Meeting the parents
The morning light in Shanghai streamed through the blinds, casting interplay of light and shadow on the floor of the walk-in closet. Ning Zhichu stared at herself in the mirror, repeatedly tugging at the neckline of her off-white dress, her fingertips trembling as she gripped the hem—this was an outfit she had spent three days choosing, one that was neither too childish nor too overtly mature for a business setting, yet looking at herself in the mirror now, she still felt something was off.
“Let me take another look.” Wei Ting leaned against the doorframe, wearing a light gray shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing the Patek Philippe on his wrist. He smiled, but didn’t approach her, patiently waiting for her to adjust. Since last night, she hadn’t had a moment’s peace, pulling out all her clothes and spreading them on the bed, and at three in the morning she was still asking him, “Will Auntie think I’m dressed too casually?”
Ning Zhichu did as instructed, turning around lightly. Her skirt swept across the floor, and the pearl necklace around her neck swayed with her movements, the star and moon pendant shimmering with tiny sparkles. "Isn't it too plain?" She bit her lower lip and reached for the red silk scarf beside her.
“No.” Wei Ting finally came over and gently put his arm around her from behind, resting his chin on the top of her head. “My mom was praising the dress you wore during the interview last week, saying that you have a clean and elegant demeanor.” His fingertips slid down her arm and took her hand that was clutching the silk scarf. “Besides, you look good in anything.”
The two figures in the mirror overlapped. Wei Ting's gaze fell on her reddened ear tips, and he chuckled softly: "Your ear tips are red from nervousness? My parents aren't monsters. My mom even specifically told the chef yesterday to make your favorite crab roe xiaolongbao and squirrel-shaped mandarin fish."
Ning Zhichu turned her head away from his breath, but he pinched her chin and turned her back to him: "There's really no need to be nervous. My dad used to be a university professor, and now he manages a foundation. He admires hardworking young people the most; my mom runs a design studio, and she's even more outgoing than me. Last time I read your interview with an entrepreneur, she said she wanted to hire you as a brand consultant." He lowered his head and kissed her forehead. "They've been wanting to meet you for a long time. Ever since we came back from New York, they've been asking me every day, 'When are you bringing a little girl home?'"
Even so, Ning Zhichu's palms were still sweating as she sat in the car on her way to the Wei family's house. In the passenger-side storage compartment were the gifts she had prepared: a hand-embroidered silk scarf for Wei Ting's mother, the pattern of which she had drawn based on a clothing design Wei Ting's mother had created; a set of finely bound classical philosophy books for Wei Ting's father, with the small regular script she had learned from a book restorer written on the title page; and most carefully, a photo album filled with pictures of Wei Ting from childhood to adulthood—his first steps, his first job on Wall Street, and a photo of the two of them on a New York ferry, each accompanied by her handwritten notes.
"Is the gift too expensive?" She flipped through the photo album, her fingertips tracing Wei Ting's childhood pictures—a little boy in overalls holding a trophy, his smile revealing his little tiger teeth. Wei Ting paused on the steering wheel, turning to look at her. "My mom complained to me last time that my dad's books are all hardcover editions, just sitting there unread. This set of yours is exactly what he wants." He freed one hand and placed it on the back of her hand. "Besides, the sentiment is more precious than anything else."
The Wei family lived in a villa area near Sheshan. Two rows of plane trees lined their courtyard, their fallen leaves rustling softly underfoot on the stone path. As soon as the car stopped, a woman in a beige cardigan stood at the door, her curly hair loosely tied in a bun, wearing pearl earrings. She smiled and waved as she saw them: "Tingting, Zhichu!"
It was Wei Ting's mother, Su Man. As soon as Ning Zhichu got out of the car, Su Man grabbed her arm and held it tightly. Her palms were warm and fragrant, and she gently patted the back of Ning Zhichu's hand with her fingertips: "I've been waiting for you! You're even more beautiful than in the photos." Her gaze fell on the necklace around Ning Zhichu's neck, and her eyes brightened. "This star and moon pendant was made by that old silversmith in SoHo, New York, wasn't it? I saw it last year. You have excellent taste."
Ning Zhichu hadn't expected her to notice this detail, and her ears instantly burned. Just as she was about to speak, Su Man pulled her inside: "Come in quickly, it's cold outside. Your uncle is reading in the study, I'll go call him."
The living room was decorated in a minimalist modern Chinese style. Su Man's clothing design sketches hung on the wall, and the bookshelves were filled with books and Wei Ting's trophies from childhood to adulthood. Wei Ting placed the gift on the entryway cabinet and, as he helped Ning Zhichu take off her coat, pinched her waist with his fingertips: "See, my mom really likes you, doesn't she?"
Just then, the study door opened. Wei Ting's father, Wei Mingyuan, came out, wearing a dark blue Zhongshan suit and gold-rimmed glasses, exuding a refined and scholarly air. He saw Ning Zhichu, smiled, and extended his hand: "Miss Ning, I've read your interview with the Lin Group. The logic is clear, the perspective is novel, and it's even more insightful than the analysis provided by the consultants our foundation hired."
"Uncle Wei, you flatter me. I still have a lot to learn." Ning Zhichu quickly reached out to shake hands. His palm had a scholarly air about it, and his grip was very light, without any sense of pressure. Wei Ting added from the side, "Dad, Zhichu spent three days in the archives for that article, and even did two supplementary interviews with the financial director."
Wei Mingyuan raised an eyebrow at Wei Ting, a smile in his eyes: "Young people should have this kind of tenacity." He turned and walked towards the living room, "I happen to be working on a research project on entrepreneurial spirit recently, and I'd like to talk to you about what I've seen and heard during my interviews."
The atmosphere at the table was much more relaxed than Ning Zhichu had expected. Su Man kept putting food on her plate; the crab roe xiaolongbao was delicately pleated, and the squirrel-shaped mandarin fish was drizzled with a golden sweet and sour sauce—all her favorite flavors. "I told the chef to add more ginger to the crab roe xiaolongbao to remove the fishy smell. Didn't you say there wasn't enough ginger and it was a bit fishy when you had it in New York last time?" Su Man said with a smile, "Tingting told me that; he remembers all the dishes you like."
Ning Zhichu looked up at Wei Ting, who was peeling shrimp for her, his fingertips drenched in sauce. Seeing her looking over, he raised an eyebrow and smiled, placing the peeled shrimp into her bowl. Sunlight streamed through the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating his profile and casting soft shadows on his eyelashes—a stark contrast to his usual decisive and efficient demeanor on Wall Street.
“At first, you studied media?” Wei Mingyuan put down his chopsticks and took a sip of tea. “I remember you graduated from Beijing Media University. Professor Li from your college was my former student.” As Ning Zhichu nodded, he continued, “Professor Li mentioned you to me, saying that you were his most outstanding student and that you got first place in the entire college in your graduation defense.”
“That’s all thanks to Professor Li’s excellent guidance.” Ning Zhichu said somewhat embarrassedly, “When I first joined the company, my manuscripts were often rejected by the editor-in-chief, and it was Wei Ting…” She suddenly stopped, realizing that she had almost let something slip, and the tips of her ears instantly turned red.
Wei Ting smiled and came to her rescue: "When she first did the interview, she was so nervous that she dropped her recorder on the ground, and I had to pick it up for her." He squeezed her hand, "But she's improved very quickly, and now she's their editorial department's star reporter."
Su Man suddenly remembered something, got up and went to the study. When she returned, she was holding a photo album. "Zhi Chu, look at this one. It's the first time Tingting participated in a piano competition when she was little. She was so nervous that she forgot the score and cried on stage." In the photo, the little boy was wearing a white suit, tears streaming down his face, but he was still clutching the sheet music. Ning Zhi Chu couldn't help but laugh out loud. Wei Ting sighed helplessly beside her, "Mom, can you please stop digging up my embarrassing moments?"
“I’m just letting Zhichu get to know you better.” Su Man flipped to another photo, taken when Wei Ting had just gone to Wall Street. He was wearing a black suit, his eyes were sharp, and he was completely different from how he is now. “When he first went to America, he was always at the company and didn’t go home for six months. When I went to see him, he was so thin that he only weighed 120 pounds.” She looked at Ning Zhichu with gentle eyes, “Now that you’re taking care of him, I feel at ease.”
Ning Zhichu's heart warmed instantly, and her hand holding the teacup stopped trembling. Looking at the concern in Su Man's eyes and at Wei Mingyuan occasionally interjecting with a few amusing anecdotes about Wei Ting, she suddenly realized that the so-called meeting the parents was not an assessment, but a gentle acceptance—they accepted her nervousness, accepted her imperfections, and even more so, accepted her into Wei Ting's life.
As the afternoon sun began to set, Ning Zhichu helped Su Man clear the table. Su Man took her hand and said, "Zhichu, I know what you're worried about. Although our family is well-off, we've never cared about these things. Lao Wei and I only hope that Tingting can find someone she likes and who is truly good to her." She took off a jade bracelet from her wrist and put it on Ning Zhichu's wrist. "This was given to me by my mother-in-law when I married into the Wei family. Now I'm giving it to you."
The coolness of the jade penetrated her skin, and Ning Zhichu quickly tried to take it off: "Auntie, this is too precious, I can't accept it."
"Take it." Su Man pressed her hand down. "It's not about whether it's valuable or not, it's my sentiment." She smiled and winked. "If Yi Ting bullies you, just tell me, and I'll take care of him for you."
Wei Ting and Wei Mingyuan were chatting in the living room. When they saw them come out, Wei Ting got up and walked over: "What are you chatting about? You seem so happy?" Ning Zhichu raised her wrist, and the jade bracelet shone with a warm light in the sunlight. Wei Ting's eyes lit up instantly. He reached out and took her hand, his fingertips caressing the bracelet: "This was passed down from my grandmother. My mother has always been reluctant to give it away."
As he left, Wei Mingyuan handed Ning Zhichu the set of classical philosophy books: "There are my annotations in them. If you're interested, we can discuss them." Su Man gave her a food box: "Inside are crab roe xiaolongbao, freshly steamed. Take them back for a late-night snack."
As the car drove away from the villa area, Ning Zhichu leaned on Wei Ting's shoulder, watching the sycamore leaves outside the window recede into the distance, the coolness of the jade still lingering in her palm. "I thought it would be terrible, but I didn't expect your parents to be so kind." Her voice trembled slightly with relief, "When Auntie gave me the bracelet just now, I almost cried."
Wei Ting lowered his head and kissed the top of her head, then held her hand: "I told you long ago, they would like you." He turned to look at her, his eyes full of tenderness, "When my parents were young, they also worked hard together. In the early days of my mother's studio, my father helped her with marketing. It took them three years to gain a foothold. They know that the most important thing for two people to be together is to support each other, not to be well-matched in terms of social status."
Ning Zhichu looked up at him, her gaze meeting his. The setting sun cast warm yellow light through the car window, highlighting the pearl necklace around his neck and the jade bracelet on his wrist. She suddenly understood that true happiness wasn't about grand, earth-shattering vows, but moments like this—him holding her hand, leading her into his world, his family tenderly accepting her, and from then on, she was no longer alone, but had a complete family.
As the car entered the city, Ning Zhichu took out his phone and sent a message to Su Man: "Auntie, thank you for the bracelet and the steamed buns. Next time I'll make your favorite braised pork and come see you again." He quickly received a reply with a smiley face emoji: "Okay, Lao Wei and I are waiting!"
She handed her phone to Wei Ting, who smiled and pinched her chin: "My little girl, are you finally not nervous anymore?" Ning Zhichu shook her head and leaned on his shoulder: "With you here, I'm not nervous anymore."
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