People always do some inexplicable things when their emotions are strong. Ever since Liu Chen impulsively called Ren Yu "husband" late at night that day.
For the past few days, Ren Yu has been seizing every opportunity when they are alone to call Liu Chen "wife."
Liu Chen, whose psychological age is already over thirty, felt goosebumps all over her arms at this kind of calling each other husband and wife like primary school students.
But, who told her she impulsively blurted it out and Ren Yu happened to overhear it?
Fortunately, school has started.
Liu Chen walked through the campus, carrying her backpack, wearing a baseball cap and shorts.
With the new semester starting, she became a third-year student. The proportion of experimental courses increased, which Liu Chen found to be a rather enjoyable thing.
"Senior Liu Chen! Love you!"
Walking on the road, Liu Chen frequently received enthusiastic confessions from junior students, freshmen and sophomores. Liu Chen, who initially didn't know how to respond, now simply nods slightly and offers a smile, having become adept at it.
Returning to the dormitory under the scorching midday sun, Sang Ling was sitting on the living room sofa, typing on her laptop. Seeing Liu Chen open the door, she turned her head and looked at Liu Chen somewhat dazedly.
"Do you have so much homework in your sophomore year? Why does it feel like you've been typing on your keyboard every day since you moved into the dorm?"
Liu Chen asked curiously as she took off her sandals, put on slippers, and placed the two cups of iced lemon water she was holding on the coffee table. She then casually sat down on the sofa, leaning her back against the soft cushions.
"Ah~~ So comfortable!"
Sang Ling rubbed her eyes and then said helplessly:
"There's nothing I can do. Senior Ren Yu has recruited all the third-year seniors and above for internships. Those who aren't interning are preparing for postgraduate entrance exams. The professors can't find enough help, so they have to pull a few of us sophomores to assist."
Liu Chen nodded in understanding, then asked curiously:
"Has Ren Yu's company grown so much? I remember there are usually sixty or seventy people in our school's computer science department each year?"
Sang Ling nodded slowly. "After all, it's a company started by a senior from the school, and the company's development speed is rapid. Senior Ren Yu's salary and benefits also exceed those of his peers, making him a highly sought-after figure in our computer science department."
After speaking, Sang Ling hesitated and glanced at Liu Chen. Seeing that Liu Chen didn't seem particularly curious, she hesitantly added:
"Of course, for this reason, even though everyone knows Senior Ren Yu has a girlfriend, many senior girls still send him love letters and confess their feelings."
Liu Chen blinked upon hearing this and didn't seem to pay much attention. She chuckled and said:
"I get confessed to by many people every day too. I just received confessions from two junior girls and one junior boy on the way here."
Seeing that Liu Chen genuinely didn't care about such things, Sang Ling stopped talking, thinking that the two of them must have discussed it.
-
Meanwhile, at the Ren family residence in Beijing.
Old Mrs. Ren, Shang Gu Lan, sat by the tea table, sipping her Da Hong Pao tea, and secretly pondered why her old friend, whom she hadn't seen in decades, suddenly wanted to see her today. What was she up to?
After drinking the second pot of Da Hong Pao, Shang Gu Lan poured freshly boiled water into the teapot and waited for a moment. Then, holding the teapot with one hand and pressing down the lid with the other, she poured the tea into a fairness cup.
Just as the tea was poured into the fairness cup, Wang Xiaoqin, the "old friend" who had been seriously tasting tea since her arrival, could no longer contain her impatience and spoke first.
"The other day, I saw a young boy in a finance magazine. I looked at him and thought, 'Wow, this child looks so much like my good friend Shang Gu Lan!' And guess what?
Later, I inquired and found out that child is your child!"
Upon hearing this, Shang Gu Lan finally understood. So, Wang Xiaoqin wasn't visiting without a purpose; she was here with her grandson Ren Yu in mind.
"Haha, this child! He doesn't even tell his family when he's on a magazine cover. If you hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have known. It's true, that child is so attached to his girlfriend right now, he probably doesn't even remember his old grandma."
Shang Gu Lan said with a chuckle, seemingly complaining but subtly revealing that her grandson had a girlfriend.
Normally, a person with any semblance of self-respect would have stopped talking after hearing this.
However, this old friend Wang Xiaoqin lacked such awareness. Perhaps she had become thick-skinned with age, or her hearing had deteriorated. She acted as if she hadn't heard the word "girlfriend" in the sentence, and chuckled:
"It's no wonder you, Sister Shang, are so blessed. You have two sons and one daughter, all capable. And your grandchildren are also talented. We've been friends for so many years, sister, so I won't beat around the bush. You see, almost all your grandchildren are girls, not a single boy."
Wang Xiaoqin paused. Shang Gu Lan was about to interrupt, but Wang Xiaoqin took a deep breath and continued talking rapidly:
"Sister Shang, you know that people like us are always subject to unsolicited attention from outsiders. My children are innocent, and I worry they'll be deceived by those with ulterior motives. I told them not to date, and they don't.
But now they're all in college. As their grandmother, if I don't allow them to date, I have to find a way to introduce them to decent people."
Shang Gu Lan listened to this, feeling her cheeks ache from the sycophancy. "People like us?" Shang Gu Lan couldn't understand. If you trace back three generations, everyone wore straw sandals and were poor peasants. How could Wang Xiaoqin repeatedly say "people like us"?
No wonder they couldn't get along when they were young!
"Hey, Wang Xiaoqin, you're exaggerating. How many years has it been since the founding of New China? Free love is encouraged. If you're worried about the children being deceived, why not bring them back to meet someone when they're dating?
Besides, what is a "decent person"? What's your definition of a decent person? Look at my grandson Ren Yu. The first thing he did when he got into a relationship was to report it to his family. It's just that both kids are too young, and it's encouraged to marry late now. Otherwise, this old lady would probably be nagging them to get married."
If Wang Xiaoqin had been chattering endlessly before, preventing Shang Gu Lan from speaking, now Shang Gu Lan spoke in long bursts, leaving Wang Xiaoqin no room to interrupt.
However, Shang Gu Lan's intention was very clear: no matter what you intend to do, don't even think about our Ren Yu. His girlfriend has been brought back to meet us, and I'm very satisfied. We're just waiting for the two of them to graduate, and then they can get married!
Wang Xiaoqin wasn't stupid and naturally understood the meaning of this old woman, Shang Gu Lan.
Her expression immediately turned unpleasant. In Wang Xiaoqin's view, her husband was still alive and practicing Ba Duan Jin daily from the military. His health had improved significantly over the years, making him seem like he would live to 99 without issue.
Furthermore, both their children now held higher official positions than the Ren family. If it weren't for Ren Yu's good looks and the magazine reporting that his company was preparing for an IPO with a valuation exceeding one billion, she wouldn't have agreed to marry her eldest granddaughter to a family like the Rens, which lacked roots and was like floating duckweed!
The more Wang Xiaoqin thought about it, the angrier she became. She immediately stood up from her chair, her smile turning into an icy expression:
"Heh, Sister Shang, you're still the same. If you had been more discerning about your younger daughter's choice of partner back then, you wouldn't be in this situation now."
If Shang Gu Lan had only felt annoyed before, now that Wang Xiaoqin mentioned her younger daughter, Ren Yuan Ying, Shang Gu Lan exploded.
Yuan Ying had fallen in love freely back then. Although Ren Yu's father, Zhou Ren, was just an ordinary young man from the countryside at the time, he had gotten into university and was Yuan Ying's classmate, which is how they met.
Yuan Ying had been dating the younger son of the Zhou family, their old neighbor. Later, the Zhou family sent their younger son to study abroad. Shang Gu Lan had asked Yuan Ying if she wanted to study abroad, but Yuan Ying herself had refused.
Not long after, Yuan Ying returned with Zhou Ren to celebrate the New Year. They dated for a few years, got married after graduation, and Shang Gu Lan gave them some money to support their new family.
Later, they divorced. She was the first among their old acquaintances to have a divorced junior. Yuan Ying stayed in C City and refused to return to Beijing, raising her two children alone.
Coupled with the death of her husband, the network of connections became weaker as people drifted apart. At that time, the scale of Dadi Group's development was not as large as it is now, and the elder son's position was still developing.
It was at this time that opportunistic people like Wang Xiaoqin stopped contacting them, and they hadn't been in touch for so many years.
Today, she came here with a condescending attitude, coveting their Ren Yu. Did she really think this old lady had been a vegetarian all these years!
"Oh, what's wrong with my Yuan Ying now? She has a son who's a top scholar, and her younger son is also starting his own business. His girlfriend is from Tsinghua University. As for Yuan Ying herself, she owns dozens of chain stores. She can go wherever she wants to play and buy whatever she wants.
Her son is successful, and both future daughters-in-law are intelligent women from Tsinghua University. They don't need her money, and the children don't even look down on her. She's in her fifties now, but she's more carefree and happy than when she was a young girl. Tell me, what's wrong with my Yuan Ying's life?"
Shang Gu Lan said, standing up from her chair, hands on her hips, and asking with full vigor.
"Scram! We don't welcome people with your landlord attitude here! Don't come to my house again! With those wrinkles on your face, you call yourself "sister"? It's already generous for me to call you "auntie"!"
When Gu Shang Lan got angry, she truly dared to take action. Wang Xiaoqin, who knew her temper well, regretted speaking after she had spoken, but hearing Gu Shang Lan's words now made her temples throb with anger.
"You, you, you will regret it sooner or later! Marrying those commoners, and Tsinghua University? What's wrong with Tsinghua University! They're still ordinary people! At that time, with one word from my grandson-in-law, your grandson's company will be strictly investigated!"
With that harsh threat, Wang Xiaoqin didn't stop her steps and quickly walked outside.
After leaving the courtyard gate, Wang Xiaoqin dared to turn back and spit fiercely at the Ren family's gate.
"Peh!"
Just as she spat, Wang Xiaoqin saw Shang Gu Lan, who had followed her to the door. Wang Xiaoqin quickly got into a nearby Volkswagen car, not daring to do anything else.
"Humph! What a person!"
Shang Gu Lan stood at the main entrance, looking at the retreating car, still feeling indignant.
But she couldn't chase after her and beat her up. After thinking for a moment, Shang Gu Lan stormed back into the living room, picked up the landline on the coffee table, and quickly dialed a series of numbers.
"Grandma? What's wrong?"
Ren Yu's voice came from the landline, with a hint of confusion. He probably didn't understand why his grandma was calling him at this time.
Shang Gu Lan's originally angry expression softened upon hearing Ren Yu's voice.
"My child, when will you finally win over Chen Chen?"
Ren Yu on the other end of the phone was silent for two seconds, then cleared his throat:
"Grandma, I forgot to tell you, Chen Chen and I are already dating."
"What! Really?! Does your mother know?! Do Chen Chen's parents know? What do they say?"
"They know, and they don't object. My mother doesn't know yet. Grandma, can you tell her for me? Please."
The initial gloom was replaced by a smile that stretched Shang Gu Lan's cheeks so much that they ached. Only then did Shang Gu Lan remember.
"So, when are you two going to get engaged? You know, even though you said you were dating online, an engagement ceremony is more formal for the older generation."
"Besides, Grandma isn't urging you to get married. You can get engaged first and then decide when to get married."
Shang Gu Lan's words, however, caused Ren Yu to fall silent. After a few seconds, Ren Yu's voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Grandma, I believe if I propose, Chen Chen will accept. But her career is just starting. After I propose, even if I don't rush the marriage, others will. I don't want a girl like her, who has her own passionate career, to be bothered by such things."
It was rare for Ren Yu to say such a long passage, but it also clearly stated his attitude, which was very firm.
Shang Gu Lan listened to this and recalled what she had just said about Wang Xiaoqin treating her granddaughter as a commodity to be priced.
Yes, Chen Chen is such an independent and thoughtful girl. If she rushed them to get engaged, could she herself resist urging them to get married? To have great-grandchildren?
If Chen Chen's most vibrant years were all wasted on the trivialities of marriage and childbirth, and she became like everyone else, wouldn't she become a sinner?
It was like a thunderclap, and Shang Gu Lan was awakened.
"I understand, Grandma was wrong. But, Ren Yu, I'm happy that you have this awareness. A true man should be a strong backing for his partner!"
"Understood, Grandma, I have something to do, I'll hang up now."
"Okay, okay, goodbye."
After hanging up the phone, Ren Yu opened the "Ten Rules for Husbands" in his phone's memo.
"As a husband, stand behind your wife and let her venture bravely."