Chapter 49

Chapter 49: After the Lanterns Fade

The morning after the festival dawned gently, with a pink hue washing over the rooftops of Qinghe Village. The lanterns from last night still swayed lazily in the breeze, their paper edges slightly curled from dew.

Su Yanyue stood in her small courtyard, hair loose and a simple robe draped around her shoulders. She held a steaming cup of tea and breathed in the crisp morning air. It carried traces of burnt incense and sweet sugar pastries from the night before.

Peaceful. Quiet. A rare moment to herself.

That peace lasted exactly three sips.

"Auntie!" Su Lin burst out of the house, hair tousled and socks mismatched. "Su Zhi ate the last of the candied plums and tried to frame me by planting the pit in my pillow!"

"I did no such thing!" Su Zhi yelled, chasing after him with an empty jar.

Su Rui followed calmly, dragging a large basket behind him. "I hid the real stash, just in case. We need to ration for long-term survival."

Yanyue sighed, holding her teacup high so it wouldn't spill. "If you three put as much effort into schoolwork as you do into plotting food warfare, you'd already be little ministers by now."

"We don't want to be ministers," Su Lin muttered.

"Too many meetings," Su Zhi added.

"No snacks in court," Su Rui concluded gravely.

Chuckling softly, Yanyue turned toward the stove where she had left some rice porridge simmering. She ladled it into bowls, adding a touch of pickled radish and boiled eggs, then called out, "Breakfast!"

The triplets immediately dropped their arguments and scrambled to the table like wolves discovering roast chicken.

Yu Shiming appeared not long after, sleeves rolled to the forearms, carrying a bundle of chopped wood over one shoulder. His gaze swept over the lively scene and settled on Yanyue, softening slightly.

"Still standing after the festival?" he teased, setting the wood down neatly.

"Barely," she said with a tired grin. "I might sleep for the next three days."

"You'll last three hours," he said. "Then someone will need your help, or one of these terrors will 'accidentally' set something on fire."

"Hey! We only did that once!" Su Zhi defended through a mouthful of porridge.

Yu Shiming sat down beside the boys, lifting one of the bowls with practiced ease. "I heard you three made quite an impression yesterday."

"They asked us to teach a business class!" Su Lin beamed proudly.

"Until the village elder overheard us say we were founding a Bun Empire," Su Rui added.

Su Zhi shrugged. "The vision was too grand for small minds."

Yanyue laughed until her sides hurt.

Later that morning, as chores were done and the boys ran off to dig for imaginary treasure behind the house, Yanyue found herself at the small back garden planting herbs. Yu Shiming knelt beside her, helping without being asked.

"You've been quiet," she said without looking up.

"Enjoying the peace."

"Rare commodity around here."

They worked in silence for a while—her hands steady over the soil, his careful beside hers.

"Yanyue," he said suddenly, voice low, "do you ever miss where you came from?"

She paused, a sprig of mint between her fingers.

"…Sometimes," she said softly. "But there's something about this place. About days like this."

Their eyes met, and neither of them needed to say more.

Here in the quiet moments—between laughter, soil, and simple meals—something warm and strong was growing.

And neither of them was in a hurry to name it just yet.