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Three months passed in the blink of
an eye.
Two weeks after her discussion with
Wang Yu, she accepted his investment offer. The shop premises was located in a
happening part of town, not far from her community. With Wang Yu’s help, she
was able to open the bakery café within six weeks of accepting his offer.
It had now been a month since she
had opened and business was pretty brisk. Although she was tired, Su Yue felt a
deep sense of accomplishment. Of course, she still had her shifts at the Hall,
so she had employed two girls to help with baking and service.
When the others heard about Wang Yu
investing in Su Yue’s business, they protested; he was putting himself in an
advantageous position with her. But he was also the richest and most powerful
of them, but Wang Quan had no choice but to side with him, so in the end, they
all had to keep shut.
So, they visited Su Yue’s shop
whenever they were free; they couldn’t let Wang Yu occupy Su Yue’s attention
alone.
At the time, Wang Yu did indeed
have most contact with Su Yue., Su Yue’s feelings for Wang Yu were deepening,
she hadn’t been able to help herself. She couldn’t only pretend to be an
ostrich and bury her head in the sand, hoping the status quo could be maintained.
After Wang Yu, the next person she
saw a lot of Li An; he had used his “little brother” status to worm his way
into helping at her shop. Though he claimed he needed a part-time job, it was
just an excuse to spend more time with Su Yue.
This also caused ire and an envy
amongst the men. With the others busy at work or at university, the high school
student was the freest amongst them.
After another shift at the Hall, Su
Yue returned home. When she transferred money from her WeChat to her bank
account, she found that she had saved 1.2million yuan.
With this much, she could buy the
building she lived without a mortgage!
Excitement built within her.
Tomorrow, she would go call the estate agent and landlord.
With good feelings, Su Yue went to
bed.
The next morning, dawned bright,
but a call brought a dark cloud over Su Yue; it was from her grandmother’s
neighbour in the village, to inform her that her grandmother was in the
hospital with a broken foot.
Su Yue immediately packed and
bought train ticket to her home town. On her way, she called her assistants to
let them know the situation and put them in charge of the café.
When she reached the town, she took
a taxi straight to the hospital. Her grandmother’s foot injury was not serious,
and would be better in a few weeks, but the doctor found that her grandmother
had other underlying issues that needed to be addressed with long-term
medication and monitoring.
Su Yue listened carefully while
planning her next move; she was going to take her grandmother back to City A
with her. They could easily live on the small profit from the café, and she
could look after her grandmother and make sure she was taking her medication
and attending her hospital appointments.
As for the Hall, she would have to
reduce her working days, but she still needed to save that nest egg before
resigning. Once she was out of it, she would completely face the café and live
a normal life.
Back in City A, it was Li Rui’s
turn to have a session with the Steamed buns, but when he messaged her to
arrange a time, she informed him that she was away and did not know when she
was returning.
Li Rui was annoyed and
disappointed, but he didn’t say anything to her, but asked her to contact him
when she returned. She agreed.
In the meantime, he sent a text in
the Steam-bun Alliance group chat, informing them of her being away.
After the text from Li Rui, Su Yue
realised she hadn’t told any of the managers that she was going to be away, so
she quickly texted them letting them know of the situation with her
grandmother. And also posted on her Moments.
Once Su Yue informed the rest, the
men complained in the group chat.
[I don’t know how long it would
take for my baby to come back, any longer, and I am going to die of thirst.] Li
Rui said. He’d been craving her for a week, and had been looking forward to
their session.
Now he could only sigh at his
hungry member.
[You’re horny? Everyone is the
same] Lu Ran texted, [Right now, we should think of a way to support her rather
than complain]
[Lu-ge is right] Li An piped in.
[Hear hear], added Shen Chen.
[Lao Li, aren’t you a doctor? You
should have asked our darling how you could have helped her grandmother, or see
how you could get her into your hospital] Wang Quan asked. (Zuben: He should
have but his dick was on and brain was off)
[This way, wouldn’t baby come back
quicker?]
[Of course!] He immediately started
to care about her again. But he learned that her grandmother’s injury was not
serious but she did need to care for her at home for a few weeks, Li Rui wilted
again.
He returned to the group chat and
informed everyone of the news, every one became dejected. But Wang Yu said, [If
you truly cared about her, you wouldn’t all just be thinking about satisfying
yourselves, but will be considerate of her]
[You should care about her
well-being outside of the hall, and help her not be anxious]
The other men cursed Wang Yu in
their heart, thinking he was being hypocritical. (Zuben: That’s why he’s number
one, and the rest of you are hangers-on)
But they did as he said, asking
about her well-being from day to day and sending red envelops and care
packages.
The largest gift was from Wang Yu,
of course.
Su Yue was very moved by their
generous gestures, and initially didn’t want to accept the gifts, but with a
lot of pressing and cajoling, she accepted.
When Su Yue’s grandmother noticed
her using her phone a lot, she asked her if there was an issue. When she told
her of the men’s generosity, her grandmother smiled,
‘Just keep it,’ she advised, ‘When
one of them encounters trouble, just make sure to return the favour.’
‘I guess.’ Su Yue said with a vague
smile.
‘How is Jiang Haui? How come he
hasn’t called? Is he busy at work?’
Su Yue’s expression froze. After a
long hesitation, she eventually confessed. They had divorced. He had only
married her to conceal the fact he was gay.
Her grandmother was angry on her
behalf, ‘How could he do this to you?!’
‘Grandma, don’t be angry. It’s been
six months, and I got a settlement.’ She said to placate her grandmother. It
was also to explain the large sum of money she had in hand to buy the flat.
After scolding Jiang Haui, she
looked at her grand-daughter, ‘Is there really no chance of reconciliation?’
She didn’t really understand how
Jiang Huai preferred men. She felt that their divorce was over something else.
Su Yue shook her head, ‘This was
the best for both of us.’
‘I’m doing well now. I have a café,
and life is more fulfilling.’
Most importantly, she can become a
homeowner, and look after her grandmother without worry.
‘I see. Well, I am old, and don’t
understand the thoughts of you young people.’
Su Yue smiled softly, and took her
grandma’s hand. ‘You’ll never be old, Grandma.’ She said sweetly.
‘And besides, your blessings for
your hard work are yet to come. Once your foot is healed, I want to take you
back with me.’
‘When the time comes, I will buy a
house and we will never have to be separated again.’
The older woman looked shocked,
‘How come?’
‘You know, the settlement I told
you Jian Huai gave me.’
Learning of this, her resentment
towards Jiang Huai faded. But she didn’t want to move to City A, she feared she
will drag Su Yue down.
Su Yue smiled, she had enough time
to convince her.
Su Yue had been away in her
hometown for ten days much to the discomfort of the Steam-bun Alliance. Though
they had decided to be patient and give their baby time, but it had been ten
days and it was beginning to look like she had no intention of coming back.
Every day, she posted pictures of
places and food in her home town, happily unaware of the misery she was
causing.
Li Rui and Wang Quan, the most
impulsive of the group, could barely sit still. But, even Wang Yu was unsteady.
One evening after a video chat with
Su Yue, he asked his secretary to book a ticket to City C. He had to go because
he had found out that her grandmother was setting up blind dates for Su Yue!
If she was going to be with
someone, she could only be with him. How could he allow her to be handed over
to someone else?
So the next evening, a flashy car
drove into Su Yue’s village up to Grandma Su’s house. The neighbours taking in
the night air or having dinner outside stared in shock as the shiny car drove
past.
When the car pulled up, and a very
handsome Wang Yu stepped out, Su Yue was shocked. The villagers gawked.
She got up to meet him, ‘Wang-ge,
how come?’
‘I was in C city on business and
decided to drop by.’
‘Ah, I see,’ Su Yue didn’t dare
think too much.
He turned to greet her grandmother,
and she invited him to dinner. Watching them over the meal, grandmother Su
found that Wang Yu seemed like her granddaughter, but her grand-daughter seemed
not to notice.
She was surprised, she found Wang
Yu gentlemanly and attentive, which made her like him.
Later that evening after Wang Yu
left, her grandmother spoke to Su Yu, ‘Tell me the truth, is this man pursuing
you?’
This man, in both appearance and
condition, was better than any man she could introduce her to.
‘No, but he did help me in getting
the money for opening the café.’ Su Yue replied evasively.
But why would he be willing to do
that without any interest in Su Yue. It would be strange if he didn’t. This
girl has been hiding things from her.
‘Grandma, don’t imagine strange
things, we’re just friends.’ She said with a blush. She really couldn’t admit
that Wang Yu did indeed like her, but the greater the hope the deeper the
disappointment. She herself didn’t dare imagine anything with him.
Even if she wanted to date him, she
had to resign from the Hall, and make an agreement with Wang Quan.
‘Would someone who’s just a friend
come all the way here to see you?’ Grandma Su retorted before sighing and said,
‘You should go back to A city, you’ve been away too long.’
‘Now that someone has come all the
way here, you should go back with him.’ She didn’t want to interfere with Su
Yue’s life.
Xiao Yu seemed like a nice man, and
she felt relieved that he was dating Su Yue.
‘Grandma, you’re really
misunderstanding. And once your fracture is healed, you’re coming too. So don’t
think about anything else.’
Grandma Su sighed; she really
couldn’t win against Su Yue.
The next day, Wang Yu returned with an overnight bag, saying he was taking leave for a few days.
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