Chapter 2: Farewell.?

Watching Liuyin gobble down the bread, Yezhe finally felt at ease.

Yezhe gently wiped the cream from the corner of Liuyin’s mouth with his hand.

“Little sister, when the Police uncle arrives, you’ll be able to find your mom and dad. Next time, you must stay close to them, okay?”

“Ah, what a pity you ended up with such irresponsible parents.”

“I… I don’t want to go back to my mom and dad.” Liuyin’s mood visibly dropped.

“They hit me, scold me, and complain that I can’t earn money…”

Come to think of it, Yezhe hadn’t asked how Liuyin ended up wandering the streets.

“I… I want to stay with you, big brother.” As if making some monumental decision, Liuyin clutched Yezhe’s clothes tightly with her small, childish hands.

Huh?

Earn money?

“Little sister, can you tell me more about your mom and dad?”

“Mm… they hit me, scold me, and say they want to sell me to someone else as their child.”

“Big brother, I don’t want to go back, I really don’t…” As she spoke, Liuyin’s small body suddenly began to tremble, without warning.

“I—I saw them forget to close the door, so I ran out. Big brother, I don’t want to go back…”

“There, there, don’t be afraid.” Yezhe hugged Liuyin, gently patting her dirty hair to comfort her.

“Mm-mm, I won’t go back, I won’t go back…”

There weren’t any careless parents—only those hateful child traffickers pulling the strings…

Thinking of this, Yezhe’s fists clenched tightly.

“By the way, little sister, what’s your name?”

“Mm… Liuyin, that’s what my mom and dad call me.”

……

Faster than expected, it wasn’t long before the Police uncle arrived.

Yezhe brought Liuyin to the Police Station, quickly explained the situation, then hurried through the paperwork.

When he heard that the Police uncle would place Liuyin at a nearby Welfare Institution, Yezhe left in a rush.

Luckily, there was still time to catch the Last Bus.

“Yezhe?”

Just as he got on the bus, someone inside the carriage called out to him.

Looking up, he saw the tired face of a young woman, faint freckles dotting her cheeks. Not exactly beautiful.

Well… maybe there was a natural kind of beauty to her—it’s just her skin had suffered from years of hard work and little care.

“What a coincidence. Didn’t you get off work early today?”

“Mm… I stayed out for a while, didn’t want to go home.”

Makes sense.

As the saying goes, fate always picks on the unfortunate.

Her father died early, and her mother collapsed from overwork, so the burden of caring for the family naturally fell on Yudong’s shoulders.

With nowhere else to turn, Yudong chose to take a job—and by chance, ended up working at the same Store as Yezhe.

As the senior by a year, the Boss had entrusted Yezhe with training Yudong.

And during that time, Yezhe and Yudong gradually grew close.

Perhaps because they were both in the same situation, Yezhe and Yudong got along especially well.

Yudong understood Yezhe’s despair, and Yezhe cared about Yudong’s circumstances.

It was like two wounded people huddling together for warmth.

“So, how’s your mom doing?”

“She’s the same as before, still can’t do anything strenuous.”

“Actually, it’s alright, at least things aren’t getting worse, hmm…”

Yezhe glanced at Yudong.

Those dark circles were as heavy as ever.

“Still can’t sleep?”

“You know how it is, old problems don’t get fixed in a day.”

“Or is it that you’ve been getting excited because of all the handsome guys coming to the Store lately?”

“As if. It’s not like I haven’t seen handsome guys before. Besides, what good is a good-looking guy? I’d rather the Boss just gave me a raise.”

Realizing his joke hadn’t helped at all, Yezhe wisely fell silent.

“How about you?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to get that new knife skin in your game? Did you buy it?”

A brief silence.

“Of course not. Who knows, someone might want to borrow money from me again, so I’d better save up.”

“You…”

Hearing this, Yudong grew embarrassed.

“I’m ignoring you now!”

She turned her head, cheeks flushed, looking every bit the stubborn little miss.

Right, if it weren’t for her family’s situation, Yudong would definitely still be in school now.

“My bad, sis, I won’t tease you anymore, alright?”

“If things at home weren’t like this, why would I even borrow money from you? And it’s not like I won’t pay it back.”

Yezhe’s apology seemed to backfire.

“Alright, alright, stop sulking, okay? Next week when I get paid, I’ll treat you to cake—at that place right across the street. Don’t you always stare at their window displays after work?”

“…Fine, just don’t joke about my family again.”

“Pretending not to hear, huh? Did you remember?”

As she spoke, Yudong pinched Yezhe hard.

“Hmph! That’ll teach you. Let’s see if you still dare to make fun of me.”

Yudong pouted and turned her head again.

After a short silence—

“This is my stop.”

Yudong got up to leave.

“Mm, see you.”

“Don’t forget—you promised to treat me.”

“Mm-hmm.”

She glared back at Yezhe, then hurried off the bus.

Watching the streetlights outside the window, Yezhe soon realized the bus had reached the final stop.

Time to get off as well.

—

The sun rose as usual. After greeting Uncle Wang, who was out for his morning exercises, Yezhe hurried off to catch the early bus.

Maybe this dull life would only end the day the sun stopped rising.

Stamping his feet to shake off the morning chill, Yezhe tried to warm himself up.

Better clean up the place first.

Taking out his keys, he rolled up the shutter and began another busy day.

The Store where Yezhe worked was a typical street Barbecue stall.

It wasn’t especially busy, nor was it slow—Yezhe’s daily duties were just cleaning up, serving customers, and occasionally helping with the Barbecue when things got hectic.

Once all the cleaning was done, it was about time for Yudong to arrive.

Thinking of this, Yezhe turned and headed next door to the Breakfast Shop.

“Boss, two cups of Soy Milk, one extra sweet.”

“Still for that girl, huh?”

“Haha.” Yezhe didn’t answer, just gave an awkward smile.

“Sigh, all kids with hard lives.”

With that, the Boss handed him the two steaming cups of Soy Milk.

When Yudong arrived, Yezhe handed her a cup.

Mm, another busy day was about to begin.

……

“Whew! Finally off work!”

Peeling off her heavy Apron, Yudong finally had a moment to catch her breath after a long day.

“Hurry up and get ready to go once you’re done cleaning—I can’t stand lazy people who get off before me.”

“Who are you calling lazy? Careful or I’ll pinch you.”

Yudong glared at Yezhe, then started changing clothes on her own.

“Yeah, yeah, be careful on your way home.”

“Mind your own business, go wipe your tables.”

“Yes, yes, our tough sister has spoken.”

“Ouch!”

As Yezhe was nearing the door, Yudong snuck back and kicked him while he wasn’t paying attention.

“I’m really leaving this time, hehe.”

Sticking her tongue out at Yezhe, Yudong ran off without looking back.

That girl… oh well, as long as she’s happy.

As dusk settled, there weren’t many customers today, so the Boss let Yezhe leave early.

Not bad—means he’d have some time to play games or something at home.

Just as he was thinking this, the ringing of his phone snapped him out of it.

Wait, a call from the Public Security Bureau???