MTB - Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Extra - Family

On the cusp of autumn, the night before the Qixi Festival, the editorial department was having dinner at a party restaurant after their monthly review meeting.

The editorial department was busy, but the atmosphere was pleasant. By the time dinner ended, it was already past nine in the evening. Colleagues who had driven called for designated drivers, while Xiao Shen, an intern who hadn’t been drinking, offered to drive a few of her seniors home. Someone went to the restroom, and the remaining colleagues waited together on the sofa in the private room. Xiao Shen was listening quietly to the conversation when she saw the editor-in-chief, who had just settled the bill, turn around and come back.

The editor-in-chief’s name was Yun Yang. She was only in her early thirties, a top student from Z University. From her university days through her internship and career, her resume was stellar—young and accomplished. Her promotion had been a case of answering the call in a crisis. Her management style was steady yet bold. In this digital age where print media was declining, she had led her team forward, making progress step by step to get where they were today. As a result, she was highly valued by the company, and rumors said she would be promoted to chief editor soon, though the truth of it was unknown.

She had had a little to drink, and a hint of intoxication was visible on her face, making her seem less sharp than she usually did. Xiao Shen asked, “Editor-in-Chief Yun, I don’t think you drove here, did you? Where do you live? My car has room for one more, I can give you a ride if it’s on the way.”

Yun Yang, holding her bag in one hand and replying to a WeChat message with the other, didn’t look up from her screen. She just smiled. “No need, you all go ahead.”

“Sister Yun doesn’t need anyone to drive her,” Xiao Shen’s mentor said with a laugh.

Xiao Shen didn’t understand what that meant. “Huh?”

“I live in Changshan, it’s quite far and not on your way. You all head out first, and be careful on the road.” Yun Yang patted her shoulder. After taking two steps, she seemed to remember something, turning back to lean on the sofa’s backrest. She lowered her voice and said to Xiao Shen’s mentor, “Could you do me a favor and wait two minutes? When she gets here…”

Her mentor was Yun Yang’s junior from the same department and had been personally promoted by her. Though they were superior and subordinate, their relationship was a bit closer. She understood after just half a sentence, let out a soft laugh, and nodded repeatedly. “I know, Sister. Don’t worry,” she whispered back.

Yun Yang clicked her tongue and patted her shoulder. “Worry about what? I haven’t even said anything.”

“Does it even need to be said? I know all about your harmonious family life. Be careful not to fall. Or should I go with you?”

“No need. I’m only at a six out of ten, not drunk.”

That retreating figure did not look like someone who was “only at a six out of ten.” Xiao Shen quickly stood up and pulled out her chair, about to follow, but hesitated just before taking a step.

“What’s wrong, Xiao Shen?”

“It’s nothing. I thought Editor-in-Chief Yun looked a little unwell and wanted to check on her.” Xiao Shen sat back down on the sofa, scooted a little closer, and asked in a hushed voice, “Sister, let me be nosy for a second. You just mentioned ‘harmonious family life,’ and I noticed Editor-in-Chief Yun wears a wedding ring. Is she married?”

Her mentor paused for a moment, then smiled. “You’re overthinking it. Editor-in-Chief Yun has a family, but she’s not married. Don’t spread rumors.”

Xiao Shen’s slow-on-the-uptake nerves couldn’t process that right away. “What… what does that mean?”

Not married, but has a family?

“Aiya, so young and already so old-fashioned.” Not wanting to gossip openly about her boss’s love life, she frowned in mock exasperation. Suddenly, there were three knocks—knock, knock, knock—on the private room’s door.

“Excuse me.”

The voice was neither loud nor soft. The air fell silent for two seconds. Xiao Shen looked up and was caught completely off guard.

The person at the door was a woman wearing metal-framed glasses, a light-colored thin jacket draped over her arm. A well-tailored, thin knit sweater and wide-leg trousers effortlessly outlined her tall figure. She clearly could no longer be considered young, but her facial features had become the least remarkable thing about her. When her gentle eyes cast their gaze over, an elegant, almost ethereal aura gathered around her. The moment she stood in the doorway, the bustling, lively atmosphere of the human world seemed to part for her automatically. The noisy room fell quiet because of her.

“Speak of the devil. Professor Tang is here.” A colleague spotted her and stood up, familiarly inviting her to sit. “Please, come wait here for a moment. We just finished…”

“No need, please sit.” The woman called “Professor Tang” gently pressed the colleague’s shoulder, stopping her from getting up. “Where is Yun Yang?”

“Oh, she just went to the restroom. If you’re looking for her, it’s just out the door and to the left.”

“Now that you’re here, we can all leave without worrying. We’ll leave Editor-in-Chief Yun in your hands.”

“Don’t worry, she didn’t drink much. She knew you were coming, so she was mindful.”

Her familiar colleagues teased her a bit, one after another. She didn’t seem shy, merely lowering her head with a small smile. “Mm, I’ll go find her.”

Professor Tang left behind the cool, lingering trail of her perfume. Xiao Shen subconsciously rubbed her nose. By the time she came to her senses, the woman had already drifted away. She tugged on her mentor’s sleeve. “Sister, Sister?”

“Hm?”

“Who is that?”

“Right, that is Editor-in-Chief Yun’s ‘family.’” Her mentor put an arm around her shoulder, gossiping with relish. “A professor at Z University, an artist who’s had her own solo exhibition—that painted ceramics exhibition that was so hard to get tickets for… Oh, I remember now, you hadn’t started yet. You missed seeing how proud Editor-in-Chief Yun was. It was like she was the one holding the exhibition.”

Xiao Shen: “Huh?”

She tried to imagine Editor-in-Chief Yun looking “like she was the one holding the exhibition,” but concluded that her imagination was somewhat lacking.

“So,” her colleague, having had her fill of gossip, didn’t forget to ask for an evaluation. “A good match, right?”

Xiao Shen savored the thought for a moment, then nodded with feeling.

“A perfect match.”

---

The restroom was just outside the private room, its bright vanity visible from the doorway. Yun Yang was in front of the mirror, fixing her hair. Tang Yuelou’s hand paused on the door.

Facing the mirror, Yun Yang gathered her long, wavy hair. As she raised her arms, her form-fitting silk blouse revealed a delicate and graceful silhouette. A few stray strands of hair were stuck to the side of her neck with sweat. She freed her right hand to flick them up with her fingertips, while her left hand skillfully twisted her hair and secured it with a claw clip into a loose, casual bun.

The exposed skin of her neck was slightly flushed. She wet her hand, first touching her earlobe, then pressing her cool hand to her skin. Then, touching her earlobe again, she took a slow, deep breath, popped a mint into her mouth, and took her lipstick out of her bag.

Her phone screen lit up. Halfway through reapplying her lipstick, she glanced at the caller ID and answered the call.

“Xiao Liu.” She blended the lipstick with one finger. “Yes, I’ve seen the proposal. The last interview got a good response, so continue following up on this issue’s column.” After giving a few simple work instructions, the person on the other end said something else, likely an apology for not being able to make the team dinner. Yun Yang laughed. “It’s just a dinner, it’s fine that you couldn’t make it. If you’re craving the food, I can have some packed up and brought to the office for you. But after the weekend, it might be a little cold.”

Tang Yuelou tilted her head slightly, an involuntary smile rising in her eyes.

The sweatshirt had been replaced by a blouse, the jeans by a long skirt. Her flamboyance had been polished into decisiveness, but that bright spark of kindness allowed her to maintain her pure, original heart. Her twenties, a symbol of youth, had fluttered by. Time, it seemed, had left no trace, yet experience had etched a mark, neither deep nor shallow, upon Yun Yang’s soul. The light of her youth was like the ever-expanding rings of a tree—time was the creator’s hand, bringing the rising and setting of the sun, the gathering and scattering of clouds, filling this silhouette with all the beauty between heaven and earth. She exuded a nonchalant charm in her own domain, and so, in the eyes of others, she was enveloped in a bright yet gentle halo.

To think this person had once worried she would lose her charm as she grew older… Looking at her now, the idea was simply inconceivable.

Another call interrupted. Yun Yang said a quick goodbye to her subordinate and answered it.

“What’s wrong?”

“What… where did you say she went?”

The person on the phone said something, and Yun Yang froze for two seconds before slowly turning around to meet Tang Yuelou’s gaze.

“Oh, I see her,” she said to her colleague on the phone, her eyes meeting Tang Yuelou’s through the glass. “I’m hanging up now. See you next week.”

Tang Yuelou straightened up and pushed the door open. “All done?”

Yun Yang clicked her tongue softly, unable to resist complaining, “When did you get here? Why didn’t you say something instead of just standing behind me?”

“Just now. There was traffic. Have you been waiting long?”

“Traffic, huh? You weren’t held up by someone, were you? Making up excuses to fool me?”

“Mm,” Tang Yuelou said, walking toward her, drawing out the sound as she spun a pointed lie. “There was a young girl at the dinner table being very attentive to me. I had no choice but to hide in the restroom, otherwise she would have insisted on driving me home.”

“Oh? And why didn’t you agree? Was she not pretty?”

“Correct. I have a family. She wasn’t as pretty as the one I have at home.”

“Get out of here. I knew you figured it out.” Yun Yang glanced outside and asked in a low voice, “So, did she see you and back off?”

“I don’t know. You can see the results when you go to work next week?”

“Don’t you have any sense of crisis? I’m the legendary ‘successful dream big sister’ now, you know. I’m very popular. If I run off with someone, who’s going to take care of you in your old age and see you…” Yun Yang’s voice trailed off. She blinked innocently. “My mistake.”

She was quite practiced at admitting fault now. Tang Yuelou smiled, took the jacket from her arm, and draped it over her shoulders, lightly tapping the tip of her nose. “Am I really that scary? To make our Editor-in-Chief this timid?”

“Of course not. Our Professor Tang is the best.”

Her eyes were dewy from the alcohol, a moisture that seemed to seep into her voice as well. Tang Yuelou brushed the pad of her thumb against Yun Yang’s lower lip and leaned in to kiss her.

After a long kiss, Tang Yuelou pulled back a few inches and wiped a smudge of lipstick from the corner of her mouth. Her tone was full of meaning. “Mhm, the successful big sister.”

Yun Yang tilted her head up, chasing the corner of her lips, her smile rapturous. “I like the sound of that. Say it again.”

Tang Yuelou lowered her gaze with a smile, leaned close to her ear, and whispered two words. Yun Yang froze, her face turning red a beat later.

It was as if all the alcohol she’d consumed had evaporated from the ear closest to Tang, then traveled with the moist vapor through the entire side of her body pressed against her. That voice… sounded good when it said “Yangyang,” sounded good when it said “baby”… and it turned out, it sounded very good when it said “jiejie” too.

She lowered her head. “Don’t call me that in that voice…”

“Weren’t you the one who asked?”

“If you keep this up… ahem, we’ll talk about it when we get back.”

Tang Yuelou couldn’t hold it in and laughed.

“Well then, shall we go home?”

“Home.” Yun Yang took her hand and licked her lips, savoring the moment. Besides the chocolate flavor of her lipstick and the inseparable blend of their perfumes, she could also taste a faint trace of alcohol. A sudden thought struck her. “Say, after we kissed, do you think you’d get flagged for drunk driving?”

“Didn’t you say you didn’t drink much?”

“Ah, well…”

“It’s fine. We’ll ‘talk about it when we get back.’”

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