Chapter 15 — My Sister-in-Law Is Not My Maid

In my own name, I hold two properties, a design studio, a social media account with one million eight hundred thousand followers, and a project roster booked solid. These numbers do not matter. What matters is that every morning when I wake up, I know precisely what I must do today, and whom I am doing it for. The answer is simply myself. Last month, I delivered a keynote speech at a provincial design exhibition, standing before an audience of six hundred people. When the lecture concluded and the book-signing session began, a young woman who had waited in line for a very long time handed me a collection of my published works and asked for my autograph.

Miss Lam, I would like to ask you a question.

Go ahead.

She hesitated for a brief moment.

How did you manage it? How did you break away from such an environment and transform into the person you are today?

I uncapped my pen, wrote a single line across the flyleaf, closed the book, and handed it back to her. She opened it to take a look, then raised her gaze to meet mine, the rims of her eyes turning red. The inscription read:

Do not wait for someone else to grant you space. You are that very space.

Once the signing event came to an end, Gu Qingwan arrived to pick me up. Inside the car, she asked:

How was it today?

Very good.

What shall we eat?

Hot pot.

Alright, our usual spot.

Beyond the car windows unfolded the nightscape of the provincial city, the brilliant lights stretching far into the distance where they dissolved into the unseen horizon. I leaned back against the seat and looked out the glass, suddenly reminded of someone. It was not Chen Zhuoyuan. It was my own self from many years ago, the one who had once pressed her back against the door of a small spare room and slid down onto the floor. I wanted to tell her: Get up. The road ahead is still very long, but every single step will eventually carry you to the place where you truly belong.