Matriarchs and Monsters

Li Wei turned around and grabbed his phone from the nightstand next to the bed, with An Mei awake and still clinging to him. It was a text message from Li Fen, the CEO of the Wu Long Group, and his eldest sister.

"Who is it?" An Mei asked.

"It's Da-jie. She wants me to take a look at some calculations for the Group's new quantum computing framework. She says that she trusts her engineers but trusts my analysis more." Li Wei's voice was impassive, but An Mei did not fail to recognize the slight pride it carried.

She ruffled his hair and said, "My husband is so clever," before topping of the praise with another sweet kiss.

Li Wei beamed at his wife's compliment before quickly recovering and returning to the contents of the text message. "And apparently, she is sending Yue-jie over with the file."

An Mei chuckled at the thought of Li Yue coming over in her Pikachu hoodie and mused, "I love how Fen-jie can just order the CTO of a global conglomerate to run an errand."

"Well, that's Da-jie for you. How would anyone refuse her? And Yue-jie was probably still gaming. This is a much better use of her time anyway."

Just as those words left Li Wei's lips, the doorbell rang.

"Should we get that?" An Mei asked hesitantly, not fully willing to relinquish their peaceful haven just yet.

"Let's just wait," Li Wei replied before once again cuddling against his wife. "She knows the code. If we don't open it, she will let herself in." He put his phone in vibrate mode and placed it back on the nightstand.

Li Wei's prediction held true, for, a few moments later, the couple heard the distinctive clicks and beep of the digital lock on their front door, followed by the sound of it swinging open.

"Xiao-di! Xiao-Mei!" Li Yue's cheerful voice echoed throughout the apartment. "I brought the files. I'll put it on your work desk, Xiao-di " The couple heard the distinctive sound of Li Yue shuffling around the apartment like a zombie. "My calculations are also in the file, but I am not very sure about the renormalization. You should look at that part specifically. It's your field of expertise after all." The shuffling continued, but it was now clearly headed towards the kitchen. They heard the sound of their cupboards being opened and the rustle of plastic, followed by crunching noises.

"She is raiding our snacks, isn't she?" Li Wei asked his wife. An Mei nodded, with an amused glint in her eyes. "She is laying waste to our supply of potato chips and spicy squid. Should we do something about this blatant theft?" He grumbled, while a smile still played on his lips.

An Mei giggled, her laughter reminiscent of a demure heroine from one of her romance novels. She leaned in and kissed him again. "No need. I went shopping yesterday and bought all of her favourites. A Yue-jie snack raid was overdue anyway."

Li Wei cupped her face. "My wife is so thoughtful," he quipped and kissed the tip of her nose. An Mei, unwilling to be outdone by her husband, retaliated with a nose kiss of her own. The two of them once again started to lose themselves in a world of tender care, while Li Yue happily munched on their food.

A few minutes later, with her pillaging now complete, Li Yue's voice rang out once more. "I am leaving, guys. Thanks for the snacks. Xiao-di, be ready for the evening raid. There is a new patch out for Dragon Gate, and we are grinding for that diamond tier loot." While shuffling towards the front door, she stopped for a while to process the new datapoint that had just entered the stream of her consciousness. "Ohh! And keep those quantum computing files in a safe place. They are meant to be confidential." The front clicked shut, and Li Yue was gone just as quickly as she had arrived. In the bedroom Li Wei and An Mei kissed once more before the sweet embrace of sleep reclaimed them.