The OA application for the room was approved quickly. Huang Yue's high-speed train was arriving in Xunchuan at nine the next morning, so Huang Ling and Luo Shuang swapped shifts.
She left an hour early, picked up the carnations she'd ordered from the flower shop the day before, and waited at the high-speed rail station exit for over fifteen minutes before Huang Yue's figure finally appeared.
Huang Yue had given birth to Huang Ling at twenty-five. Now at fifty-one, she still looked young—her slightly wavy long hair casually clipped up with a shark clip, a pair of sunglasses perched on her head, wearing a deep rose knit short-sleeve top paired with loose white wide-leg trousers. Though she always called herself a half-century-old woman, she never stopped trying to dress up, never missing a manicure or eyebrow treatment.
She had been Huang Ling's hero since her teenage years.
She'd dared to bring Huang Ling to Hangcheng at thirty-five to start over from scratch. At forty, to give Huang Ling a better life and climb step by step, she—who had never touched English—started learning a foreign language from zero, working her way from a salesperson to a manager with an annual salary of nearly seven hundred thousand.
Huang Ling spotted Huang Yue at a glance among the hurried or bewildered crowd.
Huang Yue spotted Huang Ling too, and after passing through the gate with her ID, she ran toward Huang Ling bouncing like a little girl.
"Baby, thank you." Huang Yue took the flowers and hugged Huang Ling tightly.
Huang Ling handed her the flowers and reached for her suitcase: "Come on, let's drop off the luggage at the hotel first."
Huang Yue had been abroad recently and had brought Huang Ling quite a few gifts this time—mostly local trinkets and snacks. After Huang Ling checked into the hotel, she took the snacks to the office to share. Once Huang Yue had rested a bit at the hotel, the two of them headed out to the postpartum care center to visit Huang Yue's client.
Huang Yue bought diapers and formula at the mother-and-baby store next to the care center—nothing else was more practical than those two things.
But Huang Ling, looking at the name hanging on the wall of that towering steel giant, was trying to figure out what excuse she could use to avoid going inside without making Huang Yue suspicious.
"Mom, I don't know your client anyway. I'll wait for you downstairs." Huang Ling stopped at the entrance.
Huang Yue didn't mind, but it was scorching hot in midsummer—standing outside waiting would probably give her heatstroke. She told Huang Ling to go inside and sit on the bench in the first-floor lobby, where there was free air conditioning, better than standing out in the heat.
"I'll wait for you at a nearby coffee shop." Huang Ling came up with another excuse.
Huang Yue knew Huang Ling—she wasn't the type to be so hesitant. She cast a suspicious, scrutinizing look at her: "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"
Her ex-boyfriend's mother's postpartum care center—it wasn't really appropriate for her to go in.
Huang Ling choked on her words, but then thought—Liang Wenpei probably wasn't there anyway. According to Pei Wenliang, he was seriously injured and most likely recuperating at home. Why would he come to a postpartum care center?
With that thought, Huang Ling followed Huang Yue inside: "Nothing, I just didn't sleep well last night and wanted a coffee to wake up. Never mind—we're having lunch soon anyway. I'll skip it."
After years of going through the motions at work, Huang Ling felt her ability to lie through her teeth had reached perfection.
"Don't drink too much coffee—you've always been prone to anemia." Huang Yue warned her daughter, though she herself drank more coffee than Huang Ling when she was working.
"Got it." Huang Ling obediently replied.
Watching Huang Yue get into the elevator, Huang Ling scanned the area. There were still empty seats in the first-floor lobby, so she found a spot and sat down. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a rack beside her displaying brochures about the care center.
Bored, Huang Ling grabbed one and started flipping through it.
The promotional booklet covered postpartum recovery knowledge, introduced the center's programs and equipment, and included an introduction to the founder.
Huang Ling leafed through it and saw the package pricing at the end.
After seeing the prices, Huang Ling's mouth fell slightly open. No wonder Liang Wenpei could drive a Porsche to work on his salary.
Even though she knew the mother-and-baby industry was outrageously profitable, Huang Ling was still shocked by the pricing.
If she had a baby and came here for postpartum care, she'd be working for nothing for years. She'd probably end up using those cardboard boxes from the hotel herself.
Before she could calculate how much she'd need to save each month just to afford a place like this, she heard a commotion not far away—a clattering crash.
She looked up. A rack full of care center promotional materials had fallen to the ground, along with a carefully tended decorative potted plant.
Everyone around instinctively turned toward the source of the noise, Huang Ling included.
Amid the mess, she saw the person standing at the center of the chaos. There was no shame on his face for causing the trouble—just panic, bewilderment, and shock as he stared at her.
Liang Wenpei had spotted Huang Ling the moment he walked in—she looked out of place in the postpartum care center. What was she doing here? He even forgot what he himself had come here for.
All the information in his head was suddenly thrown into chaos, except for one piece that his brain managed to extract.
So the reason she had been so cold and sarcastic toward him before was because she really did have someone she liked—was she pregnant?
He instinctively turned and left, just like the time he saw her wearing an Arsenal jersey with another man outside the hotel where she worked.
Huang Ling watched him come for no apparent reason and leave just as inexplicably.
Staring at his agile retreating figure, Huang Ling froze. Wait a minute—didn't his sister say he had an open wound on his forehead, deep enough to reach the subcutaneous tissue, with ruptured blood vessels and active bleeding?
If he needed care, how was he moving around so freely right now?
A medical miracle?
Before she could figure it out, his figure had already disappeared from sight.
"Lingling." Huang Yue's voice came from beside her; she had finished with the partner and come downstairs.
Huang Ling put the brochure back, stood up, and walked over to Huang Yue: "Done?"
Huang Yue: "Mm, let's grab a bite first before going to see Grandpa."
On the weekend, the law firm didn't even have interns around.
Only Wen Hanchi, the poor soul, was there. If it weren't for saving on electricity bills, he'd be at home playing games at this hour. Instead, he could only stare at Da Shun's photos on his computer to ease his longing.
The electricity he saved would buy Da Shun expensive cans and toys.
Just as tears were about to fall, footsteps sounded at the door. He quickly closed the photos and opened a document, afraid of being caught simply mooching electricity at the firm.
He furrowed his brows slightly, pretending to revise a legal document, but kept his peripheral vision on the door. Seeing it was Liang Wenpei, he curled his lips—all that acting wasted.
But the newcomer looked like he'd lost his soul, collapsing into a chair the moment he arrived.
Liang Wenpei sank deep into the chair, staring blankly at the ceiling with unfocused eyes.
He looked so utterly miserable that even Wen Hanchi felt a twinge of sympathy, cautiously probing: "What's wrong? Is your mom's postpartum center going bankrupt?"
"No." Liang Wenpei remained in his half-dead state.
Hearing it wasn't a financial issue, Wen Hanchi was completely relieved. As long as his mom wasn't bankrupt, what setbacks could Liang Wenpei possibly have in life?
Wen Hanchi continued writing: "Then what's wrong with you?"
Hearing his casual, dismissive tone, Liang Wenpei grabbed the tissue box on his left and hurled it over: "If you're going to care, can you at least care properly?"
"It's not bankruptcy—what big problem could you possibly have in life?" Wen Hanchi couldn't empathize.
Back when Wen Hanchi was bored, he'd treat the Porsche website's configurator simulator as a little game. Broke as a joke, he'd still dare to look at the 911. He'd skip the free paint colors and pick the 130,000-yuan custom refined color, choose the most expensive rims too. After a full round, he'd close the page—endlessly entertaining.
Until one day he saw Liang Wenpei configure a Porsche using the exact same steps, then actually pay and place the order.
That was when he wished Liang Wenpei would use his wallet to show some concern for him.
"Huang Ling is pregnant."
Wen Hanchi's typing hand paused, a bit incredulous: "I hadn't heard."
Then, looking at Liang Wenpei's state, Wen Hanchi couldn't hold back a laugh: "No wonder you're half-dead."
Liang Wenpei shot him a glare, feeling like his entire soul had been hollowed out. But the next second, he regained his fighting spirit and sat up: "What do you think the chances are it's mine?"
Wen Hanchi responded with a look reserved for idiots, then his face twisted in pain. He clutched his head with both hands and slid bonelessly from his chair onto the floor, kneeling: "Fuck, why?! Why can someone who asks a question like that get a lawyer's license, but I can't? Oh heavens, why are you so cruel to me!"
Liang Wenpei wanted to throw something at him again, but there was nothing within reach that could interrupt Wen Hanchi's current state without causing physical harm.
His phone on the desk rang—it was Pei Xiaomei, who had been waiting and waiting without seeing him.
"Hey, son, didn't you say you were downstairs half an hour ago? Where are you?" Pei Xiaomei asked with concern.
Liang Wenpei had been so focused on fleeing that he'd completely forgotten about it, feeling a bit guilty: "Something came up at the firm."
Pei Xiaomei was skeptical. These past few days, Liang Wenpei's grandmother had lost her appetite and kept feeling dry-mouthed and fatigued. She'd had a checkup at the start of the year with no major issues. Two days ago, Pei Xiaomei had someone buy authentic American ginseng, which had arrived. She'd called Liang Wenpei today to pick it up and deliver it to his grandmother. He'd said he was downstairs not long ago, but she'd waited forever and he never showed.
Pei Xiaomei: "Then get to work. I'll have your sister pick it up after she's done shopping."
After hanging up, Liang Wenpei reverted to his previous dead-eyed state. After a moment's thought, he opened his computer and, like an idiot, searched online: Can sex from three years ago result in pregnancy three years later?
Typing it into the search box, he almost laughed at himself. Then something occurred to him, and he looked over at Wen Hanchi.
Wen Hanchi watched him alternate between crying and laughing, afraid he might be losing his mind.
"Want me to ask Luo Shuang for you?" Wen Hanchi offered.
Liang Wenpei: "I've been waiting half a day for you to say that. Ask away."
Seeing how eager he was, Wen Hanchi—being the good friend he was—wouldn't pass up the chance to mess with him. He took out his phone, then deliberately put it back down. "I'm not going to ask for you."
Only when Liang Wenpei started getting anxious did he laugh and pull up Luo Shuang's WeChat.
The message was sent, but there was no immediate reply.
Liang Wenpei's fingers tapped restlessly on the table. After a moment, he asked, "Did she reply?"
"No."
A little while later, he asked again, "Did she reply?"
"No." Wen Hanchi shoved his phone screen in front of him. "See? She hasn't replied to me."
Just as he said that, the phone in his hand vibrated.
Wen Hanchi was curious. "What did Luo Shuang say?"
Liang Wenpei looked at his phone screen, choked up, then shifted his gaze from the screen to Wen Hanchi's face. "She said, 'Idiot.'"