Chapter 421 - 417: The Child Who Doesn’t Cry Gets No Milk

Chapter 421: Chapter 417: The Child Who Doesn’t Cry Gets No Milk

No matter what he was thinking or what strange emotions churned within him, Luo Hongyi’s actions gave nothing away. Even as he ate with his head lowered, his expression remained perfectly normal. He even offered a word of praise, "Delicious."

Luo Hongyi’s words immediately made Aunt Li laugh. Unable to hide her delight, she said, "Oh, listen to you. It’s just dropping an egg into boiling water. Something that takes no skill at all—how could it be good or bad?"

"Who says this doesn’t take skill? If it were me, I couldn’t do it. There’s no way I could get the eggs to look so neat. If I tried, I doubt they’d even hold their shape," Luo Hongyi said, poking fun at himself with a straight face. What he said wasn’t true, of course. In reality, he was a decent cook.

"Hahaha, you must have been too impatient, then. Dropped the eggs in before the water came to a full boil, didn’t you?" Aunt Li was even more amused. "Then again, you’re a man with important things to do. How would you have the time to master things in the kitchen? As long as you can cook an egg through, that’s good enough, whether it looks pretty or not. Take my Shunzi, for example. If you asked him, he probably couldn’t even light the stove. If his wife weren’t living with him in town, I’d honestly worry he’d starve himself to death."

"Haha, I doubt that. If he really had no one to cook for him, he’d surely learn how. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. At the end of the day, that’s the advantage of having a wife, isn’t it?" At the mention of the word "wife," he thought of how Nuannuan had once pored over cookbooks, all just so he and his son could eat happily. Luo Hongyi’s heart instantly filled with a melting sweetness, and the smile on his face transformed completely.

Aunt Li had sharp eyes, and the shrewdness that comes with age. Seeing the look on his face, she immediately put two and two together and asked with a smile, "You’re not getting any younger. Isn’t it about time you found a wife? What do you say? Want your auntie here to introduce you to someone?"

"No need, I already have..." Luo Hongyi swallowed the word "wife." ’It’s not official yet,’ he thought. ’It wouldn’t be right for me to be throwing that word around. If people got the wrong idea, I’d be needlessly ruining Nuannuan’s reputation.’ His face grew a little red, and a hint of excitement crept into his voice. "Thank you for the kind offer, Aunt Li, but I already have someone I like. However, she has a condition before she’ll agree. She said she’s only willing to give me a chance after her family gives their approval. And what with me being at the company all day, and my job requiring so many business trips, I just haven’t had a chance to formally visit her family and get their consent."

"A girl from the city, is she? From the sound of it, she’s a good, self-respecting girl. But don’t you worry. You’re such a great catch, what family wouldn’t be overjoyed to have you as a son-in-law? They’ll definitely approve of you two being together. Heh, times are different now. It’s not just people in the city anymore; even here in the countryside, marrying for love has become the new trend. My Shunzi and his wife, they fell in love all on their own."

When she brought up her daughter-in-law, Aunt Li’s face beamed with satisfaction. "My daughter-in-law isn’t like my Shunzi, who was no good at his studies and dropped out after middle school. She was a great student, made it all the way to high school. It’s just a shame her family wouldn’t let her study any further. But you can’t really blame her family. After all, not everyone is well-off, they had a lot of kids, and she was a girl. What could they do with no money? They couldn’t very well let her brothers go without wives just so she could go to school, could they? Sigh, it’s a real shame. My daughter-in-law dreamed of being a teacher. She even chose a teacher’s college for her entrance exams and got accepted. They said tuition was free and the government even gave a monthly stipend, but her family just refused to believe such a good deal could possibly exist..."

Once she got started, the words just kept flowing. Aunt Li couldn’t help but add a few more sentences, and then a few more, until she simply couldn’t stop. By the time she snapped out of it, she saw that the large bowl in front of Luo Hongyi was empty, yet he showed no sign of impatience. In fact, he was still listening to her ramblings with keen interest. She blushed, and her heart went out to him even more. ’This boy has always been so good, ever since he was little. He’s the kind of person who doesn’t even get annoyed at an old woman’s chattering. So why is his own mother so mean to him?’

She sighed to herself again. ’That Tang Ermei is impossible to satisfy. If I had a son like this, forget about how successful he is, his thoughtfulness alone would be enough to make me wake up from my dreams laughing.’ As she thought this, she shook her head and steered the conversation toward the Luo family. "You know, while my son’s in-laws have their flaws, they were actually quite reasonable. They didn’t demand we sell everything we owned to come up with the betrothal gift. Unlike your future sister-in-law’s family—"

Aunt Li shook her head again. "Even though your mom and I don’t always see eye to eye, I can’t help but feel a little sorry for her, being backed into a corner by her son’s future in-laws like that." As she spoke, her eyes suddenly flew wide in shocked disbelief. "No way... Don’t tell me she sent a telegram to trick you into coming back because... because she’s planning *that*?" Her mouth hung open as she looked Luo Hongyi up and down, her expression of pity now unconcealed. She opened her mouth as if to say more, then stopped, finally just shaking her head again. "No, I must be overthinking things. How could your mother possibly plan to make you pay for your younger brother’s wedding? You’re several years older than him, and you haven’t even found a wife for yourself yet! How could she... No, it’s impossible. Definitely impossible."

A flicker of mockery flashed in Luo Hongyi’s eyes. ’How is it impossible?’ he thought. ’This is nothing. Hasn’t his mother done far worse things without even batting an eye? In fact, on the way here, I’d already considered every possibility, including this one. Now that I have a good idea of what she’s planning, I know she’s getting ready to unleash her ultimate move on me.’

’This time, she’s probably determined not to stop until she’s skinned me alive. Heh. In my last life, I let her peel off my skin layer by layer because I was lying to myself. Simple self-deception. This life, I’ll just deal with whatever she throws at me. If I can’t even handle my uneducated and ignorant mother after accumulating the experience of two lifetimes, then I might as well just give up on marrying Nuannuan, quit my job, and come back home to be a farmer.’

’As for my mother’s "ultimate move"?’

’It’s just the same old "cry, scream, and threaten suicide" routine. What other tricks could she possibly have? Would she actually go to my company, cause a scene, and ruin my career? Heh. Not unless I’d done something truly awful, like neglecting my duty to support my parents or abusing them so badly that all our neighbors were up in arms. Otherwise, if she tried to raise hell over some stupid nonsense like this, forget what anyone else would do—my own father would probably be the one to shut her down personally.’

’That’s my dad for you.’

’In my last life, after I finally saw the light, I seriously started to wonder if I was even their biological son. The DNA test results just left me feeling resigned, though. I really was their flesh and blood. What can you do when you’re stuck with a mother like that? I guess I can only blame myself for not knowing how to cry. After all, isn’t there a saying? The squeaky wheel gets the grease.’