"President Yang, the topics selected for this week have been emailed to you… President Yang?

"Hmm?" Yang Yifan finally shifted her gaze away from the mirror and absent-mindedly made a noise in response to what her assistant was saying. "Ah, sure, I'll reply when I've read them."

Yang Yifan treated her subordinates pretty well and her assistant had a good relationship with her. Smiling widely, her assistant made an impudent joke. "What are you looking at, President Yang? Counting how many sparkles there are due to your dazzling looks?"

"Sweet-talker." Yang Yifan smiled and sat back down on her office chair. She opened her email. "Just now, I recalled the article I wrote that got popular."

The assistant blinked.

"I think it was called… Buried at Thirty-Five."

The main subject was to yell at the young people in their teens: At such a young age, you are already seeking stability, heading towards a nine-to-five, marriage and kids, and living that kind of dull and depressed life where everything follows a prescribed order. Are you preparing to rest in peace at the age of thirty-five?

In any case, it was a bowl of motivating chicken soup with a stimulating shot of chicken blood and, for some unknown reason, there had been an entire pot of it.

In those couple of years, the real economy was coincidentally in a downturn and there were hints that employment prospects would not be good. The whole world was full of teenagers with their ears perked up, waiting in anticipation for a short and succinct Directions on How to be a Grown-Up. They swallowed the chicken blood soup in large gulps and wanted to grow and thrive from it. She had hit the spot with the majority.

Yang Yifan suddenly let out a laugh. "I'm almost past the age of thirty-five. So it turns out that thirty-five is just something like this. You aren't very old and you won't turn into a demon or a monster." 

"But of course. A successful thirty-five year old is called 'young and accomplished.' They are experienced in the ways of the world and their worldviews have stabilised. They have such charm. I remember that article, that was when I started liking you." The truly youthful assistant finished her flattery and her tone changed. "But let's forget about those balding and big-bellied uncles and aunties. The moment they open their mouths, it's always about 'the necessities and practicalities of daily life.' From day to night, all they do is hover over the stove or around their kids. That type is called 'greasy middle-aged.'"

When she was done speaking, she realised that Yang Yifan had not said anything and was instead staring blankly at the computer screen, thinking of something. Hence, she tactfully closed the office door for Yang Yifan and left.

Alone, Yang Yifan faced the file in her computer and spaced out for five minutes. Not a single word went into her mind, so she stood up, opened the window, and lit a cigarette. In the full length window, her indistinct reflection could be seen. She looked as though she had been polished, every inch gleaming from tip to toe.

A person's outer husk was truly something miraculous. They all had the same skin and flesh, the same bones, but one only had to put on some adornments and everything could be turned on its head.

That "Thirty-Five" article was a piece that had not gone through any marketing nor any special planning. It was purely something written casually, in passing, and was filled with the fear the younger her had for "middle age."

When she was in her teens, she felt that people in their thirties could already prepare to retire. When she was twenty years old, she felt that there was no doubt that thirty-five was "middle-age." And to Yang Yifan, she had once felt that anyone married with kids was "middle-aged"—specifically, her parents were the very image of "middle-aged people. "

Her father's name was Yang Ping, the "ping" from "ping an"—meaning "safe and sound." When he was young, he had some issues with his endocrine system due to malnutrition. There was no major harm to his life, it was just that later on, he couldn't really grow much. When Yang Yifan entered junior high, her stature was already greater than her father's.

Mr. Yang was short and small and his bones weak. Naturally, his martial arts skills were lacking. Since young, he was the center of other people's gossip and whisperings—The Beggars' Sect's Sect Leader's son was a "half-crippled midget." Hence, he could only take an alternative route. Taking the chihuahua among dogs as a role model, he went out every day with a fierce and vicious look on his face. As time went by, his face indeed grew to become round with protruding eyes and his voice was abnormally loud, barking the moment his mouth opened.

After his arm was rendered useless by Wei Xiao, he spent every day crouched in the stinky elevator and could no longer go around freely. But as before, he considered himself the descendant of Beggars' Sect.

Yang Yifan remembered that he always had the stink of sweat on him and that he had very bad breath. His back was hunched from early on and his face looked aged and tense, scarily so. Meanwhile, her mother was a silent and uncommunicative weak woman. Her hair had turned grey early and her teeth on one side of her mouth were all spoiled. When she ate, she could only use the other side. As time went by, her face sagged on one side. Her facial features could not stay peacefully where they had originally been and drooped lifelessly on her face instead.

When a person reached middle-age, was that what they would become? This was something that had once made the teenage Yang Yifan very scared.

When she was in Year 3 of junior high, her class teacher had once asked her parents to come to the school. It was because her teacher found out that she was doing business with her schoolmates outside of school hours. At that time, the little shops on the school grounds were very cramped and the things they sold were expensive. Yang Yifan used her weekends to go to the wholesale market for small merchandise to "get stock," brought them back, and sold them to her schoolmates at a slightly lower price. She also helped her schoolmates who didn't have time to eat in the morning buy breakfast, collecting a few cents as a fee for every breakfast. Whenever her schoolmates grumbled about something being inconvenient, she listened and then thought of ways to solve the problem and earn money from it.

The teacher's intention was to get her parents to advise her. It was nearly time for the senior high school entrance examinations so it was best if she focused on her studies. Other "hobbies" could be left to be explored later. But before the teacher finished speaking, Yang Ping had—right at school, in front of her teacher and schoolmates—slapped her across the face.

"Go to school? What the fuck are you going to school for!" The man threw her school bag onto the ground and the contents scattered everywhere. Other than the books she herself used with meticulous care, there were also stationeries that she had bought from the wholesale market.

They were indeed small, meaningless items. But for the sake of economising her capital, she had to walk over ten miles there and back and her feet were nearly wearing holes into her shoes that did not fit. Every step was like walking on a scorching hot branding iron.

The man who dressed like a beggar all year round and was proud of it was not at all pacified. He stomped and stepped on the things. "Selling things… You're a foul Travellers' Sect's bastard! How dare you sell things! You've embarrassed me even at your school! You don't need to sit for the senior high exams, your compulsory education is done anyway!"

Could a girl around fourteen or fifteen years of age bear that shame?

From that day on, Yang Yifan refused to go to school no matter what she was told. Later on, she only bore it and went to sit for the senior high school entrance examinations. Naturally, her results were appalling and she entered an ordinary senior high school that was nicknamed "rubbish dump."

At that time, institutes of higher education hadn't yet begun to recruit students on a large scale. Unless it was a key high school, the students could basically say goodbye in advance to universities. She mixed with a group of teenagers who were already prepared to join the working masses and learned how to smoke, drink and fight in group brawls. Back then, her father had labeled her "foul" when she did a legitimate little business. Hence, she changed professions to collecting "protection fees" and completely became a little gangster.

After three confused and muddled years, Yang Yifan was prepared to be poured into the furnace of society to be melted down into scum and pollute the environment.

But when she was in Year 3 of senior high, the dirty deeds Yang Ping had done when he was young came to light. Old Sect Leader Yang was so furious that at the Martial Arts General Assembly that year, he announced that he would sever the father-and-son relationship between them.

Yang Ping left the family and vanished without a trace. When her mother went out to look for him, she met with a car accident due to her distracted mental state and passed away. Yang Yifan was taken away by her grandfather. Old Yang could not get used to her behaviour and ruthlessly beat her a few times. Every day, the grandfather and granddaughter fought furiously. But contained within her grandfather's Dog Beating Staff was a sincere and earnest heart whose strength exceeded a thousand pounds. Yang Yifan finally yielded under the power of this jade-green staff. Half a year later, she focused her mind and sat for the university entrance examinations.

After she flunked the exams, Yang Yifan was again forced by the old man to attend the class for repeat students. She worked hard for a year and entered an average-ranking school. Just like that, her journey full of perils, she finally slipped around the furnace and barely managed to return to the normal path and grew up to become an adult.

She might have grown up but her terror remained. She liked cats and dogs but it was only towards chihuahuas that she had a heavy, lingering fear. Every time she saw one of them on the street, she would have to make a detour.

The awkwardness from having to pay her school fees with small notes and coins, her desperate efforts to cover up the holes in her uniform with her school bag, her schoolmates' pointed fingers… they occupied the skin on her back like scars, striking at her so that she was constantly crying out a sharp and ear-piercing sound…

How You Live Your Life Defines You.

Don't Apply Face Cream for Twenty-Year Olds on a Forty-Year Old Face.

Those People Aged XX Who Still Wear XXX.

If You Don't Run Madly, Even the Last Bus Will Not Wait For You.

Let Me Tell You a Horror Story: The Moment You See Your Parent's Face in the Mirror.

How To Become Someone Cheap.

Your Dull and Mediocre Appearance is Truly a Disgrace.

Right then, her phone rang. Yang Yifan picked up without thinking. "Hello?"

"I am Miao Feng. I went to your house a few days ago. My police I.D. number is-"

"Oh, I remember you." Yang Yifan exhaled a puff of smoke, interrupting him. "Captain Meow, what's the matter now?"

Captain Miao felt that her pronunciation was a little strange but he didn't know if he was being overly sensitive or if the phone's sound was off. He paused, then put this matter aside for the time being, and said to Yang Yifan. "There are some things online. It was not the police who leaked them. I'm giving you a heads-up."

Yang Yifan raised an eyebrow. "What things? My nudes?"

Captain Miao, "..."

Yang Yifan said, "If the photos are from a long time ago, please help me delete them discreetly. If they are recent photos, then just let them be. I've been taking care of my figure recently."

Captain Miao's blood pressure rose just from hearing her speak. He called on all the self-restraint he possessed in his body to hold back his anger and said in a strictly professional manner, "We are communicating with the relevant departments to take care of this matter diligently. However, Ms. Yang, previously you said that you left that gathering early and that you are not aware of a lot of things. We now have reason to suspect that you did not speak the truth. We will be visiting you again later and would like to ask that you cooperate with us."

After saying that, Captain Miao hung up on his end and Yang Yifan realised that in just that short time, her WeChat had a bunch of unread messages. She stared blankly, then opened one of them. A friend had sent: Fuck, is this you? You're in trouble!

Under that was a photo and a video. The photo was the one Captain Miao had shown her, the one that showed her taking desserts that day at the banquet.

The video should have been taken secretly. The hands of the person taking the video were trembling very hard and plant leaves occasionally entered the frame. That person should be hiding behind a potted plant. The main subject in the video was none other than Yang Yifan. She was wearing the outfit she had worn to that banquet and was sitting on the corner of a sofa, chatting with someone.

She seemed to have drank a lot. One of her hands was holding a glass of champagne while her other hand was on a young man's shoulder. She was laughing with the others.

The person who recorded the video seemed to be afraid that the viewers wouldn't be able to hear clearly and had even added captions for her words.

"...need to give them some pressure, there must be pressure."

"There are so many beautiful things, so many wonderful things. What are you waiting for? If you wait until you're seventy or eighty, will you still be able to enjoy them then?"

The young man in her hands smiled impishly and interjected, "Sell at a good price when young."

In the video, Yang Yifan burst out laughing and playfully pushed the young man's head to the side.

A phone call came from her friend. "This video has been deleted. I downloaded and saved a copy… Lao-Yang, at that time, what nonsense did you say, and to whom?"

For a moment, Yang Yifan's brain was a little disconnected from reality. "I didn't… we were just socialising and casually joking around, I don't really remember… But at that time, I should be talking about things related to managing a company, stuff like employee encouragement…"

"President Yang!" Right at that moment, her assistant who had just gone out barged right in without even knocking on the door.

Her friend yelled through the phone, "That's completely unrelated… Right now, they're all tearing you down, saying that you went there just to sell girls!"