MTMIO Chapter 59

Chapter 59: My Time is All Yours

The next morning, Lu You got up, put on makeup, and drove Grandma and the others to the resort in the southern suburbs.

Lu Huai’an had booked the venue for three days to show his filial piety.

Lu You often heard her grandmother talk about the past in their casual chats, saying that their family’s conditions were not good at that time, and they were inferior to others in every way. The young Lu Huai’an had a lot on his mind, and dignity, face, money… many things became thorns in his heart that he couldn’t pull out.

Therefore, after making a name for himself, he was like a peacock, spreading his tail whenever he had the chance, eager to announce his current achievements to the world.

Those relatives and neighbors in his hometown who once looked down on him, and all the “Generals” who could give him face in the business world, were invited over.

Lu You, in her pointed-toe stilettos, followed behind Lu Huai’an to greet the guests, calling this one uncle and that one uncle, listening to them urge her to get married, find a capable son-in-law for Old Lu, and give birth to a well-behaved grandson.

Rebutting would be impolite, so she could only smile it off. Her face was almost stiff from smiling, like a robot.

If it weren’t for Grandma’s birthday, she wouldn’t come to such an occasion even if her legs were broken.

It’s no different from having broken legs now. Lu You tiptoed, relieving the soreness in her heels and calves, and found a gap where there were fewer people. She said to Lu Huai’an, “I’m going to the restroom.”

Perhaps feeling that she had achieved nothing in the two major events of life, marriage and career, and couldn’t give him any face standing next to him, Lu Huai’an waved his hand and said, “You don’t have to come back later.”

Lu You couldn’t ask for more, turned around and left.

Therefore, she didn’t notice Zhong Shuyun’s conspicuous champagne-colored SUV driving into the parking area across the street.

As soon as the car stopped, Zhong Mi eagerly wanted to open the car door. Zhong Shuyun unlocked it for her.

Zhong Mi got out of the car and ran towards the hotel gate. Halfway there, she suddenly stopped, scratched the back of her head, and retreated to the passenger seat. She turned her head and said to the inside of the car window, “Sister Lu You isn’t at the door greeting guests! Mommy, do you want to go directly through this door?”

The passenger door was pushed open from the inside, and the dark green skirt rippled out like flowing water. The woman who got out of the car wore a domed hat and a pair of sunglasses, covering most of her face.

She slightly raised her chin towards the hotel gate, saw Lu Huai’an standing at the door, immediately turned her face away, her red lips pursed tightly, her throat rolled again and again, as if she had seen something disgusting and was about to throw up.

“Are you okay?” Zhong Shuyun also got out of the car, looked at the woman, and then at the gate, “Have you told Aunt Lu? Let’s go through the back door.”

The woman pulled down the brim of her hat and squeezed out a difficult “Mmm.”

Zhong Shuyun took her hand, which was clenched tightly at her side, and rubbed her knuckles soothingly, saying, “I’ll go with you.”

The woman slowly loosened her pursed lips, the corners of her mouth curved very slightly, and nodded, “Thank you.”

“Thank you for what.” Zhong Shuyun pursed her lips, “How many times have I said it, don’t be so distant with me.”

“Mommy, you have to be polite.” Zhong Mi said seriously.

“…You take Grandma in through the front door.” Zhong Shuyun reminded Zhong Mi, “If you see Little Lu, remember to notify us in time.”

Zhong Mi made an “Okay” gesture and suddenly thought to ask, “If Sister Lu You asks me, how come only you and Grandma are here, where are your Mommy and Mama, what should I say?”

Zhong Shuyun pondered, “Just say, Mommy and Mama wanted to look around and will be here in a while.”

“No, don’t mention me.” The woman wearing the hat said anxiously, “You can’t mention me to her, Mi Mi…”

Zhong Mi was puzzled, “Why?”

The woman’s red lips parted slightly, but she only swallowed her throat and didn’t speak.

Zhong Mi looked at Zhong Shuyun.

Zhong Shuyun sighed and explained, “If we mention it, Little Lu will definitely want to see Mama.”

“Then see her. Doesn’t Mama always want to see Sister Lu You very, very much? Why not mention it?”

Zhong Shuyun’s eyes focused on the woman’s face and didn’t answer Zhong Mi’s question. Zhong Mi had to cast her confused eyes on Grandma Zhong beside her, “Grandma, what do you say?”

“Mi Mi, there is an emotion called, near-love timidity.” Old Mrs. Zhong rubbed Zhong Mi’s head, “It means, clearly intensely desiring, but when you can get close, you feel timid and dare not move forward.”

Zhong Mi seemed to understand, but not quite. She followed Grandma Zhong into the banquet hall, found a seat, and after sitting for less than two minutes, she said hello and went to the restroom, thinking about what Grandma had said all the way.

There was a long chair at the entrance of the restroom, and Lu You was sitting on it, bending over and rubbing her calves. She turned on her phone, and the screen was still on the chat interface with Yue Yunxi.

Since she told Yue Yunxi that she had slipped away to the restroom, no new content had been sent over there.

Just as she was about to pick an emoji to send, she suddenly heard footsteps approaching. Lu You looked up and saw Zhong Mi walking over like a zombie, muttering something silently with her lips moving, completely unaware of her.

Zhong Mi frowned and muttered to herself, “Feeling timid, afraid to move forward, and then dawdling. Aren’t they afraid of losing people when they dare to move forward? I don’t understand, I still don’t understand.”

Originally, she was going to call Zhong Mi’s name to say hello, but upon hearing this, Lu You felt as if she had been struck by something and couldn’t help but be stunned for a while.

“Sister Lu You!” Zhong Mi saw her, and the tangled look on her face disappeared in an instant. She approached Lu You with a smile, “Why are you here?”

Lu You half-jokingly and half-seriously said, “Hiding from socializing.”

Zhong Mi “eh” a sound, feel interesting.

Lu You asked her with a smile, “What were you mumbling about just now? What don’t you understand?”

“Um…” Zhong Mi looked a little evasive and vaguely prevaricated, “It’s nothing, it’s just that, well, I saw some messy things that I didn’t understand, so I felt something.”

Her light-colored pupils rolled cleverly in her eyes, she covered her abdomen with her hands, and bent down, “Ouch, no, my stomach hurts, I’m going to the bathroom first!”

Watching her back slip into the bathroom as if she was fleeing, Lu You shook her head amusedly, thinking, it’s no wonder she and Yun Zhu came from the same school, the acting is the same exaggerated.

Turning her head, Lu You first glanced at her phone. There was still no new message popping up in the chat box. She casually threw an expression over and took the opportunity to glance at her watch.

There was still half an hour before the luncheon started.

Getting up from the chair, her legs and feet were still as heavy as lead, and every step felt like walking on the tip of a knife.

She did have flats, but they were in the homestay, which was a distance from the hotel. Going through the back door would be slightly closer.

Standing in place for a few seconds, Lu You decided to change her shoes.

As soon as she turned the corner, Zhong Mi came out of the bathroom, looking left and right, not seeing her figure. The little girl returned to the banquet hall, turning her head every few steps.

After sitting down and asking Yun Zhu and others, Zhong Mi realized that Lu You had not returned at all. She exclaimed “Oh no” and quickly took out her phone and found Zhong Shuyun’s contact information.

At this time, Lu You had already wandered to the back door.

The fire door was not tightly closed, leaving a fist-wide gap, and the voices of people were vaguely leaking out of the gap. The hoarse tone had traces of being ground by the years.

It was Grandma’s voice.

Lu You was stunned. As if possessed by a ghost, she didn’t directly open the door and go out, but tiptoed closer, peeking through the crack in the door.

The dark blue cheongsam was made of fabric that the boss of Jin Duan Fang picked for Grandma.

The old lady’s plump figure blocked her view, and she couldn’t see the person opposite her.

“I don’t know it would turn out like that! Every time I think about it, I regret it so much! It’s all my fault! It’s all my fault! If it weren’t for my selfishness…” In the moment of pause, Lu You saw the old lady take a deep breath, her back bent down, showing a bit of Declined, “I’m sorry for you.”

Word by word, like water droplets squeezed from a damp towel, falling into her ears and hitting her heart.

Lu You’s heart tightened. She grabbed the doorknob and was about to push it open when she suddenly heard the other person say, “Forget it—”

The voice stopped abruptly.

The tone was a little unfamiliar, but mixed with a hint of familiarity.

She had heard this voice.

Lu You’s hand stopped, but her mind was blank, unable to search for memories related to it.

Her ears caught the deliberately lightened footsteps, Lu You gathered her thoughts, didn’t think too much, frowned and unhappily pushed the door open, “Grandma…”

She was stunned.

In her sight, the person standing opposite the old lady was actually Zhong Shuyun.

Zhong Shuyun, seeing her, didn’t have a surprised expression, just smiled unnaturally and said, “Yo Yo, you came at the right time, come and persuade your grandmother. We were talking about selling the small western-style building to you cheaply, but I didn’t expect it to stir up the old lady’s sad memories.”

Lu You walked to her grandmother’s side, lowered her head to look at the old woman’s face, and asked tentatively in a tone like coaxing a child, “Oh dear, what’s wrong with my birthday grandma? Why are you still crying?”

“I just thought of your grandfather.” The old lady wiped the corners of her eyes with a tissue, sniffed and said, “I thought of him saying he would buy me a small western-style building, but the savings he hid were cheated away by others.”

So those words were what Grandpa said to Grandma before he died? Grandma was imitating Grandpa’s appearance of saying those things to her?

Is that so?

Lu You’s eyebrows twitched slightly. Her intuition told her that it wasn’t like this, but she didn’t know what it should be like.

Zhong Shuyun and Grandma sang in harmony, as if they had carefully built a staircase, placed at her feet.

Following the steps down was the most appropriate path.

Lu You didn’t ask much, and comforted the old lady a few more times.

In the early autumn season, the maple leaves had already begun to turn red, and occasionally two or three fell from the branches, riding the wind to the porch.

Lu You’s vision was attracted by one of them, and she inadvertently swept across the corner a few steps away, glimpsing a touch of dark green, which also flew into the depths of the alley like a leaf.

Like the sound just now, this touch of green was also unfamiliar and familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere, but she couldn’t remember it.

“Yo Yo.” Zhong Shuyun called her.

Lu You moved her eyes away from there, “Hmm?”

Whether intentional or unintentional, Zhong Shuyun moved sideways two steps, blocking the alley at the corner.

“I just discussed it with your grandmother. After the birthday banquet is over, see what day you are free, take your grandmother to see that small western-style building.”

Lu You first glanced at her grandmother, carefully observing that the old lady’s complexion was not very good for a moment.

But just for that moment, very quickly, Grandma adjusted back and nodded to her.

It was so fast, as if it was an illusion.

Only then did Lu You agree and say, “Then next time I have class, I’ll bring Grandma along.”

“Okay, it’s not too early, let’s go back.” Zhong Shuyun said with a smile, “If you keep staying here, the banquet will start, and the birthday star won’t be there. You won’t be able to move your chopsticks, and everyone will be hungry and looking for Grandma.”

The double-meaning joke made Grandma’s cloudy face turn clear, and she smiled with curved lips.

Standing here for a while, her legs and feet were even more tired. Lu You was too lazy to walk back to change her shoes.

Just as she turned around and took a step, she heard Yue Yunxi’s soft and cool voice being sent to her ears by the wind, “Yo Yo.”

Lu You turned her head and looked in the direction of the voice.

At the entrance of the alley where the touch of green had just been hidden, Yue Yunxi stood tall and jade-like in a velvet dress. Her lazy and loose curly hair was lifted by the wind. She brushed a strand behind her ear, and the moon earrings hanging on her earlobes were very bright in the sunlight, dazzling Lu You’s eyes.

Her gaze involuntarily moved down.

Only then did she notice that a paper bag printed with a elk pattern was hanging in Yue Yunxi’s other hand.

That was the bag she used to pack her flats.

Yue Yunxi looked at her, raised that hand, and said with a smile, “Come over, change your shoes and then go back.”

“I’ll take Grandma back first. You two change your shoes and come over. Don’t dawdle for too long.” Zhong Shuyun took Grandma’s arm, opened the door and went in.

Just changing shoes, what could they dawdle about?

Perhaps the speaker was unintentional, but the listener was mindful.

No matter how you listened to it, it sounded like teasing a young couple.

Lu You rubbed her ears and slowly turned around, walking closer step by step, saying, “You didn’t reply to my message, and you weren’t afraid that I would go back by myself and pass you by.”

On the left side of the corridor was a stone bench. Yue Yunxi put a paper towel on it, signaling her to sit on it, and explained, “My phone was dead earlier. I went around a big circle to find a power bank to rent. I replied to you as soon as I turned it on. Didn’t you receive it?”

Her voice was gentle and considerate, making people feel like a spring breeze. The little emotions that had arisen were blown out in a puff.

Lu You took out her phone and looked at it. It was indeed replied, but she was eavesdropping at the time and didn’t have time to look.

She didn’t look herself, and she blamed others for not replying.

She bent her index finger and scratched her forehead, not saying a word in embarrassment.

Yue Yunxi saw her small movements and guessed seven or eight points, chuckling lightly.

“What are you laughing at again?”

“Laughing, maybe the signal here is not very good, and the message was swallowed.”

“…”

Lu You changed into comfortable flats and put the high heels into the bag.

“Want to go back?” Yue Yunxi asked her.

Standing the paper bag upright at her feet, Lu You raised her left hand, lowered her eyes to look at the time on her wrist, and shook her head, “Wait a little longer, going back early means I have to participate in low-quality socializing again.”

This kind of socializing still had to go on for three days, just thinking about it gave her a headache.

Yue Yunxi’s eyes swept over the watch circling her wrist and said with a smile, “Okay.”

After a brief silence, Lu You asked, “By the way, there are more than forty messages in the group chat. I’m too lazy to scroll through them all. What did you all talk about?”

Yue Yunxi summarized concisely, “Everyone has their own things to do, so they won’t be staying overnight here.”

Lu You “Tsk” a sound: “The only two high-quality social interactions, minus one.”

“Who is the only one?” Yue Yunxi asked with interest.

Lu You glanced at her sideways.

Asking the obvious.

“Secret, I won’t tell you.” She said deliberately.

Yue Yunxi’s smile deepened, “That’s a pity.”

Pretending to be confused with “secrets” that they both knew, saying pity on her lips, but in between the lines was all liking.

Lu You twisted her fingers, opened her mouth, and closed it again.

She wanted to ask Yue Yunxi if she also had something to do and was still staying here.

But the words came to her lips, and she was worried that the answer would not be satisfactory, and she couldn’t say it.

Her hand curled up and drooped onto the stone bench beside her, and her fingertips felt a piece of ice. Lu You’s thoughts jumped and she thought of saying, “A sports center opened in the mall opposite Lost Deer. They set up a real ice skating rink, which will open tomorrow.”

“Want to go ice skating?”

“Yeah.” Lu You nodded, slyly, “See how it goes tomorrow, and sneak over there.”

Yue Yunxi laughed softly, laughing at her for thinking of ways to avoid low-quality socializing.

“You…” Lu You pursed her lips, silently took a breath, and blurted out in one breath, “Do you want to go together?”

She had thoughts in her heart, asking this way, she would know whether Yue Yunxi would stay tonight.

The time waiting for the answer seemed to be lengthened by the sound of the wind, and she couldn’t help but peek over with her eyes.

She saw Yue Yunxi’s curled and thick eyelashes drooping down, her eyes falling on her wrist.

She felt the weight of the watch, because she heard Yue Yunxi say softly:

“My time is all yours, at your disposal.”