HSS Chapter 62
Translated by Novice Translations
Proofread by Yserieh
Chapter 62: Change
The weather in Yuncheng was divided into two: hot in the summer and cold in the winter, as the spring and autumn seasons were extremely short. Mu Xiaoya only felt that now that she wore a nice autumn coat yesterday and today she wore a thick padded jacket.
"Sister Mumu, this is the studio’s sales report from last month." Xiaoxin showed Mu Xiaoya a statistical report.
Mu Xiaoya glanced and found that the sales volume of the mid-length boots was the best: "I thought boots would be more popular in the winter."
"Our boots are very fashionable, although they look good, they aren’t very versatile.” Xiaoxin replied, “In contrast, the mid-length boots are better as they are more convenient to put on and take off, and much more versatile.”
“Sister Mumu, there are a lot of people who pre-ordered them, when will the factory produce them ah?” Leng Yi asked from the side.
"It should be fast. Fang Hui went to her uncle's factory to urge him in person yesterday." Mu Xiaoya replied.
"Sister Fang Hui has been away for two days, when will she be back ah?"
"She sent me a message in the morning. She’s expected to return at noon, and when she comes back, we will go eat hot pot together." This was winter, people can’t help but want to eat hot pot.
"Good!" Leng Yi clapped her hands excitedly. She really likes her current job. The company has simple staff, the commissions were high, and the bosses often invites her to dinner generously.
Mu Xiaoya smiled, looked down at the report, then glanced at the bottom, there was a big zero in the column of custom shoes. She asked: "No one still consults us for custom shoes ah."
"No." Taking advantage of Fang Hui's absence, Xiaoxin couldn’t help but speak truthfully, “Sister Mumu, if you can tell Fang Hui, this pair of shoes is too expensive, 30,000, rich people don’t mind, but others can’t afford ah.”
"It’s okay, there’s no cost anyway." There really was no other cost besides the pile of leather in the material room.
However, when they set up the studio, their goal was the customization route. As a result, in the past six months, apart from several friendship sponsors from relatives and friends, there has been no customized customer, which was a pity. Fortunately, their brand was doing well on the Internet. After such a long time, it has become a small online retail store. Every time they released a new product, there will be knock-offs online shortly afterwards.
(TN: I always feel bad for these types of innovators, all their hard work and inspirations are stolen by knock-off’s. Same thing for translations as well haha…)
"After a while, if there are no customers, your sister Fang Hui will naturally adjust the price." Mu Xiaoya added with a smile.
"Also." Xiaoxin nodded. "I’ll go make a reservation at a hot pot restaurant."
Mu Xiaoya nodded, then her cellphone suddenly rang. She picked it up and saw a message from her mother: Your cousin arrives at the train station in an hour, you go pick her up.
"Xiaoxin, I may not be able to go eat hot pot. I have something to do." Mu Xiaoya responded to her mother's message while explaining to Xiaoxin.
"Sister Mumu, can’t go ah?"
"My cousin is here. I have to pick them up."
(TN: The cousin – biaojie which means older female cousin via her mother side)
"Then, the temperature is cold today and there may be black ice on the road. Sister Mumu drive slowly on the road." Xiaoxin exhorted.
(TN: For readers who don’t drive or just don’t know, black ice is ice that’s developed on the surface of a roadway, it’s transparent but takes on the color of the surface road it's on. A lot of accidents happen because people can’t break and they often skid off the freeway or crash into each other.)
"Okay." Mu Xiaoya waved her hand and left.
The cousin she was about to pick up was called Lin Han, she’s the granddaughter of Mu Xiaoya’s great aunt*. The relationship between them was far apart, so basically there’s no connection. Although I saw her once or twice when I was a child, there was almost no image after all these years. She came to Yuncheng this time for her daughter. Lin Han’s daughter is three and a half years old this year. The little girl caught a cold in the winter but didn’t get better after being treated for half a month in her hometown’s hospital. The family was worried, so they sent them to Yuncheng and contacted Mu Xiaoya’s mother. The Mu parents were too busy to leave class, so the task of picking them up and transporting them to the hospital fell on Mu Xiaoya.
(TN: Great aunt is basically her parent’s aunt…and Lin Han is the grandchild of her parent’s aunt…that’s really a distant relative)
When she arrived at the train station, the train was still five minutes away from arriving. Mu Xiaoya looked at a milk tea shop next to her and bought two cups of hot milk tea there and came back to wait for them. After waiting for a few more minutes, more people suddenly began to leave the station. Mu Xiaoya paced about in the crowd to look for a young woman with a child, and soon found the woman who she suspected to be her cousin.
"Lin Han?" Mu Xiaoya yelled tentatively.
"Xiaoya?!" Lin Han also saw Mu Xiaoya and squeezed over to her holding her daughter.
"I'm coming, I'm coming..." Mu Xiaoya saw Lin Han carrying two bags and also her child, so she suddenly put down the milk tea from her hand to help carry the bag.
"No need, you help me hold Lei Lei for me." Lin Han handed her daughter to Mu Xiaoya.
Mu Xiaoya took the child, and the unimaginable weight made her somewhat apprehensive. It was a lot of effort to hold the child and unexpectedly Lin Han could even carry two bags as well: “Did Lei Lei fell asleep?”
The child in her arms had a rosy face and slept soundly with her eyes closed.
"The child has a fever and had no strength. She’s lethargy and often sleeps." Lin Han said with worry.
"Then let's go to the hospital first." Mu Xiaoya always thought that children could sleep well in places like the railroad station, but it wasn’t always a good thing.
"Is that okay?"
"I have contacted the hospital. We will directly go there."
Putting things into the trunk, Lin Han sat in the back seat with the child in her arms. Mu Xiaoya handed her the milk tea: “It’s cold outside, this will warm your stomach.”
"Thank you, I’ve troubled you." Lin Han was a little embarrassed. Although the two were relatives, they had no relations with each other.
"Cousin being too polite make us look like strangers." Mu Xiaoya started the car and drove to Yuncheng Children's Hospital. When they arrived at the hospital, there were a series of formalities and procedures. It was already 4:30PM after everything was done. Mu Xiaoya glanced at her watch and hesitated to call Bai Chuan to say that she will be late coming back.
"Xiaoya, do you have something to do? If you have something to do, you can go back and leave me." Lin Han saw Mu Xiaoya looking at the time and thought she was in a hurry.
"No, I just sent a message to my husband and told him that I would be back later."
"Husband? Are you married? Why haven't I heard?" Lin Han was a little surprised.
"Ah, we haven’t had a wedding yet, so we deliberately didn’t inform our relatives and friends." Mu Xiaoya explained.
"It turns out to be this." Lin Han nodded. "Then you must notify me when you have the wedding."
"Sure." Speaking of wedding, Mu Xiaoya suddenly noticed a problem, "Cousin, why didn’t cousin-in-law come?"
“He’s been too busy with his work recently. I said we would return in a few days. But I’m worried about Lei Lei, furthermore you’re here, so I came first.”
"I see, ah." Mu Xiaoya also said, "The doctor said just now that Lei Lei's problem isn’t big. After administering the new medicine, she can be cured in a week at most. There are doctors and nurses watching over her, how about I take you to the place you’ll stay at and have dinner first?”
"No, I'll just stay in the hospital with her."
"Cousin, they won’t let you stay here. I’ve booked a room for you in the hotel across the road. It’s a five minutes' walk from here and won’t delay you from taking care of Lei Lei."
"Okay then.”
The two arrived at the hotel and checked in. Mu Xiaoya helped Lin Han put her luggage away and was about to invite her to come downstairs for dinner but saw Lin Han supporting herself against the wall with one hand, her face was pale, and her eyes were closed.
"Cousin, what's the matter with you?" Mu Xiaoya was startled and hurried over to support the person.
"It's okay..." Lin Han said after a while. “Maybe it’s because I’ve been tired all day and haven’t eaten, so I have dizziness.”
"Dizziness?"
"En, everyone in our family has dizziness. It’s nothing of importance, just sluggish for a while.” It appears to be so because as Lin Han spoke, her face became much better at this time and her spirit changed. “I’ll go wash my face, then we will go down for dinner.”
Lin Han's face recovered, but Mu Xiaoya's face turned pale at this instant.
Dizziness?!
"It's not a big problem. Your aunt and grandaunt all have this problem."
This was what her mother said to her a few months ago.
"Xiaoya, on the outside you look okay, but don’t be too tired from work, your body is the most important."
“What’s wrong with mom?”
(TN: Mom and cousin Lin Han has the same issue, so she was hoping to get more of an answer of what was wrong with them)
"You have a cousin who overworked themselves a while ago and suddenly died."
This was what her mother said to her in her previous life in her first winter abroad.
In her last life, in the winter, cousin, Mu Xiaoya looked at the direction of the bathroom, and her whole person couldn’t stand.
Was that cousin, Lin Han? Was her sudden death from overworking, or was it from the same disease as her?!
"Xiaoya, what's wrong with you, why is your face so ugly?" Lin Han came out of the bathroom and found that Mu Xiaoya's face wasn’t right.
"Cousin, I... I still have something to do and won’t be able to eat with you anymore." Mu Xiaoya picked up her bag and didn’t wait for Lin Han to speak.
She wandered back to the car, closed the door, but didn’t start it. Her mind was a mess. Her first reaction was to ask her mother if Lin Han was the cousin she said died suddenly, but how can the current Shen Qingyi know. She wanted to take Lin Han to have a physical examination, but this sudden disease couldn’t be detected at all.
What should I do ah?!
"Ding ling ling..."
The phone rang suddenly, and Mu Xiaoya reached for her phone, but only found that her whole body was frozen.
"Hello." Her voice made a nasal sound.
"Xiaoya, I’m in the studio, Fang Hui said you’re out." It was a call from Bai Chuan.
"I... I'll be back now."
"En, I'll wait for you to go home together."
Mu Xiaoya glanced at the time on her phone. It’s ten past six, how is it so late? I even spent an hour in the car.
Mu Xiaoya started the car to go to the studio. When she arrived at the studio, it was already seven o’clock in the evening. Bai Chuan was sitting in front of the French window that faced the road, playing with a Rubik’s cube. When Mu Xiaoya’s car stopped, Bai Chuan noticed. He happily stood up and ran out of the studio.
When Mu Xiaoya just got off the car, Bai Chuan had already rushed to the front of the car. He was wearing a dark blue sweater with a faint coffee aroma.
"I'm back." Bai Chuan went to pull Mu Xiaoya's hand, but frowned at the contact, then stretched out two hands to wrap Mu Xiaoya’s hand. “It’s cold.”
"Isn’t it cold outside? Come in quickly." Fang Hui stood at the door and couldn't help but roll her eyes. This couple is too much, they couldn’t find a warmer place to display their affections.
Bai Chuan pulled Mu Xiaoya in, and when she got closer, Fang Hui realized that Mu Xiaoya's expression wasn’t right and she became nervous.
"Bai Chuan, go and make a cup of coffee for your family’s Xiaoya." Fang Hui reminded Bai Chuan.
Bai Chuan waited for Mu Xiaoya to sit down, and immediately went to the bar to make coffee. Because Mu Xiaoya liked to drink coffee, and he came to the studio almost every day, he gradually learned to make coffee.
"What's wrong with you?" Fang Hui asked with concern, sitting opposite of Mu Xiaoya.
"Fang Hui... If you knew that someone might die, what would you do?" Mu Xiaoya asked.
"Who is dying?" Fang Hui frowned.
"If... I'm dying?"
"I pah!" Fang Hui first pah, then nervously pulled Mu Xiaoya and asked, “What’s wrong with you, where do you feel unwell.”
"I just assume."
"Assume, nonsense ah. Is your brain ill? Did you go to the hospital and get infected with a virus?" Fang Hui, who was falsely startled, directly scolded her.
"No, just now in the hospital, there was someone who was about the same age as me, and suddenly passed away, so my emotions were somewhat stirred." Mu Xiaoya explained with a wry smile, she didn't lie, but if she really said it, who would believe?
“Emotions, nonsense, you’re just depressed to death." Fang Hui said, "Harvesting life is a matter of death. All we can do is live our lives happily and have a good life. If we want to fight with the God of Death, then work and rest healthily, keep moving, don’t scare yourself and the people around you.”
Speaking of the people around her, Fang Hui glanced at Bai Chuan's direction.
"Coffee." At this time, Bai Chuan had already brewed coffee and very considerately brewed two cups, one for Mu Xiaoya and one for Fang Hui.
"It's not easy ah. After half a year, I finally got the coffee that Bai Chuan personally brewed for me." Fang Hui said loudly in exaggeration.
Yes ah, it’s really not easy for Bai Chuan. He took another step forward and learned to be considerate towards others and interact with them.
"Warm your hands." Bai Chuan tucked the coffee into Mu Xiaoya's right hand, and at the same time pulled up her left hand, having her hands hold the warm coffee cup.