“That brat! Anyways, if he doesn’t bring a girlfriend home this year, then I’m not letting him step even a foot inside this house on the Mid-Autumn Festival! Heck, even the Lunar New Year too! He’s not allowed to involve in any family gatherings!” Judging from Old Madam Wei’s tone, Tan Mo was sure that the old lady wasn’t joking.
The young lady couldn’t help but drop her jaw as to how serious Old Madam Wei was.
Before Tan Mo could even ask more, Old Madam Wei said, “Momo, you better tell your uncle that if he doesn’t bring an auntie home for you, then he’s not allowed to come back.”
Tan Mo remained silent.
“Remember to tell him that,” Old Madam Wei said again.
Tan Mo did not know how to react to that. Her joyful emotion was instantly gone. It was as if it had jumped off a cliff and could not be found anymore while her body felt as if she was drowning in a puddle of quicksand.
The more she tried to maintain her composure and make herself cheerful, the more she felt trapped. It was just like sinking into quicksand. The more one struggled, the faster they would sink.
That was what Tan Mo tried to do. She tried to convince herself to find an auntie for her uncle, but the more she did that, the worse it got.
She felt as if she had hit rock bottom and couldn’t climb back up.
While she was down, Tan Jinqi called her.
“Momo, in the last episode where the male protagonist fought the antagonist, do you think this will work?” Tan Jinqi told Tan Mo his idea. “If the background is too big and we can’t film it properly, it will become a messy scene. It might divert the viewers’ attention from the fight. I think we should change the background into something like pure darkness. I’m just not sure if it fits the plot or not.”
“Hm… That could work as well,” Tan Mo replied. “I’ll think of how to edit the scene tonight.”
Since Tan Jinqi was already making the preparations at the studio, he couldn’t visit his sister personally to talk about the issue.
Instead of heading to the research room, Tan Mo returned to her dorm to grab her notebook and headed back to the living area next to the campus.
As she was walking back to the condominium, she passed by a convenience store and went into it.
When she browsed through the goods, she stopped by in front of the alcohol section and got three cans of fruit-flavored alcohol to go along with her snacks.
When she finally got back, she realized that she didn’t have any appetite to eat.
Thus, Tan Mo opened a passion fruit-flavored alcoholic beverage and sat in front of her computer, snacking on chips as she went over the document.
She wanted to edit the script, but she just could not seem to focus her attention on the story.
All she could think of in her head was what Old Madam Wei had said over the phone.
Tan Mo couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like after Wei Zhiqian was married.
There would be two outcomes that Tan Mo could think of for Wei Zhiqian’s future. Either he would remain single for the rest of his life, or he would give his undivided attention to his one and only wife.
Tan Mo recalled that in the past, she used to think that once Wei Zhiqian was married, then he would have another person he held dear, who was his wife.
And then, they would have kids.
When that happened, Wei Zhiqian would give most of his time to his family.
He would not have the chance or the time to take care and visit Tan Mo like he always did ever since she was a child.
Tan Mo even told herself to be ready for such a time to arrive in the future. Eventually, Wei Zhiqian would not be able to spend as much time with her as he used to.
She also wanted to make sure that she would not interrupt his daily life and would only visit him during the festive seasons like how she visited her relatives.
However, now, when Tan Mo thought about the fact that Wei Zhiqian would marry a woman in the future, she felt so pained that she couldn’t do anything.
Judging from how anxious Old Madam Wei was about the situation, it wouldn’t be long for Wei Zhiqian to get married.
It was only then that Tan Mo realized she had only focused on hiding her real feelings toward Wei Zhiqian and didn’t even have the chance to consider that with his age, he wasn’t far away from having a wife and a family of his own.
Old Madam Wei reminded Tan Mo of that problem in the call.
Her feelings toward Wei Zhiqian were different than what they used to be.
When she thought of Wei Zhiqian getting married, she felt pain in her heart.
When she pictured Wei Zhiqian treating another woman nicer than her, she felt suffocated.
It was as if someone had tightened a rope around her heart and was pulling with all their might.
Tan Mo couldn’t help but grab her chest where her heart was.
She was hurting so much that tears were about to fill her eyes.
The moment Wei Zhiqian got married would mean that she would lose him completely.
From that moment on, their relationship would be nothing more than an uncle and niece by name.
As Wei Zhiqian was still single now, she thought that she still had time and only kept her feeling as having a crush on him.
When Wei Zhiqian got married and had a wife, there was no way she could have a crush on him any longer.
That would be indecent. She didn’t want to become someone like that.
The idea of not even being able to have a crush on Wei Zhiqian made Tan Mo dizzy. She looked around and noticed the passion fruit-flavored alcoholic beverage that was next to her notebook. It was opened, but she hadn’t touched it yet.
At that moment, the little snow fairy thought of drowning her sorrows with alcohol.
She reached for the can and took a sip of the drink.
The first flavor she tasted from the drink was the sweetness and sourness of the passion fruit while her tongue tingled from the fizzy water.
As for the alcohol in it, Tan Mo only tasted a minuscule amount of it.
She had to lick her lips and let the flavor linger in her mouth to even notice the alcohol.
It was clear that the drink did not have a high alcoholic content.
However, the sweetness and sourness from the drink softened her twisted expression a little.
The coldness made the heat inside of her dissipate. She was starting to feel a little better.
Because she got the soothing feeling from the drink, she couldn’t help but chug the whole can down her throat as if she was drinking from a can of Coca-Cola straight out of the fridge.
Just as she was about to finish the whole thing, she heard the door to the condominium open.
First, it was a loud beep that signaled the door was unlocked. Then, the door opened, and someone walked in.
Tan Mo recognized the sound of the person’s footsteps right away.
It was Wei Zhiqian.
She didn’t even have the time to think why Wei Zhiqian would come.
She was so familiar with the sound of Wei Zhiqian’s footstep that she could find where he was inside of a crowd.
Tan Mo quickly put the alcoholic drink down and jogged out of the room.
Just as she had expected, Wei Zhiqian was changing into his indoor slippers by the entrance.
He had just put the second slippers on when Tan Mo ran out.
Tan Mo didn’t even realize that she wasn’t walking in a straight line.
As she ran, she would sometimes tumble toward the wall.
“Uncle?” Tan Mo greeted. Her face was starting to blush from the alcohol.
Wei Zhiqian turned to look at her in surprise. “Momo? You’re here too?”
“Yep.” The young lady nodded. “I’m here to finish the script since it’s quieter here. Weren’t you the one who said I can come whenever I want?”
Tan Mo was confused as to why Wei Zhiqian was surprised she was there.
Wei Zhiqian smiled and nodded. “I did.”
“Why did you come here?” Tan Mo asked with her head tilted.
Her expression was like a kitten tilting its head.
She was so cute that Wei Zhiqian could hardly hold back his urge back to pull her into his arms.
