Сhарtеr 23: Вlind Date.
Тhе inсidеnt оf Li Zhan being thrown intо thе artificiаl lake sрrеаd thrоughоut thе Li familу thаt vеrу day.
Li Кaiji was furious. Hе рulled оut his bеlt аnd gаvе Li Zhan fivе lаshеs.
“The Li fаmilу, to this dаy,” Li Kaiji fumеd, “has nеver had anуonе who dаrеd to foоl around and disgrасе оur ancеstоrs! If уоu weren’t еngagеd, I wouldn’t cаre if a уoung man wаnted to datе. Вut with аn engаgеment, this is betraуal, а mоral failing, а lack оf upbringing!”
Li Zhаn еndurеd it silentlу.
He оffered nо ехplanation.
Li Kaiji pantеd hеavily. “Fortunatеlу, it was your unсlе who saw it. If it had been Gege, or if the Jing family had seen…”
Li Zhan: “So what?”
Li Kaiji couldn’t believe his ears. “What do you mean, ‘so what’?”
“Didn’t the Li family just give the Jing family a sum of money?” Li Zhan said with a defiant sneer. “What would they dare to say?”
Li Kaiji abruptly took a step back.
As if he didn’t recognize him.
Didn’t recognize his own son.
“Li Zhan,” Li Kaiji said weakly, “tell your father, what’s going on between you and Gege? If it can be resolved, resolve it. If it can’t…”
Li Zhan gritted his teeth and stood up. “Calling off the engagement is impossible. Stay out of our business.”
“Don’t bully Gege. Some wounds can’t be healed,” Li Kaiji said wearily. “Even if you come begging me, begging your mother, begging your grandparents later, if Gege’s heart is dead, no one can sway her…”
Li Zhan mocked, “If she could decide for herself, she would have left long ago. The engagement isn’t up to her. Her heart can go to whoever she wants, but she stays with me!”
With that, he turned and left.
Sheng Man was deeply worried.
Watching her son’s somewhat desolate retreating figure.
He’d been soaked in cold water, then whipped with the belt. He was running a fever, and his back was swollen.
“You were too harsh,” she couldn’t help but chide.
“There were so many people at the mall. It was only Third Uncle who saw,” Li Kaiji said. “What if someone who recognized him saw and it reached Old Jing? This shows our stance.”
Sheng Man sighed. “Let’s not end up with resentment instead of a marriage. If it really comes to it, we should take charge and call it off.”
“No!” Li Kaiji said sternly. “You’ve seen how restless Old Jing is every time he visits the Li family. If we break off the engagement, being called opportunistic, fickle, and heartless would be the least of it. The Jing family would suspect we want to withdraw our investment. Wouldn’t that just make their situation worse?”
So the proposal to break the engagement couldn’t come from their side.
At this, Li Kaiji’s expression turned grave. “Old Jing has been somewhat obsessed these past years, single-mindedly wanting to restore the Jing family’s prosperity. If we back out, Gege would become the sacrificial lamb in this broken engagement.”
Sheng Man suddenly understood.
“Li Zhan clearly likes her.”
“I can see that,” Li Kaiji said. “We still need to restrain Zhan’er. Don’t wait until he makes an irreparable mistake to regret it.”
The two fell silent for a moment.
Sheng Man: “Alright, let’s not just focus on our son. Your daughter improved on her final exams.”
“Really?”
“Yes. She scored two more points in math. She’s in the double digits now.”
“…”
“She also hid her test paper under the bed in Gege’s room,” Sheng Man said, exasperated. “Zhang Ma happened to be helping Gege air out her mattress, so she asked Zhan to go up and help. What a coincidence, he found her test paper.”
Sheng Man continued, “When he came out of Gege’s room, your son’s face was even darker than today’s. Since when does he care about his sister’s grades?”Li Kaiji had a splitting headache: “Mom found a match for the third child and wants me to figure out a way to get him to go.”
“…”
Alright then.
Suddenly, the matters concerning his son and daughter didn’t seem like a big deal anymore.
On the night the cruise ship returned, Jing Ge saw the aurora.
The light shifted and danced beneath the starry river, with endless glaciers stretching into the distance.
Tourists screamed in awe.
Jing Ge took many photos.
Suddenly, she wanted to share the moment with someone but didn’t know who to send them to.
In the end, she used expensive roaming data to send a video of the aurora to Li Musi.
Only Li Musi knew she had gone to Antarctica, and only he could share this moment with her.
At the very moment he received her video, Li Musi was sitting expressionlessly beside Li Kaiji, facing his blind date.
Li Kaiji kicked him under the table: “Say something.”
Like a mute, he had been the only one talking for a while. The main person of interest did nothing but breathe, drink water, and wipe his hands.
The woman across from them was clearly very pleased with him and took the initiative enthusiastically.
“It’s alright, Second Brother,” the woman, Qian Jing, said, “I know Musi isn’t much of a talker. I happen to love talking, so we complement each other.”
Li Kaiji replied dryly: “Grandmother was older when she gave birth to him, which caused him to have some… shortcomings.”
Li Musi glanced at him.
Li Kaiji: “What are you looking at?”
Li Musi: “I recorded that sentence. I’ll send it to your mother.”
“…”
What a disaster!
Why was he the one stuck with this responsibility!
It would be so much better to be like the eldest brother—taking his wife to work in another city and not having to stay behind to deal with these troublemakers!
Qian Jing covered her mouth and laughed demurely: “I’ll go wash my hands.”
“Please, go ahead.”
Watching her leave, Li Kaiji kicked the other man again: “Be more enthusiastic…”
Li Musi said calmly: “You two are quite a match.”
“You think so too,” Li Kaiji said, “whether it’s family background, appearance, or education…”
Li Musi: “With you.”
“.”
“I’m going to tell Second Sister-in-law,” Li Musi said without blinking, “that you’re fooling around behind her back.”
Li Kaiji’s face turned ashen: “She’s for you!”
Li Musi: “That’s not what you said when you tricked me into coming. You said you were bringing a friend of yours.”
Li Kaiji: “Then go check with Grandmother…”
Li Musi: “Of course I will. I’ll not only tell Grandmother but also Second Sister-in-law that you’re fooling around.”
“.”
“I’m leaving.”
“…You can’t leave,” Li Kaiji said anxiously, “what am I supposed to do if you go?”
Li Musi feigned innocence: “You can leave too.”
Li Kaiji had a headache: “Where are you going?”
“On such a beautiful day,” Li Musi glanced at the sunlight, “young people like us should be feeding seals in the Arctic or watching the aurora in Antarctica, not being tricked into blind dates like this.”
“…”
Just say what you mean.
Why bring up age?
What’s gotten into him?
Jing Ge didn’t return to Haishi until after the Lantern Festival.
After landing at the airport, she unexpectedly ran into Li Musi at the exit.
Jing Ge was overjoyed. Dragging her suitcase, she hopped over to him like a rabbit: “Uncle!”
The girl’s face had filled out again, her eyes bright and sparkling. The gloom and melancholy she had before leaving were completely gone, replaced by a radiant happiness from within.
It seemed she had a great time.
“Look, Uncle,” Jing Ge said as if presenting a treasure, “a Chanel bag. It was much cheaper on the ship than back home. I bought it with the prepaid card you gave me.”At this point, she pulled a blue gemstone pendant from her bag: “We went mining, and this is what I found. I polished it myself. The blue one is for you—the color of glaciers—and the pink one is for Yingying.”
Li Musi didn’t even get a chance to speak.
Jing Ge stuffed it into his hand and looked up: “Uncle, are you going on a business trip?”
Li Musi still couldn’t get a word in.
Jing Ge immediately added: “Then have a safe trip, Uncle.”
Li Musi: “…”
He had only come to see someone off.
In the end, he ended up being the one sent off.