Chapter 37: The Pearl in the Palm, the Tan family, is a wealthy family, and our Bai Ying herself...
In the urban area of Shanghai, Bai Ying's family's small building is an old property left over from the Republic of China period, a three-story independent residence in a fusion of Chinese and Western styles.
In a corner of the living room, steam carrying the fragrance of tea rises.
On both sides of the long mahogany table, Bai Xuan had a serious expression and Qin Yonglian had a polite smile on his lips, and the two sat facing each other.
Qin Yonglian took the earliest flight in the morning and rushed to the Bai family as soon as he landed.
This quiet and calm scene was strangely familiar to Qu Chengyuan, and he couldn't help but think of the scene when Bai Fenglin officially brought her boyfriend home for the first time.
Bai Xuan and his son-in-law sat in silence for a long time, making others think that they were communicating purely through brain waves.
When Bai Ying saw it, she was filled with joy.
When these two academic masters, who are over a hundred years old in total, get together, their aura is indeed particularly calm and upright.
Her boyfriend was dressed in a suit and tie, and his hairstyle was the British slicked-back hair that she had designed specifically for him. It looked particularly good and had a different kind of gentleness.
Qin Yonglian sat up straight, met Bai Xuan's gaze, and took the initiative to speak: "Professor Bai, Mrs. Bai, I'm not nervous."
Ouch! Bai Ying slapped his forehead, Xiao Dandu* (nickname for little fool in Shanghai dialect), no one asked him if he was nervous!
Before Qin Yonglian came, one of the characters she recommended her boyfriend to her grandparents was that of an all-round academic genius and an encyclopedia genius.
After arriving at her house, he looked very humble and steady, but he failed as soon as he opened his mouth. He seemed a little unintelligent?
Qu Chengyuan suppressed the curve of her lips and looked at her husband with a smile.
The first time she saw Qin Yonglian in person, she knew why her granddaughter liked him. His appearance and temperament were exactly what Bai Ying liked.
The couple looked at each other and instantly reached some tacit understanding.
Bai Xuan knew very well the profound meaning in his wife's eyes, but he was not ready to hand over his beloved daughter to someone else.
Qin Yonglian was also worried about what he had just said. The current situation was different from the plan in the mind map he had prepared in advance.
His proposal to pick up Bai Ying in the early morning of New Year's Day was definitely not an impulse.
The nightmare he had in the car that night suddenly made him realize that people must move forward and no one will stand still and wait.
His girl is always waiting for him, and this time Qin Yonglian wants to take the initiative to approach her.
By the time he had arranged all the affairs of the group, the day he was finally able to travel freely was the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
On the eve of departure, the three young men in the group gathered together to discuss strategy.
"Why not let Zhenyan go with you?" Su Jiahao suggested, speaking in unstandard Wu dialect. "He's very familiar with Shanghai. He's a clear-headed young man, so that's a good idea."
Zhenyan looked at his schedule and said, "I'm afraid I won't be able to make it. I have to go back to the company on duty on the ninth day of the first lunar month. I'm on call 24 hours a day."
"Director, aren't you on standby 24 hours a day these days?"
Su Jiahao stretched out his thumb and index finger, supported his chin and put on the posture of Conan solving a case, frowning, things were not that simple.
Zhenyan coughed lightly and said nothing.
"Then let me go with you? I'll ask for leave from the old man." Su Jiahao thought about it.
"Good luck in starting work on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. Why are you going to be absent on the first day back to work? Why don't you ask your eldest brother's golf club if he agrees first." Zhen Yan reminded.
"What should we do then? Should Qin Yuan stay in the company and let Leon go on his own? I doubt his business ability."
"Hmm?" Qin Yonglian looked up from the computer. "What are you doubting?"
"Boss, you asked us to come here to discuss the big plan, but you are busy writing... a mind map?!" Su Jiahao widened his eyes and looked closely at the screen.
"What???" Zhen Yan heard a term that rarely appeared in such occasions.
Qin Yonglian said calmly, "I used a mind map to sort out the process of meeting the parents in advance and imagined all possible problems. I wanted to best demonstrate my position and sincerity."
"With your IQ, do you really need to write it out? And draw it so...complicatedly..." Su Jiahao curled his lips, unable to keep up with the academic master's train of thought.
“It’s more reassuring to have physical text to look at.”
Su Jiahao: “…”
Is this the trapped beast he knows? His hands are itching to secretly take a photo and send it to his schoolmate Bai.
As for how to successfully meet the parents for the first time, none of the three had any personal experience, and it couldn't be discussed as an academic or business issue.
Su Jiahao had observed Bo Ying's style and realized she wasn't obsessed with luxury goods. She had good taste and could easily handle even streetwear and fast-moving consumer goods.
She is usually generous and cheerful in dealing with things, and is polite to others. This kind of neither humble nor arrogant temperament that comes from within and her knowledge of traveling around the world indicate that her family environment should be well-off.
"Yingying comes from a scholarly family. Her grandfather is a professor and her grandmother is a business role model. The couple has many patented inventions." Qin Yonglian confirmed Su Jiahao's judgment.
"Where are her parents?"
"He's also a professor, researching aerospace physics. Yingying rarely talks about them. She was raised by her grandparents and speaks to her parents once a week."
"Then we have to find another breakthrough." Su Jiahao seemed to be thinking about something. It seemed that the routines used in his family's business circle were not working.
After discussing it all night, Su Jiahao realized it was all in vain. Qin Yonglian actually knew full well that he had only asked the two of them to come for a temporary boost of courage.
Zhen Yan’s final conclusion: In short, just use your brain.
*** ***
"Leon, are you Yingying's classmate?" Bai Xuan looked at Qin Yonglian.
"Yes, we have different majors. I study Applied Biotechnology, and we both took the Finance Management course."
Qin Yonglian rarely speaks Mandarin and speaks slower than usual.
"Oh? I heard that your current job is business management. Why did you choose this major?"
"Grandpa, have some tea first." Bai Ying looked at Bai Xuan and pouted. This was not a graduate student interview.
She had already informed her parents that all majors were equally difficult for Qin Yonglian and he could choose with his eyes closed.
Bai Xuan took a sip of tea, deliberately turned his gaze away from his granddaughter, and repeated the question in English.
Qin Yonglian signaled to Bai Ying with his eyes to rest assured, and switched to English. He slowly and steadily talked about the microscopic world of jellyfish and fungi that he was interested in, and then moved on to plants and the stars in the sky.
Bai Xuan is a professor of agronomy who has studied nature and crops all his life and quickly became interested.
The two began to communicate and the atmosphere eased.
After outlining the subjects he had dabbled in, Qin Yonglian added, "The secrets hidden in these fields have always fascinated me, not just for the sake of a piece of paper. Now I have to take on the corresponding work for my family, so for now I can only study these subjects in my spare time and at school."
"The Qin Group has a broad industrial chain and companies all over the world, so it is very important to strike a balance between work and life," said Bai Xuan.
"A true leader is not in the workplace, but in life." Qin Yonglian agrees.
Bai Xuan turned his head calmly, picked up the teacup slowly and took a sip of tea. This was also one of his concerns.
This young man before me is exceptional and full of life, yet he lacks freedom, like a trapped animal. Will he break free, or will he surrender? It remains to be seen.
His Yingying grew up under the care of the whole family. She is simple and cheerful. She doesn't understand the dangers of the world, and she doesn't need to understand.
His granddaughter deserves the most precious freedom and happiness in the world.
Bai Xuan was worried that if she plunged headfirst into the deep and luxurious life of the rich, her wings would be clipped.
He didn't want to gamble with this 50% probability. Even if the probability was extremely low, it would cause 100% damage to Bai Ying.
Are similar cases rare throughout history?
The old man looked at Bai Ying, his heart filled with emotion, and he remained silent for a moment.
The silence was short yet long, returning to the scene at the beginning where everyone was looking at each other in bewilderment, and the atmosphere suddenly became a little subtle.
Bai Ying understood what her grandfather was worried about, but this was not a test where she could not immediately write down the answers to prove whether she was right or wrong.
This takes time, a lifetime.
That's why she never figured out how to assure her grandfather that she would have a carefree life.
This was the second time that Qin Yonglian took the initiative to travel far away.
The first time was when he went to find his biological mother Anna last year.
And this time, it was for her.
Bai Ying understands Qin Yonglian, and he has already regarded herself as the most important woman in his life.
She also wanted to do something for her beloved boyfriend.
*** ***
After a while, Qu Chengyuan smiled lightly, "Don't sit and drink tea, Leon is here for the first time, let's go eat authentic local cuisine tonight."
The woman stood up and said, "Yingying, take your friends to the garden. We'll get ready and leave later."
Bai Ying nodded obediently and enthusiastically took Qin Yonglian to visit the garden on the first floor.
Qin Yonglian said humbly and politely, "See you later."
After the two figures disappeared, Qu Chengyuan stroked the back of his wife's hand and said softly:
"Brother Xuan, I think Xiao Tan is a good kid, very sincere."
Bai Xuan didn't respond, instead mumbling to himself, "What's that saying online? It applies to this situation. The Qin family is a wealthy family, and we, Bai Ying, are also from a wealthy family. Qin Yonglian is in his prime, and I admire him very much. But as a grandfather, how can I entrust my granddaughter's happiness to a family like that?"
Qu Chengyuan remained silent. She had several nominal mothers-in-law, and each one was more fierce-willed than the other in the news.
Alas, whose child is not a treasure?
Bai Ying was secretly looking at the door, and when she heard Bai Xuan calling her full name, she knew that her grandfather had not relented.
"But when you first came to my house to see Mom, you were treated like a high-class son-in-law."
Recalling the past, a smile suddenly appeared on Qu Chengyuan's face.
"How can we compare? Yuanyuan, my sincerity towards you is clearly seen by Lord Taishan and Lord Taishui."
Seeing his wife's gaze shifting towards him, Bai Xuan turned his back and said, "Anyway, Fei Xiong is not here, I have to keep a close eye on the child. Well, let me play the villain role."
"Eh, how could that be? Brother Xuan, Brother Shuangjiang?" Qu Chengyuan tried to comfort her husband in different ways. "They are the most gentle and love us the most, how could they be evil? Why not call Feng Lin and ask him right now?"
Seeing Bai Xuan's rare stubbornness, Qu Chengyuan decided to bring in another heavyweight rescuer.
When mentioning the other little cotton-padded jacket in the family, Bai Xuan sighed lightly.
Qu Chengyuan earnestly persuaded: "Leon is like Zheng's son-in-law. I can see that the boy is sincere to his daughter."
"Yuanyuan, this is incomparable. I watched my son-in-law Zheng being born, and he has been following Fenglin since he was a child. His character and personality are clear to me, and he has also been rigorously tested by me, so I am relieved. Now when I think of Fenglin's wedding day, I still feel distressed..."
Qu Chengyuan knew that his wife secretly shed tears for several nights on the day of their daughter's wedding. As people age, their tears become less stubborn.
The feelings of all parents in the world are the same. They want their precious children to start a new life independently, and ultimately they hope that there will be fewer storms in the world.
Actually, how is that possible?
Although it is difficult to tell whether the news about Qin Yonglian on the Internet is true or false, the vivid gossip is definitely not groundless.
The old man hopes that the two children will be equal to each other, rather than one of them making unilateral sacrifices.
There is no need for one person to fight for the other alone. They can become each other's wings, make each other successful, and have the courage and strength to protect the family.
The old lady looked back at the door, and the long braid hanging by the door flashed, and the little man who was originally leaning against the door frame with his arms folded ran away quickly.
Looking at the old man looking out the window awkwardly, I couldn't help shaking my head.
Indecision will not solve the problem after all. It seems that veterans have to take action. Who dares to be hesitant?
Qu Chengyuan shook her silver braid, acting like she had won over the proud and arrogant girl back then, and decided to have a frank talk with her husband.
"Come here, Comrade Bai Xuan," Qu Chengyuan said seriously, "I will explain the truth to you."
-----------------------
The author has something to say: Bai Xuan: Yuanyuan, you judge people by their appearance and like good-looking men.
Qu Chengyuan: Of course, haven’t I liked you my whole life?
Bai Xuan: Walking (*￣︶￣)
Bai Ying: Grandpa is also a very good (arrogant) and handsome (coquettish) leading man. It is worth investing in "Song of the Sixties"!
【Notes】
①Zhenyan was on duty on the ninth day of the Lunar New Year in order to confess his love to the little squirrel. For details, please see Chapter 17 of the book "I, a Socially Anxious Person, Finally Fall in Love."
Su Jiahao: You all are pursuing your other life partners, but I want to sing a single love song.
②For details on the plot of Bai Xuan and Qu Chengyuan’s first return to her mother’s home, please see Chapter 76 of the next page “Qu Chengyuan in the 1960s”.
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