7:30 pm.
When Lin Yuan finally returned home, he found that the lights were all on. He stood under the small awning outside his front door and folded his umbrella slowly and placed it into his shopping bag. He then placed the shopping bag down on the steps and rubbed his wrists.
He was tired after walking around for more than an hour.
Lin Yuan was hesitant. He could guess from the car parked outside, that his mother was home. Honestly, he didn't know how to face her.
He played with the house key for a while and then took a deep breath and opened the door with a calm face.
Walking into the living room he was not surprised to see his mother there.
Lin Yuan's mother, Feng Ling, was a beautiful woman in her mid fifties, but she had few wrinkles so she looked much younger. Her black hair was cut short to her shoulders, and she wore gold rimmed glasses that framed her sharp eyes. Sitting on the sofa in a black business suit drinking tea gracefully, she looked elegant but stern.
"Lin Yuan, you're back." Feng Ling stood up when she noticed Lin Yuan.
"Yeah." Lin Yuan stood by the entrance to the living room.
"You were out buying groceries?"
Walking toward Lin Yuan, Feng Ling noticed that his clothes and his hair were damp so she instinctively took her handkerchief and reached out toward him, but then she paused.
"Your hair is wet." She held out her handkerchief.
"It's fine." Lin Yuan shook his head.
Mother and son stood there awkwardly for a moment, until a loud voice interrupted them.
"Huh?! Lin Yuan, you're finally here!"
Lin Yuerong had just left the kitchen and was walking down the hallway when she saw Lin Yuan standing in the living room.
"What took you so long? It's almost 8 o'clock -"
"-What time did you get home?"
"Huh? Only like fifteen minutes ago. By the way I messaged you, why didn't you reply?"
"My phone was on silent."
Lin Yuerong was annoyed listening to his nonchalant voice. She reached out to take the shopping bag he was holding and looked through it.
"You didn't even buy that much…" Lin Yuerong grumbled. Then she put her hands on Lin Yuan's shoulder and started pushing him out of the living room.
"Okay, come on, come on! Let's go make dinner! I'm starving!"
Lin Yuan had a dark face as he pulled away.
"What do you mean let's? You only know how to eat."
"Lin Yuan! How could you say that?! Everyone loves my cooking, right Mom?!"
When Lin Yuerong turned to her, Feng Ling had been watching the brother and sister pair quietly with surprise in her eyes, "Actually, I was thinking of making dinner…maybe you can help me Lin Yuan?"
"..."
"I'm wet." Lin Yuan's voice was soft, his eyes lowered.
"Oh, right. Well, you should take a shower first. Yuerong and I will prepare the dinner, it'll be ready by the time you're out."
"Hmm."
Lin Yuan glanced up at his mother and then left the living room.
By the side, Lin Yuerong saw that no one was paying attention to her and complained, "Hey, mom, I still haven't interrogated him properly on why he's so late!"
Feng Ling just chuckled, and took the shopping bag from Lin Yuerong, "Okay, okay, you can do that later. Come on, let's go, I'll make your favourite sweet and sour pork tonight."
"Really?! Then I also want taro chicken and braised beef and …"
Lin Yuan listened to the faint voices disappear as he walked slowly up the stairs. Whenever he was with his mother he couldn't help but behave awkwardly. The fact that they saw each so infrequently didn't help.
When he was a child he was always closer to his father. His mother was raised in a strict household and was working in a high position, so she was very stern and had a powerful personality. He was somewhat scared of her when he was a kid.
Actually, after his father died she stayed home with them for a whole year and rarely went to work.
At that time she would always try to talk to him but he just couldn't face her. For various reasons, the more she tried to get closer the more distant he would become. He wouldn't speak to her and would stay in his room. Over time it formed the relationship they have now.
Taking off his school jacket, he fell onto his bed. Lin Yuan took out his phone and absentmindedly looked through his messages with his mother. The last message was actually a week ago, when she had told him about Ning Qing being his tutor. He hadn't replied to that.
Further up was mostly mundane messages about school, and whether he had enough money. Most of it was her talking and his messages were usually one word answers.
"..."
Lin Yuan felt a bit bad.
Sighing, he threw his phone onto his bed and got up to go to head to the bathroom. Even though he was using an umbrella, the wind was quite strong so his clothes were feeling sticky from the rain.
"Umbrella?"
Lin Yuan remembered he had left his umbrella in the shopping bag. He had been planning to let it dry in the bathroom otherwise it would get a bad smell.
Groaning, he made his way downstairs, heading toward the kitchen.
When he was just outside the kitchen, he paused. He could hear soft voices coming through the slightly open door.
"By the way, you two seem closer, that's good."
"Huh?"
"You and Lin Yuan."
"Oh well, actually he's been different recently. He used to always stay in his room and never eat with me but now we sometimes eat dinner together, though we probably can't do that this week. Ughhhh."
Lin Yuan heard an exaggerated sigh.
"Is it your company? The launch is this week right? Do you need mom to help you? Your uncle has a friend in the game industry, he can help you set up a conference with-"
"- No, no, it's fine Mom. I want to do this by myself! Besides it's an indie game, it doesn't make sense to have all that."
"Alright, alright. I won't say anything else."
"..."
"By the way, have you talked to Lin Yuan much mom? You guys seemed pretty awkward before."
"Lin Yuan…"
"I know he doesn't want to speak to me…"
"Mom…"
"Haha, don't worry about me. Actually, it's better now, at least he won't completely shut me off."
Lin Yuan didn't hear anything else as he had already walked away.
…
…
…
When Lin Yuan returned downstairs, dinner was already prepared. Usually he would just sit and eat at the kitchen counter but considering that the three of hadn't eaten together for a long time, Lin Yuerong thought it was better to eat in the living room,
Looking at the coffee table that looked a little packed with all the dishes, Lin Yuerong complained, "We should really get a dining table. Now we have to all sit on the carpet."
Feng Ling looked at her children who were sitting on either side of her and said, "Well sitting like this once in a while is not bad."
Meanwhile, Lin Yuan was eating his food seriously, not paying attention to his sister's complaining. Kaiyuan rice noodles with pig's trotter soup…my favourite.
Actually, Lin Yuan liked to eat but he was cursed with a physique that made it hard for him to gain weight…Well, he probably shouldn't say that out loud. Lin Yuan glanced at his sister's chubby cheeks.
Then as if on cue, "Lin Yuan, I'm so jealous of you! You can eat what you want and not get fat unlike me." Lin Yuerong sighed sadly and slumped down.
"Yuerong, you're not fat at all. You are a beautiful young woman!" Feng Ling comforted her daughter who was eating her bowl full of sweet and sour pork with a sad expression on her face.
Actually, Lin Yuerong wasn't fat, but ever since she was a child she'd always had very chubby cheeks. No matter what she did or ate, it never seemed to go away. The worst insult you could call her was cute. Unfortunately, other people didn't seem to think so.
"Yes, you look very cute." Lin Yuan added at the side.
"You! I'm not cute! I'm beautiful!" Lin Yuerong pointed her chopsticks at him and spoke angrily between bites.
"Haha, you two are very lively today!" Feng Ling laughed as the two of them bickered. It felt like a long time since she'd seen such a scene.
"..."
"Oh."
Seeing Lin Yuan become silent again, Mother Feng hurriedly tried to continue the conversation.
"Oh yes, Lin Yuan, I forgot to ask you before about your new tutor. I've been very busy these days, so I didn't have a chance to call you…"
But you had time to message my sister, Lin Yuan thought.
Cough! Cough!
"Huh, are you okay?" Seeing that Lin Yuan suddenly started coughing, his mother thought he was choking on something and handed him a glass of water.
"I'm fine…"
Lin Yuan drank the water and coughed a few more times. He felt a little pathetic.
Feng Ling saw that it was nothing serious and continued asking, "Your sister told me you were happy with her?"
"She's fine." Lin Yuan replied calmly.
"That's good. Anyway I feel more comfortable with someone we know."
Feng Ling was used to his curtness, so she turned to her daughter, "Yuerong, your friend Ning Qing, it's that girl I met at your graduation right? I remember because she was so beautiful."
"Yeah, mom. Ning Qing is the campus belle!" Lin Yuerong was busy picking all of the pickled onions from the salad and adding it to her plate.
"Pfft." Lin Yuan couldn't help but laugh, he thought things like campus belles were only things in dramas.
Lin Yuerong glared at him and continued, "It's true, the number of boys who liked Ning Qing can line up for miles. She was always getting confessed to…" Well at least for a while, Lin Yuerong added in her mind.
Then laughing, she shook her head and announced proudly, "But unfortunately for them she's taken a strict vow of chastity with her elder sister hehe."
"Well considering she'll be your tutor, I feel like I should meet her, but I have to leave again tomorrow morning…" Feng Ling was thoughtful.
Lin Yuan's hand holding the chopsticks paused.
"...Hmm, I should at least give her some gifts as thanks. How about some cosmetics? We're launching a new skincare product soon, I have some samples with me."
"That's fine mom, just give it to Lin Yuan, I have to be at the company all day tomorrow, I'll probably stay there overnight." Lin Yuerong thought since tomorrow was the official launch date, it was unlikely she would be able to make it home.
Looking at her daughter's puffy eyes, Feng Ling nodded and then added, "I'll give you some as well."
The rest of the meal was mainly Feng Ling and Lin Yuerong talking. Lin Yuan was mostly silent except for a few one word answers.
After a while Lin Yuerong put down her chopsticks and got up to lay down on the couch and began rubbing her stomach lazily. Feng Ling was also about to get up and clear away the plates when Lin Yuan spoke.
His voice was soft and he was looking down on his phone.
"You should stay later tomorrow. It's more polite to greet her in person."
Hearing this, Feng Ling was stunned. The room was silent for a moment.
"Yeah mom, you should stay until you meet Qingqing. You haven't seen her for a while right?" Lin Yuerong added from the sofa.
"Oh, okay. I'll call the company and tell them I'll come back on Thursday!"
Listening to his mother's voice that was a little shaky, Lin Yuan felt even more pathetic.