His Sunday Substitute - Chapter 1

Autumn had arrived, bringing a slight chill and overcast skies. Even past seven in the morning, there was no trace of the sun. Su Yinuo pushed open the door of her home, and a cold wind rushed at her, tousling her straight bangs. She shivered and quickly zipped up her jacket.

Behind her, her mother, Zhang Lihua, called out, “Nuonuo, you forgot your hat.”

Su Yinuo turned around immediately, steadying her mother, who was leaning on a cane. She obediently bent her head forward, letting her mother place an old-fashioned gray bucket hat on her. Then she lifted her face and flashed a sweet smile.

“Mom, sit down.”

Su Yinuo helped her mother into a chair before crouching to adjust the empty pant leg. She rolled it up to the knee and secured it with a rubber band to keep it from dragging on the ground or getting caught on anything.

On the nearby table sat a basket of metal wires, glue, and several boxes of brightly colored sand. Beside them was an unfinished cloisonné handicraft, a tea tray with a dragon and phoenix motif, that Zhang Lihua had just started.

“Mom,” Su Yinuo said as she tidied up the sharp scissors and tweezers on the table, “be careful when you work, okay? Don’t hurt your hands again. And if you get tired, take a break. If customers rush you, just refuse the order, it’s not worth it.”

Zhang Lihua smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepening. She handed Su Yinuo a face mask and smoothed her daughter’s bangs, which nearly covered her eyes. “Who’s the mom here, you or me? Stop worrying so much. It’s colder today, and the wind is strong. If business is slow, come home early, Nuonuo.”

“Mm!” Su Yinuo nodded with a smile. Holding onto her hat, she dashed out of the house and hopped onto the small food tricycle parked in the yard, already loaded with ingredients. Braving the autumn wind, she pedaled toward what was destined to be an extraordinary new day.

By now, Su Yinuo had been out of school for a year.

A year ago, just as she was starting college and still adjusting to university life, she received news of her mother’s car accident.

The scene was horrific. Riding her electric tricycle, Zhang Lihua had been hit by a car that suddenly swerved out from an intersection. Her right leg was crushed. The driver, after hitting her, jerked the steering wheel and crashed into a steel guardrail, impaling himself on a protruding metal bar. He died on the spot.

Su Yinuo’s father had long passed away, so when her mother was injured, she was the only one left to handle things. She rushed home in tears, enduring over two weeks of darkness, her mother’s worsening condition on one side, and the relentless verbal abuse from the deceased driver’s family, who tried to shift the blame.

The driver’s family refused to cover medical expenses, even claiming that Zhang Lihua was at fault for the accident and demanding compensation from Su Yinuo. Even after the traffic police ruled the driver primarily responsible, his family still refused to pay a single cent. Unable to fight the shameless family and fearing delays in her mother’s treatment, Su Yinuo scraped together money from relatives to cover the surgery costs.

Her mother’s right leg had to be amputated, and the subsequent rehabilitation expenses were enormous. Since Zhang Lihua needed care during recovery, Su Yinuo had no choice but to drop out of school.

She repaired her mother’s tricycle and, while taking care of her mother, started a small business selling spicy hot pot by the roadside.

For nearly a year, Su Yinuo moved around the city, switching locations several times before finally settling down near the rear entrance of the Software Park in the East District.

The Software Park housed numerous companies, and during rush hours, the flow of people at the back gate was enormous. Moreover, the street adjacent to the back gate had light traffic, and the city inspectors didn’t bother with it, so every day, the street was lined with food carts, transforming into an aromatic food alley. Even during lunch breaks, many would come to the back gate to grab some cheap and tasty snacks to take back to their offices.

Su Yinuo would arrive at her stall before eight every morning, but today, she ran into a bit of trouble.

While passing through the busiest section of the East District, she swerved her tricycle food cart into the main road to avoid a suddenly burst water pipe, ending up amidst a cluster of luxury cars.

An orange sports car behind her wasn’t pleased and honked furiously. When the food cart still didn’t move aside, the driver yanked the steering wheel, speeding through a puddle to overtake, splashing a wave of dirty water onto Su Yinuo’s cart.

Fortunately, the cart’s compartment was sealed, so the ingredients and seasonings remained untouched, only half of Su Yinuo’s pant leg got soaked.

Sighing, she resigned herself to bad luck and was shaking the water off her pants when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a dark figure darting ahead. A screeching brake followed, then a deafening crash.

Su Yinuo jumped, slammed on her brakes, and froze in shock.

The orange sports car that had just overtaken her had been rammed by a black luxury car that had suddenly appeared, lifting it at a 30-degree angle and wedging it against the roadside.

As smoke curled from both vehicles, Su Yinuo snapped back to reality, pulled out her phone, and quickly searched the car models. The results: a black Rolls-Royce Phantom and an orange Maserati.

“How much money just went up in flames?” she muttered in awe, then panicked. “This… this has nothing to do with me, right?”

The Rolls-Royce’s driver stepped out, followed by the Maserati’s.

The once-arrogant Maserati driver deflated the moment he saw the other car, immediately adopting a fawning, sycophantic expression, bowing and scraping as he apologized profusely to the Rolls-Royce’s driver.

The Rolls-Royce driver ignored him, rolling his eyes before walking to the rear door and opening it respectfully, ushering out a tall, impeccably dressed young man in a suit.

The man exited the car with swift, decisive movements. Before Su Yinuo could get a clear look at his face, he turned away, leaving her with only a sharp, imposing silhouette.

Just the sight of his back sent a chill down her spine. Not daring to drive off immediately, afraid she might be held accountable later, she pulled out her keys and stepped down from the cart, standing obediently beside it, waiting for the two parties to finish their exchange before stepping forward to explain.

But then, she witnessed something even more shocking.

The young man, his face dark with fury, grabbed the Maserati driver by the collar, dragged him to the edge of the puddle, and threw him straight into the water.

The Maserati driver was utterly powerless to resist, like a pheasant caught in the jaws of a beast in the hands of the young man. He floundered in the water before scrambling to his feet, his face a mask of terror as he roared, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Apologize!” The young man’s voice was icy to the core.

Drenched and looking even more pathetic than a drowned rat, the Maserati driver was clearly intimidated. Without another word, he shouted his apology, “I’m sorry!”

“Not to me, to her!” The young man turned his head to glance at Su Yinuo. Just that one glance, his sharp gaze almost piercing through her mind.

It was terrifying!

Su Yinuo immediately lowered her head, tightening her grip on her mask, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst right out of her chest.

The young man was strikingly handsome, with near-perfect features. But his furrowed brows, cold eyes, and the chilling aura around him made Su Yinuo completely overlook his looks, leaving only an impression of fear, one she couldn’t bear to face directly.

At the same time, she couldn’t make sense of his actions.

Is this guy insane? Smashing a luxury car into another just to play the hero? He’s completely unhinged, so scary!

The Maserati driver, as if his soul had left his body, stumbled over and bowed deeply to Su Yinuo, who was dressed in an old-fashioned black jacket and a gray bucket hat. “Auntie, I’m sorry!” he yelled.

“I-It’s fine,” Su Yinuo whispered, not daring to lift her head.

“No, no, it’s not fine!” The Maserati driver suddenly snapped back to reality, pulling out his phone to scan the payment code Su Yinuo had stuck to her cart. “Auntie, I shouldn’t have shown off in front of you earlier. I splashed your cart, so I’ll pay for it, 5,000, is that enough? If it is, just say ‘it’s fine’ loudly!”

“IT’S FINE!!!” Su Yinuo screamed with her eyes shut, feeling like the whole world had gone mad.

By the time she reached the back entrance of the software park, Su Yinuo was still shaken, her mind filled with the image of that young man.

After the Maserati driver paid up, the young man let him go, then gave Su Yinuo a look signaling she could leave. From start to finish, Su Yinuo hadn’t exchanged a single word with him.

Even though he was terrifying, I should’ve at least thanked him. Probably won’t get another chance to see him again, huh?

Whatever. It doesn’t matter. We’re clearly from different worlds. Finally got a taste of how vast the gap in this world can be…

Su Yinuo shook her head, pushing the thoughts aside as she began setting up her stall for the day.

She locked her cart, rolled down the window, and hung up the sign that read “Auntie Zhang’s Spicy Hot Pot.” She neatly arranged the skewers of freshly washed vegetables, tofu products, assorted meatballs, and meats, then placed the seasonings in front of the vegetable baskets. After adjusting the broth pot, she turned on the heat.

Her movements were practiced and efficient, within ten minutes, everything was ready, as if she’d been running this stall for a decade.

People heading to work in the morning were usually in a hurry, so Su Yinuo would pre-cook some of the harder-to-boil skewers, cleverly turning her spicy hot pot into something resembling oden.

Though she was running over ten minutes late today, it didn’t cause any delays. The chilly weather only added to the appeal of her steaming cart, and soon, people began trickling in, grabbing disposable containers and picking out their choices.

“Auntie Zhang, these, plus two more skewers of rapeseed. How much?”

Su Yinuo had grown accustomed to being called “Auntie Zhang.” She took the lunch box and sorted through the skewers as she said, “Fifteen yuan. Please wait a moment, I’ll blanch some greens for you.”

“Auntie Zhang, mine’s eighteen. No need to count, hehe.” another customer handed over their box.

Running a street stall selling spicy hot pot, tallying up the skewers to calculate the bill was always a hassle. Without any help, Su Yinuo would waste precious time during peak hours if she had to count them all herself. So, for customers who calculated their own totals, she would gratefully offer them an extra side dish or a few pieces of milk candy as thanks.

On workdays, customers came in an endless stream, but Su Yinuo handled the rush with practiced ease. She was perfectly content with her life now, not only was it fulfilling, but she also earned a decent income every day. In less than a year, she had already repaid the 50,000 yuan she owed to relatives. She wanted to push herself a little harder, aiming to clear all her debts within another year and then get her mother a properly fitted prosthetic leg.

Life had never granted Su Yinuo any favors, her father’s early passing, her disabled mother, their dilapidated home, her unfinished education, and the mountain of debts. For others, such circumstances might spell disaster, but to Su Yinuo, they were merely the bumps and ditches along her life’s path.

Though she walked a muddy, difficult road, the flowers by the roadside, the lush trees in the distance, and the daily rise and fall of the sun filled her with hope for the future.

The morning’s little incident had already faded from her mind amid the busyness. As she focused on blanching a basket of vegetables, she suddenly heard a cold, mocking laugh beside her.