A faint glow had just appeared on the horizon when Zhou Yu woke up naturally.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes, sat up, and glanced out the window. Judging by the light outside, it was probably around six in the morning. Pulling on her outer jacket, she headed for the kitchen to make breakfast.
Although Zhou Yu moved very quietly, Lu Cheng was a light sleeper. Not long after she got up, he woke as well. Wrapping the quilt more tightly around himself, he initially intended to go back to sleep.
But the moment he heard Zhou Yu heading into the kitchen, all traces of drowsiness vanished.
He hurriedly got dressed, ran into the kitchen, and automatically took his place behind the stove to start the fire. At the same time, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he had reacted quickly enough to prevent another kitchen disaster.
Of course, Zhou Yu had no idea what was going through Lu Cheng’s mind. If she had known, she definitely would have complained that she could start a fire properly now and wouldn’t end up in the same situation as before.
Still, seeing Lu Cheng voluntarily helping with the fire made her feel somewhat gratified.
The child might be young, but at least he was useful.
The two of them finished breakfast in a relatively harmonious atmosphere. After resting for a short while, Zhou Yu took Lu Cheng by the hand and prepared to head to the fabric store.
Remembering how smoothly she had managed to rent a house in town thanks to the fabric shop owner’s introduction, Zhou Yu stopped by the market and bought two jin of apples as a thank-you gift.
Fruit was still relatively expensive in the 1980s, and most families rarely bought it to eat. The two jin of apples cost Zhou Yu a little over two yuan.
Just as she was about to leave after buying the apples, she noticed Lu Cheng staring blankly at a nearby fruit stall.
Smiling, Zhou Yu crouched down and asked, “Cheng’er, what kind of fruit would you like to eat?”
The moment he heard her question, Lu Cheng immediately shook his head and lowered it without saying a word.
Since she clearly wasn’t going to get an answer out of him, Zhou Yu thought back to the direction he had been staring in just now. It seemed to be the pears.
So she turned to the fruit vendor and asked for one pear as well.
Without hesitation, the vendor picked out a pear and weighed it for her. These days, buying one or two pieces of fruit at a time was perfectly normal. Besides, Zhou Yu had just purchased two jin of apples.
After paying a little over four mao, Zhou Yu accepted the pear from the vendor and handed it to Lu Cheng.
“Wash it when we get home before you eat it,” she reminded him. “Just hold onto it for now.”
Lu Cheng had been keeping his head lowered, but suddenly a pear appeared in front of him.
He couldn’t help wondering how his stepmother had known that he wanted a pear.
Still, he didn’t ask. He simply nodded and softly said, “Thank you.”
The moment Zhou Yu stepped into the fabric store, she greeted the owner, who was organizing bolts of cloth nearby.
“Good morning, Boss Lady.”
“Zhou Yu, you’re here.” The shop owner greeted her warmly. “I’ve already passed along the message you asked me to give that young man last time.”
Zhou Yu nodded. She knew the person the shop owner was referring to was probably the family member of that patient from before.
She handed over the two jin of apples she had just bought and said, “The house that elderly couple you recommended was really nice. I’ve already rented it. Thank you so much, Boss Lady.”
The shop owner didn’t accept the fruit. Instead, she smiled and said, “What’s there to thank me for? No need to be so polite. I only said a few words. I didn’t really help you much. Take these apples home and let your child eat them.”
“Even a few words helped us tremendously. We’re not familiar with the town at all. If it weren’t for your enthusiastic recommendation, renting a house wouldn’t have gone nearly this smoothly.”
When she saw that the shop owner still wouldn’t take the fruit, Zhou Yu set it down on the cabinet beside her and continued teasingly, “If you won’t accept it, how could I possibly have the nerve to ask for your help again in the future? My son and I just moved to town. We don’t know anyone here…”
“Listen to you. Since when does refusing fruit mean I can’t help anymore?” the shop owner replied with a laugh. This time, however, she stopped refusing.
“Boss Lady, I actually came today to buy some fabric and cotton. I want to make my child a set or two of new clothes. Could you recommend something suitable?” Zhou Yu asked, changing the subject.
“Of course. Let me get a measuring tape and take your son’s measurements first. Then I can figure out how much fabric you’ll need.”
As she spoke, the shop owner went to find a soft measuring tape.
Soon, she returned and took Lu Cheng’s measurements. After that, she recommended several types of fabric.
Zhou Yu didn’t really know much about making clothes, so she simply followed the shop owner’s recommendations and purchased the fabric and cotton she suggested.
Children’s clothes were small. Even if they were made a little larger, they could still be worn the following year, so they didn’t require much fabric or cotton in the first place. The shop owner rounded down the price, and Zhou Yu spent only six yuan on enough fabric and cotton to make a complete set of winter clothing for a child.
After returning home, Zhou Yu cleared off the table in the living room and prepared to start cutting fabric and making clothes.
Meanwhile, as soon as Lu Cheng got home, he took the pear into the kitchen.
Seeing this, Zhou Yu shook her head and smiled as she muttered softly, “He really is still a child. He obviously likes pears, yet he refuses to say so.”
In her mind, Zhou Yu carefully reviewed the clothing-making tutorial videos several times before preparing to cut the fabric.
Just then, Lu Cheng came running over.
In his hand was half of the pear, washed clean and held out to her.
Zhou Yu looked up at him and immediately realized that he must have gone into the kitchen earlier to cut the pear. The fact that he even knew to share half with her showed that he was quite thoughtful.
The problem was that Zhou Yu didn’t particularly like pears. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have bought only one pear at the market.
She reached out and rubbed Lu Cheng’s hair.
“I’m not eating it. You can have the whole thing yourself.”
Besides, in modern times, sharing a pear carried the same pronunciation as “separation,” making it an unlucky symbol.
Then again, Zhou Yu thought about it and realized she only needed to raise Lu Cheng for about another six years. By then, Ji Jing would come to take him away.
When that time came, their parting would be inevitable anyway.
Lu Cheng saw that Zhou Yu wasn’t taking the pear, and without waiting for her to say anything else, he simply placed it in her hand before running back to the kitchen.
Zhou Yu smiled and said nothing more. She picked up the pear and took a few bites.
Zhou Yu spent the entire weekend busy with sewing. By the end of Saturday and Sunday, she had finally finished Lu Cheng’s new clothes: a padded jacket and a pair of padded trousers, perfect for him to wear on Monday.
When Monday arrived, Zhou Yu got up early, prepared breakfast, and then took Lu Cheng to the town’s primary school.
After seeing him through the school gates, Zhou Yu unexpectedly felt a sense of pride, as though she were watching her own child take his first steps toward growing up.
She stood at the school entrance, watching Lu Cheng walk away and enter his classroom. Only after quite some time had passed did she finally turn around and head home.
Now that Lu Cheng was attending school, Zhou Yu suddenly had a great deal of free time during the day to study medicine with the system.
Besides, hardly anyone in town knew her or Lu Cheng, so there was no need to worry about anyone coming to disturb them.
What Zhou Yu hadn’t expected, however, was that when she returned after dropping Lu Cheng off, she found a young man waiting outside the gate of her courtyard.
Her brows immediately furrowed.
When she drew closer and realized it wasn’t Zhao Shan, she instantly breathed a sigh of relief. Still, after studying the young man for a few moments, she felt that he looked strangely familiar.
Just as Zhou Yu was about to ask who he was, the man spoke first.
“Hello. My name is Ji Jing. Thank you for saving my father the other day.”
Ji Jing had questioned the fabric shop owner several times before finally learning where Zhou Yu lived.
Early that morning, he had come to the courtyard, only to discover that no one seemed to be home. Unwilling to give up, he had waited outside for one or two hours before finally seeing Zhou Yu return.
‘Ji Jing?’
The name sounded extremely familiar to Zhou Yu.
She carefully searched through the plot of the original novel in her memory several times. Then, all at once, her eyes widened in shock.
Staring at the man before her, she scrutinized him closely and confirmed that he truly looked exactly like Lu Bin in the original host’s memories.
Wasn’t Ji Jing the twin brother of Lu Bin from the original novel?
Wasn’t he supposed to come and take Lu Cheng away several years later?
And wasn’t he supposed to do it under Lu Bin’s identity?
So what exactly was going on now?
Fortunately, Zhou Yu quickly regained her composure.
Judging from what Ji Jing had just said, he clearly still didn’t know about his younger brother Lu Bin’s death. Nor did he know that Lu Bin had a child, and he certainly didn’t know Zhou Yu.
The only reason he had come here was because the middle-aged man she had casually saved the other day happened to be his father.
“I see. No need to thank me,” Zhou Yu said flatly after snapping back to her senses. “Was there anything else?”
She had clearly asked the fabric shop owner to pass along a message saying there was no need to thank her in person. She couldn’t figure out what Ji Jing was thinking. Could there be some other reason he had come?
“It’s like this. This is the payment for treating my father last time. In addition, my father would like to invite you to a meal and thank you personally.”
Noticing Zhou Yu’s expression change several times before finally turning somewhat displeased, Ji Jing was puzzled, but he still explained the purpose of his visit in full.
“There’s also my mother. Her health hasn’t been very good, and we’d like to ask you to examine her.”
Zhou Yu had originally intended to refuse.
However, after thinking about how much money she had spent over the past few days on moving and settling in, she realized that if she didn’t have any new income soon, she would have to start using the compensation payment.
And she didn’t want to touch that money.
【New Mission: Treat Madam Chu’s illness. Reward upon completion: 200 yuan.】
【Madam Chu is Ji Jing’s mother.】
System 088’s mechanical voice sounded in Zhou Yu’s mind.
Worried that Zhou Yu might not know who Madam Chu was, the system even thoughtfully added an explanation.
Zhou Yu had still been somewhat hesitant, but the moment she heard about the new mission, she made up her mind.
Taking the envelope containing the payment from Ji Jing, she said, “All right, then. But not today. My son will be coming home from school at noon, and I still need to make lunch for him. Let’s arrange another time.”
The moment he heard that Zhou Yu already had a child, a flash of surprise crossed Ji Jing’s face. However, he quickly returned to normal and said, “We’ll work around whatever schedule is convenient for you. Actually, you could even ask for a day off from school for your child and bring him along. That wouldn’t be a problem.”
Zhou Yu shot him a look.
How could it not be a problem?
She couldn’t help imagining what would happen if Lu Cheng saw Ji Jing and immediately called him “Dad.” Ji Jing still didn’t know the relationship between himself, Lu Bin, and Lu Cheng.
Wouldn’t that make the situation incredibly awkward?
It seemed she’d have to make sure Lu Cheng and Ji Jing didn’t cross paths while she completed this mission.
“My child just started primary school. It’s better not to interfere with his studies. Come back in three days. I’ll prepare his lunch in the morning and have him take it to school. At noon, I’ll ask his teacher to help heat it up, and he can simply eat at school instead of coming home.”
After some thought, Zhou Yu settled on that arrangement.
Three days would also give her time to do some last-minute studying with the system and learn more about Madam Chu’s condition.
“All right. Then I’ll come to your house again in three days and wait for you outside the courtyard in the morning.”
Ji Jing had no objections to Zhou Yu’s decision.
“Fine, but come a little later. Around this time would be good enough. If you come too early, I’ll still be taking my child to school.”
She definitely didn’t want Lu Cheng and Ji Jing meeting right now.
“Understood.”
Ji Jing nodded again in agreement.
Zhou Yu then asked a few more questions about Madam Chu’s illness before finally watching Ji Jing leave.