In a secluded spot, Jiang Zhi stopped, folded her arms across her chest, and stared at Duan Heyu without expression.
How had he offended her ladyship again? Duan Heyu was a bit dazed.
He rubbed his prickling arms and ran his mouth as usual. “If you have something to say, say it. What are you looking at me like that for? Your brother is a pretty good guy, I just chatted with him a bit. You wouldn’t be jealous over a man too, would you?”
“…” Jiang Zhi grabbed his ear with unerring precision and pulled it outward, in bad temper. “Don’t call him brother. He’s not my brother, I’m not close to him.”
“You meet him once and you think he’s a good person. Lucky for you, you’re a rich, dumb sweet thing, otherwise you wouldn’t even be enough for people to cheat.”
The two of them differed in height by twenty-odd centimeters, but with Duan Heyu bending over to beg for mercy, their heights came level, which made it more convenient for Jiang Zhi to deal with him.
“That’s only because he said he was your brother, otherwise who’d bother with him. All right, all right, let me go, my ear’s about to be pulled off.”
“I kept giving you looks just now, didn’t you see? You stood there like a block of wood without moving. What, are you the Sea-Calming Needle [1]are you the Sea-Calming Needle (dinghai shenzhen, 定海神针) Metaphor, an immovable fixture, from Journey to the West jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3234066_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3234066_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });?”
Jiang Zhi made no attempt to hide her dislike of Jiang Wenbo. Duan Heyu had rarely seen this, and his instinct said there was definitely some melon in it.
So his curiosity burst out of him, the scar healed and the pain forgotten.
He asked shamelessly, “Oh, so the two of you don’t get along. Tsk, you should have said so earlier. Then why don’t you get along? Did he bully you?”
Jiang Zhi shot him a glance, let go, and shook out her hand.
“Just remember this: apart from my dad, my relations with those people surnamed Jiang, male or female, aren’t good. From now on when you run into them there’s no need to be friendly.”
Duan Heyu was rubbing his ear, and hearing the words “from now on,” he was suddenly as sweet as being filled with honey. His eyes went bright and fixed on her, exactly like a big golden retriever.
He nodded obediently. “All right, I’ll do whatever you say.”
Jiang Zhi didn’t understand what that sudden clingy look of his was about. Emmmm, maybe pregnancy hormones had made him abnormal??
It wasn’t over yet. Duan Heyu lifted Jiang Zhi’s hand and put it to his chest, swearing with deep feeling, “From now on, with this young master here, nobody will dare bully you. This young master will protect the two of you, mother and child.”
Jiang Zhi glanced at his belly and laughed. “Better that the two of us, mother and child, protect you.”
Right now he was a frail pregnant man who couldn’t look after himself, and later he would be a frail full-time father who couldn’t look after himself.
Back at the hospital, the two of them played two ranked matches together, and Jiang Zhi only went home after Duan Heyu fell asleep. The moment she came in, she ran into her parents, who had been waiting in the living room for a long time.
Zheng Wan asked where she had been today, and she made things up with a composed expression while taking off her shoes.
Zheng Wan went back to the kitchen and brought over a bowl of black-boned chicken soup, just ladled out of the pot, its rich fragrance filling the whole room.
“With who?”
“Thank you, Mom.”
Jiang Zhi took the chicken soup and held the bowl, slurping little sips, not forgetting to sweetly blow some rainbow farts [2]blow some rainbow farts (caihong pi, 彩虹屁) Slang, lavish over-the-top flattery jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3234066_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3234066_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
This time Zheng Wan wasn’t coaxed by her daughter into losing her sense of north. Her eyes were clear, and she said softly and slowly, “Confess honestly, are you dating?”
Sure enough.
She knew Jiang Wenbo would definitely run his mouth. There wasn’t a single one of that Jiang bunch who wasn’t a gossip.
Jiang Zhi couldn’t be bothered to deny it. She nodded openly and met Zheng Wan and Old Jiang’s probing eyes. “Yes, I’m dating.”
What greeted her next was a series of exhaustive interrogations from her parents. Character and family background were asked about the most. Although Duan Heyu was a bit of a straight man, his roots were absolutely upright and his shoots red, and there were no big problems with his character or his family background.
After a brief exchange of glances between husband and wife, Zheng Wan spoke gently. “A-Zhi, bring the young man home so we can have a look. Wenbo said the young man looks proper and speaks well. Your father and I are both curious and want to meet him.”
“Sure.”
Zheng Wan raised her brows in surprise. That readily?
It seemed her daughter really had met a boy she liked very much.
The fact was Jiang Zhi hadn’t thought that far at all. She simply felt that since Duan Heyu was already pregnant, if she still didn’t bring him home to meet her parents, wouldn’t she be no different from a scumbag who got someone’s belly big and wanted to run?
Besides, Duan Heyu’s pregnant belly didn’t show yet. Waiting a few more months until the belly became obvious and then bringing him home wouldn’t be as convenient as now.
When Duan Heyu got Jiang Zhi’s call, he was like a passerby hit on the head by a meat pie: shocked, wildly delighted, and unable to believe it.
He kept confirming over and over, “You, are you serious? Your parents want to meet me?”
“Yes. Get yourself ready, I’ll come pick you up in the evening.”
After the call ended, Duan Heyu still stupidly held the pose of answering the phone, only the smile on his face grew brighter and brighter.
Duan Xiao, watching from the side, clicked his tongue endlessly. “It’s just meeting the parents. Look at that cheap look on you.”
Duan Heyu shot back quickly, “You’re jealous, because you don’t have a girlfriend.”
Duan Xiao: “…” Personal attacks, how nice!
Duan Xiao’s teeth itched with resentment. After twenty-odd years of knowing him, he had only now discovered this kid had a love-brain. There would be plenty of crying for him ahead.
Duan Xiao didn’t deign to bicker with a love-brained cousin. “Instead of spending this effort choking me, you’d do better to think about what gift to bring. You can’t show up empty-handed the first time you visit your father-in-law and mother-in-law.”
That did remind Duan Heyu. He hurriedly opened a certain Du and a certain Hu to search for gifts, and Duan Xiao, catching sight of the screen, was made to laugh at his stupidity on the spot.
—What gifts do elders like?
—What gift should you give the first time you meet your girlfriend’s parents?
“What are you searching blindly for? Who knows better than their own daughter what your father-in-law and mother-in-law like?”
Duan Heyu straightened his neck like a rooster craning its head. That’s right, he could just ask Jiang Zhi directly.
He generously threw Duan Xiao an approving look. “You didn’t eat a few more years of rice than me for nothing. At the crucial moment you are of some use.”
Duan Xiao really wanted to slap this love-brained cousin to death and be done with it!
At six in the evening, Jiang Zhi showed up at the hospital right on time.
In the ward.
Duan Heyu circled and paced back and forth in front of the mirror like a peacock, striking all kinds of poses, thoroughly pleased with himself. “Look at this face of mine that God kissed, this heaven-defying figure on par with a male model. It’s only because this young master doesn’t like showing off, otherwise how would those traffic idols in the entertainment industry have any rice to eat?”
Hand on conscience, Duan Heyu really did have some looks, a standard Chinese-style handsome man.
Sword brows and starry eyes, red lips and white teeth, broad shoulders and a narrow waist, with a pair of long legs to make people die of envy. Wherever he went he was the focus of the crowd, and he could put on a sack and still wear it with a damned sense of fashion.
Otherwise he wouldn’t have conquered a severe face-dog [3]a severe face-dog (yan gou, 颜狗) Slang, someone who judges everything by looks jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3234066_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3234066_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); like Jiang Zhi.
But no matter how good-looking a person was, after two years of looking there was none of the initial dazzle, especially after living under one roof morning and night and seeing with your own eyes that the other person burps, farts, and picks their feet. Even the thickest filter would fade.
And Jiang Zhi’s case was one where the filter had shattered completely.
She couldn’t agree with Duan Heyu dressing as if he were going to attend a ball. Leaning against the wall, she frowned as she looked over his black suit.
“We’re just going to my home for a meal, not attending some banquet. There’s no need to dress this grandly.”
Duan Heyu in the mirror was straightening his tie. He glanced over at her words. “This is how you dress for a formal occasion. I’m not like certain people who don’t groom themselves. It’s the first time meeting the parents after all, and you don’t have the slightest sense of ceremony.”
Jiang Zhi looked down at her padded pants and padded slippers and snorted a laugh. The little young master’s talent for insinuation was growing.
A sweet, soft, sincere smile spread at her lips. “Isn’t it because I feel for you? I was afraid it would bind your belly and be uncomfortable. You and the baby are both the flesh of my heart, my little liver.”
When it came to saucy talk nobody could match her.
Jiang Zhi’s saucy talk came without warning. Duan Heyu felt as if he had a fishbone in his throat, his expression blank.
In that moment guilt drowned him. Duan Heyu, oh Duan Heyu, listen to what you just said. How could you be snide to A-Zhi!
His gaze shrank back as if scalded, and he gave a dry cough.
The tips of his ears were a suspicious red as he mumbled, “It’s fine, it’s fine, it doesn’t bind at all.”
“All right, let’s go.”
Duan Heyu’s mood at this moment was no less than an ugly bride meeting her parents-in-law. Always overflowing with confidence, he was now so nervous his palms sweated and his heart beat fast enough to leap out of his chest.
At the dinner table, Zheng Wan and Jiang Qingshan looked kindly, chatting back and forth with him and occasionally putting a chopstickful of food in his bowl.
Because Jiang Zhi had given instructions beforehand, the table was all light vegetarian dishes with not a bit of meat, avoiding the embarrassment of morning sickness in advance.
Duan Heyu felt so good inside, and at the same time worried about leaving a bad impression on his father-in-law and mother-in-law.
“Uncle, Auntie, my family is fasting lately, so I can’t eat meat for now, but once this period is over I can eat freely.”
Jiang Qingshan nodded in understanding and said with a smile, adjusting his glasses, “I can see you’re not a vegetarian either. Someone who only eats vegetables shouldn’t grow to your height.”
His father-in-law had praised him!
Duan Heyu worked hard to keep his tail from sticking up into the sky. “It doesn’t really matter much, it’s the family genes.”
It wasn’t him bragging. Even his cousin Duan Xiao, a man who sat still all year round, had shot up to one meter ninety, which was enough to show how strong the family genes were.
Jiang Qingshan gave a couple of supportive compliments, then asked, “Little Duan, you’ve been dating A-Zhi for two years, and graduation is right around the corner. Do you have any plans for the future?”
—Here it came, the must-answer question.
Duan Heyu straightened up and sat properly, reciting the draft he had prepared in his stomach long ago. “My plan for now is to help out at the family company after graduation, keeping my feet on the ground and starting from the bottom.”
“Uncle, Auntie, rest assured, after we’re married I’ll take good care of A-Zhi. If she wants to be a full-time wife then she can be a full-time wife, and if she doesn’t then she can find a job she likes. Whatever it is, I’ll support her.”
After they were married?
Jiang Qingshan and Zheng Wan’s expressions stiffened for an instant. They had no plans to marry their daughter off that soon.
And how far along was this anyway? Had it already developed to the stage of discussing marriage?
The couple threw Jiang Zhi a questioning look at the same time. Jiang Zhi gave a light cough and said in a low voice, “Mom, Dad, the two of us will handle our own business. You don’t need to worry.”
That made the couple even less at ease.
What was this? The kid had barely come through the door and he was already preparing to carry off the flower along with the pot.
Zheng Wan hesitated again and again, then spoke gently and directly. “Little Duan, Auntie doesn’t object to you dating A-Zhi. Auntie can see you’re a good child, so Auntie and your uncle have no objection to you.”
“But—”
“Marriage is a big matter, a question of whether two unfamiliar families can blend together, and we have to be careful. Besides, you’re both still young, and Auntie can’t bear for A-Zhi to marry so early, so we won’t allow her to marry within three years of graduating.”
At these words both Duan Heyu and Jiang Zhi were stunned.
Duan Heyu immediately looked to see Jiang Zhi’s reaction and found her face completely bewildered, not much different from his own.
If Duan Heyu weren’t pregnant, Jiang Zhi would have been moved by her parents’ open-mindedness. After all, she had seen plenty of cases of parents pushing marriage right after graduation. Parents like hers were hard to find even carrying a lantern.
But now…
She rubbed the tip of her nose, at a loss for what to say.
Duan Heyu could understand his father-in-law and mother-in-law’s thinking, but it completely conflicted with his plan.
His idea was to get the certificate before the belly grew big, hold the banquet, and make the two families one family.
He had still been too impatient. Bringing up marriage the first time he visited would make any woman’s parents uncomfortable.
Duan Heyu went through a round of self-reflection, then said with a face full of apology and sincerity, “Auntie, I understand what you and Uncle mean. I was too rash. I’m sorry.”
A trace of surprise crossed Jiang Zhi’s heart at his side. It was the first time she had seen such a humble expression on Duan Heyu’s face. Used to all his arrogant, stinking-proud looks, this one was rather special…
Mm, he looked a bit like a person now.
The shadows under the streetlights were stretched thin and long.
The two of them walked side by side, close together, along the deserted roadside, with cars now and then speeding past with a whoosh.
Duan Heyu instinctively shielded Jiang Zhi toward the inside.
The tip of his nose was frozen red, and fine snow had settled on the ends of his black hair.
Jiang Zhi kept nagging. “I told you to take a taxi and you wouldn’t listen. Walking back to the hospital from here takes an hour, and it’s snowing now. If you catch a cold you’ll have plenty to bear.”
What a stubborn thing.
Duan Heyu held the umbrella with one hand and tucked her hand into his own pocket with the other, replying unruly, “This young master has grown up this big and you can count the times I’ve been sick on three fingers. Don’t compare me with those noob chickens and skinny dogs.”
Jiang Zhi raised her brow slightly, half smiling. “You’d better be.”
“If you catch a cold, don’t pitifully call me to sell your misery.”
“Who are you looking down on? Is this young master that kind of person?”
The snow wasn’t heavy and stopped after a while. Duan Heyu lowered his eyes and brushed the fine snow off her down jacket.
He asked in a casual tone, “What are your thoughts about marriage?”
“You’re not really going to make me wait three years for you, are you?”
The topic jumped too far, and Jiang Zhi didn’t catch it at first.
“That works too, but then don’t blame me for not letting the little kid call you Mom.”
“…” That was a threat, wasn’t it? Jiang Zhi pulled up her lips. “Are you afraid I’ll run away?”
Since the pregnancy was confirmed, Duan Heyu had never shown fear in front of her, but how could he really not be afraid? An organ that didn’t belong to him had inexplicably appeared inside his body.
He not only had to accept this new organ, but he also had to accept that living embryo, and the new identity he was about to unlock.
He was facing an unknown body and an unknown future alone.
He urgently needed Jiang Zhi to give him a promise.
“Let’s marry. Since you’re willing to carry the childbirth hurdle, what do I have to worry about?”
In any case she wasn’t the one in pain, so it wasn’t a loss.
References[+]