His Sunday Substitute - Chapter 8

“I’ll Go in Your Place Tomorrow…”

After blocking Ji Wenjun and rejecting Li Jinmiao, Su Yinuo’s world quieted down again, as if everything that had happened last Sunday was just a dream.

Li Jinmiao, who had been swamped with work, finally found some free time on Friday evening and rushed over to Su Yinuo’s stall just before closing.

Seeing Li Jinmiao’s flustered appearance, Su Yinuo was slightly startled. Her eyes, hidden behind her bangs, narrowed as she smiled and called out, “Miaomiao, what brings you here? Is something wrong?”

“Thank goodness you’re still here, Nuonuo. What’s been going on with you lately?” Li Jinmiao walked over and began helping Su Yinuo tidy up the leftover food and small bowls, her face full of concern.

“Huh? Nothing’s wrong,” Su Yinuo quickly took the small bowl from Li Jinmiao’s hands. “Miaomiao, I can handle this myself. I don’t want to dirty your clothes.”

“Nuonuo, you blocked Ji Wenjun. That guy’s been whining nonstop in front of me. And you said you didn’t want to go to dinner with Qin Cangye on Sunday. I thought something had happened to you.”

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Su Yinuo wiped her hands, untied her grease-stained apron, and secured the windows of her food cart before walking over to Li Jinmiao. With a hesitant expression, she said awkwardly, “I haven’t run into any trouble. I’m doing fine. It’s just I feel like we’re not from the same world. It’s better to keep our distance so they won’t be disappointed when they find out what I really do.”

Li Jinmiao’s lips parted slightly in surprise. She had always thought Su Yinuo was a carefree optimist, never imagining she could be so sensitive. At that moment, she felt immensely relieved that she hadn’t revealed Su Yinuo’s background to that fool Ji Wenjun. Otherwise, given Su Yinuo’s temperament, she’d probably feel even more uncomfortable.

“That’s not necessarily true,” Li Jinmiao laughed. “I don’t think it’s a big deal. People aren’t like they used to be, friendship isn’t about judging someone’s job.”

Mid-sentence, Li Jinmiao suddenly stopped, as if struck by enlightenment. She immediately understood the real reason Su Yinuo had blocked Ji Wenjun: it wasn’t because she feared being looked down on, but because she didn’t want to string him along. She wanted to end what she saw as a hopeless relationship before it even began. Otherwise, if she truly felt inferior, she would’ve blocked her too.

“Nuonuo, you really are a kind little angel!” Li Jinmiao’s heart swelled with emotion, and she gazed at Su Yinuo with teary eyes.

“Huh? Miaomiao, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” Su Yinuo was at a loss, torn between laughter and helplessness as she hugged Li Jinmiao and patted her back soothingly. “Miaomiao is an angel too. You’re the best!”

The two girls clung to each other on the dim, chilly street. After a while, they suddenly pulled apart and burst into laughter for no reason at all.

Li Jinmiao’s mix of laughter and tears stemmed from the overwhelming stress she had endured over the past two years of entrepreneurship. Especially recently, though she could see the glimmer of success, she also faced the risk of losing everything at the last hurdle. Her nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Yet, every time she was around someone as pure and kind-hearted as Su Yinuo, Li Jinmiao felt an immense sense of relief. After this emotional outburst of crying and laughing, it was as if she had expelled all the pent-up negativity from her chest, leaving her feeling so light she could almost float away.

She clung to Su Yinuo’s arm and said affectionately, “Nuonuo, I really have so much to tell you, but I’ve been swamped lately. Once things settle down, we must make time to go out and have fun together. Listen, Nuonuo, you don’t need to rush to block Ji Wenjun. Men, just string them along if you have to. Besides, that guy Ji Wenjun has way too much energy… And don’t worry about Qin Cangye either. If you don’t want to go, just don’t. I’ll handle it myself.”

After chattering away for a long while and helping Su Yinuo push her snack cart to the main road, Li Jinmiao finally waved goodbye reluctantly.

On Saturday, Su Yinuo woke up early as usual. Though weekends saw fewer customers, the software park, a hub for programmers who treated overtime as routine, never slowed down too much.

Arriving punctually at the back gate of the software park, Su Yinuo felt her left eyelid twitching incessantly all morning. An inexplicable unease settled in her chest, a nagging sense that something would go wrong today.

Just as she finished setting up her stall, a sudden image flashed through her mind: her mother tripping and falling at home. This had happened before, and her heart lurched. She immediately pulled out her phone and called her mom. Thankfully, her mother’s voice on the other end sounded perfectly fine.

While Su Yinuo was still on the phone, reminding her mother to be careful, she caught sight of the neighboring vendors, a group of aunties, wearing panicked expressions. Before she could hang up, she saw them hurriedly packing up their stalls, hopping onto their carts, and preparing to flee.

Su Yinuo hung up in surprise just as one of the passing aunties whispered urgently, “Run, Xiao Zhang! The city inspectors are coming!”

City inspectors?! Since when did they come here?!

Her heart pounded. In the half-year she’d been at the software park, she’d never once seen city inspectors show up.

Without another thought, she turned off the stove and stacked her food containers back into place. But just as she finished packing the cart, chaotic shouts erupted behind her: “Stop running! I said stop!”

“What are you running for? Don’t run!”
“Don’t you know you can’t set up stalls here?”
“Stop! None of you are getting away!”
“Watch where you’re going? Hey, slow down! There are so many people here. What if someone gets hurt?”

There were about four or five inspectors. Some chased the vendors with fierce expressions, others followed at a leisurely pace to maintain order, and a few held up enforcement cameras to document their colleagues’ actions.

Truthfully, they weren’t chasing very hard. Of the twenty-some stalls on the street, most vendors escaped. Only three were caught, and Su Yinuo, unfortunately, was one of them.

When the enforcement camera turned toward her, she nearly burst into tears.

“Y-yes, I’m sorry. I-I won’t come again next time. How much is the fine?” Su Yinuo was terrified. This was her first time being caught by city inspectors. Remembering news stories she’d seen online about fines reaching tens of thousands in some places, she became so anxious that tears began to fall.

An older inspector walked over. Seeing Su Yinuo shrinking in fear and sobbing, he frowned impatiently. “How old are you? What’s with the crying? What’s your name? Show me your ID!”

“Su… Su Yinuo, wuwu…” Su Yinuo trembled as she pulled out her ID and removed her mask.

“Wow, such a young girl?” The inspector was startled. Taking the ID, he exclaimed in surprise, “Just turned eighteen? Why aren’t you in school, little girl?”

“My dad passed away long ago, and my mom is disabled. I have to take care of her, so I can’t go to school…” Su Yinuo cried even harder.

The inspector’s hand holding the ID trembled slightly. He wanted to comfort the girl, who was about the same age as his own daughter, but a colleague grabbed his arm. The colleague pulled him aside and whispered, “Captain Li, the new bureau chief said we need to make an example, set a precedent. Isn’t this little girl perfect? Look how pitiful she is. Go take a photo with her so we can write up the report.”

Li Jian, the squad leader of the city inspection team, glared at the young auxiliary officer and scolded with a bitter laugh, “What a terrible idea! Ah, but I guess we’ll have to put the girl through this.”

“How much is the fine, sir? Can you make it less? My family still has a lot of debts.” Su Yinuo, realizing Li Jian was the leader, pleaded through her tears.

Li Jian put on a stern face and declared, “No fine!”

Su Yinuo froze mid-sob, staring at him with wide eyes, tears clinging to her long lashes.

Oh my god, she’s too pitiful!!

The sheer force of her sorrow made Li Jian take a step back. Struggling to maintain his act, he hardened his heart and barked, “But we’re confiscating your cart!”

“What?” Su Yinuo was stunned again, tears now flowing like a breached dam. “No, please don’t take my cart!”

Su Yinuo cried uncontrollably. In the end, she didn’t even know how she ended up taking a photo with the inspector, how he got her contact information and home address into his phone, or how she shouldered her bag and walked alone toward home.

The autumn wind tousled her bangs and stung her swollen, tear-streaked eyes. This was the first time she had broken down so completely since her mother’s accident.

When facing the cruel insults from the perpetrator’s family, she held back her tears. When confronting her mother’s severe illness, she swallowed her sobs. After her mother was discharged, to keep going, she buried herself in work and forgot how to cry. Slowly, through stall after stall, watching the numbers in her phone grow each day, she endured life’s hardships and found the will to keep living in the midst of suffering.

But now, this sudden upheaval had severed her only source of income. It was as if she stood on a narrow bridge she had painstakingly built, only for the path ahead to collapse without warning, leaving her staring into a pitch-black abyss with no end in sight.

Despair washed over her, and she could no longer hold back. All the emotions she had suppressed over the past year came pouring out.

With her head bowed low, she walked along the roadside she had traversed countless times with her food cart, her silent tears washing over the path that had once carried so many hopes.

Finally, she returned home and threw herself into her mother’s arms, weeping openly once more.

After learning what had happened, Zhang Lihua held her tightly, her heart aching as she comforted her, “We still have some savings, Nuonuo. We can just buy another cart. We can find a new spot too, it’s not the end of the world. Don’t cry, alright? At worst, I’ll take on more handiwork. At worst, we’ll sell this house. There are always ways out.”

Zhang Lihua’s guilt and sorrow were no less than Su Yinuo’s. She had always felt she was a burden to her sensible daughter. After just a few words of comfort, she couldn’t hold back her own tears, her eyes reddening as two streams rolled down her cheeks.

Mother and daughter clung to each other in shared misery, but as the storm of emotions passed, Su Yinuo gradually calmed down.

Life had to go on. Crying wouldn’t solve anything, what mattered now was making money!

Su Yinuo thought long and hard. With only a high school diploma, she knew finding a well-paying job would be difficult. If she wanted to earn money, she’d have to return to what she knew best. She needed to buy another food cart, along with all the essentials, the illuminated signboard, the fridge, the shelves, the pots and pans. Altogether, it would cost at least ten thousand yuan.

So, Su Yinuo couldn’t afford to pass up any opportunity to make money now.

She pulled out her phone and opened Li Jinmiao’s WeChat. Her fingers tapped out a long message in the text box: Jinmiao, if you still need someone, I can go in your place tomorrow. My food cart got confiscated by the city inspectors, so I’m a bit short on cash right now [bitter][bitter].

Her thumb hovered over the send button. After hesitating for a few seconds, she added another line: But don’t worry, I’m going to check out new carts next week. The setups these days are way better, so they’re more expensive than before. Just thought I’d take on a job from you to earn a little extra, hehe [grin][grin].

Lying flat on her bed, Su Yinuo let out a miserable sigh and hit send.