"Oh my god, it's only January," Wang Qiqi muttered, not realizing that this simple exclamation would plant a vague notion in Zhu Lina's mind as she stood by the stairwell, listening to the wind howl outside. Wang Qiqi couldn't even fathom what going out in the dead of winter would be like in January.

Wang Qiqi battled the fierce wind as she made her way slowly toward the wet market. At this hour, the community shouldn't have been so deserted; usually, one could hear a few elderly people discussing their meal plans, but now, the residential streets were almost empty, save for the few people, like Wang Qiqi, hurrying along.

After carrying her groceries for two days, Wang Qiqi rushed home. She didn't even bother haggling over prices; the weather was too cold, making things difficult for the vendors and just as unpleasant for the buyers.

Passing the breakfast stall near the community gate, Wang Qiqi grabbed a bite and bolted for home. Zhu Lina was holding a mug, sipping warm water, and seeing Wang Qiqi's hasty return, she asked, "Is someone following you?" Could it be that Deng Zhi?

Stepping into the building hallway, Wang Qiqi immediately felt a bit warmer, though not as intensely as the warmth awaiting her inside the apartment. After a moment, she felt truly alive again. "No, it's freezing outside, absolutely freezing." She casually took off her padded coat and hung it up.

Zhu Lina helped carry the groceries into the kitchen. "Qiqi, I wanted to ask you something." Zhu Lina handed Wang Qiqi a carton of milk while opening a bag of soy milk for herself.

Thanking her, Wang Qiqi quickly downed the milk. She had only had warm water early that morning, offering no real calories. Once fully thawed out, she said, half-reclining on the sofa, "What is it? If it's complex stuff about stocks, remember the consultation fee." Having walked such a short distance with so few groceries, Wang Qiqi felt her arms were about to give out—ah, exercising even a little while wearing winter clothes was exhausting.

"No problem." Zhu Lina had indeed mulled over something, though the impression was still hazy. "You mentioned frozen food earlier..."

"Yes." Wang Qiqi hadn't expected her casual complaint to stick with Zhu Lina enough for her to ask. "Like frozen dumplings, wontons, buns, things like that. If you store them in the freezer, they last six months or a year. That way, if you get hungry in the middle of the night, you don't have to worry because you have stock."

Shi Man shuffled toward the dining table, yawning. "Buns again? Can't you switch up the menu?" She felt like she was going to turn into a steamed bun herself, eating them at school and now at home.

"If you don't like buns, buy your own," Wang Qiqi retorted, implying that Shi Man was complaining without contributing effort.

Shi Man stuck out her tongue. Right, better keep quiet. "I do think it would be great if there really were frozen foods," she conceded. At least then she could eat what she wanted without watching anyone else’s face. While instant noodles were an option, they got tiresome, and Shi Man always found them greasy. Once or twice was fine, but too often, she lost interest. "I can alternate."

"Too bad there isn't a factory making them," Zhu Lina sighed.

"Isn't it even better if no one is making them? If someone were to jump in right now to start a frozen food business, wouldn't they have a major first-mover advantage?" Wang Qiqi noticed Zhu Lina was intrigued. "Furthermore, while the profit margins on food might not match other industries, the sheer volume of people who eat and drink makes it a decent sector, though the risks are high too." Wang Qiqi recalled the food safety scandals of later years, which were, of course, due to manufacturers cutting corners, neglecting hygiene, and focusing only on profit—no wonder they got exposed.

Risk? "All business has some risk," Zhu Lina thought; if there were no risk, why would anyone agree to work for someone else? "Thanks, Qiqi." With that, Zhu Lina stood up and headed to her room.

Shi Man looked from Wang Qiqi to Zhu Lina. "Did you just hand her another brilliant idea?"

"You both heard the same brilliant idea simultaneously, and you also thought it was good, yet you didn't come up with it first." It had to be admitted that Zhu Lina had a high aptitude for business. Shi Man, upon hearing this, instantly wished frozen foods would launch soon so her eating could be more convenient. Meanwhile, Zhu Lina's reaction was to consider whether this family could get involved in this emerging industry. "Sometimes, a single phrase or thought can spark an incredibly lucrative venture."

Shi Man glanced toward Zhu Lina's room and then back at herself. "Her family situation is different; she grew up in that environment. My background is not the same as hers." There was no comparison; for instance, when it came to reading people, Shi Man was confident she was sharper than both Zhu Lina and Wang Qiqi.

"Children from political and commercial families have advantages that us common folk can't match," Wang Qiqi lamented. "But I think Zhu Lina's in-laws can rest easy; Lina will take over."

"She has no choice but to take over. She can't let her male cousins take the reins, or find some man to step in, which would be too dangerous." If a son-in-law who married into the family proved too capable, sooner or later he'd rename the foundation Zhu Lina's parents built. This wasn't unprecedented; hadn't many men climbed the ladder using their wives' family connections, only to start living wildly once the family support dwindled? Perhaps it was partly because the wives looked down on them initially, but it was also often due to their inherent poor character.

A few moments later, Zhu Lina emerged from her room and settled onto the sofa. "Are they still sleeping?"

Wang Qiqi nodded and went to her own room. She found her bed neatly made, opened her laptop, and started to work. Having a computer made translating drafts much faster. Although she still had to transcribe a clean copy by hand, it was far better than handwriting several versions. "I need to buy a printer tomorrow," Wang Qiqi mused. While she often told herself that writing more would cultivate her character, after writing for so long, she genuinely felt it was a miserable chore.

Shi Man happened to enter the room to grab something and overheard Wang Qiqi muttering about buying a printer. "You're planning to buy a printer?" Heavens, wasn't that a bit too extravagant?

Shi Man's voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to draw Zhu Lina out. "Qiqi, you're buying a printer?"

Wang Qiqi nodded. "I was just thinking that if I get more assignments in the future, this would make things much easier."

"We can just buy one together then," Zhu Lina considered. "Once Han Tao officially moves out, I plan to completely reconfigure the small room back into a study. Zhu Lina glanced at Wang Qiqi's bookshelf, which was already overflowing with books. Some were borrowed, but most Wang Qiqi had bought from nearby bookstores, many of them in English. She was only in her first semester of freshman year; who knew where Qiqi would put all her books by the time she graduated?

"Sounds good. Then I can get a big bookshelf," Wang Qiqi thought, imagining a floor-to-ceiling unit—that feeling would be wonderful, not for showing off, but because Wang Qiqi remembered a movie she'd seen where she forgot everything except the private study, which looked like a library. Reading physical books had a scent of literature that e-books could never replicate.

"Great! It'll be convenient for me to organize materials too," Shi Man said. She had no idea where to add more notes to her densely scribbled notebooks; if she had a computer in the future, revising something would be as simple as typing a sentence.

The two in the next room were already so comfortable with each other that, especially with Han Tao not having moved out yet, the three women across the hall were already planning how to utilize that room.

Back in the dorm, Wang Qiqi opened her laptop and began typing the draft translations from her library session that day, intending to review everything one last time and save the files before lights out.

Bai Ge peeked down from the top bunk and noticed Wang Qiqi sitting quietly on her bed, typing constantly. She asked casually, "Qiqi, what are you doing?" It seemed lately Wang Qiqi spent every moment back in the dorm typing things into the computer, yet the others couldn't find any evidence, which they found very strange.

"Typing up some documents," Wang Qiqi replied. She wasn't unaware of the discussions happening behind her back. Her interest in computers hadn't been that great before, but as the translation jobs piled up, she spent more time on the PC. Furthermore, as the complexity of her translations increased, Wang Qiqi had an idea: she wanted to audit some classes in the English Department. Some vocabulary hadn't been used in ages, and she felt her translations weren't precise enough. She would ask the counselor tomorrow if an auditing process was required.

Typing documents? Gong Yiying rolled her eyes. "We know you're typing documents; we can hear the keys. By the way, Qiqi, the person who picked you up last time wasn't..."

Wang Qiqi hadn't expected Gong Yiying to raise that topic; she had always thought Bai Ge would ask first. "...Wasn't it your boyfriend?" Wang Qiqi paused. "I can't say what the future holds for us, but I like him, that's the current situation."

"When are you going to bring him over for us to meet?" Gong Yiying asked, quite interested. She was dying to know who managed to sideline Deng Zhi. Moreover, due to Zhang Han's connection—it was rumored that Zhang Han had been quite irritable lately because Deng Zhi was in a foul mood—Gong Yiying wondered if finding out about Deng Zhi's romantic rival would make him view her more favorably.

Bring him over? Wang Qiqi stared at Gong Yiying for a long moment. "What's there to see? Our relationship isn't confirmed yet. Besides, I worry he might scare you all away. Once things are more stable next year, I'll bring him out for you beauties to judge."

Gong Yiying thought: if she couldn't see him, could she at least gather some background information? She immediately asked, "What are his family circumstances like? And why is he working as a tutor? Which university does he attend, and what's his major...?"

Wang Qiqi looked at Gong Yiying's barrage of questions. "That person doesn't seem to be your boyfriend. If you hadn't seen him, I'd genuinely think you had a crush on him."

Even with Gong Yiying's thick skin, hearing Wang Qiqi say that forced her to retreat. As for what she truly thought, her expression made that clear enough.