My Wife Is Going To Great Lengths/Putting In A Lot Of Effort To Turn Me Gay - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Love

Not many people visit the cemetery on an ordinary day, so the entire memorial park looked desolate and quiet.

Xu Zhi held flowers and joss paper in her hands.

Zhou Weixiang walked beside her daughter. She had deliberately gone home after work to change and was now wearing a long black dress.

The two walked along the quiet path.

Zhou Weixiang glanced towards another direction in the cemetery several times.

“We’re here, Mom,” Xu Zhi said.

Zhou Weixiang immediately retracted her gaze, trying to conceal her action by lifting her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. She said, “You go ahead. Mom will be right there.”

Xu Zhi: “Okay.”

Xu Zhi bent down to place the flowers, then sat down by her father’s gravestone, taking out a marble tile from a small pit, and began burning the paper money inside.

She was highly practiced at this.

Catching her mother approaching out of the corner of her eye, Xu Zhi raised her voice subtly, saying, “Dad, I came to see you. Mom bought so much paper money. See if it’s enough; if not, you’ll have to appear in my dream again.”

Zhou Weixiang walked closer and heard her daughter’s words, shaking her head lightly.

After rounding off her excuse from the morning, Xu Zhi quickly and directly cut to the purpose of their visit today.

Xu Zhi sighed and said, “Dad, look, if you don’t have money down below, you can appear in our dreams and ask us to burn paper. But who can we ask for the money we owe, which is so massive we can’t see the end of it?”

Xu Zhi continued, “And Mom, she’s still so young and beautiful, yet she’s crushed by a mountain of debt, working all day and overtime every night, with no personal life at all, and unable to start a new relationship.”

Zhou Weixiang frowned, interrupting, “Zhizhi, what are you talking about?”

Xu Zhi turned to look at her, pretending only now to notice her arrival, and quickly said, “No, no, I didn’t say anything.”

Zhou Weixiang didn’t press the matter. Instead, she approached, gathered her skirt, and squatted down to burn paper money with her daughter.

There was a lot of joss paper, and it took several minutes for all of it to burn down slowly.

Xu Zhi looked up at her mother.

The firelight flickering from the burning paper reflected on her beautiful, gentle face.

Xu Zhi had resorted to lying and making up stories to bring her mother here, precisely to instill a sense of necessary caution in her.

Although she still couldn’t be certain if the rich man in the luxury car last night was her mother’s dating partner.

Since her mother hadn’t told her about it, she could only pretend not to know.

“But I mean it, Mom,” Xu Zhi suddenly said.

Zhou Weixiang looked up at her. “Hmm?”

“We need to repay the debt, but life must also be lived,” Xu Zhi looked at her and said. “Dad passed away so many years ago, and the money we owe can’t be repaid overnight. Do you plan to just keep going like this and never seek a new relationship?”

Zhou Weixiang’s delicate brows furrowed. “Why are you talking about this again? You’re still young, you don’t understand.”

“I’m eighteen. Still young?” Xu Zhi said, “Mom, you are so good-looking and young, and you have a respectable career. Many people your age aren’t even married yet. Why can’t you find someone and remarry?”

Zhou Weixiang changed the subject. “Let’s talk about it later. Don’t bring this up in front of your dad.”

Xu Zhi insisted, “It’s best to say it in front of Dad! He loved you, so he definitely wouldn’t want you to work this hard and be so tired. If he has a spirit watching over us, he should help you meet a good man—handsome, rich, gentle, and caring. He’ll not only help us pay off all our debts but also cherish you and treat you like his only treasure.”

“His only treasure, indeed.” Zhou Weixiang was amused. “Do you think reality is a novel? Since when did our Zhizhi become so sentimental?”

Xu Zhi was serious, “How is that sentimental? Does this kind of love not exist in reality?”

Zhou Weixiang saw her daughter was serious. She finished burning the last few pieces of joss paper, then took the piece Xu Zhi was holding and burned that too.

The mother and daughter had never discussed related topics before.

“Of course it exists in reality,” Zhou Weixiang thought for a moment and said. “But Zhizhi, you need to understand that all love has an expiration date. Most end abruptly in regret, and some evolve into familial affection over long years. Two people getting together is often catalyzed by many external factors, or rather, relies on many preconditions. Because there are other reasons, it can’t possibly remain unchanged.”

Xu Zhi frowned and pursed her lips. “I don’t quite understand.”

“That’s why Mom is telling you.”

Zhou Weixiang’s tone was patient and gentle. She looked at her daughter and said, “For example, if you are lost in the desert, what you crave most is water. However, once you are rescued and have enough water, water is no longer the most craved or important thing to you. In winter, you want a warm fire, but in summer, you’d find the fire too hot.”

Xu Zhi asked, puzzled, “What does this have to do with love?”

“Of course it does. When you are lonely at first, perhaps you just want someone humorous who can make you laugh. But once you go through the daily grind of life together, you might find that poverty brings all kinds of sorrow. Even if you marry into a wealthy family, if your husband is busy with work and doesn’t come home for ten days or half a month, and frequently cheats during social engagements, you’ll realize you actually need companionship, and so on.”

“Everyone’s situation is different, so their needs are different. And once people have needs, they desire and seek change.”

As Zhou Weixiang said this, she seemed to recall something.

She reached out and took the marble tile next to her to press down on the ashes in the pit. She said, lowering her gaze, “That’s why some people frequently change girlfriends. The more advantageous their own conditions, the more easily they switch.”

Xu Zhi felt that her mother’s tone seemed to have changed towards the end. She looked over, curious and doubtful.

Zhou Weixiang covered the ashes, looked at her daughter, and then smiled brightly, as if the previous low spirits were not genuine.

Zhou Weixiang said, “In short, Zhizhi, beautiful love is a rare opportunity. If you encounter it, try not to miss it. Don’t refuse it because its duration is too short, because if you don’t seize it in time, once you miss it, you’ll never have the exact same one again.”

Xu Zhi pursed her lips. Just as she was about to speak, her phone in her pocket suddenly vibrated.

Xu Zhi’s phone was usually in her backpack. Today, she had put it in her pants pocket after calling her mother when she got off work.

The vibration was continuous.

Zhou Weixiang heard it. “Is someone calling you?”

“No.” Xu Zhi took out her phone.

Indeed, it wasn’t a call, but WeChat messages.

Three unread messages.

Xu Zhi wanted to ignore it and put the phone in her bag, but it vibrated repeatedly again.

The unread messages quickly went from three to four, five, six, and seven.

Xu Zhi: “…”

Zhou Weixiang had almost never seen such a helpless, speechless, yet somewhat indulgent expression on her daughter’s face.

She was slightly surprised and asked, “Who is looking for you?”

Xu Zhi: “A…”

Xu Zhi couldn’t find a noun to categorize Qi Yaoyao, so she just said, “I’ll reply to a message first.”

Zhou Weixiang: “Okay.”

Xu Zhi tapped open the chat window marked with red numbers.

YaoYao: [Zhizhi, where are you??]

YaoYao: [Why aren’t you at the bar???]

YaoYao: [Playing truant??]

YaoYao: [Zhizhi!]

YaoYao: [Xu Zhizhi!]

YaoYao: [I know you’re reading this, hurry up and reply to me. Otherwise… Rage Value Accumulation Progress Bar 20%.jpg]

YaoYao: [Rage Value Accumulation Progress Bar 40%.jpg]

In the short time it took to open the window, Qi Yaoyao sent another emoji from the same series.

YaoYao: [Rage Value Accumulation Progress Bar 60%.jpg]

Xu Zhi: [What happens when the rage bar reaches one hundred?]

The reply came back quickly.

YaoYao: [This little princess will explode on the spot!]

Xu Zhi: [Alright, then take your time accumulating it]

YaoYao: [??? Xu KnowKnow!!!]

Xu Zhi decisively turned off her mobile data, put her phone in her backpack, and looked back at her mother.

She was about to speak, but she momentarily forgot what the topic of conversation was before.

Zhou Weixiang looked at her daughter, her gentle smile carrying a hint of teasing. “I was wondering why you suddenly brought up these topics. Our Zhizhi has grown up and reached the age to encounter love.”

Xu Zhi: “?”

Xu Zhi wanted to say I am not, I don’t have one, Mom, what are you seeing?

I brought this up just to make you more cautious, to open your eyes, and not be deceived by people.

But on second thought, didn’t everything her mother just said prove that she was always a very clear-headed person?

Xu Zhi suddenly wasn’t so worried anymore.

Perhaps the situation last night was just her overthinking things.

What if her mother was in the passenger seat because she had forgotten something and went back into the car to retrieve it?

What if the person in the luxury car wasn’t a middle-aged man with a beer belly at all, but a beautiful woman?

“Ugh!!!”

Qi Yaoyao looked at the dozens of messages she had sent to Xu Zhi, all sinking into silence. She was so angry that she pounded on the bar counter in frustration. “Aaaah! Get your bar boss out here!!!”

The boss rushed over anxiously, looking at the little menace and quickly bowing with an apologetic smile. “Miss Qi, what’s wrong? Is there something unsatisfactory about our service?”

Qi Yaoyao looked at him huffily. “You, give me Xu Zhi’s home address!”