MTB - Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Older People Know How to Care for You

When Tang Yuelou finished her class, she only saw Yun Yang. She looked around and asked, “Where’s your mother?”

“She left. It’s a shame she didn’t get to meet you.”

Yun Yang sat on a bench in the parking lot, stirring the remaining ice and pearls in her milk tea. The ice cubes clinked together. She seemed listless, her tone flat.

But Tang Yuelou noticed the faint redness at the corners of her eyes, which stood out against her fair skin. Yet her tone didn’t suggest that anything unpleasant had happened. Since Yun Yang didn’t seem to want to bring it up, Tang Yuelou decided not to call her out on it. She smiled and asked, “Did you mention me? What did your mother say?”

Yun Yang recalled their earlier conversation and answered languidly, “She said older people know how to care for you.”

Tang Yuelou was speechless.

Pleased by her rare, chagrined expression, Yun Yang couldn’t help but laugh.

In front of her parents, she tried her best to act like an adult, but with Tang Yuelou, she sometimes wanted to be a child. A little mischief now and then was good for the body and soul.

“Hey, I didn’t say that, my mom did. You can take it up with her. Besides, she’s not wrong.” She tossed the empty cup into the trash can, stood up, straightened her clothes, and held out her hand to Tang Yuelou.

“Alright, in a sense, she’s not wrong,” Tang Yuelou conceded, sighing helplessly as she took her hand.

“That’s more like it,” Yun Yang said with a satisfied smile. “Let’s go. Time to unwrap your present.”

Tang Yuelou raised an eyebrow. “There’s another present?”

“Just you wait… I think it’s about time.”

Tang Yuelou was certainly full of anticipation.

The feeling was incredibly subtle. For her, “birthdays” were not pleasant occasions. When she was little, a birthday meant an exquisite cake, piles of gifts, and guests coming and going. In the bustling house, she, the birthday girl, was the most dispensable person. After her mother passed away, her birthday transformed into the anniversary of her mother’s death, and what little festivity remained dwindled with each passing year.

The day before, she had left a bouquet of flowers at her mother’s grave, preparing to spend the day as ordinarily as any other. And then, she received the only gift in thirty years that could truly be called a “present.” Yun Yang was an accident who had barged into her life, forcefully tearing away her self-assured facade and dyeing this day with a color that was impossible to ignore.

Although she didn’t know what kind of gift had to be delivered at a specific time, Tang Yuelou listened to Yun Yang. After arriving home, she waited in the parking lot for over ten minutes before going upstairs… and when she walked through the door, she almost thought she had entered the wrong apartment.

Yun Yang had, from somewhere, bought a pile of colorful potted plants and plant stands. A green plant was placed on every available tabletop, and the balcony was decorated with particular vibrancy, now home to a plant stand—thankfully, Teacher Tang’s apartment was spacious, otherwise it might not have fit.

“This…” Tang Yuelou looked the half-human-height plant stand up and down, then nodded after a moment of consideration. “Good taste.”

—It should be said, it was a good thing her taste was good, otherwise it would have been a disaster. But Teacher Tang was a rather reserved person and was too polite to say so directly.

“Of course it’s good.” Yun Yang placed her hands on her hips and looked around, seeming quite pleased.

Tang Yuelou asked, “What made you suddenly decide to buy this for me?”

After all, people usually gave bouquets of flowers. This was the first time she had ever seen someone give a plant stand as a gift. It was certainly novel.

“The first time I came to your place, I felt it was too empty,” Yun Yang said, casually fiddling with the leaf of a spider plant. “Just raising me as the only living thing here won’t do. See, it’s much better now.”

Indeed… full of life, Tang Yuelou thought.

Yun Yang tugged on her sleeve and, with one hand behind her back, began pointing things out with the air of a commander, looking very much the part. “Look, in the future, we can slowly fill up this plant stand. You’ll… you’ll probably turn into a middle-aged lady in a few years, right? You’ll have plenty of free time. When you have nothing to do, you can water the flowers, cook, and wait for me to come home, successful in my career.”

The first half of her sentence sounded somewhat reasonable, but the second half made the good-tempered Teacher Tang laugh in exasperation. She rolled up her sleeves, deciding it was time to unwrap the “present” she really wanted to unwrap, and while she was at it, teach a certain audacious person how to speak properly.

“You seem to be in a good mood today?”

Warm breath ghosted over the side of her neck. Yun Yang was so sleepy she could barely open her eyes. She buried her face in the crook of Tang Yuelou’s neck, letting her help apply lotion, and hummed, “How can you tell?”

Tang Yuelou smiled without a word.

“…Stop looking at me like that. It’s creepy, Teacher Tang.”

“Is it?” Tang Yuelou gently ruffled her hair. “I love the gift. Thank you.”

“How perfunctory,” Yun Yang mumbled.

“I have something for you, too.”

Yun Yang pried her eyes open a crack to see what it was, but Tang Yuelou didn’t get out of bed. She reached over and opened the drawer of the nightstand. Yun Yang felt a coolness on her hand. She froze, a sudden realization dawning on her. She lifted her hand and saw a plain silver band on her ring finger, reflecting a glimmer of light from the table lamp.

Her drowsy nerves instantly tensed. She shot up, heedless of the blanket slipping away, and suddenly felt nervous. “Th-th-this is…”

“A ring with my name engraved on it doesn’t necessarily have to be worn around the neck,” Tang Yuelou said with a soft laugh. “The size should be right.”

Yun Yang could feel her heart about to burst from her chest, still carrying a lingering heat that made her dizzy. She caressed the ring, examining it closely in the lamplight. Sure enough, she saw Tang Yuelou’s initials engraved on the inside. Yun Yang pressed a hand to her chest, taking a few seconds to calm herself, then took Tang Yuelou’s left hand and saw an identical ring—with her name engraved on the inside.

“Th-this…” Yun Yang’s blank mind short-circuited for a moment, her tongue twisting. “You-you-you… I-I… We-we…”

She stammered like a broken record for a long while, unable to form a complete sentence. Tang Yuelou waited patiently for her to finish, but Yun Yang soon fell silent. The hum of the air conditioner filled the room, mingling with their two tense breaths.

After a long minute, Tang Yuelou took Yun Yang’s hand, her voice like a sigh. “Yangyang, this isn’t meant to make you promise anything.”

Yun Yang slowly looked up. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you can see this as a confession, a one-sided promise, a gesture of goodwill, a response—however you want to interpret it is fine. But I want you to know that I love you.”

“I want to tell you that you will never be without a home. As long as you’re willing, I’ll be right here.”

The weight of those words was heavy. Yun Yang’s lips moved. “I…”

Tang Yuelou placed a finger on her lips.

“If you’re not willing, you don’t have to respond. You always have that right.” Her eyes reflected the soft lamplight, which traveled through the long silence and landed in Yun Yang’s eyes like a scorching flame. “Do you want to refuse?”

“No,” Yun Yang said, slowly shaking her head. “I don’t refuse.”

Without another word, she grabbed the collar of Tang Yuelou’s pajamas and kissed her.

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