Tang Zhi saw it clearly, knew it was because of her own reason that made the young man who was steadily cooking just now become flustered and chaotic, but she didn’t feel bad, instead moved even closer and said: “Let me do it.”
As she spoke, one of her hands already had the intention to grasp the pot handle. The young man paused for a moment, but in the end still stepped aside and handed the task in his hands to her. Tang Zhi took it, stir-frying while thinking.
Her daughter really didn’t say it wrong, this was an honest young man. If it were anyone just a bit more shrewd, upon first meeting the not-yet mother-in-law, in this moment of needing to make an impression, it would definitely be impossible to let the not-yet mother-in-law do the work.
“You go inside and eat, leave this to me.” She wanted to test just how practical this young man really was.
Also, it wasn’t too bad. After saying ‘not hungry,’ he stayed beside her to lend a hand—washing vegetables, peeling shells—he didn’t actually go into the room to eat, leaving her alone in the kitchen to work.
“This kind of work is for us women to do. You’re a man, just focus on your career. In the future, let our daughter handle this kind of thing.” Tang Zhi spoke while paying attention to the young man beside her.
The young man finally had a bit of a reaction, paused in his hands’ work, looked up at her, seeming to want to refute her, but still didn’t. After a while, he finally forced out a sentence.
“Two people working is faster.”
Tang Zhi was slightly stunned, then after a moment, nodded. She was fairly satisfied with this answer and couldn’t help but recall the answers she had previously gotten when she asked Fang Guanqi those kinds of questions.
“At home we have a nanny, no need for her to do it.”
That was Fang Guanqi’s answer.
Song Qing’s answer was: “Two people working is faster.”
“Two people”, he had clearly included himself in that.
While Tang Zhi was busy with her hands, her heart wasn’t idle either, silently comparing the responses from both sides.
Having done business for many years, she actually understood more than anyone else: most men cannot manage to always go smooth-sailing, without any waves, to always be able to afford a nanny. Just like her and Old Nan—when they were young, they too showed their skills, believing their future was boundless.
Back then they also splurged wildly, investing all the money they earned—cars, luxury goods, storefronts, whatever would make them look successful. When they were down on their luck, they couldn’t even hold on to the big house. Now, the house could only house a family of four—any more and there weren’t enough rooms.
Five people, four rooms—to say they didn’t owe anything would be a lie. That was also why she insisted on discussing with Old Nan to buy a house near her daughter Zhizhi’s workplace.
There was no room at home, she couldn’t allow it to be the same outside too.
Once the mortgage is paid off, they’d sell the current house and swap it for a bigger one.
Zhizhi never said anything, and also never threw a tantrum for not having her own room, but she knew that deep down, she must have minded.
Just like how she and Old Nan weren’t the type to fight or snatch, but they’d still feel sour because Zhizhi’s grandma favored the second son more.
She was now a mother too, and saw every day how children big and small could throw a fit over who got one more bite to eat or who didn’t get enough—Zhizhi didn’t even have a room to herself, how could she be feeling fine?
She’d already wronged her so much. She truly wanted to make it up to her and didn’t want her to suffer losses when it came to picking a man. But this time, she actually had a moment where she felt Zhizhi made the right choice.
Compared to Fang Guanqi’s answer, she liked Song Qing’s answer more.
Business can fail—what then, when there’s no more nanny?
Will they sit and eat away the mountain while truly ordering their daughter around?
Exactly the opposite—if two people are of one heart, then even if they fall, they will support each other, help each other—at their peak they can splurge together, at their low point you scrub the pot, I wash the dishes, live poor days again, and wait for the day to rise again from the ashes.
If there’s someone accompanying, pulling you along, then it won’t be too tiring.
She and Old Nan were just like that—had experienced being so broke there wasn’t even a hundred yuan on the card, credit cards maxed out, owing millions to the bank, and also had their time of small wealth, paid off debts, moved into a villa, then once again fell back into the valley. If not for seeing hope in each other’s eyes and gritting their teeth to keep going, they really wouldn’t have made it to today.
That’s why she liked Song Qing’s answer more.
Old Nan had also said before, Fang Guanqi may be able to share wealth, but not necessarily able to share hardship. She didn’t think much of it either—back then, the reason she sought him out wasn’t necessarily because she wanted him and Zhizhi to become a pair. She just felt that her daughter had been blinded by a young man’s face, and wanted her to see that there were other men in this world just as handsome.
At first, she also thought the young man surely belonged to the type that was eloquent and full of sweet talk, coaxing their daughter into being willingly devoted.
But now it turned out—he didn’t know how to talk, and didn’t have much tact either, but he was honest and steady.
Tang Zhi still wanted to chat with him more when footsteps with a slightly urgent rhythm sounded outside the door.
Old Nan wouldn’t take such a long detour, their son was only in elementary school age, and his footsteps weren’t that heavy. The eldest daughter was traveling abroad and didn’t want to come back for the engagement—so it had to be Nan Zhi.
Guessing that she had been away from the table for too long under the pretense of going to the restroom and had been noticed by Zhizhi, who was afraid she would make things difficult for the little boyfriend, she came out to look for her.
Tang Zhi put down the task in her hand and took the initiative to go out. Sure enough, she bumped into Zhizhi outside. On the surface, Zhizhi said that the food was about to get cold and called her to go back and eat first, but in reality, it was because she was afraid she’d give her little boyfriend a hard time. After seeing her go back into the room, Zhizhi herself didn’t follow, and went into the kitchen instead.
When Tang Zhi returned to the living room, at the dining table Old Nan asked her, “What did you go do? How come you took so long to come back?”
She pulled out the chair and sat down, “Didn’t do anything, just strolled around the courtyard.”
That was the truth, she indeed strolled around the courtyard. “There’s actually quite a bit of change in the courtyard.”
Ever since that farce with Zhizhi’s grandma, they hadn’t come back again. In a blink, it had already been several years.
“Not everyone has arrived yet, let’s go stroll around the courtyard.”
Their family had a household rule: they must wait for the person cooking to be done and come over before they could move their chopsticks.
So just now they had only drunk some tea to moisten their throats, without touching the food—mostly just chatting.
Her daughter seemed to know that her partner was slow with words, so she put him in the kitchen while she herself accompanied them—talking, chatting, which was quite nice.
Neither side brought up what had been said on the phone before.
Nanshan Fu stood up, “Still, let’s go check the kitchen, see if there’s anything we can help with.”
He still felt that the two young ones couldn’t really make any impressive dishes. The dishes on the table were basically all just steamed, nothing fancy, but the next round would need the heavier, main courses.
“No need,” Tang Zhi reminded, “Zhizhi’s there—let them talk for a bit.”
In the end, the two of them still just strolled around the courtyard a bit. Before leaving, they went to the big kitchen on the other side and took some bowls and plates, covered the dishes—this way they wouldn’t go cold, and they could all eat together after the people in the kitchen finished their work.
—
In the modern kitchen on the far right side, connected to the sunroom, Nan Zhi, while gnawing on a piece of small crispy pork, asked Song Qing, “What did my mom say to you?”
As she spoke, she stuffed another piece into Song Qing’s mouth. Song Qing was an honest kid—he wouldn’t secretly sneak food on his own and needed her to hand-feed him.
Because her parents had been stuck in traffic on the highway all night, the original schedule got pushed to now. The two of them had also been busy non-stop—getting up at five in the morning to cook, and working all the way until now—they were definitely hungry, so they had to eat a little something first to pad their stomachs.
“Did she make things hard for you?”
Song Qing shook his head.
“Then why do you look so gloomy?”
Song Qing still shook his head.
It was only after Nan Zhi probed further that she found out—he had been practicing with the prosthetic for so long just so he could make a good impression when meeting her parents. But right before it, the friction caused bleeding and he couldn’t wear it. While he was cooking earlier, her mom had been watching from the side, and he got flustered and couldn’t cook well, and he felt like he didn’t perform well—so he was feeling a little down.
Nan Zhi leaned in and kissed him. “Don’t worry, I already praised you in front of my parents. Judging by their expressions, they seem pretty satisfied with you.”
Previously, her parents’ impression and understanding of Song Qing all came from other people’s mouths—disabled, no money to pay for medical expenses, brought home by her.
Eating, drinking, clothing, housing—all depended on her. Most of this was from his own mouth, told to Fang Guanqi, and seven or eight parts of it her parents would’ve known too. Plus he himself said he was an unemployed vagrant and so on—who would have a good impression of him?
Just listen to those words—not a single strong point.
Other people only knew fragments, not the full truth—he knew that. But he badmouthed himself.
Speaking of this, Nan Zhi couldn’t help but say—when it comes to putting himself down, he really has a whole set. Other people are desperate to coat themselves in gold; he, on the other hand, always talked himself down and short, and even thought he was just telling the truth.
In short, whoever heard those “conditions” of his would never feel assured handing over their daughter to him.
If it were her talking, it would be tens of thousands a month, and with good luck, all kinds of miscellaneous gains added together could reach over a million. The money he earned would all be handed over to her. The company was under her name, and all profits went directly into her account.
Then she’d transfer some pocket money back to him. He’d take ten thousand yuan in pocket money, turn it into several tens of thousands, and return it.
He himself almost didn’t spend much.
Just like when she explained it to other people—telling it to her parents now, they would surely click their tongues in wonder.