Chapter 56: Pity the Hearts of Parents Everywhere

Zhou Guowei sat there staring at the time, wondering when the guests would arrive.

Meanwhile, Xu Qing was exchanging casual pleasantries with Zhou Ziyang, making it look as though the two of them were on exceptionally good terms.

As for Xia Wei, she was dressed in a small dress with a blue-and-white porcelain pattern, her hair tied in a ponytail. She looked fresh and clean, still retaining the innocent charm of a high school girl.

When the eyes of Zhou Ziyang and Xia Wei met, the two of them nodded politely to each other.

The romance of youth comes and goes in a flash.

A few months ago, some of Zhou Ziyang's gestures had indeed made Xia Wei lose her heart.

But now it was already September, and the two of them hadn't had any contact for months.

Perhaps in the stillness of the deep night, Xia Wei might still think of Zhou Ziyang.

Yet, immediately recalling what Zhou Ziyang had done to her, Xia Wei understood that Zhou Ziyang did not really like her.

Perhaps the two of them would never be possible in this lifetime.

Therefore, when their gazes intersected this time, Xia Wei's reaction was much more indifferent.

Seeing Zhou Ziyang greet her daughter, Xu Qing immediately walked over with a smile to invite Zhou Ziyang to sit down, asking whether he had gone to report to his university yet.

Xu Qing was not Zhou Ziyang's stepmother.

Yet she put on the airs of one, reaching out to familiarly take Zhou Ziyang by the arm as she chatted with him in a familiar manner.

Xu Qing was aware of everything Zhou Ziyang had recently accomplished—nothing more than being admitted to Jinling University, and then writing novels to buy himself a BMW.

Smiling brightly, Xu Qing said, "Ziyang, you are truly amazing."

"From now on, you and Weiwei will be at the same university. You must take good care of Weiwei. The two of you are just like brother and sister."

Despite all this, Xu Qing still looked down on Zhou Ziyang.

Simply because he came from a single-parent family, and Zhou Ziyang's mother was notoriously crude.

Of course, Xu Qing also had her own selfish motives in this.

Perhaps she harbored a preconceived notion that Zhou Ziyang was simply not good enough for her precious daughter.

And her precious daughter was destined to make a wonderful marriage.

Hearing these words, Zhou Ziyang found them utterly ridiculous. He replied, "Well, Aunt Xu, what you're saying isn't quite right. Sister Weiwei is two months older than me. Logically speaking, it should be her taking care of me."

Xu Qing parted her lips in a deliberately surprised expression and said, "Is that so?"

"I had no idea. But you're more capable than Weiwei, and you're a boy after all, so you should take care of her more."

Hearing this, Zhou Ziyang simply smiled faintly and said nothing more.

Just as they were talking, the door of the private dining room was pushed open.

A tall woman dressed in a beige short trench coat walked gracefully into the room.

The woman looked young, yet possessed a mature allure. She appeared to be less than thirty years old, with her hair twisted up in a bun and a pair of black metal-framed glasses resting on her bridge. She had a delicate and fair, seed-pod-shaped face.

Her slender, phoenix-like eyes curved inward and turned upward at the corners, and her thin lips were painted with bean-paste-colored lipstick.

Bright-eyed and white-toothed, she carried a black, logo-free briefcase in her hand. Beneath her trench coat, she wore a white shirt paired with women's suit trousers—cropped nine-point pants that hugged her thighs closely, stopping just at the ankles, and finished with a pair of high heels.

The framed glasses lent a touch of sharpness to her gaze. As soon as she opened the door, she quickly noticed Zhou Guowei standing up.

A faint smile touched her lips: "Senior Brother, long time no see."

Seeing the woman before him, Zhou Guowei could not help but freeze for a moment: "Su—Su Ya?"

"What? It's only been a few years, and Senior Brother doesn't recognize me anymore?" Su Ya placed her black briefcase on a cabinet to the side and slipped off her trench coat.

Su Ya's figure was near-perfect, styled in the typical attire of someone in the civil service—a thin shirt and trousers, with the white shirt tucked into her pants, accentuating her slender waist and the full, rounded curves of her chest.

Su Ya looked to be around thirty, perhaps even younger, perhaps twenty-eight or twenty-nine.

She and Zhou Guowei were not fellow students from the same university, but rather had met during a later training program. Young as she was, she was already a vice dean of her college. A woman like her had a future that Zhou Guowei could simply not compare to.

Yet Zhou Guowei could never have imagined that the capable, executive-minded career woman before him was actually the junior schoolmate from a few years ago.

Originally, Zhou Guowei had always thought that Xu Qing was among the finest and most beautiful women in their small county, but compared to Su Ya, she was completely incomparable. Even Zhou Guowei could not help but remark, "You've changed so much compared to before."

"I've grown old, I suppose. Ever since I started working, I feel like there are more wrinkles on my face," Su Ya said with a calm smile. "Let's sit down first."

Zhou Guowei nodded. Before coming, he had already roughly explained the situation to Su Ya, and she understood.

Hearing that her senior brother's child had been admitted to Jinling University,

Su Ya felt it was quite remarkable.

The student had truly surpassed the master.

After they were seated, Zhou Guowei began introductions, starting with Zhou Ziyang.

"And Xia Wei..." Zhou Guowei hesitated for a moment, unsure how to introduce Xia Wei, before thinking and saying, "This is my sister-in-law's daughter, raised alongside my own daughter. She was also admitted to Jinling University."

Hearing this, Su Ya showed an expression of approval and said, "Then Senior Brother, you have double happiness."

"I've often heard Guowei mention you; in person, you're much prettier than in your photos." When Zhou Guowei introduced Xu Qing, Xu Qing immediately walked over with a beaming smile to shake hands, hurriedly telling Xia Wei to greet her.

"Quickly, call her Aunt."

This instruction to "call her Aunt" left Xia Wei silent for a moment, because the woman before her looked so young that calling her aunt felt a bit too premature.

However, urged on by her mother, Xia Wei hesitated and reluctantly addressed her as Aunt.

Su Ya did not show any aversion to the form of address. Once one enters society, seniority is often not calculated purely by age.

"This child is quite shy. It must be because you look so pretty that she's embarrassed," Xu Qing said with a smile.

Her mother's words made Xia Wei feel as though she were sitting on pins and needles, and she could not help glancing at Zhou Ziyang. Because Xu Qing's demeanor was so unappealingly eager, Xia Wei thought to herself that this must surely make Zhou Ziyang look down on them.

Zhou Ziyang, however, did not have so many thoughts on his mind.

Now he finally understood from whom Xia Wei had learned her fashion sense in his previous life—it turned out she had been deeply influenced by the woman before them.

While Xu Qing was busy paving the way for her daughter, she made Zhou Ziyang appear rather lacking in manners.

Xu Qing said, "I heard from Guowei that you work at Nanda's School of Architecture."

"Our Weiwei is majoring in architecture, so you simply must take good care of her," Xu Qing said.

Actually, Su Ya had no idea who this woman was, but out of courtesy since she came with Zhou Guowei, she chose not to say anything.

It was only when Xu Qing pulled out an exquisitely packaged facial mask set and said, "I wasn't sure what you might need..."

"I've been using this brand of facial masks all along, and the results are wonderful."

This mask set cost roughly three thousand yuan.

Upon seeing the gift, Su Ya looked somewhat awkward for a moment, and apologetically said, "I don't use facial masks."

"Oh, well you can try them out, the results really are fantastic, and it's nothing very expensive anyway," Xu Qing said, pushing the masks toward Su Ya.

Su Ya, however, merely chuckled softly, raised her head to look at Zhou Guowei, and asked, "Senior Brother, how is Sister Juan doing lately?"

Zhou Guowei let out a sigh. "Still the same, I suppose."

"Sister Juan has always had that kind of temper. Between a husband and wife, it's actually the same principle as doing official work: when facing urgency, slow things down; when things are slow, smooth them over." Taking the opportunity, Su Ya seated herself at the table, conveniently leaving Xu Qing standing off to the side.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Ziyang could no longer hold back his laughter.

Good grief, no wonder he had thought Xia Wei's behavior toward him in the past life seemed familiar.

It turned out she had learned it all from this woman.

Yet this woman's social standing and tact were on an entirely different level.

Seeing Zhou Ziyang snickering over there, Xia Wei felt even more ashamed of her mother's actions.

She could not help secretly tugging at her mother's hem, signaling her to stop while she was ahead.

Instead, she received a fierce glare from her mother in return.

What a foolish girl! Wasn't she doing all this to pave the way for her future?

Would she have lowered herself like this otherwise?

And yet this girl actually had the nerve to feel embarrassed by her?