Chapter 730 Winning Favor Preliminarily
Zhang Han led the way to the dining-table.
As he got closer and closer, Liang Hao, who stood nearby, became more and more anxious.
This was because he saw that Zhang Guangyou and Rong Jiali, namely Lili’s parents, were staring at him.
Zhang Guangyou even had an indifferent look on his face; Rong Jiali’s expression could not be seen as it was hidden by her bamboo hat, while Gai Xingkong was still smiling without saying anything.
Perhaps under normal circ.u.mstances, Zi Long and Zi Hu would say, “This is Liang Hao, a pretty good boy.”
But at this point, they all kept quiet since they did not dare to comment casually on their daughter’s marriage.
In their view, not every son-in-law was as outstanding as Zhang Han.
Therefore, catching sight of them, several people at the table stopped chatting in succession and the restaurant fell silent.
Since everyone was looking at him, Liang Hao felt even more nervous.
But a person like Liang Hao would not be at a loss in such a stressful situation for long and he instantly became more attentive.
Before Zhang Han introduced his parents, Liang Hao took two steps forward rapidly.
He came to the table and bowed to Zhang Guangyou and Rong Jiali, “Nice to meet you, Uncle Zhang and Auntie Rong. My name is Liang Hao, and… I’m Lili’s boyfriend.”
Oh?
Zhang Han chuckled at this time and deemed that his gutsy move would win his father’s favor.
Zhang Han sat at the table again while pondering over this and gave Mengmeng a small gla.s.s of juice. The little girl was thirsty after frolicking for more than half an hour, so she began to drink slowly. As she drank, she stared at Liang Hao with her big bright eyes.
She did not know what he was doing.
The others took their seats in succession, eventually only leaving Liang Hao and Zhang Li standing beside the table.
Ten seconds after Liang Hao greeted them, Zhang Guangyou gave a bland response,
“It’s too early for you to formalize your relations.h.i.+p.”
Zhang Han could tell that his father was somewhat worried and out of sorts.
But his sister had taken a fancy to Liang Hao at this point.
After thinking for a while, he reminded Liang Hao,
“Did you prepare a gift since it is the first time you that you are meeting my parents?”
Liang Hao’s expression changed when he heard what Zhang Han said. He, therefore, secretly bit the tip of his tongue and forced himself to calm down.
He had prepared some gifts, but he figured that Zhang Guangyou would not receive them if he took them out directly. Once he was refused, it would become more awkward.
Anyway, he had to get through his test!
After seeing plenty of liquor bottles behind him from the corner of his eyes, he knew what Zhang Han meant.
He picked up a gla.s.s and filled it up.
He bowed and held the gla.s.s with both hands, saying, “It’s the first time we are meeting. Nice to meet you, Uncle Zhang.”
After saying that, he drained the liquor in his gla.s.s.
The liquor was of good quality. Although he was a martial artist, he did not dare to cheat. As such, he felt his throat and stomach burning.
Actually, he did not have lunch yet.
However, Zhang Guangyou still ignored him, although he drank the gla.s.s of liquor.
He had already known what would happen, but he still felt uncomfortable at this moment.
There was a sudden deathly hush again.
Liang Hao was a little confused. It was no exaggeration to say that he was in a state of panic. Since he did not know Uncle Zhang’s temperament, they did not dare to say anything more.
One second, two seconds… ten seconds later, Zhang Li said reproachfully, “Dad!”
It was her words that made Zhang Guangyou’s face soften a little.
Meanwhile, Rong Jiali nudged his leg with her foot and said, “Liang Hao, sit down. Lili has told me about you.”
Rong Jiali’s gentle tone eased the tension and Liang Hao sat opposite them, together with Zhang Li.
“Stop talking about that.” Zhang Guangyou waved his hand and glanced at Liang Hao, “You only greeted me, but there are a lot of people here.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
Liang Hao had quick wits.
Now that Zhang Guangyou had responded to him, he was supposed to make the cut. He quickly stood up and filled his gla.s.s with liquor again.
“Nice to meet you, Auntie Rong.”
Gulp…
He drank it in one gulp.
“Everyone else knows me, but I still have to introduce myself formally. My name is Liang Hao, Zhang Li’s boyfriend.”
“Brother, a toast to you. I would not have met Lili without you.”
“Sister-in-law… we’re old friends. Thanks to you, Lili and I are in a stable relations.h.i.+p. A toast to you.”
“…”
Liang Hao almost drank about half a liter of liquor after toasting everyone present.
If he was an ordinary person like Zi Qiang, he would have fainted already.
Even so, Liang Hao’s face became a little ruddy.
After he toasted everyone, he sat down.
Then, he filled the gla.s.s with liquor once again and raised it to Zhang Guangyou, “I’d like to propose a toast to Uncle Zhang. No matter who I am, whether I have money or not, whether I am powerful or not, I will be true to Lili forever.”
“Okay, well, well, let’s drink to that.”
Zhang Guangyou looked at Liang Hao with a nod. Then, he picked up the gla.s.s and drank it in one gulp.
“Go ahead.”
After a gla.s.s of liquor, he filled it up and tossed it off again.
Seeing what he did, Liang Hao made up his mind, pouring the liquor and drinking it all at once.
The two of them directly drank five cups of liquor, respectively.
Liang Hao’s eyes turned red, but he continued to drink without saying anything.
Zhang Li felt somewhat distressed.
“Dad!”
“Guangyou, it’s enough.” Gai Xingkong could not help reminding him.
“All right, stop drinking already. Let Liang Hao have some food first.” Rong Jiali glared at Zhang Guangyou.
Feeling depressed, Zhang Guangyou stopped pouring the liquor.
He would really be bullying this junior if he insisted on drinking with him.
But he truly felt uncomfortable and was not as delighted as when he saw Zi Yan.
After all, accepting a daughter-in-law was indeed different from marrying his daughter off to a man.
“Alas…”
Zhang Guangyou sighed inwardly while staring at Liang Hao.
Two seconds later, he said, “You’re good at drinking, but I don’t know what you are like.”
“Time will reveal what is in a man’s heart, Uncle Zhang.” Liang Hao replied politely.
“Good! I agree with you. Time reveals a man’s heart.”
Zhang Guangyou nodded and said in an unfriendly tone, “You seized the opportunity when we were not around Lili. Now… I won’t say anything. I’ll investigate you for a period of time.”
Liang Hao, however, let out a long sigh of relief and said with a smile, “I have to propose a toast to Uncle Zhang. Thank you, thank you.”
He filled his gla.s.s with liquor and then took two steps sideways to fill Zhang Guangyou’s gla.s.s.
What he did amazed Zhang Guangyou to some degree.
He silently raised his gla.s.s, drinking off with Liang Hao.
“You’d better behave yourself during the investigation.” Zhang Guangyou said.
He was aware of what they were doing since his soul sense could cover a wide range. As such, he was worried that he would lose control of his temper and beat him up if he saw any affectionate contacts between them.
“I see. Uncle Zhang, please be a.s.sured. I have never crossed the line even though I’ve been in a relations.h.i.+p with Lili for so long. Only when you come back and accept me can we further the relations.h.i.+p.” Liang Hao answered with a smile.
“It sounds better than it is.”
Zhang Guangyou’s face was unreadable as he glanced at Zhang Han, “Son, come out and have a walk with me. You can stay here.”
“Well, okay.”
Zhang Han realized that he should take some responsibility to help relieve his father’s stress.
So, the two of them stood up.
Mengmeng wanted to follow them, but she stayed to drink juice after Zi Yan whispered to her.
During this period, she even muttered, “I want to eat potato chips with tomato flavor…”
The two of them walked out.
At this moment, Liang Hao felt somewhat embarra.s.sed.
“All right. That is exactly what my father is and you will understand him later. Anyway, he cannot bear to part with his beloved daughter.” Zhang Li comforted him.
She actually intended to comfort her father, for she also had mixed feelings.
Liang Hao shook his head slightly, “I see. At least I’ve pa.s.sed the test preliminarily, which can be regarded as a successful beginning.”
As for Rong Jiali, she said with a smile, “Now that you chose to date each other, you should cherish every second. We cannot hone in on your affection. Liang Hao, is your family also in Hong Kong?”
“Yes, I’ve always been….” Liang Hao replied in a hurry.
Liang Hao felt great while chatting about his family affairs with her.
“Phew…”
Liang Mengqi was eventually relieved.
She was so anxious just now. Although Liang Hao was a little drunk, she thought drinking more was needed since he won their approval.
She still remembered how Zhao Feng had been pushed to drink by her family in the first place.
“I should take off my bamboo hat at our first meeting.” Rong Jiali took off her bamboo hat while speaking.
On seeing her face, Liang Mengqi could not help praising her repeatedly, “Auntie, you look so young! You look like you’re only 30 years old…”
She spoke highly of Rong Jiali.
Even Liang Hao said with a nod, “Uncle Zhang looks very young as well. In fact, my family planned to visit you after learning that you have returned. But after thinking over it, they decided to see you later considering that you would like to talk to the elders of the Zi Clan first. If it’s convenient, they’d like to visit you at night or tomorrow. Auntie Rong, do you think it’s a good idea?”
“Okay, it’s a great idea. You can come at any time.” Rong Jiali smiled.
“Fine…”
They began to chat with each other again.
Finding everyone was in high spirits, Gai Xingkong and Zi Long also said, “Liang Hao is one of the best in the young generation of the Liang Clan. He’s so brilliant.”
Hearing what they said, Liang Hao did not know whether to laugh or cry.
He considered himself as an excellent man in the past, for he increased greatly the profits when running his family business. However, he was devastated since the trip to Hong Kong.
Was he outstanding?
The answer depended on his opponents!
Brother Zhang was a really excellent man.
There was no denying that he regarded Zhang Han as his idol now.
At this time, his idol could only smile in the face of Zhang Guangyou.
“Dad, I’ve observed Liang Hao for a long time. He’s a man with good moral quality. Otherwise, I would not have allowed him to contact Lili.”
“Alas…” Zhang Guangyou sighed, “You don’t understand.”
After saying that, Zhang Guangyou shook his head and added, “You’ll understand what I mean in the future. Even if I learn that he is a good man in advance, I cannot help losing my temper when I thought of Lili marrying someone else. You are a father now and have a daughter. In the future…”
“No one will dare to seduce my daughter!” Zhang Han gave a firm response immediately.
“What?” Zhang Guangyou was stunned.
“If someone covets my daughter, he must defeat me first. I have been cultivating for a year and will soon reach the Innateness Stage with a stable foundation. It won’t take long for me to break through the Elixir Stage and the Yuan Ying Stage. I’d like to see who dares to covet my daughter!” Zhang Han said angrily.
“Eh?”
Zhang Guangyou was startled again.
“What’s going on?”
“I asked you to come out to comfort me. Why are you getting angry?”