The mother and son remained quiet for twenty minutes, finishing their cups of coffee.
Qin Sulan: "Do we still have to work overtime?"
Mo Yushen nodded.
Qin Sulan put down her coffee cup. "Then Mom won't bother you anymore. When Jiajia is free, you two can come to my place for dinner."
Mo Yushen did not express his opinion; he neither said he would go nor that he would not go.
Qin Sulan was used to his silence. She put on her coat and straightened her scarf. "Mom's going home." Before leaving, she added a few more words: "Mom saw the entertainment news. Jiajia is a screenwriter now. I heard that the film crew is filming day and night. Tell her not to overwork herself."
Mo Yushen: "Hmm."
He saw his mother to the door, and as he was about to step out of the office, he stopped in his tracks.
Once inside the elevator, Qin Sulan put her hand in her bag, intending to grab her sunglasses. After hesitating for a few seconds, she gave up, thinking that it was already dark and there was no need to wear them anymore.
In just a few dozen seconds, before I could even lose focus, the elevator stopped on the first floor.
The moment the elevator doors slowly opened, Qin Sulan's expression changed, but she quickly regained her composure, as if nothing had happened. She stepped out of the elevator without looking to the side.
The people outside the elevator, whether it was Chairman Mo or Mo Lian's mother, were all stunned.
When Chairman Mo returned to do some handover work, Mo Lian's mother accompanied him and helped him tidy up his office belongings. She specifically chose to come after get off work.
Who would have thought that people who hadn't seen each other for twenty-five years would meet again on this occasion?
Mo Lian's mother's complexion hadn't recovered yet; she had thought she was seeing things. She hadn't expected that after more than twenty years, Qin Sulan would still be so charming, with her figure hardly changed.
Time has softened Qin Sulan's strong edges and sharpness in her youth, but it has also tempered her elegance and composure.
Even in her fifties, her dignified demeanor still draws attention.
Ms. Mo turned around and glanced at that retreating figure. Just like on the day of the divorce, when she walked out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, her resolute and arrogant demeanor remained unchanged.
From the moment the elevator doors opened until now, only a few dozen seconds have passed, yet it feels like a slow-motion scene, stretching out this moment across twenty-five years.
"Are you coming or not?!" Mo Lian's mother said, barely containing her anger.
Mr. Mo didn't hear Mo Lian's mother's voice until that upright figure walked out of the lobby and disappeared from sight. He then looked away and entered the elevator.
Mo Lian's mother wanted to ask him why Qin Sulan had returned, but the words caught in her throat. Wouldn't asking too many questions just cause her more trouble?
She glanced to the side and saw that Chairman Mo was staring at the elevator buttons, clearly distracted.
"Why did she have to come back at this time of year? It must be Mo Yushen who sent her back to ask you for the shares." She clearly cares about the profits, yet she pretends to be so aloof.
Chairman Mo remained silent.
The elevator remained silent all the way upstairs.
Qin Sulan calmed down in the car for a while. She thought about how she met that man when she was nineteen, fell in love, got married, had a child, divorced, and left.
Thirty-four years have now passed.
Life is nothing more than this.
She looked up and glanced at the general location of Mo Yushen's office before driving away.
Mo Yushen stood at the window, looking down at the cars coming and going, but he didn't know which one was his mother's car.
Lost in thought, he heard a knock on the door. Thinking it was Secretary Ding, he said, "Come in."
It was Chairman Mo who came in.
Mo Yushen glanced at his father indifferently, without saying a word. He guessed why his father had come; it was probably because he had encountered his mother.
Chairman Mo cut to the chase, "Your mother...when did she come back?"
Mo Yushen retorted, "What's it to you?"
Chairman Mo knew he wouldn't get anywhere here, so he went to find the company's vice chairman, but somehow ended up on this floor. "How is your mother's health?"
As he blurted out the question, it dawned on him that they had all grown old. They had resented and hated their whole lives.
Mo Yushen sat back down at his computer, opened his email, and ignored his father.
Mr. Mo stood by the door and waited for a while, but received no response. Feeling bored, he closed the door and left.
Mo Yushen had no work to do, so he shut down his computer. He sent Xi Jia a message: "[The future Oscar-winning screenwriter, still busy?]"
Xi Jia had just finished work; she had a night shoot tonight, which took a bit longer. She checked her phone and saw two unread messages. The one that had just come in was quite ironic.
She clicked on the previous post, which showed a picture.
A handwritten note by Mo Yushen: [Will I be discussing the script with Zhou Mingqian again tonight? —Mo Yushen]
After reading it, Xi Jia smiled.
The three characters 'Zhou Mingqian' were in the largest font size this time, while the three characters 'Mo Yushen' were probably in a small size six? Tiny, like a little ant, looking very aggrieved.
Xi Jia replied: "I'm going home tonight, rain or shine."
Chapter 33
Xi Jia had just sent a message when President Fu called a meeting in the group chat with everyone in ten minutes in Zhou Mingqian's room. This group only included the main creative team.
Mr. Fu sent another message: 【No one can be absent!】
This sentence was sent three times in a row.
Xi Jia looked at the message she had just sent to Mo Yushen and wished she could take it back, but it had already timed out.
Mo Yushen: [I'll come pick you up.]
Xi Jia: [...Honey, I'm sorry, I have a meeting. I just received the notification.] She sent a screenshot of the group chat.
Mo Yushen stared at the screen for a few seconds, then replied: "It's okay, work is more important." He grabbed his coat and left the office.
The city at night is dazzling with lights, yet also bustling and lonely.
Mo Yushen took out his earphones, plugged them in, turned on the audio, and instructed the driver to go to the old house.
Listening to the recording, he suddenly remembered that Xi Jia had asked him to re-record a segment, just the second half of the sentence, but he had forgotten to do so because he was busy with work.
Mo Yushen took off his headphones as soon as they reached the courtyard of the old house.
There was no one in Grandpa's living room, and all the lights on the first floor were off, except for the window in the study which was still lit.
Mo Yushen didn't rush into the house. He stood at the door, turned on the recorder, thought about the sentence, and started recording: "In this life, I will only love my wife Xi Jia."
He recorded it and sent it over.
Mo Yushen didn't bother the aunt and went directly to the second floor without making a fuss.
A knock came at the door. "Grandpa."
"Come in." Old Master Mo was playing chess. He went to bed late and often played chess by himself when he had nothing to do.
"What brings you here today?"
Mo Yushen gave an irrelevant answer: "I just got back from a business trip yesterday." He hadn't been here for more than twenty days.
Grandpa Mo pointed to the chair opposite him, "Next round?"
"I've been in meetings all day, and my head is spinning." Mo Yushen politely declined, though his mind was still relatively clear, he just couldn't calm down.
Grandpa Mo didn't force him. He guessed that Mo Yushen wanted to go there quietly. After that, he focused on playing chess and didn't chat with Mo Yushen.
Mo Yushen leaned back on the sofa, closing his eyes to rest. The events of the past few days were piling up in his mind: Xi Jia's illness, the progress of the research and development center, his mother, his father, and Mo Lian.
A few days ago, Cheng Weimo called him and asked him what he thought and how to fight for it.
The father met with a private lawyer a few days ago, but as for how the shares and voting rights would be transferred, no outsider knew. Cheng Weimo even made a special inquiry for him, but found out nothing.
Cheng Weimo advised him to talk to his father.
He didn't go.
Those things are meaningless if you fight for them.
Just like back then, when her mother disdained to compete with Mo Lian's mother for her father's affections, she left resolutely and gracefully.
Mo Yushen stayed in the study for more than half an hour and then dozed off for a while.
Old Master Mo was tired and began to tidy up the chessboard.
Mo Yushen opened his eyes, glanced at his watch, and said, "Grandpa, I'm going back."
Grandpa Mo asked with concern, "How has Jiajia been lately?"
"It's alright, I'm quite happy being on set." Mo Yushen only reported the good news and not the bad.
Grandpa Mo said, "Your grandma has been paying attention to these things lately. When she sees people saying bad things about Jiajia, she argues back. She also types very slowly, taking half an hour to type a paragraph. Once, she got into an argument with someone and didn't have a moment's rest all afternoon."
Mo Yushen: "..."
Grandpa Mo waved his hand, "Go back and rest early."
It was already late when I left my grandfather's house, and I got home close to midnight.
Mo Yushen was not sleepy at all and ran five kilometers on the treadmill before going to bed.
Xi Jia's meeting just ended; this discussion lasted quite a while.
She went back to her room to get her car keys and came out. Just as she reached the door, her phone rang. It was Ji Qingshi.
Why are you making phone calls in the middle of the night?
"You weren't awake."
Just two minutes ago, Xi Jia posted a message on her WeChat Moments.
Ji Qingshi is currently abroad, on a flight in a few hours.
"I'll visit the set when we get back."
Xi Jia had just closed the door and didn't hear the first few words clearly when she heard that he was coming to visit the set. "Are you crazy? What are you doing visiting the set in the middle of the night? Don't come over, I don't have time, I'm going home now."
Ji Qingshi frowned, calculating the time difference, "It's too late, why go home?"
Xi Jia walked towards the elevator. "My husband has a problem with me. I've been ignoring him lately. I'll go home and coax him. Please don't come over and make things worse."
Ji Qingshi assumed there was a driver, so he ignored her and repeated to her, "I'll be in Beijing tomorrow night and go straight to the film set to see you."