CH 4

“Door is open.”

Si… smart lock still says the same thing.

It’s mechanical, but it dutifully welcomes her. On countless nights when she returned home alone.

Su Chang chose this lock back then. At the time, Yu Zhou wanted a Xiao-Mi brand, which was cheap and advertised as versatile. Su Chang disagreed and chose an obscure brand with little product information on Taobao, which was surprisingly expensive and difficult to find repair services for when it broke down.

Plus, it didn’t have any other skills besides opening and closing the door, unlike the Xiao-Mi, which had an electronic doorbell and alarm.

She wondered if the Xiao-Mi could detect Xiang Wan and transmit the information to herself in time?

Thinking of Xiang Wan, Yu Zhou glanced inside from the entrance. She was still sitting at the dining table, looking down at her iPad.

The young miss didn’t have the habit of greeting people, and was probably still thinking about how she got close to her without alerting her. It was really unmannerly.

Yu Zhou picked up the Wan wan that ran to her and changed her shoes to go inside.

Xiang Wan looked up and smiled, “You’re back.”

So familiar, Yu Zhou smiled, feeling that Xiang Wan was like at her own home.

The second sentence was, “How much silver did you pawn?”

When Xiang Wan inquired about the whereabouts of this hairpin in the morning, she said she would sell it to an antique shop. Then Xiang Wan asked what happened after she sold it, she said it would be displayed in the antique shop window. Xiang Wan asked if she could redeem it.

Of course, if you have money, Yu Zhou said.

Xiang Wan thought for a moment and said, “This hairpin is not easily bought by ordinary people. I’ll treat it as if you pawn it and redeem it later when I have enough silver.”

Yu Zhou didn’t care how she thought about it, and of course, she didn’t think Xiang Wan would become wealthy in 2022.

She took out the jade hairpin and returned it to Xiang Wan.

When asked how to obtain a certificate for Xiang Wan, she suddenly realized that she had fully accepted Xiang Wan’s story and didn’t need to use the jade hairpin to verify it.

Xiang Wan was taken aback and took it, “Why didn’t you pawn it?”

“Well,” Yu sighed and sat down next to her, “There was a store that offered a sky-high price, and they could transfer to me at once. At the moment I handed it over, I thought, these things are your only thoughts in modern times, selling one means you have one less, I couldn’t bear it.”

Xiang Wan was indeed very moved. She looked at the hairpin and then at Yu Zhou, “You’re right. If I can’t go back, these clothes and beads will be the only relics left by my parents.”

“Yes,” Yu Zhou sighed, “The hairpin is valuable, but kinship is priceless. Keep it and remember the favor you owe me.”

Speaking without thinking, scribbling with just a pen, was also a professional skill.

“I’ll remember.” Xiang Wan said seriously. She wanted to put the white jade hairpin into her sleeve, but found that the sleeve was different, so she raised her hand and took a tissue, carefully placing the hairpin on it.

“Oh, you know how to use tissues.” Yu praised her.

With her head tilted to one side, Xiang Wan covered her slight pride with humility, “After seeing it twice, I understood it.”

“Keep up the good work,” Yu Zhou applauded.

Xiang Wan continued reading without saying a word, while Yu Zhou folded her hands on the table, feeling a bit bored. She took out her phone and checked the time – it was past 11 o’clock. Ordering takeout now would be just in time.

“What do you want for lunch?” She quickly opened the takeout app and started scrolling.

“Whatever you decide.”

“Then let’s have wontons. They should have had them in ancient times, anyway they are in martial arts dramas.” Yu Zhou muttered to herself as she claimed a red envelope and placed the order.

As she put her phone down, she cleared her throat suddenly. “Um…”

“Yes?” Xiang Wan looked up.

“I want to talk to you about the issue of food expenses.”

“Food expenses?”

“Yeah, I know you don’t have to pay for it at home, but now that you’ve entered society, uh, become an independent person, it’s different. I can treat you to one meal or two, no problem, but if you stay for a long time, I’ll have some difficulties. I just quit my job… uh, that is, I’m unemployed, ugh… idle at home, you know? No income.”

As she spoke the last few sentences, she exaggerated her mouth movements, only realizing after she finished that Xiang Wan was just a person from ancient times and not deaf.

After watching too much “Ace VS Ace”, she thought Xiang Wan was wearing earphones and communicating with her through gestures.

“I understand.” Xiang Wan pondered for a moment and nodded.

“Why did you resign from your job and when are you going to find a new one?” She asked sincerely.

“I didn’t resign… I mean, I’m not an official or anything, just an ordinary worker. I quit because the job was too boring. As for when I’ll find a new one…” Yu Zhou furrowed her brows. “I haven’t decided yet. I can’t stick to any job for long, you know. The previous job didn’t last very long either. Actually, my abilities are quite good, but I’m just lazy…”

She stopped and sat up straight. “Why am I telling you this? It’s not about when I’ll work, it’s about your food expenses. You need to give me money, silver, do you understand?”

Xiang Wan lowered her head and glanced at her hairpin. “I could have given you silver, but you didn’t pawn it.”

Fine, returning to square one.

Yu Zhou tried to persuade her, “You can’t rely on your parents’ things. You have hands and feet, you should support yourself, work and earn money, and then give me food expenses.”

“I can’t work.” Xiang Wan shook her head.

“Why not?”

“I don’t have a healthy horse.”

Yu Zhou took a deep breath and realized that was true. Health codes, ID cards – she couldn’t go anywhere.

Her ear suddenly itched, and she raised her hand to scratch it, licking her lips. “Don’t worry, don’t worry.”

She glanced at Xiang Wan’s calm eyes and felt that she was the one who was anxious, not Xiang Wan. 

“Wait a minute, I’ll find you some work that you can do at home.”

“Okay.”

“How about writing? I can use my mom’s ID to register an account for you.”

“Your mom? “Xiang Wan didn’t know what an ID was, but she could guess it roughly. She shook her head. “It’s ghostwriting.”

“What ghostwriting? We use pen names when we write now. As long as the pen name is yours, that’s you!”

Xiang Wan remained silent and looked at her meaningfully.

“Okay, okay, let’s discuss it later. Besides, you don’t know how to use a computer.”

After a long conversation, she was exhausted and slumped over the dining table, too lazy to even get the takeout.

After finishing the wontons with a dejected expression, she lay on the chair and pondered about life.

She always felt that the heavens had sent Xiang Wan to her own home for a reason. Was there no quest, no opportunity, just for her to eat and drink for free?

She couldn’t even leave the house.

“Eat more,” she glanced at Xiang Wan, who was earnestly scooping the wontons. “We have a big challenge later.”

“What challenge?” Xiang Wan took a sip of soup and looked up at her.

Yu Zhou glanced at the TV and smiled slyly.

According to time-travel novels, when people from the past come to the present and see real-life people and scenes on TV for the first time, they are shocked and overwhelmed, like a mouse encountering a cat. She really wanted to witness it.

However, after sitting on the sofa with Xiang Wan for a while, she only looked at the screen with wide-eyed wonder like a little deer. She furrowed her brows and scanned the screen up and down a few times, shifted her position slightly, and then followed Yu Zhou’s example, focusing intently on the TV.

“Aren’t you afraid?” Yu Zhou put down the remote. “The people inside can move!”

Xiang Wan looked at Yu Zhou, who was making faces and scaring her, and nodded. “Yes, it’s so scary.”

“You’re lying,” Yu Zhou frowned. “You’re not scared at all.”

“Why am I not scared?” Xiang Wan refused to admit defeat.

“Because you put your black chicken aside when you talked to me last night, and the people in the black box have been moving. So many little people!”

“Mobile phone?” Yu Zhou glanced at it. It seemed like it was automatically playing Weibo short videos last night.

“Uh…” she changed her tone. “Aren’t you curious?”

“I should say that these black boxes are soul-catching monsters. Which demon art did the girl practice?” Xiang Wan furrowed her brows.

Hmmm… Yu Zhou was taken aback, “That’s a very standard line, who did you learn it from?”

“You gave me the book.”

“Which book?” She had randomly downloaded a few and couldn’t quite remember.

“‘Damn it! How should I behave in modern society after time-traveling!'”

……

Yu Zhou waved her hand and slumped onto the sofa with a heart as lifeless as ashes, continuing to watch the drama “New Home Pledge”.

As she watched, she began to habitually explain things to the person next to her, “This person is Yang Guang, I’ll tell you, since the first episode of this show, he’s been losing money…”

As she spoke, she wondered where this habit of explaining things came from.

After thinking for a moment, she realized it was from her mother.

When her mother watched “Unforgettable Love”, she would explain hundreds of episodes to her like this.

Xiang Wan listened attentively, nodding in response without really understanding.

After watching for about half an hour, her phone vibrated again.

F’s WeChat message, a WAV file.

“Ms.Yu, hurry up and listen to Ms.Su’s audition!”

One second later, another message: “Soooo Charming.”

Plus a blushing face emoji running in circles.

Yu Zhou looked up, the file name was “Shrine_ShenBai_SuChang.”

“Shrine” was the name of a novel, Shen Bai was a character, and Su Chang was… her ex-girlfriend’s name.

If this had happened in a novel, it would definitely be very dramatic and sensational.

But it happened in reality. Yu Zhou opened the file and, yeah, it still felt very dramatic and sensational.

A 20-second audio file, Yu Zhou turned up the volume on the side of her phone to the maximum, and three seconds later, a familiar voice came through the earpiece.

“The shrine doesn’t contain gods or Buddhas, but rather human greed…”

Someone once said that God is actually very cute, and he often gives gifts to people. The things wrapped in gift boxes are called talents. He probably gave all the gifts to Su Chang’s voice.

There was no voice in the world like Su Chang’s. Clear and noble, with a slightly husky texture. Even the pauses in her breathing were moderate temptation to make your heart race, yet you dared not indulge.

Some people stand at the top of human relationships. They don’t need a pretty face or extraordinary talent, just a voice alone.

And Su Chang, not to mention having a pretty face and extraordinary talent.

Deserving of admiration.

Yu Zhou slid her finger and closed the file, and replied to F’s message, “I think it’s great~”

“Is it Su #1 enough?” F had been waiting for a long time.

“Very Su, very suitable.”

Of course it was suitable. When she serialized that article, Su Chang sat next to her, sometimes processing files, sometimes listening to music.

Yu Zhou’s article didn’t have a prototype, but in the few glances she had stolen at Su Chang, the characters she typed might have had the shadow of her love.

It couldn’t be more suitable.