EAY Chapter 32

Fate, ah.

Fate, ah.

32

Qi Ye didn’t think Shi Ran was overdoing it; on the contrary, Qi Ye’s family all liked Shi Ran very much.

After returning home from the meal, the family’s conversation revolved around Qi Ye’s friend, and his mom even asked Qi Ye to invite him to their house.

Qi Ye, seeing his family’s overly enthusiastic reaction, felt a bit uneasy. What if Shi Ran felt even more pressure and didn’t want to come to his house at all?

“He’s busy during the holidays, he also has a part-time job.”

This was true. Shi Ran’s previous boss at the milk tea shop from his summer job had a very good impression of him and contacted him before the holidays. He was working at the shop again after returning.

As for Qi Ye, aside from attending classes and club activities at school, he devoted the rest of his time to drawing.

He wondered if it was because he was often with Shi Ran at school, but his inspiration came in bursts, especially frequently. But when he got home, with plenty of time to do nothing, he felt listless and unmotivated.

He had originally planned to buy some manga courses to learn, but currently, he couldn’t even be bothered to turn on his computer.

It felt like he was missing something.

Several messages popped up in the dormitory group chat.

Li Tianyi: Check out this young master’s luxurious vacation.

He then posted a table full of delicious food, and a table full of, children.

Followed by Li Tianyi’s laughing and crying voice message: It’s so blissful, so many little angels come to my house during the holidays. I’m not lonely at all during this vacation, and I’m not lacking exercise at all. The food they’re fighting over is so fragrant, haha, what a happy vacation.

Even Meng Nan, who was always busy, posted pictures. There was a picture of him working part-time at an amusement park, and a selfie looking like he was drained.

Meng Nan: There are more little angels here than at your place.

Li Tianyi: At least the little angels at your place won’t occupy your room, step on your bed, steal your game console, and want you to accompany them to the toilet!

Meng Nan: Oh, that’s true, you’re more miserable.

Li Tianyi: May God bless their parents to return as soon as possible and take these little devils away!

Qi Ye smiled and asked, “Are they children of your relatives?”

Li Tianyi: Yeah, those people are so good, they all go on vacation and shove their own kids and their friends’ kids into my house. They treat my house like a daycare!

Meng Nan: How can you take care of so many kids?

Li Tianyi: They even sent their family’s nanny along with them.

Meng Nan: …

Qi Ye: What about your parents?

Li Tianyi: They went on vacation.

Meng Nan: Why didn’t you go with them, out of sight, out of mind.

Li Tianyi: I originally planned to rest at home for the first day before leaving, but when I woke up, I found that my house had become a Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. Each of the little monkeys was clinging to me, so I couldn’t leave. Besides, I have to keep an eye on things at home. With how rowdy these little brats are, they could poke a hole in my house!

Qi Ye felt that Li Tianyi was just being stubborn. He probably liked those kids, even if not much.

Meng Nan: End of break time, off to work.

Li Tianyi: OK, I’m out too.

Qi Ye put down his phone, then picked it up after a while to check it, refreshed the messages, and put it down again, picking it up and browsing it repeatedly. Still no messages from Shi Ran. Usually, he and Li Tianyi were the most active in the group chat, singing in harmony.

Looks like he’s really busy at work.

“Qi Ye.” His mom knocked on his door, opened it, and stood at the doorway with a smile, “Do you have time? Accompany me to the supermarket. There are a lot of things to buy.”

“Okay.” Qi Ye got up and put his phone in his pocket.

The fruits and vegetables at the supermarket were on sale, and there were a lot of people. Qi Ye was in a daze when his mom grabbed two transparent bags and stuffed them into his arms, “Quick, go fill them with radishes, fill them up!”

There were fewer people at the white radish stall. The other sections were simply impossible to squeeze into. Qi Ye filled one bag, put it in the cart, and went to find his mom, who was snatching apples, “Is one bag enough?”

“What?” His mom had already entered battle mode, reluctantly glanced back, and immediately yelled at Qi Ye, “Need two bags, fill two bags, quickly!”

“Oh, oh, oh.” Qi Ye hurried back to fill another bag.

This time, they really returned fully loaded. Even the back seat of the car was packed full. Qi Ye glanced back, “Can we finish eating so much?”

His mom drove, humming a little tune, “It’s okay, nothing will be wasted.”

Qi Ye said, “Are you giving it to someone else?”

“Yeah, Mom has a lot of friends, it will be gone quickly after dividing it up.” His mom said cheerfully.

“You definitely didn’t buy it just to give to friends.” Qi Ye’s mom wasn’t a stingy person. She usually valued presentable gifts for her friends, and although the food and drink at home weren’t particularly high-end, they were all about freshness. But he didn’t know why, every so often, his mom particularly liked to go to the supermarket to buy these discounted items.

His mom said cheerfully, “This is the joy of shopping, just like when I buy a bunch of clothes during the discount season, it feels like I’ve made a profit.”

His mom turned her head and glanced at Qi Ye again, “It’s also for reminiscing.”

“Reminiscing about what?” Qi Ye was very curious.

“Reminiscing about the first few years after your dad and I got married. At that time, to save money, we made every meal ourselves, and we only bought groceries when the supermarket was having a sale. Your dad and I always divided the work in advance, who was responsible for getting vegetables and who was responsible for getting meat. At first, I was embarrassed to squeeze in with those aunties, always waiting for them to pick first, but every time, only rotten vegetable leaves were left. So I started learning to be shameless, rushing in and squeezing in.” His mom revealed a warm smile unique to memories, “I remember once, I quarreled with someone over onions. I didn’t cry while arguing, but I cried while cutting onions when I went back to cook.”

His mom laughed self-deprecatingly, “It felt bitter too, but now that I’ve gotten through it, I find it quite interesting, and I want to relive that time from time to time, do you understand?”

Qi Ye shook his head, “I don’t understand.”

“It’s good that you don’t understand, Mom hopes that your memories are all sweet.”

Qi Ye hesitated, “Then, did Dad comfort you at the time? Crying together is better than crying alone.”

“Your idea is really—” His mom laughed loudly, “Unfortunately, I went to grab the groceries alone that day, your dad was working overtime. By the time he came back, I had already cooked the meal and regained my composure. I didn’t mention anything to him.”

“Why?”

“He was preparing to start a business at that time, and he was under a lot of pressure.” His mom said, “He probably also had a lot of grievances and pressures that he didn’t tell me.”

It was rare to hear his parents talk about their past, Qi Ye felt it was very new and nodded with a smile, “I see.”

“See what?” His mom deliberately teased him, glanced at him and said, “I don’t know what kind of daughter-in-law you’ll bring back to me in the future.”

After returning home, a series of sorting and packing began. They left the vegetables and fruits that their family could finish eating and gave the rest to a few friends near his parents.

Qi Ye was responsible for delivering to one family. He tied the box securely to the back seat of his bicycle and began his vegetable delivery journey.

On the way back, Qi Ye deliberately took a detour. Anyway, he hadn’t decided what to do when he got back, so he just wandered around. By the time he realized it, his bike was already parked in front of the milk tea shop where Shi Ran worked.

He naturally didn’t have the chance to come here during the summer vacation. It was only when Shi Ran mentioned it in college that he learned that this milk tea shop had been open for a long time and was quite famous in the area.

Qi Ye rebuked himself: Isn’t it just that you want to see what Shi Ran looks like at work? Also, Shi Ran wearing a coffee-colored apron and a work hat, I really want to see it.

He parked his bike outside, straightened his clothes, and walked in. Before he could see Shi Ran’s figure, a young lady greeted him, “Hello, what would you like to drink?”

“Oh.” He looked around again, but still couldn’t see him. Qi Ye ordered a fruit tea and paid. Then, he hesitantly asked, “Um, I wanted to ask, is Shi Ran not working today?”

“Shi Ran? Oh, he took a day off today.” The young lady’s eyes lit up, “Are you Shi Ran’s friend? Could you be, the friend who made him pine for a summer vacation!”

“Pine, pine for, a summer vacation?” Qi Ye was stunned, and quickly realized, feeling a pang of bitterness in his heart.

“It really is you.” The young lady looked at him, cupping her face, “You and Shi Ran are really fated, I heard you got into the same university and were assigned to the same dormitory?”

Qi Ye nodded, “Yeah.”

Fate, ah, how wonderful.

“Looks like you guys are really close, Shi Ran’s mood was obviously much better when he came here again. It’s strange today, he actually took a day off on this kind of holiday, I don’t know if he’s sick or something.” Another customer came in, the young lady went to greet them again, and her colleague made Qi Ye’s drink and put it in front of him. The young lady asked, “To go?”

Sick? Qi Ye became uneasy. Did he catch a cold, or was he too tired? The young lady asked again, and Qi Ye quickly nodded and said, “To go,” took the fruit tea, and hurried away.

Qi Ye desperately pedaled his bike to Shi Ran’s house, and knocked on the door, breathless. There was no response for a long time. Qi Ye’s heart grew colder. Could he have fainted? His phone still wasn’t being answered. Qi Ye steeled his heart and prepared to kick the door. Just as he was about to kick with all his might, a voice came from the stairwell, suddenly stopping him, “Qi Ye!”

Luckily, his foot stopped just as it was about to touch the door.

Qi Ye turned his head and saw Shi Ran with a bruise on his face and a swollen lip, standing at the corner of the stairs with his hands in his pockets, looking quite proud, “What kind of grudge do you have against me that you’re coming to my door to cause trouble?”

Qi Ye wasn’t in the mood to joke with him, and walked over with a worried expression, “What happened?”

Shi Ran walked up the stairs, one step at a time, smiling, “Don’t ask, okay?”

Qi Ye: “No.”

Shi Ran was stunned, what’s going on, his attitude has become so tough.