coupons at the supply store, buying five catties of pork and some seasonings for curing meat before heading home.

Once back, she wasted no time. She went straight to the kitchen, sliced the pork and rabbit meat into strips, stir-fried salt with spices, rubbed the mixture onto the meat, and packed the seasoned meat into sealed jars. After curing for about three days, she would take them out to air-dry, turning them into preserved meats that could last a long time.

Just as she finished sealing the meat jars, there was a knock at the door.

After washing her hands, she dressed the same way she had at the black market—wrapping a scarf around the lower half of her face—before going to open the door.

“Girl, here are the two tin planters made to the size you mentioned,” the auntie said cheerfully. Behind her stood a silent, strong-looking man carrying the goods.

“Great. Could I trouble you to help place them on the balcony?” she asked.

Her balcony was fairly long, and even with the two planters, only half the space was used.

“Girl, I also brought you two sacks of soil. Since I figured you were planting veggies, I had my man dig some up for you while we were at it,” the auntie added after they finished setting everything down.

“Thank you so much, auntie. You’ve saved me a lot of effort,” Song Youyou replied gratefully. She wasn’t very strong, and fetching two sacks of soil would have been tiring and time-consuming.

To show her gratitude, she rounded up the payment and gave a few extra coins to cover the labor for the soil—equivalent to hiring a day laborer.

“Oh my, girl, the soil’s just dug up from outside—it’s free! How can I take more money from you?” the auntie protested.

“I insist,” Song Youyou said firmly. “You’ve helped me a great deal.”

Even if it was a small favor, it wasn’t their obligation. And what was originally going to take her a few days was now done in one afternoon, thanks to the auntie. A few coins for that kind of time saved? Absolutely worth it. To her, time was even more valuable than money.

“Well, I’ll accept it then. Thank you, girl! If you ever need anything, just come find this old lady!” the warm-hearted auntie said, grinning from ear to ear as she took the money.

After they left, Song Youyou glanced at the sky. It was already nearing evening. If she started preparing the soil and planting now, she wouldn’t finish in time. Plus, she still had a few foreign journals she needed to translate tonight.

So she decided to leave the gardening for tomorrow.

She had been busy all day and was feeling sticky and uncomfortable, so she decided to take a shower. Her plan was to eat a little afterward, then dive into translation work to earn money.

While showering, she mentally tallied her finances.

The pork cost 0.8 yuan per catty—five catties made 4 yuan.
The wild rabbit, not requiring meat coupons, was 0.94 yuan per catty; it weighed 3.5 catties, costing 3.3 yuan.
The seeds and customized tin frames were around 5 yuan altogether.
So today’s total spending was 12.3 yuan.
Yesterday, she had put down a 50-yuan deposit for the foreign materials and spent another 2.7 on groceries.
Plus the 5 yuan spent on the first day, that brought her three-day total to exactly 70 yuan.

That left her with only 30 yuan in cash.

Realizing this, she began washing faster—she needed to eat quickly and get back to earning money through translation.

However, after she finished showering, she suddenly realized… she hadn’t brought any change of clothes with her. Her mind had been too occupied with doing calculations earlier and completely forgot.

She sighed at her own absentmindedness.

Fortunately, the bathroom wasn’t far from her room—just a few steps away. She looked around, grabbed a towel to cover herself as best she could, then quietly peeked through the crack of the door to plan a quick dash back to the room.

After deciding on her route, she opened the bathroom door all the way and ran out.

But life has a way of throwing in those perfect moments of bad timing.

Just as she stepped out, she heard the unmistakable sound of a key turning in the door.

Startled, Song Youyou let out a small yelp and ran even faster, looking like a frightened little rabbit.

Gu Xiao had returned home and, unsure whether she was in, had taken out his key to open the door.

But just as he inserted the key, he heard a soft cry from inside.

Worried she might be in trouble, he quickly turned the key and opened the door.

Just in time to see a door slam shut inside the apartment—hard.

Gu Xiao walked over, looking concerned, and knocked gently on the door. “Youyou? What happened?”

“N-nothing! I’m just getting dressed—don’t come in!” came the flustered voice from inside.

Getting dressed?
Combined with the earlier commotion, Gu Xiao suddenly realized what might’ve happened.

A surge of heat rushed to his head, his blood instantly igniting with a restless fire.