The sight of the siblings appearing before her gave Gu Lingyi quite a start.
"Brother~"
Gu Lingyi called out to Lu Man in a small voice, then looked toward Lu Xiaoshuang. "Is that you, Xiaoshuang? You've grown so big, and you've become so pretty."
"Good morning, Sister Lingyi!" Lu Xiaoshuang managed to maintain a modicum of good behavior in front of outsiders. "Long time no see."
Hearing Gu Lingyi call him "Brother" made Lu Man want to laugh for no apparent reason. Because they had been childhood sweethearts, Lu Man was half a year older than the twins, and they had addressed him as "Brother" all the way through their university graduation. His own biological sister never called him that, yet his future wife kept saying it with every breath.
"Did you stay at your grandmother’s house last night?"
The residential complex where Lu Man’s family lived was close to the Experimental Primary School and the No. 1 Middle School. Their father, Gu Yan, had purchased several properties there for this reason. The Gu sisters’ grandparents lived in the building right next to Lu Man’s, and the twins often stayed at their grandmother's house to make attending school more convenient.
"No, I came from home," Gu Lingyi said, casting a glance at the pharmacy. "I wanted to buy some medicine here."
"Is the medicine cheaper here?" Lu Xiaoshuang asked.
"Are you not feeling well?" Lu Man asked.
Gu Lingyi offered a faint smile at the simultaneous questions from the siblings. It felt as if Lu Xiaoshuang were the boisterous boy, while Lu Man was the one who was more thoughtful and considerate.
"I’m buying it for my mother," she explained patiently. "Her throat is often uncomfortable, and brewing dried tangerine peel is quite effective. It’s not about the price, actually..."
Gu Lingyi seemed a bit awkward, her voice trailing off until it was barely a whisper. "The pharmacy near our house is always trying to upsell other things, and I... I don't really know how to refuse them..."
Seeing her like this, Lu Man understood why she had been standing at the pharmacy door—she was thin-skinned and afraid of dealing with strangers.
He crooked a finger at her. "Coincidentally, we need to buy some things too. Let's go in together."
"Okay!"
Seeing that he was going inside, Gu Lingyi looked at him with gratitude as if she had found a savior, and immediately followed closely behind him like a little tail.
Once inside the pharmacy, Lu Man told the clerk he wanted to weigh some dried tangerine peel. Instead of grabbing the medicine right away, the clerk started asking about Lu Man's symptoms. Before Lu Man could answer, the clerk turned to the counter to pull out coral grass loquats and expensive vitamins to push on them.
Lu Man deliberately stayed silent and looked back at Gu Lingyi. The young girl was biting her lip, looking timid and casting pleading glances at him for help.
Lu Man was inwardly amazed. Was this really the same Gu Lingyi who would later have seventy ways to love him? Was this really his little wife, who could manage both the hearth and the kitchen (though she wasn't a very good cook) and be utterly enchanting (though demanding and insatiable)?
"No need, we just want the dried tangerine peel. Sorry to trouble you, but I'm in a hurry."
...
Emerging from the pharmacy, Gu Lingyi clutched the bag of medicine and let out a long sigh of relief at the entrance.
"Phew—thank you, Brother, thank you, Xiaoshuang."
"Medicine's bought, are you heading back now?"
"Yes."
"I'll walk you. Xiaoshuang has homework, so she's going home first."
"I don't have homework! I finished it!" Lu Xiaoshuang widened her eyes.
"No, you do," Lu Man said, casting a sideways glance at his superfluous sister. "Even if you didn't, we have to pass the Xinhua Bookstore to get to Lingyi's place, and you'll find plenty more there."
"Lu Xiaoman, you're such a jerk!" Lu Xiaoshuang bared her teeth at him. "Bring me two bottles of Sprite when you come back, and you're paying!"
"Deal."
"I want the ice mint flavor!"
"You're such a nag."
After shooing Lu Xiaoshuang away, Lu Man looked at Gu Lingyi. She whispered a shy attempt at refusal, "Brother, you really don't need to walk me. It’s a detour for you."
"Let's go." Lu Man ignored this and gave her a gentle nudge. "When I want to walk you, every direction is on the way."
"Oh..."
"Give me the medicine; I'll carry it for you."
"There's no need, it's very light."
"Whether it's light or not isn't the point," Lu Man improvised instantly. "The main thing is, if I’m walking empty-handed while you’re carrying things, the old ladies on the street will see it. Believe me, they’ll be gossiping about me not knowing how to take care of a young girl until the day I graduate from university."
"It’s not that exaggerated," Gu Lingyi said. Since she wasn't very good at refusing people to begin with, she was unable to win this argument. Fortunately, it was just him, so she offered a faint smile and let him take the medicine from her hands.
...
Caoxian was a small county town located in the less economically developed southwest of Shandong. A dozen years later, it would suddenly become a viral sensation due to a livestreamer’s catchphrase, "Caoxian is awesome 666," and be jokingly referred to as "the Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou of Caoxian."
But behind the glitz of internet memes, a quiet, modest existence was what the town was actually meant to be. The local industries were famous: first, photography costumes and Hanfu—Lu Man’s parents were in that business, just waiting for the rise of e-commerce to catch the wind and take off. The second was wooden coffins, currently concentrated in the townships. Relying on the abundant local paulownia wood, the coffins were light, tough, moisture-resistant, and corrosion-resistant, making them highly sought after in Japan. They covered 70–90% of the funeral business on the islands. If you really wanted to say it, almost every Japanese person was sent off by Caoxian—that wasn't far from the truth.
Walking on the streets of Caoxian, aside from a few more individual clothing stores and many more lamb soup shops sporting the "Danxian" sign, it was no different from thousands of other small northern towns. Ordinary, nameless, and quaint—it was the kind of hometown you would miss, to some degree, after leaving to work.
The two walked shoulder-to-shoulder, unhurried, along Qinghe Road. Passing a row of street stalls, they heard a chorus of shouts.
"Northeast chicken skeletons! Buy one catty, get one free, fried fresh and sold on the spot!"
"Handmade pearl milk tea, one yuan fifty a cup—kid, want a cup?"
"Our stinky tofu is air-freighted from Changsha, if it’s not delicious, you don't pay..." This line was played on a loop through a loudspeaker; even a dozen years later, the spiel would be the same.
In other places, vendors usually attracted customers with broad, sweeping calls, but the vendors here were overly enthusiastic, using a lock-on targeting system to call out directly to you.
"Little girl, want an order of grilled sausages? I’ll give you a discount, honey."
"Girlie, have you eaten? Want to take a couple of stuffed pancakes home?"
Lu Man felt his arm being gently clutched. He looked over at Gu Lingyi; the girl was pouting with all her might, clearly tense to the point of stiffening.
Lu Man couldn't help but chuckle. "How come I never realized you were so shy around strangers?"
"I… I… I’m actually doing pretty well for me," Gu Lingyi said, sounding as if she were about to cry. "I usually only come here when I'm with my family."
If Lu Man hadn't been with her, she probably would have deliberately taken a detour to avoid this spot on her way home. Despite her cowardly words, her large eyes were blinking rapidly, her gaze wandering hungrily over the various snacks.
Lu Man noted this. *Good grief,* he thought, *she's this scared, yet she hasn't forgotten to think about food.*
Her eyes darted back and forth, quickly settling and unable to move away from a stall selling crispy, boneless fried chicken strips. Her little nose even twitched involuntarily. Whenever she wanted a snack, she looked like a little squirrel craning its neck. Lu Man, whose attention was mostly on her, caught her intent instantly.
He stopped walking. "Wait for me a moment, I'll go buy something tasty."
"Brother... wait a second~"
Seeing Lu Man heading straight for the chicken strip stall, Gu Lingyi stopped him.
"Let's go to a different one. That stall used to be run by an old man," Gu Lingyi said. "The old man fell and got hurt recently, and now his son is selling them."
Lu Man smiled; she was using all her seriousness on her "foodie" instincts. "Is the taste different?"
Gu Lingyi shook her head. "His son turned off the digital scale so the customers can't see the numbers."
As if afraid of being overheard by others, Gu Lingyi stood on her tiptoes and leaned her lips closer to Lu Man’s ear. "I could clearly tell several times that the amount he weighed was insufficient. Hmph, he’s cheating on the weight behind our backs."
Lu Man watched her with interest, his face full of smiles.
Gu Lingyi felt slightly uncomfortable, perhaps realizing she had acted too much like a glutton. She thought for a moment and added, "These things... Jiari told me. Yes, it was her."
"Hahahaha." Lu Man directly ignored her clumsy attempt to shift the blame. "Just give me your verdict—is it delicious or not?"
"It’s delicious, the best in all of He City, but..." Gu Lingyi whispered.
Lu Man understood her simple train of thought: if they bought from that stall, the owner’s son would never correct his habit of short-changing customers.
"Then let's be fair and discuss it. If we agree, we listen to you. If we disagree, we listen to me. How about that?" Lu Man proposed.
Gu Lingyi’s little brain didn't quite process the logic; it sounded reasonable at first glance, so she subconsciously nodded.
"I want to challenge this stall, and you want to go to another one."
"Mm..."
"Alright, we disagree, so we’re listening to me."