When Yu Jiuqi arrived at Yu Kaixuan’s house dragging her suitcase, it was already past one in the morning. She had a key to Yu Kaixuan’s place and let herself in directly. Standing at the door, she could hear a set of continuous, undisturbed snoring sounds rising and falling from the master bedroom.

Without unpacking her luggage, she hastily washed her face and curled up on the sofa to sleep. Yu Kaixuan’s house was a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment with north-south ventilation. One room was specifically reserved for Xiao Jiu, but she rarely stayed there, so the bed and wardrobe were completely empty.

The wooden sofa was rather hard, so she didn’t sleep soundly. She woke up before dawn and quietly tiptoed out, stepping to the rhythm of the now-synchronized snoring from the master bedroom, heading to the morning market to buy breakfast.

Thanks to the recent explosion of tourism in Northeast China, combined with the promotion by various short video bloggers, even the morning market in a third-tier city like Shicheng was much livelier than before. But lively as it was, last night’s heavy snow had fallen for over four hours, and the temperature that had plummeted to more than twenty degrees below zero this morning was no joke.

Yu Jiuqi wrapped her long scarf around twice, covering her face, pulling it up to cover half an ear. She bypassed the long queues at the internet-famous bread and meat-egg burger stalls, heading straight inside to buy some small sticky bean buns wrapped in perilla leaves. Yu Kaixuan liked the yellow millet ones, Auntie Hong preferred the purple rice ones. The sticky bean bun vendor recognized Xiao Jiu as the girl from Wendu Water Pavilion’s family and specially gave her two white rice ones, saying if you dip them in white sugar, the white sticky rice ones are the most authentic.

Xiao Jiu pulled down her scarf, revealing a smile of extreme affability, and struck up a conversation with the vendor. Just in the time it took to pack a few sticky bean buns, through a few exchanges, she learned that the vendor had divorced last year and was raising two children alone—the eldest had just started middle school, the youngest recently had a cold. Although the morning market seemed busy now, her stall’s business had been stolen away because of its remote location.

Carrying half a bag of sticky bean buns in various colors, Yu Jiuqi walked into the breakfast shop with her head down and ordered a few freshly fried crispy oil sticks, packed three bowls of savory tofu pudding, specifically instructing that one bowl shouldn’t have cilantro, then carried the full breakfast back home through the snow.

As soon as she left the morning market, a brightness struck her face. Xiao Jiu looked up—the winter morning sunlight shone brilliantly through the buildings onto her face, like a favor from some mysterious realm, and her heart suddenly felt open and clear.

When she got home, Yu Kaixuan and Meng Huihong were already up. In the warmly heated room, a humidifier gently steamed. Xiao Jiu’s suitcase had been wiped clean and placed at her bedroom door. The room door was open, and inside, the bedding had been changed to fresh new sets.

The three of them tacitly didn’t say much, busying themselves with breakfast. Yu Jiuqi placed the bowl of tofu pudding without cilantro in front of Meng Huihong. Meng Huihong grabbed a handful of white sugar and sprinkled it on the sticky bean buns, eating while sizing up Xiao Jiu.

“Xiao Jiu’s hair has grown… Come find me after work today. It’s the end of the year, I’ll take you to get your hair done?”

Yu Jiuqi smiled cheerfully: “Auntie, I already have plans today.”

“With who?”

“From our bathhouse—Sister Xiao Man and Lingling and them.”

After saying this, Yu Jiuqi gulped down the rest of her tofu pudding in large mouthfuls, got up to leave, saying the bank had an early meeting today and she couldn’t be late. Meng Huihong straightened her back, about to say something, but was held back by Yu Kaixuan beside her, who was eating one sticky bean bun after another.

But as Yu Jiuqi changed shoes at the door, she still heard what Auntie Hong had held back. She complained quietly: “She’s going to clean up her mom’s mess again.”

Yu Kaixuan followed the sound of the hurried door closing, looking toward the empty doorway, suddenly finding the food in his mouth tasteless.

Yu Jiuqi didn’t agree with Meng Huihong’s assessment. She was indeed planning to deal with the aftermath of yesterday’s sordid incident, but she wasn’t cleaning up anyone’s mess. She admitted that in the past she’d taken on a lot of the trouble Wen Wen had caused, but this time was different—this time it involved Wendu Water Pavilion.

Decades of old-brand bathhouse reputation, combined with the publicity costs Yu Kaixuan had invested after his bold expansion, had made Wendu Water Pavilion go viral on both the local Douyin and Kuaishou communities. The locals gave it face, and it attracted quite a few tourists coming to check it in. For the past two years, it had consistently dominated first place on Shicheng’s bathing center rankings.

But there were risks too. Not to mention the new bathhouses with endless gimmicks constantly chasing from behind—the word-of-mouth publicity aspect wasn’t without risks either. In this era of short videos, everyone could be their own media. If something went wrong and caused public opinion backlash, even the oldest business could collapse overnight. This kind of thing happened not only in big cities and big companies but also frequently in small cities with small brands.

Although yesterday Yu Kaixuan had promptly cleared out the third floor and not many customers had witnessed the farce at the bathhouse owner’s family, there had been several employees besides family members in the chess room at the time. People’s words were to be feared—sometimes the gossip spreading from within could be even more damaging.

Therefore, she’d spent three days scheduling three meals to appease those several witnesses in batches.

The first day she met with front desk Sister Xiao Man and third-floor server Lingling. Yu Jiuqi had reserved a nail salon early on. After work, the three of them casually ate some spicy hot pot, then excitedly headed arm-in-arm to get their nails done.

Each girl chose a sparkly New Year’s design. Xiao Jiu, at Xiao Man’s urging, even got nail extensions twice her normal length.

After chattering about trending movies and entertainment gossip, the remaining time felt especially long. Fortunately, the intimate gathering atmosphere among the young ladies remained, so Yu Jiuqi brought up yesterday’s incident at an appropriate time.

She first said: “Thank goodness Sister Xiao Man contacted me yesterday. If I hadn’t gone over to explain, the misunderstanding between my mom and Auntie Hong would have gotten bigger and bigger. These two people, each one has a quicker temper than the other.”

Then she added: “As for that General Manager Fu, I’m not familiar with him at all. Auntie Hong mentioned him to me, and I’ve only seen him once from afar, but I could tell at first glance he and my mom are quite suitable. Haha, you know—my mom just likes that type of obedient and soft young handsome guy.”

Having said this much, the two employees understood completely and repeatedly chimed in: “Right, just a misunderstanding.”

Yu Jiuqi felt more relieved. When settling the bill, she deliberately mentioned: “My mom has credit here. She said she’s treating us.”

The second day she invited lobby manager Xu Ming and massage therapist Uncle Ma. Xu Ming had helped maintain order in the bathhouse, and Uncle Ma had been the main force in breaking up the fight. Yu Jiuqi specifically chose a barbecue restaurant to treat them, and before going, she gave each person a gift suited to their interests.

She knew Xu Ming had recently been worried about tourist souvenirs. Ever since various bathhouses started the souvenir gift war, he’d proposed several plans, all of which had been rejected by Yu Kaixuan because the budget was too high. The last time even provoked Brother Erkai to slam the table, ordering him to come up with a final plan within two days that was both locally characteristic and cost-effective.

Yu Jiuqi suddenly thought of the sticky bean bun vendor from the morning market—someone she’d only met once but already understood her life thoroughly. She went to talk to her, asking if she’d be willing to provide a batch of sticky bean buns to the bathhouse at wholesale prices during tourist season. After settling that, she went to find Xu Ming, saying nothing was more affordable and authentic as a souvenir than colorful, genuine Northeast sticky bean buns. “Think it over, Brother Xu,” she said.

As for massage therapist Uncle Ma, Yu Jiuqi had heard his wife’s gas station had closed down last month. Besides their mortgage, the family had to support two children and four elderly parents. He was worried and sighing all day long.

Yu Jiuqi specifically went to the dining department and asked around thoroughly, learning that the purchasing department happened to need someone. She discreetly and tentatively asked Uncle Ma if he’d mind joining Wendu Water Pavilion’s dual-employee workforce—she could mention it to Brother Erkai.

As a result, this meal at the barbecue restaurant was doubly effective.

Xu Ming was a shrewd person who’d followed Yu Kaixuan for many years. He saw through Xiao Jiu’s intention at a glance. Leading Uncle Ma, he toasted her with a drink, first saying very seriously: “Their argument spread somewhat, but I guarantee the specifics won’t get out!”

Then half-jokingly, half-seriously: “From now on, we’ll listen to Young Boss Yu. Point where you want us to strike.”

Yu Jiuqi blushed and smiled shyly: “What Young Boss Yu?”

“Isn’t that just a matter of time?”

When settling the bill, they pushed Xiao Jiu aside and argued red-faced for quite a while.

A day later, Yu Jiuqi had arranged both the tourist souvenirs and Uncle Ma’s wife’s job. That day, as soon as she walked into Wendu Water Pavilion, she was warmly welcomed. Up and down, she encountered more than a dozen employees—familiar faces and unfamiliar ones all proactively greeted her, and she refused no one, responding to each one.

She couldn’t help worrying about the reason, quietly asking Xiao Man: “What’s going on? Have I become this popular?”

Xiao Man said with a smile: “Yeah, everyone knows you’re the social bandit of Wendu Water Pavilion.”

Xiao Jiu lowered her head and pondered. She didn’t refute it, but if she really wanted to solidify this title of social bandit, she still needed to arrange one last meal.

Next, Yu Jiuqi separately arranged to meet her former blind date match and her mother’s current boyfriend—General Manager Fu.

Yu Jiuqi picked several dining places and sent them to General Manager Fu. Ultimately, he chose an inconspicuous cold noodle restaurant next to the train station. Xiao Jiu knew the couple who ran the cold noodle restaurant—they were both high school alumni several years her senior, a Korean couple surnamed Jin. When they got married, Xiao Jiu had even given them money as a gift.

This couple’s shop had no fame, the menu was simple and the taste was just average. Yu Jiuqi knew General Manager Fu chose this place precisely because there were few customers. After all, in these bitterly cold ninth-month winter days, not many people came to eat cold noodles—except for guilty people like them, of course.

General Manager Fu was fifteen minutes late. As soon as he came in, he politely apologized, took off his mask, scarf, and hat, and smiled rigidly at Yu Jiuqi. He wore a slim-fitting thick wool coat and was very thin. His official height was 176 centimeters, but Xiao Jiu roughly estimated his spiked-up hair and thick-soled leather shoes—if you ignored both top and bottom, you should probably remove the decimal point from that number.

“Have a seat. Are you eating anything? I only ordered cold noodles and side dishes,” Xiao Jiu said.

“That’s fine,” General Manager Fu said, taking off his shoes and sitting on the low heated platform.

This shop only had one low heated platform room. For conversation privacy, Yu Jiuqi had claimed this spot. As soon as General Manager Fu got on the platform, he slid the door shut. Inside became instantly quieter, and the atmosphere grew stagnant.

Yu Jiuqi wasn’t embarrassed at all. She watched with interest as General Manager Fu’s face showed some shyness and his eyes dodged, letting him fidget and agonize in place for quite a while before getting to the point.

“I don’t mean anything else. I just want to align our stories about what happened before. Is that okay with you?”

General Manager Fu gripped the ceramic cup of barley tea in his hands and nodded.

Xiao Jiu continued: “This is what I’ve told others—the two of us never officially went on a blind date, never had an appointment, no relationship whatsoever. I’ve made sure everyone on my end knows, so there won’t be any mistakes.”

“Okay.” He nodded hurriedly.

“So can you also make this clear to your family? It’s not that I don’t trust your family, but if everyone aligns their stories, we can avoid unnecessary gossip spreading, right?”

Yu Jiuqi specifically didn’t trust General Manager Fu’s family, especially his mother. General Manager Fu’s mother was one of Shicheng’s most active wealthy ladies. She didn’t like traveling, shopping, or hoarding luxury goods, but spent all year wandering among various mahjong parlors, enthusiastic about gossiping and chatting.

General Manager Fu had no objection to this either, nodding and saying: “Don’t worry, I understand.”

Xiao Jiu finally relaxed a bit, thinking the mission accomplished. She casually picked up some side dishes to eat. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of General Manager Fu kneeling on the platform, his expression tense, as if about to make some important statement.

“Um…”

“Hmm?”

At that moment, someone outside suddenly knocked urgently twice on the sliding door. Without waiting for permission from inside, they yanked the door open—it was the cold noodle restaurant’s proprietress, Sister Jin, her face flushed red with urgency, looking earnestly at Yu Jiuqi: “Xiao Jiu, can you help your sister out?”

“What’s the matter?”

“That damn Old Jin, I told him to pick up our kid from school, but who knows which fair-weather friend dragged him off to drink heavily. He won’t answer his phone. My son thinks his parents don’t want him anymore and is standing at the school gate wailing, threatening to find the police to arrest us. I have to go pick up my kid right now!” Sister Jin said while cursing and removing her apron, throwing it to Xiao Jiu. “Watch the shop for me for a bit. If you want to eat anything, go to the back kitchen and get it yourself!”

Even someone like Yu Jiuqi, the so-called social bandit, was stunned: “What if customers come?”

“Right, right, there’s still a table of customers at the door who ordered a bowl of cold noodles… Just make something for them. The soup, the side dishes, everything’s in the kitchen. I have to go!” Sister Jin swept out like the wind.

Under General Manager Fu’s astonished gaze, Yu Jiuqi actually tied on the apron and calmly said: “Wait for me a bit, I’ll go get busy.” She matter-of-factly went to the back kitchen.

Yu Jiuqi didn’t think this operation was particularly absurd. She’d actually rather go cook than squeeze onto that cramped heated platform with General Manager Fu. Besides, a bowl of cold noodles wasn’t that difficult. She glanced around the back kitchen—sure enough, the soup base was already prepared. She just needed to cook the noodles and add the side dishes.

She cooked the buckwheat cold noodles twice, specifically picking out one strand to test the texture before rinsing in cold water, then pouring on the sweet and sour soup base. She deliberately added extra sauced beef and apple slices. Still worried about being picky, she simply took it upon herself to include a free bottle of soda.

After checking the presentation once more, she carried the tray toward the main hall and immediately saw a man sitting by the door with his head down, playing with his phone.

She glanced briefly—dark gray sweater, black down jacket folded neatly on the chair beside him, well-groomed short black hair, arched bangs half-covering his eyebrows, making his nose bridge appear particularly high and straight.

For some reason, Yu Jiuqi felt nervous.

She thought maybe it was her first time working as a server and being unfamiliar with the job. She quickly prepared her greeting for the customer, but when she smiled and carried the tray to the table, she suddenly froze in place, unable to say anything.

Her dense eyelashes fluttered slightly. A pair of moist, bright almond eyes steadily slid downward, landing on that customer’s right hand, as if stuck there, unable to move anymore.

It was a plain silver ring about one centimeter wide. If you looked carefully, it had linear vintage patterns on it, with smooth edges and thick material, worn at the base of the right index finger. Under the not-particularly-bright incandescent light, it was extremely eye-catching.

And extremely familiar.

How familiar?

She knew the pattern on it was actually the shape of a cloud—specifically, a dark cloud beneath the night sky.

She also knew the material was antique bronze mixed with silver, having silver’s brightness and antique bronze’s textured feel.

She also knew that beneath that ring was a circle of scars—if she remembered correctly, they were dark brown, irregular, about as wide as the ring, and if they lightly slid across her skin, they could create layer upon layer of rough, painful sensations.

Scars from when flesh had been pierced and nearly had the entire finger severed.

She vaguely saw his blood-stained white sweater from back then.

She also saw his expression later when she put this ring on him.

Yu Jiuqi stood there in a daze like this, staring blankly as that familiar ring stopped scrolling through the phone, tapped on the screen, and then the ring’s owner seemed to sense something, looked up, and sharply gazed toward her.

Before Yu Jiuqi could see his current appearance clearly, she saw him slowly furrow his brow, staring at her with a look of astonishment.

Then Sun Xi spoke first, but his tone was flat. He said: “Did you see a ghost or something?”

In that moment, Yu Jiuqi was very certain she was no social bandit at all. Right now, she only wished some bored but kind-hearted superhero would lightly snap their fingers and let her vanish into dust.