Chapter 150 IF Line: Ancient to Modern (The Dog Chasing His Wife) 5: Shen Wanqing's undisguised closeness and special treatment of Yu Lang made her, who originally wanted the intern to work on it more, realize...
Shen Wanqing's undisguised closeness and special treatment of Yu Lang made the engineering department, which had originally planned to let the intern work on his own for a few more days, nervous.
The month-long training period officially began on the morning of the second day. This infuriated Yu Lang, who had originally planned to coast along and pursue his wife, but he couldn't complain and had to start working nine-to-five and learning how to be a qualified corporate slave.
A month passed in the blink of an eye, and the gossip about intern Fang Yulang pursuing Shen Wanqing had become common knowledge.
The leader even had a special talk with Shen Wanqing about this. As a construction group, there was no rule prohibiting dating and marriage within the group, but firstly, there was a big difference in their positions, and secondly, there was still a gap in their ages.
With these two conditions in place, everyone was afraid that Shen Wanqing might be blinded by lust and deceived by Fang Yulang, that little wolf cub.
Shen Wanqing listened attentively to her leader's earnest advice. The first thing she did upon returning was to call Yu Lang into her office and tell him to quickly find another project or choose someone from the design department; at least for now, they couldn't keep anyone around—it was too conspicuous.
As expected, Yu Lang chose to work as an engineering assistant on a project. Some things are better explained on paper than done by doing them yourself for a year or two. Once you've experienced them, suffered losses, and endured hardships, you'll understand everything.
Shen Wanqing had no objection to this choice. Apart from having a very businesslike conversation with him after the training period, she only gave him a few phone numbers.
If there are problems in the project that you can't solve, you can ask them for help. But whether they teach you or how they teach you is up to Yu Lang to figure out. Shen Wanqing is like a parent who has let go and let Yu Lang go out and explore.
With their workplaces separated, apart from a few leaders and people close to Shen Wanqing, everyone else quickly had new gossip to talk about, and the rumors gradually subsided.
But in fact, Yu Lang goes straight to Shen Wanqing's house after get off work every day. If he has time, he will use the tablet that Shen Wanqing gave him to try to learn how to cook a dish in the kitchen.
If it gets late, order some food and wait outside for Shen Wanqing to come back. At first, he did all this to win Shen Wanqing over completely. But the longer it went on, the more Yulang gradually came to appreciate the feeling of waiting.
It's not entirely bad; after all, he's waiting at home for his loved one, and waiting has become a joyful anticipation. However, he also inevitably feels anxious and melancholic, because the person he's waiting for always seems to experience a lot of unease for no apparent reason.
Shen Wanqing didn't have a good solution to this. The only thing she could do was to register Yulang's fingerprint into the fingerprint lock so that he wouldn't have to ask her for a temporary password every day when he arrived at the door.
After a period of peaceful life, Yu Lang gradually adapted to how to work in this world and how to be a corporate slave.
Before they knew it, it was November. Shen Wanqing still had several projects to finish and were waiting for acceptance, while Yu Lang was busy every day rushing to meet the deadline for the main building construction.
Unfortunately, the closer it got to the acceptance inspection, the more trouble there was. Shen Wanqing had a problem with the commercial part of a project under her management during the acceptance inspection. She spent several days coordinating with leaders from various parties and didn't get home until after 11 p.m. every night.
Shen Wanqing didn't dare to leave even if she didn't go back to Yulang, but by the time she got home and finished her late-night snack, it was usually already past midnight. She couldn't bear to let Yulang go back to his rented apartment, making him go through all that trouble.
Therefore, Yu Lang no longer needed to pretend to be pitiful. One day, after Shen Wanqing changed the bedding set in the guest room to a clean one, Yu Lang officially gained the right to use the guest room in Shen Wanqing's house.
Originally, Lord Yu's pursuit of his wife was progressing very smoothly, so smoothly that Yu Lang walked with a swagger every day at the project site. But as is often the case, accidents come without warning and are sometimes speechless and funny.
"Mom, I've already told you I'm extremely busy lately, I really don't have time to go back for blind dates."
"No, what's the point of you agreeing? I didn't agree."
"Tell your aunt whatever you want, I don't have time to go. You don't need to send anyone over either, I won't see them."
“You were just calling her my aunt, and now you’re calling her my great-aunt. Can you give me a straight answer about who introduced you to this blind date? You don’t even know who you want your daughter to introduce you to, yet you expect me to go and meet them. Don’t you find that incredibly pointless?”
Shen Wanqing was so busy every day that she didn't even have time to sleep. She hadn't even had a proper conversation with Yulang for several days. How could she have time to go back and go on some kind of blind date?
The saying "familiarity breeds contempt" applies here; you don't even need to see the person to know it. Back when she couldn't return to that world, Shen Wanqing would occasionally think of her mother here and cry alone under the covers.
Now that she's back, she hasn't even had a chance to go home, and she's already arguing with her mom on the phone until her face is red. And she's crying? It's a miracle she hasn't cried from being so angry with her.
"No, can you be reasonable? I discussed with you before that I was willing to go home, but if I go back and find a job, the salary will definitely be lower than here. You disagreed after hearing that, and now I'm so busy that you're blaming me for not coming home to see you. I really don't know what to do."
I had just finished a meeting on another project when the project manager of this mixed-use development called me over for a short meeting. By the time I left the project office, the once sunny weather had turned into a downpour.
The rain was getting quite heavy. Standing under the eaves of the first floor of the prefabricated house, taking shelter from the rain while answering her mother's phone call, Shen Wanqing felt a surge of inexplicable anger rising from the bottom of her heart, and her voice unconsciously rose.
Yu Lang was originally standing on the second floor of the prefabricated house looking down. He didn't want to have too much interaction with Shen Wanqing on the project. He had already gained a deeper understanding of just how deep the prejudice against women in this industry was.
It's not enough for her to be capable on her own; she has to be an iron lady, invincible, in order to barely stand on an equal footing with male leaders of the same rank and carry out their work.
Yu Lang knew that his own abilities were useless, so he had to work hard to achieve something so that he could get promoted as soon as possible.
Only when I'm qualified to stand beside Shen Wanqing at that point will whatever I do avoid causing her unnecessary gossip. Otherwise, what's the point of just saying "I like anyone"?
But after she went downstairs, she didn't leave. Instead, she made a phone call and got angrier and angrier. Yu Lang couldn't stand her like this. He held back for a moment, but couldn't help himself. He went back to his office, grabbed an umbrella, and chased after her downstairs.
With someone else beside her, Shen Wanqing turned her head to look. Seeing that it was Yulang coming down with an umbrella, she immediately gestured for him to open it with her eyes. Then, while listening to her mother's nagging, she naturally put her arm around Yulang's arm and walked out together.
"I didn't yell at you, nor did I stop you from calling me. I just don't want to go on blind dates. I know my own love life and don't need you to arrange it for me."
Zhang Huai was assigned to set the progress of the acceptance inspection. The inspection must be passed by the end of this month, otherwise the handover of the house will be delayed, and the subsequent cash flow will definitely be in trouble.
Shen Wanqing was driving the car herself. After the two of them got in the car and turned on the air conditioning, Shen Wanqing relaxed and leaned back in her seat, holding her phone in one hand and putting her other hand to the air vent to warm it.
It was winter to begin with, and it got even colder after the rain. Shen Wanqing, prioritizing style over warmth, wore only a coat. Now, as she came in from outside the car, her face, which had been pale from the cold, was now bright red at the tip of her nose.
Seeing that Shen Wanqing had sneezed several times and her mother was still nagging on the other end of the phone, Yu Lang could only turn to the side, take her still cold hands, and put them inside his down jacket to warm them up.
Then he gestured with his eyes to her not to be too angry. What could be so serious as to be more humiliating and subservient than when the two of them were serving the emperor and empress in the palace?
Even after Yu Lang replaced Fang Yu Lang, he didn't give up his fitness and exercise habits. He didn't like going to the gym and shouting while using the equipment, so he would go out and run around the road outside the community every morning and evening, and then go home to exercise on his own.
At this moment, Shen Wanqing placed her palm on Yu Lang's sweater, feeling the soft warmth and the firm touch of his lower abdomen. Her anger, which was about to explode, actually subsided little by little.
"I don't care what your reasons are, but haven't you been home for a long time? Just pretend your mom misses you and wants you to come back and see me, okay?"
"Okay, I'll be back this weekend."
Wu Juan urged Shen Wanqing to go on blind dates and get married, which Shen Wanqing was extremely unwilling to do and had a hundred things she could say to refute her. But when she said she missed her daughter, what could she do?
After agreeing to return on Friday night, Shen Wanqing hung up the phone. She tossed her phone to Yu Lang, then slumped back in her chair, completely exhausted, unable to utter a word for a long time.
"Can I go back with you?"
"My dad is also younger than my mom, a little over a year younger."
“My dad was a good man, but not a successful one. From childhood to adulthood, he followed the rules of school and work. His salary was enough to support the family, but he never got rich. Until he died suddenly from a heart attack, that was the most unruly and unexpected thing he ever did in his life.”
"I don't know what my mother's logic was, but she kept telling me not to marry a man younger than myself, because younger men are unreliable."
“I argued with her at the time, saying that my dad’s sudden death wasn’t intentional. If he could live, would he have deliberately tried to die? But I couldn’t reason with my mom. Later I realized that this was something that couldn’t be reasoned with.”
"If we're being reasonable, why did this have to happen to my family? It's just her obsession. Because she can't blame anyone for this, but she can't get over it, so she can only come up with this 'reason' for herself."
Yu Lang had never heard Shen Wanqing mention these things before, but now that he listened carefully, he roughly understood what she meant. It wasn't that she was trying to complain to him; she was telling him that if he really went back with her, it probably wouldn't be a very pleasant trip.
Despite all that talk, Shen Wanqing still took Yulang home when the weekend arrived.
After all, even if their time together wasn't enough for her to decide to spend the rest of her life with him, what else could their relationship be but that of lovers?
At 10 p.m. in this small prefecture-level city, there aren't many people on the streets. The only lively places are a few famous late-night food streets.
Shen Wanqing pointed to the hot pot restaurant on the street and told Yulang how much she used to love eating it. Back then, she didn't have much pocket money, and every time she skipped class with her classmates and friends to go out for a late-night snack, she had to look at the menu and count on her fingers, afraid of ordering too much and not having enough money to pay the bill.
Yu Lang didn't know what that feeling was, but that didn't stop him from listening with great interest. He enjoyed listening to Shen Wanqing talk about these things; he felt that these little things were helping him explore Shen Wanqing's life. The more he knew, the closer he was to her, and the more at ease he felt living in this new world.
The house was a unit-allocated apartment for Wu Juan back in the day, and it's only a five-minute walk from the food street we just visited. Although the house is old, the community is very well maintained, and the property management fees are ridiculously cheap, so Wu Juan has never considered moving over the years.
"Qingqing is back. Why are you back at this time? Is your mom urging you to come back for another blind date?"
"Dean Peng, it's been so long since you last saw me. Why do you say this as soon as we meet?"
Wu Juan works as a pharmacist at a hospital. The residents of the community are all family members of hospital staff. Many of them are like Wu Juan; they are not short of money and cannot afford to buy a new apartment with an elevator, but they are just used to living in the old house and getting along with their old neighbors, so they are reluctant to leave.
As soon as Shen Wanqing entered the residential area, she ran into several acquaintances. She greeted the first two and that was it. But Dean Peng clearly had a good relationship with Wu Juan and the Shen family. When he saw Shen Wanqing, he couldn't help but grab her and not let her leave.
Who is this?
"My boyfriend, Fang Yulang."
“My mom keeps urging me to go on blind dates, and I can’t explain it to her clearly over the phone, so I just brought someone home with me.”
No matter how composed Yu Lang was, it was still obvious that the 25-year-old was older than Shen Wanqing. Even though Yu Lang had temporarily gotten a pair of non-prescription gold-rimmed glasses to wear in order to meet his future mother-in-law, it still didn't fool her.
"Wow, what a handsome boyfriend! Your mom will be ecstatic when she sees him."
"Dean Peng, you know what my mom's demands are, even if others don't. I'll be grateful if we don't get kicked out tonight. If we really have nowhere to go, I'll bring him to your house to stay."
"Come on, come on. I'll go back and make the beds for you two in a bit."
After exchanging pleasantries, Dean Peng finally took a good look at Yu Lang, who had been patiently standing to the side. He was a little young, but fortunately he seemed very mature and patient. Even when Dean Peng teased him, he didn't seem inappropriate at all.
"Alright, I won't keep you from getting home. Your mom plays mahjong at the mahjong parlor downstairs in your building, so hurry up and go there."
"Okay, then I'll bring him to your home to see you again tomorrow."
After parting ways with Dean Peng, Shen Wanqing held Yu Lang's hand and continued walking back. Yu Lang could clearly sense that her mood wasn't as good as the smile on her face, but he didn't ask anything and just obediently followed her to a doorway on the first floor.
The door was ajar, and the noise and pungent smell of smoke coming from inside made Yu Lang realize that it was a mahjong parlor.
Having lived here for three years, Yu Lang certainly knew about mahjong parlors, but he had never been inside one himself, and this old-fashioned mahjong parlor located on the ground floor of an old residential area was a first for him.
"Wait for me a moment, I'm going inside to find my mom."
"Let's go in together."
Shen Wanqing is very independent and self-reliant, but at this moment Yu Lang absolutely refused to let her go in alone. Even knowing that it was just some neighbors playing mahjong inside, he just wouldn't allow it.
Yu Lang took the initiative to put his arm around Shen Wanqing, almost pulling her completely into his embrace as he pushed open the door and walked inside. The two of them were already good-looking, and with such an intimate posture, they immediately attracted the attention of everyone sitting at the two tables in the living room as soon as they entered.
"Wu Juan! Your Qingqing is back."
Someone recognized Shen Wanqing and wanted to greet her, but Yu Lang's aura was so strong that the two of them seemed out of place standing in the room. They could only peek into another room that should have been a bedroom and call for someone to come out.
"Didn't you say you'd call me when you arrived? Did you forget again?"
For Shen Wanqing, she had never seen her mother in her entire life, but for Wu Juan, nothing had ever happened.
Although she complained that her daughter hadn't come back for a long time, in her world her daughter had never left, so there wasn't much of an emotional fluctuation. Instead, her expression changed completely the moment she got up from the mahjong table and saw Yulang.
Fortunately, Wu Juan still knew to save face for her daughter. Even though her smile was frozen, she didn't say anything unpleasant. She just said with a stern face that she was done playing cards and had to go home to talk about it.
A gossipy auntie followed behind and asked Shen Wanqing if she had brought her boyfriend home. Before Shen Wanqing could say anything, Wu Juan, who was walking in front of the two, trembled and then quickened her pace, leaving the two behind.
The old house, located on the third floor with only a half-floor open space, wasn't difficult to climb. However, Wu Juan's footsteps were frighteningly heavy. Shen Wanqing couldn't help but look at Yu Lang, but to her surprise, he wasn't flustered at all and even rubbed her back a few times as if to comfort her.
"Don't argue with Auntie later. It's not worth arguing about something that's perfectly fine."
"Um."
Wu Juan opened the door in front, her movements filled with anger, and the sound of opening the door and putting the key in was exceptionally loud.
After entering the room, she sat down on the sofa with a stern face. Seeing her daughter being led in by some wild boy who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, her initial attempt to be tactful completely vanished.
"Qingqing, didn't I tell you not to date someone younger than you? Younger people are unreliable. Did I say that for nothing? How much younger is he than you? I sent you home for a blind date, and this is the guy you bring back to annoy me?"
"Auntie, please don't be angry. Wanqing was very busy during the day, she was in meetings all day. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to bring me back today. She was just too tired and was afraid something might happen on the way, so she gave me a ride."
Seeing that Shen Wanqing was straightening her back and tilting her head back, clearly about to get angry, Yu Lang quickly pulled her behind him. There was no need to start a fight as soon as they got home.
“I’m only a little over three years younger than her. We’re colleagues at the same company and have known each other for a long time. We have a strong emotional foundation.”
“Wanqing brought me back after a long period of consideration. She genuinely felt that there was a possibility for our relationship to develop further, and she made the decision because she was definitely not trying to spite her aunt.”
Wu Juan probably didn't expect that such a small, unruly child would be so calm. Even though she had been so rude and given him such a hard time, he still acted like nothing had happened and continued talking about his own things.
"Mom, you've always been the one telling me not to date someone younger than me, not this one, not that one. I've never said I have any criteria for finding a boyfriend. Haven't I already said that I don't have any hard requirements for these things? My only requirement is that I like him."
Wu Juan's temper was somewhat suppressed by Yu Lang's good mood, and Shen Wanqing also barely managed to calm herself down and pulled Yu Lang to sit down on the sofa together.
“You keep pressuring me to get married, and I don’t like any of the blind dates you’ve arranged. Now that I’ve finally found someone I like, you should be happy. You won’t have to worry about me not being able to get married or have children, or about me being old and having no one to take care of me or see me off in my old age. Don’t you think that makes sense?”
"Everything you say makes sense. When have you ever been unreasonable?"
“He’s so much younger than you, can you really trust him? Look at me, I married your dad who’s younger than me, and this is what happened to me. He just left without a second thought, leaving me to raise you alone, and now I have to deal with all this anger from you.”
Wu Juan couldn't give any other reason for opposing her daughter finding a younger boyfriend, but it was impossible for her to come to terms with her long-held beliefs in a short time. So she could only bring up the things she had been nagging her daughter about over the years.
"mom!"
“I’ll say it again, my dad didn’t want to die. It has nothing to do with whether he was older or younger than you, it’s just fate. When your time comes, it’s time. You don’t need to blame my dad or yourself. None of us can control this.”
Shen Wanqing had said these words countless times, and saying them again now only made her feel tired. She sighed helplessly and looked at Yu Lang, who was squeezing her hand and rubbing it back and forth with his thumb against her palm to comfort her.
In her past life, she helped him deal with the Hesheli family. In this life, it's his turn to come back with her and talk to her mother over a reason that doesn't even qualify as a reason. This can be considered a kind of retribution in another sense.
"Mom, I really like him. It's not easy for someone like me to like someone. If you really don't agree with me being with him, then I'll send him to a hotel, and we'll go back tomorrow. I'll come back after you've calmed down."
Upon hearing this, Wu Juan knew that Shen Wanqing was determined. She wanted to say something more, but couldn't utter a single word.
Yu Lang could tell that Wu Juan was wavering, but she was still too proud to admit it. After all, she had just been so adamant about not allowing the two of them to be together, and it would be a loss of face for her to back down now.
"Auntie, how about we talk about this tomorrow? It's so late, and Qingqing hasn't been sleeping well. She won't be able to fall asleep after this time."
As Yu Lang spoke, he secretly scratched Shen Wanqing's palm twice. Shen Wanqing immediately realized what was happening and deliberately yawned twice. Ignoring Wu Juan's stern face, she quickly pulled Yu Lang up and hid in her room.
Of course, a mother can't really kick her daughter out; she can only watch helplessly as Shen Wanqing leads her boyfriend into the bedroom, closes the door, and goes to sleep.
"My bed is too small. Would you be so kind as to squeeze in with me for the night, Master Yu?"
"It's so big, it's not small at all. It's enough, it's not lacking at all."
Yu Lang never expected that Wu Juan's disagreement would bring such an unexpected joy. Standing in Shen Wanqing's bedroom, he was grinning like a fool.
"This is your home, your mother, the place where you grew up, right? Jiyun, this is the world you grew up in, and I've finally come in, haven't I?"
Yu Lang didn't find today's events particularly troublesome, or that Wu Juan was being unreasonable. He only felt that he had finally entered Shen Wanqing's life and seen what the place where Shen Wanqing grew up was like.
He even felt that his mother-in-law could be even more unreasonable. After all, considering the mess that happened between Fu Xuan and Xi Yuan back then, Wu Juan's blustering and pretentious behavior was really nothing.
"Isn't it cheesy? It makes my teeth ache."
Shen Wanqing's words were cheesy, but her actions betrayed her. From the very first day she learned that Yu Lang had also come to this world, Shen Wanqing had been hesitant, conflicted, and even acting coyly, as if her left and right brains were at odds.
Until this moment, standing where she came from and looking at her lover, she finally decided to take the plunge one more time and confront her own heart.
“Yulang, welcome to my world.” Shen Wanqing reached out and hugged Yulang’s shoulders tightly, embedding herself into his body. “Yulang, I love you. I’m so glad to have met you in this world.”
Those two short sentences seemed to have turned on a magical switch. Yu Lang picked up Shen Wanqing and carefully placed her on her bed, ignoring Wu Juan walking back and forth outside. The two of them rolled around together like they were having an affair, no longer caring about the world's troubles and noise.
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