Casei às pressas com o magnata do encontro às cegas

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Bzzz—bzzz—bzzz—

The phone on the desk was practically vibrating itself into oblivion, and the blood-red words “Her Majesty Mother” flashed across the screen like a death warrant. For the Nth time, Yu Ling flipped the phone over, trying to silence it by sheer force.

Three seconds.

“LINGLING!!” A shrill female voice pierced right through the partition, making Yu Ling flinch. Well, Her Majesty Mother had apparently mastered the art of the Lion’s Roar from across the airwaves.

“Mom…” Yu Ling barely got out, still out of breath.

“Are you off work? Don’t you dare start with your project excuses! This time your Aunt Wang has vouched for him—local guy! Owns a place! Works at a company! Honest and steady! I’ve seen the photo, he looks great!” Mom’s words fired out like a machine gun:

“Tonight at seven, ‘Moments Café,’ third seat by the window! Skip out again and tomorrow I’ll buy a standing ticket, come over, and drag you there myself!”

“Mom, I just—”

“Just what? You’re twenty-five! Back home, that’s stamped ‘unsellable goods,’ you get it? The neighbors’ gossip is about to drown me! I already sent you the address! Try turning off your phone and I’ll have your dad stake out your office!”

Beeps sounded—the busy tone, heartless, mocking her futile resistance.

Yu Ling slumped in her chair. The mass of spreadsheets before her blurred into a gluey mess. Twenty-five? Pushing thirty? She felt like a sacrificial lamb in the family’s intelligence network, the aunts’ matchmaking orders hanging over her head like a