Gu Huaizhi was driving Shen Mianyin back to Lijing Garden when he received a call from Madam Gu.
Gu Huaizhi rubbed his temples with a helpless expression, guessing that their public display of affection that day had reached Madam Gu's ears.
As expected, as soon as Gu Huaizhi answered the phone, he heard Madam Gu say, "Third child, you finally won her over?"
Gu Huaizhi chuckled and said helplessly, "Your news is as well-informed as ever."
"Isn't it because you didn't intend to hide it in the first place?" Madam Gu rolled her eyes. She knew Gu Huaizhi too well. "Didn't you say that once you won her over, you would bring her home?"
"Today is too rushed," Gu Huaizhi replied. How could he just bring her home like that? It would be too informal and disrespectful to Shen Mianyin.
"I didn't ask you to bring the young lady over today." Madam Gu rolled her eyes again. "Do you think I'm such a clueless person when it comes to etiquette?"
"Next Wednesday is my birthday, you remember that, right?" Madam Gu asked.
"Of course," Gu Huaizhi replied. How could he forget?
"Perfect. On my birthday, bring the young lady back to the old house. How does that sound?" Madam Gusuggested.
"I'll ask her," Gu Huaizhi replied, not giving an immediate affirmative answer.
After hanging up the phone, the Madam Gu couldn't help but smile.
"Don't just smile, what happened?" Mr. Gu asked anxiously.
Madam Gu chuckled and said, "This kid, they've only just gotten together, and he's already afraid of his wife. When has he ever been like this?"
"I just said that next week is my birthday and asked him to bring the young lady back to meet us," Madam Gu said with a smile. "He didn't even dare agree right away and said he would ask the young lady first."
Mr. Gu chuckled and nodded, saying, "Even though he's never been in a relationship before, he's actually doing quite well. He knows how to respect other people's opinions."
"Yes," Madam Gu agreed. "I was worried that he was too used to being alone and wouldn't be so considerate in this regard. But this also shows that the third child is truly smitten."
"I just don't know what the young lady is like," Mr. Gu muttered. This was his only concern.
"You can trust the third child's judgment," Madam Gu said, not worried at all.
She had met her once before, and she was a very nice young lady, kind and intelligent, and also very cautious.
After Gu Huaizhi hung up the phone, he said to Shen Mianyin, "That was my mother calling."
Shen Mianyin nodded. "Does it have something to do with me?"
Otherwise, Gu Huaizhi wouldn't have mentioned it to her specifically.
Could it be that she found out about their relationship and called specifically to object?
Gu Huaizhi said, "Next Wednesday is her birthday. She wants me to bring you back to the main family house with me."
While driving, Gu Huaizhi took a moment to glance at Shen Mianyin. "What do you think? Do you want to go?"
Shen Mianyin took a deep breath and said, "Although I'm very nervous, and just thinking about next Wednesday already makes me tense, since the Old Madam has asked, I definitely have to go."
"But..." Shen Mianyin was a little worried. "Gu Luo'an and his family will be there too, right?"
"I was once Gu Luo'an's fiancée; that's an undeniable fact," Shen Mianyin couldn't help but worry. "When we go and meet them, and this comes up, won't your parents disapprove of our relationship?"
Hearing Shen Mianyin worry about this, Gu Huaizhi was actually quite pleased.
Because it meant Shen Mianyin was taking their relationship seriously.
"You're still smiling," Shen Mianyin tapped him. "Aren't you worried at all?"
Was she the only one worried?
"Do you think, with the Su and Shen families trending online so many times, that my parents wouldn't know?" Gu Huaizhi chuckled lightly. "They're not cut off from the internet at home. Especially my mother; she's very interested in all this gossip. Whenever something blows up, she's right there, following every detail."
"First, the Su family schemed against you, then Shen Chenggang live-streamed demanding money back from the Su family. Even though you weren't the main focus, it all involved you. So every time these things trended, your name inevitably came up. It would be hard for them not to know."
Shen Mianyin had truly overlooked that. Now that Gu Huaizhi mentioned it, she felt even more uncertain.
What if his parents don't like me?
Before Shen Mianyin could even voice her concern, Gu Huaizhi saw her worry and said, "The fact that she's asking you to come to the main house means she's looking forward to meeting you."
"Besides..." Gu Huaizhi couldn't help but feel a bit guilty bringing this up. "You and my mother have actually met before."
"Met?" Shen Mianyin thought back carefully but couldn't recall ever meeting the Gu family's matriarch.
In fact, she didn't even know what the Old Madam looked like.
Gu Huaizhi had to confess, "Before, when you first moved into Lijing Gardens, didn't you meet an elderly lady in the complex who you suspected had Alzheimer's?"
Gu Huaizhi felt guilty even using the word "suspected."
Shen Mianyin blinked and said, "Could that have been..."
Gu Huaizhi nodded helplessly. "That was my mother."
Shen Mianyin's eyes widened in shock as Gu Huaizhi continued, "Of course, she doesn't have Alzheimer's. She's perfectly healthy."
"She just suspected I had a girlfriend and wasn't telling the family, so she went to Lijing Gardens that day planning a surprise attack," Gu Huaizhi explained.
"So that day you suddenly came downstairs, you saw the Old Madam too? And you played along, pretending not to know her!" Shen Mianyin suddenly remembered everything.
"It all happened so suddenly; I was a bit stunned myself," Gu Huaizhi said. "And my mother was desperately winking at me, so I had to go along with it for the time being."
Shen Mianyin could never have imagined that the Gu family's Old Madam was so playful.
"Wait a minute." Shen Mianyin turned to face Gu Huaizhi, her eyes narrowing slightly. "The Old Madam suspected you had a girlfriend back then?"
"Yes." Stopping at a red light, Gu Huaizhi turned and looked deeply at Shen Mianyin. "So, why do you think that was?"
Shen Mianyin: "..."
How did it turn into him questioning her?
"Because back then, I already had feelings for someone," Gu Huaizhi said.
Shen Mianyin's face instantly turned red.
"That... that early..."
"Otherwise, would I have gone out of my way to find the upstairs neighbor, offer him a deal, and get him to move out?" Gu Huaizhi didn't hide it anymore.
Shen Mianyin: "!!!"
Shen Mianyin had no idea this had happened behind the scenes.
"You... since back then..."
"Perhaps even earlier," Gu Huaizhi smiled faintly.
"Exactly how early?"
"I don't know." Gu Huaizhi shook his head. "It's hard to say. I don't know if it was that night at the reception when you accidentally bumped into my arms, or when the hotel power went out, and you desperately burrowed into my arms, and I couldn't pull you away no matter how I tried."
Shen Mianyin: "..."
Mentioning that embarrassing moment made Shen Mianyin wish she could find a hole to crawl into; she really didn't want to recall it.
But she had never imagined that Gu Huaizhi had already been interested in her back then.
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