The surroundings were noisy, plates and cups clinking, drinking games rising one after another.

The storage room, however, was quiet. Inside and outside the door, the two of them looked at each other.

After a long moment, Zhou Ya looked at her like she was a fool: “So you actually knew I was good to you? I thought you were just a heartless little ‘white-eyed wolf,’ completely thoughtless all day long.”

He admitted it generously: “We’re siblings after all, being good to you is only right. I promised my mom I’d take care of you.”

Fang Long actually regretted the question the moment it left her mouth.

Look at what kind of question she’d asked?

Zhou Ya’s answer felt reasonable and normal to her, but for some reason, her heart inexplicably ached a little.

As if she’d become an apple on a fruit stand, secretly pinched by someone passing by.

She laughed dryly twice: “Haha, I was just joking, why are you answering so seriously?”

After saying that, she found an excuse and left the storage room.

Fang Long didn’t look back, so she never saw that the moment she turned away, the slight upward curve at the corner of Zhou Ya’s mouth immediately fell flat.

Dark clouds surged in, extinguishing all the light in his eyes.

That night, Zhou Ya deliberately set aside some of the pork stomach soup, and after closing the shop, cooked a pot of rice noodle soup as the staff meal. Fang Long stayed behind too and got a small bowl.

Upon learning that Fang Long was recently job-hunting, A’Feng slapped his thigh: “Isn’t this perfect? We’re short-handed, and you need a job, ancestor—come work at the shop, and let Brother Ya pay you a wage!”

The other staff agreed too, chiming in one after another.

“I thought you were some pampered young lady who’d never touched dishwater, didn’t expect you to be so capable.”

“Yeah, you’re pretty good at handling customers too. A girl in this line of work needs thick skin, and you’ve got it—not easy for customers to lead you around.”

“And you’re hardworking, not afraid of getting dirty. Might as well really come work here—with your brother watching over you, no one would dare bully you either.”

The men chattered on and on. Zhou Ya rapped the table hard a few times, thick brows furrowed: “A bunch of grown men, why are you all so chatty? Hurry up and finish eating so we can close up.”

A’Feng reminded Zhou Ya: “More and more people are coming back to town going forward, business will only get better. We definitely won’t be able to hire anyone on short notice, and even if we hire someone new, we’ll have to spend time training them. I think Ancestor’s pretty capable—at least she knows all the dishes. Even if we just have her handle serving and taking orders, I bet she’d be fine.”

Zhou Ya grabbed a handful of freshly fried peanuts and chewed slowly: “Our little temple can’t afford to house a great Buddha.”

Fang Long had stayed mostly quiet, calculating carefully in her little head, then suddenly asked: “So how much is the pay?”

A’Feng’s eyes lit up, hastily saying: “Like Xiaomei’s rate—two thousand a month, meals included, closed Mondays.”

Fang Long blinked, not expecting a food stall server’s wages to be that much higher than what she’d made at the supermarket.

“During long holidays you only get a day or two off, but the pay doubles!” A’Feng continued his pitch, then suddenly got kicked in the knee, the pain nearly making him spray out everything in his mouth.

Zhou Ya glared coldly at him: “Full already? If you’re full, go wash the floor.”

“I can come work at the shop.” Fang Long smiled, her cute little canine tooth showing. “I’m definitely not finding a job before New Year anyway, so I’ll come help you all get through this tough patch.”

One of her life principles was: never turn away money.

Having a job, having money—that’s what gave her a sense of security.

Zhou Ya tossed the last peanut into his mouth and said bluntly: “Isn’t that backwards? With you in the shop, that might be the tough patch.”

Fang Long, sitting next to Zhou Ya, gave him an elbow out of habit and said irritably: “Zhou Ya, have you been frying with too much lard that it’s clouded your eyes? Ask everyone here how I did tonight. Even if it’s not a hundred, I could get an eighty, right?”

A’Feng nodded readily: “Eighty’s too low, she could get ninety-nine.”

Fang Long smiled: “Where’d that one point go?”

A’Feng said: “Afraid you’d get conceited!”

“Hahahahaha—”

Everyone laughed, only Zhou Ya looked sour.

Seeing him sulking, Fang Long raised her elbow and bumped him again, teasing: “So what do you say, Boss Zhou? Rare chance—this little Buddha doesn’t mind your small temple. Hire me, won’t you? Guaranteed profit, no loss.”

Zhou Ya neither agreed nor disagreed. He brushed the salt grains off his hands and stood up with a loud clatter.

“Suit yourself,” he muttered.

And so Fang Long energetically “started the job.”

Ma Huimin was quite in favor of her helping out at the food stall: “Good, working at your own family’s shop, you won’t have to keep watching other people’s faces!”

Fang Long glanced at Zhou Ya, pursing her lips: “That’s not necessarily true…”

Zhou Ya’s eyes slanted over, asking flatly: “What do you mean by that?”

“Heh.” Fang Long gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “No meaning at all, don’t overthink it.”

Ma Huimin instructed Zhou Ya: “Take good care of Long Long, don’t let her get too tired or work too hard. Just having her do the evening shift is enough, don’t have her staying up with you until one or two in the morning.”

Zhou Ya scoffed, self-mocking: “Why do I feel like I’m the one dropping a rock on my own foot here?”

Fang Long, however, wasn’t afraid of exhaustion or hardship, as long as Zhou Ya paid her fully.

Because Zhang Xiuqin had taken a few days off sick, Fang Long had been a bit busy the past few days. Some people who heard the food stall had a pretty new girl even came specially to eat there.

A’Feng would always pop up at the right moment to remind customers that this pretty girl was the boss’s family member.

Knowing this relationship existed, everyone was a bit more polite when joking around, not steering things anywhere inappropriate.

Then one night, Fang Long got a call from the boutique’s owner, who apologized to her.

Fang Long was somewhat surprised. The owner said that the whole thing with Sister Ying had been a big misunderstanding—the storage locker in the break room had been used for too long, there was a gap in the shelf lining, and the gold chain had gotten stuck in an inconspicuous corner.

But the owner didn’t ask whether she still wanted to return to work at the boutique, only told her to find a time to come by and settle that week’s wages.

Fang Long understood without needing to ask further. The next day during the daytime she went to collect the two hundred yuan owed and said goodbye to the owner.

As for the other coworkers, Fang Long didn’t even glance at them, walking straight out of the boutique.

When Zhang Xiuqin recovered and came back to work, she was quite shocked to see Fang Long there.

After the dinner rush passed, she found a lull and walked over to Zhou Ya while he was smoking by the counter, saying that her cousin back home had just graduated from vocational school and wanted to come to Anzhen to rely on her for support.

“Originally, after Xiaomei left, I wanted to have my cousin come try it out, but I didn’t expect…”

Zhang Xiuqin glanced back—Fang Long was sitting with A’Feng, the two of them looking at a magazine together, occasionally talking loudly, laughing softly.

She looked away and continued: “I didn’t expect Fang Long to come help out at the shop. The front-of-house work isn’t simple—can she really handle it?”

Zhou Ya looked at the streetlight across the road and said concisely: “She’s doing fine, hasn’t slowed things down.”

Zhang Xiuqin choked slightly, the smile at the corners of her mouth stiffening a bit: “But she’s probably only helping out for this stretch of time, she can’t do it long-term, right?”

Zhou Ya’s voice was low and hoarse: “Don’t know.”

Behind them, the two were laughing and giggling again. Zhou Ya felt a flicker of irritation, biting on his cigarette, muttering something unclear: “What’s so funny.”

Zhang Xiuqin didn’t catch it: “What?”

Zhou Ya took a long drag, exhaled the smoke, and then said: “After the New Year, have your cousin come try it out. If she’s suitable, she can stay.”

Zhang Xiuqin’s eyebrows lifted, nodding happily.

Over there, Fang Long’s attention kept getting drawn to the man and woman not far off.

Fang Long couldn’t hear what Zhou Ya and Zhang Xiuqin were talking about, she just felt like they were standing very close, their backs gently wrapped in warm yellow light, looking rather cozy.

The man broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, the woman slender and graceful, standing together, they actually looked quite like a couple…

A’Feng noticed her gaze and followed it, suddenly saying: “Speaking of which, maybe in the future you’ll have to call Sister Xiuqin ‘sister-in-law.'”

Fang Long sucked in a cold breath, her eyes going wide and round, her voice lowered but tone excited: “She—her and Zhou Ya?!”

A’Feng grinned, wiggling his eyebrows: “Sister Xiuqin likes your brother, everyone knows it. Though your brother hasn’t said it outright, I feel like it’s only a matter of time.”

Fang Long unconsciously let out a breath of relief, shooting A’Feng a sharp glance: “Don’t spread rumors, okay?”

“Don’t wrong me, this isn’t a ‘rumor,’ this is a ‘prediction.'” A’Feng rubbed his index finger and thumb together, making a money-counting gesture. “How about we make a bet?”

“Bet on what?”

“Bet on whether you’ll end up calling Sister Xiuqin ‘sister-in-law’ or not.”

Fang Long’s chest felt swollen and tight, stuffy, as if it were packed with a few stones.

She didn’t want to continue the topic, tossing out “Bet your big-headed ghost” before getting up to go back to work.

Within a few days, Fang Long had already gotten used to the food stall’s fiddly, endless work, and got along well with the staff there.

Occasionally there’d be a slightly difficult customer, but she could deflect them with ease.

What she looked forward to most every day were the two staff meals at night, generously abundant to an outrageous degree—especially the one before the dinner rush, six dishes and a soup, with fish and meat, and occasionally even lobster and abalone.

Eating, Fang Long thought to herself—could Zhou Ya really be making money doing this?

She rode a motorbike to work, and so did Zhou Ya. After closing the shop, the two of them took the same road home.

Usually she rode in front, Zhou Ya following behind.

In the rearview mirror, she could always see Zhou Ya’s motorbike headlight, and the flickering crimson spark in the dark night.

The light was very bright, like a lighthouse across the sea.