I Made Up With Her

Mommy!

Xu Zhitong’s heart thudded twice.

Half anticipation, half nerves.

Mom and the others were back in the country. Oh my god.

After so many years...

Xu Zhitong pushed against the floor and sprang to her feet.

Lin Yang didn’t turn around to look at her, so Xu Zhitong had to handle it herself.

She licked her lips and said, “Ah... okay.”

Mommy said, “Then I’ll come over now. Is that convenient for you?”

Xu Zhitong blinked rapidly.

Her gaze dropped, brushing over the skirt that had been hiked up and the wet, milky whiteness beneath it.

The damp scent was still in the air. Before Lin Yang could turn back and stop her, Xu Zhitong hurriedly said, “Oh, no, I’ll come over. I’ll come over later.”

Mommy said, “Okay, then we’ll wait for you at home.”

The call still hadn’t ended when her mother’s voice came faintly through the other end: “Zhiwei, ask baby what flavor she wants.”

Mommy relayed it: “We’re making cake rolls. What flavor do you want? There’s matcha, chocolate, and Oreo at home.”

When had they found the time to start making cake rolls?

Xu Zhitong didn’t understand. She leaned toward Lin Yang and looked at her, silently asking what flavor she wanted.

Lin Yang was straightening the pleats that had been pushed up to her waist. Head lowered, she ignored her.

Xu Zhitong had no choice but to pick a safe flavor. “Oreo, then.”

Mommy said okay.

The call ended.

The room fell quiet again.

Xu Zhitong wanted to say something, but saw that Lin Yang was still looking down.

She kicked off the kitten heels, which were a little damp too, and went barefoot toward the guest bathroom.

She seemed to have lost interest.

Was it because they’d been interrupted? Xu Zhitong could only guess wildly, but then she thought that just now it had been like a little fountain; it must have felt pretty good, and Xu Zhitong’s collar was almost soaked through.

Her wife was really sensitive. Sigh. If her mom hadn’t come back, they definitely could have kept going tonight...

Xu Zhitong felt regretful. She glanced at the mess in the entryway, then looked up and saw Lin Yang in front of the bathroom mirror cabinet, turned slightly sideways and bent over as she removed her inner layer, the white lace fabric lifted in her hand.

She hurried over. “Just leave it there. I’ll wash it.”

Lin Yang paused slightly, glanced at her through the mirror, and said, “It’s fine. Go change clothes. Auntie and the others are waiting for you.”

Xu Zhitong asked, “Are you going?”

Lin Yang: “...Why would I go? You go by yourself.”

Her tone had the air of someone throwing up her hands in defeat, and her expression wasn’t great either. Xu Zhitong looked through the mirror at her still-flushed face and cool eyes.

She stared blankly for a moment, mulling it over. Was this maybe the sage-like blankness after the tide receded?

It could also be because she hadn’t managed any aftercare. The tutorial said that was a very important part, but getting interrupted by the phone call did make it easy to lose the mood.

And now really wasn’t a good time...

Xu Zhitong sighed. Her fear of her mothers was still there, so she stood where she was and looked longingly at Lin Yang twice before resigning herself. “Fine. Then I’ll go change.”

She changed into a simple long T-shirt indoors. The various accessories she had put on to meet Lin Yang’s friends were taken off one by one because she was going to see her mothers.

Of course, she washed up a little too, tidied herself as neatly and obediently as she could, even combed her hair smooth, before walking back out.

Lin Yang still hadn’t changed clothes. She was removing her makeup, an eye-and-lip remover pad covering one eye, the other lowered. It was impossible to tell whether she was in a good mood or a bad one.

Xu Zhitong felt even more guilty for not being able to do aftercare.

Sigh.

She went over and kissed Lin Yang’s cheek, then said softly, “I don’t know where Mom and the others live.”

She could see that their place was lit up, so it must be in the same neighborhood; but which building and which floor exactly?

Lin Yang tilted her head and told her, “You can open a food delivery app and check.”

“Oh, oh,” Xu Zhitong said. “Yangbao, you’re so smart.”

She deliberately praised her a little more, though Lin Yang’s face didn’t improve much because of it.

Her mothers had always been very punctual. Twenty minutes had passed since the call, and Xu Zhitong was afraid they’d be upset. After hesitating for a moment, she said, “Then I’m going.”

Lin Yang leaned against the sink and finally looked up at her.

“Bye,” she said.

Xu Zhitong held her phone, feeling inexplicably uneasy. “You’ll wait for me to come back, right?”

Lin Yang: “...I will.”

Only then did Xu Zhitong relax a little. She lifted a hand obediently and waved. “Then rest at home for a bit. I’ll try to be back as fast as possible. Wait for me!”

She put on her shoes and went out.

It was easy to find her mothers’ place from the delivery address; it was in the building across the way, on a floor about the same height as Xu Zhitong’s, which was why they could see the light in her home.

Xu Zhitong walked through the quiet neighborhood, along the stone path and waterside pavilion in the central garden, her heart thumping too.

Eight years...

Had Mom and the others changed a lot?

Xu Zhitong stood downstairs and looked up, hesitating a little.

She also felt a little guilty.

Should she tell her mothers about her amnesia?

In Xu Zhitong’s mind, the amnesia had almost already been left behind. With Lin Yang around, her life was pretty comfortable now.

It was like every day back when she was in school and her mothers weren’t home.

Xu Zhitong had a routine of her own; the fridge was stocked with her favorite fruit and drinks, and the hourly housekeeper auntie cooked according to her tastes.

But once her mothers came back, everything would be different again. The meals would become the flavors her mothers liked; the drinks in the fridge would be criticized as bad for her health; the living room would become their living space, and she could no longer lie on the coffee table writing homework while watching TV...

Xu Zhitong couldn’t quite explain it. She resented that her mothers hadn’t been home year after year, yet she also wasn’t used to them being home all the time.

Just like that time in first year of high school when she twisted her ankle. Lin Yang took care of her every day, but her mothers couldn’t make it back even after getting a call from the homeroom teacher. Not until half a month later did they return and insist on dragging her to the hospital for a checkup.

Parents had absolute authority. No matter how unwilling Xu Zhitong was, she still got taken to the hospital and examined for half a day. She had a stuffed-up fury she couldn’t let out, and she still remembered it now.

Xu Zhitong pouted.

But she didn’t dare say that to Lin Yang either, afraid Lin Yang would think she was mentally immature and making a weird fuss over her parents.

After agonizing all the way there, Xu Zhitong finally reached the door and decided to stop struggling.

—If they saw through her, then she’d tell them the truth. Though she felt that given how much her mothers cared about her, they definitely wouldn’t see through it.

Xu Zhitong entered using her fingerprint.

The moment the door opened, she smelled a warm, fragrant aroma from inside; cake, and the scent of the house itself.

There was a wind chime on the door. As soon as it moved, it rang cheerfully, announcing her arrival.

Standing in the entryway, she could see into the open kitchen, where they were making cake rolls in front of the island counter. Mom was whipping cream; Mommy was opening Oreos; behind them, the oven glowed a soft golden yellow.

Seeing her arrive, Mommy’s eyes lit up first. “Good baby! You’re here!”

Over the past eight years, time had inevitably left its marks on her mothers.

They had been around thirty when they gave birth to Xu Zhitong, so eight years meant the gap between their forties and fifties.

Both of them had retired.

...Mm. And both of them were darker than before too.

Xu Zhitong stood there dumbly, thinking in a jumble; had the country they’d gone to been that sunny?

She was actually at a loss, but before two seconds passed, Mommy had already swept her into a hug.

“Traveling away for so long, and that lousy place didn’t even have a signal. Mommy missed our good baby so much,” Lu Zhiwei said affectionately, hugging her and turning a circle, her body carrying the soft, fragrant scent of pastries. “Does our good baby miss Mommy?”

“...”

Xu Zhitong went a little stiff.

W-when had her Mommy gotten so clingy?

Behind her, Xu Ran took off her kitchen gloves and walked over. Smiling, she said, “Zhiwei, don’t hug her so tightly...”

Xu Zhitong thought she was about to tell Mommy to let go, but the next second, she wrapped both of them up in the embrace.

Her voice carried laughter. “If you hug her like that, where am I supposed to hug?”

“...”

At the very bottom of the hug, Xu Zhitong was about to suffocate.

So weird.

Had her mothers been taken over by something?

In the past, they rarely acted this openly affectionate—calling her good baby, saying they missed her, giving her such direct hugs...

In Xu Zhitong’s memory, her mothers were always busy, always distant, their backs visible from a window as they dragged suitcases along.

Even when they came home briefly, they talked about work she didn’t understand, checked her homework, preferred their own world as a pair, and only ever left cold kisses in her sleep.

But now they were wrapped in a thick, sweet pastry scent, hugging her tightly.

Were they really her mothers?

For a moment, Xu Zhitong didn’t know how to speak. She stayed silent, and then Mommy and the others let go quickly.

Lu Zhiwei glanced at her expression and turned to glare at Xu Ran.

Then she took Xu Zhitong’s hand and said gently, “Come on, good baby. Are you tired? Sit down for a bit. Mommy will get you something to drink. I just baked a little pork floss. Do you want some?”

Xu Ran said, “That pork floss is for the cake roll. It doesn’t really taste right on its own. Don’t give it to our daughter.”

Lu Zhiwei said, “Then go get the snacks from the study—the bag we bought at the airport. I put it on the little table by the tatami.”

Lu Zhiwei had Xu Zhitong sit on the sofa and went to the kitchen to bring out a chilled bottle of soda.

She put it in front of Xu Zhitong and said, “It’s all your mom’s fault; she drank the last can in the fridge as soon as she got home. This one’s only been in there for two hours, so it isn’t very cold. Little one, bear with it.”

As she spoke, she lowered her head and touched the rim of the soda bottle, testing the temperature.

When she did, Xu Zhitong noticed that there was some white hair at the crown of Mommy’s head.

She froze.

Before, Mommy had been busy with work, but she had always loved beauty and often dyed her hair.

Why was it like this now...

Xu Zhitong said almost reflexively, “Mommy, your hair...”

Just then Xu Ran came out carrying a bag of snacks. At her words, she clicked her tongue and said, “She just didn’t bring her dye with her when she went traveling; that place wasn’t good for touching up the color either. If you point it out, your mom’s going to get upset again.”

Her tone wasn’t very good. Xu Zhitong hadn’t even reacted yet when Lu Zhiwei turned around and twisted Xu Ran’s ear.

“Why are you talking to our daughter like that? Shut up,” she said, then glanced at Xu Zhitong. “Don’t mind your mother’s mouth. Come on, eat something good. These are all imported.”

Xu Zhitong subconsciously took the snack bag Mommy handed her, then looked at the soda on the coffee table with its straw already inserted, and this time she was truly stunned.

How were her mothers treating her so well?

Or rather, it wasn’t simply good; there was also a hint of caution mixed in, as if they were afraid she’d get upset.

It felt as though she had real say in this family, as though her feelings were very important to them.

If she drank even a little more carbonated soda in the past, Lu Zhiwei would go on and on about it. But now Mommy was opening it for her by hand and even coaxing her, saying it was a pity it wasn’t colder.

Xu Zhitong dazedly thought: Is this what growing up feels like?

She took a sip of soda in a fog and slowly gnawed on a small bag of dried meat she didn’t recognize.

Over by the kitchen, Lu Zhiwei urged Xu Ran to bring out the gifts they’d bought back.

A whole huge box of them.

There was a wooden carving of some strange bird, feather earrings, a bark-cloth decorative painting, a silver amulet inlaid with agate and gemstones, and a few branded shopping bags, said to have been bought at the duty-free shop.

It looked like their month of traveling had been very eventful.

Lu Zhiwei sat beside her, smiling as she introduced each item one by one, and asked with genuine care, “How have you been lately? Want to tell Mommy about it? Or do you want to hear me tell you some stories from the trip?”

Xu Zhitong was almost getting goosebumps. “I’m fine. Either way.”

Xu Ran was changing the TV channel. “Do you want to watch a variety show or a drama?”

Xu Zhitong took a moment before realizing she was being asked.

Oh my god, when had she gained control over what was playing on the TV?

Before, whether her mothers put on the news or a drama, she only had the life of secretly watching along.

“...A variety show?”

Xu Ran stopped on a travel variety show.

Lu Zhiwei took out her phone and showed Xu Zhitong videos and photos on it.

After watching for a while, the variety show stars had already climbed to the mountaintop to see the sunrise.

Xu Ran said, “The sunrise we watched on the grassland was even prettier than the one in this variety show. It would have been nice if you had gone with us. There was a mother-daughter pair traveling with us, and that mom cried when she saw it...”

“What are you saying?” Lu Zhiwei interrupted. “Why do you care whether our daughter goes or not? She has her own life, right?”

Xu Zhitong looked up in confusion. “...Huh?”

Really? She could have her own life?

Did she have some terminal illness or something?

Why were they suddenly respecting her life...

Xu Zhitong’s discomfort and stiffness were pretty obvious.

Xu Ran and Lu Zhiwei exchanged a look.

Just then, the oven dinged.

Lu Zhiwei said, “Then watch TV for a while. Mommy’s going to finish the cake roll. If you want to go back, you can just go back directly; I’ll have your mom send you over later, okay?”

Her tone was warm and gentle.

Xu Zhitong hurriedly said, “It’s fine. I’ll watch TV for a bit; you two go ahead and work.”

Lu Zhiwei looked at Xu Zhitong a couple more times, touched the back of her hand, and gave it a light pat.

“Mm. If you want to tell Mommy anything, Mommy will always be here.”

Xu Zhitong was at a loss. “...Okay.”

She really did have a terminal illness, didn’t she?

When her mothers went back to the kitchen, Xu Zhitong hurriedly opened her phone and sent Lin Yang a message.

ZZZ: ............

Y: .

ZZZ: The last time I went to the hospital, did I get a full-body checkup? Do I have some kind of terminal illness...

Y: ?

Y: What’s wrong?

ZZZ: My mothers are acting so strange. They’re being especially nice to me.

ZZZ: So nice it’s absurd; it’s like they want to put me up on a pedestal. They’re even watching my expression!

Y: Your body is fine. You had a full checkup when you were discharged. I can send you the report if you want to see it now.

Lin Yang dug out the physical examination report and sent it over, then thought about it.

She didn’t know Xu Zhitong’s two mothers very well. From these years of livestreaming, she knew that sometimes her aunts would boil some water to soothe Xu Zhitong’s throat, or make her a late-night snack.

Xu Zhitong didn’t have an assistant; her mothers were the ones handling her livestream and supporting her career.

Lin Yang was actually just as confused about family relationships, so she could only guess in her reply.

Y: Maybe because you’re making a lot of money now?

Xu Zhitong suddenly understood.

That really could be it.

She was livestreaming now and making so much money; her monthly income was equal to what her mothers brought in over an entire year.

This was what people online called... financial independence?

Not to mention, her mothers had already retired. This was practically financial bullying.

Back when she was in school, her mothers made the money, so they were the big bosses and the ones in charge.

Now things were different; she was the big boss in the family, the owner of the whole house.

Thinking of it that way, Xu Zhitong relaxed again.

She had said it; how could Mommy and the others treat her like they were serving an emperor?

ZZZ: So that’s it.

ZZZ: [dog smug.jpg]

ZZZ: I’ll wait for Mom and the others to finish the cake roll and bring it back. You wait for me, okay?

Y: ...Mm.

Lin Yang didn’t reply after that.

Watching variety shows alone wasn’t very interesting, so Xu Zhitong stood up and ran to the kitchen to watch her mothers make the cake roll.

Lu Zhiwei was preparing to spread the cream. Seeing Xu Zhitong come over, she scooped up a spoonful and handed it to her to taste, asking, “Is this sweetness okay?”

Xu Zhitong took a small taste, then boldly made a request. “It seems a little light? Add a bit more cream to my half. Lin Yang likes sweet stuff.”

“Lin Yang?”

Lu Zhiwei’s hand paused, and she looked up at her.

Xu Zhitong only thought that maybe Mommy had been traveling for more than a month, and her information was still stuck back when they were fighting and living apart.

Since they were living in the same neighborhood, Xu Zhitong, from the perspective of her own personality, had never considered the possibility that they might not know about her relationship.

She said with some pride, “I made up with her.”