Su Man stared at him, momentarily at a loss for how to respond.

Refuse?

But he’d been perfectly clear — accompanying him to dinner wasn’t exactly a hardship. Refusing outright would seem unreasonable and unkind.

Then, accept?

Using the pretext of testing another man’s feelings as an excuse to go on what amounted to a date with a different man — however she thought about it, it felt awkward…

In case it wasn’t clear, Su Man was an upright young woman!

While she hesitated, Lu Yuwen said with a mild smile: “Of course, we’d need to let your parents know first — otherwise they might misunderstand.”

He paused, looking slightly thoughtful, and then slowly said: “What do you think — how should I bring it up so they’re less likely to refuse? If they say no, it really would be troublesome… I don’t know a single person in Shanghai.”

Su Man saw his hesitant expression, and her instinctive enthusiasm for helping people shot straight to her brain. Without thinking, she heard herself say:

“They’ll definitely agree. It’s just dinner. If they don’t, I’ll explain it to them myself.”

Lu Yuwen met her eyes with a warm gaze and gave a small nod. “Good — then I feel much better about it.”

Su Man: “……”

Why did she have a strange feeling about this… A moment ago she’d been waffling over whether to agree at all. How had she ended up not only agreeing, but also volunteering to convince her own parents on his behalf?

Su Man raised her hand and lightly tapped herself on the forehead.

Lu Yuwen: “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… nothing.” Su Man smiled at him. “Let’s go back up. They’ve probably finished arguing by now.”

Lu Yuwen smiled and inclined his head. “Actually, that’s something to look forward to — if I reach their age, I’d hope to have someone around too. Someone to bicker with every day.”

Su Man walked forward with her head slightly lowered, not quite daring to respond.

She suspected she’d been overly sensitive lately — she kept getting the feeling that he was saying things with layers to them, that eight out of every ten sentences he spoke seemed to carry some hidden meaning.

……

When they returned to the room, Su Man’s parents had indeed settled back into harmonious conversation. By the time Su Man and Lu Yuwen walked in, the couple had already moved on to discussing international current events.

That was quite a dramatic shift in topic.

“You were gone so long,” Su Ma said curiously, looking at Su Man. “Did you get the wound sorted?”

“Yes, all done.” Su Man lifted her bandaged finger somewhat self-consciously. “Tiny cut — it’s nothing.”

Lu Yuwen said, “Small as it is, the bandage will help — gripping the steering wheel while driving would have rubbed at it otherwise.”

Su Ma immediately broke into a laugh. “Our Man Man has always been careless like this. When she gets hurt, she just rinses it with water, even if it’s bleeding. I bet she hasn’t laid eyes on a bandage in years.”

Su Man couldn’t help but frown. “Mom, that makes me sound completely uncivilized…”

Su Ma, with not a shred of concern for her daughter’s dignity, cackled cheerfully: “Well, compared to young Lu here, you are a little rough around the edges, ha ha ha…”

Su Man: “……”

Lu Yuwen smiled. “Most girls do tend to be more delicate — but that can also mean they’re prone to overthinking, being petty, fussing over small things. Su Man’s personality, honestly, is quite rare. She has a broad mind, courage, and doesn’t get hung up on trivialities.”

Su Ma laughed even more happily. “This child, you really have a way with words!”

Su Ba was equally pleased, nodding along. “That’s right — my daughter was never like ordinary girls, even growing up. She went to the scouts’ summer camp once, and there were all these events that had the boys in tears. Man Man never shed a drop!”

Seeing that they were about to slide into full-on praise mode, Su Man couldn’t take it anymore and coughed pointedly, shooting Lu Yuwen a meaningful look:

“Didn’t you have something to say to my parents?!”

Su Ma and Su Ba both looked at Lu Yuwen at once. “What is it?”

Lu Yuwen glanced at Su Man — his eyes warm — and said nothing.

The atmosphere in the room shifted into something oddly charged…

The couple looked at Lu Yuwen, then at Su Man, and minds began to wander.

*Could it be… the two of you are together?*

*But you’ve only known each other three days — isn’t that a little… fast?*

Su Man could no longer bear the strange way her parents were staring at her and snapped: “What are you two thinking?! I’m going to accompany him on a survey of local restaurants!”

—