Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
So regarding this matter of meeting one’s parents – did he have to invite his mother along as well?
He’d deliberated over the matter. Zhuang Nainai had started to throw a small tantrum, putting her hands on her hips and pouting. She’d said self-righteously, “Si Zhengting! If you won’t see my mother, I won’t bother with you anymore!”
“I won’t bother with you anymore” – this was Zhuang Nainai’s catchphrase.
Whenever she said it, she would add, “Five minutes!” to the end of her sentence.
If she was angry and impatient, she would say 20 minutes instead.
However, she had not specified a time limit this time around.
Zhuang Nainai had rarely stayed true to her words. Although she still did her revisions with him, jogged with him, and ate with him, she did not say a word to him.
Even if she wanted to talk to him, she would turn to Su Yanbin and say, “Su Yanbin, tell Si Zhengting…”
He’d found her both cute and sassy when he observed how she had put herself in this difficult position.
Si Zhengting had had no choice but to concede to her. Before going to school that fateful day, he’d tried on many different sets of clothing in his bedroom and had been mocked by Ding Mengya for it. He had ultimately decided on the set of clothes that he thought he looked the most handsome in and left for school.
After school, the couple had walked toward the exit. When they got to the front of Si Zhengting’s car, Zhuang Nainai had waved to him and prepared to walk home as she usually did.
However, he’d grabbed her arm suddenly.
She had turned around, astonished, gazing at Si Zhengting’s expressionless face. “Didn’t you say that we would visit your mother?”
Zhuang Nainai’s eyes had lit up!
However, looking at his car, she’d pressed her lips and said, “My neighborhood is poor, and your car would look too out-of-place there. It won’t be a good idea to bring your car along. Perhaps you could take the public transport together with me.”
Si Zhengting had been speechless.
It was Si Zhengting’s first time taking public transportation.
She’d held his hand tightly. They’d boarded the bus, and Zhuang Nainai rummaged for coins before flipping them into the collection slot.
They had walked to the subway station. Zhuang Nainai went to buy tickets and he carried her schoolbag for her. She returned happily, bouncing along as though she was about to start flying at any moment.
He had been wearing a custom-made shirt from a known brand. He did not feel unpleasant from taking public transport together with her, although he was squashed in the train carriage alongside her.
When he reached the place in which she stayed in, he had been astonished.
In his opinion… a dog’s kennel was better than her current abode.
He had thought that Mother Zhuang was a typical layperson, but after meeting her, he was stunned.
Mother Zhuang was no mesmerizing beauty. Her physical features were not that striking – they would not have stood out if she were standing in a crowd. Also, as she was making a humble living by cleaning, the hardships that she had faced made her look older than his mother by 20 years.
However, there was a unique charm to her. She spoke gently and at a moderate pace. She also had a bookish air about her. Although her clothing was simple, and she wore clothes that were purchased cheaply at roadside stalls, she effortlessly carried herself well.
Zhuang Nainai had a very close relationship with Mother Zhuang. She had hugged Mother Zhuang as soon as she entered the house, then held her hand as she recounted what happened to her in school that day. Mother Zhuang patiently smiled at her the entire time.
After Zhuang Nainai saw Mother Zhuang, she forgot all about Si Zhengting. She spoke to Mother Zhuang for a good five minutes. He remembered standing at the entrance to the house awkwardly, not knowing if he should enter or if he should leave. It was Mother Zhuang who had finally helped him out of his predicament.
Si Zhengting’s impression of Mother Zhuang was thus very good, to the extent that…
When Zhuang Nainai had sent him off later in the day, he could not help but feel bitter.
His possessiveness and bitterness were evident through his question to her. He had sounded as though he was a youth who had trudged into the river of love, asking a silly question. “Who is more important to you, your mother or me?”