Chapter 128: Don’t Let One’s Fertile Waters Flow Into Another’s Field
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
When Wu Tong arrived at home, her parents returned home from work. They had just prepared dinner and seeing her come home was a very pleasant surprise. When Wu Tong told them of Liang Qing wanting to be her G.o.dmother after doing an apprentices.h.i.+p with her in Hong Kong, they were even more surprised.
Wu Tong’s parents certainly knew who their daughter’s idol—Liang Qing—was. They also knew what kind of presence she had in the art industry. Although they weren’t in the field themselves, they were still close.
Wu Tong’s mother worked at the Shanghai theatre. She had previously been an actress, the kind that received awards, but eventually, she retired to work behind the scenes to lead her own team. She had quite an impact on the film industry.
Wu Tong’s father was a collector and an antique connoisseur. He was very well known amongst people from that circle and was also a writer as well.
It could be said that they were social elites. If that weren’t the case, Wu Tong wouldn’t have been able to become a student under professor Hu Hang at the HuaXia Art Academy when she was in middle school. It was not an ordinary teacher-student relations.h.i.+p, but one between a master and a disciple.
Wu Tong was extremely talented in Chinese painting, but based on talent alone, it was impossible to become a formal student studying under Hu Hang.
Between people, there was more to relations.h.i.+ps than just high cla.s.s and low. There was always a saying in a “social circle”; the quote “Among the people whom I interact with, none is a person of ignorance” described just that.
And Wu Tong had chosen Hu Hang to be her mentor instead of Liang Qing because her father and Hu Hang had known each other for several years and because it was too difficult to knock on Liang Qing’s door. Not to mention, Liang Qing had a strange personality… Plus at the time, Wu Tong didn’t even know who Liang Qing was. With this contrast, it went without saying that Wu Tong ended up choosing her family friend as her mentor.
Decades ago it was already hard to get mentors.h.i.+p from Liang Qing. Now, it was even harder. In terms of influence and popularity, Liang Qing could beat Hu Hang by a long shot.
Otherwise, how could Liang Qing alone host two solo exhibitions at the Hong Kong Global Ink painting exhibition, while Hu Hang did not even have half an exhibit? Her two exhibitions were mixed into the main event hall, too.
But most importantly, Wu Tong adored Liang Qing!
Therefore, as soon as her parents heard of this, they agreed without any hesitation. Even if Wu Tong didn’t ask for their blessing, they had no thought of prohibiting her.
Would they become taken for granted?
Whatever taboo it was that condemned G.o.dparents could go rot in a corner!
In comparison, Wu Tong was the calm one. She waited until her parents nodded in agreement before calling Liang Qing in front of her parents.
…
Dubai, on some construction site.
“I’m finished up here, let’s head back. You’re so stubborn too. It’s noon, and the sun is blazing, but you had to follow me to the construction site. Look how much dust there is.”
Meng Chuan approached her and fixed the hard hat on her head. Curiously, he looked at Liang Qing, who had an ecstatic look on her face after receiving a phone call. “What happened? Why are you so happy?”
“I have a G.o.ddaughter now.”
Liang Qing and Meng Chuan headed outside and got on the private car the construction unit had provided them. Once inside, she told him about what happened between her and Wu Tong.
“You’re telling me you are taking the girl little Fan has a crush on as your G.o.ddaughter?” Meng Chuan was stunned when he heard this. “And little Fan doesn’t know? And this girl called Wu Tong also doesn’t know that you’re his mother?”
Seeing Liang Qing nod, Meng Chuan smiled bitterly. “Then how are you going to deal with Fan?”
“I just won’t answer his calls.” Liang Qing smiled.
Meng Chuan thought about it then courageously said, “After all, Fan has never been in a relations.h.i.+p before. I think you should take the initiative to explain it to the girl, as well as Fan.”
“Why should I have to explain it?” Liang Qing said. “First of all, I asked her to be my G.o.ddaughter because I really like this child. It has nothing to do with how Meng Fan feels about her. Second… think about it, me taking her as my G.o.ddaughter has no impact on Meng Fan trying to pursue her. One is my son, the other is my G.o.ddaughter, they have no blood relations.h.i.+p with each other no matter what legal perspective you look at it from. They could even get married, let alone just date! What’s that saying called again? “Don’t let one’s own fertile water flow into another’s field.” I got to keep the goodies within the family. Besides, I’ve created an opportunity for Fan.”
Meng Chuan cringed. “Are you not worried that your involvement will affect the development between those two kids?”
“They’re all kids with vision. How can they be so easily affected? Don’t worry, everything is within my control. You think I’d troll my own son?”
“You! I hope this time you are right!”
“Oh? When was I wrong?”
“Isn’t it your fault for loving me so much? Why do you love me more than I love you? I work so hard, but I can’t catch up to you! You make me grow. You make me feel ashamed. You make me feel confident. How can you say you did nothing wrong? Liang Qing, I order you to wait in place and wait for my love to catch up to you!”
…
Meng Fan signed the contract upfront. He trusted the contract. After all, they were both people who owned coal mines.
They divided the two copies among themselves and pleasantly finished eating while discussing an endless variety of topics.
When they finished, it was already 8:00 pm.
“Ironmaster, when we visited the campus earlier, where were the cute girls we met from the maid army that supported you at the basketball tournament?” Mr. Sleepy asked.
“You saw that too? It makes sense now why you have no time to update!” Meng Fan responded.
Mr. Sleepy rubbed his hands. “At this hour, it’s impossible for me to go back to the hotel and update it, and you can’t kick me back to Shanghai, right? So can we get the maid army to come out to karaoke with us?”
Meng Fan chuckled. “Isn’t karaoke a bit too boring? I know a good bar nearby with a great atmosphere. Or there are some private clubhouses nearby. The pool is heated and open style. It’s perfect for a pool party.”
“This… is not good?”
“What do you mean not good!? Let’s go, I’ll plan it!”
“Then… I guess I’ll just have to accept!”
Twenty minutes later, Meng Fan and Mr. Sleepy appeared at the scenic spot in XiZi lake, where Meng Fan opened his live stream at the same time.
Stream a pool party?
Not a chance.
“Bro, n.o.body is this cruel! Where’s my promised bar and pool party? Even if we don’t do that, we can at least go to karaoke! Why are you taking me out to stream your night tour!? Whenever you stream your Xizi lake night tours, I want to barf, okay!?”
Mr. Sleepy was helpless.
“Why don’t you go back to the hotel and update your book?”
“Oh, Xizi lake is pretty nice, actually!”
As he streamed, Meng Fan started to give out gifts. The gift was a printed copy of “Guide to Campus RoMANce”.
Despite the prize, there were a lot of people in the stream who wanted it, so it was not a forced promotion… right?
All of the netizens knew that “Guide to Campus RoMANce” was serialized on Penguin Animation Network; Meng Fan had hidden several advertis.e.m.e.nts on his stream promoting his collection.
This book was a staple in the collection of all these homebody otakus, plus his drawing skills were good, and there were many female characters… Even those who did not read campus romance books became engrossed in it, and everyone who had read it thought it was good.
Additionally, Meng Fan also told them he would be adapting Mr. Sleepy’s novel—”There’s a Spirit Underground”—and introduce the helpless Mr. Sleepy on screen.
When he first started doing ill.u.s.trations for “There’s a Spirit Underground”, Meng Fan was able to experience firsthand the influence of Mr. Sleepy had on the otaku population. With this introduction, the live comment section of his screen was suddenly filled with a bombardment of reminder messages.