After Escaping Marriage - Extra 33
Chapter 176: Extra 4 - A Joyous Union
“Director… Lan?” Lian Yabing stared at the pen cap Li Lan had suddenly snapped shut. The unexpected sound made her feel rather bewildered, and her gaze toward Li Lan carried a trace of inquiry.
Li Lan casually set the pen aside, her movement perfectly natural, as if she had intended to do so all along.
“A blind date?” Her tone was perfectly normal as she asked the question back, a faint look of confusion on her face.
Li Lan had studied abroad for many years, so Lian Yabing figured the customs were different overseas. She explained, “At my age, I don’t have a partner yet, so my family is anxious.”
“What age are you?”
“…” Lian Yabing glanced at Li Lan again, feeling that she was acting strangely. Not wanting to discuss her private life further, she changed the subject. “Is there anything else, Director Lan?”
Li Lan said, “Come out with me tomorrow.”
Lian Yabing looked at her suspiciously and said cautiously, “I think I mentioned I have a blind date tomorrow?”
Li Lan was unmoved. “Mm,” she said coolly.
Lian Yabing: “???”
So? How could someone so young be so deaf?
What was even stranger was that Lian Yabing somehow accepted this outcome. She asked, “What are we going out for?”
Li Lan said, “Market research.”
Lian Yabing from the finance department had absolutely nothing to do with the words “market research.” But Li Lan looked at her so sincerely, as if it were part of her duties, and said, “I’ll pay you for overtime.”
Lian Yabing: “…Okay.”
A look of satisfaction appeared on Li Lan’s face. “Give me your contact information. I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”
“…Okay.”
Ten minutes later, Lian Yabing left Li Lan’s office, gently closing the door behind her.
She returned to her desk and sent a message to her mom.
【The company scheduled me for overtime. I can’t make the blind date tomorrow. Can you let them know for me?】
Mom: 【Overtime again? You’re not just making excuses because you don’t want to go, are you?】
Lian Yabing: 【If you don’t believe me, you can call my boss.】
Mom: 【Alright, I’ll tell your Auntie Liu.】
Mom: 【What kind of company makes you work overtime on a Saturday? Remember to eat.】
Lian Yabing: 【Got it.】
Lian Yabing put down her phone, a slight smile playing on her lips.
Between a blind date and overtime, she would of course choose overtime. She had to thank Li Lan’s sudden whim for giving her a legitimate excuse to escape a blind date, but… why did she want her to go along for market research? Was it because she was decent-looking?
Or had she recognized her?
Lian Yabing unconsciously bit the back of her finger. A head suddenly popped up from the next cubicle. “Why did Director Lan want to see you?”
Lian Yabing jumped, feeling a sudden, inexplicable sense of guilt. Her heart began to race.
She composed herself and fobbed them off with a random excuse. After that, she stopped dwelling on Li Lan and focused on her work.
Early on the weekend morning. Lian Yabing had just gotten out of bed when she received a call from Li Lan. “Where do you live?”
“Just tell me the location, I’ll take a taxi over,” Lian Yabing said as she got dressed.
“Address,” Li Lan repeated, her tone carrying the authority of a superior.
This woman was still so assertive after all these years. She was like this when she tutored her in English, and she was like this when she forcibly kissed her. But Lian Yabing was no longer the trembling little quail from ten years ago. Unafraid, she gave her the address of her residential complex’s entrance.
Li Lan said she would be there in about fifteen minutes.
After quickly getting ready, Lian Yabing passed by the full-length mirror and frowned.
A simple white shirt, skinny jeans, and canvas shoes. Thinking she would be running around doing research with Li Lan today, Lian Yabing had deliberately dressed casually. Now, looking at herself, she felt something was off.
Or rather, she was dissatisfied with everything.
She stood in front of the mirror for a moment before dismissing the idea of changing. It wasn’t like she was going on a blind date, so why did she need to look so good?
Fifteen minutes later, Lian Yabing appeared at the entrance of her complex right on time.
A black Mercedes was parked under a tree by the entrance. Just as her eyes fell on it, the driver’s side door opened and someone stepped out.
Long, wavy hair, a soft silk blouse paired with a skirt of the same material—she looked ethereal and utterly elegant.
Lian Yabing froze.
Weren’t they going to do research? Why was she dressed so femininely? Then again, why was a director doing research herself?
Seeing her standing there motionless, Li Lan waved at her.
Lian Yabing walked over in a few steps and greeted her, “Director Lan.”
Li Lan smiled. “We’re not at the office. You can just call me by my name.”
Lian Yabing: “Li…”
Li Lan said with a smile, “Stephanie.”
Lian Yabing: “…”
Fine, Stephanie it is.
Li Lan opened the passenger door for her. Lian Yabing got in, and Li Lan walked around to the other side, got in, and fastened her seatbelt. “Have you had breakfast?”
“Not yet.”
“Then let’s get breakfast first.”
“…”
Lian Yabing would just go along with her arrangements. After all, she was the boss.
They went to a breakfast place, and Li Lan handed the menu to Lian Yabing. “Yabing, see what you’d like to eat.”
Lian Yabing said nonchalantly, “I have an English name too.”
“What is it?” Li Lan asked with interest.
“Anna.”
Lian Yabing thought, So you can make me use your English name, but I can’t make you use mine?
Li Lan looked at her and smiled, her eyes curving into crescent moons. “It’s not as nice as your Chinese name.”
“…”
“Yabing, want to try this?” Li Lan pointed to a plate of crystal shrimp dumplings.
“…” Lian Yabing gritted her teeth.
Fine, you’re the boss, you call the shots.
After the meal, Lian Yabing got into the car and asked as she fastened her seatbelt, “Where are we going for the research?”
Li Lan signaled and merged into the main road’s traffic. “To the mall.”
That evening, Lian Yabing went home with a pile of skincare products. They were all from the company’s competitors. After Li Lan finished her “research,” she casually gave some to her.
Lian Yabing was utterly confused. Was this how market research was done? How had their company not gone bankrupt yet?
On Sunday, Li Lan didn’t bother her again. Lian Yabing slept in comfortably, spent the afternoon watching movies and playing games at home, and welcomed the new week.
As usual, there were all sorts of “chance encounters,” which seemed like a lot of interaction but in reality involved very few words exchanged.
On Friday, Li Lan sent her a WeChat message: 【Are you free tomorrow?】
Lian Yabing replied tentatively: 【Research?】
Li Lan: 【Mm.】
Ten minutes later. Mom: 【Overtime again? Auntie Liu’s son is about to have a blind date with someone else!】
Lian Yabing was secretly delighted. That’s great, she thought, grinning as she replied: 【My boss is inhuman. What can a lowly employee like me do?】
Her mom complained a bit more before letting it go.
The next day, Lian Yabing happily went on a date with her inhuman boss—no, to do market research.
Li Lan claimed they were doing research for a sister company under the parent corporation and gave Lian Yabing several outfits. Lian Yabing didn’t accept them, but she went home and tossed and turned all night thinking about it, nearly suffering from insomnia. What was worse, even though she didn’t fall asleep until almost dawn, she still had an erotic dream.
Needless to say, the star of the dream was Li Lan.
Li Lan was exceptionally good at it. Her legs were weak for a long time before she could get up. Luckily, the next day was Sunday, so she didn’t have to wake up early.
After being asked out for several weekends in a row, Lian Yabing couldn’t be bothered to ask which subsidiary she was helping this time. She dutifully acted as her little follower, enjoying good food and drinks, triple overtime pay, and a beauty to look at. It was a divine life.
Two months later, on a weekend, Li Lan picked up Lian Yabing and drove to the mall. The elevator went straight to the fourth floor.
The fourth floor was the food court. Lian Yabing knew this and immediately started mentally listing which sister companies were in the restaurant business. But when she looked up, she and Li Lan were standing in front of a movie theater.
“Li… Stephanie?” No matter how slow she was, Lian Yabing could tell something was wrong. What kind of boss does market research by watching a movie with a subordinate?
Li Lan’s expression didn’t change. “Mm,” she said. “I have a friend who owns a movie theater.”
Lian Yabing: “…Oh.”
She’d just pretend to believe her.
They watched a movie, a rather mind-bending sci-fi film. Because the director was famous and it was a weekend, the theater was almost full. When the movie ended, nearly all the guys were explaining the plot and the interwoven timelines to their girlfriends.
Lian Yabing kept her eyes to herself and, holding her bag, asked, “What should we eat later?”
Li Lan asked gently, “What do you want to eat?”
Lian Yabing gave her a strange look.
Li Lan smiled and let out a sound that could only be described as gentle, “Hm?”
Lian Yabing’s heart skipped a beat.
“You decide,” she said, unconsciously swallowing.
Li Lan took her to a hot pot restaurant. After dinner, she drove her home. This time, there were no excuses about sister companies or gifts. Dressed in a long skirt, she stood in the night, watching Lian Yabing’s retreating back.
Lian Yabing, holding her handbag with both hands, glanced back before entering the building’s doorway.
Li Lan smiled at her, a soft and beautiful smile. The hem of her skirt fluttered in the gardenia-scented night.
Lian Yabing quickened her pace, practically flying as she rushed into the stairwell.
At the landing, out of Li Lan’s sight, she leaned her back against the wall, lowered her head, and started to laugh.
After laughing, she didn’t even know what she was laughing about. She hastily straightened her hair and clothes in the hallway, ran up the stairs, opened her apartment door, and rushed straight to the balcony.
Li Lan looked up at the lit window. Lian Yabing hid on the balcony, an unconscious smile on her lips, peeking out carefully through a small gap in the curtains again and again.
Li Lan was there. Li Lan was still there. … Li Lan was gone.
The black Mercedes melted into the night, moonlight flowing over its body.
Lian Yabing stood on the balcony for a while before coming back inside and checking her phone on the coffee table. There was a new message.
Stephanie: 【I’m home. Get some rest.】
The message was from five minutes ago, probably sent when Li Lan got into her car to leave.
Lian Yabing washed up as usual. It was still early, so after getting out of the bathroom, she started watching a show on her tablet—a romantic K-drama she had been binge-watching obsessively, so sweet it made her lose all sense of direction.
But now, for some reason, her mind kept wandering. As she watched the male and female leads kiss and hug, her mind was filled with images of Li Lan from the day. Her white shirt, scented with soapberry, had the clean smell of sunshine, pulling her back to her wonderful, youthful days.
Li Lan had been the monitor of Class Seven in their first year of high school. Besides being in charge of class activities, she was also responsible for class discipline and appearance. Her uniform was always the neatest and cleanest, exuding a fresh soapberry scent. When she tutored her in English, she would wrap an arm around her shoulder, and the pleasant soapberry smell from her uniform collar would drift into Lian Yabing’s nose.
“…What did I just say?”
Sixteen-year-old Lian Yabing looked up to see the class monitor, with the pretty mole on the tip of her nose, looking at her helplessly. In her eyes was an imperceptible trace of indulgence and affection.
“What did you say?” Lian Yabing snapped out of her daze, still muddled.
“You—” Li Lan raised her hand and gently flicked Lian Yabing’s forehead. “You’ll be the death of me. I’ll explain it one more time. Listen carefully.”
“Okay,” Lian Yabing said, staring blankly at Li Lan’s face.
“What are you looking at me for? Look at the book!”
“Oh, oh, oh.”
Lian Yabing hastily lowered her head, but she couldn’t help sneaking glances at the class monitor out of the corner of her eye.
The K-drama on her tablet had been paused at some point. Lian Yabing didn’t know why, after ten years, she could still so clearly remember Li Lan’s ears slowly turning red when she noticed her gaze back then.
Lian Yabing hugged the extra pillow and rolled over, biting her lip as she reminisced about those years.
Back when Teacher Yu was their homeroom teacher, the class held a debate on whether to support puppy love. She had stood firmly on the opposing side. Li Lan hadn’t participated, but from her attitude, she seemed to be on the affirmative side.
Lian Yabing didn’t regret her choice back then, but now, so much later, she suddenly found herself imagining another possibility.
On that weekend night, she dreamed again.
The dream was no longer one of passionate embraces and torrential floods. Instead, time flowed backward, and a new branch grew on the tree, bearing different flowers and fruit.
The next day, Lian Yabing woke up. Lying in bed, she watched the sunlight stream in. The dressing table in her room was covered with all sorts of skincare products, no longer the mountains of test papers and books. For a long time, she couldn’t come back to her senses.
A new week began.
When Lian Yabing saw Li Lan at the company, she no longer avoided her or pretended they were strangers. Occasionally, she would even smile at her first. The first time it happened, Li Lan was taken aback for a moment, but she was good at hiding her feelings and quickly returned the smile with ease.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye.
On Friday afternoon, Lian Yabing sat in the office, absent-minded, picking up her phone to check it every few minutes.
Luckily, the auditors had just left last week; otherwise, in her current state, she probably wouldn’t have been able to focus on her work.
It was time to get off work.
A colleague saw Lian Yabing sitting dazedly at her desk and waved a hand in front of her face. “It’s quitting time. Aren’t you leaving?”
Lian Yabing licked her dry lips—she had forgotten to drink water all afternoon—and looked down at her dark phone screen, her gaze a little unfocused. “I still have some work to finish. You guys go ahead.”
“Okay, then remember to lock the door later.”
Before long, the office was completely empty.
Lian Yabing opened WeChat. The first message was from her mom: 【You’re not working overtime tomorrow, are you? I’ve made plans with your Auntie Hu’s son. You can’t stand him up again this time.】
Lian Yabing didn’t reply. She went back and tapped on Li Lan’s profile picture.
The last message was still the “Get some rest” she had sent after dropping her home last weekend.
What was going on? It was already Friday. Why hadn’t Li Lan asked her to go out for market research tomorrow?
Since everyone had left, Lian Yabing looked left and right, then crept through the company hallway, furtively making her way to the director’s office. The door was closed; she didn’t know if anyone was still inside.
With an indescribable feeling, Lian Yabing closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
She was there!
Lian Yabing’s heart pounded wildly.
For a moment, she almost couldn’t resist the impulse to burst in. She paused at the door to compose herself before gently pushing it open.
“Director Lan.”
“Come in,” Li Lan said from behind her desk without looking up.
Li Lan seemed very busy. Only when Lian Yabing was standing in front of her did she put down her pen, raise her eyes to look at her, and ask in a gentle tone, “Is there something you need?”
Lian Yabing finally pulled her gaze away from Li Lan’s face, cleared her throat subtly, and said, “Isn’t it Friday today?”
Li Lan looked at her again with that exceptionally gentle gaze. “Hm?”
Lian Yabing’s traitorous heart skipped half a beat, and her voice dropped. “Don’t we need to do market research tomorrow?”
“Oh, that.” Li Lan slowly capped her pen and looked at her with a faint smile. “The research is already finished. Thank you for all your hard work these past few days.”
Lian Yabing stood frozen on the spot.
It’s… finished?
As if she suddenly couldn’t understand words, Lian Yabing asked redundantly, “So tomorrow?”
Li Lan looked at her with an amused expression. “Tomorrow, we’ll both do our own things. You don’t have to work overtime anymore. Isn’t that something to be happy about?”
“It is,” Lian Yabing said with a laugh. “I’m happy. I’m just not used to it yet.”
Hahaha, no more overtime.
The moment she stepped out of the office, Lian Yabing’s face fell.
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