1. In the Ancient City

“Mom, everyone else is loafing around at home, so why am I the only one you call to get up and do chores instead of Su Qingyi?”

In the third month of the year, Datong Ancient City was already brimming with early spring vitality. The faintly lit sky cast a hazy mist that lingered between the blue bricks and black tiles, stretching out like a scroll of ink-wash mountains and rivers.

Hearing the commotion, Su Qingyi pushed open her window and saw her cousin Wang Zhenfeng downstairs, grumbling as she wrung out a freshly washed bedsheet, making a deliberate show of snapping it loudly, as if afraid Su Qingyi, sleeping upstairs, wouldn’t hear.

“Keep your voice down!” snapped Su Yu, Su Qingyi’s aunt, clearly annoyed. “How can you compare yourself to your cousin? She gives me three thousand every month, hardly makes a sound except at meals, and look at you—always asking me for money, and you can’t even spare time to watch my stall.”

“I really am busy,” Wang Zhenfeng mumbled, her voice shrinking as she realized she was in the wrong. “It’s just three thousand, right? Once I find a job, I’ll give you five thousand every month.”

“Enough, enough,” Su Yu cut her off as soon as she started painting grand promises. “I’d be grateful if you just stopped coming to me for money every month.”

With that, she picked up the red plastic bucket and headed back inside.

Wang Zhenfeng continued to complain, “Doesn’t Uncle run a big business in the capital? She’s tossing you three thousand like she’s giving handouts to beggars.”

At this, Su Yu swung the bucket up and tapped Wang Zhenfeng’s calf with a hanger. “Just because she has money, does she owe you? And remember, we’re living in your uncle’s house right now. When your cousin came back this time, she didn’t kick us out and even gave us living expenses. What more do you want?”

Wang Zhenfeng realized she’d overstepped, but showed no sign of apologizing, only snorted and looked away.

“Be honest, does your cousin eat three thousand worth of food every month? With her appetite, five hundred would be a stretch! She doesn’t ask you to do her laundry or anything. All you do is set an extra pair of chopsticks at meals. What’s there to resent?”

“Still, did you really have to wake me up at seven in the morning to hang bedsheets?”

“I’m about to go out and set up my stall. If you don’t hang them now, will you be able to wring them out by yourself after I leave?” Su Yu pinched her ear, though she couldn’t bear to use much force. “You really don’t appreciate a good heart.”

“You’re leaving, but isn’t Su Qingyi still here?”

“They’re your bedsheets! Even with three thousand a month, she’s never made you do chores. How do you have the nerve to ask someone else?”

“The three thousand goes to you, not me.”

As soon as Wang Zhenfeng finished, her calf got whacked again.

Su Yu, exasperated, plopped down on the back steps, muttering, “How did I end up with such an ungrateful brat for a daughter?”

She looked up and saw Su Qingyi on the second floor.

The cool, beautiful girl leaned quietly against the cedar windowsill, bare-faced yet as fresh as a lotus emerging from water. Their eyes met, and Su Qingyi, as if she hadn’t heard the commotion, lifted the corners of her lips and called, “Aunt.”

Su Yu hurriedly got up, forcing a stiff smile out of guilt. “Why are you up so early? What would you like to eat? Aunt will make you something.”

“Anything is fine. I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

“Alright.” Relieved that Su Qingyi bore no grudges, Su Yu turned back into the house.

Wang Zhenfeng rolled her eyes so hard they nearly stuck.

Imitating Su Yu’s tone in a mocking falsetto, she shook her head with exaggerated disdain.

Su Qingyi was amused by the display.

Wang Zhenfeng stared, unable to deny that her cousin was truly beautiful; even with all her annoyance, she couldn’t bring herself to say a harsh word about that face.

“What are you laughing at?” Wang Zhenfeng snapped.

Before Su Qingyi could answer, Su Yu, already gone, rushed back brandishing a hanger. “Try mocking me one more time!”

“Ah, Mom, I won’t! Don’t hit me!” Wang Zhenfeng hopped around, pleading for mercy.

Su Yu finally relented, warning, “Figure out your own breakfast today!”

With that, she slammed the courtyard door in a huff.

Wang Zhenfeng shot another glare at Su Qingyi and shook out her clothes with extra vigor, but only succeeded in splashing water in her own face.

Su Qingyi most enjoyed seeing Wang Zhenfeng unable to stand her but utterly helpless.

Resting her chin on her hand, she called, “A-Feng.”

“Aaagh! Didn’t I tell you not to call me that?” Wang Zhenfeng bristled. “I go by Wang Chaoyan now!”

Su Qingyi raised an eyebrow. “Really? Does your father know?”

“That’s none of your business! Anyway, you’d better call me Wang Chaoyan in public,” Wang Zhenfeng retorted fiercely.

She truly disliked her cousin; ever since Su Qingyi returned from the capital, her own status at home had plummeted. Once a carefree layabout, she’d become a lazy freeloader who still asked her family for money.

But her cousin wasn’t entirely without merit. For example, when the whole family forbade her from changing her name, her cousin seriously agreed, “Alright, A-Yan.”

Wang Zhenfeng finally softened a little.

Still, she maintained her tough tone, “What do you want?”

“Nothing. Just calling you.” Su Qingyi looked up at the brightening sky, the breeze tousling her fine hair. Her fair, delicate face radiated a serene calm, simply standing there as if time itself had slowed.

“Weirdo.” Wang Zhenfeng, still unhappy, couldn’t bring herself to say anything harsh to that face and unconsciously lowered her voice.

So much so that Su Qingyi couldn’t even hear what she said.

But the tone alone was enough to guess it wasn’t complimentary. Su Qingyi didn’t argue; in her eyes, Wang Zhenfeng was just an immature little sister.

Wang Zhenfeng wasn’t even eighteen yet. Assigned an internship at the county hospital, she quit after two months without even collecting her certificate.

Su Yu was furious but helpless. She wanted to send her daughter to learn a trade, but Wang Zhenfeng had no interest—her only ambition was to strike it rich, wandering the city with her phone, dreaming of becoming an internet celebrity.

It had been almost half a year, and she still hadn’t broken a thousand followers.

When Su Qingyi came downstairs, she overheard Wang Zhenfeng pestering Su Yu for a new phone.

The latest model from a certain fruit-branded company, with even the smallest storage costing ten thousand yuan. Su Yu didn’t even let her finish; hearing the price alone made her jump up. “Do you know what ten thousand yuan can buy? I could buy four of those fully automatic washing machines I’ve been eyeing for a year, pay three years of your tuition! You must be out of your mind to spend that on a phone!”

“But do you know why my account isn’t taking off? The video quality is terrible, and editing needs lots of storage. My phone can’t handle it; I always have to delete so much…”

The more Wang Zhenfeng explained, the smaller her voice became.

But Su Yu wouldn’t listen, simply taking away her bowl. “I shouldn’t have bothered making you these wontons.”

Wang Zhenfeng tried to protest, only to burst into tears first.

Su Qingyi sat quietly beside her, neither comforting nor scolding, when their grandfather came downstairs and saw Wang Zhenfeng crying again.

He tried to soothe her, “Now, who upset our little Feng again?”

But Wang Zhenfeng, never one to appreciate kindness, only grew angrier, convinced she was in the right. She sprang from her chair, declaring, “I’m not eating!” and stomped off to her room.

Their grandfather, baffled, turned to Su Qingyi. “What’s wrong with her this time?”

Before Su Qingyi could answer, Su Yu began her tirade.

After listening, Grandfather only sighed silently, his wrinkled face full of self-reproach for being unable to help.

Su Qingyi glanced at her phone.

From start to finish, she made no judgment on the matter. Instead, she picked up a pair of chopsticks and handed them to her grandfather. “Grandpa, let’s eat.”

By comparison, Su Qingyi was almost too mature.

Grandfather sighed again, looking at her. Everyone thought his granddaughter was living the high life in the capital, but only he knew that three months ago, Su Qingyi had just finished paying off sixty million yuan in debts left after her parents’ company went bankrupt.

He’d asked how she managed it.

She’d only replied lightly, “Built houses for people,” and said nothing more.

He couldn’t imagine how many houses she’d had to build to earn that much. In his youth, he, too, had built houses for others and knew that kind of hardship was not for ordinary people.

She must have suffered greatly, but as a grandfather, he was powerless to help. In the old days, before machine carving became so widespread, he could make some money with woodcarving. Now, he could barely make ends meet.

Even with his status as an intangible cultural heritage master.

There were fewer and fewer in the trade.

Thinking this, he sighed again.

Su Qingyi said lightly, “Don’t sigh so much, or you’ll age faster.”

Grandfather finally managed a small smile and began to eat his wontons.

After breakfast, Su Qingyi accompanied him to the woodcarving workshop behind the house.

In the days when woodcarving was lucrative, the entire room had been dedicated to the craft. Now, only a small section remained, mostly filled with finished pieces rather than raw wood.

Su Qingyi glanced around and quickly looked away.

She silently took a few photos of the finished pieces, greeted her grandfather, and left the workshop.

Back inside, Su Yu was about to head out to her stall. Su Qingyi asked for the keys to the electric scooter in the courtyard, but before she could take them, Wang Zhenfeng’s head popped out of the upstairs window. “Don’t let her take the scooter! I need it soon to pick up Jiang Yue.”

Su Yu finally lost her temper, slamming her things down. “Wang Zhenfeng! Don’t push your luck!”

Wang Zhenfeng, seeing her mother side with Su Qingyi, grew even more aggrieved. “Why do you treat her like your real niece but not me like your daughter?”

She slammed the window shut with all her might.

Su Yu, unyielding, stormed upstairs and gave her a good scolding—her cries could be heard three meters away. Even the neighbors poked their heads out to see what was happening.

After the scolding, Wang Zhenfeng behaved much better. Coming downstairs, her tear-streaked face was subdued as she greeted, “Cousin.”

Su Qingyi couldn’t help but want to laugh.

Sitting on the scooter, her back to her cousin, she answered softly, almost inaudibly.