The two wound their way through a corridor built in a traditional style, passing by a pavilion by a man-made lake. From a distance, they saw Mrs. Yue and Grandma Su sitting there. They were probably waiting for them.

  “See? I told you so. We aren’t late,” Yue Tingfeng said, “Grandma and my mom are still sitting outside. Come on. Let’s go.”


  From some distance away, they heard Grandma Su saying, “Actually……I don’t know if I can really like Qingsi. I prefer the more innocent types, the simpler ones—the kind of girls who don’t have such scheming eyes. Like……that granddaughter in Old Wang’s family. I wanted to matchmake them a long time ago. After all, when he was younger, Tingfeng had gotten along well with that girl when he was staying here. Perhaps they can become an example of childhood friends turned lovers……”


  The smile on Yan Qingsi’s face immediately hardened. Yue Tingfeng’s eyes were about to pop out of his head. What on earth was she talking about? Why would he freaking remember which Wang and what Wang?

  Yue Tingfeng wanted to speak when Yan Qingsi pressed against him.

  She wheeled around and stalked off. Yue Tingfeng tailed after her, anxiously.

  Mrs. Yue spat out the mouthful of sour plum juice she had just drunk. “Mom, hold up, hold up…… Why are you trying to break up a match made in heaven? I sure don’t want the type that you want. My idiot son’s IQ is low enough. If he’s together with someone else who has a low IQ too,my grandchild will be an idiot. I want someone smart, someone cunning, someone with a bad temper. My son and I worked so hard for so long before Yan Qingsi finally liked Tingfeng. Don’t you dare throw all my efforts to waste.”


  Grandma Su nodded her head. “Oh, I know. I’m just saying…… Besides, Tingfeng has someone he likes now, and he isn’t fooling around. How could I do something so stupid and rash?”


  “Don’t even say something like that,” Mrs. Yue said, her tone extremely serious, “You’re getting more and more muddle-headed with age. If Qingsi hears anything like this, it’ll make her suffer emotionally. Even if your heart doesn’t ache for her, mine does.”


  “Seriously, you don’t want your own mother now that you have a daughter-in-law,” Grandma Su commented sourly.

  “Mom, you don’t know about anything because you’ve never experienced it. If Qingsi wasn’t around, I would have been bullied to death earlier……”


  “All right, all right. I won’t talk about your darling daughter-in-law. Why aren’t those two kids not back yet anyway?”


  “I’ll call them and ask.”
……

  Yan Qingsi walked rapidly in the dark. Yue Tingfeng called her name as he trailed after her.

  For a moment, Yan Qingsi wanted to rush out of this alien home, but she stopped in the end.

  Yue Tingfeng pulled her hand and hugged her tightly. “Grandma is just saying things,” he said, “Don’t believe whatever that comes out of her mouth. Anything that happened when I was young happened eons ago. How on earth can I remember if her surname is Wang or Wong?”


  Yan Qingsi huffed in exhaustion. “I know. I’m not angry. Come on. Let’s go back. We shouldn’t let them wait for too long.”


  Yan Qingsi was not angry; she was just a little depressed. She had worked so hard to win over the two elders of the Su family, but……it looked like it would be very difficult!

  “It looks like, other than Mrs. Yue and Yue Tingfeng, no one else will like someone like me.”


  A hand suddenly came down on her shoulder. Yue Tingfeng tightly squeezed her shoulder. “Isn’t it enough if my mom and I like you?” he said, his voice cool and solemn in the darkness. “You don’t need to accommodate to others to make them like you. There are too many people liking you already; I haven’t approved yet.”


  Yan Qingsi was stunned. She had accidentally said that thought running through her mind aloud just now.

  “I’m not……” The rest of her sentence was cut off when he closed his lips over hers. She heard Yue Tingfeng’s voice through the tangle of lips and teeth. “Just remember that it’s no use if others like you but I don’t,” he said, “Even if anyone else doesn’t like you, it’s enough……if I do!”