Extra: Meeting Little Wan’s Parents 1
“The person Little Wan likes is Mr. Su,” Wei Mama sighed for the one hundred and first time.
She had seen this Mr. Su through various channels like news and app notifications. He was the heir to a family enterpriseāa capable young man, successful in his career, with substantial family assets. He was also exceptionally handsome and tall.
She worried that he was much older than Little Wan, had seen too much of the world, and possessed vast experience. She feared such a man might only be looking for a fresh diversion, while her innocent baby, Little Wan, would take it for real.
“Honestly, Hubby, we don’t lack money. Whatever conditions he can provide for Little Wan, we can provide too. What if he deceives Little Wan emotionally?” Wei Mama was very anxious.
Wei Baba offered an idea: “If he deceives Little Wan, you can write him into your novel and make everyone stay away from him.”
Wei Mama blinked, her eyes clear, showing a naivety that didn’t quite match her age. She had lived a secluded life as a writer since her university days. After having a baby, she wrote while raising Little Wan with the nanny.
“If he isn’t good to Little Wan, how should we try to break them up…”
“How could he not be good to him and still like him? Our Little Wan isn’t stupid.”
“That’s not necessarily true. What if Little Wan really is silly, looks at his face, listens to a few sweet words, and gets abducted?”
Wei Mama felt this worry was quite justified.
“After all, in kindergarten, Little Wan always fell for the anti-abduction tests teachers ran. It scared me to death.” Wei Mama still had lingering fears.
Wei Baba pushed up his silver-rimmed glasses, the lenses reflecting a thin light: “That was because our Little Wan craved the experimenter’s lollipops and ice cream. Didn’t the teacher tell you? ‘Parents don’t need to worry too much; Little Wan knows it’s an experiment, so he’s just looking forward to ordering some extra snacks.'”
Also, to prevent other children from following suit, the teacher would feed Wei Wanlan in advance before every test, privately educating this child not to disrupt the experiment site.
Wei Mama was still very uneasy: “That also shows that Little Wan is greedy and can be tricked by snacks.”
“He won’t be. He’s an adult now, and he doesn’t lack pocket money. If he wants to eat something, he’ll buy it himself. How could he be tricked by someone’s snacks?”
Meanwhile, on the top floor of the Su Group, inside Su Jingzhi’s office.
Wei Wanlan had just been fed two roasted wings, his thin, red lips slightly glistening with oil.
Fried yogurt was also prepared for him, served in a small paper box with generous toppings. When Su Jingzhi arranged for someone to buy it, he specifically followed Wei Wanlan’s instructions to add two portions of cheese cubes and Oreos.
…But what were “cheese cubes” and “Oreos”???
The Regent King of Great Wei fell into a life dilemma.
He was currently standing in a completely strange environment.
The buildings here were very tall, taller even than the Wild Goose Pagoda in Chang’an City. The building’s exterior replaced entire walls with pale blue floor-to-ceiling glass, offering a panoramic view of the city streetscape. On the streets, metal boxes of various colors ran back and forth, their speed much faster than warhorses…
This was the modern era where Little Wan lived.
What the Regent King hadn’t expected was that upon traveling here with Little Wan, he would land right in this office. Moreover, he seemed to have a very respectable identity in the modern world; everyone politely called him: President Su.
On the surface, Su Jingzhi maintained his stoic face, appearing calm and unruffled. In reality, he was internally maladjusted. Because it was summer, he lowered his eyes to look at his shirtāit was very thin, and the collar button wasn’t fastened. It wasn’t properly dressed, which was a bit awkward.
Little Wan, on the other hand, was dressed even cooler.
A pale green short-sleeved shirt with a stick-figure puppy drawn on it. The sunlight fell just right on his half-exposed, snow-white arms. One could almost see the venous blood flow through the skināa white so pale it was nearly transparent, a skin tone easily reddened, inexplicably inviting imagination.
“I want to eat the fried yogurt. Regent King, open it quickly.”
Wei Wanlan’s hands were occupied, so he carefully used a wet wipe to clean his oily fingers one by one. “Ah…” He opened his mouth. It wasn’t easy traveling back to the modern world; he was craving it badly.
Su Jingzhi opened the lid of the fried yogurt box, feeling strange, his brows furrowing slightly: The name clearly has “fried” in it, so why is it so cold?
Su Jingzhi: “You can’t eat too much. It’s too cold.”
Wei Wanlan selectively didn’t listen. The baby had already been born, they had just returned to the modern world, and only the two of them had traveled over. The situation was special. Zhen missed modern civilization terribly and was going to be willful today.
Wei Wanlan: “Just one bite.”
“Only one bite.”
Then Wei Wanlan picked up the spoon and scooped up a huge mouthful fiercely. The ice layer must have been five or six layers thick. He opened his mouth round and wide, stuffing the food inside with all his might. Like a little hamster trying hard to fill its cheeks with nuts.
“Fried yogurt, absolutely amazing.”
It was amazing.
By the afternoon, he started coughing.
“Cough, cough cough cough… cough cough.”
Tonight, Wei Wanlan was taking the Regent King home for a family banquet. This world and the world in the book had a set of parallel operating logics. Even though Wei Wanlan had disappeared for such a long time, over here, it seemed as if he was still going to school and coming home every day. It was quite magical.
Because Wei Wanlan didn’t know when their time travel limit would end, he could only accompany the Regent King to adapt to modern life for half a day before hurriedly taking him to do the important businessāletting the Regent King meet his parents.
After all, they were already married and had babies in the book; he had to let his parents see his beloved.
However, in the Regent King’s words: “Today, This King is formally visiting Wanwan’s home to request a title.”
“Cough, cough cough, cough cough cough…” Wei Wanlan coughed for a while again, his throat itching as if a feather was stuck in it. He spoke while coughing, “My dad… is a financial analyst. He’s not aloof and is very easy to talk to. His work is a bit busy, but he always finds time to accompany Mom and me.”
“Financial analystāI don’t know how to explain it to you. It’s basically someone who analyzes how money should be used to make more money, I guess?”
Su Jingzhi: “Minister of Revenue.”
Wei Wanlan’s eyes lit up: “Pretty much.” He thought for a moment and added, “He only analyzes clients’ money; he can’t manage the whole country’s that much. My mom writes storybooks.”
“Storybooks?”
“Oh, right. Our storybooks are called novels now. My mom writes about people like you. Writing about the grudges and love affairs between you and various Cinderellas.”
Su Jingzhi listened, finding it stranger the more he heard. He could also roughly tell that Little Wan’s living conditions in this era were still very good. He felt somewhat relieved; Wanwan was happy wherever he was. He rubbed Wanwan’s head, but as a result, Wei Wanlan burst into another fit of coughing.
“Cough, cough cough cough cough, coughā”
He had eaten too much fried yogurt, irritating his respiratory tract, and the air conditioning caused a wind-chill. Wanwan’s spirits weren’t very high all afternoon; he was listless when he entered the house.
“Dad, Mom.” He pulled the Regent King over, blocking him in front of himself, poking his head out from behind Su Jingzhi. “He is my boyfriend.”
The Regent King carried many souvenir gifts he had brought from ancient times, addressing them by following local customs: “Uncle, Auntie, hello.”
It was hard to say Su Jingzhi’s appearance wasn’t eye-catching.
The Wei family’s height wasn’t very advantageous, so this Mr. Su appeared even more tall and imposing, holding Wei Wanlan as if leading a child. Just looking at their appearances, they were quite complementary.
But…
“Cough, cough cough, cough cough cough cough.”
“Cough cough coughā”
Before they could even eat the family banquet, Wei Wanlan’s cold and cough had already started to flare up like a collapsing mountain. His lungs sounded like a bellows, wheezing and rattling. His deer-like eyes were swollen, and his whole body was very hot.
Wei Mama touched his head heartacheingly at the dinner table: “So hot. How did Little Wan get like this?”
Wei Baba hurried to the drawer to find medicine: “Drink Ibuprofen first for the fever. Why is there a fever? Did he freeze or get overheated? Did he eat something wrong recently, or is it a bit of internal heat?”
The housekeeping auntie poured plain water. Wei Baba and Wei Mama didn’t lose their manners because their beloved son came home sick; they still let Wei Wanlan take his medicine first, then poured drinks and served food to entertain Su Jingzhi warmly.
But the atmosphere at the family banquet was ultimately not as good as when Wanwan wasn’t sick. The concerned gazes of Wei Wanlan’s parents drifted to the child, intentionally or unintentionally.
They didn’t blame anyone, but Su Jingzhi felt bad internally: Little Wan was his parents’ treasure, yet the first time he met Little Wan’s parents, he brought back a sickly Little Wan. Although he hadn’t expected the illness this time, speaking of it, Little Wan himself was also at fault.
Su Jingzhi didn’t wish to explain. Poor supervision was also a mistake he should actively admit: “I’m sorry, Uncle and Auntie. I didn’t take good care of him.”
Wei Mama touched Wei Wanlan’s forehead: “It’s okay, I don’t blame you. He likes to eat indiscriminately. Having snacks at home can’t stop his greedy mouth; it’s always been like raising a little mouse.”
Wei Wanlan confessed to the overdose of fried yogurt; Mr. Su wasn’t to blame.
Wei Baba adjusted the home air conditioner to a higher temperature: “Whenever he coughs, it’s a respiratory infection, and sometimes it might even burn into the lungs. If his high fever doesn’t subside, we’ll have to take him to the hospital for a checkup. He has his own medical QR code in his phone; no need to apply at the hospital.”
Su Jingzhi listened patiently.
Everyone loved Little Wan very much. Little Wan was very happy, which was why he developed such a well-behaved and slightly silly personality.
Wei Baba asked him again: “You have WeChat, right? I’ll send it to you. In case he can’t find the picture, you save it.”
Su Jingzhi felt he still had prestige (Weixin). So he nodded.
Wei Baba waited for him to take out his phone.
Wei Wanlan finally smartened up once, braving a high fever of 39 degrees, and heard the difference between these two “Weixins” (Prestige vs. WeChat). He salvaged the situation, explaining to his parents: “He left his phone in the office. Because he came to our house to recognize the door, he said he wouldn’t answer anyone’s calls. Tonight we discuss life, not work.”
Wei Baba and Wei Mama then raised their favorability towards Su Jingzhi by several degrees.
…
After dinner, they stayed in another residence in the same community.
The room was empty. These two houses were in the front and back buildings. The smaller one was purchased for Wei Wanlan’s grandfather’s retirement. Wei Grandma had passed away, but now Wei Grandpa could run across nine hills with his fishing buddies carrying a rod; he completely didn’t need to live here.
Su Jingzhi and Wei Wanlan temporarily moved in.
The house was fully furnished, and there was food in reserve. Wei Wanlan curled up in a beanbag chair to recuperate. This was a real beanbag chair, not the one the Regent King had imitated at the beginningāit was a coral fleece, silver-gray shell.
Su Jingzhi learned to shake the mercury thermometer and tried to measure Wei Wanlan’s temperature, tucking the mercury tip under Wei Wanlan’s arm.
Wei Wanlan said with a bitter face: “I’m sorry, Regent King. I ate indiscriminately again. It seems I made you suffer grievances in front of Mom and Dad.”
“Suffering grievances isn’t important. The key lies in your body. And the title This King wanted to ask for seems to have suffered some losses too.” Saying this, Su Jingzhi scooped Wei Wanlan up from the shell and fed him water. Wei Wanlan was like the precious pearl inside the shell.
“Little Wan is hard to raise. Will your parents think I can’t take good care of you and simply disagree?”
Wei Wanlan looked at Su Jingzhi warily, coughed a few times, and held the cup with both hands to drink: “Then if they really disagree, what will the Regent King do?”
He felt a little bit of uneasiness in his heart. If his parents really didn’t like the Regent King and did things like trying to break them up or introducing other partners to him… that would be too melodramatic, wouldn’t it?
He was a little emperor who had just emerged from a political intrigue drama!
He didn’t want to fall into a family ethics drama, wuwu QAQ.
Just as Wei Wanlan was feeling troubled, Su Jingzhi suddenly sighed softly, soothingly rubbing Wei Wanlan’s ears, which were burning hot from the fever, and took away the empty cup. His warm, deep voice lingered by his ear: “Wanwan.”
“Eh.” Wei Wanlan’s back stiffened. No matter how many times he heard it, the Regent King’s voice always made the inside of his ears feel ticklish.
“Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened,” Su Jingzhi said, squatting outside the big shell to gaze at Wei Wanlan, the corners of his lips lifting slightly. “We already have two children. How could we be easily separated? Chang’an and Lingyun are still waiting for us to return to the palace. If your family disagrees, This King will…”
“Will what?”
“First, cure your illness. I will think of a way until they agree.”
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