MTB - Chapter 43

Chapter 43: “Mom”

Yun Yang hadn’t seen Ping Wan since her father, Yun Guangwen, remarried. By now, it had been six years.

Her childhood memories had long since blurred. Yun Yang recalled that Ping Wan had decided to return to the workforce around the time she started elementary school. Her husband was busy with his job, and she was constantly rushing between work and home. It seemed that was when the endless arguments began—and then, when Yun Yang was ten, Ping Wan and Yun Guangwen divorced.

Now, mother and daughter sat across from each other at the same table. So much time had passed that they didn't even know where to begin if they wanted to feel close. Yun Yang had thought she would feel completely out of her element, but it wasn't as awkward as she had imagined. From start to finish, Ping Wan did most of the talking, explaining her current situation. She mentioned she had been abroad for two years for a work transfer and had only recently returned.

So Yun Yang discreetly swallowed the “How have you been?” she was about to ask.

In the past, if someone had told Yun Yang that a job could completely transform a person, she wouldn't have believed them. Not until she saw Ping Wan again today. Ping Wan looked well. Time hadn't left many marks on her, yet she seemed like a completely different person. The woman who had stood apart from the crowd, smiling gently and waving at her, made the melancholic, hysterical figure from her memories feel like a distant phantom. As a result, Yun Yang's vague, indefinable guilt had nowhere to land.

“A few years ago, I came to Beicheng on a business trip, right around here. After so many years, it seems not much has changed.” Ping Wan looked out the window, pointing at Z University’s gate and smiling at her. “When I passed by back then, I thought, ‘It would be great if my child could get into this university.’ Who would have thought it would come true.”

A sense of melancholy washed over Yun Yang for no reason. Fortunately, the server arrived with their coffee just then. As if to cover it up, Yun Yang quickly took the cups, pushed one in front of her mother, and asked, “What brings you here so suddenly?”

“Your mother has been abroad for the past few years,” Ping Wan said, her gaze drifting to the other side of the street. “I suddenly wanted to see how my daughter was doing.”

“I… I’m doing great,” Yun Yang said with a smile, telling a lie. “My father has always taken good care of me.”

Ping Wan didn’t reply. She just watched Yun Yang quietly, making Yun Yang think she was about to call out the lie. But she didn’t. She simply nodded and smiled. “Then I can rest easy.”

“A few days ago, your father contacted me and asked me to come talk some sense into you. I told him he was worrying over nothing. Yangyang isn’t a child anymore; she doesn’t need an adult hovering over her, nagging about every little thing. Sigh. He never took much responsibility when you were little. It's a testament to your character that you don't hate him. Don’t you think it’s a bit late for him to start acting like a concerned father now?”

Yun Yang was speechless.

It was clear that getting divorced had been one of the best decisions Ping Wan had ever made. Yun Yang breathed a sigh of relief. The welling sorrow was pushed back down, leaving her momentarily speechless and, a second later, a little awkward.

She had no idea how her father had embellished the story of her life to alarm Ping Wan so much. So, she explained the whole situation from start to finish. For the first hour of their meeting, Ping Wan had been the one talking while she answered. Now their roles were reversed. As if trying to prove how well she was doing, she glossed over the details of the incident and focused on the fact that she had sued Chen Hao, with the court date just two days away.

“Yun—ahem, my dad probably didn’t paint a pretty picture when he complained to you,” Yun Yang said, gripping the handle of her coffee cup and trying to keep her tone light. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t call it complaining,” Ping Wan said with a wave of her hand. “You’re twenty-one now. It’s time for you to forge your own path. Neither of us were very good parents. In many ways, we weren’t positive role models, so we don’t have much right to interfere. Yun Guangwen doesn’t realize that, but I do… As long as you don’t resent us, that’s all that matters.”

Yun Yang would never dare expect her to fulfill the duties of a mother. The role of “mother” had always been like a shackle, especially for Ping Wan, who had suffered under its weight for more than a decade. Putting herself in her mother’s shoes, Yun Yang felt she herself had been a burden, so how could she possibly feel “resentment”?

“How could I possibly resent you?” she said with a smile. “I’m just happy you came to see me.”

A smile spread across Ping Wan’s face. “You’ve really grown up.”

It was a happy smile, but for some reason, Yun Yang felt a sting in her nose.

“Mom…” She opened her mouth, but swallowed the words at the back of her throat when Ping Wan looked at her questioningly. “When are you heading back? We should have dinner together tonight.”

Ping Wan glanced at the time and picked up the jacket hanging on the back of her chair. “Oh, I can’t. I only took two days off, so I have to leave tonight. I don’t want to disturb you two.”

She had said “you two.” Yun Yang froze.

“You…”

“If this were a decade ago and you told me you had a girlfriend, I probably wouldn’t have been able to take it. I might have thought our unhappy marriage had left you with some kind of psychological scar.” Ping Wan smiled. “But now, I’d say that life is just for living. Whether you find a man or a woman, tall or short, it’s never going to be easy. It’s a trivial detail, really. It’s not important.”

Yun Yang listened quietly until she finished, then said a heartfelt “thank you” before adding, “Actually, you’re the first person who knows we’re together.”

“Really? That’s wonderful. She seems like a very nice person. She doesn’t look like a student—what does she do?”

“A teacher,” Yun Yang said. “She’s a teacher at my university.”

“A teacher at your university?” A flicker of surprise crossed Ping Wan’s eyes. “She must be quite a bit older, then?”

“Well… not that much older,” Yun Yang answered vaguely, rounding down Tang Yuelou’s age. “She just turned thirty. She started last year.”

“Oh, so young and accomplished. I thought professors at a good university like this would be in their forties or fifties. Older is good, though. They know how to take care of someone.”

Yun Yang was silent for a moment. “…She is. She’s very good at taking care of people.”

Without realizing it, they had been sitting in the café for two hours. An alarm went off on Ping Wan’s phone. She silenced it, slipped on her jacket, and stood up. “I have to go. See you next time, and don’t forget to bring your girlfriend. Your mother will treat you both to dinner.”

She was busy with work; she had arrived in a hurry and was now leaving in one. After a quick goodbye, she rushed off. The promise of a “next time,” however distant, became something to look forward to. Yun Yang readily agreed and moved to walk her to the door.

“Excuse me, miss, may I clear your table?”

A server holding a tray asked from beside her. Yun Yang’s mind wandered for a second before she quickly answered. In that brief moment, Ping Wan had disappeared. She spun around in a panic and saw her mother just pushing open the door.

“Mom—”

Ping Wan’s hand froze on the door.

They stood a few steps apart, separated by six years of time. Familial affection had long since faded into something thin and distant, but at this moment of parting, an invisible bond seemed to cut through the long silence, striking each of their hearts with a gentle but firm blow.

“Yangyang,” Ping Wan’s silhouette seemed a little forlorn. She raised a hand to wipe the corner of her eye, and when she turned back, her smile had returned. “You have to be happy.”

Don’t be like your mother was when she was young.

In that instant, the two hours of polite conversation shattered. Amid the café’s clamor, time seemed to rewind. The little girl who had only dared to cry at night and the tormented woman from all those years ago looked at each other through their smiles. Only two seconds passed, but their vision had already blurred.

“You too, Mom.”

The glass door shut out the cold Beicheng wind. It was a clear day, not a cloud in the sky.

But in the end, Yun Yang was never able to say the words, “I’m sorry.”

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