Chapter 189: So Awkward

Chapter 189: So Awkward

Wu Yurong was startled too. She had never expected Wu Chen to cough suddenly—and from the sound of it, deliberately.

It took her only a moment to grasp what he was thinking.

There was nothing between Wu Chen and Song Xuan. He was merely her senior from university, and he had already graduated. Even so, being seen was no good. Wu Chen was deliberately keeping Song Xuan from seeing his face.

Sure enough, Song Xuan stopped dead. Her expression became extremely awkward.

“Th-that… um…” She stumbled, paused, then finally managed it. “Uncle’s here…”

She could see no one. She had only heard the cough.

But now she understood there was someone behind the sofa.

Song Xuan knew that several enormously wealthy businessmen had pursued her mother. Far from opposing her mother dating or remarrying, she genuinely hoped Wu Yurong would find someone good to spend her life with.

Wu Yurong had raised her well, and Song Xuan was long past her rebellious years. All she wanted was for her mother to live better.

Because she knew that for all the dazzling success of these years, her mother lived exhausted—utterly exhausted. Often, late at night, Wu Yurong would sit alone in the empty living room with the lights off, drinking by herself in front of the glow of the television.

“Mm… Xuanxuan, why don’t you go on upstairs…” Wu Yurong had steadied somewhat, and she even gave her daughter a look.

“Ah! Right! Yes, I’ll go upstairs.” Song Xuan caught on at once. Walking in on her mother like this was awkward for both of them; she ought to make herself scarce. “I only came back to pick up a few things. I’ll go up first…”

She turned toward the staircase as she spoke, her steps quickening, and by the time she was climbing she was very nearly at a run.

Only after reaching the second floor and going a little way down the hall did Song Xuan stop.

Her heart was pounding.

She pressed her lips together. Her face was still flushed.

Her mother actually had a man…

Song Xuan believed her mother was serious.

She trusted her mother. Wu Yurong was not a woman who fooled around. She never had been.

A man her mother could take a liking to had to be decent and honest, surely?

Song Xuan did not linger long in the hallway. Lost in thought, she went quickly to her own bedroom.

Downstairs, on the sofa in the living room.

“You scared me half to death. Half to death… Why did that girl come back without saying a word…” Wu Yurong was already lying against Wu Chen’s chest, murmuring. Her heart really had leapt into her throat.

“You’re that afraid of your daughter finding out?” Wu Chen glanced at her and asked softly, smiling.

“And you still have the nerve to talk…” Wu Yurong lifted her head to look at him, as though she meant to scold him. But when their eyes met she remembered everything that had happened yesterday, from the afternoon into the evening and on into the depths of the night.

It had all moved so fast.

Her expression shifted faintly. She bit lightly at the corner of her lip, and a smile she could not hold back spread slowly across her face, a soft, springlike allure blooming between her brows.

“From the moment you met me, were you already thinking about doing this with me?” Wu Yurong asked.

“Yes.” Wu Chen smiled and countered softly, “Didn’t you like it?”

Wu Yurong pressed her lips together, then answered in that soft, sweet voice, “I did.”

She leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth.

“If you don’t get up soon, your daughter will come back down,” Wu Chen reminded her, smiling.

Wu Yurong got up, glanced toward the staircase again, and began hunting through the living room for her clothes.

There were only a few pieces, but they had ended up scattered in different places. She gathered up Wu Chen’s things along the way as well, tossing some onto the sofa and carrying others over to him, his shoes among them.

“Get up,” she urged softly.

There was no real impatience in it. Her voice was light, gentle, sweet.

Wu Chen sat up and began to dress.

Wu Yurong finished first, then set about putting the disordered living room right, picking up everything that had fallen. Ordinarily she would never have needed to do such things herself. One phone call and someone would come and handle it.

But she could not wait. Song Xuan would be down soon.

She was afraid that if her daughter saw the state of the living room she would start imagining exactly what had happened the night before, and then mother and daughter would both feel awkward and unnatural with each other.

A few minutes later.

Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. Song Xuan had gotten what she came for and was coming down.

She was walking loudly on purpose, partly as a warning, partly because she had no wish to stumble onto something she should not see and embarrass everyone.

Wu Chen was nearly dressed. He glanced over at the sound, perfectly calm.

Wu Yurong grew anxious at once and shot him a look.

Without the slightest hurry, Wu Chen stood and walked toward the downstairs bathroom. Just as Song Xuan reached the bottom of the stairs and turned toward the living room, he stepped inside and pulled the door shut behind him.

Song Xuan did not even catch his back. She knew only that someone had gone into the bathroom while her mother stood in the living room.

So the man in the bathroom had to be “Uncle.”

Wu Yurong immediately looked away from her daughter and pretended to busy herself tidying.

“Got everything, Xuanxuan? Are you going over to Xiaoye’s?” she asked, her tone light and sweet.

Xiaoye was one of Song Xuan’s close girlfriends.

It sounded like a casual question. In truth Wu Yurong was trying to send her on her way.

“Yeah…” Song Xuan answered—but instead of heading for the door she walked over to her mother.

Wu Yurong was carrying a throw pillow toward the sofa to put it back in place.

Song Xuan came up beside her and began helping, straightening several cushions. As she worked she kept stealing glances at her mother. There was a hint of shyness in her expression, but her big eyes were bright with curiosity, as though there were something she was dying to ask.

“You don’t need to help me. I’ve called the housekeeper, she’ll be here soon. I’m just doing a quick tidy-up… Go and see to your own things,” Wu Yurong said gently, with a glance at her.

“Mm.” Song Xuan acknowledged her obediently and still did not leave. Instead she moved two steps closer and asked in a low voice, “Mom, Uncle… who is he? Have I met him before?”

As she asked, she glanced toward the bathroom.

“Why are you asking that?” Wu Yurong gave her daughter a sidelong look.

“I want to meet him. I’ll have to sooner or later,” Song Xuan whispered.

“There’ll be a chance later… Don’t you think today would be awkward?” Wu Yurong said softly.

“A little…” Song Xuan gave her mother a very girlish smile, pressed her lips together, then leaned close and whispered, “Mom, just tell me who Uncle is… and I’ll go.”

“You little rascal. You’re that interested?”

“Mom, tell me. Go on, tell me.”

Mother and daughter truly were close. Song Xuan even took her hand and wheedled.

Wu Yurong looked perfectly composed on the surface, but inside her panic was mounting.

What was she supposed to do if this girl would not leave?

All she could manage was a deliberately mysterious air, as though she were teasing her daughter by keeping a secret.

“Mom, I only want to know who the man you like is… I’m this old already. What is there you can’t tell me…”

Song Xuan kept at her, whispering.

Ring, ring…

A phone began to ring.

The sound came from a strange direction.

Song Xuan turned her head, looked around, then lowered her gaze and reached down.

She pulled a ringing phone out from between the sofa cushions.

Two characters showed on the screen:

Ruobing.

“Mom, this is—” Song Xuan began, turning toward her mother with the phone in hand.

“Your uncle’s…” Wu Yurong snatched it from her.

Song Xuan looked at her. Seeing that Wu Yurong merely held the phone instead of carrying it to the bathroom for “Uncle,” she could not help asking, “Aren’t you going to take it to him?”

Wu Yurong dared not.

She did not even dare open the bathroom door, afraid her daughter would see Wu Chen in an instant.

“It’s all right. No need. I know her.” Wu Yurong smiled at her daughter, walked off to one side, answered the call, and raised the phone to her ear.