Chapter 50 : On the way

He Feiyan refused to sell, leaving Duan Yuzhen at a loss for options. Not wanting to give away her true intentions, she had to leave dejectedly.

After thinking it over, she decided she had to get past this hurdle and went to find her friend, Zhang Xiyue.

She wanted to ask her to help write an article, Zhang Xiyue’s mother had been a high school Chinese teacher, and she had always been good at the subject.

Zhang Xiyue was irritated and didn’t want to help. “I’m busy right now, I don’t have time to write you an article.”

Duan Yuzhen pleaded, “But you don’t have a job, so how can you be busy? Xiyue, I’m begging you, I’ll pay!”

Hearing this, Zhang Xiyue felt even worse. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to work, she simply didn’t have the opportunity.

“My sister-in-law is pregnant, you know that. My parents want to give her my job, so I don’t have a place in this family anymore.”

Duan Yuzhen, seeing the gloom on her face, inwardly cursed her for being foolish. The man her parents arranged for her had been a good match, he was a live-in son-in-law with a ready job but she insisted on liking the pretty boy, Yan Wenxuan.

“They won’t give me a job, and they won’t even help Wenxuan get regular employment! Once we marry, we’ll just be living off his salary as a substitute teacher. How will that be enough?”

Because of the regularization issue, Yan Wenxuan had been critical of her family and was now avoiding her.

Thinking of this only deepened Zhang Xiyue’s bitterness.

“Then just find someone else. The sanitation worker your parents introduced before was quite decent,” Duan Yuzhen said casually.

Zhang Xiyue scoffed, “Then why are you interested in He Tingyue? Why not find a sanitation worker instead?”

Duan Yuzhen felt embarrassed. “I was just trying to lighten the mood for you. Your parents just want a grandson, if something happened to the baby in your sister-in-law’s belly, let’s see if they still care about her.”

Her seemingly casual words struck a chord with Zhang Xiyue.

Was she suggesting that she should get rid of her sister-in-law’s baby?

Surprisingly, she actually found the idea plausible!

Zhang Xiyue had been worrying, but now that she had a solution, she found herself looking at Duan Yuzhen more favorably.

“Fine, I’ll help you write an article, but I’m charging for it, three yuan per piece.”

Duan Yuzhen felt a twinge of annoyance, thinking her long-time friend was trying to take advantage of her.

But she knew she was the one asking for help, so she had no choice but to agree. “Alright, three yuan it is!”

—

Over the next few days, Jiang Yu immersed herself in making clothes at home.

After careful consideration, she decided to start with the outfits for the He siblings.

She made a blue floral dress for He Feiyan and a set for He Tingyue, which included a simple cotton shirt and gray work pants.

Wanting to avoid letting anyone else handle it, she decided to deliver them herself.

To her surprise, when she arrived, He Feiyan wasn’t home.

It was only when Aunt Xu reminded her, “All three kids from the He family are at school.”

Jiang Yu hadn’t been in school for so long that she had nearly forgotten it was already the school season.

He Feiyan would be graduating next semester and would be waiting for job placement.

“Thank you, Aunt Xu. I’ll come back another time.”

Xu Lihua’s eyes lit up with curiosity as she stretched her neck to see what Jiang Yu was carrying.

But Jiang Yu had wrapped it securely in two layers of bags.

“Jiang Yu, what’s inside?”

Jiang Yu replied softly, “I made some clothes for Feiyan.”

“Oh? Did she ask you to make them?”

“No, she helped me buy fabric, so I made her a dress with the extra material.”

Xu Lihua felt a pang of jealousy and remarked sarcastically, “A dress takes quite a bit of fabric, you’re really generous.”

Meanwhile, Jiang Ting, over at the Fu family, also heard this.

She felt a deep resentment, wishing she could carve out a piece of Jiang Yu for herself after all, they were sisters, yet Jiang Yu hadn’t thought to make her anything.

Lin Hongxia looked at her sullen face and slapped her, starting to scold her again.

“Crying all day, all you do is whine! You’re the reason our luck has turned! Our Xiangyang marrying you was truly a stroke of bad luck! Where does Jiang Yu get the money to buy fabric? Isn’t it just spending our family’s money? If it weren’t for you…”

“Enough! Are we going to keep yelling all day, or are we going to live?” Fu Aiguo shouted impatiently.

But Lin Hongxia just got louder in her tirade.

Jiang Yu ignored them and turned to leave with the clothes.

At the alley’s entrance, she ran into He Tingyue, who was accompanied by Tong Fang and Sun Zailiang.

Neither of them had a good impression of her and ignored her, wearing sour expressions.

To her surprise, He Tingyue dismounted from his bicycle.

“Are you looking for Feiyan?”

Jiang Yu brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear and softly replied, “Yes.”

“I brought the clothes I made for her. I’m just delivering them.”

He Tingyue’s heart raced, seeing the thickness of the bag, it must contain his clothes too.

“I’ll take it back.”

Jiang Yu handed over the bag. “Then I’ll take my leave.”

He Tingyue turned his bicycle around. “I’ll give you a ride.”

Jiang Yu waved her hand. “No need, I still have to go to the department store.”

“It’s fine, I’m on that way.”

“On that way?” Wasn’t he headed home?

He Tingyue cleared his throat. “I just remembered Feiyan asked me to buy some snow flower cream for her.”

He had already brought his bicycle out, so Jiang Yu had no choice but to hop on.

She nervously curled her fingers, feeling out of place as it was her first time riding a boy’s bicycle.

The handlebars were a bit high, and she hesitated, unsure how to get on gracefully.

In the end, He Tingyue reached out his arm. “Get on.”

Jiang Yu felt her cheeks flush, and after a moment’s hesitation, she placed her hand on his arm for support and climbed onto the back seat.

“Are you steady?”

“Mm.”

Jiang Yu sat upright like a schoolgirl, afraid to move.

There was a distance between them, but his warmth made her feel a comforting closeness.

As they headed to the department store, neither spoke.

Jiang Yu felt awkward, just a while ago, they had been icy towards each other, and now they were sharing a bicycle.

He Tingyue struggled with his words. While he appeared calm, inside he was as restless as an ant on a hot pan.

He wished he could just give her money outright, but he feared it would come off too forward.

Just the other day, He Feiyan had mentioned she was going on a blind date with Xie Fei fei’s cousin!

“We’re here, thank you, Comrade He!”

Jiang Yu hopped off the back and waved to Xie Fei fei, who had been waiting at the entrance.

Poor He Tingyue hadn’t even had a chance to say anything before he saw Jiang Yu rushing off to join Xie Fei fei.

Xie Fei fei shot a wary glance at He Tingyue.

She grabbed Jiang Yu’s hand and asked, “Why did you come with him?”

Jiang Yu smiled and replied, “Comrade He just happened to pass by while buying snow flower cream for Feiyan.”

She turned back for a moment, just in time to see He Tingyue riding away, not even glancing back at the department store. Her smile froze.

Xie Fei fei huffed. “He must have ulterior motives! He’s being overly nice for a reason!”

Jiang Yu’s face flushed at her words, and she retorted, “Aunt Huang said you weren’t good at Chinese, you seem to be doing just fine.”