Inside the moving car, Xia Xiaobing gripped the steering wheel with both hands, looking at the road ahead, and calmly said:
"My mom is actually a very simple person. Her hobbies, besides playing mahjong, are watching romance dramas. She's watched a lot of those lovey-dovey shows..."
Lu Zhe couldn't help but ask, "Romance dramas, do you mean those about teenage boys and girls?"
Xia Xiaobing smiled and said, "It's a prime-time drama on CCTV."
Lu Zhe: "Isn't 8 PM drama supposed to be a family drama?"
Xia Xiaobing retorted, "Which family drama doesn't start with melodramatic romance?"
Lu Zhe: "That makes sense. It's a pity that I haven't watched many shows, whether they're for teenagers or prime-time dramas on CCTV."
Xia Xiaobing smiled casually: "You don't need to go and see for yourself. I'll tell you. My parents don't have high requirements for material conditions. Besides, I own my own company and I'm not short of money. So my mother only has one requirement for her son-in-law, which is that he treats me well."
Lu Zhe summarized the key point: "It's all about love?"
Xia Xiaobing said meaningfully, "That's right, you need to have a sincere heart. But I'm not worried about that."
Lu Zhe smiled but didn't respond. He felt that even if he had genuine feelings, these so-called genuine feelings were probably not limited to just one person...
Xia Xiaobing continued, "So when we're having hot pot later, just pick some food for me occasionally. And when she asks you questions, just tell the truth, nothing else matters. She knows you work at my company and are one of my senior employees, but she probably doesn't know anything else. So I reckon she'll have quite a few questions."
The thought of an older woman staring at him and asking him all sorts of questions made Lu Zhe feel incredibly pressured. He had never experienced anything like this before.
Xia Xiaobing added, "By the way, she doesn't speak Mandarin very well, so she might speak Chongqing dialect or a kind of Sichuan-accented Mandarin. But you've been in Chengdu for so long, you should be able to understand her, right?"
Lu Zhe thought for a moment and sighed, "I can only say I'll try my best to adapt, but it's not certain... Even here in Chengdu, it's okay with young people, but when I encounter older people speaking dialects, I often can't understand them."
Xia Xiaobing: "It's okay if you don't understand it very well, I can translate it for you. And you don't need to be too nervous, because... never mind, you'll find out soon anyway."
Lu Zhe couldn't help but panic a little: "Wait, what do you want me to know?"
Xia Xiaobing had already pulled over. She slightly raised her chin and said, "The one in the brown dress is my mom."
Lu Zhe looked ahead and saw an aunt standing in front of a hot pot restaurant by the roadside.
This woman looked to be over fifty years old. She had permed hair with a reddish tinge, and her figure was somewhat plump. Her brown dress was rather loose, but it couldn't hide the signs of aging.
But what concerned Lu Zhe the most was the aunt's facial expression. She had a smile on her face and seemed quite friendly.
The car has come to a complete stop.
Xia Xiaobing turned to look at him, smiled, and asked, "Are you ready?"
Lu Zhe took a deep breath and nodded solemnly.
Xia Xiaobing chuckled and said, "Then, let's get off the bus."
The two had just stepped out of the car when the woman came to greet them. She looked at her daughter, then at the young man beside her, her face beaming with barely suppressed joy.
The aunt smiled and said, "Daughter, introduce yourself to me."
She spoke Mandarin, but her speech was a little slow and her pronunciation was slightly unnatural.
So Xia Xiaobing said in Mandarin, "Yes, this is Lu Zhe, my boyfriend. Lu Zhe, this is my mom."
The auntie beamed from ear to ear: "Oh, okay, then I'll call you..."
Xia Xiaobing: "Just call him by his name, there's no need to be so particular."
The aunt nodded, but still said, "Then my name is Xiao Zhe! Xiao Zhe, how long have you been hanging out with my Xiao Bing?"
Before Lu Zhe could speak, Xia Xiaobing interrupted, "It's been a month, Mom. Let's not talk here, let's go inside and sit down."
————
After sitting down at the hot pot restaurant, and having just ordered, before the spicy broth was even served, Xia Xiaobing's mother began to chatter on and on. Her Mandarin, tinged with the salt and pepper of pepper, became increasingly fluent as she spoke.
Auntie: "Xiao Zhe, you have no idea, my girl is really... Once in junior high, a boy in her class walked home with her, saying he wanted to study with her. While they were studying, the boy asked her a question, and she gave him a good scolding! Her dad and I were a little worried, afraid that our daughter was dating too early. But who knew that in less than half an hour, that boy was crying and running out of the house because of her scolding!"
Lu Zhe couldn't help but glance at the mature woman beside him: "Were you this fierce back then?"
Xia Xiaobing sneered, "Heh, boys who can't even understand a middle school circuit diagram shouldn't talk to me."
Auntie: "This girl has a bad temper; she's been too stubborn since she was little. I'm begging you, Xiao Zhe, please be patient with her! Please!"
Lu Zhe finally understood. In Xia Xiaobing's mother's eyes, she didn't seem to be a glamorous and charming career woman, but rather a grumpy and unpopular old maid struggling to find a husband. This puzzled him somewhat, since Xia Xiaobing was only about twenty-five or twenty-six years old; she couldn't possibly be considered old, could she?
Xia Xiaobing said calmly, "Zhe has a very good temper and is very tolerant, so you don't need to worry."
The aunt shook her head and sighed, "You can't bully him! Sigh, from childhood to adulthood, other people's daughters are always worried about early romance, but our girl, let alone early romance, hardly any boys in her class dare to talk to her!"
Lu Zhe: "Is it really that exaggerated...?"
"It's not an exaggeration at all, that's what her teacher told me!" At this point, the aunt's expression suddenly changed, and her voice lowered considerably, "After you get married, who will manage the money at home?"
Lu Zhe was stunned: "Marriage?"
Xia Xiaobing immediately said, "Mom, what are you saying? We've only known each other for a month, it's too early!"
The auntie nodded with an awkward smile: "It is a bit early, a bit early... but it's good to think about it earlier!"
Lu Zhe said decisively, "Auntie, Xiaobing is my boss. Not to mention the future, even now, she pays my salary."
The aunt smiled even more: "So what do you usually do... what are your hobbies? Like smoking, drinking, or playing cards?"
Xia Xiaobing added, "When she said 'playing cards,' she meant playing mahjong."
Lu Zhe slowly shook his head: "I'm not interested in any of these things. I'm already very busy with work, and then there's cooking and stuff, I don't have time..."
"Great!" Before he could finish speaking, the aunt slapped her thigh with joy. "You don't smoke, drink, or gamble, that's a good thing! By the way, do you cook sometimes?"
Lu Zhe nodded somewhat stiffly, but did not tell the truth—he did cook for girls sometimes, but not for Xia Xiaobing.
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