Chapter 128 - 119: What? These Two Kids Got Together?

Chapter 128: Chapter 119: What? These Two Kids Got Together?

But she was so frustrated at the moment that she didn’t even have the energy to argue.

"Mom, I’ve been busy all this time and haven’t even eaten yet. Can you please cut me some slack?"

Hearing her daughter still hadn’t eaten, Mrs. Yan felt a mix of heartache and anger.

She had wanted to say more, but she cut it short. "Alright, go eat. I’m hanging up."

"Take care of..."

Before Yan Li could finish her sentence, the dial tone buzzed in her ear.

She scowled, tossed her phone onto the sofa, and buried her face in her hands, feeling on the verge of a breakdown.

When you’re in a bad mood, you’re truly fragile. She took a deep breath, but her eyes shamelessly started to redden again.

’Ever since the divorce with Xiao Ran, it’s like my life has been cursed. Nothing ever goes right. But there’s nothing I can do to fix it, so I just have to bear it. I don’t know when this will ever end!’

...

After hanging up on her older daughter, Mrs. Yan immediately called her younger daughter, Yan Xici. They hadn’t spoken in several days, and she wondered how Xici had been doing.

’That’s just how it is with two kids. As soon as you’re done worrying about one, you have to start worrying about the other.’

Meanwhile, Yan Xici was gleefully sprawled on her bed, propping her chin in one hand as she admired the comments on her video.

Just then, her phone rang. She hurriedly stopped swinging her legs, pulling her delicate white feet back in. Reaching out with her right hand, she plucked her phone from the pillow.

When she saw it was her mom calling, her heart, which had been fluttering with excitement moments ago, seized up.

Even her expression turned serious. ’Oh boy, a call from Mom. Did my sister tell her something?’

’It’s just one thing after another.’

She scrambled to sit up, took a deep breath, and tried to even out her breathing. Forcing down her anxiety, she finally hit the answer button. "Hey, Mom."

Because of her guilty conscience, her voice was exceptionally sweet—so sweet it was immediately obvious something was wrong.

Her mother’s brow furrowed at the sound of her voice. "What trouble did you get into?" she asked instinctively.

Even though they didn’t live together, she was her own daughter, after all. She knew her inside and out. That tone of voice immediately sounded off.

’Okay, so a mother really does know her daughter best.’

Yan Xici nervously licked her lips. "I... um... what did my sister say?"

Mrs. Yan was completely baffled by her daughter’s out-of-the-blue question. Her intuition told her that the two sisters were definitely hiding something from her!

Suspicion laced her voice. "How did you know I called your sister?"

Yan Xici hadn’t known for sure, but her mom’s question was all the confirmation she needed. ’My sister definitely told her!’

But her mom hadn’t lost her temper, which left Yan Xici a little confused.

The girl wrinkled her nose. "So... what do you think?"

’Since she’s not going to say it, I might as well ask myself.’

’Might as well face the music.’

?

Mrs. Yan was completely bewildered. ’What do I think about what?’

"What on earth are you talking about? And what’s going on with you and your sister?"

’When I was talking to my older daughter just now, I could clearly tell she was in a terrible mood. Now my younger daughter immediately asks what her sister told me. My gut tells me something is definitely up with those two!’

This mind game left Yan Xici completely uncertain.

’So does she know or not? Why do I get the feeling it’s more likely she doesn’t?’

"N-nothing, we just had a fight," the girl continued.

"What did you fight about?" Mrs. Yan asked.

"Uhm..." Yan Xici swallowed hard. ’Maybe I should just tell Mom.’

She might seem timid, but she had actually thought things through quite clearly, especially when it came to things she had long anticipated.

Her voice was laced with nervousness as she tested the waters. "Um, Mom... let me ask you something. If Brother Xiao Ran and I got together, would you approve?"

At her words, Mrs. Yan’s eyes widened in shock. The question was so preposterous her eyebrows practically twisted into question marks.

Her mouth fell wide open. "Huh?"

’What did she just say?’

’Her and who?’

’Who’s with Xiao Ran?’

’The two of them are together?’

Yan Xici sniffled, trying to reason with her. "Mom, you always thought Brother Xiao Ran was a great son-in-law, right? Well, me too. I think he’s the perfect person to be your son-in-law."

Although her words were clumsy, Yan Xici was steeling herself, pushing through on sheer nerve.

It was no exaggeration to say that even her toes were curled tight with tension.

"And so?" Mrs. Yan pressed. To be honest, after that blatant hint, she’d already figured it out.

She just couldn’t quite believe it. The truth was simply too audacious.

’Question: What do I do if Mom doesn’t take the bait?’

’Obviously, I just have to keep trying to persuade her.’

The girl swallowed, her voice tinged with a hint of guilt.

"So, what I mean is, let him continue to be your son-in-law. What do you think of that?"

"By marrying you?" Mrs. Yan asked again.

At this point, she was so stunned she couldn’t do anything but ask questions. It had nothing to do with whether she supported the idea or not; she simply couldn’t process it and give an answer in such a short amount of time, and she had no idea what she was supposed to say.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Yan Xici swallowed hard. "...Yep!"

"..." Mrs. Yan felt her world start to spin. "Y-You... you’ve really fallen for your brother-in-law?"

Unlike Qiu Yuru, Mrs. Yan had never been a decisive person. She had a gentle temperament and had been that way since she was a child.

If Mr. Yan hadn’t suddenly collapsed, she’d probably still be a delicate flower in a greenhouse.

But even after everything she’d been through, after all the hardships she’d endured, her personality hadn’t changed. Whenever a major issue arose, she would panic. Her first instinct was always to ask her husband or her older daughter.

The girl shrank back and meekly corrected her mother, "It’s not that I’ve fallen for him. We’re already together."

Compared to just "liking" someone, "being together" was a confirmed state.

It was the necessary foundation for a loving relationship.

Mrs. Yan was starting to have an existential crisis. She even wondered if she was getting Alzheimer’s or some other memory-loss disease. How on earth could they already be together?

’It’s only been a few days.’

’And they’re already an item?’

Even though Mr. Yan was in poor health now, in Mrs. Yan’s heart, he was her whole world.

Why? Because he was the one who married her and brought her from the countryside to the county town!

He was the one who had earned them an apartment in town with his own two hands, giving her a home!

And Mr. Yan had once been a rail freight supervisor.

When they got married, it was a grand affair. The entire village envied her for marrying such a good man, and she felt the same way.

But later, due to a problem during unloading, a whole train car of rebar collapsed, leaving Mr. Yan paralyzed from the waist down and with limited mobility in his right arm.

The tragic accident cost Mr. Yan his respectable job.

From that point on, he became dispirited. To make ends meet, Mrs. Yan gritted her teeth and started selling fruit, barely managing to support the family through more than a decade of hardship.

But even so, in Mrs. Yan’s heart, he was still the backbone of the family.

Her heart had never wavered because of his disability.

At the suggestion that she should be the one to tell her father, Yan Xici panicked and hurriedly tried to argue her case.

"Um, Mom, look, I like Brother Xiao Ran, and Brother Xiao Ran likes me. We like each other, that much is clear. And we’re really serious, we’re not joking around. I think... I had to tell you first. If you understand, then Dad might be able to understand, too."

She knew her mom was the most reasonable person in the family. She was hoping to get her mom on her side first so she could help persuade her dad.

Her dad was the most traditional person in the family, someone who did everything by the book and valued proper etiquette.

If he found out, with his temper, he would literally chase her down in his wheelchair with a cane to beat her!