Chapter 79 - We’ve Just Started Dating. I’ll Bring Her Home When We’re In A Stable Relationship (2/2)
The gift box hung in mid-air as Jian Yi struggled to keep his cheery facade. ‘Why are all the Qi family’s men so infuriating?’
Qi Youxuan ignored Jian Yi and spoke to his great-grandfather. “Great-grandpa, can I have a mandarin orange?”
“Sure, sure.” The old man smiled, pulled his sleeves back and got to peeling a mandarin orange for his great-grandson.
Guan Liya mused, ‘When did the boy become so averse to violent movies?’
‘And what about his collection of Transformers and Avengers toys?’
The boy was just pestering Qi Zhongxun to get him an Iron Man toy the day before yesterday.
Qi Chengyue glared at Qi Youxuan and dragged Jian Yi to her seat. “Don’t mind him. He’s the only one in the house these days and he’s been spoiled rotten.”
Jian Yi smiled sheepishly. Grandfather Qi gave the peeled mandarin orange to his great-grandson. When he turned to face Jian Yi, his demeanor was stern and solemn.
“Let us set a date for our families to meet and dine,” the old man said.
Happiness bloomed in Qi Chengyue’s chest. With Grandfather Qi’s blessing, the family would not be able to object.
At this time, Qi Chengzhi got his reply from Song Yu.
[I’m wrapping dumplings.]
Along with the message came a photo — a flour-covered hand holding a fat dumpling. Qi Chengzhi could not help the crinkle in his eye. The scene was not missed by Qi Chengji who was beside him.
‘When did his older brother ever showed such emotions?’ His curiosity got the better of him. “Girlfriend?”
‘Who could get into his brother’s heart?’
Qi Chengji leaned forward and attempted to steal a glance of the source of his brother’s glee but Qi Chengzhi’s quick reflexes prohibited it.
‘Who is this precious girl?’
Coming back to the situation at hand, Qi Chengzhi inquired, “I remembered from the company’s database that Jian Yi, you’re an only child?”
Jian Yi was suddenly aware that he was overdressed for the occasion. He came right after work and did not change into casual attire. The uneasiness he felt from the Qi family’s attention was exacerbated by the physical weight of his suit.
“Yes, I am.” Jian Yi nodded. He could not see where Qi Chengzhi was going with it.
“Today is New Year’s Eve, don’t you need to go home to see your parents? I understand work takes up a lot of your time.” Qi Chengzhi refilled his cup of hot tea. He brought the cup to his lips and blew on the hot tea. The steam rose and condensed on his glasses, fogging up the lenses.
Jian Yi took a second to reply in mirth, “I actually thought of just coming over to meet some of the elders and leave for home in the afternoon.”
He ended his sentence with a subtle hint of challenge.
Qi Chengzhi’s line of questioning seemed to hint that Jian Yi had neglected his own parents in order to curry favor with the Qi family.
His reply seemed to cut off any retort from Qi Chengzhi as he nodded and went back to ignoring him.
The exchange between the two young men ended and Grandfather Qi resumed his perfunctory questions about Jian Yi’s family background – to which he answered with utmost honesty.
The Qi family could easily investigate his family background, so lying about it did more harm than good.
Grandmother Qi persuaded Jian Yi to stay for lunch. During the meal, Qi Chengzhi made no contact with Jian Yi, only occasionally speaking to Grandfather Qi.
The young Qi Youxuan was shown to be a picky eater, only eating meat dishes and ignoring all the vegetables. His father, Qi Chenglin, frowned at him. “Eat less meat. Don’t be picky.”
The outburst seemed to have caught Grandmother Qi’s attention and she wheeled on him. “Even your elder cousin has a girlfriend now. When are you going to find one? Your son needs a mother!” If looks could kill, Qi Chenglin would be dead now.
“…” Qi Chenglin shut his mouth and continued eating. Apparently, teaching one’s child table manners made one the target of old matrons.
Hearing this exchange, Jian Yi glanced at Qi Chengzhi but the man gracefully ate his lunch, unbothered by the commotion.
When lunch ended, Jian Yi took his leave. The unhappiness on Qi Chengyue’s face was blatant as she escorted him out of the house.
Sucking on his ice pop, Qi Youxuan shot Qi Chengzhi a look before running into the bathroom.
Qi Chengzhi raised his eyebrows in question and followed his nephew.
“What’s up?” Qi Chengzhi asked the little boy.
“Did you forget your promise?” Qi Youxuan held his wet, sticky palm out. “You said you’d give me double red packets if I didn’t entertain Jian Yi.”
“Red packets are not traditionally given out today.” Qi Chengqi laughed at the little boy. “Tomorrow I will give you the red packets, alright?”
Unaffected by his uncle’s teasing, Qi Youxuan nodded his head. “I like the Iron Man toy that he brought but because of uncle, I didn’t take it.”
Qi Chengzhi mulled over the issue and took out some cash from his wallet. “You can go buy it yourself.”
Qi Youxuan was clearly pleased with this. He held the ice pop in his mouth as he accepted the money with sticky hands. He unzipped his coin pouch which was bursting at its seams with bills and coins of different value, ranging from one hundred yuan to ten cents.
The boy took the few hundred yuan bills and folded them neatly into his fat coin pouch. Ensuring that the money was secured in his pocket, he removed the ice pop from his mouth and said, “Thank you, uncle!”
Just like that, the boy ran off like a cloud of smoke. On the way to find a quiet spot to count his money, he uttered to himself, “I need to get a bigger pouch for my money. Maybe something like uncle’s leather wallet.”
Qi Chengzhi lingered in the bathroom, smoking half a cigarette by the sink.
His grandparents had no smoking habit and detested the smell.
When he came out, Qi Chengyue was already back. Her face was stormy – this morning’s cheerful disposition was nowhere to be seen.
Seeing Qi Chengzhi walked out, she questioned him, “Cousin brother, why did you ask Jian Yi those questions? He was supposed to spend the night here for New Year’s Eve.”
Qi Chengzhi sat down on the sofa and gave her a cool stare. “You’ll be marrying him soon. Now, he’s doing his best to please you, so he didn’t make a fuss. But today is an important day for family reunions, didn’t you think about his parents?”
“I know you’re thinking, with our family’s name and reputation, his parents won’t protest. But do you think this can last forever? If you marry him and treated his parents with such disrespect, he’ll soon grow tired of you.”
“Also, once he enters our family, he will no longer be a meager manager. When he does climb up the ranks and establishes his own business, he won’t need your money or influence. He can explore opportunities elsewhere. Would you be able to hold him back?”
“Another point, Jian Yi will pretty much be a live-in son-in-law. Every man has their ego and pride, there is a limit to how much one can stand. When that line is crossed, your relationship will take a hit. Don’t you think you should be more careful now and avoid unnecessarily needling people when there’s no conflict yet? Rather than fuel this ticking time bomb?”
“Trust my judge of character, Jian Yi is the type who will keep his displeasure to himself and when that builds up, it will explode in your face one day. You are young and your relationship is still in the honeymoon phase. Give it some time and conflicts will start to emerge, especially with your mercurial temper. Jian Yi may be able to bear you once or twice but trust me, any man who has pride will not take kindly to your immature behavior.”
“You wanted him to abandon his parents and come over to our place for New Year’s Eve. What were you thinking? He probably dared not to disagree with you knowing full well that you would misinterpret it as him not caring about you.”
Qi Chengyue gaped at her cousin, she was speechless.
Level-headed as always, Qi Chengzhi looked at her. “I’m just trying to help you.”
“Yes. What Chengzhi said makes sense,” Guan Liya voiced her agreement. “You were spoiled since young, if you are serious with Jian Yi you shouldn’t keep throwing tantrums in front of him.”
Being chided by her cousin and mother, Qi Chengyue grudgingly agreed. “I know now.” She eyed her cousin brother. “I thought you were getting rid of Jian Yi on purpose because you didn’t like him.”
Her standard interactions with Qi Chengzhi were limited to nods of acknowledgment.
The sudden onslaught of words and in-depth analysis of her relationship was certainly out of character.
Qi Chengyue thought to herself, ‘Perhaps blood was indeed thicker than water.’