SWNOVELXO Chapter 93: The Broken Childhood
"It's all just home cooking. I'm not sure if you're used to it," she said.
At the dinner table...
Xu Hong smiled broadly...
Though she voiced her concern about whether Lin Ran would be accustomed to the food, her hands were busy placing one dish after another into Lin Ran's bowl...
Lin Ran seemed to have adapted to the role of daughter-in-law already, sweetly saying "Thank you, Auntie" over and over, making Xu Hong grin from ear to ear...
Seeing this, Gu Heng and Gu Xinran couldn't help but exchange glances...
In the past, it was only Gu Xinran who would occasionally come to dine and vie for attention... Find your next read on empire
Now, Lin Ran had been here for just an afternoon and had already usurped the siblings' place...
This wasn't a relief visit; this was a mom-snatching mission...
Thinking of this made Gu Heng unable to resist saying to Xu Hong, who was still busily serving Lin Ran, "Mom, pass me some braised pork, I can't reach it."
No sooner had he spoken...
Xu Hong, who had just been all smiles, suddenly switched expressions...
"Can't reach it? Don't you know how to stand up? Have your buttocks grown roots?"
Gu Heng: "???"
Could motherly love spoil so easily?
Lin Ran, seeing this, turned her head to look at Gu Heng and discreetly winked at him...
This arrogant gesture almost made Gu Heng grind his molars...
His decision not to marry was right...
He already had a low status in the family. If he actually got married, wouldn't he be just inviting another woman to lord over him?
...
"I'm full!"
A few minutes later, having forced himself to eat till almost full, Gu Heng stood up and hurried Lin Ran: "Eat quickly. I'll take you to the hotel in town afterwards."
Hotel?
Upon hearing this word, Xu Hong instantly flared up.
She stood up and pointed at Gu Heng's nose, scolding, "Are you out of your mind? Lin Ran has come all this way from Shanghai, and you want her to stay in a hotel? Can't she stay at our house?"
Gu Heng, having anticipated Xu Hong's furious reaction, responded calmly, "If not the hotel, then where?
To sleep in my room? Is my bed big enough for two people?"
As expected, upon Gu Heng finishing his words, Xu Hong fell silent...
The bed in Gu Heng's room had been handcrafted by Gu Jianguo when he was studying while smaller than the bed he slept on in his rental. It was barely 1.2 meters wide...
Sleeping two people would be too cramped...
Xu Hong didn't mind Gu Heng sleeping uncomfortably, but how could she let Lin Ran, a delicate city girl, squeeze into such a small bed with Gu Heng?
After hesitating for a long time, Xu Hong finally found an excuse to continue: "Then your dad and I will sleep upstairs, and you and Lin Ran can sleep in our room. Can't you sleep in the house? Isn't it cleaner than a hotel?"
"Alright, Mom, stop worrying. The town is only about a ten-minute drive from here. I can just go pick her up every day."
Xu Hong still wanted to say something, but then she saw Lin Ran stand up and smiled: "Auntie, it's okay. I can sleep anywhere. I'm almost done eating too; it'll be nice for Gu Heng to show me around outside."
Upon hearing Lin Ran speak like this, Xu Hong could only smile awkwardly: "The house has been here for over twenty years without renovation, and the guest room is filled with clutter. Otherwise, your uncle and I could sleep in the guest room, and you and Xiaoheng could sleep in our room.
But Xiaoheng is already planning to build a new house next year. When you come over then, you'll stay at our house!"
"Okay."
Lin Ran still wore a sweet, obedient smile.
Just as Lin Ran and Gu Heng were saying goodbye to his parents and uncle and aunt, preparing to leave, a hesitant Xu Hong stopped them.
"Lin Ran, wait a second."
Lin Ran turned back, asking puzzledly, "What is it, Auntie?"
Xu Hong, somewhat awkwardly, pulled out a red envelope from her pocket and approached: "According to our local custom, a man brings a woman to his home for the first time, he should give a red envelope."
As she spoke, she tried to press the bulging red envelope into Lin Ran's hand.
Lin Ran, seeing the plump red envelope and sensing it contained a sizeable amount, instinctively pushed Xu Hong's hand away: "Auntie, there's no need. I have money; you don't need to give me any."
Seeing the red envelope being pushed away, Xu Hong quickly said: "There's 6,666 yuan in the envelope, just for a good omen!
Auntie knows you city girls are all wealthy and don't care about these few thousand, but you must take it. It's a token of my affection..."
"No, Auntie, it's not about the amount of money..."
Lin Ran, having never experienced such a situation, suddenly didn't know what to say...
Gu Heng, watching the back-and-forth over the envelope, helplessly shook his head...
He had just been wondering why his mother asked him for cash, so it turned out she was using his money to fill Lin Ran's red envelope...
The total of all the red envelopes he had received since childhood probably didn't add up to 6,666 yuan, and given what he knew about her, the cash in the envelope was probably all the cash reserves at home...
Otherwise, she definitely would have rounded it up to an auspicious number like 10,001...
Typically, she was penny-pinching with him, but now, she was going all out for his marriage, giving Lin Ran more than 6,000 yuan after just meeting her for an afternoon, which was a substantial sacrifice...The more Gu Heng thought about it, the worse he felt. He suddenly took the red envelope from Xu Hong's hand, saying, "Enough, stop pushing it. I'll accept it on behalf of Lin Ran."
"Let go of my hand!"
Xu Hong shouted, startling Gu Heng and causing the red envelope to drop to the ground...
After glaring fiercely at Gu Heng, Xu Hong picked up the red envelope from the ground, then turned back to Lin Ran with a smile and stuffed the envelope into her hand: "Take this money and buy a couple of nice outfits."