Chapter 63
Wine flowed freely, dishes were devoured, and the table was in cheerful disarray.
"Eat, eat, don't just talk." Gu's mother was enthusiastically pouring wine for her guests when the doorbell suddenly rang.
She pressed Lian Xia back into her seat and went to answer the door herself—but didn't come back for a long while.
Gu Xichen had barely walked over when he heard faint sounds of argument.
"Have you no shame?"
"This is my child's major life event. Let me in and say my piece."
"Why? Weren't you so tough back then? Didn't want anything from my family, did you? What's all this acting now?"
"You're completely unreasonable!"
Just hearing that familiar back-and-forth, that signature tangled logic, was enough to know—Gu's father and mother were outside, and they'd already erupted into a screaming match.
Gu Xichen hurried over to mediate, pulling his father inside.
Lian Xia helped Gu's mother, who was huffing with indignation, into the bedroom and away from Gu's father: "There, there, Mom. Catch your breath."
The guests saw the tension and took their leave one by one, until only father and son remained in the living room.
Gu's father's expression was heavy: "Your lifelong decision, and you just got married this recklessly?"
His eyebrow twitched: "What's reckless about it?"
"With her kind of background—is she really fit to marry into our Gu family? If you married without looking properly, you'll regret it later!"
Gu Xichen's temper flared: "When my business went under, where were you? When I was lying paralyzed in a hospital bed, where were you? If it hadn't been for Xiao Xia beside me, I'd have hanged myself long ago and gone to meet the King of Hell!"
"The reason you think it was reckless is because for nearly ten years, we barely saw each other."
Gu's father looked a bit guilty, his gaze shifting: "That's still no reason to just pick a random girl and marry her."
"Do you still remember that year, when we..." Gu Xichen looked at him deeply, then told the full story of how he and Lian Xia had met: "That girl was Xiao Xia."
"I saw her shivering from the cold and took pity on her. That's why I secretly took money for the donation—I made a terrible mistake."
His father pulled out a cigarette and smoked in silence for a long while: "All right. I don't blame you."
After his father left, his mother stood at the doorway, trembling with rage.
"That old bastard—he actually had the nerve to pin the blame on you!"
Gu's mother closed her eyes, then opened them, as though she'd reached a decision: "Between your father and me, it's hard to say who was right and who was wrong. But you did nothing wrong."
"Your only mistake was having parents like us."
Lian Xia: "Mom?"
Gu's mother made her way to the sofa and sat down, weeping freely: "The truth is, from the time you were born, he always had someone on the side. I put up with it for twenty years, and gradually I started seeking emotional comfort outside too."
"You thought I hated him for having no money and no background. I actually hated myself—pouring my whole heart into the wrong person. Even if I went mad, it was because he drove me mad. He'd been with that woman all along. Later, when she couldn't hide the pregnancy anymore, he used you as the excuse to ask for a divorce."
Gu Xichen was stunned too: "Then why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I'd rather you hate me and think it was my fault, than have you hate him and let him become your role model for what a man should be!"
The last person anyone expected to be sobbing alongside Gu's mother was Lian Xia.
Gu Xichen: ...
The two women sat across from each other, comforting one another through blurry tears. Gradually his mother calmed down, slumped on the couch, and turned on the television to redirect her mood.
He let out a long breath, and felt a weight lift from his chest.
The shadow that had been pressing down on his heart like a boulder was slowly rolling away. Even the sky looked a little brighter.
Lian Xia pulled him away, giving his mother the living room to settle her emotions in peace.
Not long after, while they were both hard at work at their desks, they heard strange sounds from outside and rushed out—only to find his mother sprawled on the sofa, cackling at her phone until she could barely breathe.
From tears to laughter in the blink of an eye—quite the mood swing.
Had she lost her mind?
Actually, his mother was simply the type to feel things intensely and let them go just as fast.
"The CEO offers five million for a divorce, and the heroine says, 'Throwing this much at a beggar?' Oh my god, this is too funny!"
"And the CEO's mother—on her very first visit she makes her clean the house, that's just evil!"
"I even tipped the writer. She needs to write more, it's so entertaining!"
Lian Xia sidled up to the edge of the sofa, testing the waters: "Marrying into Wealth and Slacking Off?"
His mother's eyes were wet from laughing: "You read it too?"
"I wrote it, Mom."
His mother: ...
Gu Xichen let out a goose-like cackling laugh. His mother swiveled her head away: "Do you have a problem with me?"
Gu Xichen & Lian Xia: "Uh."
Material was material—you used what you had. She couldn't exactly object; art imitated life, after all. But Gu's mother was no ordinary woman either: "Then give me more scenes. Make me wickedly cruel for all I care—when it becomes a movie, I'll be famous."
"A movie? Isn't that a stretch?"
"When's the book coming out then?"
Lian Xia scratched her nose. "I'm not sure about that. It just went online, so a physical book isn't very likely yet."
"Unacceptable! My daughter-in-law's book must be published!" His mother shot to her feet: "I'll pay for it. Print a hundred copies first!"
"Huh?"
"I'll distribute them to my circle of friends first. When your movie comes out, we'll have first-mover advantage."
Saying this, before either of the young people could react, she was already on the phone, affecting an air of great importance.
"Hello, Sister Wang? Let me tell you about my daughter-in-law—she's got serious talent. She's about to have a movie made, I'm telling you..."
Gu Xichen & Lian Xia: ...
They walked away hand in hand, leaving the living room.
"For our new apartment's renovation, we'll go with whatever style you like."
"What style do I like?"
"Something Ins-style, natural wood tones, whatever you want. Oh, and we should factor in a nursery too."
"A nursery? Where's this nursery coming from?"
Lian Xia blanked for a second, then blushed crimson as he laughed and pulled her close against his shoulder.
Don't dwell on the sorrows of the past; in the life ahead, choose only to smile.
Not far away, the traffic flowed, and the evening lights had just come on.
This was nothing more than the mortal world—just another ordinary day.
(The End)
Author's note: This story will have occasional bonus chapters posted. Kisses!