novelraw Chapter 637: Early Winter Night
Chapter 637: Early Winter Night
Chapter 637: Early Winter NightLiu Xueming and Zhang Yunlan sat there silently, lost in thought for a long time.
Although they had heard for a while that Tang Song made money from livestreaming and knew their daughter had switched to a big company, they could never have imagined it would be to such an exaggerated extent!
After the parents had somewhat digested the recent news,
Liu Qingning took out her phone, opened the screenshot of last month’s pay slip, and handed it to her parents.
Seeing the series of glaring zeros, their breaths simultaneously caught in their throats.
Liu Xueming was an ordinary accountant, and Zhang Yunlan had no formal job.
Their daughter earned in one month more than what they had saved up in a lifetime combined.
This real yet surreal shock left their brains somewhat stunned.
Only after the phone was put away did they begin to come back to their senses a little.
Zhang Yunlan nudged Liu Xueming beside her, “Quick, go cut up some fruit again.” When Zhou Hao and the others came earlier, they had already eaten a round.
“No need, Auntie, don’t trouble yourself.”
“That won’t do. Wait and see, I’ll cut some.” Liu Xueming hurriedly went toward the kitchen.
This was Tang Song’s first visit home as their daughter’s boyfriend;
naturally, he could not be treated coldly.
The atmosphere in the living room gradually became warm and lively.
After all, they had all been old neighbors in the same town, chatting about past memories without any awkwardness.
After a while of chatting,
Liu Qingning gently patted Tang Song’s arm and stood up from the sofa,
a hint of fatigue showing on her face: “Dad, Mom, we just came back from out of town and are a bit tired. We’ll go rest in the bedroom for a while.”
“Go ahead, go ahead.” Zhang Yunlan smiled broadly, waving her hands repeatedly.
Then Liu Qingning gave Tang Song a glance and led him into the inner bedroom.
*Click*—
The door closed gently, instantly cutting off the hopeful gazes of her parents from the living room outside.
A quiet, familiar, and private space belonging only to the two of them quietly formed.
It was still that familiar small bedroom.
Pink curtains, a redwood-colored wardrobe.
On the desk, professional books were still neatly stacked;
several star posters were stuck on the walls;
the air carried a faint unique scent mixed with the smell of books.
Everything was almost exactly as Tang Song remembered.
Standing in this room, an unprecedented strange feeling surged in his heart.
He had been here many times before.
But mostly sneaking in secretly when the Bai Yueguang’s parents were not home.
Each time accompanied by nervousness, excitement, and the thrill of tasting forbidden fruit.
Back then, he would sit awkwardly on the chair, while Liu Qingning sat on the bed.
The faint fragrance from the young girl still seemed deeply imprinted in his mind.
That youthful, secretive, and ambiguous warmth.
Now, it had finally settled into a legitimate intimacy that could be openly displayed in the sunlight.
Tang Song’s gaze slowly swept across the room.
Finally, it fixed on the corkboard on the wall above the desk, on a photo pinned dead center,
and he momentarily became dazed.
The Bai Yueguang in the photo wore a thick down jacket, her playful high ponytail tied up, facing the camera directly.
That was the 16-year-old Liu Qingning.
At that time, her face still carried the lingering baby fat.
Her skin was so tender it seemed to drip with water, her big round eyes crystal clear without any impurities,
her entire appearance carrying a natural, unguarded childishness.
Cute as a little rabbit running out of a fairy tale.
It was the winter break of their first year in high school.
Their relationship, after fermenting for a whole semester, had become very good.
That day, Jing County had a rare heavy snowfall.
Tang Song squeezed through a crowded bus for a long time before arriving in the county town.
At the small park beside the Kuangjian Community, they built a crooked, somewhat ugly snowman.
Liu Qingning excitedly pulled out the family’s digital camera from her pocket and handed it to him, asking him to take a photo of herself with the “masterpiece.”
Just as she posed, the heavy snow on the branches suddenly fell with a “crash.”
Not biased left or right, it hit right on her high ponytail, splashing snow everywhere.
Tang Song happened to capture this moment forever.
He remembered laughing at her for a long time then.
The embarrassed Bai Yueguang “chased” him in the snow for a good while.
The snow that day was very white, and her smile especially sweet.
It was also from that day onward
their relationship truly broke through, entering a warm and hazy stage of intimacy.
Later, when he asked Liu Qingning for this photo, she said it was too messy and had deleted it.
Now suddenly seeing it again deeply stirred his heart once more.
“What are you spacing out for, dummy?”
His head was lightly but firmly tapped, pulling his thoughts back to reality.
Tang Song turned around to see Bai Yueguang standing right there, smiling like a blooming flower.
Today, she happened to wear the same high ponytail as in the photo.
Her black hair fell on both sides of her face, making her fair, oval face look even more adorable and charming.
Time seemed to overlap at this moment.
The 16-year-old girl in the photo, untouched by dust, and the woman in front of him, no longer naive but still beautiful, slowly merged into one.
Tang Song stepped forward, reached out, and tightly embraced her, greedily breathing in her familiar fragrance,
making up for the words he hadn’t dared to say ten years ago.
“I like you, Qingning.”
Liu Qingning’s body stiffened slightly, then gradually softened.
Waves stirred inside her heart.
Suddenly, her lips were forcefully covered, her teeth gently parted,
an indescribable thrill like a powerful electric current instantly surged through her whole body!
Her cheeks instantly flushed bright red.
She instinctively placed her hands on his firm chest, wanting to say something,
but Tang Song’s kiss became even more intense.
Liu Qingning felt her mind go blank, dizzy, and eventually gave up all resistance, slowly closing her eyes, indulging in the moment.
No one knew how much time had passed.
Tang Song’s hands began to move restlessly, sliding along her slender waist, slowly slipping under her loose soft sweater,
through a thin undershirt, clearly touching her smooth, warm skin.
Suddenly, the scale increased dramatically.
“Ah...”
Liu Qingning’s body trembled violently, instantly awakened from her daze.
“Hey! You... don’t do anything reckless!” She lowered her voice, both embarrassed and anxious. “This is my home, my parents are still outside! The sound insulation in this old house isn’t good!”
Tang Song’s hand didn’t withdraw. Looking at Bai Yueguang’s shy and adorable face, he pressed a little harder.
“Ah! Stop!”
“Qingning, don’t move.” Tang Song’s voice carried a teasing smile. “Let me check if you’ve lost weight recently.”
In this familiar environment full of ambiguous memories, looking at the face that once haunted his soul, Tang Song simply could not restrain himself.
Because outside the door were Liu Xueming and his wife, and Liu Qingning dared not call out loudly, she could only blush and push him in resistance.
But she was no match for Tang Song.
More than ten minutes later, the bedroom door opened.
The two walked out one after the other.
Liu Qingning’s cheeks were still flushed, her lips unusually full and moist, but no displeasure showed.
Tang Song looked refreshed and smiled, saying, “Uncle, Auntie, it’s getting late. I should head back. I haven’t been home to see my parents yet.”
“All right, be careful on the way.” Zhang Yunlan stood up and warmly said, “By the way, tomorrow is Qingning’s birthday. Come over for lunch?”
“Sure, I’ll definitely come tomorrow. Just... my appetite is bigger now, Auntie, you’d better steam more rice.”
“Ha ha, no problem! I’ll have Uncle Liu make his best braised pork, all you can eat!”
After a warm farewell,
the three of them accompanied Tang Song all the way to the unit’s entrance, watching the Rolls-Royce Phantom disappear around the corner into the night.
Liu Xueming and Zhang Yunlan simultaneously exhaled deeply, still wearing expressions of disbelief.
Liu Qingning withdrew her gaze, looking at her parents beside her.
Suddenly, she said, “Dad, your Chang’an that’s been running for almost ten years should be replaced. I’ll transfer you some money later so you can buy a new, safer one.”
Then she turned to look at the old, weathered apartment building on the wall and continued, “And our apartment is over thirty years old. It should be changed too. I think Tang Song’s place at Yun Jing Tai is pretty nice.”
When she left Century Zhixue, she was allocated more than three million yuan but hadn’t told her parents.
Originally, she had planned to use that money with Tang Song to buy a house in Yancheng and tell others that Tang Song paid for it.
Now, naturally, there was no need for that.
Moreover, as the head of Qingmi AI, the general manager of this top unicorn subsidiary, her salary was more than enough to easily improve her parents’ lives.
Also, having them live in the same community as Tang Song’s family to maintain good relations was the most important thing.
Hearing their daughter’s words, Liu Xueming and Zhang Yunlan exchanged glances.
After a brief silence, they slowly nodded, “Okay, we’ll go have a look in the next few days.”
In fact, ever since their daughter graduated from university and started her business, they habitually consulted her on all major and minor family matters.
This daughter had always been more decisive than them and always made the right choices.
…
Inside the moving Rolls-Royce Phantom,
“Okay, Mom, I’m almost home now... yeah, got it...”
After hanging up his mother’s call,
Tang Song closed his eyes and leaned back on the soft rear seat of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, exhaling a long breath.
The car was quiet and warm, completely blocking out the early winter chill outside.
Even with his current mood, coming to Liu Qingning’s home for the first time as her boyfriend still made him feel a bit excited and nervous.
After all, before this, facing Liu Xueming and his wife, he was always just Liu Qingning’s classmate and often had to hide.
He slowly opened his eyes, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
Then he opened the system interface.
Entering the system warehouse, he focused his mind on the card emitting a faint red glow.
[Enterprise Opportunity Card]: Upon use, Songmei Apparel will receive a special opportunity event to help the company develop faster.
[Note 1: Must select a formal employee as the trigger person for the opportunity event.]
[Note 2: The opportunity event trigger must be reasonable and requires some waiting time.]
Without hesitation, he selected the [Enterprise Opportunity Card] and used it immediately.
The light screen shifted, showing more than a dozen employee avatars on the interface.
Below each were simple information labels.
Vice President - Gao Mengting, sense of belonging: 100;
Host - He Liting, sense of belonging: 100;
Visual Designer - Cheng Qiuqiu, sense of belonging: 100;
Clothing Designer - Yao Lingling, sense of belonging: 100;
Cost Accountant - Sun Youguang, sense of belonging: 100;
[Note: Sense of belonging over 95 can use this “Enterprise Opportunity Card”.]
Unlike the previous card, this time’s requirements were clearly higher;
fewer than twenty “loyal” employees met the standard.
Those with a perfect 100 score were basically core members with vested interests or emotional ties to the company.
Last time, he chose “Host - He Liting,” creating the phenomenal IP “He Yiyi.”
But now that the IP was established,
a well-rounded, healthy company could never place all hope and bets on a single host.
This was also one of the reasons Gao Mengting personally got involved, cooperating with Li Qingya’s livestream.
The goal was to reduce risk and diversify success.
Tang Song’s gaze slowly scanned several avatars, finally resting on the vibrant smiling face of [Clothing Designer - Yao Lingling].
Actually, he had already analyzed on the way from Yancheng and had made up his mind.
With his current wealth and resources, Songmei Apparel’s development was basically smooth sailing.
The biggest bottleneck now was the growth speed of HEYISTUDIO, the new brand.
A deeply resonant brand required a long time of operation and accumulation.
If rapid formation was desired, a decisive, symbolic “ignition point” was needed.
The junior schoolmate responsible for the clothing design team was undoubtedly the best candidate.
Clicking the avatar.
[Opportunity event trigger selected as “Clothing Designer - Yao Lingling”.]
[Opportunity event generating... please wait patiently.]
[Event related: Songmei Apparel, Yao Lingling, social media, idol stars...]
Seeing the event keywords, Tang Song’s eyebrows slightly lifted.
Very similar to last time. Could it be... another chance encounter with some celebrity star for Lingling?
After pondering for a while, the light screen slowly faded.
Tang Song raised his head and just saw the familiar, brightly lit Yun Jing Tai community outside the window.
Home.
…
Modu, Cuihu Tiandi.
Su Yu wore a simple sleeping robe, lightly leaning on a lounge chair. Her skin, under the cold light halo, emitted a misty white glow.
Between her slender fingers, she gently swirled the deep red wine. Her cold amber eyes were tinged with faint sorrow.
*Tap, tap, tap—*
Soft footsteps approached.
“Feeling uncomfortable again?” Mo Xiangwan’s voice came from behind her, filled with helplessness and sympathy.
“No, just daydreaming.”
“Your birthday is next month,” Mo Xiangwan came beside her and looked out the window. “This year... it should be different, right?”
Su Yu raised her head and finished the remaining wine in her cup in one gulp, a self-mocking curve appearing on her lips. “I don’t dare to wish to compare with Liu Qingning. As long as... he can personally accompany me for a while, that’s enough.”
For her, every birthday after 2018 was torture.
Because Tang Song’s sudden and unannounced “abandonment” began on her birthday.
Since then, although he celebrated her birthday every year, the gifts were basically prepared by Jin Meixiao.
Those gifts, although expensive, were exceptionally cold, like a formalized compensation.
“You drink too much.” Mo Xiangwan took the empty wine glass from her hand and sat opposite. “If Tang Song knew, he wouldn’t be happy.”
“I know.” Su Yu’s voice was light. “But... I can’t control myself.”
Mo Xiangwan sighed, her gaze full of pity.
No one understood Su Yu’s pain better than her in these years.
If she wasn’t afraid of damaging her skin and making Tang Song disgusted, she might have self-harmed.
At her worst, she even planned to fabricate scandals, contact other men, hoping to ruin her image and career to get Tang Song’s attention back.
However, this impulsive act first provoked Jin Meixiao’s furious wrath.
Smile Holdings, through capital operations, strongly entered Tang Entertainment’s board.
Jin Meixiao even personally flew to Modu and said many threatening and mocking words to her.
From then on, Su Yu and Jin Meixiao completely broke off relations.
“Professor Wang Chang’s arrangements are set,” Mo Xiangwan deliberately changed the subject, “It’s strange, she’s especially proactive this time. Probably because the ‘Xuanji Optical World’ project is extremely attractive to someone so devoted to research.”
“Mm, thanks, Xiangwan.” Su Yu nodded and then smiled wryly, “Just the ‘Xuanji Optical World’ project alone, if it develops well, its valuation will be more than ten times Tang Entertainment’s. Not to mention the future-representing Qingning Technology. He really treats her well...”
“If the Tangjin Family Office’s pan-entertainment plan goes smoothly, Tang Entertainment might still have a chance,” Mo Xiangwan comforted her. “Our next core step is deep integration of technology and entertainment: AIGC, virtual idols, metaverse... that’s the future.”
Su Yu said nothing, knowing these were facts but still sounding hollow.
Compared to Qingning Technology, destined to become a world-class tech giant,
Tang Entertainment’s weight in Tang Song’s heart was probably very slight.
She was indeed insanely jealous of Liu Qingning.
The room fell silent.
*Ding dong—* The phone’s notification sound broke the silence.
Su Yu glanced at the phone on the table, sat up a bit, held it in her palm, and unlocked the screen.
A private message popped up.
[Yao Yaoling: “Su Yu’s April, hello. Happy to inform you that after online voting, your suggestion has been officially adopted. Please add my WeChat *****.”]
“What’s this?” Mo Xiangwan asked curiously.
A girl-like proud smile appeared on Su Yu’s face. “On Xiaohongshu, I proposed the Chinese name ‘Heyi’ for Tang Song’s HEYISTUDIO, and after all fans voted, it was officially accepted! From now on, this brand will be called ‘Heyi’!”
“Heh.” Mo Xiangwan was amused and helpless. “I don’t know where you find the spare time to join these fan co-creation events.”
“You don’t understand.” Su Yu raised her head. “Next, as the ‘namer,’ I’ll get free trials of the entire clothing line, and the designers will customize based on my body measurements, personally delivered by Tang Song.”
“...Fine, you win.” Mo Xiangwan was completely speechless.
Su Yu smiled and switched to her alternate account, added Yao Yaoling as a friend, and began chatting.
The smile on her lips grew wider and wider.
After a long time,
she suddenly smiled and said to herself, “Xiangwan, what if I appear in the media wearing Heyi’s clothes? Wouldn’t that be interesting?”
“Well...” Mo Xiangwan sighed and quickly tried to dissuade her, “That might disrupt President Tang’s business plan, better not...”
“No! I want to!” Su Yu stood up, her hair fluttering in the wind like a fairy. “If he dares to come scold me in person, I’ll definitely sleep with him this time! And take photos to send to Jin Meixiao!”
Mo Xiangwan: (6;
)?
…
At 11:55 PM, all was silent.
Tang Song lay on the bed in the Yun Jing Tai bedroom, still awake.
On the phone screen, a prepared birthday blessing was in the WeChat chat window.
Sending birthday wishes first thing on the birthday had become a habit between them for years.
*Vibrating—*
The phone suddenly vibrated.
[Qingning]
Tang Song answered with a smile, “Not asleep yet?”
“No, guess where I am now?” Liu Qingning’s playful voice came through the receiver, faint wind sounds in the background.
Tang Song was stunned and instinctively looked outside at the dark night. “You’re outside? Wait... could it be... at Yun Jing Tai?”
A clear, pleasant giggle came from the other end.
“You’re such a smart boy!” Her voice carried a coquettish grievance. “It’s almost midnight. I’m waiting at the south gate... it’s so cold, hurry out!”
“I’m coming down right away!”
Tang Song instantly jumped out of bed.
Without thinking, he grabbed a thick cotton jacket from the hanger, put on his sneakers, and strode out.
The elevator stopped on the first floor.
The unit door was pushed open, and the cold night wind instantly rushed in.
In the silent early morning community, his hurried footsteps echoed emptily,
occasionally accompanied by the crunch of dry leaves underfoot.
The neatly trimmed landscape trees flew past swiftly.
The street lamps cast shadows, lengthening and shortening his figure repeatedly.
Passing through the empty greenbelt, he ran out the community gate.
His hurried footsteps gradually stopped.
Tang Song’s gaze scanned the empty street ahead, fixed on that figure.
The early winter night was bone-chilling cold.
The street lamp at the community entrance radiated warm and blurry halos behind her.
She wore the same light green and pink down jacket exactly as in the photo he saw in her room,
only it appeared much more worn from the years.
In fact, for their average family, wearing a down jacket for several years was very normal.
Besides, Liu Qingning hadn’t grown taller since high school, so it still fit well.
She stood there, her small face flushed red from the cold, her nose tip also turning adorably red.
Her cute twin ponytails swayed gently in the wind, making her look much younger.
Seeing him appear, Bai Yueguang’s eyes sparkled brightly in the night, instantly curving into two beautiful crescent moons.
“Tang Song!”
She stretched out her arm to wave, then ran straight toward him,
the slightly puffy down jacket unable to hide her light, youthful joy at this moment.
Tang Song’s gaze slightly blurred.
It was as if he had returned to a familiar winter in his memories.