178: Chapter 174: Going to Zhao Lina’s Home for Dinner Again 178: Chapter 174: Going to Zhao Lina’s Home for Dinner Again At 5:30 in the afternoon, Ye Fan received a call from Zhao Lina.
It turned out that Zhao Lina was getting a bit restless, seeing that quitting time was drawing near without a call from him, she worried Ye Fan had not taken the dinner at her home to heart.
“Hehe, Zhao the beauty, I was just about to call you.
What kind of gift should I buy for your parents?” Ye Fan said with a smile.
Zhao Lina let out a sigh of relief and said, “You don’t need to buy any gifts.
You already brought some last time.
Just buying anything simple to show the thought would do.”
Last night she went home and thought it over carefully, feeling that the words Ye Fan had said before kissing her didn’t seem genuine, as if he had been forced to say those words to cheer her up.
Hence, she felt very uneasy.
The gifts last time were all bought by you,” Ye Fan said.
Zhao Lina replied, “But you can’t give such expensive gifts like last time.
It’s too easy to give ourselves away.
Both my mom and dad are pretty sharp, they’ll guess the truth from the smallest clue.”
“Okay then,” Ye Fan immediately agreed with her, “I’ll just buy two boxes of deluxe fruit, one box of American honeycrisp apples and one box of blueberries.”
Upon hearing this, Zhao Lina immediately wanted to rush over and give Ye Fan a beating, so casual, really just casually bringing two boxes of fruit and it’s settled?
This is the first time you are officially coming to my home for dinner as a boyfriend!
However, these were her own words, she could not contradict herself.
“Just buy something simple!” she said in a disgruntled tone, “Hurry up and come over after work, don’t dawdle!”
With that, she hung up the phone in a huff.
“Hmph, annoying guy, if I find out you’ve been cheating me, you’re dead!” she muttered to herself through clenched teeth.
At the same time, she was also annoyed with herself for not discerning his truthfulness that night, allowing Ye Fan to kiss her so easily, and it wasn’t just a peck, the total time of both kisses exceeded ten minutes.
Finally, at six o’clock in the afternoon Ye Fan got off work, he drove to the police station and took a detour to a high-end fruit supermarket on the way, where he went straight in and bought a box of American honeycrisp apples and a box of blueberries, then continued driving to the police station.
It wasn’t that he was stingy and reluctant to spend money, but rather he really dared not treat Zhao Lina too well, otherwise, a “breakup” later would be difficult.
Like last time, as Ye Fan approached the police station, he called Zhao Lina to let her prepare, then sent a text message when he was near the main gate for her to come out, after which Zhao Lina drove out, and he followed her.
Twenty minutes later, Ye Fan followed Zhao Lina’s car into the Baiyun Residential Complex.
The security guard who registered Ye Fan’s visit at the entrance to the complex happened to be the same young guard as last time.
As he handed over the visitor registration book for Ye Fan to fill out, he said with immense admiration, “Buddy, impressive, this is your second visit, you have a great chance of becoming Secretary Zhao’s son-in-law, gaining both love and power.
If you really get married one day, please give your little brother an invitation, let me share a bit of your good fortune and luck.”
While filling out the visitor registration, Ye Fan sighed inwardly, reflecting that it was really a complex of high-level civil servants, where even a security guard knew how to make connections.
After completing the visitor registration, Ye Fan handed back the registration book to the guard and said with a faint smile, “I’ll take your auspicious words to heart.
If there comes a day, I will send you an invitation.”
“Haha, thank you, big brother,” the guard said, thrilled.
Following, the guard let him through, and Ye Fan continued to drive after Zhao Lina, parking his car downstairs of her apartment building.
Getting out of the car, Ye Fan fetched the well-packaged boxes of fruit from the trunk and walked towards Zhao Lina.
Zhao Lina saw that Ye Fan had indeed only bought two boxes of fruit, and she was really irritated.
She didn’t care for expensive gifts, but she cared about the sincerity Ye Fan was showing.
“What’s wrong?” Ye Fan noticed that Zhao Lina’s gaze was quite unfriendly.
Zhao Lina was holding her pretty face up with a half-tilt, biting her teeth as she grunted, “Remember, you and I are just pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend, it’s not real!”
“Hehe, yes, yes, I understand,” Ye Fan immediately said with an obliging laugh, “Don’t worry, I won’t get handsy with you.”
Zhao Lina’s face grew even darker; she felt like blasting Ye Fan out of the complex, not even letting him through the door.
However, remembering she had promised her parents she would bring Ye Fan over for dinner tonight, she had to forcefully hold herself back.
Ye Fan, you better not let me find out you’re deceiving me!” she fumed internally.
She tossed her head arrogantly, minding her own business as she walked toward the staircase.
Ye Fan followed with a wry smile.
Upon entering Zhao Lina’s home, it was still Zhao Lina’s mother, Yang Zhizhuo, coming out of the kitchen to warmly greet them.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Yang Zhizhuo and handing over the fruit, Ye Fan walked toward the center of the living room.
In the center of the living room, Zhao Lina’s father, Zhao Guodong, was sitting in front of a coffee table with a Go game board on it, the board laid out with an unfinished game.
As Ye Fan approached, Zhao Guodong remained seated on the sofa, turning to wave Ye Fan over, “Xiao Ye, you’ve come at just the right time, play a few rounds of Go with uncle.”
The tone and attitude in his voice clearly didn’t treat Ye Fan like an outsider anymore.
“Hehe, sure,” Ye Fan replied with a smile, walked over, and sat down to play against Zhao Guodong.
Ye Fan glanced at the board, recognizing the setup as last time’s “Ten-mile Listening Tide Crying Blood.” It seemed Zhao Guodong was not satisfied with his previous “loss” and wanted another match to reclaim his pride.
“Haha, it’s still the same game from last time, unchanged.
We couldn’t finish it last time because of dinner, but this time we must play it out thoroughly,” Zhao Guodong laughed heartily.
Ever since he tried to test his future son-in-law last time, only to end up being outsmarted instead, he didn’t know where to put his face.
Especially since his wife teased him about it before they went to sleep that night.
Thus, he had spent some time these past few days studying Ye Fan’s game and had even taken an hour to consult with Du Guozhen, a famous national Go player from Hua Hai City, confident that this time he would win back his pride.
Hearing her father’s words, Zhao Lina couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.
They clearly lost last time, and he even told her to overturn the board, yet he claimed it was inconclusive due to dinner.
“Ye Fan, you play Go with my dad.
I’ll go help my mom in the kitchen.” She couldn’t even bear to watch.
“Alright, sure,” Ye Fan replied with a nod to Zhao Lina.
Zhao Lina entered the kitchen, where Yang Zhizhuo, busy at work, asked without turning her head, “Is your dad playing Go with Xiao Ye again?”
“Yes,” Zhao Lina replied and walked over to help wash the vegetables.
“He’s been playing Go for half his life, and still can’t beat a youngster; it’s quite embarrassing.” Yang Zhizhuo commented casually, and then asked Lina, “You said you and Xiao Ye don’t get along and want to break up, is that true?”
“…” Lina stopped washing the vegetables, uncertain how to respond.
If it had been before Ye Fan kissed her, she would have swiftly answered yes; if it was right after she got home late last night, she would have immediately answered no.
But now, she truly didn’t know how much of what Ye Fan told her was real.
Not hearing Lina’s answer, Yang Zhizhuo urged, “I’m talking to you, Lina?”
Lina snapped back to reality, irritably retorting, “You guys should stop meddling in our business.”
Seeing her daughter’s demeanor, Yang Zhizhuo immediately guessed that there might actually be some minor conflict between Lina and Ye Fan, so she didn’t press further.
Changing the subject, she said, “By the way, don’t just focus on helping in the kitchen.
Go to the living room from time to time to check the game.
If your dad is really falling behind, tell me to serve the meal right away, so your dad doesn’t actually lose and can’t save face.”
“I got it,” Zhao Lina replied, finding her mother’s methods rather cunning and shameless.