Grandpa leaned back against the sofa and said slowly, "Xiao Jiang, you and Xiao Lin are an engaged couple now, so what can't we talk about as a family?"
Jiang Yubai sat on the sofa on the other side. He answered the question irrelevantly: "Last month, I wanted to bring Lin Zhixia to a party at home..."
Before Jiang Yubai could finish, his mother interrupted him and said, "At that time, I didn't agree with you bringing Lin Zhixia here because your father and I had never met her and didn't know her well enough."
Jiang Yubai asked: "If I'm not engaged, would you be willing to get to know her?"
Uncle and Jiang Yubai echoed each other: "Yes, if Xiao Jiang hadn't gotten engaged, Dad and Mom would probably still be on vacation in the Maldives."
Grandpa turned his head and looked at uncle.
This time, the uncle was not scared at all, and even smiled: "Dad, to be honest, I have been fed up with it for a long time. Xiao Jiang is still in love with Xiao Lin. You always think that their relationship will not last long. You have different ideas and broke up early. You have never thought about how to accept Xiao Lin. A friend of my sister-in-law always wants to introduce her daughter to Xiao Jiang to create opportunities for them to be alone... I am not saying that other people's girls are bad, but this kind of behavior is inappropriate and I don't support it."
After my uncle finished speaking, my aunt glanced at him sideways.
The uncle whispered to her, "Am I right?"
Auntie said softly, "Yeah, that's right."
The uncle smiled even more: "It's enough that my wife understands me."
Auntie held his hand tightly.
Dad's expression didn't change at all - Jiang Yubai hadn't yet mastered his skill of not showing his emotions. Growing up, his father was Jiang Yubai's role model, and Jiang Yubai respected him very much.
However, today, my father said, "Marriage is a major event in life. You are only in your early twenties, and your decision was a bit hasty."
Jiang Yubai calmly replied, "Lin Zhixia and I have known each other for twelve years and have been in love for four years. This is a long time, more than enough for me to make a decision."
The hall was silent.
Uncle continued to unite with Jiang Yubai: "Brother, many years ago, you and sister-in-law had just known each other for four months..."
Dad picked up a glass of water and just took a sip when the uncle stopped talking.
After a moment, the uncle still finished the sentence: "You and your sister-in-law have known each other for less than four months... and you're already married. Isn't that a bit hasty?"
Dad put the glass in his hand on the table, knocking it with a light "bang". He said, "The time of dating is not the key to the problem. I told you before that as a family, we can discuss everything."
The uncle held his breath and said, "You also said that if we can't reach an agreement, we can only kick you out of the house."
Before he finished speaking, my uncle slowly took my aunt's arm.
Auntie smiled and said, "The night before Shaoqi and I got engaged, my mother asked me if I felt it was too fast. I answered, no, I have liked Shaoqi for more than ten years, and we have a foundation for our relationship. Everything that happened afterwards was just a matter of course."
The uncle agreed: "My wife is right. We heard it in the box. Xiao Jiang and Xiao Lin have had a relationship for more than ten years."
"I'm not against them," Mom suddenly said, "Jiang Yubai did such a big thing as an engagement without saying anything. Is this really appropriate?"
My uncle was speechless.
The mother added, "A few days ago, the secretary gave me a background check on Lin Zhixia's family." She took out a document and placed it in front of everyone: "I'll put the investigation report here. It includes her parents, brother, uncle's family, and uncle's family."
Jiang Yubai frowned slightly: "Her parents and brother are very kind-hearted..."
"Good people can also encounter risks," my mother warned. "You hire a group of new employees, you have to check their credit and their previous jobs. How can you not be cautious when getting married?"
Grandma chimed in: "Lin Zhixia has a good personality. You can tell that she is a lively and optimistic girl, and she is also very smart. The most rare thing is that she is not arrogant. You won't feel tired when you are with her..."
The uncle showed an awkward but polite smile - he knew that Lin Zhixia had once brought a great psychological shadow to Jiang Yubai, and thanks to Jiang Yubai's timely adjustment, no bad consequences were caused.
Grandma opened the research report and said, "Your father just said that we can discuss everything as family. You didn't discuss it with us. You just turned 22 and you are in a hurry to get to this point. Even if Lin Zhixia is a good child, it's her own business no matter how outstanding she is. What's more, there are geniuses in all walks of life, and geniuses are not uncommon. The number of citations of her papers has not even exceeded 2,000..."
Grandma didn’t say anything after that.
She stopped there.
Jiang Yubai stood up from his seat, his tall shadow falling on the neat carpet. He walked to the center of the meeting room, in front of everyone's sight. Then, he said frankly: "You are all my family members, and you are very important to me. The same is true for Lin Zhixia. You have checked Lin Zhixia's background, and you probably know that she is paying off her mortgage..."
Grandma was a little surprised: "How big a house did she buy?"
Jiang Yubai answered truthfully: "It's over 200 square meters, close to the university town, and convenient for commuting."
Grandma was silent.
After a while, she asked again: "You didn't give her money?"
Jiang Yubai lowered his head slightly and looked at his grandparents: "Lin Zhixia doesn't accept expensive gifts and doesn't care about material conditions. Scientific research and teaching are the focus of her life. People as pure as her are indeed rare, but they do exist. I like her, appreciate her, and admire her."
He went on to say, "Matching someone well doesn't mean wealth or material things, but character and values. Two people raised in the same family are more likely to get along. Lin Zhixia and I grew up together..."
Auntie was very touched when she heard this. She interrupted and said, "Mom, Dad, Big Brother, Big Sister-in-law, they are already engaged, it's a happy event, don't be so serious about it."
"Yes," the uncle pulled himself together again. "Besides, what's wrong with Xiao Lin? He's an associate professor at the age of 22, and he's almost catching up with me, the principal violinist at the age of 23. When Xiao Jiang wasn't engaged, you didn't value Lin Zhi Xia. Now that Xiao Jiang was engaged, you..."
When the grandfather came to the uncle, the uncle not only did not shut up, but also blurted out: "Dad, more than 60 years ago, you didn't have much money."
Grandpa's expression was gentle: "Shaoqi, come with me."
My uncle sat on the sofa like a stone sculpture.
Jiang Yubai walked between his uncle and grandpa. Jiang Yubai was 1.88 meters tall, and his grandpa had a slightly curved spine. Jiang Yubai was much taller than him. Grandpa raised his hand and patted his shoulder, sighing, "Our little Jiang has grown up."
Jiang Yubai responded, "When you grow up, it's better to make your own decisions than to be indecisive."
Grandpa put his hands behind his back.
Jiang Yubai followed him out. Grandpa paused slightly and Jiang Yubai also stopped at the door of the meeting room. He stood there and talked with Grandpa for nearly ten minutes. Grandpa's expression became more and more relaxed. Finally, Grandpa asked him: "How do you want us to view Lin Zhixia?"
Jiang Yubai replied that he hoped the elders would try to accept her as a family member.
Grandpa said with emotion: "I will go tell your second uncle and third uncle about your engagement. Next Spring Festival, you can bring Xiaolin home to celebrate the New Year."
Jiang Yubai finally felt relieved.
Lin Zhixia didn't know what happened to Jiang Yubai this afternoon.
Lin Zhixia also encountered a trouble of her own.
Fang Yiwen, the only doctoral student under Lin Zhixia, is researching quantum chemistry. Fang Yiwen wants to use the chemistry laboratory of another professor in the college named Qu Zongyi, but the equipment in that laboratory is very tight, and Qu Zongyi must first ensure that his students can get a place, so he politely rejected Fang Yiwen's request.
Qu Zongyi said that after the Spring Festival next year, Fang Yiwen will come to him and he will see if he can arrange it for her.
Fang Yiwen was very happy after hearing this.
She returned to her laboratory and relayed Qu Zongyi's original words.
Xu Lingbo slapped his forehead and said angrily, "Sister, why don't you understand? Qu Zongyi meant that during the Spring Festival, this equipment was used by someone else. After the Spring Festival, it will definitely not be your turn."
Fang Yiwen pushed her glasses up on her nose and said, "No, right?"
Xu Lingbo sighed.
Fang Yiwen called Lin Zhixia and asked her what to do.
Lin Zhixia's first reaction was: "It doesn't matter. I still have a lot of research funds on hand. What is the market price of the experimental equipment you want?"
Fang Yiwen said honestly: "Nearly 100 million."
Lin Zhixia was silent.
Fang Yiwen also fell silent.
A few seconds later, Fang Yiwen explained, "The laboratory of Qu Zongyi was built by my former tutor. My tutor designed more than ten drawings and found the best manufacturers in the country to order a batch of equipment. Some parts are limited edition imported goods, which cannot be bought even if you have money. My tutor changed jobs and went to another university, and the laboratory was assigned to Qu Zongyi by the college."
In this case, Lin Zhixia had no choice but to go and discuss the matter with Qu Zongyi in person.
"Teacher Lin," Fang Yiwen told her, "Please tell Teacher Qu that I am on call 24 hours a day and can do experiments from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m.."
"Is it so hard?" Lin Zhixia was a little hesitant.
Fang Yiwen scratched her fluffy hair, still looking casual: "At most I can catch up on some sleep during the day, it's no big deal."
Lin Zhixia was full of confidence: "Okay, wait for my good news."
Just half an hour later, Lin Zhixia came back.
Fang Yiwen guessed the result but said nothing.
Zhan Rui was quieter than Fang Yiwen, while Xu Lingbo rubbed his face vigorously - his former mentor had a wide network of contacts, many methods, and strong tactics, so there was absolutely no possibility that he could not borrow a laboratory.
And Lin Zhixia just touched a soft nail.
She thought for a moment and could only say, "Fang Yiwen, give me your experimental data and thesis framework first. I will think carefully about whether there is any other way."
Fang Yiwen immediately handed over a stack of materials.
That evening, Lin Zhixia went to Jiang Yubai's house with the stack of materials. She liked sharing a study room with Jiang Yubai. When she was working, she would occasionally turn her head and look at Jiang Yubai's profile, and her mood would become very good.
Even though life after work is not as smooth as Lin Zhixia imagined, she still believes that all problems can be solved, and she and Jiang Yubai are moving forward step by step. She still remembers Shen Zhaohua, Gu Like, and even Tan Qianche's comments on her, that before the age of 25, she should be able to achieve something and realize the life value she has been pursuing for many years.
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