Chapter 57: Venting

Qi Xuexin’s seat formed a right angle with the shop entrance, so she could see everyone coming and going from the hotpot restaurant just by lifting her eyes. Ming You sat to her left, her back to the door and parallel to the wall.

Third table to the right after entering the door—that was what Qi Xuexin had clearly told Yan Ningxi in the messages.

“You’re here?” Qi Xuexin raised her left hand high and waved it.

Ming You naturally knew who she was greeting. She finished the wine in her glass before turning to the left. Whoa, surprise and delight—buy one get one free.

Only the managers of the chain’s branches knew her well. It was reasonable for the boss to notify him when his daughter showed up late at night to drink.

Ming You looked in Yan Ningxi’s direction, but what she called out was: “Mom.”

That’s right—Ms. Yang Guishu was standing just two steps behind Yan Ningxi’s right side at that moment. Before Ming You called out to her, she had been wondering whether to pass the woman in front who was walking so slowly.

Who would have thought the woman was also heading to her daughter’s table.

“Yu Yu, these two are… your friends?”

Qi Xuexin shot to her feet the moment she heard that, standing ramrod straight as if she’d been acupunctured. “Hello, Auntie.”

She had just come to keep her company drinking, so how had she ended up meeting the parents?!

Yan Ningxi wasn’t faring much better than Qi Xuexin. She scooted over a step to make space and also said, “Hello, Auntie.” She didn’t even dare look at Yang Guishu.

“Hello, hello.” She had never met her daughter’s friends before. What great luck she had run into today—two at once, and both budding beauties. “Sit down, all of you. Don’t stand. Have you eaten your fill? Do you want to add more dishes or wine?”

Yang Guishu was nearing fifty. Though she had gone to university in the same class as Ming Tai, she was a year older than him. After graduating undergrad, she hustled for a few years and gave birth to Ming You at around Yan Ningxi’s current age.

Her figure was slightly plump but not fat. With high-heeled boots, she was two or three imperceptible centimeters taller than Yan Ningxi.

Her long hair was pinned up at the back of her head. She wore a dark blue wool overcoat that reached past her knees, pearl stud earrings, no handbag—just a phone in her hand.

Ming You took after her in the brows and eyes. She wasn’t the kind and gentle type, but her gaze was sharp and spirited, clearly that of an ambitious career woman.

“Mom, we’re done eating.”

Her daughter reached out a hand, and Yang Guishu quickly took it, asking, “Won’t you introduce these two friends of yours to Mom?”

With Yang Guishu’s pull, Ming You pretended it took her a bit of effort to stand, then staggered two steps and hugged Yan Ningxi’s left arm. Smiling sweetly, she introduced to Yang Guishu: “This is Sister Yan, Teacher Yan. I stay with her on weekends.”

Then she reached her hand out toward Qi Xuexin and continued the introduction: “That’s Sister Qi, Teacher Qi. Both of them are teachers at Huai’an No.3 High School.”

Sister Yan?

Yang Guishu couldn’t help taking a few extra looks. That glance made Yan Ningxi’s body stiffen like a popsicle.

But with Ming You draped all over her like a ragdoll, she had no choice but to reach out and steady her.

“Teacher Yan, hello, hello.” Yang Guishu shook hands with her. “I’ve heard Yu Yu mention you on the phone. You’re much prettier and more poised in person than she described.”

“You’re too kind, Auntie.” After shaking hands, she kept supporting Ming You.

Qi Xuexin took small steps to Ming You’s side, awkward smiling all the while as she poked her in the back. This situation had come out of nowhere.

Yang Guishu being here clearly wasn’t a coincidence, so Ming You must have called her? Daring to trick Yan Ningxi into meeting the parents—this was playing with fire.

A bold gambit, but what if it backfired? And looking at Yan Huahua, she was wooden as a statue.

“Auntie, you look so young. You must have had Ming You pretty early, right?”

When it came to social graces, Qi Xuexin was smooth-tongued and adept at handling people, far more so than Yan Ningxi. To bail her best friend out, she had no choice but to steel herself and step up.

What middle-aged woman wouldn’t be happy to be called young?

Yang Guishu beamed. “Not really. I was almost twenty-eight when I had her.”

This topic hit the bullseye.

Ming You secretly gave Qi Xuexin a thumbs-up in her mind and chalked it up as another point in her favor.

“Mom, tell them—if I never get married, never leave home, never have kids, would you nag me, scold me, or force me?”

The words made not only Yan Ningxi and Qi Xuexin freeze, but even Yang Guishu pause.

Her daughter had never talked to her about future plans. Forget something as distant as marriage—even nearer things like whether she’d take grad school exams next year, study abroad, or what she’d do after graduation were met with stone-cold silence whenever she asked.

Faced with her daughter’s sudden question, Yang Guishu thought quickly.

She’d had a failed marriage herself. She didn’t regret it, but she knew marriage wasn’t a necessity, nor something two people could just vow to last a lifetime.

Marriage bound two people, but it shackled two families. If the couple matched but the families clashed, the marriage and relationship were doomed to trials and likely end in divorce midway. Wasn’t she and Ming Tai the perfect example?

She wouldn’t let her daughter suffer the same hardships.

“No nagging, no scolding, no forcing. Marry if you want to, don’t if you don’t. Mom can afford to support you. If you never marry, Mom will take care of you for life.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Ming You’s head gently rested in the crook of Yan Ningxi’s neck. “Sister Yan, Sister Qi—you both heard that, right? My mom is an outstanding independent woman of the new era. She’s very open-minded.”

Hearing her daughter thank her for praising herself, Yang Guishu nearly teared up.

Without overthinking it, she assumed the two sisters had been talking to her daughter about the troubles of love, marriage, kids, and child-rearing now that she was at that age.

“Will you sit a bit longer, or…”

“No sitting. It’s too late—I’m sleepy.” Ming You shook her head cutely and tugged Yang Guishu’s sleeve. “Mom, grab two bottles of my favorite wine. Sister Qi has the same taste as me; she’ll love it too.”

How many years had it been since her daughter acted spoiled with her? Yang Guishu wanted to scoop her up and ruffle her cheeks. “If you like it, I’ll grab a few more bottles. Doesn’t your Sister Yan drink?”

“Sister Yan…” Ming You tilted her head to look at Yan Ningxi. “Do you?”

“Thanks, Auntie. I don’t drink much.”

Yan Ningxi wasn’t good with alcohol. She clearly hadn’t drunk any today, but her ears were red as if she had. It made Ming You’s heart itch like a cat’s claws.

She really wanted to… lick them.

“Mom, take Teacher Qi to the storeroom and let her pick herself. She’s a booze hound who can drink more than me.” Then she hinted at Qi Xuexin. “Sis, don’t stand on ceremony with me. Just think of it as me bribing you. Gotta keep asking for your care down the line.”

Qi Xuexin gave a dry laugh. Stand on ceremony my ass! No wonder she couldn’t settle the bill—this place was Ming You’s family’s!

But with the mom here to “back her up,” she couldn’t snap at the daughter. Instead, she jabbed a finger hard into Ming You’s waist to vent.

She grumbled inwardly: Tricked me, wants to bribe me with booze, and expects me to keep looking out for her…

The poking hand got grabbed.

By Yan Ningxi.

Hmph! The one who got tricked is already taking her side. Furious, Qi Xuexin decided she had to vent somewhere. Under the enthusiastic invitation of the mother-daughter duo, she “delightedly” followed Boss Yang to find the good stuff.

“Looks like Teacher Qi knows her wine too.” Yang Guishu took a liking to both beautiful teachers by association and stepped forward to link arms with Qi Xuexin to lead the way. “Before opening the hotpot shop, I did the wine business with Yu Yu’s dad. She grew up around it and started tasting and drinking with us from age two…”

Yang Guishu and Qi Xuexin walked off. Yan Ningxi pried Ming You’s hand away. “Having fun?”

Ming You widened her eyes.

Yan Ningxi thought she was playing with her?

“The shop belongs to my mom, but I didn’t call her. And I’m not faking being drunk.” Ming You pointed at the empty bottles on the table. “You saw—we drank eight bottles, me and Teacher Qi. The head rush from the booze is real.”

She lightly clutched Yan Ningxi’s clothes, aggrieved. “Sister Yan, I’m not playing. I’m seriously answering the question you threw at me.”

The girl’s eyes reddened, as if tears would spill out any second.

“I just wanted you to know that no matter five years, ten, or twenty from now, my family won’t pressure me to marry or go on blind dates—not even once. Whatever worries or concerns you have, you can tell me directly. I will…”

“Ming You.” Yan Ningxi hugged her, heartbroken. “I’m sorry. I overlooked your feelings.”

Hearing Yan Ningxi’s apology made Ming You ache too. “Sister Yan, don’t apologize. I came out here to vent.”

She was the type to let it all out. She didn’t want to stew in frustration or take it out on Yan Ningxi, so she chose to drink it off. Once vented, it was fine.

The hug was instinctive. Yan Ningxi quickly regained her senses, pulled back, smoothed the hair tucked into the girl’s clothes, and brushed the back of her hand against her cheek and forehead.

The girl gazed at her with teary eyes, and her own eyes grew hot too.

She couldn’t see what matched between her and the girl. She couldn’t think of any merits on herself worth the girl falling so deeply. And she certainly couldn’t imagine what kind of future a nobody like her could have with a girl who lacked for nothing.

The economic base determines the superstructure. She couldn’t even secure her own basic livelihood—how could she secure the girl’s quality of life?

The girl had a mother who could support her forever. Whether she worked or not, she’d live better than Yan Ningxi. If they got together, she couldn’t provide the girl any material satisfaction—instead, the girl would be the one providing it for her?

The girl didn’t lack the money, but could she accept it? Dare to accept it?

It wasn’t that she was mercenary. Every time she tried to take a step forward, something or someone smacked her down.

The day before yesterday, Chen Xuemei had called again. Li Qin had several episodes at school. Classmates and teachers were all “afraid” of him. The school had approached the parents, tactfully suggesting the child go home to recuperate so he wouldn’t affect the whole class.

Li Qin was seventeen, still in his first year of high school.

A teen who didn’t study or learn skills was worthless, unable to stand on his own in society—how could he be independent?

Transferring schools cost money, not to mention that until his condition improved, any new school would face the same issues. It treated the symptoms, not the root.

Treating the root also required money, but Yan Ningxi was just one person with two hands. Tens of thousands in surgery fees weren’t something she could magic up. And even then, success wasn’t guaranteed.

She wasn’t heartless, but she wasn’t a saint either. She couldn’t sell herself to some rich family for a fat bride price just to fund her half-brother’s treatment.

A debt-ridden mess like her—what right did she have to love? What right to drag someone else down? Especially someone she’d fallen for, someone she liked so much.

While the girl wasn’t yet too deep in, irretrievably hooked; while she could still think clearly and act decisively—she wanted Ming You to see her flaws, her cowardice, her hypocrisy, her ugliness. She wanted her to grow disgusted and leave on her own.

That way, the emotional damage to the girl would be minimized.

She had steeled herself to do it ruthlessly, but who knew the once unyielding, quick-to-flare girl had, in less than three months, become flexible, balancing firmness and softness?