When she asked him why he didn't invite her to the wedding, he laughed and said she was shy and afraid of rich people. Qian Meng understood that Xiao Chen didn't want his girlfriend to meet his father and dismissed the whole issue, never asking again.

  "He would kill me," Li Li Hua giggled.

  "What do you think of his girlfriend, by the way?" Qian Meng asked. "I haven't had a chance to ask you."

  "She is a really sweet girl. I know Xiao Chen is taken with her." Qian Meng nodded. "I hope she feels the same way about him. I hate seeing my children hurt and I know he will be devastated if they don't work out."

  "I agree with that." But she believed that it would work out.

  "Xiao Chen is my passionate baby. When he loves, he loves hard." Li Li Hua paused. "Oh, look at this one!" she yelped as she came across a picture of a little messy-haired boy. "This is Qingchen."

  Qian Meng took the album from her and stared down at it for a long time. Looking back at her was a dark-eyed boy with wild hair and missing teeth. His mouth was open as he went to lick an ice cream cone. Ice cream was smeared all around his teeth, but he was careless, with sparkly eyes and sun-kissed cheeks.

  "Wow," she sighed.

  "Cute, right?" Li Li Hua giggled.

  "It's adorable," she agreed. "Mo Qingchen is usually so serious in front of others. It's nice to see him as a kid, all carefree."

  "Mo Qingchen was a free-spirited child. He wasn't so serious until he approached the age of eight. Until then, he was my dreamer."

  "Really?" Qian Meng asked as she finally looked away from the photo. "I would have thought Xiao Chen would be like that."

  "Oh, no. Xiao Chen was rowdy. Yize was my little princess. Qingchen, though. Qingchen was a dreamer."

  She watched her mother-in-law speak about her children with a goofy grin. She soaked up the way this woman spoke about her children. She was eager to know what Qingchen was as a little boy.

  "How so?" Qian Meng asked, completely enchanted.

  "It was apparent from the beginning that Qingchen was extremely intelligent. He began to crawl earlier than other babies. He learned to walk earlier, spoke earlier. As he got a little older, his imagination took off. He preferred to play alone most of the time, but the other kids were just not on the same level intellectually. Even alone, his imagination ran wild. He had big dreams and things he wanted to learn. He always made these little inventions. The older he got, the bigger he dreamed."

  Qian Meng gulped. "He always knew he would accomplish big things, didn't he?" she guessed.

  "Yes. He certainly did. Something drove him to be the best."

  Qian meng stroked the picture gently. "He's the smartest person I know," she told her mother-in-law.

  "And me, as well. With that intelligence came some struggles when he was a child. He got bored quickly and he wasn't easily entertained." She shook her head. "These things didn't change when he grew up. His standards and boredom just grew. And you know how he is now."

  Qian Meng shrugged.

  "I'll tell you, if your children turn out to be anything like their father, you are going to have your hands full…"

  Qian Meng's heart stopped.

  She was quiet for a long time, just staring at the other. Some part of her conscious mind was screaming at her to say something, but she didn't know what to say.

  She shouldn't have been surprised that her mother-in-law said what she did. Why wouldn't people expect them to have children? Qian Meng had never fully considered it before but she was suddenly realizing that Li Li Hua was expecting grandchildren from her eldest son and daughter-in-law.

  "Qian Meng? What's wrong?"

  "Nothing," she answered quickly. "It's just… I don't know if Qingchen and I are going to have children."

  "What?" Li Li Hua blinked at Qian Meng, who could only bit her lip. Even her expression hadn't been completely truthful.

  "I'm sorry. What I mean is… we haven't discussed having kids. So I am not sure if that is something both of us want."

  Now it was Li Li Hua's turn to stare at her. She recognized the different emotions that flashed across the older woman's face.

  "Oh, I am sorry. That was presumptuous of me."

  "No, no. It's okay!" She was surprised by how guilty she sounded. "I am not surprised that you would assume. It just never came up in a conversation."

  "No. I am surprised you have not spoken about it. I just thought neither of you wanted to be a parent."

  She shifted in her seat, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

  "Both of you are busy with your career and you have a long time ahead of you. If you want children, you can have them at any age. But knowing the two of you, does it have to do with you two thinking you won't be good parents?"

  Qian Meng was surprised at that.

  "Because that is preposterous!" Li Li Hua exclaimed.

  "It is?"

  "Qian Meng… being a parent is all about love. There is no secret formula to raising a child. They are all different with different needs. Love is the only constant thing."

  Yet, there were so many parents failing their children.

  "I don't think love is the only factor to being a good parent. There is a lot else to be taken into consideration." Both Mo Qingchen and her had drawn some short straws when it came to parents. So, Qian Meng wasn't sure if they could overcome that and raise a child.

  "Yes, it is more than that," Li Li Hua agreed. "You know how people say that when you want to know the type of husband a man will be, you should take a look at the way he treats his mother?"

  Qian Meng nodded tentatively.

  "It is like that. You can tell the type of father a man will be by the way they treat their wife. Or more, the way that he loves his wife." Li Li Hua carried on. "Zichen has treated me like a queen."