Softness

Hua Yu’s father and mother had probably brought over everything they’d given the family over the past month in one go, along with a pile of health supplements for the elderly.

Giving an old Chinese medicine doctor senior-citizen health products was certainly a strange move.

Hua Yu picked out a few things Wei Yin could eat and tossed them over. “Put them in the fridge. Add a little when you cook.”

Wei Yin picked them up one by one and studied the packaging carefully. “Why do I need to eat fish maw, sea cucumber, and reishi?”

“Because those three definitely won’t hurt you. The rest are just decoration, taking up space in your stomach,” Hua Yu said as she casually shoved the bird’s nest and caterpillar fungus into a cabinet. “Save those for gifts later.”

Wei Yin obediently did as she was told.

Half an hour later, after dealing with everything Hua Yu’s parents had brought, Wei Yin crouched in front of a pile of Chinese herbal medicine and stared at it blankly.

“You just need to soak it in hot water until it’s warm before you drink it,” Hua Yu said, crouching beside her and explaining in a gentle voice. “I’ve seen your prescription; it isn’t mild. The effects should be pretty noticeable. After you drink it, if you develop insomnia, diarrhea, or anything like that, tell me right away; we can reduce it to one packet a day.”

Wei Yin held up a red packet in her left hand and a brown packet in her right. “Is there any difference between these two?”

“Only the packaging. We don’t recommend taking two prescriptions during the same period.”

“Okay,” Wei Yin said. “I don’t understand.”

“Aren’t you a nursing major?” Hua Yu teased with a smile. “That’s basic medical knowledge.”

“My grades weren’t that good,” Wei Yin said, smiling back. “I’m not as well-read and knowledgeable as Dr. Hua.”

Hua Yu raised a brow. “Why does that sound like you’re making fun of me?”

“Wow, the thief crying thief.”

Hua Yu: ...?

Suppressing the embarrassment of being teased, Hua Yu patiently explained the properties of the ingredients and herbs to Wei Yin.

After all, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine were part of Wei Yin’s treatment plan from the beginning. Hua Yu didn’t want Wei Yin taking too many Western medicines, and she also didn’t approve of surgery.

Wei Yin’s foundation was actually pretty good to begin with; if she could stay stable, keep her glands from flaring up, and slowly build herself back up, she would improve little by little.

By the time she finished explaining everything, it was already late. Wei Yin didn’t let Hua Yu keep busy; she cleaned up the battlefield herself.

“Today the police called me,” Hua Yu said when Wei Yin was done, as something came to mind. “About Wang Yifan.”

Wang Yifan was their next-door neighbor, an omega with striking looks and a very feminine air.

Wei Yin listened carefully. “Mm?”

Hua Yu helped Wei Yin up and sat down beside her. After hesitating for a few seconds, she said, “The police hope we’ll reach a settlement with her. I asked around later; she has some connections behind her, and they’ve been hoping we can handle this privately.”

Wei Yin didn’t speak. After thinking for a while, she lowered her head. “Your business; you decide.”

The person Wang Yifan had really hurt was Hua Yu. Although she had, by a twist of fate, nearly put Wei Yin in danger that day, Wei Yin had ultimately been fine; she wasn’t the victim, so she had no standing to speak.

Besides, she had long since stopped building her own social connections. It was obvious enough that Wang Yifan probably had someone powerful backing her, someone who might even have ties to Hua Yu. For the sake of that connection, maybe a settlement really would be the best outcome for both sides.

Hua Yu thought for a moment and, instead of explaining how the police had tried to persuade her, brought up Wang Yifan herself. “I said before that I didn’t remember her, but after thinking it over carefully, she really did come looking for me several times. Most recently, she borrowed cooking utensils; last month, her place lost power and she asked whether my home had electricity. At the time, she was wearing pajamas—very thin ones, only covering down to her thighs. She looked pitiful and startled by the blackout, saying things like, ‘It’s so dark at home. I’ll wait in the hallway for the electrician to come.’”

Even Wei Yin could tell Wang Yifan was clearly trying to get Hua Yu to play the hero. Her mood turned sour. “If she were a normal person, she’d say, ‘Come wait at my place.’”

Wei Yin’s expression cooled. The corners of her mouth had soft little bits of flesh; whenever she pressed her lips together, they puffed up. Even when she was angry, she looked like a chubby little hamster pouting and acting coy.

The more Hua Yu looked, the more she wanted to laugh. “Exactly. The look on her face basically had your words written all over it.”

Wei Yin: TT

She didn’t want to hear Hua Yu talk about this. She stood up and walked toward the inner room.

“Where are you going?”

Wei Yin said, “To get my cup. I’m drinking my medicine.”

“I’m talking to you,” Hua Yu said as she came after her and took Wei Yin’s wrist. “You should at least hear me finish.”

Wei Yin said nobly and coolly, “I don’t want to hear about how all those omegas were drawn to your charm and how you moved among them and handled things.”

Though that might well have been the truth.

Wei Yin had carefully observed Hua Yu’s parents today. A daughter takes after her father, and Hua Yu had inherited Hua Father’s bone structure; from her skull down to her jawline, it was all so striking and sculpted.

Her features took more after her mother: delicate, refined, with an inner brilliance and a very lingering charm.

The kind of person who stood out instantly even if you tossed her into a crowd.

With that kind of appearance and temperament, plus a respectable job, not to mention a wealthy family background, it would be more normal for an alpha like that to be unavailable on the market.

If you ran into someone like that in daily life, and if by chance an omega happened to like Hua Yu’s type, there was no reason not to be tempted.

Thinking of this, Wei Yin felt a little down; but along with that feeling came a sense of calm acceptance.

“But that’s normal too. I won’t interfere in your affairs,” Wei Yin said very considerately. “I trust you can handle it well.”

This time, Hua Yu was the one left speechless.

Wei Yin frowned and added, “I just think that whether intentionally or not, if someone does something wrong, they should pay the price for it. From the time this happened until now, I haven’t seen her apologize once. Her attitude at the police station was also all innocence, like she didn’t think she’d done anything wrong at all. But I know my thinking is very naive; a lot of rules are only designed for people who behave themselves. If you see the rules and follow them, then you follow them. If you don’t follow them, maybe nothing happens in the end.”

Hua Yu understood this better than she did. After a few seconds of silence, she said softly, “Not all rules have corresponding enforcement measures. Once the cost of forcing someone to comply is greater than the effect the rule brings, people stop caring enough to enforce it, and they’ll turn a blind eye even if the rule isn’t followed.”

To use the smallest example from everyday life: when she went to work today, there was a shared bike parked in the parking spaces at the hospital entrance. A security guard was directing traffic ten steps away; when he saw it, he shouted at the person that shared bikes weren’t allowed there and told them to move it.

This happened twice in the three minutes Hua Yu spent on the phone. The first person glanced at the guard and kept walking as if nothing had happened. The guard couldn’t split himself in two, and he wasn’t going to chase after them just to force them to move the bike. The other person, who looked like a college student at a glance, obediently listened and took the long way around to park the bike elsewhere.

Though it was only a very, very small matter, once magnified to society at large, it became a social problem; and when it fell on specific people, it turned into obvious unfairness.

The same logic applied to Wang Yifan. She was probably the kind of person who was habitually selfish in daily life, centering everything on herself and always thinking first about what she wanted and what she could get. When something happened, she would only go find someone to pull strings for her and weigh things in terms of interests and bargaining; she didn’t know how to follow rules, and she had never paid any real price for anything.

Hua Yu smiled. “I called the housekeeper directly, and at the same time I told property management that their distinguished resident was currently facing the awkward situation of becoming homeless. I hoped they could show up as soon as possible and take her to the lounge, the property office, or one of the many cafes and milk tea shops in the community.”

Wei Yin listened to every word, eyes widening. “Oh, right.”

“Why would I take her in?” Hua Yu said. “She doesn’t look like a vulnerable group at all.”

Hua Yu lifted a hand, wanting very much to pat Wei Yin’s head, but remembering she’d been told not to, she lowered it again in midair. In a soft voice, she said, “I told you all this to explain the cause and effect. I don’t plan to reconcile.”

Wei Yin looked at Hua Yu quietly, then asked with concern, “Is it okay not to reconcile?”

“Of course.” Hua Yu laughed softly. Her tone didn’t change much; it was still confident, calm, and unconcerned, as light as the breeze. “Her little bit of connections isn’t enough to make me bow my head.”

Wei Yin was dazzled by her smile and asked softly, “Then what can make you bow your head?”

“Soft things,” Hua Yu said, looking down at her. “Things that are a little weaker, a little pitiful; things that are truly harmless, truly kind. I like seeing those who carry firewood for others not freeze to death in the wind and snow.”

There was an unabashed tenderness in Hua Yu’s gaze, the kind that made it hard not to sink into it.

Wei Yin lowered her head in a daze. “Oh.”

After thinking for a while, she brought over a notebook and held it up to Hua Yu. “I want to sketch out a gift for Uncle and Auntie. Do you want to help?”

Hua Yu said, “Sure.”

The two of them sat down and discussed the style of the ceramics on the sofa.

Hua Yu spotted a pot of tea on the table and drank some without thinking.

Wei Yin saw it, snatched away the cup and teapot, and went to the kitchen to replace them with fresh hot tea.

—

In the end, they decided to follow tradition. The tea cups would be decorated with the “plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum” motif, while the teapot would be “apricot” — apricot grove, just right for the old Chinese medicine doctor, and fitting for the occasion.

After that, they each returned to their rooms.

Hua Yu sent a message to an old friend asking whether she was resting.

The old friend called back immediately. “What’s up, Dr. Hua?”

Hua Yu laughed. “I remember someone in your family does kiln work. Can you get me a set of kiln-making equipment?”

The old friend asked, “Do you want a wood-fired kiln, a gas kiln, or an electric kiln?”

“I don’t understand any of that. Which one is the best?”

“A wood-fired kiln is the traditional method. The yield is low, but it’s easier to produce exceptional pieces; then again, maybe it only seems so exquisite because the defect rate is high. A gas kiln and an electric kiln don’t need much explanation; one uses liquefied gas, the other electric heating. Their temperature control is more precise than a wood-fired kiln, and the yield is higher.”

After hearing that, Hua Yu said in confusion, “That makes the wood-fired kiln sound completely useless.”

Her old friend burst out laughing. “Some inherited workshops would probably argue with you over that.”

“What are the advantages of wood firing?” Hua Yu asked.

Her old friend thought for a moment. “Sometimes the glaze color is warmer and more mellow, and the gloss doesn’t look flat. Gas and electric kilns can easily produce a thin, stiff, single-layer shine. But there isn’t much difference overall among wood, gas, and electric; the most important thing is the body, glaze, and painted decoration. A wood kiln needs more space and costs more. Where are you planning to fire it?”

“In the city; right next to where I live.”

“Then go with a gas kiln or an electric kiln,” her old friend said. “If your temperature control is good, use a gas kiln. If your temperature control isn’t great, use an electric kiln.”

Hua Yu remembered that Xu Ya Qing’s studio had a small electric kiln, and Wei Yin had used an electric kiln before, so they could try a gas kiln... and so she asked for one of each.

After hanging up, Hua Yu sent voice messages to her parents, telling them to clear out the small courtyard in the old district because she had a use for it.

—

In Wei Yin’s bedroom, she was also on the phone.

The other end was Guo Ai, who had just gotten off work and was walking while laughing. “She’s pretty famous. As soon as school started, she bought milk tea for the whole department, and her rides were always picked up by luxury cars; she got a lot of attention.”

Wei Yin frowned. “Besides buying milk tea, did she do anything else that made her famous?”

Guo Ai thought for a long time. “She has a Weibo account called Sweet and Cute, Not Confused. She has over a hundred thousand followers, so she counts as a somewhat famous influencer. People on the internet love gossip, so they were all curious about her love life. For a while there were rumors she had a secret lover, and she kept subtly showing off their relationship on Weibo every day, calling the other person ‘baby.’ Anyway, it was all pretty clingy and mushy. I can’t remember the details, but she’s in the same major as you, Senior Sister; don’t you remember her?”

Wei Yin twirled her phone strap and thought to herself that she had absolutely no memory of her.

“I’m asking you because of that,” Wei Yin said. “If someone mentions it, I’ll be curious too. We were in the same school, same year, even the same major; how come I don’t remember anything?”

Guo Ai laughed so hard she nearly doubled over. “If it were anyone else, that’d be weird, but for Senior Sister it’s totally normal. You really don’t care about this kind of gossip.”

“I know. Thanks,” Wei Yin said sincerely. “Then I won’t keep you from getting off work. Be careful on the way.”

Guo Ai said cheerfully, “Got it.”

After hanging up, Wei Yin started frantically digging through everything from her past.

Cloud storage, browsing history, likes and favorites; she even went through her Weibo with a fine-toothed comb.

She had to admit, all that digging really did turn up something.

She and this “Sweet and Cute, Not Confused” were actually mutual follows. The other person’s Weibo had been set to invisible half a year ago, and for the past six months there had only been a birthday post automatically reposted by the system.

But under her own Weibo posts, she found this person’s comments.

Wei Yin found a treasure shop, and the other person replied: [I’ll take you there to eat next time]

Wei Yin said someone was wearing a puffer jacket that reached their ankles, fluffy like an adorable bear, and the other person replied: [Got it; I’ll buy you one right away]

Wei Yin photographed a child on the bus holding a lollipop bigger than their face, and the other person replied: [Do you like it? If you like it, you can have it]

The tone was pretty familiar, but there was always something indescribably odd about it.

Like they were constantly dangling an empty promise in front of her, deliberately acting close and protective.

If it were Wei Yin, she wouldn’t use that kind of wording to express the same meaning.

She would say, “We can go eat there next time,” “You can be like a bear too,” or “If you like it, buy it.”

This person was really strange; greasy and oily in a way that was hard to describe.