29 Phone Call

The arrival of this message caught Tang Miaoyi off guard, and she held her phone in a daze for a while. This was still during the most critical time of producing "Solo Dance" and this message just happened to show up now...

The next moment, her phone beeped, but it wasn't a simple text message anymore. Someone was calling her directly. Looking at the displayed contact, it was marked as 'Mom.'

The ringtone and vibration kept reminding Miaoyi to quickly answer the call. Everything happened suddenly, and this unexpected phone call and the text message made Miaoyi instantly recall a somewhat feminine figure in her mind.

It was like a long-buried memory, where that kind figure gently held Tang Miaoyi's small hand, smiling kindly and promising to take her to the amusement park to play. It was so long ago... she must have been 6... maybe 7? All she could remember was feeling happy, reminiscent of a simpler time.

Sadly, the happy memories slowly faded the more she advanced in age, and even before her dad passed, she had felt like she was losing a parent.

Speaking of which... Miaoyi never actually had a deep understanding of the word 'parents.' In her previous life on Earth, she had never met her birth parents and had lived with her police officer uncle her entire life, or at least as long as she remembered.

After suddenly transmigrating to this world, Tang Miaoyi had already known from her newfound memories that although her father was gone, she still had a mother in this life. Because of her situation, and the initial reaction she had when she thought about her, she had never really explored who she was.

But, she knew it wasn't just about not having the time. Although Miaoyi had the identity of a producer, she definitely wasn't 'that' busy. She even had time to play games every day or strengthen her 'relationship' with An Qiuying.

Maybe it just never crossed her mind? Or maybe it was a more instinctual reaction...

Her conscious daydreaming was interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone. Miaoyi quickly came back to her senses and looked at the phone screen. For some reason, she felt a hint of nervousness. She tried hard to recall more memories of the previous owner's mother.

However, after thinking for a while, Miaoyi helplessly discovered that most of her memories of the keyword "mother" were from her childhood. They were just normal and heartwarming stories.

As hard as she tried, the only memories she could remember were from her childhood. And the few memories she had from when she got older only made her feel worse. After the accident, they faded to almost non-existent, and almost exclusively over the phone.

In Tang Miaoyi's own memory, the few interactions they had always ended with her exploding in anger and hanging up in a fit of rage, feeling worse than before.

"Being a teenager is hard enough, and now I have this messy relationship to deal with..." Miaoyi murmured to herself.

She tried to convince herself that this person, 'Mom', wasn't her mother. She never had a mother in her first life, and she had turned out fine. Why would she need this external figure masquerading as her family member? She hadn't needed one then, and she certainly didn't need this one now.

But as she tried to bury some of these memories deep in her heart, Miaoyi only felt her anxiety increase. But the phone had been ringing for too long already, so she tried to appear natural and pressed the answer key.

However, before Miaoyi could say anything, a female voice came from the other end of the phone, initially sounding gentle and dignified, though it was trembling a bit: "Yiyi, why are you just answering Mom's call now? The homeroom teacher called me and said that you've been on leave for almost a week. What's going on? Are you sick? Why didn't you tell Mom?"

Tang Miaoyi was stunned for a moment, and she wanted to say, "It's nothing. You worry too much." However, she opened her lips and hesitated for a while before falling silent. For some reason, she felt heavy-hearted.

"Well, I called because I'm gonna be a few days late on your payments. Are your living expenses enough? If it's not enough, let me know, and Mom will send you more money next month."

Tang Miaoyi did not answer, and the voice on the other end of the phone seemed to take that as an answer, paused for a few seconds, and became noticeably lower, saying, "I'm sorry about that."

This time, after Miaoyi heard the voice, she hesitated for a while, and finally spoke, trying to make her tone sound neutral, "It's enough."

It was a very short word, and there was hardly any inflection in her tone, but the voice on the other end of the phone breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good, that's good."

Miaoyi didn't know how she was feeling now. The relationship between her and her mother had been icy and almost dissolved. But after this phone call, she could clearly hear how much concern was contained in her mother's voice.

"Yiyi, I know you've been blaming me, but Mom's work is really busy... According to Mom's plan earlier this year, you would have been taking the college entrance exams soon. This month, Mom was planning to take you to Neon for a break, but plans changed, and Mom had some unexpected work to deal with. I'm sorry."

"Go to Neon to relax?" Miaoyi listened and was stunned.

She knew her mother had started a business about 3 years ago, and had become even more distant after that. But even though her mother made a lot of money, and Miaoyi had never been truly financially challenged, it still felt wrong.

After all, kids at that age have things they care about much more than money...

"Well, let's talk about that at a different time. I have some work I need to finish right now and I'm not in a hurry for living expenses. I've earned some money somehow, so I'm good for now."

"Okay... just be careful when you're alone at home. Remember, if you're in trouble, you can always call your mom." Another admonishment made Miaoyi feel indescribable.

And just like that, the call ended.

- - - - - - - - - -

Tang Miaoyi could only sit in silence, and stare into the distance. Her mind in other places.

It took her a while to come back to reality, but when she thought about it again, there was one thing that puzzled Miaoyi...

That whole call was just about living expenses...

To be honest, while Miaoyi's living expenses were quite high for a high school student, they were only a drop in the bucket for an adult who owned her own company.

Yet today, her mother called and messaged her to inform her that her living expenses would be delayed.

Why was this happening? Did something happen?

"Never mind, I'll ask about it later." Miaoyi sighed and decided to put it off for now.

This was too unexpected, and she needed time to prepare herself before having that conversation. She had already waited 3 years to have it, it could wait a few more days...

Right now, the most important thing was to work on her new songs. Two new songs were about to be released, and she couldn't afford to be distracted.

Next up was the crucial step of "Solo Dance", which was to incorporate the audio contributions from her fans into the work!