Chapter 57
When Gu Xichen carried a basin of boiled fish to the table, Lian Xia was already on her knees, wiping the TV cabinet with a rag.
It happened to be the weekend, so she didn't have class.
The young girl knelt on the floor drudging away, while the older woman had kicked off her heels and was lounging on the sofa watching variety shows, laughing uproariously.
He set down the dish and immediately bristled: "Mom, why are you ordering her around?"
The woman looked bewildered: "What did I do?"
"She's my girlfriend, not the housekeeper."
Mr. Gu was furious, and the consequences were serious. He snatched the rag from Lian Xia's hand and tossed it far into the kitchen: "You don't need to do any of this. Our cleaning service is paid by the year—someone comes every week."
His mom was even more aggrieved than he was: "How was I supposed to know if she didn't say anything?"
Looking at the girl's outfit that couldn't have cost more than a hundred yuan—housekeepers dressed better than her! Gu Xichen had dated two overseas-returned ABCs in college, and now suddenly he'd changed tastes completely.
Honestly, so young and already putting on such an act!
Seething inside, she sulked through the entire meal. Lian Xia noticed she liked fish and pushed the dish toward her, but it didn't win a single point.
After dinner, Lian Xia tried to cozy up to her again, but Gu Xichen pulled her away.
Lian Xia scratched her head: "I'm not great with people, never have been."
"My mom not liking you has nothing to do with your people skills. She just doesn't like people, period."
She didn't like her, didn't like him, and liked his father even less.
"How about I still do some chores? In my hometown, girls are supposed to volunteer to help out when they visit—otherwise people say you're not diligent."
"Our family doesn't need you to be diligent. As long as you can eat, sleep, and come inside when it rains, you're fine."
Gu Xichen held her and pressed a comforting kiss to her cheek. They clung to each other like conjoined twins. His mother peeked through the doorway, her teeth practically aching from the sweetness, feeling even more out of sorts.
Unconvinced by Gu Xichen's theory of evasion, Lian Xia decided to take the initiative.
That evening, his mother lay in the living room watching TV with a luxury face mask on. Lian Xia doggedly fanned her with a handheld fan: "My mom passed away young, so nobody's ever ordered me to do chores. Auntie ordering me around actually feels kind of nice."
The woman shot her a sideways glance without speaking.
"If you don't say anything, I'd think you were Gu Xichen's sister."
Still no response.
"That qipao looks great on you. If I wore one, I'd look like a mouse in a sack..."
"Pfft!"
She laughed, but it looked worse than crying.
"Don't you know you're not supposed to make expressions while wearing a face mask? You'll get wrinkles!"
Gu Xichen's mother roared at her until Lian Xia retreated upstairs, cold sweat breaking out, sitting at the computer for a long time unable to calm down.
"This is so hard. Is this what it's like marrying into wealth?"
She shook her head and opened a document, planning to use this as material for a novel.
Hmm, she'd call it "Marrying into Wealth and Slacking Off"!
Gu Xichen's mother had recently fallen out with her boyfriend and come back from abroad, so she'd be staying at the townhouse for a while—which put pressure on all three of them.
Seeing his mother's rigid attitude, Gu Xichen decided to have a proper talk with her.
"Mom, I plan to marry Lian Xia."
"Are you crazy? Her?"
"She's simple and grounded—what's not to like?"
"No money, no connections—is that what you call good?"
"She's a master's student in philology. A proper intellectual. You didn't even finish vocational school—is it really appropriate for you to say that about her?"
At times like this, being well-educated was especially useful.
His mother practically choked: "So what if she's educated? She's a country girl, just like your father!"
At first, Gu Xichen tried to reason with her: "Lian Xia has a good temper. Even when you insult her, she doesn't take it to heart and just laughs it off. If she were more assertive, she'd be fighting with you every day like sworn enemies."
"I don't need a dumb daughter-in-law. You're the boss of a major company—we're an educated family. If you're going to marry, marry someone presentable!"
"I can just fund her PhD. Is a woman with a doctorate not presentable enough?"
"Why not marry a celebrity, then? That would sound even better!"
Seeing that his mother was immovable, Gu Xichen lost his patience: "Fine then. This house was left to me by my maternal grandfather. You can leave."
His mother stared at him, and in an instant tears sprang to her eyes.
"My son's all grown up, forgot about his mother as soon as he got a wife..."
Chapter 58
"I want to know about your parents."
That night, Lian Xia curled in the man's arms, one thin white finger poking his chest, sending sparks of heat straight to his heart.
"Nothing worth hearing."
"Tell me."
She was being coquettish, and climbing all over him to boot—climbing until his mouth went dry, his hands sliding upward along her delicate shoulder blades almost of their own accord.
"After my dad and mom divorced, they each started new families. Nothing to tell."
Lian Xia cupped his face and studied it for a long time, then lovingly gave him a peck: "Kiss."
When he was twenty, his parents' hollow marriage finally shattered. His father had gone straight back to Wenzhou. His business there was middling, but he lived comfortably. His mother married an American-Chinese and settled abroad.
So every holiday he spent working—because both his family homes were equally cold.
They didn't need him, and he didn't need them.
Given that background, he and Lian Xia shared the same predicament of having no proper family. They were each other's deepest bond.
"If possible, could we have two kids in the future?"
Lian Xia: "?"
"Then the house would be more lively. At worst I work more overtime and earn more—I can definitely support you and the kids."
Lian Xia rolled over and lay motionless: "I don't want to give birth."
He wrapped his arms around her from behind and nuzzled her shoulder with his chin, making her squirm and giggle: "Let's set a date to get the certificate, okay?"
"No, I want a wedding first!"
"Oh right, and a wedding!"
The two of them plotted—first wedding photos, then the ceremony, then a scenic trip for two or three weeks.
"Ah, I left my household register back home."
"No worries, I'll drive you back tomorrow to get it."
He was coaxing her with words while sneakily tickling her waist, making her gasp and laugh: "Stop, what are you doing..."
"This time nobody's going to interrupt us. Why don't you just claim me, hm?"
"I don't want to claim you..."
Gu Xchen flipped over and pinned her down, his eyes deep, his tone playful: "Such a fresh, tender young man is right in front of you, and you really don't want him?"
Lian Xia: ...
Thanks, I've been skeeved out.
True to his word, he drove Little Lian Xia back to her hometown the next day.
This time, though, he didn't take the little Buick. Instead, he had his assistant Xiao Dong drive his favorite deep blue-and-silver Maybach, with a soundly sleeping Lian Xia all the way home.
Thanks to the phenomenal presales of the game's first season, several major investment firms had doubled down. The bank extended Mengchen Tech's loans by twelve months and increased the credit line. The seized cars and properties had been returned.
Add a beloved partner and no more worries behind him—Gu Xichen was riding high.
Upon arrival, Lian Xia walked around the sleek car several times, looking confused.
"When did you switch cars?"
"This is actually the one I like riding in most."
Even without knowing cars, Lian Xia could see that from the headlights to the sweeping lines, from the interior to the rims, this vehicle radiated the unmistakable scent of money. She'd been scooped up in the morning before she could even wash her face, stuffed groggy into the car. Under those circumstances, who had the presence of mind to check the exterior?
"This is too flashy!"
"It's still just a car."
He clasped her cold morning hands in his, his tone teasing: "So when I had no money you didn't mind, but now that I do you're getting cold feet?"
"That's different."
Back then, he'd been poor, and she'd been poor too.
Now it was different—they'd look up at him, then look down at her...
Lian Xia sighed, her heart uneasy: "People will look at me strangely."
Gu Xichen wrapped his arm around her thin shoulder: "Don't worry. I'm here."
Chapter 59
Watching the young couple walk hand in hand down the country road, the old folks' eyes went wide.
"Isn't that Lian's girl?"
"Hasn't even finished high school, and she's already got a boyfriend?"
"Just like Ximei back in the day—she's already got two kids now, tsk!"
This time Lian Xia kept her eyes forward and pretended she heard nothing. Gu Xichen tugged her hand and whispered: "Who's Ximei?"
The village was small—he found out soon enough.
Right then, neighbor Ximei was standing next door holding a baby. When she saw Lian Xia approaching with a tall, handsome young man, she couldn't tear her eyes away from his face.