“You can’t say it like that; it’s just that everyone has their own way of living. You say you’re not just getting by, but you haven’t made a huge contribution to the country either, right? In other words, working hard is for making money, but I already have money…” Lumi wasn’t convinced and argued with Tu Ming: “You want to fit all your employees into one mold, but even a carpenter can’t make all the chickens’ feathers the same!”

She spoke with confidence, and Tu Ming nodded: “You’re right.”

“Huh? And then?”

“Then don’t be late or leave early, and have a better attitude.” Tu Ming smiled at her, opened the car door, and left.

Well, that was pointless.

Lumi was woken up by a knock on the door on Saturday morning.

She rubbed her eyes and opened the door to see Uncle Er and Grandma Liu pushing a cart.

“Still sleeping in? The sun is shining on your butt!” Uncle Er was in his seventies, hard of hearing, and spoke loudly. This sentence completely woke Lumi up.

“Going to the morning market? Wait for me!”

Lumi went to the bathroom to splash water on her face, quickly brushed her teeth, put on a large T-shirt, tied her hair, and went out in less than two minutes, very agile.

As they went downstairs, Grandma Liu couldn’t stop praising Lumi: “Our Lumi never makes anyone wait and is so helpful. Where can you find such a good girl?”

“That’s right! The best in the world!” Lumi raised her head with a sense of pride.

Lumi got into the car and made sure the elderly had their seat belts fastened before joking with them: “I’ll get us there in one go, you two better hold on tight!” The elderly didn’t have their children around and found it inconvenient to take the bus to the morning market, so Lumi volunteered to drive them. After all, she also needed to buy groceries and cook for herself.

They went to the morning market every two or three weeks, had a bowl of beef noodles, and bought some fish, meat, and eggs. When she felt like cooking, she wouldn’t be left with nothing at home.

“Come over for dinner tonight. I’ll make braised beef, smashed cucumber, and fried peanuts.” Uncle Er loved having a lively atmosphere and enjoyed hosting gatherings at his home the most.

“I’m not going! If I go, you’ll say I’ve taught your bird bad words again!”

Uncle Er raised birds for the sound they made. When he took his birds out for a walk and heard one call out poorly, he would turn around and leave. He had an eight-year-old bird that could say many words. Sometimes when he took the bird out, it could even greet people for him: “Hello,” “Have you eaten?” “Where are you going?” This bird, when Lumi had dinner at Uncle Er’s house a few times, would play with the bird while he was busy in the kitchen. Once, during a lively dinner, the bird suddenly said, “You’re the boss!”

Everyone was shocked, covering their mouths, except for Lumi, who chuckled: “Uncle Er, now your bird can help you curse people!” Uncle Er tapped Lumi’s head with his chopsticks: “You’re not teaching it well! A bird that curses is useless!”

Since this incident, every time Uncle Er invited Lumi to dinner, she didn’t dare to go. But Lumi didn’t quite understand why a bird that cursed was considered useless. People could get angry and curse too, so why couldn’t birds?

“It’s fine, come over for dinner. I’ve taught the bird to curse something else recently.”

“Curse what?”

Grandma Liu knew and interjected: “Dog’s guts!”

Lumi laughed out loud, her arms shaking. Grandma Liu leaned forward from the back seat and patted her shoulder: “Little ancestor, stop laughing and drive properly.”

The morning market was crowded with people. Lumi let the two elderly go in first while she looked for a place to park. There was a parking spot next to a black car on her left, and she quickly turned the steering wheel to park.

The red Jeep Wrangler was eye-catching. She jumped out of the car in a T-shirt and denim shorts, exuding a crisp and neat aura. Her snow-white legs were dazzling in the morning light, making for a beautiful scene, but the girl looked like she wouldn’t be easy to mess with.

Tu Ming was unbuckling his seatbelt while listening to Yi Wanqiu say: “She parked too close; we can’t get out. We need to call the owner.”

“I’ve never seen anyone park like that.” Tu Yanjing commented from the side.

Tu Ming had brought his parents to the morning market to buy meat. He saw Lumi’s car coming and deliberately delayed getting out to avoid meeting her face-to-face in a non-work setting. He didn’t want to interact with her outside of work, and this applied to others as well.

Hearing his parents’ comments, he got out of the car to take a look. Indeed, Lumi’s parking was not very considerate. He took out his phone to call her.

Lumi saw Tu Ming calling her and thought, on a weekend, there’s no way I’m getting roped into overtime. She casually put her phone in her bag and didn’t answer. She quickly walked a few steps to find Uncle Er and Grandma Liu in the Anhui noodle shop and sat down. Just then, a well-groomed hand bent, and its knuckles tapped lightly on the table twice.

Lumi looked up and saw Tu Ming, pausing for a moment: “You’re also at the morning market?”

“Could you please move your car?”

Uncle Er looked at Lumi: “You parked without leaving room for others to get out?”

“There was no one in the next car!” Lumi said.

“Think again?” Tu Ming reminded her to think, his car had tinted windows, and she might not have looked closely.

“I’ll go check with you!”

Lumi stood up and walked out, still muttering: “Isn’t this too coincidental? I parked next to you? You’re also at the morning market?”

Tu Ming didn’t interrupt her, waiting until she finally stopped talking before saying: “You didn’t answer my call? Because you thought it might be a work call, so you didn’t answer? Do you think such behavior is appropriate?”

“You called me?” Lumi pretended to be confused.

“I saw you put the phone in your bag with my own eyes.”

…

Lumi was caught red-handed and chuckled, opened the car door, and got in and out of the parking spot smoothly. When she got out, she saw Tu Ming’s car door open, and two elderly people stepped out. The elderly were dressed neatly and cleanly, with the aunt having a head of silver hair and an excellent demeanor. Seeing Lumi, they nodded to her without reproaching her for the inconsiderate parking.

But Lumi was polite and responsible. She admitted her mistake and apologized to the elderly: “Uncle and Auntie, I’m sorry. I was blind when I parked and didn’t see anyone in the car. Even if there wasn’t anyone, my parking was still inconsiderate. I apologize to both of you.” Her attitude was sincere, and her words were heartfelt.

Tu Ming stood by and watched her bow, a stark contrast to her usual unruly and domineering demeanor. He thought that she was capable of humility, reasoning, and could still be saved.

Yi Wanqiu and Tu Yanjing were amused by Lumi: “It’s okay, young lady. Quick actions sometimes mean not thinking things through completely, it’s not important.”

“Thank you, Uncle and Auntie, for understanding.” Lumi was sweet with her words: “I won’t disturb Uncle and Auntie and Will at the morning market!”

Yi Wanqiu watched Lumi’s retreating figure and asked Tu Ming: “Your colleague?”

“Yes.”

“Your subordinate?”

“Yes.”

The elderly person made a sound of understanding, seemingly realizing why the girl was so polite, mostly because of Tu Ming’s presence.

Lumi went back to eat noodles and accompanied the elderly to buy meat. Uncle Er was buying beef tendons, and Lumi followed suit, but the rule was that everyone paid for their own. Uncle Er wouldn’t take advantage of others.

“Do you know how to marinate it?” Uncle Er asked.

“Of course, I can’t do it well, but I can’t mess it up either! My dad used to be a chef.” Lu Guoqing had also trained in the unit canteen for a few years when he was young and could be considered a half-chef. He could cook anything, and when Lumi was in the mood, she would ask Old Lu to teach her a few dishes.

“Your dad’s cooking is top-notch!” Uncle Er raised his thumb, and Lumi chuckled. She heard someone asking for a price and turned to see the silver-haired aunt from earlier.

Behind her were her husband and son.

The two men seemed to be useless except for carrying things, standing there quietly waiting. Tu Ming saw the “weird” expression on Lumi’s face and deliberately put on a stern face: “I haven’t received your weekly report.”

Lumi stepped back a few steps to face him, trying to reason with him: “Didn’t you say to write it only for important progress?”

“Your project has no progress? How about I replace you?”

“No, no, no, I’ll write it, I’ll write it.” Lumi raised her hands in surrender: “I was wrong, Will. In the future, I’ll definitely answer your calls on the weekend, if I see them.” Seeing that Tu Ming still wasn’t smiling, she added: “If I miss a call, I’ll definitely call back.” She was seriously pretending.

“Okay. I’ll wait for your weekly report.”

Tu Yanjing glanced back at Tu Ming’s comical subordinate, carrying a few catties of beef tendons, and secretly glared at Tu Ming, her face full of disapproval. Tu Yanjing had taught many students and could tell at a glance that this subordinate’s nature was hard to change.

Lumi was quick to change her expression. Seeing Tu Yanjing looking at her, she politely smiled at him and left with Uncle Er and Grandma Liu.

When leaving the morning market, she saw Tu Ming following his parents from a distance and drove off quickly, as if avoiding a ghost.

Tu Ming watched Lumi’s Jeep Wrangler speed away, truly reflecting the saying that one’s driving reflects one’s personality.

Lumi quickly forgot about being urged for a weekly report at the morning market. When she got home, she dove into the kitchen to marinate the beef. In the afternoon, she changed into her riding gear and rode her motorcycle to the mountains. She didn’t join a team this time and didn’t plan to eat out, simply wanting to go up the mountain to feel the wind.

She rode her bike to Baiyang Gou, where there were few people and cars. She stopped by a stream halfway up the mountain and played with the fish.

Zhang Xiao asked her: “Why didn’t you call me when you went to the mountains?”

“Weren’t you supposed to be with your parents at your grandma’s house today?”

“It was boring. I’ll ride my bike to find you.”

“Just stop it!” Zhang Xiao’s parents didn’t like Lumi, thinking she was spoiled by her family and had a terrible temper. They also felt that Lumi didn’t seem reliable and wasn’t the type to settle down. But they were quite lenient with their son and didn’t interfere much with Zhang Xiao, knowing they couldn’t control him. Lumi put away her small fishnet and said to him: “If your parents find out, they’ll scold you again. I’ll play a bit more and then head back. See you later!”

“Alright.”

Lumi played in the mountains until the evening. When she got home, she saw Zhang Xiao had sent her a message saying he was going out with friends and asked if she wanted to join. Lumi had already agreed to go to Uncle Er’s house for dinner and firmly declined Zhang Xiao’s invitation. She grabbed two bottles of Niu Er and headed out.

Uncle Er’s house was filled with several old friends, and Lumi was the only young person there. The group sat around the table, lively and noisy. The topics of conversation weren’t particularly meaningful, but they were all quite fun. The elderly talked about the past, and Uncle Er’s bird occasionally chimed in, which Lumi found amusing. When she heard something interesting, she would tell Lu Guoqing: “Uncle Er mentioned that you wanted to go shopping with him at Shili River.”

“We’ll go another time! I’ve been feeling dizzy lately.”

“What’s going on? I’ll go back and check on you now.”

“Don’t bother, we’re going out to play tonight.”

“You’re the boss!” Uncle Er’s bird suddenly cursed, and everyone paused for a moment before bursting into laughter.