"It hurts to even think of how much time has been wasted, time which should have been spent in countless moments like these," Tang mused regretfully. Later that evening at Wei"s residence
"You are finally back," Wei"s mother greeted him caustically.
"I am tired. I am going up to my room," Wei told her, and walked towards the ornate spiralling staircase, without breaking his stride.
She followed him with a frown. Ever since Mei Zhen"s call few hours ago, she had tried to dig up as much as she could on Jia Li. A complicated past with the Xie heir, recent divorce and virtually no social standing, the girl was totally unsuitable for her only son. There was no way that she would let that gold digger get her claws into her house.
She had called up her husband to give him the lowdown on everything but surprisingly, he had refused to partic.i.p.ate in the conversation with Wei and asked her to handle her son cautiously. He simply wasn"t capable to handle anything, neither on the personal front nor professional. Hmmph…as if she needed to watch her words around her own son!!
"I have done a thorough background check on err…Lin Jia Li. Not only does she seem to have too many men in her life, she also has a divorce to her name. Have all the women in Shanghai committed suicide that you want to go chasing after someone"s leftover goods?" she let loose a tirade of words, as soon as they reached his room.
Wei"s mother had never raised her voice, both at work or home. The poison in her words was lethal enough to cut anyone to pieces. Since childhood, he had been used to his mother"s persona. Even so, the meanness of her statements got to him. On the way back to Shanghai, he had contemplated reasoning it out with her. He had wanted to explain to her the significance of Jia Li in his life. Maybe a tiny part of him had hoped that she would at least give him a listening ear, show a little faith in him, feel his heart. But it seemed now that he had expected too much…
"You and your detectives have worked hard in the past few hours. But you could have saved yourself some money and all this effort, had you simply asked me about her. I know all that there is to know about Jia Li," he started with a relaxed smile.
He locked his eyes with her and spoke the next words in utter seriousness.
"I like her, I like her very much. She is the one for me, with all her imperfections, quirks and baggage. Her divorce or her previous relations mean nothing to me. They belong to her past. I want to be her future and I will try my hardest to make it a spectacular one. The choice is yours now, whether YOU want to be a part of that future or not," he said firmly.
She was taken aback at his words. Never had he spoken to her in this direct, confrontational manner. In the past, his easy going, almost non serious att.i.tude towards everything had been a source of constant irritation to her but she would prefer that today over this new avatar of him. For the first time, she realised that her son had grown up and seemed to be a completely different person now. Belatedly, her husband"s words came back to haunt her.
Striving for a neutral tone, she said, " I understand that you have been swayed by her beauty and that"s ok. Have I or your father ever interfered in your previous liaisons? As long as you just want to play with her, I have no issues. But the woman who would be become the daughter of the w.a.n.g family needs to have impeccable pedigree, aside from other things. Look at Xie Tang for example. He also had a relation with this woman in the past, but he eventually chose someone as perfect as Mei Zhen to be his life partner. Do you understand what I am saying?"
He shook his head in disgust, "Am I a prized stallion, for whom you need to select the right mare to mate and breed, in order for your stable to expand? Let me tell you that I am not a commodity for you to trade, speculate or sell in order to maintain your family name. And if a.s.sociating with Jia Li would bring shame to your prestige, please feel free to not come anywhere near her. Nothing would give me more happiness than keeping her away from your "charming personality". Lastly, do not compare me to Xie Tang ever. I am not going to make the stupid mistakes which he did. I have heard you loud and clear, and said what I needed to. So there shouldn"t be any confusion in your mind about where I stand on this matter. Now, if you will excuse me. I have had a rough night and a hectic day. So I want to sleep for a while."