Chapter 26 The Two in a Confined, Narrow Space Together…

Chapter 26: Two People in a Confined, Narrow Space...

It was almost the weekend. The closer it got to clock-out time, the more restless Xia Huaimeng became. She packed up her bag early, ready to rush out the second the clock hit five. She shared her experience with Lu Yingxiao: "Every Friday, the elevators get especially crowded. If you're even a little slow, you'll have to wait at least ten minutes to get on one."

Lu Yingxiao: "Seriously?"

She hadn't waited that long yesterday after work.

Xia Huaimeng said with a straight face, "Not exaggerated at all. My longest record was fifteen minutes. It was right before quitting time, and I had a stomachache. When I came back from the restroom, everyone was rushing to leave. Since we're on the top floor, the elevators going up and down, waiting that long isn't surprising."

After saying this, she jerked her chin in Wan Hui's direction. "Look at Sister Wan. Usually, she leaves work quite late, but on Fridays, she's just as eager to get off."

Lu Yingxiao followed Xia Huaimeng's gaze and saw that Wan Hui had also cleared her desk early.

Catching their looks, Wan Hui said a bit helplessly, "I have a child at home. From Monday to Thursday, her dad picks her up. Fridays are my responsibility."

Xia Huaimeng: "Why doesn't your husband just take over all the pickups? Why leave one day for you?"

Wan Hui: "That's what my kid asked for. She said I'm always busy with work and don't have time for her, so she specifically saved Fridays for me."

Lu Yingxiao thought of something else. "We get off work later than school lets out. Sister Wan, if you go now, won't your daughter have to wait a long time?"

Wan Hui: "She's in sixth grade. School lets out later for her than for the lower grades. Even if she waits, it won't be for too long."

Lu Yingxiao nodded, understanding.

Wan Hui: "I remember your sister is in third grade?"

Lu Yingxiao: "Yes."

Wan Hui: "Next week, the school should send a notice about the after-school program. By then, you should be able to get off work in time to pick up your sister."

Lu Yingxiao asked about the specific extended hours.

Wan Hui told her and added, "But each school has its own policies, so the times might not be exactly the same, though they should be similar."

Lu Yingxiao did the math.

If Youhe had the after-school program next week, the time she got off work would be about the same as Youhe's dismissal time.

Driver Lao Wang's schedule would be a bit too tight then.

Whether he picked her up first or Youhe first, one of them would end up waiting for a while.

She definitely wouldn't let Youhe wait.

If she were the one waiting, she'd also worry about Youhe getting home late every day.

Since she was done with work for the day, Lu Yingxiao opened the class group chat to see if any parents had mentioned the after-school program.

Perhaps because the teacher was in the group, the parents were pretty quiet. Occasionally, someone would pipe up to ask, for their forgetful kid, what homework was assigned, or if a parent could take a photo of a textbook or test paper related to the homework that their child forgot to bring home, so their kid could do the homework.

Lu Yingxiao was about to exit the class group chat.

Teacher Xu posted a notice about the after-school program. Starting next Monday, dismissal time would be delayed by one hour, coinciding exactly with Lu Yingxiao's clock-out time.

The previously silent class group chat immediately erupted with responses from a bunch of parents.

Going with the flow, Lu Yingxiao also replied: "Received."

What a coincidence.

Right after she hit send, Gao Yan also replied with a "Received."

Lu Yingxiao guessed that maybe it was Friday, close to quitting time, and he wasn't too busy.

The other parents replying also spotted the rare appearance of Gao Yan in the group, as well as Lu Yingxiao, who had just joined the group yesterday.

Their group display names were "Gao Youhe's Brother" and "Gao Youhe's Sister-in-law" respectively. Their replies were right next to each other. A parent with the nickname "Sun Yao's Mom" @-ed Gao Yan in the group, "President Gao, when did you get married? I've never heard about it." Then, she @-ed Lu Yingxiao, "Are you really Gao Youhe's sister-in-law?"

Seeing these two messages, Lu Yingxiao scowled with distaste.

She was also familiar with the name Sun Yao.

The day before yesterday, when she went to pick up Youhe from school, a boy named Sun Yao called Youhe a giant and called her a greedy pig.

Lu Yingxiao couldn't stand spoiled kids, and their parents were even worse. She immediately replied in the group, "Sun Yao's Mom, hasn't your son told you? He already knew I was Youhe's sister-in-law and has met me. Looks like Sun Yao's Mom is too busy with other things to talk to her own son. Otherwise, something everyone else knows about wouldn't be such big news to you."

Perhaps other students' parents had had it with Sun Yao's Mom. They chimed in, saying they already knew from their own children that Lu Yingxiao was Gao Youhe's sister-in-law.

They'd also seen Lu Yingxiao these past two days when dropping off or picking up their kids.

They also said Lu Yingxiao and Gao Yan were a perfect match, a talented man and a beautiful woman, a match made in heaven, and took the opportunity to offer congratulations.

With that, the topic shifted, and the screen filled with congratulatory messages.

If Sun Yao's Mom had stopped stirring the pot then, the matter would have been settled. But she shared the same temperament as Sun Yao, having no idea what the word 'restraint' meant.

Seeing that it was Lu Yingxiao who responded and not Gao Yan, she @-ed Gao Yan again, complaining to him in front of all the parents and the teacher, "President Gao, your partner here speaks too aggressively. I was just asking casually, and she flew off the handle. I wonder if she acts like this, or even worse, when interacting with Youhe in private."

Before Lu Yingxiao joined the class group, to avoid missing information the teacher posted, Gao Yan had added Teacher Xu to his list of prioritized group members.

As long as Teacher Xu sent a message, even if he had muted the class group, he would receive Teacher Xu's notifications.

When Teacher Xu posted the notice in the group, his work had just reached a break. He also thought about Lu Yingxiao having joined the group. She must have seen the message and the parents' responses. Perhaps a man in love—even if it was one-sided right now—as long as it was connected to the word "love," could get a little silly.

Unlike usual, where he would glance at Teacher Xu's message and exit the group, he also went with the flow and posted a "Received."

Thinking to himself that if he and Yingxiao were fated, they would both reply.

Once sent, much to Gao Yan's surprise, their messages ended up right next to each other, one right after the other.

He immediately took a screenshot, as proof they were meant to be.

He carefully cropped the screenshot, removing any other parents who had appeared in the frame, leaving only him and Lu Yingxiao.

After trimming it to his satisfaction, he saved the image and set it as his phone wallpaper.

In just that short while, Sun Yao's Mom had @-ed him and Lu Yingxiao.

Before he could respond, Lu Yingxiao had already sent her message.

Seeing the group was now flooded with congratulations for him and Yingxiao, Gao Yan didn't reply. He was busy taking screenshots, capturing all the messages from parents saying he and Yingxiao were a perfect match, a talented man and a beautiful woman, a match made in heaven, etc. This time, he didn't crop the screenshots. He just made a mental note of which parents these were, giving them silent credit for their good taste.

But there's a world of difference between parents.

Some parents, even without having met them, showed through their messages that they were both well-mannered and discerning.

Sun Yao's Mom possessed none of these qualities.

Gao Yan didn't get into it with Sun Yao's mother either; arguing with that kind of person was just a waste of time.

He sent a pretty generous private red envelope to every teacher and parent in the group, except for Sun Yao's mother, and tagged Lu Yingxiao in the chat. "Since everyone's here, I'd like to formally introduce her. This is Lu Yingxiao, the wife I'm unbelievably lucky to have, and also the sister-in-law my sister Gao Youhe likes even more than she likes me."

Everyone was already annoyed with Sun Yao's mother, and now with the red envelopes, they enthusiastically flooded the chat with congratulations for Gao Yan and Lu Yingxiao, wishing them a happy union for a hundred years.

They scrolled her comments right off the screen in an instant.

Sun Yao's mother tried to interject but couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Every time she left a comment, other parents' messages would immediately bury hers.

Sun Yao's mother was furious, and what made her even angrier was the amount in the red envelopes Gao Yan had sent—she was green with envy. But the whole group had gotten one except her!

She was so mad she could've smashed her phone!

Lu Yingxiao was quietly watching the chat. Seeing Sun Yao's mother try and fail to interject, then get all jealous over the red envelopes Gao Yan sent others and have the nerve to ask him for one, only to get buried again by other parents' messages, gave Lu Yingxiao a rush of sweet satisfaction, making her overlook what Gao Yan had said about her in the group.

"Yingxiao, what are you grinning about? Time to clock out." Xia Huaimeng patted Lu Yingxiao.

Lu Yingxiao looked up from her phone.

She'd been so absorbed in the group chat she hadn't even tidied up her desk.

Not wanting Xia Huaimeng to wait for her and then have to wait together for the elevator, which was going to be a ten-plus minute wait, she said, "You go ahead. I still need to use the restroom."

If she'd only mentioned tidying up her desk, Xia Huaimeng would have stayed to wait.

Xia Huaimeng said, "Oh, you still need to go? Alright then, I'm off. See you Monday."

Lu Yingxiao replied, "See you Monday."

The other secretarial office colleagues had also left one after another, leaving only Lu Yingxiao.

She peeked at the elevator not far away.

It was hopping, constantly in use.

Even if she went now, she'd probably just end up waiting around.

So, Lu Yingxiao took out the employee handbook and quietly memorized a few lines.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded at the office entrance.

Looking up, she saw Gao Yan—the very person who'd been playing Santa Claus in the group chat, making Sun Yao's mother shamelessly chase after red envelopes.

Remembering this, Lu Yingxiao instinctively smiled at him. "What brings you here? Is something up?"

Gao Yan said, "I saw the lights were still on over here, so I came to check."

He took a few steps closer to her workstation. "Working overtime?"

Lu Yingxiao said, "No, I didn't go to the elevator with Huaimeng and the others right away, and now the elevators are slammed."

Gao Yan suggested, "There's another elevator that isn't busy. Want to head home together?"

Lu Yingxiao asked, "Which elevator?"

Gao Yan answered, "My private elevator."

That's right—besides the six public elevators, the company had a private elevator for Gao Yan.

Lu Yingxiao followed him to take it.

When she accepted, her mind was on the fact that Youhe might be waiting again today with Lao Wang in the underground parking lot of the Love Sea Mall across the street. She didn't want to keep Youhe waiting. But as she stepped into the elevator with Gao Yan, standing shoulder to shoulder, it suddenly dawned on her that they were alone together in a confined, narrow space.

And in this space, there were only the two of them.