Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 82

Mom, She’s a Girl

After the assistant said, “This friend you’re talking about, is it you yourself?” both sides fell silent. Su Ruixi wanted to become angry out of shame and hang up the phone directly, but the fact that the assistant could guess it was her showed she had some skills, and the subsequent analysis was really important to her.

So she endured it. “Never mind who it is, just tell me your analysis.”

The assistant chuckled, and Su Ruixi felt as if she was being mocked. Fortunately, the assistant didn’t say anything unnecessary and continued, “This friend of yours, she’s definitely jealous. Seeing that lesbian being nice to a colleague, she felt there was something going on between them. If this isn’t jealousy, what is?”

Su Ruixi was completely stunned: She, jealous?!

This was something Su Ruixi wouldn’t even dare to imagine. How could she be jealous?!

But the assistant’s next words left Su Ruixi with no room to think about anything else.

“And if your friend is jealous, it means she likes that lesbian, right? If she didn’t like her, there’d be absolutely no need to be jealous. Besides, that lesbian didn’t really do much, just used to bring your friend lunch and recently stopped.”

Speaking up to this point, the assistant paused for a moment, because she realized: so the lunchbox Su Ruixi had been bringing before was made by that lesbian. She continued to provoke Su Ruixi, “The most crucial thing is, your friend paid her, she wasn’t making her work for free.”

“She also just brought a hard-to-get snack for a colleague, which is quite normal. You ask why she used to bring lunch all the time but doesn’t anymore? Well, most likely she used to like your friend a bit. Based on your description, your friend doesn’t seem like a lesbian, so the other person probably felt there was no hope and stopped bringing it. Your friend gets very upset and unhappy over such a small thing, which proves she cares a lot about the lesbian.”

“Speaking of which, from what you’re saying, it sounds like both of them are interested in each other. In this situation, the probability of them getting together is quite high, wouldn’t you say?”

After the assistant’s analysis, Su Ruixi felt like the sky was falling. She even blurted out, “No, how could I possibly…” She then realized she couldn’t directly talk about herself and changed the subject, “My friend is a straight woman!”

“How does that saying go? Women can be naturally gay; it’s very possible your friend suddenly awakened her inner lesbian. Besides, homosexuality can also be acquired. Moreover, didn’t you say your friend has never dated before? So maybe she never even realized whether she liked men or women before. It’s not bad to face her true feelings now.”

The assistant felt she had said enough, especially since Su Ruixi’s voice had sounded very flustered just now, almost as if she was about to expose herself. She decided to ease up a bit and continued, “Boss Su, there’s one thing you need to advise your friend on, though.”

“What is it?”

“Our country doesn’t support same-sex marriage, and public support for lesbians isn’t high either. What’s more, your friend, like you, is the only daughter of a wealthy family, right? In this situation, would her parents agree to her being a lesbian and being with another girl? If your friend really gets together with her, she has to be serious about it. Don’t go into it thinking of just having some fun with a lesbian, then turning around and planning to marry someone else and have children. That kind of behavior is disgusting.”

Su Ruixi hadn’t expected the assistant to be so direct, though in reality, they both knew perfectly well that the so-called friend was Su Ruixi herself. It was just that one was too easily embarrassed to expose it, and the other, mindful that Su Ruixi was her boss, went along with her and didn’t point it out directly.

The assistant spoke with great righteousness, genuinely worried that Su Ruixi might turn into a scumbag woman who plays with lesbians.

Su Ruixi, however, wasn’t concerned about these things and said directly, “She wouldn’t. If they really get together, and she confirms she likes women, she’ll be serious about it. She definitely wouldn’t do something like that.”

The assistant breathed a sigh of relief and continued, “Then you still need to think it through clearly. The path of being a lesbian isn’t that easy to walk.”

“Mm, thank you.”

With that said, there was no need to continue the conversation. Su Ruixi hung up the phone. She stared at her phone until the screen automatically locked, then thought to herself: Do I… like Sun Miao?

The assistant’s words had directly pierced through that thin layer of paper¹ in her heart. She found herself unconsciously thinking about this matter, no longer agonizing over whether Sun Miao liked her or not. In this matter, her own feelings were more important, because Su Ruixi… was not a lesbian.

The assistant was right; in their country, being a lesbian was not an easy path. But if she truly took this path, Su Ruixi would absolutely not regret it, nor would she be afraid. How could someone as proud and self-assured as her worry about a path being difficult?

Just because it’s difficult, she wouldn’t take it? What a joke. How could she, Su Ruixi, possibly fear difficulties?

As for her own parents, that naturally wouldn’t be a problem. Her father definitely hoped she would marry and have children, preferably to marry uxorilocally² so the children would carry the Su surname. In the past, she had no strong opinions about this, but if she really got together with Sun Miao, her father’s ambitions would come to nothing. It didn’t matter anyway; her mom was open-minded. When the time came, her mom would deal with the love-obsessed³ Director Su (referring to her father).

The only thing Su Ruixi needed to figure out was her own true feelings.

To this day, Su Ruixi had to admit she had favorable feelings towards Sun Miao, but to say it was love might be a bit too much. However, it was indeed the first time she had ever felt this way. So, she made another call. This time, she couldn’t ask the assistant for help, or she’d be completely exposed⁴.

This time, she chose to call her mom.

“Hello? Xixi, what’s wrong?” Her mom was currently at work. The moment she received her daughter’s call, she actually found it quite incredible. As the saying goes, no one knows a daughter better than her mother. Su Ruixi’s mom even glanced at the date to confirm it was a workday. Her workaholic daughter was actually calling her at a time like this?

“Mom, I have some questions I can’t find answers to. Can you help me?”

At this moment, Mother Su sat up straight and proper. She even uncrossed her legs, which had been casually crossed, and sat respectfully. Heavens, she thought, is this… a heart-to-heart talk with my daughter? One had to know that ever since Su Ruixi started middle school, she was no longer the person who would follow her around calling “Mommy, Mommy” all day.

Mother Su had never experienced the kind of heart-to-heart talks other mothers and daughters had. She never expected to have this belated conversation now that her daughter was almost 30 and had been out in the working world for some time!

“Mm,” Mother Su softened her voice as much as possible, speaking gently, “Sweetheart, you talk, Mommy’s listening.”

Suddenly hearing the address “sweetheart,” Su Ruixi choked up a bit but continued, “I don’t know how to say this… There’s this person, who actually hasn’t done too many things for me, but every little thing she does for me makes me feel very happy. But if she stops doing those things, and suddenly becomes cold towards me, I feel very, very upset.”

As Su Ruixi spoke, Mother Su gradually became excited: This is it! A love consultation!

Ah, her daughter finally has someone she likes?!

While Mother Su was getting excited, Su Ruixi continued, “I… I even dreamed about her yesterday. In the dream, she was in my kitchen, wearing an apron and cooking for me. The atmosphere of that dream was so good, it made me not want to wake up.”

Mother Su was certain now. Su Ruixi was in love; she had fallen for someone!

Wonderful!

Mother Su had once suspected her daughter would end up alone for life. Su Ruixi seemed completely insulated from romance. She was approaching thirty in a few years, yet she hadn’t had a single romantic partner. Someone had even asked Mother Su before if she wanted to introduce Su Ruixi to some matchmaking candidates⁵, since being single like this wasn’t a solution.

Mother Su had been furious at that suggestion. Her daughter, going on arranged dates?! What a joke! Just look at those good-for-nothing men⁶ who had to resort to matchmaking! Her daughter was only twenty-seven, and they wanted her to go on arranged dates?! In their dreams!

Besides, while they called it matchmaking, it was actually all about business alliances through marriage. She had no intention of ruining her daughter’s lifelong happiness on this, nor would she accept her outstanding child settling for less. Even if her daughter remained single her whole life, growing old alone with her career, she would never stoop to going on arranged dates!

See, hadn’t her persistence paid off? Her daughter had someone she fancied!

Mother Su had been happy for less than twenty seconds when Su Ruixi said, “Mom, I don’t know if this is like.”

“Still don’t know? It’s so obvious with you!” Mother Su, afraid Su Ruixi would let this person slip away, immediately spoke up. She quickly realized she was being too hasty and softened her voice again, “Sweetheart, Mom is telling you very responsibly, this is like.”

She cleared her throat and continued, “Do you feel very happy when you see him?”

Su Ruixi thought for a moment, then said, “Mm-hmm.” Mother Su continued, “And when you can’t see her, you feel upset inside?” Su Ruixi continued to nod, “Yes, Mom.”

Mother Su was one hundred percent certain: this was love.

“If you see him with other girls, do you find it very jarring, even feel very uncomfortable inside?”

Su Ruixi thought of Sun Miao and that lemon tea shop owner, then said, “Yes, it hurts like a needle prick. I clearly have no relationship with that person, but when I see them together, I instinctively dislike the other girl. I know this isn’t good, but I can’t control myself.”

“Sweetheart, you’re in love,” Mother Su concluded.

Mother Su felt greatly relieved.

Oh dear, her daughter had finally come to her senses⁷.

“In love…?” Su Ruixi repeated uncertainly, but she pressed her hand to her chest and found her heart pounding; the sound of her heartbeat filled her ears. She felt as if something she’d been hiding had been exposed, making her feel particularly self-conscious. But at the thought of the word “love,” a softness spread through her heart.

Especially when this word was connected with Sun Miao.

Su Ruixi thought: Mom is right, this is love.

Mother Su waited for a while, but when Su Ruixi didn’t ask any further questions, she couldn’t hold back and started asking, “Xixi, does that man like you? You said he suddenly became cold towards you; you must pay attention to the reason why. Some men are very bad. Although Mom is very happy you’re in love, I don’t want you to have a bad romantic experience.”

“Man?” Su Ruixi didn’t quite understand. Why did everyone subconsciously assume it was a man? Weren’t the clues in her description that Sun Miao was female obvious enough?

“Mom, she’s a girl.”

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LP: Mother Su’s just excited her daughter finally has someone she likes that her brain completely filtered out the pronouns.

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