“Old Zhou, what do you think of our son’s girlfriend?”
After everyone had left and the couple had finished their evening routines, they could finally have an intimate conversation. Guan Hui’e directly asked Zhou Guobin’s opinion.
Zhou Guobin was puzzled. “As long as Zhou Cheng likes her, what opinion could I have?”
The girl was quite excellent, and his son liked her—Zhou Guobin felt he had no standing to comment. Guan Hui’e opened her gift, looking at the jade dragonfly brooch in the box. Xia Xiaolan had performed too well tonight, speaking confidently. She was indeed outstanding, just as Guan Hui’e had thought—even without Zhou Cheng, Xia Xiaolan could find another suitable match.
How to put it… Guan Hui’e’s feelings were particularly complicated at this moment.
“This girl is a bit too independent.”
She was excellent to a fault, with not a trace of docility in her eyes. Guan Hui’e had never believed women must depend on men, which was why when she married Zhou Guobin, she hadn’t abandoned her career even as her husband’s position grew more prominent… Yet even Guan Hui’e, who prided herself on being a career woman, felt Xia Xiaolan was excessively unyielding! While it was inspirational, what kind of young girl would take exams wearing a cast? The principal in the interview had mentioned she’d endured three days of college entrance exams relying on painkillers.
To be so harsh on oneself, with such an urgent desire for success.
Guan Hui’e couldn’t help but wonder if Xia Xiaolan’s interest in dating her son Zhou Cheng was primarily because of the Zhou family’s potential assistance.
Zhou Guobin was quite exasperated. “There’s no use overthinking it. Let the young people sort out their affairs. If you don’t approve of their relationship, would your son be willing to break it off?”
Guan Hui’e irritably closed the box:
“Just go to sleep, you still have work tomorrow!”
Now, if you don’t know what to say, then don’t say anything! If breaking up were possible, would she be so troubled? All evening, Zhou Cheng’s eyes sparkled when looking at Xia Xiaolan. Guan Hui’e had never seen Zhou Cheng so happy before—her usually indifferent son had invested such deep emotions.
What worried Guan Hui’e was precisely this: Zhou Cheng liked Xia Xiaolan so much, but what about Xia Xiaolan’s feelings?
…
Tong Lili rushed to Zhou Yi’s home early in the morning.
Neither of these two had any serious occupation, both were cut from the same cloth as Kang Wei had been. Work was just a way to pass time for them—they’d get the same salary whether they performed well or poorly, and with their family connections, they couldn’t be fired anyway, so they just coasted along.
Tong Lili’s early rising was purely due to her curiosity about last night’s meeting. Zhou Yi had only told half the story over the phone, and Tong Lili couldn’t sleep at all.
She arrived at Zhou Yi’s house with dark circles under her eyes, not knowing that Zhou Yi had also tossed and turned half the night, having just laid down when Tong Lili arrived. In her dreams, she kept seeing that videotape about Xia Xiaolan, with the Yunan Province reporter’s exaggerated, emotional voice introducing Xia Xiaolan’s life story… and her grandfather scolding her for her lack of discretion, and the usually invisible Uncle Gu Zhengqing erupting in anger, pointing at her, demanding to know why she was giving Xia Xiaolan a hard time… All the embarrassing scenes from last night paraded through Zhou Yi’s mind—how could she possibly sleep well?
Zhou Yi felt as if she had been possessed.
Dragged out of bed by Tong Lili, Zhou Yi had given up trying to save face:
“Lili, you’ve got no chance. The scene you imagined didn’t happen at all last night. My grandparents quite like her, and I don’t think Second Uncle and Second Aunt will object!”
Tong Lili refused to believe it: “I don’t believe it. How could Grandfather Zhou, such a serious person, approve of that vixen? Did you tell them how this vixen is just leeching off Zhou Cheng, how much money she spent on his… Besides her face, what makes her worthy of Zhou Cheng?!”
How could Tong Lili accept this?
Even if Zhou Cheng had chosen another girl of equal social standing, Tong Lili would have made trouble—let alone Xia Xiaolan, who was inferior to her in every way except looks!
Zhou Yi’s feelings had evolved from extreme anger to now feeling somewhat sympathetic toward her good friend.
“She’s from the countryside in Yunan Province, and her accent, her parents are divorced, but she got into Huaqing University! You don’t know how embarrassed I was last night. You know my Uncle Gu works at the Ministry of Education, right? He recognized Xia Xiaolan—said she ranked third nationally in this year’s college entrance exams, was the top scorer in Yunan Province, and is about to start at Huaqing University!”
Tong Lili’s mouth gaped open.
She’d heard of winning over the family through social status or personality but through university entrance exam scores?
It was possible because Xia Xiaolan had gotten into an exceptionally good university!
“What’s so great about—”
Tong Lili’s voice grew increasingly shrill. She wanted to scream and ask if something was wrong with the Zhou family’s minds, but Zhou Yi was also part of the Zhou family, so she forcibly swallowed her outburst.
Zhou Yi, having been thoroughly influenced by Gu Zhengqing and that damned Yunan Province recording last night, now nodded foolishly:
“It is quite impressive—neither you nor I could get into Huaqing University.”
This struck Tong Lili right in the heart.
Of course, Tong Lili couldn’t get into Huaqing University. Those who studied and worked seriously couldn’t mix with people like them anyway.
If she could have gotten into a prestigious university on her own merits, Guan Hui’e wouldn’t have dismissed her so casually.
You need to have true strength to make your mark. For the Zhou family, there was no shortage of girls with good family backgrounds—those with personal excellence were more likely to win the Zhou family’s approval.
Humiliated and enraged, Tong Lili smashed Zhou Yi’s favorite antique record player in her room. Zhou Yi’s housekeeper, hearing the commotion from the kitchen, secretly shook her head: Such a person could only be considered lucky to be born as an official’s daughter. Otherwise, being unable to do any real work yet having such a temper—what would become of her in the future?
…
Tong Lili had been caught off guard, partly due to Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong’s mischief.
These two had long known about Xia Xiaolan’s situation. Having been won over by their future sister-in-law, these two little brothers had kept the information strictly hidden, allowing Zhou Yi to make a fool of herself and Tong Lili to lift a rock only to drop it on her own feet!
It was because Zhou Yi and Tong Lili had treated Shao Guangrong like a fool, trying to get information from him, which had angered him. When this young man decided to play tricks, he didn’t care whose daughter they were.
While Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong deliberately concealed the information, Zhou Cheng simply felt it wasn’t the right time to reveal it. When he suddenly brought Xia Xiaolan to the Zhou family, weren’t all the family members bound to be surprised?
When Xia Xiaolan took the flight to Beijing, Kang Wei guessed she was probably going to meet the family.
He and Shao Guangrong were working hard in Pengcheng, envious at the thought of Brother Cheng taking his beautiful wife-to-be to meet his family. Now that the Zhou family knew, it would gradually spread through their social circle—who would dare say Brother Cheng had poor taste?
It was more like they’d all be dazzled!
Early in the morning, just as Kang Wei was feeling pleased, he received a call from Zhou Cheng:
“How did Xiaolan hurt her hand?”
Kang Wei was completely confused. “…Sister-in-law said she fell off her bike, what else could it be?”
How else could she have been injured? Zhou Cheng’s abrupt question had caught Kang Wei off guard. Could there be more to the story behind Sister-in-law’s wrist injury? While Kang Wei was still confused, Zhou Cheng had already hung up the phone.