Cohabitation With The Maniacally Gorgeous CEO - Chapter 22
Chapter 22
At half past six in the morning, An Yiqing woke up.
She went downstairs to the courtyard to practice dancing for a while. An Yiqing quietly returned to the house, only to see An Wan coming out of a room.
Her house had three floors, with two rooms on the first floor.
One was for storage, and the other held the portraits of two people who had passed away: her father and her older sister.
Other than cleaning, her mother would only enter this room on special occasions.
Today, she wasn’t holding any cleaning tools, yet she was coming out of this room.
Her gaze fell on her mother’s face, and An Yiqing noticed that the face, which had looked so well the night before, was completely changed today.
The corners of her eyes drooped, her eyes were filled with bloodshot veins, and her gaze was listless.
She must have stayed up all night.
An Yiqing stopped and said softly, “Mom, you should go to sleep.”
“Xiaoyu needs breakfast, how can I have time to sleep?” An Wan walked into the kitchen.
An Yiqing quickly followed, snatched the cooking utensils from her hand, and pushed her out.
An Wan stood outside the door, staring at her daughter: “Xiaoyu only likes my cooking.”
An Yiqing stood there, wanting to say something.
She opened her mouth, but An Wan cut her off first: “Your sister’s desk is a bit dirty. If you have nothing else to do, go clean it up.”
“Mom,” An Yiqing’s voice was gentle.
An Wan patted her arm: “Go out, go out, don’t disturb me.”
There was none of the gentleness she had shown when An Yiqing first came home yesterday.
This must be the trouble caused by her confession last night.
An Yiqing felt helpless.
Her mother had said last time that being poor was acceptable, but doing ‘that kind of thing’ was not.
She had turned around and said she was going to do something that would reflect badly; how could her mother not react?
However, An Wan last night truly hadn’t reacted at all.
After hearing her words, she had been silent for a few minutes, then got up and went upstairs to help An Tingyu with her homework.
All the way until half-past nine, An Yiqing wanted to have a serious talk with her mother but simply couldn’t find the opportunity.
Ms. An was busy taking a shower, doing laundry, and then said she was going to sleep.
An Yiqing lowered her eyes, put down the pot, and raised her hands in surrender.
She left the kitchen and went to the room to clean the desk.
An Tingyu’s voice came from the stairs; the little girl was coming down, holding the railing with her short legs.
She called out An Yiqing’s name repeatedly.
An Tingyu followed her into the room and presented a box of yellow hair ties: “Mommy, help me tie my hair.”
“Can I clean up first?” An Yiqing asked.
An Tingyu nodded obediently.
The little girl stared at the photo on the desk, walked over, looked at it again, and gasped: “Mommy, your photo is so ugly.”
An Yiqing glanced at An Tingyu: “It’s not ugly.”
“Black and white, so ugly.” An Tingyu hugged An Yiqing. “Mommy is red, the most beautiful color.”
“Xiaoyu, come out!”
An Wan rushed in and forcibly pulled An Tingyu away.
She slammed the door shut.
The older generation was superstitious and afraid that seeing these things would affect small children.
She had never allowed Xiaoyu to enter this room.
An Yiqing shook her head and diligently wiped the desk.
Picking up the photo, she looked at the girl inside and whispered, “Sister, if you were still here, would you support me?”
The person in the photo looked ninety percent like An Yiqing, with sunlight casting an bright and lively glow on her eyebrows and eyes.
Unfortunately, she could only live in the photo frame and would never be able to leave this room.
Naturally, she couldn’t respond to An Yiqing.
After cleaning the room, An Yiqing locked the door.
An Wan called her for breakfast.
She tried to speak several times, but An Wan wouldn’t take the bait, immediately bringing up a new topic.
Although her mother was gentle, she wasn’t easily persuaded.
Perhaps she had to wait until the time was right.
An Yiqing figured this out and temporarily gave up on communicating.
Her schedule was tight this afternoon; she had to return to Ningcheng right after eating.
But the morning was quite leisurely.
An Yiqing wanted to go back to her room to play a game and level up her account, but Ms. An dragged her along to buy groceries.
Their house was near the market, and An Wan was very familiar with the market vendors.
She stopped to chat in every place they went.
An Yiqing followed beside her, her face almost frozen from smiling.
Listening to the small talk, An Yiqing’s mouth slowly went from an upward curve to flat, and then downwards.
It was like this every time.
No matter what they talked about, the final topic would always turn to her.
“Is this your daughter?” “So pretty, oh.” “Where does she work?” “How old is she? Has she found a boyfriend?”
A one-stop household investigation.
An Yiqing was numb to it.
Standing in front of the pork rib stall, she put away the smile on her lips and watched the uncle calmly.
“A-Qing, the uncle is asking you a question. Do you like civil servants?” An Wan subtly nudged her arm.
An Yiqing held the pork ribs and said flatly, “I like Uncle’s pork ribs. Mom, buy more. I’ll take a portion back to Ningcheng.”
She said to the uncle, “Another two catties, thank you.”
The uncle quickly chopped the ribs and packed them.
Taking the package, An Yiqing smiled: “Xiaoyu needs to buy paintbrushes; let’s go now.”
The uncle’s mouth full of questions was drowned out by the farewells.
…
Leaving the market, the chattering sounds finally disappeared.
An Yiqing’s ears were liberated, and she felt refreshed.
“What are you thinking?” An Wan suddenly spoke.
An Yiqing slowed her pace and walked beside her mother.
“Mom, which thing are you asking about?” she tried to use a light tone.
An Wan was different; she was very serious.
“The matter last night.”
This was asking the obvious.
An Wan understood An Yiqing very well and knew that she would only come back to ask about something she had already decided on.
She pondered for a moment, and An Wan asked again: “That person, is she your roommate?”
An Yiqing nodded.
“Does she treat you seriously?”
An Yiqing froze and stopped walking.
She really couldn’t answer this question.
She decided to accept the invitation, but hadn’t considered whether Xu Lingyin cared about her. She was just worried that Xu Lingyin would be bullied.
Looking up at her mother, An Yiqing opened her lips: “Mom, at least I can guarantee that she won’t hurt me.”
“What are you guaranteeing with?” An Wan’s tone was gentle, but her question went straight to the heart of the matter.
An Yiqing pondered for a moment, her tone firm: “I trust her.”
“Do you trust yourself to give your heart to her?” An Wan looked at her daughter.
This…
An Yiqing had never given her heart to anyone; she had no experience.
Meeting her mother’s gaze, she simply smiled.
The two stood in the middle of the road until a honk sounded, and only then did they continue walking.
The topic had broken off, and An Wan didn’t pick it up again.
…
During lunch preparation, An Yiqing wanted to go into the kitchen to help, but An Wan shooed her out.
Due to time constraints, An Yiqing had to leave right after lunch.
Before leaving, she thought about the pork ribs.
They were so delicious, Xu Lingyin would probably like them too.
If she took them back, she would at least have a reason to invite the person home.
She walked into the kitchen to look for the pork ribs.
Opening the refrigerator and seeing what was inside, her mood instantly dropped.
The pork ribs were still raw; they hadn’t been cooked at all.
Her mother, who had spoiled her unconditionally, had for the first time refused such a simple request.
She was truly angry.
If she had known this, she should have kept it to herself.
Why worry her mother?
An Yiqing knew she was terribly wrong and hurried upstairs to apologize to her mother: “I won’t do that. Don’t worry.”
An Wan didn’t say a word.
“Remember to cook the pork ribs tonight, don’t let them go bad. I’m leaving.” An Yiqing forced a smile.
She walked out, and a faint sound of footsteps followed her.
Her mother was following her downstairs and surprisingly wanted to go to Ningcheng with her.
An Wan really disliked going to Ningcheng.
Every time An Yiqing went back to work, she would try to take them out to play, but her mother always refused.
An Yiqing felt a sense of foreboding: “Mom, it’s too rushed today. Next time.”
“I won’t go, so next time I see you, you’ll have another title.” An Wan was very serious. “A-Qing, you might be a little impulsive right now. I hope you can calm down and think carefully. We are not short of money or a career; how can you do that kind of thing? Even if we were so poor we couldn’t afford to eat, I wouldn’t agree.”
An Yiqing quickly explained: “Mom, I really won’t. You don’t have to go through all this trouble for something like this.”
“I can not go, but you take a week off and stay at home with me.” An Wan became insistent.
An Yiqing wanted to stabilize her mother’s emotions first, but before she could speak, An Wan’s eyes turned red.
“Your sister also promised that back then, and what happened?”
An Yiqing fell silent.
…
Returning to her room, An Yiqing felt a little dazed.
Xu Lingyin’s virtue of being straightforward had given her a taste of sweetness and then a taste of bitterness.
Sighing softly, she pulled out her phone and saw a new message from Xu Lingyin.
She quickly clicked it open.
Log into the game
Followed by a string of numbers and letters, which were the game account and password.
It had been sent three minutes ago.