Chapter 24

◎Xu Yan, you seem like my mom.◎

“How was going on fieldwork with Chief Editor Xu yesterday?” Yu You’an poked her head over the edge of her desk to ask.

Chen Yi was buried in the documents on her desk, her fingers flying across the keys. The standard membrane keyboard in the office was practically sparking under her furious typing.

“How was what?” Chen Yi asked.

Yu You’an: “Fieldwork! Fieldwork!”

Chen Yi’s mind cleared a bit. “Oh. Not sure.”

“It seems like the deal didn’t go through.”

Wait—

Mentioning it made Chen Yi snap fully awake. She reached into her pocket, fumbling around for a good while but coming up empty-handed. The moon-shaped brooch she’d so carefully wrapped in tissue yesterday was gone.

Oh, shit.

Chen Yi shot up from her seat.

Yu You’an jumped in surprise.

“What is it?”

Chen Yi: “You go ahead with your work. I’ve got something to handle.”

She slipped over to the break area and called Su Dai. No answer. Ever since waking up earlier, Su Dai had gone right back to sleep for a snooze, and now she was dreaming of gnawing on pork trotters. With trotters in hand, who would want to wake up? Especially since she’d had the foresight to silence her phone beforehand, just to keep anyone from disturbing her. Not even the king of heaven himself could rouse her now.

Chen Yi called several times, but there was still no response.

She sighed at her phone.

She’d wanted Su Dai to get up and check her room for the jacket from yesterday—see if the moon-shaped brooch was still in the pocket. Chen Yi was worried it might have gotten lost on the way. But it looked like Su Dai wasn’t going to be any help.

Head hanging, Chen Yi trudged back toward her workstation.

Yu You’an’s face lit up with excitement. “Chen Yi! Where’d you go? Hurry up! The chief editor’s waiting for you!”

Alarm bells rang in Chen Yi’s head. “Waiting for me!?”

She wouldn’t be asking about the brooch, would she?

Chen Yi shuffled forward in tiny steps toward Chief Editor Xu’s office, mentally rehearsing how to phrase her explanation. As soon as she pushed open the door, her eyes met Xu Yan’s. Xu Yan was shrugging on her coat, adjusting her collar with one hand while glancing at Chen Yi amid her busyness.

“You’re here? Let’s go.” Xu Yan’s gaze shifted to the side.

Chen Yi followed it.

Ever the dutiful assistant, she picked up Xu Yan’s handbag and handed it over with utmost respect, as if attending to an empress dowager.

Xu Yan said nothing.

She wanted to tell her there was no need to be so formal, but based on what she knew of Chen Yi, saying that would only make her more stiff. So she simply took the bag from Chen Yi’s hands without a word.

Xu Yan was wearing gloves today—real leather, supple with a hint of firmness. As she took the bag, one glove brushed against Chen Yi’s palm: a softness edged with structure. It suited Xu Yan surprisingly well.

Xu Yan herself didn’t seem as aloof as she appeared.

As Chen Yi stepped out of the office, she spotted the coffee she’d bought for Xu Yan that morning, sitting quietly in the corner of the desk. The sunlight at ten-thirty filtered through the building and the windows, slipping inside to cast a golden glow on the cardboard sleeve.

“Chief Editor Xu, where are we headed?” Chen Yi had been trailing behind Xu Yan for a while before the question finally occurred to her.

“Zhouyu’s house.”

Chen Yi: “!!”

“Teacher Zhou agreed to the interview?!”

Xu Yan: “Mm.”

“Really?!”

Compared to Xu Yan’s calm, Chen Yi’s reaction was like a powder keg that had just been lit—it exploded in an instant. She’d been walking behind Xu Yan, but now she hurried up beside her, staring wide-eyed. “Really? For real?!”

It was the eager look of an excited puppy.

Xu Yan took a step back. “Why would I lie to you?”

Chen Yi: “You’re right, Chief Editor.”

“Oh, right—Chief Editor, that brooch you gave me yesterday… I think I probably left it at home. Can I bring it to you on Monday when I come in?”

Xu Yan: “Sure.”

With that weight off her chest, Chen Yi’s tone lightened.

“So what are we doing now?”

Xu Yan: “Zhouyu specifically asked for you to do the interview.”

Chen Yi was floored. “What? What?! But I don’t know how!”

She’d studied visual communication design and could barely scrape by with some drawing. But writing? Interviews? She’d sooner chop off her ten fingers and mortgage them to Teacher Yu Hua before she could pull that off!

Xu Yan rubbed her temple a bit. “I know. I told her, but she wouldn’t budge.”

“I prepared the interview outline for you already. Take this.” Once they were in the car, Xu Yan pulled a laptop-style notebook from her bag. She opened it to reveal the digital outline already typed up, then handed over a black digital recorder.

Chen Yi: “Chief Editor, you really want me to do this?”

“What if I mess it up—”

This was a designer Xu Yan had finally managed to schedule. Sending a greenhorn like her would tank the magazine’s reputation!

“Don’t worry.” Xu Yan’s voice was like an anchor in a storm. “I’m right here.”

“You just follow the outline I gave you, ask the questions, and make sure the recorder’s running. When we get back, I’ll have someone else write it up.”

“Chen Yi, don’t be afraid to make mistakes,” Xu Yan told her. “Since I agreed to Zhouyu’s request and assigned you, it means I can handle whatever comes of it.”

“Besides, if a company doesn’t even give a little room for trial and error, no one in it will grow—and the company itself won’t either. Chen Yi, just relax.”

“Okay.” Chen Yi clutched the notebook to her chest, suddenly feeling a swell of emotion.

She pulled out a tissue and blew her nose.

Xu Yan: “Caught a cold?”

Chen Yi shook her head.

“No,” she said. “I’m just moved.”

Xu Yan: “……?”

Chen Yi: “Chief Editor Xu, you seem like my mom.”

Xu Yan: “……”

If Chen Yi weren’t about to go with her to see Zhouyu, Xu Yan would have been tempted to fling her right out of the car right then and there.

Chen Yi hurried to explain. “I mean, my mom said something similar to me once, back when I was little.”

Xu Yan’s gaze seemed to invite her to finish the story.

“It’s nothing much! When I was a kid, I was super scared of public speaking—worried I’d mess up. Mom said it was no big deal; if you goof, just fix it. She’d say the same about wrong answers on tests.”

Chen Yi’s eyes crinkled with a fond smile as she talked about her mom, and Xu Yan smiled too.

“That’s nice,” she said.

“Yeah, I’m pretty lucky.” Chen Yi nodded, then asked offhandedly, “What about you, Chief Editor?”

Xu Yan’s smile faded in an instant.

“Nothing much,” Xu Yan said. “Have you memorized the interview outline?”

Chen Yi: ……

This boss’s face changed faster than the weather in June! Did she have no fear of pulling a facial muscle?!

By the time they reached Zhouyu’s house, Chen Yi was already stunned before they even went inside.

Zhouyu was wearing an apron and tall boots, yanking weeds in the yard. She looked up at the sound of the car.

Chen Yi quickly rolled down the window and waved.

“Teacher Zhou!”

Zhouyu: “You’re here.”

The car pulled to a stop. Chen Yi opened the door and noticed Xu Yan grabbing something from beside her seat as she got out. She later learned it was a camera.

Zhouyu set aside her work the moment they arrived, ushering them inside. The house was worlds cleaner than yesterday—practically a different place altogether. Zhouyu looked a bit proud. “What do you think? Not bad, right?”

“I didn’t sleep last night. Cleaned all through till dawn.”

Chen Yi chuckled. “Looks like Teacher Zhou’s got plenty of energy.”

Zhouyu took off her work gloves and scratched the back of her head. “It’s okay. I just figured it out.”

“I kept thinking my life was such a mess because of the house. So I decided to just clean it up first.”

“What do you want to drink?”

Chen Yi: “Anything besides boiled water today?”

Zhouyu: “Nope.”

The two shared a laugh.

Xu Yan took off one glove and pocketed it, fiddling with the camera. Watching the pair chat idly, she took charge. “Once you’re ready, let’s start the interview. The living room okay?”

Zhouyu agreed.

“Oh, right, Little Yi.” Zhouyu switched to the nickname on the spot. “You’ve got a good eye. That brooch from yesterday? It was one of my earliest pieces. Back then, some folks thought the design was too busy—not practical enough, not promising. But you styled it great with your outfit yesterday. Added a special touch of beauty to the everyday.”

“That’s when I noticed the brooch—as you were leaving. Made me realize something.”

Chen Yi instinctively glanced up at Xu Yan.

Xu Yan stood behind Zhouyu, leaning against the wall as she adjusted the camera. Catching Chen Yi’s eye, she raised a finger to her lips in a hush, her upturned dark red lips carrying a smug, calculated certainty. The lashes at her eye corners curved like a butterfly poised to take flight.

Flutter flutter.

The butterfly soared, straight into the tip of Chen Yi’s heart.

For no reason at all, she suddenly thought of Fade. She imagined Fade’s face lighting up with that same smile after landing a sneaky hit on an opponent—grinning with victory in the bag, completely at ease.

Remembering that Fade hadn’t sent any voice messages these past few days…

Chen Yi pressed her lips together.

A strange intuition flickered in her heart.