MTB - Chapter 47
Chapter 47: The Unlocked Shackles
Of course, the custom T-shirt was changed, and the collar was worn that night. Tang Yuelou, having already bought everything, still put on a show of asking for Yun Yang’s opinion. She wouldn’t be satisfied until Yun Yang personally said “I’m willing,” as if she hadn’t been the one scheming all along.
But since it was Tang Yuelou, Yun Yang had no choice but to accept her fate.
A day later, it was Tang Ruitian’s funeral.
Tang Ruitian passed away at the age of fifty-five, which by modern standards could be considered a premature death. Whether it was a sudden pang of conscience or because he expected Tang Yuelou to have one, he had actually left the old family residence to her. The condition, however, was that she take care of Little Madam Tang’s son. Despite having given the woman a title, the arrogant Tang Ruitian, even on his deathbed, couldn’t bring himself to entrust his “lineage” to be raised by an “actress unfit for high society.”
How laughable it was that the empire he had painstakingly built his entire life ended up in the hands of the very type of person he despised most.
Yun Yang didn’t know the rather famous entrepreneur well; the title “girlfriend’s father” felt dissonant when applied to him. She accompanied Tang Yuelou to the funeral, quietly listening to the chorus of sobs from various people, unable to tell if their grief was genuine or feigned. Tang Yuelou couldn’t even be bothered to put on an act. She simply went through the motions before heading straight back to the old residence.
Yun Yang’s first impression of the old residence was its sheer size—it was so vast it went beyond the definition of a “house,” resembling a classical garden. In November, flowers still bloomed by the pond, pavilions were artfully arranged, and the path underfoot was paved with bluestone slabs. Tucked away from the bustle of high-rise-filled Beicheng, its elegance felt almost surreal.
Building something like this in Beicheng, where land was worth its weight in gold, meant that every step wasn’t on a path, but on a pile of money.
“In a few hundred years, this will be another tourist attraction,” Yun Yang mused.
Tang Yuelou smiled without comment.
“Yuelou, you’re here?”
A young woman in simple, elegant attire approached them. She had just seen off some guests and was now walking over gracefully. Yun Yang recognized her from a hit TV drama; this had to be the legendary “Little Madam Tang,” An Ke.
Tang Yuelou gave her a polite nod. “My condolences.”
Ms. An raised a hand to the corner of her eye, managing to look genuinely sorrowful. As expected of a professionally trained actress, her fundamental skills remained sharp despite years away from the screen. She and Tang Yuelou exchanged a few empty pleasantries. They both knew the truth of their situation, making one wonder what the point of the performance was.
“Ruitian passed so suddenly. Thankfully, I have Haohao to keep me company, so I’m not entirely alone,” An Ke remarked, her gaze shifting to Yun Yang. “And this is…”
“My partner,” Tang Yuelou answered.
Yun Yang offered a polite greeting. “Hello, I’m Yun Yang.”
“Such a beautiful child.” An Ke showed no surprise at their relationship. She took Yun Yang’s hand, looking her up and down with a smile. “Have you ever considered a career in show business? I guarantee you’d have a bright future.”
Yun Yang, of course, didn’t believe her. Besides the fact that she was doing perfectly well with her studies, if this woman were truly so influential, why hadn’t she managed to make a bigger name for herself? Yun Yang could only offer an awkward smile and demur, “You flatter me, I…”
“Ms. An, she’s still a student.” Tang Yuelou calmly draped an arm over Yun Yang’s shoulder, pulling her to her side. “Even jokes have their limits.”
An Ke raised a delicate eyebrow and let the topic drop.
“I came today mainly to discuss the matter of the house, as mentioned in my father’s will.”
Tang Yuelou got straight to the point. She explained that even though the house had been her mother’s creation and she was the heir, she didn’t want it. She had a perfectly good home, and for two people unaccustomed to servants, living in such a large place was a waste. The various maintenance costs made it even less practical. And, of course, she would not be taking any responsibility for the mother and son.
An Ke was fully supportive of this. She was uneasy about letting someone with such a complex conflict of interest look after her son, and she had no desire to give up the house. The two quickly came to an agreement, promising to sort out the paperwork as soon as possible.
“If you need help with anything in the future, feel free to contact me,” Tang Yuelou said politely once they had reached an agreement.
“You’re far more reasonable than Tang Ruitian.” An Ke gently pinched the cheek of the little boy playing with a teddy bear in his cradle. A thought suddenly occurred to her. “Do you need to pack up any of your things here? If so, I can have someone help you.”
Tang Yuelou paused.
“Thank you… I’ll do it myself.”
Tang Yuelou hadn’t lived here in over a decade.
The house was so large that even as the people in Tang Ruitian’s life came and went, the furnishings in some rooms remained untouched. She followed the path of memory up the stairs, her soft footsteps echoing in the vast emptiness, creating a peculiar sense of desolation.
As she stepped into the second-floor hallway, Tang Yuelou was suddenly overcome with a sense of helplessness. In name, she was still the “young mistress” of the house. A room on the second floor was always kept for her, and her mother’s bedroom, too, had been left untouched, its furnishings unchanged.
But now, she suddenly didn’t know how to take that next step.
Puzzled by her sudden halt, Yun Yang asked, “What’s wrong?”
“…There’s nothing to pack here.” Tang Yuelou turned to head back downstairs. “Let’s go home.”
Yun Yang grabbed her by the wrist, her gaze resolute.
“Don’t go.”
Tang Yuelou’s brow twitched.
Yun Yang knew that this cold, immense house was more than just a childhood home to Tang Yuelou. She had once considered it her home, a place that held all the pain and joy of her youth. Its memories were an inescapable shackle, a mirror in the depths of her heart that reflected all her anxieties and inhibitions. No matter how much she tried to avoid it, there was no escape.
But the future was long, and one couldn’t live forever bound by the shackles of the past.
A long silence fell between them. Yun Yang could feel the coolness of the hand she gripped. Standing one step below her, she looked up into Tang Yuelou’s eyes and felt a momentary daze.
More than a decade ago, when that little girl was scared, was there anyone to hold her hand like this?
“Yangyang—”
Tang Yuelou’s voice pulled her back to the present. Yun Yang released her wrist, only to intertwine their fingers instead. “I’ll go with you,” she said, leaving no room for refusal.
—Now and forever, you will have someone by your side.
“This place is beautiful, sure, but with so many plants outside and it being so quiet, wouldn’t living here alone at night feel… well, creepy?”
Yun Yang pushed aside a plum blossom branch that had poked through a hallway window, shivering as a draft swept through. Tang Yuelou’s gaze drifted down the long corridor toward a vase at the far end. “It would,” she answered softly.
Yun Yang’s heart skipped a beat, and she squeezed her hand tighter. “You…”
“No matter how many servants there are, a child will always be scared at night.” The desolate look in Tang Yuelou’s eyes vanished in an instant. She toyed with the leaf of a plant and gave a casual smile. “But it’s much better once you’re grown. It’s just a place to sleep, so the quiet is actually perfect.”
Yun Yang said nothing.
Even after being unoccupied for so long, the place was kept spotless. The bedroom connected to a study and a bathroom, making the suite larger than a typical one-bedroom apartment. Yet the furnishings were simple, lacking the usual knickknacks that personalize a room. The only thing on the windowsill was a pot of aloe vera with withered yellow leaves, though a hint of green remained at its base, a stubbornness that seemed out of place in its environment.
“There’s really nothing to pack here.”
Closing the door to her own room, Tang Yuelou let out a sigh, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The balconies of the two rooms were connected, likely a design choice to encourage parent-child interaction. As they crossed over to her mother’s bedroom, Yun Yang’s eyes were drawn to the mahogany baseboards along the wall. A few decorations that looked like some kind of gemstone were embedded in them, seeming completely out of place with the house’s overall aesthetic. She crouched down to touch one—it felt surprisingly like glass.
“Teacher,” she said, pointing. “What’s this?”
Tang Yuelou glanced where she was pointing, her gaze flickering.
“…They’re lights.”
“Lights?” Yun Yang looked around. There were already lights on the balcony, fashioned like exquisite palace lanterns, which blended beautifully with the garden view. “Why would they install lights down here? They seem a bit out of place.”
Tang Yuelou crouched beside her and reached out to stroke the worn surface of the glass cover, her expression growing complex as she seemed to fall into a memory.
“Because her daughter would sometimes have nightmares and run from her own bedroom to sleep in her mother’s,” she said, her voice like a sigh. “The little girl knew her mother was a poor sleeper, so no matter how frightened she was of the plants and trees below the balcony at night, she would never open the door and make a sound.”
Due to her medication, Madam Tang went to bed very early. One morning, she woke to find the little girl asleep on the floor by her bed, curled into a tiny ball and clutching the corner of her dangling quilt.
Tang Yuelou’s stubborn streak was apparent even when she was very young. She staunchly refused to admit she had run over because she was scared. Madam Tang didn’t call her out on it. Knowing the girl couldn’t reach the balcony light switch, she had a string of voice-activated lights installed along the baseboard that very night.
Yun Yang was stunned into a long silence.
This isn’t a balcony, she thought. This is a mother’s love.
“…She wasn’t lucid very often back then.”
Tang Yuelou’s fingers pressed hard against the edge of the light cover, her knuckles turning white from the strain. “Why did she…”
She should have hated me, Tang Yuelou thought, her mind a near blank. Why?
Yun Yang placed her hand over Tang Yuelou’s.
“She never saw you as a burden, and she never regretted bringing you into this world,” she said, staring intently into Tang Yuelou’s eyes. “You were the hope that kept her going all those years. Did you know that?”
Tang Yuelou slowly raised her eyes to meet Yun Yang’s gaze.
That single glance seemed to transcend time—ten years, twenty… Holding her cold hand, Yun Yang felt as if she were gazing across a vast distance at that quiet, solitary little girl.
The little girl back then never once heard the words “I love you.” But in the corners she couldn’t see, in ways she couldn’t understand, someone was using their few lucid moments to express that love in everything they did.
By the time she understood, it was already too late.
But she understood now, and it wasn’t too late at all.
“She loved you,” Yun Yang said softly. “Just like I do.”
Tang Yuelou closed her eyes.
“…Thank you.”
She buried her face in their clasped hands, as if she had lost the ability to speak. After a long silence, she just kept repeating, “Thank you.”
To the person before her, and to the figure from her memories.
Until Yun Yang felt something cool and wet slide across her knuckles.
“Let’s go,” Yun Yang said, tightening her grip. “We have a long future ahead of us.”
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