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At the intersection, Lin You dropped Bo Chuan off, and she and Yao Jiu went ahead to set up their stall to sell vegetables.

Although Lin You had accompanied Yao Jiu to several morning markets before, this was her first time running a stall herself.

Yao Jiu quickly laid out an old blanket and arranged the vegetables she had brought from the greenhouse. The freshly picked vegetables were vibrant and fresh, and as soon as Yao Jiu set them up, people came to choose. Lin You imitated Yao Jiu’s actions and spread out her own bok choy, but when she saw Yao Jiu picking out yellow leaves from her vegetables, she tried to do the same but didn’t know where to start.

The bok choy she had brought was so neatly grown that the soil on the roots had dried, and despite being left out since yesterday afternoon, it looked as fresh as ever.

Yao Jiu had originally placed her bok choy next to Lin You’s, but after seeing Lin You’s vegetables, her freshly picked bok choy looked a bit shabby in comparison.

Lin You’s vegetables had a fresh glow from top to bottom. The mist in the mountains had left tiny water droplets on them in the morning. If one ignored the surroundings, they could easily believe these vegetables were specially selected from a supermarket.

Yao Jiu, feeling frustrated, moved her bok choy to a different spot: “After comparing with your vegetables, mine look like they were grown in a mess.”

But despite looking so good, Lin You’s vegetables weren’t selling well at all.

“This bok choy must have been sprayed with pesticides.”

“How could it be this fresh without pesticides?”

“Look at these leaves, there isn’t a single bug mark. It must’ve been sprayed with pesticides.”

“I’ve heard that in some places, they spray pesticides on the roots of leeks to prevent them from rotting.”

Most of the people at the morning market were elderly, and although they were speaking behind Lin You’s back, many of them were hard of hearing, so their voices were rather loud.

Lin You: “…”

So, having no bug marks isn’t good either?

By the time most of the morning market had passed, Yao Jiu had already sold out her stall, while Lin You’s bok choy hadn’t sold a single stalk.

Yao Jiu looked at Lin You sympathetically. She had eaten some of Lin You’s bok choy the night before. Lin You had grilled a few skewers of bok choy and made garlic bok choy. To be honest, Yao Jiu felt Lin You’s bok choy tasted much better than hers. It was sweet and crunchy, and Yao Jiu ate a lot of it from the plate.

She never expected that such delicious bok choy would be judged based on its appearance.

Not selling the vegetables made Lin You a bit frustrated: “Looks like I’ll have to take them home and share them with everyone.”

She hadn’t planned on making much money, just didn’t want to waste good vegetables.

Just then, a familiar figure appeared at the morning market.

Yao Jiu nudged Lin You with her elbow, signaling her to look over.

It was Yao Yun, pedaling her tricycle, loudly haggling with a vendor.

“I come here every day to buy vegetables, so you should give me a discount. I’ll keep buying from you regularly.”

“I’m not lying to you. Ask around, who doesn’t know I’m from the kindergarten?”

“Seven mao per jin is too expensive. Throw in some garlic for free.”

Yao Jiu: “Now you see why I can’t stand her?”

Yao Jiu often sold vegetables at the market for the villagers, while Yao Yun frequently came to buy from the morning market. One bargained ruthlessly, while the other refused to lower prices, so they had grown to dislike each other.

Yao Jiu grumbled, “Sometimes it’s her, sometimes it’s her husband. They even want me to give them free scallions for a one-yuan purchase… When I first came, they tried to convince me to supply vegetables exclusively for their kindergarten.”

The calculations on the abacus beads were already hitting Yao Jiu’s face. Supplying vegetables to a fixed unit was certainly good, but it also came with the biggest problem: delayed payment.

With long-term cooperation, payment would usually be settled after a certain period, and anyone who’s done business knows how frustrating it is to chase after payments.

That’s why Yao Jiu never considered it from the start.

While Yao Jiu was whispering to Lin You, Yao Yun, from across several stalls, spotted the fresh bok choy on their side.

“How come this bok choy…”

The rest of her sentence was swallowed back.

She felt incredibly awkward. The last time they met was unpleasant, and with everything going on recently, she didn’t know what to say when facing Lin You.

It was Lin You who spoke first: “Sister Yao Yun, is your health a bit better?”

From what Aunt Chunling had said, the child was supposed to stay in the hospital for at least a month, but it had only been a few days, and Yao Yun wasn’t there to stay with them?

Yao Yun: “…The child’s father and grandmother are staying there, and I came back to handle things at the kindergarten.”

What Yao Yun didn’t mention was that the past few days had been especially difficult for her. Her husband was obviously angry because her family sold a cow. Yao Yun suggested he go buy another cow or contact a milk supplier, but he kept procrastinating and refused. He just wanted Yao Yun to go back to her mother’s house and persuade her. He’d heard that the cow was sold to a young man at the Taoist temple, and since it was from the same village, if her mother changed her mind, they could just pay a bit more and buy the cow back.

Yao Yun refused, and her husband sulked.

When her mother-in-law arrived from the town to the hospital and heard about the situation, the argument escalated into a three-way conflict.

With her mother-in-law’s advice, her husband threw up his hands and said that without milk, he wasn’t going to work. He wouldn’t cook lunch for the kindergarten either.

Yao Yun had signed the contract for the kindergarten herself. Her husband was the chef, and if he refused to work, the responsibility fell entirely on Yao Yun. The contract she signed also stated that if she couldn’t supply on time, she might lose the contract and have to compensate the kindergarten.

In short, her husband’s family had relied on this point, hoping Yao Yun would go back to her family for help.

Without hesitation, Yao Yun left the child with her mother-in-law and directly went to the county to find a milk supplier. The supplier had a dairy farm in the mountains, and while the milk was more expensive, at least she could continue the supply.

Then, Yao Yun came back herself. Her cooking skills were average, but she could find a good chef to help out. Yao Yun spread the word that she was looking for a skilled chef and took on the main responsibility herself.

She would go to the market in the morning to buy ingredients and cook, then spend the afternoon and evening at the hospital to visit the child, constantly running between the two.

No matter what her husband and mother-in-law said, she had made up her mind: she wouldn’t go back to her family for support.

She knew she had made her parents upset, so now the way to make up for it was to take on the responsibility herself and not trouble them again.

Today was her third day of nonstop work. The first two days were bearable, and aside from the kindergarten teachers saying her vegetables weren’t very fresh, there were no major issues.

So today, Yao Yun came to the market to pick some fresh vegetables.

She had planned to just exchange pleasantries with Lin You and leave, but just as she was about to go, something made her ask, “How much is your bok choy?”

Lin You held up eight fingers: “Eight mao per jin.”

The market price was usually six mao, and for cheaper ones, even five mao per jin was possible.

Yao Yun instinctively wanted to haggle but held back.

Yao Jiu saw that Yao Yun was interested and thought that it would be a hassle to take the vegetables Lin You brought all the way back, so it was better to sell them to Yao Yun.

“Look at these vegetables, they’re really different from the others. At eight mao, it’s definitely worth it. The six mao ones you’d have to sort through. Look at these, there isn’t a single bug mark. You can just wash them and cook them straight away…”

Yao Yun thought for a moment but was still a bit concerned: “Is it sprayed with pesticides?”

She was buying vegetables for her child, and she wouldn’t accept anything with pesticides in it.

Yao Jiu patted her chest and assured her: “Absolutely not!”

She and Lin You were together every day, and since Lin You started growing the vegetables, she hadn’t even used fertilizer, let alone pesticides, except for occasionally watering and thinning the seedlings.

Seeing that time was running out, Yao Yun simply decided to buy everything: “Alright, I’ll take them all.”

Lin You sold a bunch of bok choy and made several dozen yuan from the sale.

Yao Yun hopped on the tricycle, but after a few steps, she turned back.

“…About last time, I’m sorry.”

Her mother had been right. Who cared how much money others made? Even if someone earned a fortune, it wasn’t reasonable for them to feel obligated to help you.

After apologizing, Yao Yun hurried off.

Lin You stood there helpless, while Yao Jiu was utterly stunned.

“Wow, when have I ever seen her like this before?”

“Maybe when it comes to her child, she’s more clear-headed,” Lin You said as she clapped her hands. “Let’s go, let’s wait for the master at the intersection.”

The two of them bought some breakfast and sat by the roadside waiting for someone.

Meanwhile, Bo Chuan got off the tricycle, but instead of going to the delivery point, he headed to the bus stop on the edge of the town.

Two paparazzi had been waiting by the road for a long time, but the people they found either didn’t recognize Lin You or spoke in a dialect they couldn’t understand.

“Damn, why is this so unlucky? Not a single reliable person this whole morning.”

“It’s a small town, what can we do? Should we go somewhere else and ask?”

“The only thing left is to go to her school.”

This method was their backup plan. Before they came, they had discussed that if they couldn’t find Lin You, they would go to the school she attended. They would pose as reporters looking for an interview with Lin You, and the school would probably be happy to help, revealing which village she was from.

The paparazzi grumbled and stood up, preparing to ask for directions to the town’s high school.

At this moment, Bo Chuan appeared.

Today, Bo Chuan was wearing a black trench coat, which made his sharp features look even more refined and elegant. The sharp style didn’t quite match the small town.

One of the paparazzi nudged his companion: “Is this guy a celebrity?”

This raw image looked just as good as some of the edited photos of celebrities in the industry.

The other paparazzi responded: “I don’t think so. Haven’t heard about any shows filming here recently.”

The first lesson for paparazzi was to recognize stars, and they didn’t have any impression of this guy.

“Tch, what a waste. This looks like someone who could make it in the industry.”

One of the paparazzi had a sudden thought and immediately approached.

“Hello, comrade. I have a question.”

“We’re from the Entertainment Express program. We’re here to interview the celebrity Lin You. Do you happen to know where she lives?”

It didn’t matter if the person didn’t know. After all, they were here to capture footage of Lin You. The assignment they received was vague: either spy on Lin You and capture unflattering or controversial images of her, whether by coincidence or candid shot. That way, they could continue to tarnish her public image.

If they couldn’t get that, they would falsely claim to be from a certain program and interview the local villagers. This would give the impression that Lin You’s claims about quitting the industry were just a facade, stirring up gossip about her in the village.

Either way, it was a ruthless PR tactic.

However, the moment the paparazzo saw Bo Chuan, he immediately abandoned the first plan and opted for the second.

For the second option, he could use this handsome guy as a gimmick. With a little guidance, the hot topic could be about a top female star quitting the industry because of a man—this would definitely be a more explosive headline.

Bo Chuan raised an eyebrow, noncommittal.

“We really are from a program. Could you please cooperate with us?”

The paparazzi pulled out a fake work ID.

They had prepared thoroughly before coming.

Bo Chuan took the ID, but replied with something unrelated.

“The heavens are dim, the sun and moon are shattered. You’re going to be unlucky.”