Running a Food Stall to Support My Deceptive Omega - Chapter 6.1

In a daze, Mu Jinyu even thought for a moment that Rong Heng had recovered her memory and was intentionally standing by her bed, her long black hair disheveled, eyes glowing green, preparing to tear her limb from limb and devour her whole.

Her blood ran cold, her breathing stopped, and she lay on the bed, not daring to move an inch.

In the courtyard outside, the breeze rustled the leaves of the persimmon tree with a “sha-sha” sound, and the occasional chirping of insects and birds sounded melodious in the dark night.

Everything was supposed to be leisurely and beautiful.

But Mu Jinyu only felt that the room was incomparably cold, as if she had arrived in hell with underworld messengers pressing down on her from both sides, while Rong Heng was the life-taking King Yama.

Staring straight at her, Rong Heng seemed to be forcing her to confess her crimes.

She really wanted to shout, “Injustice!” but feared that if Rong Heng became displeased, she would simply be struck down.

The two looked at each other—one not daring to speak, the other temporarily unable to.

They remained in a standoff, neither knowing what the other was thinking.

After a long while, Rong Heng, who had been standing by the bed half-bent, perhaps finding the posture tiring, slowly lowered herself.

She knelt on the ground.

Her arms overlapped as she rested them on the edge of the bed, her chin placed atop them. Her head tilted slightly to one side as she watched Mu Jinyu with eyes as black as ink and as eerie as a ghost’s.

She couldn’t sleep. She found the scent of the Qianyuan in the room very unpleasant, so she had wandered out into the courtyard to sit by the stone table, staring blankly.

She wasn’t thinking about anything; she just felt the rolling clouds and the gentle breeze on her face, breathing in the scent of flora between heaven and earth.

The persimmon tree had not yet borne fruit, but its scent was very fresh. On the clothes hanging by the courtyard wall, there was the lingering fragrance of soap pods. Clumps of weeds grew from the cracks under the wall, smelling uniquely of green grass.

She could even smell the earthy scent of the soil in this yard.

Every single scent was much more pleasant than that decaying, nightmare-inducing smell of sycamore wood.

As she sat quietly… sitting… a doubt arose in Rong Heng’s mind.

During the day, she hadn’t smelled that decaying scent on that Qianyuan?

On the contrary, it had been fresh and full of vitality.

Unable to understand much, she stood up, walked directly into Mu Jinyu’s room, and stood by the bed, staring straight at the person sleeping soundly.

She even leaned down, her waterfall of black hair drooping like willow branches. The clothes she had just changed into were somewhat oversized for her, piling up in layers at a corner of the bed.

She used the tip of her nose to sniff.

The Qianyuan’s scent rose like a wisp of blue smoke. Rong Heng seemed to see a thick-trunked sycamore tree appearing before her eyes, large enough to blot out the sun and block any wind or rain.

This scent made Rong Heng feel much more at ease, and she couldn’t help but lean closer.

That was when Mu Jinyu woke up.

Rong Heng had no idea that her disheveled black hair, pale face, and ink-dark eyes would terrify Mu Jinyu.

She just felt a tiny bit of secret joy, feeling that there was someone else in this late night who was also unable to sleep.

Mu Jinyu: “…”

Mu Jinyu waited in fear for a long time, but when Rong Heng didn’t strike, she finally dared to make a slight movement, shifting her eyes to carefully observe Rong Heng’s expression.

Rong Heng’s face showed no sign of hatred or disgust toward her; nothing seemed to have changed—she was still dazed.

Her memory hadn’t recovered at all.

Mu Jinyu unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief and asked tentatively, “Why aren’t you sleeping?”

Rong Heng straightened her head a bit and shook it.

“Can’t sleep?”

Rong Heng shook her head again.

She could sleep; she just really disliked the atmosphere in that other room.

But seeing her shake her head, Mu Jinyu was completely bewildered, not knowing what Rong Heng wanted to do.

She could only say, “Be careful, don’t press on your wounds.”

Doesn’t it hurt Rong Heng herself?

Her arms were covered in knife wounds of all sizes, yet she dared to stack her arms and press her chin down on them?

Hearing Mu Jinyu’s words, Rong Heng shifted her arms up and down and pressed them together again, clearly not understanding what Mu Jinyu was saying at all.

“Sigh…”

Mu Jinyu sighed and stopped worrying about it.

Once she confirmed that Rong Heng hadn’t recovered her memory but was just staying by her side for some reason, she closed her eyes for a while to ease her drowsiness. After feeling slightly more awake, she flipped over and sat up.

The cool night air poured into the quilt, and Mu Jinyu realized she had broken out in a cold sweat from the scare.

Fortunately, Rong Heng wasn’t wearing white clothes; otherwise, she wouldn’t just have broken into a cold sweat—she would have been scared into a faint!

She sat cross-legged on the bed, pulling at her clothes to vent the heat while saying, “Do you need me for something? Are your wounds hurting, or are you hungry, cold, or uncomfortable?”

“Forget it, stop kneeling on the floor. Get up.”

In the middle of the night, what was with Rong Heng kneeling by her bed?

Anyone who didn’t know better would think she was bullying her.

She reached out to touch Rong Heng, but Rong Heng dodged.

It seemed Rong Heng didn’t fully trust her yet; she just insisted on staying in her room.

Mu Jinyu felt her head ache slightly. She rubbed her scalp with her fingertips, her amber eyes full of helplessness as she asked tentatively, “How about I leave then?”

In any case, there were two rooms in the house; she could sleep anywhere.

Just as the words left her mouth, Rong Heng immediately shook her head like a rattle, with a much larger amplitude than before, making it clear she was unwilling.

“You won’t go to sleep, and you won’t let me leave,” Mu Jinyu said. “You just want to stay with me?”

This finally hit the mark for Rong Heng.

She nodded heavily, returned to the bedside, crouched down, hugged her knees with her hands, looked up, and stared at Mu Jinyu with wide eyes.

With the bits and pieces of their interaction during the day, she now trusted Mu Jinyu relatively more and was willing to be near her.

However, Mu Jinyu couldn’t stand someone crouching or kneeling by her bed; it looked very strange.

She said anxiously, “Hey, hey, don’t crouch here! Fine, fine, just sit on the bed. As long as you don’t think I’ll hurt you, just sit on the bed.”

She thought that since Rong Heng was willing to be with her, she would also be willing to accept the suggestion of sitting on the bed.

To her surprise, Rong Heng didn’t move. She just leaned against the edge of the bed as if that were more comfortable.

Mu Jinyu: “…”

All this back and forth was giving her a massive headache.

Since Rong Heng didn’t speak, she really didn’t know what the other meant to express.

The pressure of Mu Jinyu’s fingers on her scalp increased, and she even used both hands, nearly rubbing her hair into a bird’s nest.

Rong Heng didn’t want to go to sleep, nor did she want her to leave. She wanted to stay with her, but didn’t want to get too close.

How to handle this…

Suddenly, Mu Jinyu had a flash of inspiration and seemed to understand the thoughts of the person before her.

The person in front of her was still wary; although she was willing to be in the same space, she didn’t want to be too close.

So, she just needed to move further away.

“Is it that you want to be with me, but don’t want to be too close?” Mu Jinyu asked while moving several times toward the inner part of the bed, creating distance from Rong Heng.

Rong Heng looked up at Mu Jinyu, and a look of approval appeared in those dazed eyes, making Mu Jinyu chuckle.

Fine then. She moved a few more inches inward until she was leaning against the wall, leaving a large space for Rong Heng.

Rong Heng then stood up from the floor, looked at her several times as if having a long internal struggle, telling herself to trust the person in front of her just a little bit.

Only then did she make up her mind and sit on the very edge of the bed.

Mu Jinyu let out a drowsy yawn, her voice slightly raspy: “Stay here for a bit, then go to sleep, okay?”

If they both stayed in the same space, neither would sleep well. It was better to be apart.

Rong Heng neither nodded nor shook her head.

She just rested her back gently against the bedpost, finding a more comfortable position.

The room fell silent, with only the sound of two people’s breathing rising and falling.

This room had once been where the original owner’s two mothers lived, so it was much larger than the other room.

A dressing table, a wardrobe, and even a small couch were all present. The wood used was of relatively high quality, and the legs were carved with flowers!

One could see how affluent their lives once were.

Leaning against the wall, Mu Jinyu knew she should talk to Rong Heng to exchange pleasantries and pass the time.

But she wasn’t familiar with Rong Heng, and she was truly exhausted. Her head bobbed like a chicken pecking at grain. Unable to think of a suitable topic, she could only mumble about what she was going to do tomorrow.

She had a lot to do tomorrow. She planned to buy different kinds of fish and spend a day improving the “Knocked Fish Noodles.”

She also had to buy quite a few things to stock up on the missing firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea.

Just thinking about it made it seem like a huge expense. She only had a small amount of silver; even if she broke it into three or four pieces, it wouldn’t be enough.

If the fish noodles didn’t sell, she wouldn’t even have to wait for Rong Heng to recover her memory—she’d starve to death on the northwest wind.

As she spoke, Mu Jinyu’s voice gradually faded, and she fell asleep leaning against the wall.

She even began to dream.

In her dream, she turned into a tiny person, running back and forth, busy to the point of exhaustion.

Rong Heng, leaning against the bedpost, listened seriously even though she couldn’t understand what Mu Jinyu was saying.

Until the surroundings fell silent.

She didn’t leave. She leaned against the bedside and fell asleep along with Mu Jinyu.

The “scent of nature” (Xingxiang) on the Qianyuan was very pleasant, without a hint of impurity, making her want to rely on it.

She also dreamed, but it was no longer the previous nightmare of black mud pressing down so hard she couldn’t breathe.

It was a beautiful dream of the first light of dawn and a gentle, pleasant breeze.

The people in the Night Market Street all had their days and nights reversed, so no one raised roosters for fear of being woken up.

But in the early morning, the sounds of poultry, cats, and dogs still increased.

Mu Jinyu slowly woke up amidst these rising and falling sounds.

She had slept very comfortably, feeling the mental exhaustion of several days washed away, leaving only refreshment.

She squinted her eyes, first looking at the flickering greenery outside the window and the faint light peeking through the cracks.

Only then did she slowly shift her gaze to… Rong Heng!?

Rong Heng hadn’t left all night, and she had even slept in the same bed as her!?

Mu Jinyu didn’t think it was a big deal; both of them were girls, so it was normal to sleep together.

She was just worried: did the pre-amnesia Rong Heng have symptoms like being a clean freak, not allowing anyone near her, or having a “supreme above all” complex?

If so, would she be held in a grudge?

She clearly wanted to please Rong Heng, so why was she doing everything the wrong way?

Wait, no!

Mu Jinyu clutched her head, suddenly remembering that this world didn’t have two genders, but six!

She was a Qianyuan, and Rong Heng was a Kunze.

This meant their genders were different.

If so, were there taboos about them sleeping together?

She really couldn’t find any difference between herself and Rong Heng—they clearly looked the same, so how were their genders different?

In that case, she couldn’t distinguish gender at all!

Mu Jinyu’s amber eyes trembled several times as she looked at Rong Heng, who was sleeping upside down on the bed, debating whether she should keep pretending to sleep until Rong Heng woke up and left.

Or should she quietly get out of bed now?

Better to get out of bed now.

Mu Jinyu rose slowly, lifting her quilt bit by bit, wriggling toward the outside of the bed.

Since she already knew her gender was different from Rong Heng’s, she couldn’t pretend she didn’t know and stay on the bed.

Better to avoid a misunderstanding.

She twisted her body to dodge Rong Heng’s limbs, acting with extreme caution for fear of waking her.

After getting off the bed, Mu Jinyu ran out to the courtyard like she had committed a crime before she dared to breathe a sigh of relief.

She prayed that Rong Heng wouldn’t mind and wouldn’t chop her into minced meat after recovering her memory.