Translator: Cheese
Sending you roses
After a game of mahjong, it was time for dinner. Seeing that everyone had the intention of taking a break, Sister Zhang suggested: “Is everyone hungry? Our housekeeping auntie has made some food. Let’s eat first and rest for a while.”
Mrs. Ren was the first to stand up, beating her waist with her fist. “Taking a break sounds good. I’m getting old, and my waist can’t handle sitting for a long time.”
Sister Wang and Sister Zhang also stood up and moved around, exchanging a few words about health preservation.
Seeing that He Qingwan didn’t speak, Sister Wang envied her: “It’s good to be young. Look at Qingwan, she doesn’t feel a thing!”
He Qingwan smiled. “How is that because I’m young? It must be because I usually exercise more often.”
The other women surrounded her and asked her what she usually did. He Qingwan answered that she practiced yoga at night. Otherwise, making desserts would be extremely tiring.
Mrs. Ren laughed. “No wonder your waist is so flexible.”
The group of women happily chatted together while Ji Shaoheng remained on the sidelines eating fruit.
Hearing this remark, he paused with a piece of orange still in his mouth, his gaze drifting down to He Qingwan’s waist.
The heater in the Zhang family’s home was fully turned on, so nobody was wearing a coat, including He Qingwan.
The fluffy mink-fur turtleneck sweater hugged her waist, and her straight trousers fit her lower body well. Her legs looked slender, and the curves of her waist and hips were round and full.
He sucked in a breath in his heart, and his thoughts couldn’t help but wander into a harmonious1 direction.
The man’s gaze was too blatant, and He Qingwan could feel heat on her waist through her clothing. Subconsciously wanting to escape, she said, “Sister Zhang, I should head back. Tiantian’s grandparents should have made dinner.”
As soon as she said this, the other three women all protested together:
“You can’t! Since you’ve come to my house, I can’t let you leave without eating, can I?”
“She’s right, let’s eat together. Sister Zhang’s housekeeping auntie is very good at Huaiyang cuisine. I’ve wanted to try it for a long time.”
“Let’s keep playing after dinner. Want to run away after winning all the money? The winner is not allowed to leave. I want to see just how much Ji Shaoheng can help you win.”
When He Qingwan heard them mention Ji Shaoheng, her face immediately went red.
Ji Shaoheng watched from the side and chuckled inwardly. He leisurely swallowed the orange and asked, “Has Tiantian not come back from playing outside yet? Doesn’t Miss He want to know where your daughter is?”
He Qingwan was caught speechless.
That’s right, why hadn’t Tiantian come back yet?
She took out her phone. “I’m going to call Tiantian and ask her.”
Mrs. Ren: “Don’t worry too much. Your family’s Tiantian is so sensible. It’s the New Year, so let the children play outside. Besides, isn’t our Xiao Lin there too? It’ll be fine. You should call Uncle and Auntie and ask them not to make your and Tiantian’s share of food.”
He Qingwan: “…Then I’ll go call my parents.”
Ji Shaoheng nearly laughed out loud. How could she be so soft?
His eyes fell back down to her waist.
Really soft, inside and out.
When Yu Cai finally found Su Tian, only Ren Zhenglin was standing next to Su Tian.
The two of them were engaged in conversation. The girl had a smile on her face, with a Kaka doll in one hand and a red rose in the other. The crowd of people flowing around her seemed to have been blurred by a camera. Only she held the focus of the entire world, becoming clearer and clearer.
She lowered her head and sniffed the rose, twirling the stem between her slender, pale fingers. The boy standing next to her leaned down and said something. Yu Cai was too far away and couldn’t hear what he said, but he saw her smile brighter.
He watched her for a long time, but she never noticed him and remained happily chatting with the boy.
Yu Cai clenched his fingers before whirling around and disappearing into the crowd.
Su Tian was talking to Ren Zhenglin when she gradually felt that something was off, as though someone was watching her. But when she turned around to see, she only saw a crowd of people.
“What are you looking at, Tiantian?” Ren Zhenglin followed her gaze, but found nothing out of place, so he couldn’t help but ask her.
Su Tian looked away, shaking her head with a smile. “I thought it was an acquaintance, but I couldn’t find him. Maybe I was mistaken.”
Ren Zhenglin didn’t pay much attention to this instance. “Once Zhang Yingni comes back, let’s discuss where to eat…”
Just earlier, Zhang Yingni had spotted a candy seller and insisted on going over to buy some. He and Su Tian had no choice but to wait for her in a less crowded area.
As he was talking, the girls next to him suddenly let out exclamations.
Ren Zhenglin followed the direction of the exclamations and asked in surprise, “Cousin2, why’re you here?”
More like, why’re you holding such a big bouquet…
When Su Tian heard Ren Zhenglin call the other “cousin,” she couldn’t help but turn around in curiosity. Her eyes immediately fell on a wide swath of fiery red roses.
It was so big that it almost took up her entire field of vision.
Su Tian was stunned. She moved her gaze upward, only to meet the young man’s familiar eyes.
The sun still hadn’t set, so the youth was still wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a professional-grade mask that resembled a gas mask.
The roses burned like flames, but the young man’s eyes were cold and deep.
Ren Zhenglin: “Cousin, why did you buy so many flowers? Did you want to give them to your girlfriend? Haha, so you can like people too…”
Yu Cai ignored him and passed the flowers to Su Tian. “For you.”
Ren Zhenglin: “…!”
Su Tian: “Thank you, but…”
Before she could say words of refusal, the youth interrupted: “You accepted someone else’s rose.”
His voice held a hint of grievance and accusation.
Even his eyes were glistening, as pitiful as those of a puppy abandoned by its owner.
Su Tian inexplicably had the feeling that she’d be committing a big crime by not accepting his roses.
She glanced down at the rose and Kaka doll in her hands and said helplessly: “But I can’t hold any more.”
Yu Cai held the bouquet in one hand and took her Kaka doll with the other, ‘casually’ snatching the singular rose along the way.
The youth said very seriously, “I’ll help you hold them, you help me hold mine.”
Su Tian: “…”
Once the two ‘exchanged’ the things in their hands, Yu Cai’s aggrieved eyes immediately began to light up again.
Ren Zhenglin finally recovered from the shock and blurted aloud, “Damn, cousin, aren’t you too unreasonable to steal my girlfriend?”
Su Tian: “…???”
When did she become his girlfriend?
Yu Cai’s bright eyes immediately dimmed.
“Your girlfriend?” He asked meaningfully.
Ren Zhenglin recalled the experience of being beaten up by Yu Cai when he was a child and felt a little scared. But in front of Su Tian, he must not cower!
He lifted his head and said bravely, “I’ve known Tiantian for over ten years, and you snatched my girlfriend as soon as you showed up. Are you still my brother?”
Su Tian: “Wait…”
Yu Cai ignored her protest and responded to Ren Zhenglin: “A maternal cousin is as distant as three thousand miles3.”
What did a maternal relative count as?
Su Tian: But I…”
Her words were once again ignored.
Ren Zhenglin almost coughed up blood. “That’s not what you said when you snatched my things when we were kids!”
Su Tian: “…”
Yu Cai: “Did I?”
Ren Zhenglin: “Didn’t you? So many of my toys were torn apart by you, and you said that we’re brothers. What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours…”
Yu Cai continued: “What’s mine is still mine.”
Ren Zhenglin: “…Fuck!”
Su Tian couldn’t be bothered to argue with them anymore. She stuffed the hefty bouquet that Yu Cai had given her into his arms, took back her Kaka doll, and let the two of them squabble at their leisure.
Just then, Zhang Yingni came back with four sugar paintings4. When she saw the situation that unfolded, she nearly blew up. She ran over and asked Su Tian, “What’s going on? Two men fighting over a woman?”
Su Tian: “I don’t know.”
Her gaze fell on the sugar figurine in the girl’s hand. “Is it good?”
Zhang Yingni passed over the four sugar paintings to her, answering, “It’s good, pick one.”
Su Tian really liked sweets, and her eyes lingered on the four sugar paintings.
Zhang Yingni had bought a Journey to the West set, which included the master and his three disciples5. The figures were manipulated by the sugar painter to become lifelike.
Su Tian: “I want Sun Wukong.”
Zhang Yingni picked out Big Brother Monkey and, under Su Tian’s gaze, stuffed it into her own mouth.
She simply thought that the things Su Tian liked were the best, and she always wanted to snatch them away. But after her father’s accident, she was too embarrassed to fight with Su Tian over important things, so she could only indulge herself in these kinds of insignificant matters.
Zhang Yingni bit off Big Brother Monkey’s head in a single bite. She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she strangely felt that Big Brother Monkey did indeed taste better than the others.
Su Tian was ‘helpless’ and had no choice but to choose the biggest Zhu Bajie, the one she ‘disliked the most.’
She gave it a lick, and both girls felt content.
The cousins who were quarreling just now were bewildered upon seeing the two girls eating sugar figurines and completely ignoring them.
Yu Cai looked at them for a moment, and then his dark eyes shined as brilliant as a spring light.
So the three of them had come together. He thought that…
He lowered his head, unable to hold back his smile. Perhaps it was because he was shy, but his face felt hot.
Zhang Yingni asked Yu Cai: “Who’re you? Why are you so covered up?”
Ren Zhenglin harrumphed: “My cousin who’s ‘as distant as three thousand miles.’”
Yu Cai nodded, his brows unfurrowing: “And we’re not biologically related.”
Zhang Yingni responded with an ‘oh’ and handed over the last two sugar paintings. “Here, one for each of you. Thankfully I bought four, or else there wouldn’t have been enough.”
Ren Zhenglin angrily took away Monk Tang, leaving behind the ugliest Sha Heshang for Yu Cai.
Yu Cai’s brows were still drawn in a happy curve. He held the roses with one hand and came over to take the last sugar figurine.
As he stretched out his hand, the sleeve slid up, exposing a section of skin between the glove and sleeve. Su Tian glanced at it, and her gaze suddenly froze in place.
Yu Cai accepted the sugar figurine and looked at Su Tian with curved brows. Suddenly, she called out to him, “Wait a minute.”
Yu Cai blinked. The hand he was about to lift to his mouth froze in mid-air.
Su Tian bit down on Second Senior Brother’s head and approached him. Under Yu Cai’s surprised look, she pulled down the youth’s sleeve, exposing the skin on his wrist.
Hiss.
The two adjacent teens sucked in a cold breath.
They saw a dense layer of tiny red rashes on the youth’s slender, pale wrists. The sight gave people goosebumps.
Zhang Yingni let out a frightened yelp. “What happened to him?”
Ren Zhenglin: “Fuck, cousin, you’re covered up so well, so why are you still allergic?”
Yu Cai blinked. It was only now that he realized his allergies broke out again.
No wonder his face felt hot just now.
Su Tian pursed her lips.
The light was dim, so she thought she was mistaken, but she didn’t expect to have seen correctly.
She grabbed the roses in his hand and tossed them to Ren Zhenglin.
Ren Zhenglin fumblingly caught the huge bouquet in his arms.
Su Tian whispered to him: “It should be a pollen allergy. Throw the roses away.”
Ren Zhenglin: “…” !
He finally remembered that his cheap cousin was allergic to not just UV rays, but also pollen.
He cursed again, hurriedly swept away the roses in his arms, and threw them into the nearby trash can.
Zhang Yingni understood the situation and quickly did the same, throwing away the rose in her hand.
Yu Cai continued to smile with curved brows, his beautiful thoughts unknown to others.
Su Tian was a little angry and pulled his sleeve back down. The sun hadn’t set yet, so she couldn’t let him get exposed to UV light.
“Don’t you know you’re allergic to pollen?”
“I know.”
Yu Cai obediently answered.
Su Tian was even angrier. “You knew and you still bought so many roses?”
The youth looked at the girl standing in front of him.
The tiny red dots began to creep up the exposed skin on his face, creating a rather frightening sight.
Yet those eyes still held a profound smile that was clean, clear, and pure.
“I wanted to give them to you…”
He said: “What others can give you, I want to, too.”
Even if he had allergies, he still wanted to give her roses, just like other people.
[1] Harmonious = censored
[2] 表哥: older male maternal cousin
[3] 一表三千里: lit. a maternal [family member], three thousand miles. It compares one’s level of intimacy and closeness with the maternal side of the family with distance. The idea is that you are considered to be part of your father’s side of the family, and the mother’s side is considered foreign/outside relatives. Therefore, you would be closer to your paternal family members than you would with your maternal side. This was more relevant back in ancient times, when women would rarely go back to visit their maiden families after marriage. Thus, you’d have fewer opportunities to play and interact with your maternal side of the family, while you’d be more likely to meet and see your paternal relatives.
[5] 师徒四个: characters from the Chinese classic Journey to the West, comprised of the Tang monk Xuanzang, the master, and the three disciples Su Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing/Sha Heshang
Cheese: SUPER late my bad! got sucked into moonstone island and stardew valley
Cheese Translations 
Gracias por el cap
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Thank you for the chapter!
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