In the following days, Mo Lin was incredibly busy.
It was as if fate was piling opportunities onto her. During that time, customers who had bought jewelry from Mo Lin’s studio were continuously finding their significant others.
They posted their joyful “achievements” online, attracting even more people.
Like some kind of statistical phenomenon, the more people who wanted to find love bought jewelry, the more people found love after purchasing it.
What seemed almost like a “rumor” to Mo Lin thoroughly opened up their sales channels.
Both Mo Lin and Cheng Lulu were equally puzzled. But with business booming, they weren’t about to turn it down.
Initially, Cheng Lulu handled the daily live streams, took orders, and had Mo Lin design them. The next day’s live stream content would be about Mo Lin designing the custom pieces from the previous day’s customers.
As more and more people came to the store, Cheng Lulu took over all the live streaming, while Mo Lin attended to offline customers. In the evenings, Mo Lin would record videos of her design process and have Cheng Lulu upload them to her account the next day.
Bit by bit, the business at the cultural park improved under Mo Lin’s influence.
When there were many customers at their store, Xu Yuan would kindly offer the space outside his coffee shop and serve free coffee to the customers to ease the waiting time.
Mo Lin was grateful and found time to tell Xu Yuan that during this period, all the coffee he provided would be paid for by their studio, and they would also cover the cost of occupying the seats.
Xu Yuan naturally refused, but Mo Lin didn’t give him a chance to decline. She had Cheng Lulu transfer the money from the studio’s account to Xu Yuan.
Cheng Lulu winked at Xu Yuan, saying, “Remember to give us an invoice.”
Xu Yuan, both amused and helpless, had no choice but to accept.
After working tirelessly for half a month, Mo Lin suddenly realized she hadn’t seen Jiang Yuanmu for a long time.
Even though they lived under the same roof, when she returned home, Jiang Yuanmu had already walked the dog and gone to bed. When Jiang Yuanmu left, Mo Lin was still asleep.
The little Border Collie had grown into an awkward adolescent stage, and Mo Lin had completely missed its childhood. The puppy that was supposed to be a trial for Mo Lin had, in fact, been entirely raised by Jiang Yuanmu.
Feeling a pang of guilt, Mo Lin decided to return the 5,000 yuan that Jiang Yuanmu had sent for the “Border Collie fund” as soon as it appeared in her account at the beginning of the new month.
“We haven’t seen each other in a while. I haven’t had a chance to talk to you lately. I really haven’t done much about taking care of the dog during this time.” She sent a message to Jiang Yuanmu while taking a cab to the studio. “You don’t need to pay for this money.”
Jiang Yuanmu responded by sending the money again, along with a message: “The agreed terms are always valid.”
Mo Lin thought for a moment, accepted the 5,000 yuan, and then returned 3,000 yuan: “I’ll take the rent for it, and you keep the money for taking care of it.”
This time, Jiang Yuanmu didn’t reply, and the 3,000 yuan remained in the message box, waiting to be automatically returned after twenty-four hours.
Mo Lin had no choice and no time to continue chatting with Jiang Yuanmu. When she arrived at the studio, she hurriedly got out of the cab and threw herself into a busy day.
It seemed the first day of the new month wasn’t planning to be kind to Mo Lin.
When Cheng Lulu arrived, she complained to Mo Lin about an old classmate who kept trying to get close to her in their university group chat, asking them to help him get rich.
“He acts like he’s crazy. We were just in the same department in university, but we weren’t close. Isn’t it abrupt and presumptuous to make such a request? I refused, and he said it was just a joke and accused me of being pretentious. What’s pretentious about that? I really wanted to tear his mouth off.”
The morning was the least busy time, so Mo Lin responded while drawing her designs, “Leave the group chat.”
“After cursing him out, I did. We should really follow your example and leave those groups that never have a single word spoken for hundreds of years. Declutter and simplify.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, there was a “ding-dong” from the glass door, indicating a customer had arrived early. Both Mo Lin and Cheng Lulu were a bit surprised and looked towards the entrance.
Cheng Lulu saw a plainly dressed middle-aged woman. She quickly changed her tone from the earlier complaints to a warm smile and greeted her, “Hello, welcome to Mo Lin Jewelry Design Studio.”
Mo Lin, sitting behind her design table, simply looked at the “customer” without saying a word, her lips pressed into a slight frown.
The middle-aged woman timidly glanced at Cheng Lulu, then turned her gaze to Mo Lin, “Lin… Linlin…”
- When you repeat the name twice, it shows that you are close to the person. It’s like calling Angela Angy
Cheng Lulu, shocked, turned to look at Mo Lin, whose face had darkened as she stood up.
“Uh…” Cheng Lulu, having never seen Mo Lin with such an expression, nervously asked the visitor, “You, you are?”
“My mother,” Mo Lin answered first.
Cheng Lulu quietly gasped, straightening her back. She didn’t know much about Mo Lin’s past, but she had heard Mo Lin mention that “Father passed away early, and Mother left too. It was Grandma who raised me.”
Cheng Lulu froze in place, unsure of what expression to wear, as Mo Lin stood in front of her mother.
Mo Lin looked at her mother as if she were a stranger—no hatred, no animosity, just a dead calm. “Ms. Zhang Yuhua, what are you here for?”
“I… I saw you on my phone recently,” Zhang Yuhua said, her eyes slightly reddened. “You’ve grown up, started your own business, and it’s doing well.”
Mo Lin didn’t respond, continuing to gaze at her coldly. “Do you need something?”
“I wanted to see you…”
Mo Lin lowered her gaze slightly, pondering something. Before she could finish her thoughts, Zhang Yuhua spoke again, “Your brother is getting married.”
Mo Lin looked up, staring at her silently.
Zhang Yuhua seemed to feel a great pressure enveloping her, but she gritted her teeth and averted her eyes, looking at a diamond ring in the glass showcase. “He wants to buy a diamond ring. You know, the ones in malls cost three to five thousand. I don’t have that kind of money…”
Cheng Lulu, hearing this, had already sensed Zhang Yuhua’s intentions. She found it absurd and was stunned in place, staring at her, wanting to know her true purpose. Cheng Lulu thought it couldn’t be true, that it couldn’t be as outrageous as she imagined…
“You work in this field, so you must understand. Look, can you sell me a cheaper one for my child to get married? I’ve seen many people on phone videos saying that diamonds are a scam, a huge profit margin. A diamond ring costing three to five thousand can be bought for just a few hundred. Can you help me out and sell one at cost price?”
Cheng Lulu felt her blood pressure shoot up to the back of her head, her mind filled with the sound of her heartbeat. After holding it in for a long time, she finally cursed, “You’re even more outrageous than I thought!”
“I won’t sell it to you.”
Mo Lin’s voice was calm and steady, still without any emotional fluctuation. But her words were clear and firm.
Cheng Lulu, understanding Mo Lin’s stance, straightened her back even more, “Exactly! We only sell natural diamonds over one carat. How could there be a cost price of a few hundred? If you can get it at that price, I would take as many as you can get!”
“How about a thousand?” Zhang Yuhua gritted her teeth, “Two thousand is fine too! You can still make a profit…”
“Oh my god, are you out of your mind?”
“I said, I won’t sell it to you.”
Amid Cheng Lulu’s scolding, Mo Lin continued to speak calmly and slowly:
“Diamond rings, gold, gemstones, I won’t sell any of them to you, at any price. I won’t bless your son’s marriage either. Ms. Zhang Yuhua, please leave.”
Cheng Lulu, hearing Mo Lin’s words, finally breathed a sigh of relief, “Please leave.”
Zhang Yuhua’s eyes were red, staring intently at Mo Lin, “You’re blaming me, aren’t you?”
Cheng Lulu rolled her eyes dramatically.
Mo Lin turned around to get her phone and called the police directly. When Zhang Yuhua saw Mo Lin dialing, she felt humiliated and angrily snatched the phone from Mo Lin’s hand, “Why are you calling the police?”
Cheng Lulu scolded, “What are you doing? Are you robbing us?”
Mo Lin extended her hand towards Zhang Yuhua, sternly warning her, “There are security cameras in the store. You are interfering with our normal business operations. Please leave my property.”
“I know, I know you’re blaming me. I was wrong back then, but I had a hard time too!” Zhang Yuhua was crying, “When your father was sick, all the money was spent on him. He passed away, leaving me with nothing. What could I do? I couldn’t even feed myself; how could I take care of you? I had to survive too.”
“What are you doing? Don’t sit on the floor and cry… Hey!” Cheng Lulu panicked.
Mo Lin instructed her, “Use your phone to call the police.”
“Oh, oh…” Cheng Lulu immediately turned around to get her phone. Amid Zhang Yuhua’s wailing, Cheng Lulu frowned and ran outside.
Inside the store, Zhang Yuhua continued crying, “The reason I lowered my pride to come to you is that I want to mend our relationship. It’s been so many years. I’m not trying to stop you from making money. You can certainly make some!”
Outside, the commotion had already attracted other people from the cultural park. They were pointing and talking at the entrance. Xu Yuan also came out of the coffee shop. Seeing the scene inside and Mo Lin’s furrowed brows, he wanted to step in but saw Cheng Lulu come out with her phone first.
“What’s going on? Lulu?”
“Oh, it’s a long story… Hey, hello, I’d like to report an incident…”
Cheng Lulu turned around to call the police. Xu Yuan saw the middle-aged woman on the floor starting to pull at Mo Lin. His heart tightened, and he rushed to the door, but then he heard Zhang Yuhua shouting, “No matter what, I’m still your mother! How can you treat me like this?”
Xu Yuan’s steps halted abruptly, caught in a dilemma. At that moment, a figure flashed past him like the wind, rushing into the store. The tall, imposing figure didn’t hesitate and immediately pulled Zhang Yuhua away from Mo Lin.
Xu Yuan stood there, stunned, watching Jiang Yuanmu, who was now standing in the store, shielding Mo Lin. For a moment, he felt as if the shadow of the eaves completely enveloped him. Inside and outside the store seemed like two different worlds, two different stories.
Mo Lin was also stunned.
She stared blankly at Jiang Yuanmu standing in front of her. He was still holding her hand, his palm broad, dry, and warm, as if it could smooth out the millions of crawling insects in her veins, calming the agitation caused by the conflict and gradually restoring her heartbeat to normal.
“I don’t care who you are, you can’t hurt her.”
Jiang Yuanmu’s calm and steady voice, as if it could withstand all harm, echoed in her ears. Mo Lin lowered her gaze, focusing only on their tightly clasped hands.
Mo Lin knew she could handle the situation herself. She was calm and resilient enough to drive Zhang Yuhua out of her store. But…
“Robbing someone else’s property and causing malicious harm can land you in jail. Be aware of that,” Jiang Yuanmu said.
Mo Lin’s body involuntarily leaned slightly towards Jiang Yuanmu.
Jiang Yuanmu seemed to sense her intention and instinctively held her tighter, like a form of support.
For some reason, at that moment, she wanted to take a break.
In her tightly wound life, she suddenly felt she had the right to “slack off” for a moment.
It was untimely, yet irresistible.
This made Mo Lin feel that, at that moment, she and this person with no blood relation had formed an electric connection.
A small but touching “spark.”
Zhang Yuhua squatted on the ground, not looking at anyone, just covering her face and sobbing, her graying hair, plain clothes, and nearly worn-out shoes making her look particularly helpless and pitiful.
Mo Lin calmed her emotions and squeezed Jiang Yuanmu’s hand, “I’m okay now.”
Jiang Yuanmu looked back at Mo Lin, seemingly confirming her words. Only when he was sure did he let her go.
Mo Lin walked over to Zhang Yuhua. Instead of helping her up, she picked up her phone and checked it.
“Ms. Zhang Yuhua, since my property hasn’t been damaged, you can leave on your own, or you can wait for the police to arrive. Your choice.”
Zhang Yuhua didn’t say anything more. She wiped her tears, gave Mo Lin a resentful look, and then left with her head down.
The store returned to peace, and the onlookers outside gradually dispersed. Xu Yuan glanced inside and then silently returned to his coffee shop.
In the studio, Mo Lin rubbed her phone, wiping off the dust. She then looked up at Jiang Yuanmu, “You…”
He was here again.
Too frequently, or rather, too timely.
“Yes, I’m here again.” Jiang Yuanmu nodded, picking up where Mo Lin left off.
“Is there something you need?” Mo Lin asked, “You should be quite busy in the morning.”
Jiang Yuanmu thought for a moment before honestly saying, “Because you said that we hadn’t seen each other in a while.”
So, he wanted to come and see her.
