T/N: As the title says, there will be a time skip. I felt duty-bound to warn you.

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Back in the hotel room, Luo Qi answered the phone call from her cousin.

Luo Yu cried and begged for forgiveness on the phone: Luo Qi’s little cucumber seedlings have died.

“Sister, forgive me, you must forgive me. Maybe I watered them too much, but it was surely a mistake because the roots rotted.”

Her cousin’s love and cucumber seedlings—both died in her hands!

“It’s okay, the time for planting is wrong anyway,” Luo Qi reassured her cousin, “I’ll plant it again next spring.”

Luo Yu packed up the plastic shed on the balcony and vowed to successfully grow cucumbers for her cousin one day

… …

With this goal in mind, she followed relevant blogs to learn how to carefully cultivate cucumber seedlings.

At the end of April the following year, she bought a new pack of cucumber seeds and planted them according to the instructions.

Her cousin was right: the reason why the last batch of cucumbers failed to bloom and bear fruit was because they were planted at the wrong time. This year’s new batch of seedlings sprouted young cucumbers within a few days of planting and were growing well.

The weather was starting to get hotter and hotter, so they no longer needed to worry about the balcony not being warm enough.

In June, the cucumber vines climbed up, and she and her cousin built another cucumber shed.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

Today was Luo Yu’s day off and she came over early in the morning.

She hadn’t gone here for only three days, but the cucumbers actually bloomed small, yellow flowers in that short time! She counted a dozen small cucumbers in total.

The balcony was full of lush foliage and greenery.

“Older sister, hurry up, take two pictures of me, make them look better. Show the atmosphere of me in a farmyard.”

She handed the phone to her cousin.

Luo Qi also didn’t have to go to work today. She had just woken up and was still wearing pajamas.

She adjusted the angle, but she couldn’t get the blockbuster impact that Luo Yu wanted. “I’ll just photoshop your picture.”

“How can it be the same? This is the result of our hard work!” Luo Yu gently picked up a cucumber leaf and made an exaggerated pose, “I’m not tired, you can take more pictures until we get it right.”

“Older sister, when are you free to go out for dinner?” Luo Yu said after a while.

“What’s the point of this again?”

“What else can I mean?”

Inexplicably, Luo Yu seemed to have lost her confidence.

The great Daddy¹ of her project’s Party A has given explicit hints for the fifth time since the Spring Festival, saying that they should have a meal together when her cousin was free, and has been asking when would she be free.

It’s been nine months since her cousin’s break-up. She should be considering a new life by now.

“Older sister, our new cucumbers are already in bloom. Summer is the perfect time for falling in love.” This was, of course, wrong—it should be ‘spring’, but her cousin should understand what she wanted to express anyway.

Luo Qi still said the same thing she always did these days, “I just want to earn money right now.”

… ….

For Luo Qi, time did not fly too fast, especially the first few months after the break-up. Every day back then was difficult. She finally got through the first half year still intact, and in the past three months, she found that—at some point—she seemed to have stopped thinking about the past.

Occasionally, she would hear Pei Shixiao’s name come up while doing financial research, and she would almost be unfazed.

Relationships required too much energy. Even if the debt was paid off one day, she would not consider love anymore. It was good to be alone. She had nothing and no one to worry about, had no expectations, and no disappointments.

The relationship with her parents was still lukewarm.

She didn’t go home during the Spring Festival. There was a new project started abroad by the Yuanwei Group which required Jiang Shenghe to personally coordinate certain procedures. She was the only one free in the Secretary’s Office during the holidays so she was assigned to go on this business trip.

They stayed there for three weeks and didn’t come back until after the Lantern Festival.²

She also met up with Jiang Yueru in Manhattan and celebrated the Spring Festival at her place, waiting for the new year to come.

Jiang Yueru prepared three red envelopes, including one for Luo Qi.

The new year arrived.

Without her noticing, somehow June has arrived yet again, and Suzhou was ushering in another rainy season. The events of last year were still vivid in her mind, as if they were only yesterday, and yet a year has already passed.

Luo Qi washed up, ate the breakfast prepared by her cousin, and began to pack her clothes.

Luo Yu lay on the sofa editing photos and took a look at her luggage, “Going on a business trip?”

“Yeah. To Suzhou City.”

“Why are you going back to Suzhou again? Your long-distance project isn’t over yet?”

“That’s almost done. This time we are attending a summit forum.” 

The AI ​​Medical Summit Forum will be held in Suzhou City. Jiang Shenghe was invited to attend and she will accompany him.

… …

The forum was scheduled for two days.

On Monday afternoon, she and her boss took the high-speed train to Suzhou City again.

Yuanwei Medical had two major competitors—Dongbo Medical and Ruipu Medical. Pei Shixiao ultimately did not sell Dongbo’s shares, and the acquisition failed to proceed.

Yuanwei, however, successfully acquired Ruipu Medical. The next step was the integration of Ruipu Medical into Yuanwei: everything from the management team to the operating philosophy.

Luo Qi didn’t know who they planned to send over to Ruipu to take charge.

She was actually very excited about this: the work would be challenging, and the most important thing was that the salary was higher than her current one.

If she only continued in her current position, she would not be able to pay back her family’s debt to the Eldest Uncle’s family within three years.

Jiang Shenghe glanced at the seat next to him. Luo Qi was looking out the window and seemed distracted, who knew what she was thinking about.

His phone vibrated, and he opened it to check. A few minutes ago, he had asked Qin Moling if he was free this Friday.

Qin Moling replied: [Probably not available. I have to choose wedding photos these days.]

Jiang Shenghe: “…”

This guy, you don’t have to choose wedding photos on a Friday night—and even if you do, you don’t have to take several days in a row to do it.

He just wanted to show off his wedding photos.

Yes, Qin Moling got married. He had a flash marriage with the daughter of their elementary school teacher. On the first blind date, Jian Hang stood Qin Moling up, and his family arranged a second blind date for them.

After the two met the second time around, they quickly obtained the certificate, but the wedding itself had not yet been held.

Qin Moling asked: [What do you have on Friday?]

Jiang Shenghe: [Let’s talk about it when I get back. I’m on a business trip in Suzhou these two days.]

Seventh Year of My Secret Love for You translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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FOOTNOTES:
¹The literal translation is ‘father’ and the connotation is more ‘great ancestor who must be respected’ rather than the playful, sexual overtones that the word ‘daddy’ has somehow acquired over the past decade or so. But I’m keeping it as ‘Daddy’ because I like the guy and both senses fit 😝 ↩︎

²Spring Festival is another name for Lunar or Chinese New Year, generally held sometime late January to late February. The Lantern Festival is held 2 weeks after the first day of the lunar year and traditionally marks the end of the New Year festival ↩︎

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