Spring Night of Misty Rain - Chapter 44

The Xu family had built their fortune on aquatic products, fisheries, and urban redevelopment compensations. Currently, their primary businesses included fresh food markets, large supermarkets, real estate, new drug research and development, and film and television.

Xu Qiongyu herself was not particularly keen on marriage; she had only wed back then to put her parents’ minds at ease, choosing a handsome music professor to spend her days with. Regarding her children’s social circles, she had only two standards: a clean family background and an honest character. From this perspective, a child from a scholarly family like Shen Zeyu was practically beyond reproach.

Consequently, after their chat, Xu Qiongyu felt Shen Zeyu was quite good and decided not to meddle further in their relationship. After breakfast, she told Shen Zeyu to rest well and suggested that Xu Luosu take her around once she felt energized.

Xu Luosu, naturally, complied.

After breakfast, everyone returned to their rooms for a morning nap. Lying in bed, Shen Zeyu was surprised to find that the original white sheets in the guest room had been replaced with warm, orange-yellow silk bedding. The color was so inviting that lying down felt like falling into a field of sunflowers, making her feel warm all over.

As her breakfast digested, the rising blood sugar began to make Shen Zeyu drowsy. She gripped the edge of the quilt and closed her eyes, completely relaxing her body and mind as she drifted off.

This nap lasted until evening. By the time she woke up, Xu Luosu’s parents had already been home for quite a while.

In her groggy state, Shen Zeyu heard noisy voices coming from the living room. She rubbed her eyes, sat up, stepped into her soft cotton slippers, and pushed open the door while draped in a coat.

Looking over the railing, she saw Xu Luosu and Xu Huaiyu standing in the living room, surrounding a young-looking couple. They were bent over, constantly pulling souvenirs out of the suitcases at the couple’s feet.

Of course, the one doing the heavy lifting was Xu Huaiyu. She unpacked while hauling things out: “Let me see what good stuff we have here.” When she saw something nice, she’d pull it toward herself: “Good, I’m taking this one.” She looked exactly like a dragon hoarding gold coins.

Xu Luosu stood to the side, holding the arm of a tall woman dressed in a purple bandeau gown with a suit jacket draped over her shoulders, whispering something into her ear.

Shen Zeyu’s eyesight was quite good; even from that distance, she could clearly see the woman’s features. She shared a seventy-percent resemblance with Xu Luosu but appeared more mature and sophisticated. In particular, her slightly curled hair fell near her ears, tangling with her fringe earrings to create a lingering, charming vibe.

This was likely Xu Luosu’s mother—the cellist Weng Ran, who had graduated from a music conservatory and was known to perform only in high-end concert halls. Perhaps because she was in front of her mother, the usually mature and steady Xu Luosu showed a bit more girlishness.

This side of her was rare, and Shen Zeyu found it intriguing. She leaned her body against the railing, propping her chin on her right arm, and watched her from afar. The gaze was neither too close nor too far, the distance was just right, yet someone still noticed her.

The first to look up at her was Xu Luosu’s father, Xu Wangyuan. This tall, handsome man stood beside his wife and daughter and swept a glance upward. When their eyes met, he offered a refined smile and nodded to Shen Zeyu in greeting.

Shen Zeyu immediately stood up straight and returned the gesture with equal courtesy.

After greeting her, Xu Wangyuan whispered something to his wife. Soon, all four people below looked up at her: “A-Ze, come down!”

The one shouting was the second sister, Xu Huaiyu. With elders present, Shen Zeyu dared not be slow; she hurriedly wrapped herself in her overcoat, tied the belt, and walked downstairs.

As she approached, she politely greeted the two elders: “Hello, Professor Xu. Hello, Professor Weng.”

Weng Ran looked at her with a smile, her expression gentle: “I was just asking Su Su where you were, and here you are.” She pointed toward the various gift boxes scattered across the carpet. “These are all gifts I brought back for you all. See if there’s anything you like; if you do, just take it.”

Xu Huaiyu, still squatting on the floor unpacking, looked at her mother with a speechless expression. “Didn’t I tell you? A-Ze is very shy. If you make her pick, she’ll probably just run away.”

As she spoke, she pulled out a custom bolo tie set with a ruby the size of a pigeon egg. She stood up and pressed it against Shen Zeyu’s chest: “This one is pretty good.”

Shen Zeyu instinctively leaned back to create some space. Xu Huaiyu, possessing zero self-awareness, said with great interest: “Su Su said you often wear shirts. I think your build is similar to a young boy’s; this is for you.”

She stuffed the ruby into Shen Zeyu’s hand. Shen Zeyu didn’t know whether to take it or not, so she looked toward Xu Luosu. Xu Luosu released her mother’s arm and stroked her chin thoughtfully.

“Makes sense,” Xu Huaiyu said, sweeping through the gift boxes like a locust. She unpacked while urging Xu Luosu, “The eldest hasn’t woken up yet. Hurry up, take the good stuff and leave the ‘scraps’ for her.”

The “scraps” she referred to were handmade items by anonymous artists that their mother had brought back. Under her sister’s urging, Xu Luosu joined the “demolition crew.”

Shen Zeyu: “…”

Weng Ran, standing nearby, felt a bit embarrassed and gave an awkward smile. “I’m sorry you have to see this. They… well… A-Yu is a bit of a…”

Bandit. Weng Ran racked her brain but couldn’t find a better word to replace it.

Shen Zeyu, however, gave a light smile and said nonchalantly, “It’s quite nice. I’m an only child, so I’ve never experienced anything like this. It’s very fresh.”

“Hehe…” Weng Ran let out a light laugh and led her naturally to sit on the sofa. “I heard from Yue-yue that you are Su Su’s colleague. How does it feel working with her? Is she very bossy?”

Shen Zeyu shook her head and said softly, “No, she is very easy to talk to at work. Everyone likes her.”

Strong capabilities and plenty of money—what investor wouldn’t be liked!

She didn’t want to talk about work with Weng Ran, so she looked at her with a clear gaze and asked, “What about you two, Professors? Where did you return from? How long was the flight? Are you very tired?”

Weng Ran explained that she had just finished a benefit performance in Africa and had received many gifts from there. Shen Zeyu glanced at the pile of ritual-style masks Xu Huaiyu had pulled aside and understood.

While the two sisters were digging through the treasures, Shen Zeyu kept Weng Ran company. As they chatted, Xu Huaiyu and Xu Luosu pulled a Bohemian-style scarf out of the pile of “scraps” and draped it directly around Shen Zeyu’s neck.

Feeling the warmth around her neck, Shen Zeyu looked up to see Xu Luosu studying her seriously. “It suits you well. We’ll take this one too.”

After the scarf came silk wraps, earrings, necklaces, rings… Shen Zeyu was put through the wringer, feeling like a kitten being played with by its owner in a game called Miracle Nikki.

Ms. Weng Ran sat to the side, and after watching Shen Zeyu’s reactions several times, her expression turned to one of sympathy. Once Xu Luosu walked away, she spoke very delicately: “Does she usually treat you like this?”

Shen Zeyu shook her head and answered sincerely, “Not usually.”

They hadn’t known each other for very long; at most, they had spent the most time together during their hospital stay. Shen Zeyu thought back to when she would sit on the bed reading, ignoring the other’s invitation to play with Legos, and how Xu Luosu would tug at her sleeve, chatter in her ear, and plead several times—she suddenly felt a chill.

She retracted her previous statement and added: “It’s only occasionally like this.”

The sympathy in Weng Ran’s eyes deepened. She reached out, patted Shen Zeyu’s knee, and said, “If you feel it’s not right, you can remind her.”

Her three daughters were both very easy to get along with and, in another sense, the most difficult to deal with. She wouldn’t even mention the eldest—a money-grubber since childhood whose only focus was earning. If she didn’t have a childhood friend, she probably would have spent her whole life with her money. As for the second, she was a hyperactive wanderer. She played with one thing today and another tomorrow; even now, she was wandering around, relying on her sisters for support, never settling down.

The third appeared normal but was actually the most “abnormal.” Since she was very small, Weng Ran had noticed that her youngest daughter had an incredibly strong “protagonist consciousness,” feeling the whole world should revolve around her.

For instance, when she was little, she had already “programmed” everyone around her. Her grandmother was for teaching her to read and write; her parents were for accompanying her to music lessons; her sisters were for playing with her. If she wanted to play and her sisters wouldn’t join, she would hunt them down one by one. Even if Xu Qingyue was out at a gathering with classmates, the little one could use the landline to call and seriously remind her: “Today is Monopoly time, you should come back now.”

It took the whole family many years to finally break that habit. Fortunately, Xu Luosu, like her sisters, wasn’t keen on finding a partner. Otherwise, by the time she was an adult and ready to date, she would surely have set up a “standard program” to fit her loved one into, forcibly molding them into her ideal shape.

Shen Zeyu’s father had committed suicide when she was very young. After her mother remarried, she had only visited that home twice, and both times she felt like a guest—distant and not intimate. Thus, she had no real impression of “parents” in her mind.

But sitting here next to Weng Ran, she could feel that the gaze falling on her was full of kindness. However, she didn’t quite understand why Weng Ran would say those words to her. Logically, shouldn’t parents be protective and say things like, “If she offends you, you should be more patient”? At least in Shen Zeyu’s imagination, parents should stand unconditionally by their child’s side, just like her grandmother did for her.

Shen Zeyu thought for a moment and said, “I think there’s no need. She is a very thoughtful person and should be able to control her boundaries.”

Weng Ran was momentarily stunned. After a second of surprise, it was Xu Wangyuan who clapped his hands and laughed heartily: “It was our oversight; we don’t know her as well as you do. Su Su is grown up now; of course she wouldn’t be as willful as she was when she was little.”

Shen Zeyu nodded, understanding the situation. Because she had been too willful as a child, the parents were giving “preventative warnings” to her friends.

It turned out that if parents truly love their child, they actually want to protect the other person as well. The way her grandmother treated her wasn’t “doting”—this was how normal families were supposed to be!