Nineteen days remained until the employee health checkup.
She had quietly counted that number once last night, but right now she couldn't spare it a thought, because another problem had already come crashing through the door.
At 9:20 a.m., the red light on the office phone suddenly lit up. It was the front desk downstairs calling.
She had just bitten into a scallion pancake from the breakfast shop when her hand froze in midair. Only then did she remember that the one on her desk had also been sent over by someone at her mother's request last night.
The hum of the office air conditioner suddenly became startlingly clear. Her heartbeat nearly drowned it out.
She pressed the speaker button and deliberately lowered her voice.
“Zhou Yuen, there’s a Ms. Chen here asking for you. She says she’s your mother.”
The receptionist sounded perfectly casual. There wasn’t the slightest hint of anything unusual as she relayed the message.
Zhou Yuwei’s fingers hovered over the button. Her first thought was to hang up immediately and pretend the extension had never rung.
Her second thought came half a beat faster than the first and slammed into her mind.
She remembered the three calls she’d missed last week. She had called back, only to hear a canned female voice on the other end, followed by a beep and a voicemail prompt.
She remembered lowering her voice into the receiver and saying, “Mom, don’t come. It’s really inconvenient here. I’ll come back this weekend.”
She also remembered thinking that she’d call again once she finished dealing with everything. Then she’d casually set her phone facedown on the desk.
That second call she was supposed to make had been pinned beneath the phone, never to resurface in her thoughts until now.
She stared at the red indicator on the office phone, her fingertips cold enough not to feel like her own.
A thought flashed through her mind. Her mother hadn’t even texted first this morning. That meant she’d decided to show up on the spur of the moment.
“Ma’am, would you like me to transfer her up?”
The receptionist’s voice chased after her again. Zhou Yuwei finally snapped back to reality, fumbling to hold the receiver against her ear.
“No, no, I’ll be right down. Please stall her for me.”
Before she could finish, all she heard was a busy signal. The receptionist had clearly already turned her attention to something else.
She grabbed her employee ID and shot to her feet, practically running. She didn’t even feel her knee slam into the edge of the drawer.
Lin Xiaoyu poked her head out. The moment she saw Zhou Yuwei’s expression, she understood.
“What’s wrong?”
“My mom. She’s downstairs.”
Those were the only four words she could force out, and her voice shook more than she’d expected.
Lin Xiaoyu froze for less than a second before grabbing her access card and sprinting toward the emergency stairs.
“I’ll stop her. You hide first. Don’t let anyone see that look on your face.”
Zhou Yuwei didn’t have time to respond. Those words had already propelled her toward the break room, where she ducked behind the glass partition.
The break room’s glass faced the open office. She could see out, but it was difficult for anyone outside to see in.
She braced herself against the counter and listened to her heartbeat slam against her eardrums, one beat after another.
Her phone remained silent in her palm. She stared at the screen, barely even breathing.
One minute passed. Then two. Nothing came from the direction of the emergency stairs.
Finally, her phone buzzed. It was a message from Lin Xiaoyu.
“Too late. She’s already swiped into the elevator with a whole group of people.”
A voice message was attached. Lin Xiaoyu’s voice was hushed and slightly breathless.
“She’s chatting up everyone in the elevator like they’re old friends. She even handed two scallion pancakes to the people beside her and said something about cherishing every connection, even while waiting for the elevator.”
As Zhou Yuwei listened, her palms began to sweat. She imagined her mother carrying a huge bag of scallion pancakes, cheerfully striking up conversations with strangers in the cramped elevator as if she owned the breakfast shop herself.
The elevator numbers kept climbing. With every floor, her heart sank another notch.
Before long, the elevator stopped on the tenth floor. The doors opened to reveal Lin Xiaoyu already standing guard, her face still flushed from racing up the stairs.
Chen Xiuqin stepped out carrying two huge bags of scallion pancakes, smiling as she looked around for someone.
Lin Xiaoyu immediately moved to block her, plastering on a slightly stiff smile.
“Hello, ma’am. Who are you here to see?”
“I’m looking for my son, Zhou Yuen.”
“He…” Lin Xiaoyu paused, her voice turning a little dry. “He’s in a meeting right now.”
“What kind of meeting?”
“A very long one.”
Chen Xiuqin nodded, her expression relaxing a little, but she still edged forward half a step.
Her gaze passed over Lin Xiaoyu’s shoulder and swept through the office, as if she could identify her son’s desk through sheer experience.
“What’s your name, sweetheart? Why do you look so nervous?”
Lin Xiaoyu’s smile froze for half a second, and her voice caught.
“I—I’m Xiaoyu.”
“Xiaoyu? What a cute name. Are you close with my son?”
“Very. Extremely close.”
“Then show me the way. Everyone has to eat breakfast, right? I brought thirty servings.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Chen Xiuqin went around her and headed toward the department, moving faster than expected and leaving no room for refusal.
Lin Xiaoyu followed behind, thinking desperately of excuses, but she couldn’t get a single one out in time. All she could do was watch Chen Xiuqin walk into the office.
The moment Chen Xiuqin entered the Brand Strategy Department, she set the two large bags of scallion pancakes on the island with practiced ease, moving as briskly as if she were arranging a stall in her own shop.
“Hello, everyone! I’m Zhou Yuen’s mom. I made these at my breakfast shop. Give them a try, and let me know if you want more.”
As she spoke, she laid out the pancakes one by one. Steam still rose from the wax-paper wrappers.
Several coworkers exchanged glances. They hesitated at first, but the irresistible aroma soon drew them forward one after another.
“Wow, did you make these yourself, ma’am?”
“Of course. I’ve been making them for thirty years. The recipe’s all in my head.”
The office filled with the aroma of scallions and lard. Even the people who had been typing with their heads down couldn’t help looking up.
Ke Minghan happened to get up from his desk just then. When he saw the spread on the island, he casually took one for himself.
He bit into it and raised his eyebrows.
“This crust is seriously flaky. You fried these in lard, didn’t you?”
“Of course. Lard is what gives them flavor. They never come out right when you use vegetable oil.”
He casually took a second one, completely off guard, like an ordinary employee grabbing a snack.
The coworker at the neighboring desk came over for one too, nodding while he ate.
“These are way better than the ones from the convenience store, ma’am.”
Chen Xiuqin beamed and stuffed another one into the coworker’s hands.
“Have another. Take it home for your family.”
Hearing someone praise her cooking made Chen Xiuqin smile even wider. She stood in the exact center of the department, looking around and waiting for someone else to speak up.
Her gaze moved from desk to desk. Halfway through, she stopped to enthusiastically chat with a young coworker passing by.
Behind the break room glass, Zhou Yuwei pressed herself against the wall, too afraid to move.
She watched her mother standing there, in a position where she might call out her name at any moment—the name only her mother truly knew. If her mother looked at her one more time, no disguise would hold.
No matter how perfectly the suit fit, it couldn’t fool her mother’s eyes. After twenty-five years, her mother would never mistake her own daughter’s face.
Her back pressed against the cold wall. Her fingers clenched the hem of her clothes as she watched the farce unfold through the glass, unable to interfere even one step.
She didn’t even dare take a deep breath. Any tiny sound on her side of the glass might draw her mother’s attention.
“Where’s Yuen?
Where is he?”
Chen Xiuqin’s voice grew louder, unusually clear across the open office, overpowering the sound of the printer spitting out pages.
Zhou Yuwei’s heart clenched. Her fingers nearly dug into her palms.
Just then, the door to the director’s office opened, and Yin Che stepped out.
She walked neither quickly nor slowly, heading straight toward Chen Xiuqin without glancing toward the break room even once.
“Mrs. Zhou, Yuen went out to meet a client today.
“I’m his supervisor, Yin Che.”
Chen Xiuqin paused, then looked her up and down. Her smile became a little more restrained.
“Oh, hello, Director. Sorry for dropping by without warning. I was worried about my kid, so I brought some breakfast while I was at it.”
“It’s no trouble. Please, come inside. We can chat.”
Yin Che stepped aside to clear a path and led Chen Xiuqin toward the conference room. Her pace never slowed.
The remaining coworkers dispersed and went back to work, leaving only the pile of scallion pancakes on the island, still giving off the faintest traces of steam.
The conference-room door closed behind Chen Xiuqin with a soft click.
Through two layers of glass, Zhou Yuwei watched the door. The break room glass separated her from the conference-room glass, with half a floor between them. She couldn’t hear a thing.
She stared at the two blurry figures inside. One sat while the other stood. Every so often, one of them gestured, but Zhou Yuwei couldn’t make out what was happening.
Her palms were drenched in sweat, and her knuckles had gone white from gripping the edge of the counter.
The air conditioner continued to run in the break room, but she felt as if the back of her shirt were already soaked through.
Her mind kept replaying the image of her mother standing in the middle of the department, ready to call out her name at any moment. The more she thought about it, the more she felt her heart couldn’t take it.
She thought about rushing in. She thought about pretending to be passing by the conference-room door. Every idea had barely surfaced before she shoved it back down.
She even started wondering what Yin Che was saying to her mother. What if she accidentally let something slip? The thought had barely appeared before Zhou Yuwei suppressed it too, telling herself that Yin Che would never do such a thing.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She looked down and saw a message from Lin Xiaoyu.
“Your mom got taken in by the director. I can’t hear anything. Are you okay?”
She couldn’t type a single word. She just shoved the phone back into her pocket.
Minute by minute, the two figures remained in the conference room. One shifted in her seat; the other didn’t move.
Zhou Yuwei counted the second hand on the clock as it went around and around, until even she found it absurd.
She pretended to leave the break room to get a glass of water, then pretended to have something to do as she returned to her desk. Her fingertips hovered over the keyboard, unable to type a single word.
A coworker passed by and casually asked if she was feeling sick. She shook her head and brushed it off, her voice noticeably raspier than usual.
She picked up her glass and set it down again. She repeated the motion three times, and not a drop of water ever reached her lips.
Twenty minutes later, the conference-room door finally opened.
When Chen Xiuqin came out, her smile was even brighter than before she went in. She was also carrying a cup of warm water from the director’s office.
Taking advantage of the moment, Zhou Yuwei circled around from the far end of the hallway, pretending she had just returned from outside. She deliberately made her footsteps quick and breathless.
“Mom, what are you doing here?”
Chen Xiuqin’s eyes lit up when she saw her. She grabbed Zhou Yuwei’s hand and looked her up and down.
“I came to see you, of course. And I brought some breakfast.
“Your director is such a nice person. She said you’ve been doing really well here.”
Zhou Yuwei’s throat tightened. She forced out a smile.
“Did she? I mean, I’m doing okay.”
With Lin Xiaoyu politely guiding her toward the elevator, Chen Xiuqin continued chatting with Zhou Yuwei and filling her in on things at home. She casually rambled about how business at the breakfast shop had been lately and how much the stall next door had raised its prices again.
As they reached the elevator, just before the doors opened, Chen Xiuqin suddenly turned around as if she’d remembered something.
“Oh, right. She also asked me if there was another child in the family.”
Zhou Yuwei’s heart skipped a beat.
“What—what did you say?”
“I said yes, of course. I told her I had another daughter.”
With that, Chen Xiuqin stepped into the elevator and waved at her with a beaming smile as the doors slowly closed.
Zhou Yuwei stood at the elevator until the floor display reached the first floor. Only then did she dare finally let out a breath.
She turned and walked back to the office. The entire floor had already returned to normal. Only a few scallion pancakes remained on the island, and someone was munching on one while talking on the phone.
She sat back down at her desk. The screen was still on the same page she’d left, the cursor blinking as it waited for her.
Her hands were still trembling. She hid them beneath the desk and clenched them until she could barely suppress the shaking.
The cursor continued blinking on the screen, but she couldn’t even remember the first word she was supposed to type.
Yin Che walked over from the conference room, her pace as steady as ever. She stopped in front of Zhou Yuwei’s desk.
She placed a brown paper bag on the desk. It was still warm from the scallion pancake inside.
The bag had been folded perfectly, its corners pressed flat. At a glance, Zhou Yuwei knew it was her mother’s handiwork.
She looked down. Five words had been written across the front in permanent marker:
“For Yuwei. No scallions.”
“Your mother said this one was for the other child in the family.”
Yin Che’s voice was perfectly even, impossible to read.
She paused before continuing.
“Don’t forget to take it home.”
Then she turned and walked away without looking back or saying another word.
Zhou Yuwei stared down at the paper bag, her heart racing, her fingertips afraid to touch it.
All she could think was, Thank God. That had really been too close.