MTMIO Chapter 49
by VolareChapter 49 Scalding Hot
While Lu You and the others were packing, Yue Yunxi returned to the Tao residence.
As she opened the door and entered, Yue Shao was nestled on the sofa, the chandelier casting a dim yellow glow around her, highlighting a sense of loneliness.
The television on the opposite wall was on, playing a family ethics drama she had watched countless times—
A dodder vine marrying into a wealthy family, enduring cold shoulders and difficulties, disliked by her mother-in-law, harassed by her stepdaughter, finally achieving a happy ending with a saintly heart.
She remembered the last time she came back, she was watching an idol drama about a Cinderella from a chaotic original family being rescued by a domineering CEO.
Yue Yunxi often wondered if Yue Shao liked watching these dramas because she had similar experiences, or if watching them too much had subtly influenced her, leading to such a tumultuous life.
Her eyes were fixed on the television, but Yue Shao’s mind wasn’t on it.
Hearing the housekeeper ask if Yue Yunxi would be staying for dinner, she snapped out of her thoughts, turned her head blankly, and asked, “Hasn’t she left yet?”
“They’ll leave after they finish packing.” Yue Yunxi, carrying her cello, headed upstairs. “I’ll leave the cello here first, and pick it up tomorrow.”
Since buying her own house, she had left very few belongings at the Tao residence.
Now, the bedroom vacated for her only contained a few toiletries, a few sets of clothes, and some sheet music.
And Yue Shao only discovered this after a sudden whim to look into her bedroom after their last argument.
It was then that she suddenly realized that her daughter, who had once depended on her, who was so close to her that she could share private matters like receiving love letters, who had been her confidante, had become increasingly distant from her, starting from some unknown time.
Almost fading from her world.
It was inevitable that children would grow up and have their own lives.
But change always brings a sense of melancholy.
Yue Shao squeezed out an “Mm” from her throat, turned her head back, and blinked several times.
By the time Yue Yunxi came out of the room and walked downstairs, she had barely suppressed the surging sourness, turned down the volume of the television, and said, “I saw a news report today about a young woman living alone who had an accident, and wasn’t discovered until more than ten days later.”
Yue Yunxi paused in her steps.
“…Jiaojiao, Mom has always wanted to know where you live, not to interfere with your life, just… I’m worried.”
After standing in silence for a few seconds, Yue Yunxi stepped onto the next step and said softly, “Can I tell you when the time is right?”
Soft words, making it difficult to distinguish between a distant refusal or a sincere suggestion.
Yue Shao looked at the screen on the television, her eyes widening, allowing the mist accumulating in her eyes to spread, and said in a hoarse voice, “I used to hear people say you and I were very alike, and I never agreed. How are we alike?”
Yue Yunxi stopped at the stairwell, watching Yue Shao’s delicate profile from a distance, her brow furrowing slightly.
So lightly that it seemed as if it were only moved by her lowered eyelashes.
“Later, people said it was the way you talked, so gentle that no one could get angry. I thought, you are my daughter, whom I gave birth to and raised, how could you not be like me.”
Yue Shao smiled, but without much joy, and reached out to wipe her eyes.
Yue Yunxi watched her for a while, then silently walked over.
The sofa was L-shaped, and Yue Shao was sitting in the center, with both sides empty. However, Yue Yunxi sat on the matching armchair next to it.
She handed a tissue to Yue Shao, her arm stretched out straight, emphasizing the distance.
Yue Shao glanced at it as she took the tissue, feeling even more bitterness in her heart. When she spoke again, her voice was even lower and hoarser: “You look like your father, inheriting more of his appearance. Sometimes, seeing you reminds me of him…”
She paused for a moment, silently skipping over those unbearable memories.
“People leave behind a mountain of debt even after they die. Mom is useless. If it weren’t for your Uncle Tao, I really wouldn’t be able to make it. Without him, let alone letting you continue to study piano, we wouldn’t even have enough to eat.”
“He’s been very good to you, so I definitely have to be good to his daughter, don’t you think?”
Yue Yunxi didn’t respond.
So Yue Shao continued, “You are my own, so I can directly discipline you. But Tao Tao isn’t. I can’t hit her, scold her, or say anything to her, because if I’m not careful, people will gossip, saying that we live in the Tao house and eat Tao’s food, but can’t tolerate their daughter. So I can only try to go along with her.
“Besides, if I’m nicer to her, she’ll get along better with you, and you’ll have a better life here.”
Yue Yunxi shifted her gaze away from Yue Shao, and remained silent for a while.
In order to form a family with the Tao father and daughter, she and Yue Shao were like a complete painting that had been cut into two angular jigsaw pieces.
Even if they seemed to fit on the surface, there were gaps at the seams.
During the jigsaw process, her piece was an ignored existence. Over time, it had shifted, and the gaps had become chasms.
As a result, she didn’t know how to react or what to say to Yue Shao’s belated communication.
After a long silence, she slowly exhaled and took out her phone from her bag, saying, “I used the prize money from the past two years of competitions to buy you a house. I’ve sent the address to your WeChat.”
Yue Shao suddenly stopped talking.
“The door code is your birthday, and Teacher Zhong is your neighbor. The living room isn’t furnished yet. I was originally planning to tell you after everything was done.”
Yue Yunxi opened her mouth, wanting to say something more.
But spotting the white hairs at Yue Shao’s temples, she couldn’t bear to delve deeper into the topic.
Yue Shao stared at the phone on the coffee table, which lit up for a while and then went dark, speechless for a long time.
When she was younger, she had a resilient streak in her bones, unwilling to be a caged bird, able to decisively let go when love faded. No matter how difficult life was, she wouldn’t give her child to her patriarchal in-laws.
Now, however, she had been worn down by various things into this, a dodder vine who needed to cling to others to survive.
Living under someone else’s roof, she had to be even better to other people’s children in order to be good to her own.
The scenes on the television changed several times, sometimes showing a girl lying in bed crying, sometimes a woman wearing an apron and bringing dishes to the table outside the room.
Finally, through a door, the woman said to the person inside, “Dinner is ready.”
At the same time, Yue Shao also spoke, showing weakness: “You’re not comfortable here. Next time, when Mom misses you, I’ll move over in advance, and you can come over and keep me company, okay?”
“…Okay.” Yue Yunxi looked down at her phone and got up from the armchair. “They’re almost done packing.”
“Then you should go over there.” Yue Shao instructed, “Drive slowly, be careful, and let me know when you arrive safely.”
Yue Yunxi responded and went out of the room.
The moment she closed the door behind her, she felt like she could express her true feelings.
So, a very light murmur was scattered by the wind.
“Actually, I just occasionally feel sad because of your bias.”
Even though I understand all the reasons.
ˉ
When Lu You pushed her suitcase out of the house, she saw Yue Yunxi standing in front of the car, leaning her back against the door, her thin eyelids drooping, her gaze falling vaguely on the ground.
The dusk in this season was like a burning flame, the light was particularly warm, but it illuminated her with a coldness that seemed to be detached from the mortal world.
Especially when she heard the movement and looked up, Lu You intuitively felt that Yue Yunxi seemed a little unhappy.
“Grandma is on the phone with Old Lu, she’ll be here soon.” Lu You approached and said, “Sorry to keep you waiting so long. Grandma insisted that I take a bath to wash away the bad luck.”
The outfit she wore to the police station had been changed. She was wearing a vermilion thin knit sweater, light almond wide-leg pants, and a soft pink layered collar wool coat.
A giraffe pendant that Yue Yunxi had given her was pinned to her shoulder bag.
Without makeup, her clean and fair face was as clear as if illuminated by a thin layer of moonlight, her hair slightly damp. With a gust of wind, the refreshing scent of bursting juice citrus filled the air.
Sweeping away the gloom in her heart.
Yue Yunxi’s gaze swept over the giraffe, and she curved her lips: “It’s okay.”
“Really okay? Not unhappy?” Lu You squinted at her. “I still remember, the time we went to the yacht, you told Pear that you don’t like waiting for people.”
“Your memory is really good and bad at times.”
Yue Yunxi leaned towards her.
Lu You was startled, her breath stopped, her fingertips touched something soft and cool, and then, the pull rod of the suitcase rubbed against her palm, being pulled away little by little.
Pulling out a lingering meaning.
The voice was close and soft, like a stream of air rising with her breath, brushing past her ear.
“I don’t like waiting for people, but I really don’t mind this time, because I’m waiting for you.”
She always knew how to grasp the measure. Before the words were finished, she had already backed away, pushing the suitcase towards the back of the car.
Lu You stabilized her heartbeat and followed her, “I can do it myself. If Grandma sees me letting you help with the luggage, she’ll scold me for being thoughtless.”
Yue Yunxi stopped, respecting her wishes and letting go. She turned around, holding the edge, facing her sideways, and asked, “Are you afraid of being scolded by Grandma, or afraid of Grandma noticing something?”
The tone was as if she were an outsider.
Lu You put down the suitcase, turned her face to look at her, and asked, “…Aren’t you afraid?”
Yue Yunxi raised her eyebrows.
“In their eyes, this is, you’ve fallen in love with your sister’s—”
“Shh.” Yue Yunxi interrupted her, her gaze falling on the direction of the courtyard gate, and called out, “Grandma.”
Lu You’s heartbeat skipped a beat, and she turned her head to look over in panic.
Not to mention the courtyard gate, even the main gate hadn’t been opened yet.
Lu You turned back to face Yue Yunxi’s eyes, which were so bright that they seemed to be able to see into people’s hearts.
Her heart suddenly tightened.
“So scared?” A breathy voice, with ambiguous emotions.
It sounded like a whispered secret, and also like a teasing with deep meaning.
Lu You glared at her without good grace: “…You’re playing with me, that’s too much.”
Yue Yunxi immediately said: “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again next time.”
Lu You pursed her lips, not really angry. Hearing her gentle and sincere apology, she was directly disarmed.
And inexplicably, she felt like she had wronged the other person.
She softened her tone and explained: “It’s not that I’m afraid, it’s just that I feel like if we were caught, it would have a bad impact on you.”
After all, in order to save Tao Xin some face, she hadn’t told the elders the truth about their breakup. Being with the other party’s sister after breaking up, for the elders, was a bit too much.
Realizing that Yue Yunxi’s gaze was fixed on her, Lu You glanced back at her.
Stung by the tenderness and heat contained within, she quickly shifted her gaze away.
Her gaze swept past the trunk and towards the back seat. She cleared her throat and asked, “Where’s your cello?”
“I left it over there, I’ll pick it up tomorrow.” Yue Yunxi nodded her chin towards the Tao family villa, and saw Grandma and Auntie Liu coming out of the door, saying, “This time, Grandma is really coming out.”
“Oh.”
Lu You composed her expression and walked towards Grandma, pretending to be natural as she asked, “Did you talk it over with Old Lu?”
“Yes.” Grandma said, “He said he’ll treat your Uncle Tao to a meal when he has time.”
Lu You scoffed: “He’s just trying to be funny…”
However, it was in line with Lu Huai’an’s style.
Moving from Wutong Yuan to Lanwan was a dividing point from happiness to unhappiness for her.
But for Lu Huai’an, it was the opposite, because he had the benefactor Tao Mingyuan. Without Tao Mingyuan’s business cooperation with him, it would have been difficult to have the “Boss Lu” he is today.
Yue Yunxi also heard Grandma’s statement of Lu Huai’an’s words. Lu You took the luggage bag from Auntie Liu and said to her, “We’ll treat you later…”
In the corner of her eye, Grandma turned her face towards her and raised her hand to brush away the stray hairs that were blown by the wind. Lu You suddenly stalled guiltily and corrected herself, “Treat Yunxi… Sister, to a meal.”
After speaking, she worried that this subtle correction would hurt Yue Yunxi, and subconsciously looked over to observe the other party’s reaction.
She saw Yue Yunxi gently raise one eyebrow, her eyes lightly colliding with hers, revealing a hint of ambiguous meaning.
An indescribable feeling, a half-smile, Lu You couldn’t judge her emotions for a moment.
Until she got into the car.
Afraid that Grandma would get carsick, she let Grandma sit in the passenger seat, and Lu You sat behind the passenger seat. After fastening her seat belt, she unconsciously looked to the front row.
She saw Yue Yunxi holding her phone and pressing the screen, as if she were entering an address for navigation.
Before long, she inserted her phone into the holder.
Almost at the same time, Lu You felt her own phone vibrate in her pocket.
She took it out and looked at it. A WeChat notification message was hanging at the top of the screen. She clicked on it, and it directly jumped to the chat window.
Yue Yunxi: [Has the address of Sister Yunxi started to feel scalding hot?]
Lu You: “…”
She raised her eyes from the phone screen, and the person in the front row was using the rearview mirror to adjust it, making eye contact with her through the lens.
Then, she released the handbrake and started the car.
As if nothing had happened.
Only her voice contained a light smile, restraining a carefully controlled joy: “Let’s go.”
Lu You grinded her back teeth and arched her eyebrows: “Okay, Sister Yunxi.”
In her vision, the left hand holding the steering wheel rose, fell, and gently tapped.
Lu You pressed her forehead against the window glass and looked out. The sun had set, and the sky was a hazy gray. The window glass was smeared into a one-way mirror, reflecting her face.
The corners of her lips couldn’t help but curl up.