Chapter 7

 Bai Xunyin couldn't figure out what Yu Luoyin meant by the note he had written to her.

He said he wanted her to "repay" him, but the summer vacation had already started... Did she have to wait until the new school term to return this favor?

The feeling of owing someone made Bai Xunyin very uncomfortable and at a loss.

Unconsciously, she would think about Yu Luoyin, and this thinking was quite literal—it was about how to repay him.

What Bai Xunyin didn't expect was that she would encounter Yu Luoyin very soon, even before the start of the new school term.

This matter needs to start with Amo.

This person officially returned to Linlan from the neighboring city, just like a local tyrant returning to his own territory, relaxed and comfortable, spending all day dragging Bai Xunyin around for fun and leisure—without any pressure or self-awareness as a prospective senior high school student.

Basically, during the day, she would drag Bai Xunyin out to accompany her for random fun, and in the evenings, she would go to Bai Xunyin's house to mooch off their meals.

Ji Huiying cooks delicious food. Amo used to come to their house every day to mooch off meals, and after more than a year away in the neighboring city, she was even more eager to.

So these days, Ji Huiying varied her cooking styles every day to entertain her, and her smile grew noticeably brighter.

Bai Xunyin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, feeling a mixture of sourness and bitterness in her heart.

Ever since the "accident" two years ago, the house had become very quiet—no father Bai Hongsheng's voice, no her voice... In reality, Ji Huiying must have been very lonely.

Amo's return brought a lively atmosphere back, and it also provided some comfort for Ji Huiying.

But this girl was just too clingy. Right after finishing lunch, her eyes were rolling around as she smiled and pleaded with Ji Huiying, "Auntie Yingying, can you let Yin Yin accompany me to the amusement park this afternoon? They say Linlan has opened a large new amusement park, and I haven't been there!"

... They had been playing for nearly a week!

Bai Xunyin was greatly troubled, pressing her temples with slender fingers. She was just about to refuse Amo when Ji Huiying stopped her.

"Sure, go ahead." She smiled and picked up her bag. "Yinyin, I'm going to the hospital to see your dad in a while, so you can go out with Amo."

Bai Xunyin was stunned, looking at Ji Huiying's gentle eyes, she slowly nodded.

After Ji Huiying left with her bag, the room fell into a quiet state. Only then did Amo put her arm around Bai Xunyin's shoulder and quietly asked, "Yinyin, how's Uncle Bai doing... Is he still not getting any better?"

Two years ago, Bai Hongsheng fell from the seventh-floor terrace due to an "accident." He was lucky not to have died, but since then, he had become a vegetative patient, surviving daily in the hospital bed relying on medical instruments for hydration.

Doctors said he might wake up, or he might never wake up again.

Bai Xunyin visited Bai Hongsheng twice a week. Each time she saw her father's increasingly emaciated and pale body, her heart would ache as if it had been squeezed.

By the time she reached her second year of high school, Ji Huiying wouldn't let her go anymore—Bai Xunyin knew she was afraid of affecting her studies, so she went alone every day to take care of Bai Hongsheng.

Day after day, every day.

Even Amo couldn't help but sigh, "Auntie is really devoted to Uncle."

Yes, they should have been immortal lovers, harmonious and happy for a lifetime, just like in the first ten years... It's all because...

"Yinyin, don't think about it." Amo's voice interrupted Bai Xunyin's reverie. She reached out and turned Bai Xunyin's head, her big eyes blinking playfully. "Let's hurry up and go to the amusement park. It'll be too late if we wait any longer!"

Bai Xunyin frowned and picked up a pen to write on a piece of paper: [What exactly are you up to, Ningshu Mo?]

Clearly, just the day before yesterday, she had accompanied her to the new amusement park that had just opened. Yet this girl claimed she hadn't been there, and now she was making it all mysterious...

"Oh, I have a brilliant plan." Unable to hold back, Amo laughed. Her eyes were mischievous as she asked Bai Xunyin, "Didn't you say you wanted to find a part-time job to earn some money during the summer vacation? Let me tell you, I have a way!"

Bai Xunyin was taken aback: [What kind of plan do you have?]

The long-term hospital expenses for Bai Hongsheng had gradually emptied the originally affluent Bai family's savings. Although they were not yet destitute, Ji Huiying was just an ordinary public servant with limited income.

Bai Xunyin always wanted to plan ahead and earn some money while she had the time.

However, her disability made it difficult for her to find even the most basic jobs such as working at a milk tea shop or a internet café. How could Amo have a way?

"You silly goose." Amo seemed to be confident, smiling warmly as she asked, "Do you know that now you can set up a stall without paying a stall fee?"

...???

"So." Amo decisively declared, "I've decided, let's set up a stall!"

Amo had always been impulsive, and as soon as she finished speaking, she dragged Bai Xunyin outside.

This girl somehow managed to get hold of a car, and she had her cousin help drive. In the trunk of the car were already prepared stall supplies—a pile of dolls and small trinkets, clearly meant for a ring-toss game.

Bai Xunyin thought Amo was just talking, but she hadn't expected her to be so prepared.

But could they really just set up a stall so spontaneously?

She quickly grabbed the enthusiastic Amo and typed on her phone: [Tell me about your plan.]

"No worries, we'll definitely make money!" Amo laughed heartily and introduced her "treasures" in the trunk to Bai Xunyin, "I've got five hundred light-weight rings here, guaranteed they won't catch anything. Think about it, one yuan for ten rings, and they're recyclable too. Making money will be a piece of cake!"

...

But Bai Xunyin felt that doing business might not be as simple as Amo made it sound.

She couldn't help asking, [What if all the items get caught?]

"How could that happen!" Amo widened her eyes and assured Bai Xunyin, "These rings are very light. We'll set up the stuff a bit far away, who could catch them? Besides, I spent less than two hundred buying all this junk. Don't worry, it's definitely a profitable deal."

Amo came from an affluent family, the kind who wouldn't mind losing money.

Ever since street vending became legal recently, she found it "fun," and making money through business was just a pretext—she was in it for the thrill.

After saying that, Amo ignored Bai Xunyin's worries and eagerly pushed her into the back seat of the car.

On the way, she continued to affirm herself, "I bought more than fifty types of stuff, all bulky things. Who could possibly catch all of them? If someone does, I'll call them my brother!"

...

However, Amo didn't expect that there would indeed be such a "talented" person.

Amo's cousin drove the two girls to the amusement park where they set up their stall, then left after helping them haphazardly arrange their things.

It was the first time for these two girls to "do business," and they felt a bit at a loss—they stood next to their stall amidst the hustle and bustle of people, not knowing what to do at all.

Should they shout out? But it felt a bit awkward to shout.

"Yinyin," Amo's face turned red as she grabbed Bai Xunyin's hand for help, "What should we say?"

Bai Xunyin had no idea.

She couldn't help but feel amused and exasperated by Amo's impulsive actions followed by cold feet.

But they couldn't waste the items and rings they had bought.

After thinking for a moment, Bai Xunyin stepped forward and picked up two rings, shaking them around. Since she couldn't speak, she used body language to "call out."

Seeing this, Amo hurried over to help shake as well.

In a mosquito-like soft voice that emerged from the gap in her throat: "Ring toss... one yuan for ten rings..."

Under the scorching sun, the two slender and delicate girls with fair and slender limbs exposed in short sleeves and skirts stood among the crowd, attracting more attention than the ring toss game itself.

Before long, some boys actually came over to buy rings.

However, while the game was fake, the conversation was real.

Amo took the money with a smile on her face, and being naturally good with words, handling those boys was no problem at all.

But Bai Xunyin felt extremely uncomfortable.

She hated dealing with others, especially unfamiliar men. Their proximity felt like hot, sticky air, making her restless and suffocated.

Until a sudden and abrupt shout broke her anxious state—

"Bai Xunyin!?"

"Is that Bai Xunyin!?" The surprised and delighted voice belonged to a boy. Bai Xunyin paused, somewhat surprised, and turned to see Lu Ye's face, which revealed two small tiger teeth when he smiled.

And behind him... Bai Xunyin immediately noticed Yu Luoyin among the group.

What a coincidence, and what bad luck.

Yu Luoyin was dressed casually in a linen-colored T-shirt and beige pants, simple yet stylish. His presence seemed to cool the air around him wherever he stood.

But this made Bai Xunyin feel a bit awkward.

She didn't want to encounter familiar faces while feeling so lost at this impromptu stall. Although she wasn't close to these people, the only one she could really talk to was Lu Ye right in front of her.

Bai Xunyin took a deep breath and calmly smiled at Lu Ye, treating it as a greeting.

At this moment, Amo finally managed to break free from the two men who were bothering her and hurried over to Bai Xunyin's side, eyeing Lu Ye vigilantly. "Yinyin, do you know him?"

Bai Xunyin nodded. Stray strands of hair near her cheek fluttered lightly with her movements, making her already delicate appearance even more gentle.

Yu Luoyin watched from a distance and suddenly felt a bit restless.

"Bai Xunyin, what are you all doing here..." Lu Ye glanced around at the stall, hesitating. "Setting up a stall?"

"Yes, what's wrong with that?" Amo frowned slightly at Lu Ye's expression, raising an eyebrow in place of Bai Xunyin's response. "Can't we earn money on our own?"

...

Why is this girl so fierce? Lu Ye looked at Amo, who had an extraordinary presence and a clear and refined face, feeling speechless.

"Lu Ye." Yu Luoyin walked out from the crowd to stand next to Lu Ye, directly across from Bai Xunyin. He lowered his gaze slightly, his eyes fixed on the girl, but his teasing words were directed at Lu Ye beside him. "Meeting classmates doing business, isn't it polite to show some support?"

Bai Xunyin was sensitive to others' gazes and naturally noticed Yu Luoyin looking at her again.

But she didn't dare meet his dark-as-ink eyes and instead lowered her head to look at her toes as if she didn't care about whatever they were saying.

However, with Yu Luoyin's remark, Lu Ye immediately understood what Yu Luoyin intended to do. He smiled and turned to Amo beside him. "Beautiful lady, we'll take a hundred rings."

Supporting classmates was a must.

"A hundred?" Amo's eyes lit up. Without counting, she grabbed a handful of rings and handed them to Lu Ye. "Ten yuan!"

After Lu Ye bought the rings, he handed them to Yu Luoyin, who smiled as he accepted them amidst Bai Xunyin's slightly stunned gaze.

Then he leisurely walked up to the stall.

"Really? Yu Ge wants to play ring toss?" Li Yuan chuckled when he saw it, looking at Bai Xunyin sympathetically. "Why bully a little mute girl?"

Yu Luoyin had such precision in shooting at the shooting club, yet here he was... playing ring toss?

Wasn't this underusing his talents?

Was he teasing her? Was he?

"Li Yuan." A girl who came to play with them asked curiously upon seeing Bai Xunyin and Amo, "Who are those two girls? Why is Yu Ge talking to them?"

"Tsk." Li Yuan glanced at her, displeased. "Why do you care?"

The girl was taken aback by his retort and reluctantly closed her mouth, but her eyes kept drifting over there.

At the stall, a slender young man with long fingers and slender bones casually tossed rings, effortlessly landing them precisely on the items within the squares. Beside him stood a girl in a white short-sleeved skirt, her skin as fair as ivory, her clear eyes widening slightly as Yu Luoyin hit three in a row.

From a distance, both of them were astonishingly well-matched in height, build, temperament, and appearance.

Like... a perfect couple.

In less than ten minutes, all one hundred rings were used up, and everything on the stall was taken by Yu Luoyin.

Not only Bai Xunyin and Amo, but even the onlookers were stunned, except for Yu Luoyin's friends who had accompanied him, who weren't surprised at all.

This was really too much. Spending less than ten yuan, he managed to clear out everything these girls were selling.

"You!" Amo was about to go crazy. Just as she was about to say something, Bai Xunyin grabbed her arm—she held her tightly, shaking her head gently.

Even though he used the rings within the rules to take all their items, they couldn't afford to be angry.

It's just... not earning a cent, losing more than two hundred yuan, and having to help deliver these things to Yu Luoyin and his friends.

Bai Xunyin reluctantly pulled Amo along, running in and out of the stall several times, and finally moved about fifty items to Yu Luoyin's friends for them to take away.

Amo had bought dolls, combs, hairpins, and other miscellaneous items aimed at girls. A group of big men holding these items looked quite comical.

Yu Luoyin just watched from the side the whole time, a faint smile on his lips, showing no intention of helping.

Li Yuan and others who knew a bit about the situation were speechless. Each holding a pile of dolls, they gritted their teeth and asked, "Yu Ge, are you so keen on pursuing someone?"

To bully a young girl like this, wasn't this a bit too much?

Yu Luoyin glanced at Bai Xunyin's petite figure moving like a little soldier, his eyes full of deeper amusement.

They simply didn't understand the concept of "suppress first, then lift up."

Just like last time, moving tables and chairs in the rain. If Bai Xunyin didn't suffer a bit of loss first, how could she remember his kindness?

This girl might look gentle, but in reality, she was quite cold-hearted.

Since Yu Luoyin had decided to get close to her, Bai Xunyin would definitely remember the name "Yu Luoyin" deeply, engraved into her bones, unforgettable and painful.

And in the end, that's exactly what happened.

...............................................................................................................

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