5 – Let Him Keep Kneeling
Inside the bathroom.
Wen Song went in first, and after confirming no one else had followed, she yanked Zhou Huanning inside.
“Ergou, why are you suddenly back?”
“Girl, you’d better explain yourself to me.”
The two spoke almost simultaneously, but both were interrogating the other—the first sentence was Wen Song’s question, the second was Zhou Huanning’s.
The two had known each other since childhood because of the friendship between Wang Junlan and Song Wenhua, and since they were the same age with plenty of common interests, they had become inseparable friends who told each other everything.
Zhou Huanning had attended university in England and had only just graduated this month. He had only been in England for a short while, so how had he managed to come back so quickly?
Another question was how Zhou Huanning had gotten involved with Pei Qingji in the first place.
Wen Song was the elder, so naturally Zhou Huanning answered her question first.
“Pei Qingji’s mother is actually my aunt. My parents passed away when I was very young, so I was taken in by the Pei family to be raised, and I switched to calling my aunt ‘Mom.'”
Men generally weren’t present at social gatherings among the ladies, so Wen Song had never known who Song Wenhua’s husband was. Besides, the one she always brought out to social events was Zhou Huanning, so she naturally assumed her husband’s surname was Song—who would have guessed it was Pei.
Zhou Huanning had never mentioned any of this, and since he bore some resemblance to Song Wenhua, she had never once doubted their mother-son relationship.
But at the thought that Zhou Huanning’s parents had passed away long ago, Wen Song let out a sympathetic sigh and gently patted his shoulder. “It’s alright. You’ll always have me from now on.”
She had expected a warm, tearful embrace, but Zhou Huanning wasn’t buying it at all.
He grabbed the fabric at the shoulder of Wen Song’s dress and pulled her back. “Cut it out. Right now, you need to explain to me how you suddenly ended up pregnant.”
“Uh…” Wen Song scratched her chin. “It’s just that this matter is a bit complicated.”
“Then simplify it.”
“It’s also quite long.”
“Then make a long story short.”
“Well…”
“Don’t make excuses. Spit it out.”
Wen Song pressed a hand to her forehead and could only give a brief account of what had happened last month and her meeting with Pei Qingji earlier that day.
Zhou Huanning’s reaction was just as spectacular as Shen Lingyao’s—his face was like an overturned palette of colors.
“You mean to say, you had a one-night stand, got pregnant, and now you’re preparing to get married?”
Wen Song nodded. It sounded absurd and melodramatic, but it was also an indisputable fact.
Zhou Huanning let out a “tsk” and nodded. “Fine, I’ll give him credit for being a man.”
“Hm? It sounds like you don’t have a great relationship with him.”
“It’s not that we don’t get along. It’s just that I’ve rarely met such a boring person. After you marry him, you’re in for a rough time.”
It was only then that Zhou Huanning remembered something. He glanced at Wen Song’s flat belly and said with feigned indignation, “We agreed that once I graduated, we’d go surfing in Hawaii together! What are you going to surf now with a bun in the oven?!”
Wen Song found him too noisy, so she frowned and clamped a hand over his mouth. “Stop. First, tell me what Pei Qingji said when he got home.”
Zhou Huanning recalled the day before yesterday.
Pei Qingji had originally been on a business trip in New York—he’d left a month ago. The first phone call he made back was to say he might be getting married, and he listed a bunch of things for them to help prepare, but he absolutely refused to reveal who the woman was.
When he arrived home at noon today, he announced outright that he wanted to marry Wen Song, which nearly scared Song Wenhua and Pei Maoshi to death.
Song Wenhua had actually always wanted to match Zhou Huanning with Wen Song—after all, they matched perfectly in looks, temperament, and family background, and they were childhood sweethearts. It was precisely because of their close relationship that the elders of both families assumed they were dating but too shy to say so.
Now that Pei Qingji had suddenly barged in, Song Wenhua’s first reaction was to look at Zhou Huanning, thinking he’d been cuckolded.
But Pei Qingji claimed he and Wen Song had been together for a long time, and had only delayed making it public because his teaching position at Qinghua made it inconvenient to reveal. Zhou Huanning clearly didn’t buy this explanation, but he knew he wouldn’t get anything out of Pei Qingji, so he followed along to the Wen residence, waiting to ask Wen Song directly.
At the time, he’d been a little annoyed thinking that he, as her male best friend, hadn’t been given advance notice of this—who knew the situation was actually like this.
“I’m telling you—”
“Song Song, are you feeling unwell?”
Just as Zhou Huanning was about to continue, Song Wenhua’s footsteps and voice came from outside simultaneously.
Wen Song made a shushing gesture at Zhou Huanning, then answered toward the door: “No, I just finished washing my hands. I’ll be right out.”
Song Wenhua’s footsteps stopped, and she didn’t come any closer, just waited for her to come out.
Opening the bathroom door, Wen Song met Song Wenhua’s smiling face. When she was little, the reason she’d loved this auntie so much was because she was always smiling and her voice was so gentle.
Song Wenhua reached out her hand to her and asked casually, “Where’s A-Ning?”
“My phone died, so I asked him to go upstairs and grab my charger.”
Song Wenhua didn’t suspect a thing, nodded, and said, “Come on, let’s go see if you like the jewelry your mom picked out for you. If you don’t, we’ll go buy new ones tomorrow.”
Suddenly upgrading from “Auntie” to “Mom,” Wen Song blushed, but still nodded and took her hand.
Before they even reached the living room, Wen Song was already stunned by the sight—she saw box after box opened, all filled with pink banknotes.
She’d just calculated that the betrothal gifts alone would fill dozens of boxes, not to mention the pile of gold bars that people were still carrying in.
It really was impressive of the Pei family—having money was one thing, but getting all of this together in such a short time was no small feat.
To get to where the boxes were stacked, she had to pass by where Pei Qingji was kneeling. He was still there, his back still ramrod straight.
Wen Song glanced at him, and her own knees began to ache in sympathy.
Song Wenhua noticed her little gesture and smiled—truly a young couple.
“Don’t worry about him. Let him kneel there for being so thoughtless. He can get up whenever you decide to forgive him.”
Wen Song licked her lips. She wouldn’t dare say anything about forgiving or not forgiving—she’d be lucky if Pei Qingji didn’t blame her for getting him into this mess.
While she was thinking this, Song Wenhua had already pulled her past him.
All she could see were pink banknotes and gleaming gold. Wen Song felt like she was going blind, and it was only the several sets of jewelry that provided some relief from the aesthetic overload.
After viewing everything indoors, they went outside to look at the two new cars. When they came back, the housekeeper asked when dinner should be served, and everyone unanimously decided to eat right away.
And just like that, Pei Qingji was completely left out of the picture.
In the dining room, Wen Song had barely eaten a few bites before she began to feel restless. She and Pei Qingji had never been on particularly good terms to begin with, and today she had caused him to be punished with kneeling and to miss his meal. She couldn’t help but wonder if he would hold a grudge and seek revenge against her later.
The more she thought about it, the more a chill ran down her spine.
She set down her chopsticks, took a few sips of water, and said she wanted to step outside for some fresh air. Everyone assumed it was just pregnancy-related discomfort and didn’t try to stop her.
Wen Song left the dining room, sneaked her way around to the kitchen, and looked around. Today’s dishes were all things that weren’t exactly easy to take with her.
After much deliberation, she could only grab two small cakes and head out, though she had no idea whether Pei Qingji would even like them.