When saying goodbye, Boss Tong said apologetically to his brothers, "Let's get together again sometime next time. We didn't have enough fun today."
In front of Tong's mother and Tong Xiaohuai, Tong Laoda's brothers could only laugh and make excuses, avoiding the topic of whether they had enjoyed the gathering or not.
Tong Xiaohuai was well aware that her and her mother's presence had made the group of uncles and elders feel constrained, unable to speak freely or enjoy a proper drink.
"Uncles and elders, next Saturday I've arranged for a large private room to be reserved for you at the club. You can do whatever you want, drink as much as you like! Okay?"
If it weren't for the fear that her father would bring up the matter of marrying into the family in front of a group of uncles and elders, Tong Xiaohuai would never have been so tactless as to come and disturb their gathering of men.
Now that she has taken the initiative to apologize, her uncles and elders are naturally grateful and applaud her. They then put their arms around each other's shoulders and got into the car that Boss Tong had specially arranged, where the Tong family's drivers and bodyguards took them home.
After Tong Laoda and his uncles all got into their cars and left, the three of them, along with Yan Bo, got into the same car.
"Weiyao, weren't you guys looking at dresses? Why did you suddenly come over?"
Only then did Boss Tong inquire about the reason for the mother and daughter's visit.
Tong Xiaohuai opened her mouth as if to say something, but her mother spoke first, "Miss Zhao has something urgent to attend to today and doesn't have time to receive us. That's perfect, I haven't seen your brothers for a long time either. It's rare for everyone to get together, so Xiaohuai and I came over."
That's not entirely untrue.
Tong Xiaohuai secretly gave her mother a thumbs up, then turned to stare at Yan Bo.
"Did you drink a lot?"
Yan Bo is a very self-disciplined person, but in this situation, for the sake of Boss Tong's face, he cannot be self-disciplined.
Yan Bo put his arm around her and shook his head, saying, "I didn't drink much. I didn't drink much after you came."
The key point is that before Tong Xiaohuai arrived, he, as a junior, had already paid respects to each of the uncles and elders present several times.
Even if it's just a sip of wine each time, he's still drunk quite a lot.
"Dad, if you keep taking Yanbo out to social events without any sense of propriety, I won't let him go next time!"
Tong Xiaohuai doesn't often act coquettishly, but when she does, Tong Laoda has absolutely no way to deal with her.
"Sigh... Xiao Huai, you're overthinking it. Xiao Yan and I didn't drink much! Don't worry, your dad may be old, but he's not senile."
Tong Laoda himself had drunk a bit too much, so his words were full of flattery, which was very different from his usual personality of stubbornly arguing even when he was wrong.
Tong Xiaohuai snorted, "It's best if it's not. Yanbo Company has a lot of work to do, drinking is bad for your health, and it would be troublesome if it interfered with your work."
Tong Laoda nodded in agreement, but after a while, he turned to look at Yan Bo.
"Xiao Yan, are you coming to the gathering next Sunday?"
Before Yan Bo could answer, Tong Xiaohuai refused on his behalf.
“He didn’t go; he had promised to go to the movies with me that day.”
Yan Bo could only smile apologetically at Boss Tong, then reached out and shook Tong Xiaohuai's hand, signaling her to stop while she was ahead.
Tong Laoda grumbled in dissatisfaction, "Watching a movie again? Didn't we already go today? Aren't you tired of watching movies every day?"
Tong Xiaohuai leaned forward and glared at Tong Laoda, "Dad, don't you and Mom get tired of each other's company every day? Don't think I don't know that no matter how busy you were before, you would always take Mom to see a movie every week."
When this was mentioned, Tong Xiaohuai said that she still has psychological trauma from it.
Back then, my dad wasn't as open about it as he is now. Even though he was just taking my mom to the movies for some alone time, he would always lie to her with all sorts of excuses so that she would stay home and not cling to them.
Tong Laoda coughed twice. "Tsk, that happened so many years ago, why not bring it up?"
Tong Xiaohuai stopped asking him and turned to her mother with a smile, "Mom, when was the last time you and Dad went to the movies?"
Tong's mother smiled, but Tong Xiaohuai glared at her again, "Don't lie!"
Tong's mother laughed out loud, "Okay, I'm not lying, the most recent time was last week."
Upon hearing this, Yan Bo leaned over and said to Tong Xiaohuai, "It seems I really need to step up my game."
Tong Xiaohuai chuckled twice, "Of course, look at you, you can't even compare to my dad."
Tong Xiaohuai said this very casually, it could even be considered a joke, and he had no intention of blaming Yan Bo.
But Yan Bo himself secretly reflected on it and realized that he hadn't really given Tong Xiaohuai much romance and beauty.
"Okay, I'll work harder from now on!"
Yanbo's guarantee was not just a casual remark.
Along the way, Tong Xiaohuai was quite worried that her father would suddenly bring up the matter of Yanbo marrying into the Tong family, so she tried to find various topics to talk about.
Finally, Tong Laoda couldn't take it anymore. "Girl, what's wrong with you today? You haven't stopped talking the whole way. Give it a rest, you're giving me a headache."
"Your headache is because you drank too much. What does that have to do with me?"
Tong Xiaohuai watched the car drive back to Tongjia Village, secretly feeling smug.
Back in the house, Tong Laoda put his arm around Tong Ma and was about to go back to their room when he stood in front of them and gave them some instructions.
"You two shouldn't stay out too late either, and remember, you need to sleep separately!"
Tong Xiaohuai blushed. "Dad, what nonsense are you talking about?"
To this day, she and Yanbo are still completely innocent, okay? However, Boss Tong's special reminder makes it seem like there's something going on between them.
Boss Tong pointed at Yan Bo, "Anyway, as long as you and Xiao Huai aren't engaged, you have to behave properly and observe the proper etiquette."
Yan Bo nodded obediently and assured him again, "Uncle Tong, don't worry, I won't do anything reckless."
Tong Xiaohuai was embarrassed, but she still protested to her father.
"Dad, I'm not a child anymore. I have the right to make my own decisions about these things!"
Tong Laoda turned to look at Tong Ma, then at Tong Xiaohuai, and said, "Who said you're not a child? In our eyes, you'll still be a child when you're eighty."
Tong Xiaohuai thought her father was probably really drunk and was talking incoherently, so she winked and made faces at her mother.
Tong's mother understood and tugged at Tong's eldest son's arm, "Alright, stop nagging. It's getting late, and I'm tired too. Let's go back and rest."
Tong Laoda always listened to his mother, so he finally stopped talking and just pointed at Yan Bo, essentially warning him to be careful. Then he turned around and helped Tong Ma back to the room.
Tong Xiaohuai watched as her parents closed their bedroom door, then pulled Yanbo into her own room.
She had thought it over. Instead of living in constant fear and worrying about her father, she should confront Yanbo first, so that he could prepare himself and quickly come up with a way to refuse him.
"What's wrong? Did something happen? Why are you being so mysterious!"
Yan Bo found it amusing that Tong Xiaohuai had made sure to close the door properly.
Tong Xiaohuai looked at him seriously and asked, "My dad wants you to marry into the Tong family. What do you think?"
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