I Start with a Mysterious Island-Chapter 101: A Beautiful Woman of an Indeterminable Age
At a new flower shop on East District Wangxi Road, Su Yue said goodbye to her good friend Wang Ling, then clocked out and headed home.
Just as she stepped out of the flower shop, the phone in her purse started ringing.
"Hey, Mom, are you there yet?"
"I’m on my way home now."
"Just let yourself in! I left the key under the flowerpot by the front door. You..."
Before Su Yue could finish, the call disconnected. She glanced at her phone—the battery was dead.
Su Yue quickly put the phone back in her purse and hurried over to where she had parked.
A few moments later, Su Yue, helmet on, was riding her small white electric scooter down the road, heading home.
「...」
Carrying a large bag of fresh vegetables, Lin Li stood at Su Yue’s front door and rang the doorbell.
DING-DONG...
After the doorbell rang, Lin Li waited for a moment, but no one came to open the door.
’No way! Su Yue isn’t home? Shouldn’t she be back from work by now?’
Lin Li muttered to himself, then looked down at a flowerpot beside the door.
He bent over and moved the pot, but the item he was searching for was nowhere to be seen.
’I’m sure I remembered correctly! Su Yue keeps her spare key under the flowerpot. How is it not here? Did she move it?’
Unable to find Su Yue’s key, Lin Li glanced around but couldn’t spot any other potential hiding places.
Even though he couldn’t find the key, Lin Li wasn’t the least bit worried. He had another way in.
With a mere thought, Lin Li retrieved a keyring from the Mysterious Small Island.
As her landlord, Lin Li naturally had a spare key to Su Yue’s apartment... Well, alright. Even for a landlord, all keys are supposed to be handed over to the tenant after they move in.
So why did he have a spare key? It wasn’t as if he had secretly kept a copy for himself.
The spare key he held was one Su Yue had given him herself. The reason was that last summer, Su Yue had gone home to spend the holidays with her family, and they had all gone on a trip.
She would be away from home for nearly two months.
Su Yue, however, kept some plants on her balcony, and she worried that with her gone for two months, there would be no one to water them.
By the time she got back from her vacation, all her plants would be dead.
So, Su Yue had asked Lin Li to come by every few days while she was away to water the plants on her balcony.
When the summer vacation ended and Su Yue returned, Lin Li had tried to give the key back. However, Su Yue wouldn’t take it, saying she’d need his help again during future school breaks, so he should just keep it.
CLICK.
Lin Li found the key and unlocked the door. He was just about to step inside with the large bag of vegetables in his hand.
But then he saw a slender, beautiful woman of indeterminable age standing just inside the doorway, watching him curiously.
"Uh... hello..." Stared at by this ageless beauty, Lin Li felt inexplicably flustered and greeted her out of reflex.
"Hello," Zheng Qiuyi replied politely, seeing the young man who had just unlocked her daughter’s door take the initiative to greet her.
"..." After the exchange, Lin Li was suddenly at a loss for what to say next.
Seeing the clean-cut young man fall silent, Zheng Qiuyi thought for a moment before introducing herself. "I’m Su Yue’s mother. And you are...?"
’So this ageless beauty is Su Yue’s mother! Now that I think about it, Su Yue does resemble her a bit...’
After hearing Su Yue’s mother introduce herself, Lin Li quickly and politely replied, "Hello, Ma’am. I’m Lin Li, a friend of Su Yue’s."
An expression of understanding appeared on Zheng Qiuyi’s face. She had been about to ask him how he had a key to her daughter’s apartment, but she bit her tongue and decided against it.
"Oh, so you’re a friend of Su Yue’s! Don’t just stand there in the doorway, please come in and sit down.
I was just on the phone with Su Yue. She’s on her way home now and should be back any minute."
Now knowing that Lin Li was her daughter’s friend, Zheng Qiuyi smiled and warmly welcomed him inside.
"Ma’am, I have other things to do, so I won’t come in. Please, take this bag of vegetables..." Lin Li said, handing her the large bag of fresh produce.
"What are these for? Did Su Yue ask you to buy them for her?" Zheng Qiuyi asked as she took the large bag of fresh vegetables from him.
"No, I was at the market earlier and happened to run into a farmer from the suburbs selling a truckload of produce.
Everything he had looked so fresh and the prices were great, so I bought some extra and thought I’d drop a portion off for Su Yue."
Lin Li had originally prepared this story for Su Yue; he never imagined he’d be telling it to her mother first.
"Oh, I couldn’t possibly accept this! How much were they? I can pay you on Su Yue’s behalf," Zheng Qiuyi said politely with a smile.
Lin Li smiled and waved his hand. "Ma’am, they’re not worth much. Please, don’t be so formal with me..."
"Well..." Zheng Qiuyi hesitated.
"Ma’am, whenever Su Yue makes something delicious, she invites me over to eat. I’ve come over for dinner plenty of times!
So please, don’t mention money, or I’ll be too embarrassed to ever come bum a meal off her again."
Seeing the hesitation still on her face, Lin Li offered what he thought was a very persuasive reason. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
He had no idea, however, that his "very persuasive reason" was setting off a tempest in Su Yue’s mother’s heart.
Zheng Qiuyi, who knew her daughter’s personality inside and out, was stunned for a moment by Lin Li’s words. Then her eyes lit up, and she looked at him with a profound, meaningful gaze that he couldn’t comprehend.
’Why is Su Yue’s mom looking at me like that? I didn’t say anything wrong, did I...?’ Lin Li was filled with confusion as he met her intense gaze.
"Alright. Since you put it that way, I’ll accept it on Su Yue’s behalf," Zheng Qiuyi said, smiling at Lin Li.
But this smile was slightly different from her earlier ones.
Though still a smile, the one she now showed Lin Li carried a new, different kind of meaning.
Seeing that Su Yue’s mother had stopped insisting on paying him, Lin Li felt a wave of relief. He said, "Goodbye, Ma’am, I have to get going," and turned to leave.
Zheng Qiuyi had wanted to ask him to stay and chat for a while so she could get to know this young man better.
But since he’d mentioned he had other things to do, she didn’t press the issue.
「...」
