Chapter 343: Not Giving Xu Moyan The Slightest Chance To Escape From This
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Ms. Li, please don"t say that. You and Mr. Xu are both my teachers, I can"t pay you a visit empty-handed, can I?” A male voice sounded, but there was nothing special about his voice.
As a voice fetis.h.i.+st, Xu Moyan had high expectations on voices now that she was constantly hearing Wei Zilin"s voice so it was only natural for her to judge people by their voices.
An ordinary voice as such did nothing to spark an interest in Xu Moyan.
After a short moment, Li Lanying returned to the room with a young man following behind.
Although he looked slightly familiar, Xu Moyan could not recognize him right away.
“Moyan, why are you just staring over there? Do you not remember who this is?” Li Lanying asked with an amused smile.
Xu Moyan smiled in embarra.s.sment as she remained silent. She really could not remember who this man was.
“It"s Tian Yuwen, your high school cla.s.smate,” Li Lanying reminded.
Tian Yuwen…
The name still did not ring any bells in Xu Moyan"s head. However, Tian Yuwen was not bothered. Instead, he pulled out his high school graduation photo and pointed to one of the boys dressed in school uniform. “That"s me right there, do you remember me now?” He asked.
After staring at the photograph for a while, Xu Moyan finally remembered the man standing right before her at that very moment and managed to match him to the boy in her memories.
It seemed that there actually was such a boy back in high school.
To be frank, she did not have much of an impression of Tian Yuwen because back in high school, she was too focused on studies. Her parents were particularly strict with her studies so she was always busy studying, doing exercises, and revising. Her daily life back then consisted of her studying until late at night, only sleeping at one or two o"clock every night, and waking up at five in the morning to start the day off by more revision and memorizing English words.
In school, she would still have a book in hand even during breaks. Although she did not look like a nerd, she did possess habits of one.
Fortunately for her, she looked sharp and charming enough that when her cla.s.smates made fun of the cla.s.s nerds, they never included her.
Back then, she focused all her effort on studying so she never paid much attention to anything else that happened in cla.s.s. She did have her close group of girlfriends whom she would have lunch together every now and then, but when it came to boys, she merely had a mild acquaintance with them, and that was why she did not remember them well.
Thank goodness for the graduation photo, she finally remembered who Tian Yuwen was.
She remembered Tian Yuwen being a kind-hearted an enthusiastic boy. Whether it was in school or outside cla.s.ses, he was a true gentleman who took good care of all the female cla.s.smates.
Xu Moyan had a good impression of him then, but it was just a sort of genuine admiration for his personality and character. She never thought much about developing the relations.h.i.+p between them and cross the friends.h.i.+p line as she merely regarded him as a good cla.s.smate.
Then, right before their college entrance examination, Tian Yuwen left to study abroad. She remembered her cla.s.smates being envious that he did not have to sit for the examination and got the luxurious opportunity to further his studies overseas and see the world.
“Ah, it"s you! I"m sorry, you"ve changed so much I couldn"t recognize you,” Xu Moyan said quickly. After all, they were once cla.s.smates and he was an extremely good person, Xu Moyan did not want to embarra.s.s him.
“Come, have a seat. Are you back for good now or are you just visiting?” Xu Moyan asked with a smile.
“I just graduated and I"m back for good now. I just got back recently and decided to pay a visit to our high school a few days ago. Mr. Xu was our cla.s.s teacher back then so I went to pay him a visit and I just so happen to b.u.mp into Ms. Li at the same time,” Tian Yuwen replied with a smile.
Li Lanying poured a cup of tea for Tian Yuwen and brought some cut fruits out, welcoming her guest enthusiastically.
Tian Yuwen leaned forward to accept the cup of tea graciously. “Ms. Li, please don"t trouble yourself.”
“It"s nothing, don"t worry,” Li Lanying said with a warm smile, “You"re already here so don"t you dare be courteous with us.”
Xu Moyan had a bad feeling about her mother"s words. Just then, she heard her mother speaking again. “Yuwen was so thoughtful, he asked about you when he came and met up with us the other day. Coincidentally, you"re back today so we invited him over. Both of you are old cla.s.smates too so it"ll be nice to catch up.”
Then, Li Lanying discreetly kicked Xu Qingrui"s leg. “Oh, yes! Why don"t you stay for lunch tonight?”
“I wouldn"t want to trouble you,” Tian Yuwen turned down Li Lanying"s offer as he remained seated on the sofa with a polite smile on his face.
“It"s no trouble at all! You don"t have anything to do today, do you?” Li Lanying continued to ask.
“No, I don"t,” Tian Yuwen said before holding up his cup to have a sip of tea as his eyes involuntarily wandered toward Xu Moyan.
Li Lanying and Xu Qingrui did not miss that subtle action of his and Li Lanying"s heart was instantly filled with joy.
Many of their relatives and friends have tried introducing partners to Xu Moyan, but since Xu Moyan was working at T City, it would be hard to maintain a long-distance relations.h.i.+p, hence she had already thought of asking Xu Moyan to return to Jin City to work if any of them were a match.
Since Jin City was not a small city, with Xu Moyan"s work experience in B City, she would still be able to find a decent job.
Perhaps the wage would be slightly lower than what she received back in B City, but living expenses in Jin City would not be as high as in comparison to B City, so it would still even itself out in the end.
Unfortunately, Xu Moyan had never fancied any of the men, and although Li Lanying was left disappointed each time, she never got angry with Xu Moyan.
In her opinion, the men certainly lacked something, so whenever Xu Moyan pointed out their flaws, she naturally agreed with her daughter and understood that her daughter was being reasonable.
Still, her daughter was perfect in her eyes. Aside from being beautiful, she was sweet, gentle, and generous, and she was extremely good at cooking. Not only was she presentable in the sense that she had a good career, she was also a diligent woman who could deal with house ch.o.r.es without raising an eyebrow. All in all, she was the most ideal woman a harmonious household could wish for.
Besides, Xu Moyan was still considerably young so Li Lanying was still not too anxious about her being single at the moment.
She just happened to b.u.mp into Tian Yuwen the other and from the way he was asking about her, she sensed that this boy had already had feelings for Xu Moyan in high school, but since Xu Moyan was always so focused on her studies, she probably never noticed anything.
If this happened back in high school, Li Lanying would have been furious, but how could she possibly be bothered about such a small, innocent matter that happened so many years ago? The most important thing now is for Xu Moyan to marry a good man.
At that instance, Li Lanying immediately began to plot how to match Tian Yuwen and Xu Moyan, and the first thing that came to mind was the upcoming Qing Ming Festival holidays. It was a good excuse to invite Tian Yuwen over.
Since they knew that Xu Moyan usually did not come home for the three-day holiday, they came up with the plan to lie to Xu Moyan that Xu Qingrui was hospitalized so that Xu Moyan would come home. To their surprise, they did not even need the lie in the first place as Xu Moyan had already decided to come home.
“Well, if you don"t have any plans, why don"t you stay for lunch? You can stay for dinner as well,” Li Lanying continued, “After all, you"ve just come back after so long. Have you gone out the past few days? Jin City has changed quite a lot since then.”
“Oh, I just came back so I"ve just been taking time to rest properly. I did have a walk around near my place but I haven"t had the chance to really check out the city still,” Tian Yuwen replied.
Xu Qingrui had always been the chef in the Xu household. Right then, he got up and headed to the kitchen to prepare lunch. “I"m going to prepare lunch now, you all keep talking.”
“Dad, let me help you,” Xu Moyan said. Now that she could see through her parents" plan, she could not stand aside and let their plan unfold before their eyes easily.
Before Li Lanying could respond, Xu Qingrui had already stopped her. “Since when have I let you help with the ch.o.r.es at home when you"re back? Just sit down here and rest. Besides, Yuwen"s here today. He"s your old cla.s.smate so go have a good catch up.”
“That"s right,” Li Lanying said in agreement, not forgetting to cast a look of appraisal at her husband. Satisfied, Xu Qingrui happily went to the kitchen quickly.
“That"s just fantastic! Xu Moyan works abroad for the most time and she"s only back a couple of times a year so she"s not familiar with Jin City as well. Why don"t the two of you go out and explore the city together now?” Li Lanying suggested as she poured Tian Yuwen another cup of tea.
“Ms. Li, please don"t trouble yourself, I"ll do it myself.” Tian Yuwen quickly got up and took the teapot from Li Lanying"s hold, then poured Li Lanying a cup of tea before refilling Xu Moyan"s cup. “It would be nice if I could go out and have a good stroll with Moyan.”
He already noticed that Xu Moyan had been acting distant ever since he entered the house. She was still polite to him though, so he thought that maybe she realized his intentions and decided to put some distance between them.
If that was truly the case, Tian Yuwen would be disappointed. He really hoped that Xu Moyan was only being courteous because of how long they had not seen each other, and not because she had no intention of developing anything further than a friends.h.i.+p with him.
Therefore, afraid that Xu Moyan would turn down this suggestion, Tian Yuwen swiftly added, “After all, we haven"t seen each other for such a long time now, it would be nice to catch up as old cla.s.smates. I"ve heard that Moyan is working in B City now so such a good opportunity to b.u.mp into each other won"t come by easily.”
“That"s right! Moyan, you and Yuwen should go out and walk around after lunch,” Li Lanying added as she stood beside them.
At this point, Xu Moyan was deeply annoyed. She wanted to turn down Tian Yuwen"s offer politely, but her mother had to agitate her by continuing to fan the flame that she was desperately trying to extinguish it.
To be frank, Xu Moyan had always had a good feeling toward Tian Yuwen, but it was merely a good impression rather than a romantic one. She remembered clearly how he had always been a true gentleman back in high school as he was always going out of his way to help his female cla.s.smates.
He was genuinely a polite and nice boy.
Therefore, even right then, she did not want to embarra.s.s Tian Yuwen. After all, he never did anything wrong. He merely showed his interest in her and he had no idea that she had a boyfriend.
The only thing that frustrated her more was that Li Lanying had no clue as to what was happening and she was messing things up instead of helping the situation.
After slight consideration, Xu Moyan decided she would try to find an opportunity to talk to Tian Yuwen alone so she could give him a slight hint. That would be much better than letting Li Lanying steer the situation in a completely wrong direction.
If she announced that she had a boyfriend on the spot, it would only make the situation worse and make things awkward for everyone.
Right then, Xu Qingrui had finished preparing lunch. Since there were only four of them, he did not prepare too many dishes. There were six dishes and one pot of soup, and as they were placed on the dining table, it was evident that the chef had put in much effort into preparing the meal.
“Oh right, Yuwen, have you thought about what you"re going to do now that you"re back? Where are you planning to work?” Xu Qingrui asked.
He was clearly happy as he opened a bottle of liquor.
Tian Yuwen had spent the past few years abroad so he was not used to drinking alcohol. Although he did not have much alcohol tolerance, he still poured himself a gla.s.s to drink with Xu Qingrui.
“I studied business and finance so I"ve been thinking of finding something related to venture capital,” Tian Yuwen replied, “I"ve done some research on the companies in Jin City for the past few days and I find that the development of venture capital here isn"t as mature yet. I would have more opportunities in B City so I"ve decided to reorganize myself before I head out to B City to scope out opportunities.”
“That"s great to hear! You"re still young after all, you should take advantage of that and try out different paths now,” Li Lanying nodded in agreement, “Among all of Old Xu"s students, I"ve always thought you were a well-organized person who plans ahead. You"ve always known what you want and you know how to plan for yourself. It"s a good quality to have. That"s nice, Moyan is working in B City too so once you get there, both of you can take care of each other. Although Moyan had already been making a living for herself in B City for so many years, I"m still worried about her being alone out there all the time.”
“Now you don"t have to worry about that anymore. I"ll probably need Moyan"s help more than she needs mine. After all, I"ll be new to the city whereas Moyan"s already used to life in B City,” Tian Yuwen said with a smile.
“Yes, yes, that"s right,” Li Lanying responded with a rushed nod, “If you need anything, just reach out to Moyan for help. After all, she has been in B City for quite some time so I"m sure she"s already familiar with the place and all aspects of the city. There"s no need to be courteous with her, alright?”
Li Lanying continued as she cast a glance at Xu Moyan urging her to respond.
Since they were old cla.s.smates, Xu Moyan thought it was only right for them to look out for each other, especially since both of them would be in the same city.
Although she disapproved of Li Lanying"s role in the entire situation, she still nodded and said, “Yeah, just contact me if you ever need anything.”
“Yuwen, you don"t have Moyan"s phone number, do you?” Li Lanying asked hurriedly, not giving Xu Moyan the slightest chance to escape from this.
Then, Tian Yuwen pulled out his phone right away and asked for Xu Moyan"s number.
After Xu Moyan gave Tian Yuwen her number, he entered it into his contacts page right away and gave her a call. Just as Xu Moyan"s phone rang for a couple of seconds, she ended the call and added him into her contacts as well.
When they finished eating, Xu Moyan was about to help clean up when Li Lanying rushed her out of the kitchen so she could go out with Tian Yuwen.
Xu Moyan frowned but agreed unwillingly after pausing for a few seconds to think.
When she walked Tian Yuwen downstairs, it was already late noon. The children in the neighborhood had just finished lunch and were gathered in the yard to play so it was quite a lively scene outside.
As Xu Moyan walked beside Tian Yuwen, one or two children would run by them every now and then.