Chapter 141: Take It Slow

Han Mo froze for a moment, not quite understanding. “Switch what channel? Do you want to watch TV?”

He reached over and ruffled He Huanhuan’s bright-yellow hair. “Let’s watch after we eat. It’s getting late.”

“What are you talking about? We’re not even discussing the same thing!”

He Huanhuan slapped his hand away in annoyance, then voiced the little worry that had been bothering her. “...Han Mo, don’t you think the two of us are stuck on the children’s channel?”

Han Mo couldn’t help laughing. “What’s wrong with the children’s channel? You’re the youngest of the three, so of course you belong on the children’s channel.”

He Huanhuan pushed back her bangs. “But I’m an adult too! And we’ve known each other the longest. Isn’t it kind of ridiculous that I’ve been overtaken like this?”

Han Mo asked, “Overtaken how?”

“You know... like that!”

“What do you mean, ‘like that’?”

“...”

“Han Mo!”

“Haha...”

Han Mo finally lost control and burst out laughing.

That only made He Huanhuan angrier. “I’m being serious!”

What was so funny?

The car pulled over by the roadside. Han Mo looked at her with a smile. “I’m being serious too.”

Her bright-yellow bangs were a complete mess from all her fidgeting. Han Mo reached over and smoothed them back into place. “We’re not in a competition. Why are you so worried about falling behind?”

When it came to relationships, everyone had to move at their own pace. Each person had their own rhythm. Comparing yourself to others wouldn’t get you anywhere—it would only make you anxious.

He Huanhuan frowned. “Really?”

“Of course.”

He brushed a finger over the crease between her brows, as though wiping away her worries along with it. “Huanhuan, the two of us are different from them. Have you forgotten? We’ve been through being drifters together.”

Even without intimacy, their feelings wouldn’t change.

Back then, when Han Xuan had run him over, it was He Huanhuan who had pulled him out of the car. She had carried him away from the scene and hidden with him for two days in a dilapidated, abandoned house.

How could he possibly stop liking her just because they hadn’t been intimate?

“That’s not the point!”

He Huanhuan suddenly sat up straight and leaned close to his face. “I kind of want to kiss!”

She was curious!

Back when she was still hanging around the edgy crowd, everyone had been obsessed with dating and kissing. One day, they would get together with one person and kiss them. The next day, they would get together with someone else and kiss them again.

At the time, she had barely been able to survive, and she had thought they were all crazy for constantly kissing each other.

But now that her life had stabilized, she had unexpectedly become curious about what kissing actually felt like!

What was that saying again? Once your basic needs are met, you start thinking about sex.

It really wasn’t wrong. That was exactly what was happening to her now...

Her eyes locked firmly onto Han Mo’s... mouth, shining brightly. “How about I kiss you first?”

She was younger, and she would be the one making the first move. That made perfect sense, didn’t it?

Around Han Mo, she could always act however she pleased, without the slightest restraint.

The moment she finished speaking, she shot forward, planning to catch him off guard.

But a large hand instantly cupped her face, squishing her cheeks together and making her look even younger.

With a smile, Han Mo gently pushed her face away, making her cheeks puff out even more. “Do you really want to, or are you just saying that?”

He Huanhuan mumbled, “Of course I really want to!”

Han Mo pressed her. “Then why didn’t you want to before? Why do you suddenly want to today?”

“Um...”

He Huanhuan couldn’t answer. Of course it was because she had listened to that explicit conversation today, and her thoughts had gotten carried away with it!

But how could she say that?

Wouldn’t that mean exposing the private business of her older brother and Sister Yunzhi?

“You’re so annoying! Why are you making such a big deal out of a kiss?”

How had she never noticed what a nag he was before?

Fine! She wasn’t kissing him anymore!

She flailed, trying to free her face from his palm, when a shadow suddenly fell over her.

Then a light kiss landed on her forehead.

“More than half the year has already passed, Huanhuan,” Han Mo said softly. “Once this year is over, next year will pass quickly too. Time flies. Before you know it, you’ll be as grown-up and beautiful as Meili.”

When that happened, they could switch to another channel.

For now, the children’s channel was perfectly fine.

It was a light, gentle kiss—more like a blessing and a show of affection from a family member.

He Huanhuan’s heart suddenly jolted. Her eyes darted around awkwardly. “I—I know...”

Her parents had been completely absent from her upbringing.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. Her father was around—it would simply have been better if he hadn’t been.

Perhaps because she had been so deprived of fatherly love, she was completely unable to reject Han Mo’s tenderness.

She blinked and glanced at Han Mo, then quickly looked away. “Well... I’m not kissing you anymore. Let’s go eat...”

Han Mo watched as her face slowly turned red in his palm, the corners of his eyes curving with amusement. “You don’t even have half of Meili’s nerve, yet you want to imitate her?”

When Meili and Liang Zheng kissed, she might not have had any experience, but she had one advantage: her memory was terrible. She forgot about it as soon as it was over.

He Huanhuan, on the other hand, didn’t even know where to look.

“You’re so annoying! Let’s go eat!”

“Haha...”

Their attempt to switch channels had ended in complete failure, but for some reason, Huanhuan felt a little closer to the person beside her.

Over the next few days, the sisters did nothing else. They devoted themselves entirely to researching electric scooters at home.

They studied the industry, looked into how to open a shop, and considered how to strike the right balance.

In particular, once He Huanhuan told Meili that she wanted to provide jobs for young women from the same edgy subculture they had once belonged to, Meili’s enthusiasm for learning instantly reached its peak.

They had made it out of a difficult life, so they understood better than anyone how much pain lay beneath the laughter of those girls.

She absolutely had to help Huanhuan get the shop up and running—properly and completely.

She wanted girls who were struggling and helpless, just as they once had been, to live better lives than the ones they had known.

But the girls from that subculture did have a rather unconventional look, and they could easily scare away potential customers. There was no way around that.

They discussed the matter with He Yunzhi for several days, but still couldn’t find a suitable middle ground.

And so the issue remained deadlocked.

She hadn’t been born into wealth, with a golden spoon in her mouth. She couldn’t throw money away casually; it hurt her to waste it.

She had to prepare everything properly before opening the shop, before offering anyone jobs.

As He Yunzhi had said, at least during the initial projections, the losses couldn’t be too great.

If the preliminary estimates already predicted substantial losses, then there was no point in launching the project at all.

But although He Yunzhi had plenty of theoretical knowledge, she had very little experience with starting a business.

So when faced with this concrete difficulty, she couldn’t come up with the best solution right away either.

Until a week later, when she and Meili were at home, howling in frustration:

“Why does everyone in our circle love dyeing their hair and getting tattoos so much?!”

Although they were wailing, the black plastic bags over their heads were wrapped tightly in place.

They couldn’t think of a solution, and the frustration was driving them crazy!

So of course they had to dye their hair a new color to jolt their irritated minds!