The more I thought about it, the less I could sleep. After tossing and turning in bed for a long time, I finally decided to ask my daughter what she thought.
“If you were asleep, I wouldn’t have bothered you. But since you’re still awake, your aunt came over to say a few words to you.”
Shen Wuqiu felt she knew what she was going to say, but didn't say it aloud. "Is there something you need, Aunt?"
"That Zheng, Qiuqiu, tell your aunt the truth, are you really not interested in this person?"
"I really don't have those feelings for him." Shen Wuqiu has been tired of saying this for the past few days.
Zhao Jiujiu looked at her, "You're not being coy with your aunt, are you?"
Shen Wuqiu was extremely helpless. "Does my aunt think I'm being reserved?"
Zhao Jiujiu believed it and even felt inexplicably relieved. "I talked to Lingyu today. This little girl has actually fallen in love. She even said that she will only like one person in her life, and she will stick with whoever she falls in love with."
As for talking about being in heat, Zhao Jiujiu felt it was too direct and unrestrained, and she couldn't bring herself to say it.
"..." Shen Wuqiu's feelings were complicated again. She knew that the two of them were definitely talking at cross purposes and thinking their own thoughts.
Just as she was considering what to say to clear up her aunt's misunderstanding, Zhao Jiujiu said again, "Since you don't like it, I'll find some time to ask Xiao Zheng what he thinks of you and Lingyu, so that Lingyu won't be wishful thinking."
So, the words that were about to come out of her mouth were swallowed back down by some strange impulse. "Well, it's alright if you ask."
Zhao Jiujiu sighed, "Alright, I have nothing more to say. You should go to sleep early."
Chapter 63 Prosperity
As the summer solstice approaches, the days become longer and the nights shorter.
At three o'clock the next morning, the first light of dawn appeared outside.
Cat-shaped Gu Lingyu crawled out of Shen Wuqiu's bed, lazily stretching and yawning. She stared at the person for a while before slowly transforming into human form, her lips lingering on the sleeping person's face.
Her commotion woke Shen Wuqiu up, but she was still half-asleep and her sleepy eyes showed some impatience. "Don't make noise..."
"I won't make a sound anymore, you can go back to sleep." Gu Lingyu gently comforted her, patting her back softly.
Shen Wuqiu hummed in response and then closed her eyes again.
Gu Lingyu coaxed her for a while, thinking she had fallen into a deep sleep again, before tiptoeing to get out of bed.
The moment she moved, Shen Wuqiu opened her eyes, looked at her, and asked, "Are you getting up?"
Gu Lingyu nodded, "We need to go to the bayberry orchard early today to pick bayberries."
Perhaps not fully awake yet, Shen Wuqiu's expression was a little blank. She yawned, and after a while, she yawned again, glancing at the small alarm clock on the bedside table. "It's too early now."
Seeing her yawning repeatedly, Gu Lingyu felt extremely sorry for her and coaxed her, "Sister, continue sleeping and don't talk, lest you become more awake the more you talk."
Shen Wuqiu was indeed still a little sleepy. He nodded and kept his eyes closed, but soon opened them again and looked at her.
"..." Gu Lingyu looked at her as well, "What's wrong?"
Shen Wuqiu licked her lips.
Gu Lingyu suddenly had a flash of inspiration and, no longer being naive, lowered his head and kissed her lips.
Shen Wuqiu pushed her impatiently, "What are you doing?"
That little lisp at the end of her voice was so sweet that Gu Lingyu couldn't help but smile and leaned down to kiss her again, saying, "Sister is so cute."
Enraged, Shen Wuqiu turned around, presenting the back of his head to her.
It turns out that my older sister isn't always so mature, aloof, and elegant; she can also be as spoiled as a child.
Gu Lingyu smiled with her lips pursed, feeling a ticklish, tingling sensation in her heart, yet also a sense of complete fulfillment. This feeling was like—how to describe it?
She tilted her head and thought for a while before coming up with a simple description—her sister was her whole world, as if nothing else mattered as long as that person was there.
She wasn't a reserved person, and after thinking about it, she couldn't help but say, "Sister, I like you so much."
Shen Wuqiu stiffened, but quickly regained her composure and said, "Giving me sweet talk so early in the morning, Gu Lingyu, are you in heat again?"
Gu Lingyu looked at her and smiled, "Mm."
Shen Wuqiu didn't expect her to be so shameless and didn't know how to respond for a moment, so she could only urge her: "Alright, I'm going back to sleep. If you want to leave, then leave quickly."
Gu Lingyu nodded: "Then I'll sleep a little longer, sister."
Shen Wuqiu ignored her.
Gu Lingyu didn't take it to heart, quickly tidied herself up, and prepared to go out.
Hearing the door click open, Shen Wuqiu couldn't help but ask again, "Are you leaving?"
Gu Lingyu turned to look at her. "Yes, the weather is nice today. I just looked outside, and it's already quite bright."
Shen Wuqiu nodded without speaking, but kept his eyes on her.
Gu Lingyu felt uncomfortable under her gaze and subconsciously touched her face. "Sister?"
Shen Wuqiu then looked away and said expressionlessly, "Work hard."
"..." Gu Lingyu was a little confused, but still nodded, "Mm."
Shen Wuqiu silently pulled the thin blanket a little closer to her head, "Don't disturb other people's work."
Gu Lingyu was even more confused, but she would just listen to whatever her partner said, so she nodded blankly and then left the room.
As soon as she left, Shen Wuqiu covered her slightly flushed face.
How strange. Even though she knows what the cat is thinking, she still can't help but overthink and even get jealous—this slightly sour feeling, is it jealousy?
****
When Gu Lingyu arrived at Xishan, there were already quite a few people busy at the bayberry garden.
Over at the work shed, Zheng Xinghe was rinsing his mouth with water. He was quite surprised to see her coming over: "Miss Gu, you're here so early too?"
Gu Lingyu glanced at him, took the basket, and left.
Zheng Xinghe didn't mind her aloofness. He threw down the water bottle, grabbed a basket, and followed her, trying to make conversation: "Have your aunt and mother arrived yet?"
Gu Lingyu initially didn't want to talk to him, but then, for some reason, she replied, "That's all. It's too early now. I'll probably come over later."
Zheng Xinghe: Did you come alone?
"..." Gu Lingyu rolled her eyes at him, thinking that the question he asked was too stupid.
Zheng Xinghe smiled awkwardly: "I was just wondering if you, a girl, weren't afraid to come up the mountain at this hour?"
"...What's there to be afraid of?" Gu Lingyu, who grew up in the mountains, pouted. "You're a coward, do you think everyone else is a coward?"
Zheng Xinghe continued to laugh awkwardly, and just as he was about to say something, Gu Lingyu scrambled up a nearby tree and said, "I'll take care of these trees. You can go somewhere else."
Helpless, Zheng Xinghe had no choice but to continue walking forward.
We worked from four o'clock until nine o'clock, and only managed to pick about 70-80% of the bayberries.
Packing and boxing took another two hours. Only after the bayberries were loaded onto the truck and sent away could everyone take a breather after working all morning.
Picking bayberries is hard work. Even a lively little kitten like Gu Lingyu was exhausted after all that work and went back to her room to sleep after dinner.
It's easy to imagine that Zheng Xinghe, who hadn't done much physical labor, hadn't slept well last night, having squeezed onto a simple bed in the workers' shed with his father. After working all morning, he felt completely exhausted and didn't even have lunch before taking the truck delivering bayberries back home.
After he left, he didn't show up for several days.
This made Zhao Jiujiu, who had been wanting to talk to him, very distressed. After holding it in for two days, she couldn't help but ask Gu Lingyu, "Xiao Zheng hasn't come for two days, didn't you ask him?"
Gu Lingyu, who wished the person would never come back, found her question strange. "What do you mean?"
Zhao Jiujiu: "Look what he's been doing. I heard from Lao Zheng that he hasn't taken his annual leave for two years, including the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, which is a full two weeks."
Gu Lingyu looked puzzled: "What he does has nothing to do with me?"
Zhao Jiujiu looked at her, somewhat exasperated, "I told you you're still young and clueless. Since you like him, you should definitely care about him more... Don't tell me you two haven't even contacted each other? Oh right, I just remembered, you don't even have a phone. Your aunt will buy you one later..."
"No..." Gu Lingyu, who was completely confused, interrupted her, "Aunt, why don't I understand what you're saying?"
Zhao Jiujiu got anxious: "Don't you understand? Which of your aunt's words didn't you understand?"
Gu Lingyu sorted out her thoughts, then her expression turned as if she had swallowed a fly. "Auntie, you don't think I like that guy surnamed Zheng..."
“What surname Zheng, Xinghe, Zheng Xinghe…” Zhao Jiujiu was halfway through her sentence when she realized what she had said, and her eyes widened suddenly. “What do you mean by ‘I thought’?”
Gu Lingyu was still hesitating about how to respond when she raised her voice and asked, "Don't you like Xiao Zheng?"
Do you like him?
What kind of talk is that?
Gu Lingyu was even less composed than her, "How could I possibly like him?"
"..."
After a full two minutes of silence, Zhao Jiujiu took a deep breath and asked, "So, who do you like?"
"Sister." Gu Lingyu said without hesitation.
Zhao Jiujiu almost spat out blood when she recalled the conversation between the two of them the night before.
She quickly patted her chest to catch her breath.
"Aunt, are you alright?" Gu Lingyu asked with concern when she saw her like this.
Zhao Jiujiu quickly waved her hand, "No, don't call me aunt yet."
Her mind felt like it had been struck by lightning; it was completely muddled.
Gu Lingyu lowered her eyes and said sullenly, "So I was happy for nothing. I thought that what you said to me that time meant you agreed to let my sister marry me."
Even she, in her naiveté, understood that her aunt wasn't actually agreeing to her and her sister's relationship; she had simply mistaken the person in question.
Zhao Jiujiu took another deep breath and asked her, "You said you like Qiuqiu and want her to marry you, you're not joking?"
Gu Lingyu muttered in dissatisfaction, "I would never joke about something like this."
Zhao Jiujiu: "Qiuqiu is a girl, and you are a girl too, you know that, right?"
Gu Lingyu: "Auntie, you should just say what you want to say."
"..." Zhao Jiujiu felt like her chest was about to explode. She swore she'd never felt so suffocated in her life. She put one hand on her hip and smoothed her hair. "Okay, even if it's not unusual for girls to like other girls these days, but..."
Well, this incident still had a significant impact on her. She felt that it wasn't unusual for girls to like other girls, but it was quite strange for it to happen to her own child.