This is my boyfriend!
This is my boyfriend!
The two of them stared at one another and saw the shock in each other's eyes. Zhang Ye could not have expected that the woman who came in would turn out to be Old Wu even if he were told this a hundred times over!
What was this?
What was going on?
Zhang Ye's jaw dropped!
Wu Changhe patted Zhang Ye on the shoulder and pointed at the woman who just came in. With a smile, he introduced, "This is my daughter, Wu Zeqing. What do you think? She's good, right? Hur hur, look at you, you're all dumbfounded at seeing her. I was just warning you a moment ago." He was clearly very pleased and proud, thinking that Zhang Ye had been stupefied by his beautiful daughter. "My daughter is a civil servant. She's an official, and an important leader at that, hahaha. Guess which organization she's from. Hmm?"
"Eh?"
Wu Changhe asked again, "Guess! I'm sure you won't be able to guess!"
Zhang Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry!
Guess?
I won't be able to guess, my ass!
We've known each other for a long time!
Wu Changhe did not even wait for Zhang Ye to guess as he simply announced the answer. "Haha, my daughter is currently an executive at the SARFT. As for what position she holds, you two can talk about it in detail afterwards. I won't go on further about it." Then he looked at Wu Zeqing and said, "My daughter, this is Little Zhang. A young and promising man who can play Go as well as him at his age is rarely seen. He's considered quite outstanding when it comes to the ranks of the amateur players. I only met Little Zhang by chance today and played a few games with him. It felt great playing against him! Although he paled in comparison to me, and I beat him by quite a large margin even though I gave him a handicap of two stones, he was still quite outstanding. Oh, and can you guess what his job is? Take a guess."
Play Go?
Just met each other?
Wu Zeqing smiled and said, "What's his job?"
"A teacher! He's a university professor!" Wu Changhe laughed and said, "What a good job that is! Can you guess what subject he teaches? Hmm?"
Wu Zeqing said, "Chinese."
Wu Changhe shook his head. "Nope, he teaches mathematics."
Zhang Ye wiped his sweat away and said, "About that, I—"
Wu Changhe was an impatient man. "Don't be so wishy-washy. Quickly shake hands and get to know each other, hurry."
Shake what hands?!
Zhang Ye did not know what to say anymore.
It was Wu Zeqing who put out her hand first, in a gentle manner. "Hello, Teacher Zhang."
Zhang Ye forced a smile. He had no choice but to shake her hand in return. "Hello."
Li Qinqin pulled her daughter into the house. "Don't stand out here. Let's talk inside. Zeqing, how long ago was it since you came back home? You should come back to visit us more often."
"I'm too busy at the office and can't get away sometimes." Wu Zeqing glanced at Zhang Ye and said, "Feel free to sit and make yourself at home."
Eh?
Their daughter's attitude wasn't too bad?
It seemed like her attitude had changed?
Li Qinqin looked at her daughter with great surprise.
Wu Changhe was quite happy as he thought that his daughter would be very resistant to the idea of this blind date. "That's right, have a seat. Make yourself at home and don't stand on ceremony with us!"
Sweat started beading at Zhang Ye's forehead. "Alright."
The atmosphere was very awkward!
At least Zhang Ye felt that way!
So this is your father?
So this is your mother?
So this is your house?
Holy shit!
Only now did he realize what had happened, and it wasn't that the Lucky Halo that was ineffective. Instead, it had "coincidentally" helped him to meet his future father-in-law. Further, as luck would have it, he was dragged along by his future father-in-law who needed him to step in for someone else to go on a blind date with his daughter! Thinking about it now, he remembered that Wu Zeqing had mentioned on the phone that she would be going back to her parents' home in the evening as her father had arranged another blind date for her! But he could never have expected that the man who came for the blind date would turn out to be him. Just what the heck was this! This was way too dramatic!
Zhang Ye really was not mentally prepared at all. If he knew that he would be coming to Wu Zeqing's home today, he would have bought things and gotten some gifts no matter what. He had never expected that his first time visiting Old Wu's home would happen under such circumstances that would leave anyone at a loss!
The four of them sat down.
Li Qinqin brewed a pot of tea. "Come, have some tea. I'll go make dinner."
Wu Changhe said, "Yes, just chat among yourselves. Don't worry about us." Even though he said that, he did not move away and continued to sit beside them.
Wu Zeqing looked at Zhang Ye and said with a smile, "You can even play Go?"
Zhang Ye coughed and said, "I learned a little when I was in school."
Wu Changhe added, "He's very good."
Zhang Ye immediately said, "No, no. It's just a hobby and I'm only an amateur."
"Look at Little Zhang. He's so modest," Wu Changhe praised.
Li Qinqin rolled her eyes at her husband. "Don't disturb them. Come and help me with dinner."
Wu Changhe said, "You do it. I want to have a little chat with the young ones."
"Auntie, why don't I come and help you?" Zhang Ye swiftly stood up.
Li Qinqin immediately smiled and said, "No need. You two can carry on talking. The food has already been made and dinner will be served in a bit."
Frankly, Old Wu's character was closer to Li Qinqin's. She was gentle and took after her mother in the looks department, with their eyes and nose looking exactly alike. Of course, she also inherited some behavioral traits from her father. For example, she was quite authoritative when it came to work, like him. Old Wu might be gentle, but she was never meek.
Before long, dinner was ready.
Wu Zeqing went to help her mother bring the dishes out.
Wu Changhe asked Zhang Ye in a low voice, "How is it? My daughter's not bad, eh?"
Zhang Ye nodded firmly. "She's really good!"
The dishes were served.
Wu Changhe said loudly, "Actually, my daughter cooks very well. Even her mother cannot compare to her culinary skills. She can make any kind of dish and they'll all be delicious!"
Li Qinqin said with a laugh, "If you don't like to eat something, don't eat it."
Wu Changhe laughed heartily. "How can that do? Come, Little Zhang, try your auntie's cooking. Oh yes, what do your parents do?"
Zhang Ye sat up straight and said in a serious tone, "My parents are ordinary workers."
Li Qinqin said, "Mmm, that's good. The labor workforce consists of the most honorable people."
Wu Changhe nodded. "In fact, we're just an ordinary family as well and are not fussy about such things. We're not insistent on looking for someone who is a government official. Or someone rich. Or require them to be from a family of comparable status. Our family does not have such a mindset as we are very casual people, you know?" He looked at Zhang Ye and said, "We're mainly looking for someone who has a good character and a stable career, like being a teacher. Then, of course, my daughter has to like him as well and they should share something in common. That's all that matters."
Zhang Ye did not dare utter a word.
Wu Zeqing did not show much of an expression and continued to eat.
Wu Changhe looked at his daughter. "My daughter, what do you think of Little Zhang?"
Wu Zeqing nodded. "He's quite good."
Li Qinqin was taken aback. "What do you mean by he's quite good?"
"I'm quite happy." Wu Zeqing smiled.
Li Qinqin gasped in surprise. She felt that her daughter was behaving differently today. In the past, whenever she had a blind date, she would not even turn up to meet the person. When it got unavoidable and she had no choice but to meet them, she would always come up with some excuse, like being needed back at the office, before leaving quickly. So why now was she inviting Little Zhang to have a seat and telling him to make himself at home? She even said things like how she was happy with him? This had never happened before! Did the sun rise up from the west today?
Wu Changhe was also very surprised. "Oh? Then…there's a chance to progress further?"
Wu Zeqing smiled as she scooped some food for both her parents. She said, "Dad, you really know how to choose someone. From a sea of a billion people, even if you narrowed down the range to only Beijing, there are still more than ten million people to choose from. In the end, you just had to bring the most unlikely guy back here."
"Hmm?" Li Qinqin blinked several times.
"What do you mean by that?" Wu Changhe was also confused.
Wu Zeqing pointed at Zhang Ye and said, "The two of you really don't know who he is?"
Zhang Ye gave a hollow laugh.
Wu Changhe said, "I know. He's Little Zhang."
The elderly couple really did not watch much television nor paid any attention to the matters surrounding the entertainment industry.
Li Qinqin suddenly stared at Zhang Ye. "I found him somewhat familiar right as he came in. It's, it's like I've seen him somewhere before."
Wu Zeqing put down her chopsticks and said with a smile, "Then let me reintroduce him to you. The gentleman before you is indeed a university professor. That's not false. It's also true that he teaches math. But the two of you definitely do not know that he holds a title at Peking University and that he is an associate professor in the Math Department."
Li Qinqin was startled. "Peking University? Didn't you used to be the vice president of Peking?"
Wu Changhe stared with mouth agape. "Associate professor? How can there be such a young associate professor at Peking University?"
Wu Zeqing continued, "At the same time, he's also a lecturer in the Chinese Department at Peking University and holds the title of Visiting Associate Professor at Media College. He's as real an academic as you can get." She then paused when she saw her parents' stunned faces. She added, "By the way, he still has some other identities as well. For example, he's a calligrapher, a famous radio host, a famous variety show director, a famous documentary director, a famous singer, a musician, an actor, a famous poet, a famous author, a lawyer, and so on and so forth."
Wu Changhe jumped to his feet!
Li Qinqin asked in surprise, "Th-The two of you already know each other?"
They had figured out who this man was!
Someone who held all these titles in all the nation—there could only be one!
The next moment, Wu Zeqing held onto Zhang Ye's arm very naturally and introduced him calmly to her parents, "This is Zhang Ye, my boyfriend."
Li Qinqin opened her mouth wide. "Ah?"
Wu Changhe panicked. "What did you say?"
"This is your boyfriend?" Li Qinqin didn't know whether to laugh or cry!
They finally understood why their daughter had said those things that didn't make sense to them earlier! From the millions of people in Beijing, Wu Changhe had actually dragged his daughter's real boyfriend whom he had always objected to to their home for a blind date with his daughter! What was the damned probability of that?
Wu Changhe nearly vomited a mouthful of blood!