The clouds also drifted with the wind, the ashes on the floor were blowing scattered, what a coincidence a piece of joss paper which was still burning landed on Di Qiuhe’s ankle, a hair was burned on his ankle.
“Ouch.” Di Qiuhe screamed in his heart, yet he collected himself, acted like nothing had happened and covered his ankle.
“What’s wrong?” Seeing Di Qiuhe acting funny, He Bai asked him, “Why are you acting like a robot? Come closer, I promise my parents won’t bite.”
“Yeah they won’t bite but they play things up on me”, thought Di Qiuhe.
Di Qiuhe took a deep breath and straightened his clothes, he came closer to the gravestone, he firstly bowed with great respect, and he said, “Hi mom and dad, my name is Di Qiuhe, please rest assured that I will take care of Bai for the rest of my life, I won’t let you down.”
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
No wind, no drifting clouds, no ashes blowing on Di Qiuhe’s face……
Di Qiuhe let out a sigh of relief, then he cracked a fawning smile at the photos on the gravestone.
Rumble!
He Bai looked up at the sky, “What’s going on? I checked the forecast before we left the hotel, they say there’s no rain today, but look at that lighting now!”
Di Qiuhe’s smile went stiff, he was at a loss, “Oh my god, Bai’s parents don’t seem to like me…”
Rumble!
“It looks like it’s really about to rain, but we left the umbrella in the car.” He Bai said with concern.
Di Qiuhe stood up promptly, “I’ll go get the umbrella, you just wait here.” With it he bowed to the gravestone, and he walked directly to the parking, after he took two turns and was sure that he was lost in He Bai’s sight, he dialed Jiang Xiuwen’s number.
“Xiuwen, help, how do I win my mother-in-law and father-in-law’s hearts?”
Rumble!
“Or more accurately, how do I avoid ruffling features?”
Jiang Xiuwen on the other side of the phone, was nestling on his sofa, he replied after he mustered all his patience, “Are you being serious now, my friend?”
There came a positive answer from the other side of the phone.
“All right then.” Jiang Xiuwen sat straight and sighed, he decided to not throw any question or talk sense to his best friend who was an interesting character, he typed “Ways to win in-laws’ hearts”, there sure pop up some really interesting suggestions, he browsed one by one, and replied, “Now that you’ve asked me seriously, I have no other option but give you some serious help, the followings are my personal experience of years’ observation, now you listen to me child! First of all, how you call them matters……”
Di Qiuhe on the other side of the phone listened attentively, and he lost in thought and soaked in all the knowledge he was getting…
To return to He Bai, he looked at the photos on the gravestone and explained with a touch of happiness and satisfaction, “Mom and dad, don’t laugh at Qiuhe please, he can be a bit clumsy from time to time, but he treats me so well that my heart is melting. Like just now at lunch, he insisted on serving me the shrimps, and he ended up having an oil stain on his collar, he got so paranoid about weather you would take that as an offence, he wanted to go back to the hotel and get changed… and last week, he worked so hard the whole week so he could ask for a couple hours leave and go back home to cook me some breakfast, all because I mentioned I like the fish porridge that he cooked… the list could go on and on, he has been giving me all, so please don’t worry. He is not a girl and he has a complicated family, but the only thing matters is how he treats me, how we feel about each other, right? I’m sure it will only get better for us.”
The thunderstorm turned better…
“Mom and dad, this is my second life, I didn’t run into him in my previous life, I had always been a loner wandering around, photography was my all, and I was fine with that, I was having fun. And in this life, I have Qiuhe in my life, I understand the word home better, it feels so good to have a place you can call home rather than a house, I’m so grateful that I have him in my life.”
The thunderstorm was now completely gone, left the clouds drifting around as if they were comforting He Bai on the ground.
He Bai went on talking about how he and his life changed after he met Qiuhe until he heard Qiuhe’s footsteps, he lowered his voice, “Even though I had been mad at him because I thought he was the reason that why I was reincarnated, now I just feel grateful…”
Rumble rumble!
The thunderstorm came back, it came back stronger.
He Bai was startled by the thunder, he was choked and thought, “What’s wrong with the weather today?”
Being welcomed by a thunder, Di Qiuhe accepted it calmly and he held an umbrella for He Bai, he then took a deep breath, and, and he kowtowed t the grave stone.
The lighting on the sky suddenly twisted like it were startled.
Seeing that, He Bai screamed, “Qiuhe?!”
“Mom, dad, I’ll treat Bai nicely for the rest of my life.” Di Qiuhe said that in an earnest manner and he thumped his head on the ground.
He Bai was dumbfounded, he reached out to hold Di Qiuhe, “Please, Qiuhe, what are you doing?”
“I’m kowtowing to mom and dad.” Di Qiuhe held He Bai’s hand and smiled at him, he then looked at the gravestone, his sight landed on the names, he said seriously, “And also, I think I should be held accountable that Bai now is going to spend the rest of his life with a man.”
Another rumble.
“I’m forever grateful that I met Bai. Thank you so much for raising him so well.” Di Qiuhe added.
“If I ever do anything that hurt Bai, I swear, I would hit by a thunder.”
Another rumble flashed across the sky looked like a threat.
“Jiang Xiuwen is right, parents love some swear and some ass-kissing”, thought Di Qiuhe, now he seemed to know He Bai’s parents’ preference.