She debuted after having a child with a celestial being.

The two were about to continue.

A sudden cough came from the living room doorway.

That cough was like an icicle, piercing straight into the warm, enchanting air, and all sound stopped for a moment.

Liu Yifei froze on the spot, as if something had poured a bucket of cold water over her head, chilling her from head to toe. She felt nailed to the sofa, all the blood rushing to her cheeks and then fading away, her heart skipping a beat.

She sat up abruptly, one hand gripping the satin strap of her camisole that was slipping down her neckline, while the other hand groped haphazardly on the floor.

Knitted cardigan—where—your fingers touch the soft cashmere fabric,

He immediately grabbed it and wrapped it around himself, moving so quickly that when he put his arm into the sleeve, it ripped open with a whoosh.

She didn't dare look towards the door, but she knew those eyes were staring at her intently.

Those weren't the eyes of a stranger; they were her own mother's eyes.

From childhood to adulthood, from Wuhan to New York to Beijing, her mother had never looked at her with that kind of gaze—awkwardness, shock, disappointment, and some other complex emotion she couldn't quite describe.

"mom……"

Liu Yifei opened her mouth, and the sound squeezed out from her throat, hoarse as if she had just finished singing the last line of "Mohe Dance Hall" in a recording studio.

"Why...why are you here?"

Xiao He heard it too.

He turned his head and saw a tall, slender woman standing under the warm yellow light in the entryway.

Liu Xiaoli was wearing a dark gray cashmere coat and carrying a handbag she hadn't had time to put down. She stood up straight.

That was Duan Ning, whose decades of dance training were etched into her very bones.

She had spent most of her life in the theater and had seen all kinds of rehearsals, but she had never seen her daughter pinned down on a sofa by a man, her clothes pulled down to her shoulders.

Her expression shifted from astonishment to fury, then to cold indignation, her face turning as if covered in a thin layer of frost, before she strode into the living room.

"Xiao He, what are you doing?"

The tone wasn't interrogative, it was a statement, chillingly cold.

Xiao He had already stood up.

He stood in front of Liu Yifei, his shirt collar open, one button torn off during their earlier struggle.

He offered no explanation or apology, but simply adjusted his posture slightly, shielding Liu Yifei behind him.

"Auntie," he said.

"Aunt?"

Liu Xiaoli placed her handbag on the entryway cabinet very quietly.

"Didn't you call me Aunt Liu when you were little? When you came to the theater to see your mom, you sat on that little stool by the rehearsal hall entrance, and I wiped your sweat for you. You were so well-behaved and obedient back then. Look at yourself now, do you think you've done right by your mom? Do you think you've done right by me? You weren't this naughty when you were little."

"Aunt Liu, about this matter..."

"Shut up."

Liu Xiaoli raised her hand to stop him, her fingers pausing in mid-air for a moment before turning to the sofa. Liu Yifei had already wrapped her cardigan around her neck, her fingers still trembling.

Two buttons were fastened in the wrong holes, the hem of her dress draped crookedly over her collarbone, one of the satin dress straps was slipping off, her hair was disheveled as if she had just gotten out of bed, and her face still had a flush that hadn't completely faded.

She had never seen her mother look at her like that before.

"Sisi, come inside with me."

Liu Yifei stood up, head down, and walked past Xiao He into the room.

As she passed by her mother, Liu Xiaoli reached out and helped her straighten the thin shoulder strap that had slipped down.

The door closed behind them with a soft click.

In the bedroom, the curtains were drawn tightly shut, and only a bedside lamp was on, casting the shadows of the mother and daughter onto the wall.

Liu Xiaoli sat on the edge of the bed, holding her daughter's hand. Her hands were slightly cold and looked particularly pale in the dim light.

"Sissi, Mom has a question for you."

Her voice was much softer than it had been in the living room; the cold, questioning tone had receded, revealing the weariness and worry beneath.

"He's five years younger than you. Did you know that?"

"Know."

"You know you still..."

"Mom, I like him. It's not the kind of liking a sister has for her brother, or the kind of admiration a partner has for her partner, it's just liking. It started last winter, and it's been changing little by little."

Liu Yifei's voice was still a little hoarse, but every word was clear.

She buried her face in her mother's shoulder and nuzzled against her, just like when she was a child and would whine and act spoiled after coming home from dance practice.

Have you thought about what will happen in a few years?

Liu Xiaoli didn't push her away, but simply placed her hand on her back and patted her gently, her voice carrying an extra layer of meaning.

"He's just started out, the novelty hasn't worn off yet, the outside world is so dazzling, he wants to see everything. But what about a few years later? When he's exposed to more things, when he's surrounded by all sorts of women, this one today, that one tomorrow, all younger than you, all better at charming people than you, how can he possibly stay with someone five years older than him? By then, you won't be as radiant as you are now, while he'll be at the peak of his career, male actors in their thirties and forties can still star in idol dramas, while female actors over thirty-five are considered past their prime. Will he be able to settle down?"

Liu Yifei twirled the old bracelet she'd worn for years in her mother's palm, moving the beads one by one as if counting every hurdle she and her mother had overcome together over the years: "Mom, you've always said you're never worried about anything I do. You're not worried about acting, you're not worried about singing, you're not worried about me getting back up from the bottom. Why are you worried about this one thing? You raised me all by yourself, no one knows me better than you. I'm not the kind of person who needs someone else to shield me from the storm."

"Mom, have you forgotten? I am Liu Yifei."

Liu Xiaoli remained silent for a long time.

She looked into her daughter's eyes—those eyes had never changed since she was a child, and when she got stubborn, not even ten oxen could pull her back.

She recalled clutching the divorce agreement at Anjia's door in 1997, flying to New York alone with her daughter who had just turned ten, and all the times she had been turned away and questioned about the value of the name "Liu Yifei" over the years. Her daughter had never cried in front of her.

No, once, when she had just returned to China to film a movie, after falling from a wire stunt, she hid in the dressing room and secretly shed tears. Her mother caught her, and her daughter immediately turned her face away.

She was only fourteen years old at the time.

Now her daughter is sitting in front of her, earnestly telling her—liking someone is not the same as a sister's liking for her brother.

This child has never had the talent for lying, so she knew that this time it was for real.

"You were in the living room just now, did you know where his hand was? This isn't about whether you like him or not." She suddenly changed her tone, becoming somewhat aggressive and probing.

"Mom, now that you've seen it, I won't hide it from you. If you hadn't come in..."

Liu Yifei didn't finish speaking, but the tight corners of her mouth betrayed her embarrassment at being abruptly interrupted.

"Mom, I really did it willingly..."

"You're also going to say good things about him. Fine."

Liu Xiaoli gently pushed her daughter's hand away from her own, examined it carefully for a while, and then held it again.

Are you planning to be with him?

"Yes."

"Okay. Mom promises you, she won't object to you two being together."

When she said this, her voice suddenly paused, as if she were enunciating a word that was difficult to say.

"But promise your mother one thing: wait a little longer. Wait until he's established himself, and wait until you're stable too. You're still in the same group, so if something goes wrong, it won't just affect one person. Besides, he's too young; you both need more time to get through things. I promise you two can be together, but until then, you and he can't have a relationship."

She spoke softly, but every word she uttered left no room for argument.

Liu Yifei remained silent for a long time. Then she looked up at her mother and nodded.

"Mom, last time you told me that no matter who I'm with, as long as that person treats me well, you can rest assured."

She pulled her fingers out of her mother's palm and instead held her mother's hand in her own.

"I'm telling you now, that person has appeared. He's good to your daughter. He came to me out of nowhere when I was at my lowest point, when I was being called a box office poison by the entire internet, and even brands weren't replying to my emails. No matter what happens in the future, at least for now, he's better to me than anyone you've ever met."

Liu Xiaoli was stunned.

Her hand was held in her daughter's hand, her palm warm.

She recalled the look in her daughter's eyes when she sang "Mud" not long ago—a look that seemed to care about nothing yet carried everything on her shoulders. She also remembered the face of her daughter many years ago when she was just a little kid who couldn't even speak clearly, waiting expectantly for her to finish class in the corner of the rehearsal hall.

When did this child learn to hold onto another hand even more firmly when others deny him?

She turned her face away, raised the back of her hand to wipe the corner of her eye, then stood up and tugged at the hem of her daughter's cardigan.

"You buttoned your shirt wrong, and you say you're not flustered?"

She bent down to help her daughter unbutton the tangled buttons on her cardigan one by one, and then buttoned them back up one by one.

When I got to the top one, my fingers paused for a moment and gently patted the small round clasp.

"Go outside. Xiao He is still waiting outside. Can you promise your mother? I'm doing this for your own good. I'm also satisfied with Xiao He. If you two have a relationship and don't handle it well, it will be hard to turn back."

"Don't you understand the entertainment industry? These men will never stay with their first woman forever; in the end, it's just endless arguments that lead to their breakup."

In the living room, Xiao He stood next to the sofa, not actually flustered.

He felt Liu Yifei's feelings; as for anything else, it didn't matter.

Her lipstick mark was still on the water glass on the coffee table, and the orange cat had jumped onto the sofa again, its tail brushing against the cushions.

The bedroom door opened.

Liu Yifei came out, her knitted cardigan neatly tied, and her hair had been re-tied.

Her gait had regained some composure, but the tips of her ears still retained some lingering pink.

She walked to the sofa and was about to stand next to Xiao He when she suddenly noticed her mother's gaze sweeping over her again, not sternly, but with a sense of scrutiny and consideration.

Liu Yifei sighed, suppressing her inner impulse. She subconsciously moved half a step to the side, not getting too close to him.

Liu Xiaoli picked up her bag at the entrance, walked to the door, and glanced back at them. Her gaze lingered on Xiao He's face for a moment, then her voice returned to its usual calm: "Xiao He. Next time I come, you two read on the sofa, remember that. Young people, don't go astray, read more books. The more you read, the fewer detours you'll take. Also, I'll be here often, keeping an eye on you."

"Understood, Aunt Liu."

Liu Xiaoli pushed open the door and stepped into the early summer night, her steps unhurried, just as she had come.

The sound of the iron gate closing gently echoed back from the corridor. Liu Yifei leaned back on the sofa and let out a long breath.

"My mom just now..."

At this point, Liu Yifei sighed again.

"It seems your mother isn't very opposed to me?"

"Of course, our two families have been friends for generations, but I am indeed older than you. My mother is worried, and I'm also afraid that your family might object as well, which could strain the relationship between our two families."

Liu Yifei rested her head on his shoulder and didn't say anything more.

Outside the window, the ground lights on the backyard lawn shone quietly in the night breeze.

The orange cat jumped off the sofa armrest.

The entire villa fell silent, with only the sound of their breathing remaining.

Xiao He unconsciously tightened his embrace, and said gently, "Xixi."

"Um."

"Is there anything harder than winning Liu Yifei's heart? I'm very confident about the future."

"Yes, I...I believe you."

Xiao He's gentle kiss landed softly on Liu Yifei's lips.

Liu Yifei, with her dreamy and affectionate eyes, accepted the kiss with deep tenderness.