MTB - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: I Can Help You

The next afternoon, Yun Yang took time off and went to the law firm to find Ouyang Jun by herself.

It was nearing the end of the semester, and various electives were wrapping up one after another, freeing up a lot of her time. She had taken several days off from her part-time job in a row, and Yun Yang herself felt bad about it. But the store manager was very kind to her, saying that if she wasn’t feeling well, she should rest for a few more days. It wasn’t busy anyway, and being short one person wouldn’t affect business.

At this point, Yun Yang understood that when Tang Yuelou had said “the store is short-staffed,” she was purely trying to hit on her.

But dwelling on it now was obviously pointless. Tang Yuelou was practically a fox spirit incarnate, operating on a completely different level. Even when her little tricks were exposed, she wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. In the end, after all the twists and turns, it was Yun Yang who ended up feeling awkward.

Ouyang Jun was extremely efficient. All the materials were already prepared, with only the final step remaining. Ouyang Jun briefly explained the next steps to her. Yun Yang understood the gist of it and nodded. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Ouyang Jun said while organizing the documents. “It’s what I should do. After all, Tang Yuelou paid for it.”

“…Huh?” Yun Yang didn’t register it for a moment. She had always thought this was just friends helping each other out… But on second thought, if their relationship was really that close, she would definitely be even more annoyed.

Thinking this, her mood inexplicably improved quite a bit.

“She is she, and I am I,” Yun Yang said softly, a little uncomfortable.

Ouyang Jun smiled. “You’re right.”

This time, they met in a reception room. The law firm was busy during work hours, yet quiet. The case was very simple, and by the time they finished talking, the tea hadn’t even cooled completely. Ouyang Jun didn’t seem busy either. She was different from the typical image of a “lawyer.” She wasn’t fierce, nor did she come across as aggressive. She was even a bit overly familiar and insisted on taking Yun Yang back to the university.

The office building where the law firm was located was just a street away from the university. Yun Yang repeatedly declined, so Ouyang Jun compromised and personally escorted her downstairs.

She had always found Ouyang Jun’s attitude toward her strange. It wasn’t how a normal person would treat their ex’s current partner. The way she looked at her seemed probing, and also like a kind of excessive attention with ulterior motives.

“Why didn’t Tang Yuelou come with you today?” Ouyang Jun asked in the elevator.

Yun Yang’s intuition told her not to get too involved with this person, so she answered tersely, “She had something to take care of at home.”

“Ah, right. It’s already November.” Ouyang Jun’s gaze fell on the descending floor numbers, and she sighed softly. “It’s almost her birthday, isn’t it?”

Hearing something like that from an ex felt strange. Yun Yang pursed her lips, thinking, I don’t need you to remind me.

But out of politeness, she replied, “Tomorrow.”

“Does Tang Yuelou still not celebrate her birthday?” Ouyang Jun suddenly asked.

Yun Yang froze, not understanding what she meant. “What?”

Seeing her completely clueless expression, Ouyang Jun seemed a bit surprised. Yun Yang frowned and immediately pressed, “What do you mean? What do you mean, ‘doesn’t celebrate her birthday’?”

“Tang Yuelou never celebrates her birthday,” Ouyang Jun paused, then continued, “because her mother committed suicide on her birthday.”

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Ouyang Jun said she had met Madam Tang once—not the young one, of course. She was about five or six at the time. Her pet cat had run out of the house, and she chased it into the road, only to see its body, run over by a car.

“Madam Tang heard my crying and came out of the house. She brought me a glass of warm water—I think it was honey water. I remember it was sweet.”

No one can predict the future. Of course, at the time, she didn’t know that these were the last days of the woman’s life. She didn’t know Madam Tang and had forgotten what they had said to each other, but she remembered that afternoon, the woman helped her bury the cat’s body in a garden by the roadside.

The woman was gentle and kind, incredibly patient even with a little girl she didn’t know. She was very skilled with her hands; she carved a tombstone for the kitten from a piece of wood and asked Ouyang Jun for the cat’s name.

“It’s gone to a place with no pain,” Madam Tang said gently. “That’s something to be happy about, so don’t cry, okay?”

For some reason, Ouyang Jun found her gentle tone terrifyingly cold. She nodded mechanically.

The big house, the strange, beautiful woman, the cat’s mangled corpse—this memory became a shadow over her childhood for a long time. Although it faded later—and looking back now, it’s lamentable—a child’s intuition is often quite accurate.

“Thinking back, her mental state must have been very poor at that time, right?” Recalling the past, Ouyang Jun couldn’t help but feel a sense of pity. “I don’t know Madam Tang well, but I can imagine that if your own mother were like that—I don’t mean to belittle her—it would be hard not to be left with some psychological scars. When she was with me, it seemed like she treated me as if I were Madam Tang… Perhaps it was out of some kind of compensatory psychology, wanting to make up for the loss of Madam Tang by ‘saving’ me.”

Ouyang Jun said she couldn’t accept Tang Yuelou’s controlling nature, and even less could she accept being treated as a “tool,” which is why she chose to break up back then.

The weather wasn’t good today. The forecast had predicted heavy snow. This might be Beicheng’s first snow of the year. There were no snowflakes yet, but heavy, dark clouds pressed down on the horizon. Inside the café, however, it was as warm as spring, with light classical music flowing through the air. Yun Yang imagined the scene of burying the cat and felt a chill run down her spine.

“What do you mean?” Yun Yang’s brain felt like it had rusted over. At first, she found it hard to believe, and it took her a great effort to digest all this—the things she had previously dismissed as jokes weren’t entirely jokes after all… Her feelings were complicated. She took a sip of her iced coffee to calm her nerves.

Perhaps she was silent for too long. Ouyang Jun thought she had suffered some kind of blow and asked with concern, “Are you okay?”

“…No,” Yun Yang said slowly. “I haven’t felt any of that.”

“What?” Ouyang Jun frowned, as if she hadn’t heard her clearly.

“You two haven’t seen each other in many years, have you?” Yun Yang asked.

Ouyang Jun replied, “Almost ten years.”

“Then I don’t think you know each other very well anymore.” Her finger traced through the condensation on the outside of her coffee cup as she recalled what Tang Yuelou had said last night. “Regret is a small part of life. When there are voids, something else will always come along to fill them—that’s what someone told me.”

“‘Someone’… is that Tang Yuelou?” Ouyang Jun was taken aback. “She said that?”

Yun Yang nodded. “Yes.”

Ouyang Jun stared blankly for a moment, then hesitated, her expression complicated. “Why would she…”

She stopped herself, wanting to ask “why,” but then realized she had no right to. Perhaps it was because of Tang Ruitian’s accident, or perhaps not everyone’s change can be attributed to a single, critical blow. Maybe she had simply come to terms with it slowly over the years.

But if she hadn’t chosen to let go back then… Ouyang Jun felt a sudden pang of regret. She slowly caressed the ring on her ring finger. The very idea of “if” was a false premise.

“I’m sorry.” She swallowed her words. “I shouldn’t have told you all this.”

“No, thank you for telling me.” Yun Yang finished the last of her coffee and called the waiter over to pay the bill. “I’ll remember your advice. Although I’ve decided to give her a chance for now, if I ever feel unhappy being with her, I’ll turn around and walk away without a second thought.”

Ouyang Jun hadn’t yet pulled herself out of her wistful melancholy, but hearing this, she laughed out loud.

“You really are interesting,” she said with a smile. “If I were Tang Yuelou, I’d probably like you too.”

Yun Yang: “…”

This sentence structure was very common, more often seen in the form of “If I were a man, I would definitely like you”—used in situations where a gay person has a crush on a straight person.

And so, that feeling of unease returned.

“Well, that’s really not necessary,” Yun Yang could only say with a smile.

“You two aren’t together yet, are you?” Ouyang Jun suddenly asked.

“…So what if we’re not?” Yun Yang’s expression almost slipped.

“Perhaps, I can help you.”

Ouyang Jun pulled out a napkin, got up, and moved to the seat next to her, dabbing a bit of coffee from the corner of her lips.

The gesture was a little too intimate. Yun Yang felt uncomfortable all over and instinctively pulled back. “Ms. Ouyang, this- this- this probably isn’t appropriate. You’re a married woman…”

“Just engaged, we haven’t had the wedding yet.” Ouyang Jun wiggled the ring on her hand and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t be so formal. Just call me Sister Xiaojun.”

Yun Yang: “…”

What exactly is happening right now?

“Sister… Ouyang,” she said with difficulty, altering the form of address on her own.

Ouyang Jun burst out laughing. “You’re so interesting.”

Yun Yang was completely baffled.

Ouyang Jun wrote her number on a notepad and handed it to her. “If Tang Yuelou ever breaks your heart, you can come find me anytime. But I hope that day never comes.”

“Don’t worry about the lawsuit. You don’t have to appear if you don’t want to. Just leave it to me.” She gave a gentle smile. “Goodbye, Yun Yang.”

Yun Yang thanked her again and got up, preparing to flee the complicated scene as quickly as possible. As she turned, her gaze met Tang Yuelou’s through the glass window—the latter had a polite smile on her face and gave Ouyang Jun a nod from across the distance.

It had started snowing outside. Tang Yuelou wasn’t holding an umbrella, and who knew how long she had been standing there. The shoulders of her light-colored coat were soaked through in a patch, covered in a layer of snowflakes.

Finally understanding what Ouyang Jun meant by “help you,” Yun Yang stood dumbstruck.

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