Chapter 132: “Have You Thought It Through?”

At the end of January, Hou Zihao and Zhou Leqi returned to City D together.

He brought a big pile of things, mostly gifts for Zhou Leqi’s family — health supplements for her grandparents, handicrafts for her uncle and aunt, electronic products for the kids, all sorts of stuff.

Of course, the main gifts were for Yu Qing — a set of the latest video filming equipment. To prevent his mother-in-law from disliking it, he also carefully prepared a Plan B: a set of jade jewelry personally selected and approved by Su Ruini.

This kind of over-the-top preparation made Zhou Leqi speechless. On the way, she kept complaining, “You’re way too much. Just send some gifts to my mom, okay? Why gifts for my grandparents, uncle and aunt, cousins too…”

Does he have too much money or what?

“This is strategy,” he explained seriously. “Your mom is very likely to listen to your grandparents. Your grandparents might listen to your uncle and aunt. And your uncle and aunt might listen to your cousins… So this is a layered, nested structure. Every link matters.”

His analysis was fierce.

Zhou Leqi was even more speechless but secretly felt warm inside that he cared so much about her family. The corner of her mouth subtly lifted, suddenly feeling that he was really gentle and reliable.

… But that impression completely disappeared once they arrived at her grandparents’ neighborhood.

The seemingly mature and steady man became very uneasy. He paced around the neighborhood for over twenty minutes but didn’t go upstairs. Several times he got close to the building entrance but then lost courage and retreated dozens of meters away. If he hadn’t been carrying big bags and looked nothing like a thief, even the security guards might have come to catch him.

Zhou Leqi found it so ridiculous she couldn’t help but laugh and said, “Let’s just go upstairs, okay? You pacing here like this is no good.”

He didn’t listen, still wandering around, just repeating, “Wait a little longer, wait a little longer…”

Zhou Leqi was totally done with him. She thought for a moment and tried another way to persuade him, “Let’s go upstairs, it’s too cold down here…”

She deliberately blew warm air into her palms as if really feeling cold — even though she wasn’t cold at all, she had a warm patch inside her clothes and he had given her his scarf earlier, her hands were warm enough to almost sweat.

And he actually believed her, quickly saying, “Then you go up first… I’ll calm down and come up later.”

Calm down my foot.

The more he delayed, the less calm he actually was.

Zhou Leqi gave up trying to persuade him and directly grabbed his arm, pulling him along. When they reached the door, he looked quite uneasy but still tried to take several deep breaths to compose himself, probably hoping to appear calm and steady.

Knock knock knock.

Zhou Leqi knocked on the door.

Her cousin Yu Sisi came to open it.

It was the 29th, just two days before Lunar New Year's Eve. Most family members had returned home and were busy cleaning and preparing for the Spring Festival. Yu Sisi had been wiping the windows and still had a cloth in her hand when she opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, she saw her cousin Zhou Leqi and was about to greet her, but when she turned her head, she also saw a tall, handsome man standing next to Zhou Leqi, carrying a bunch of gifts.

Ah, what’s this?

Could it be...

“Auntie—!!!”

“Qiqi brought her boyfriend home—!!!”

...and then the disaster happened.

Actually, Yu Qing’s reaction wasn’t too intense. She just came out after Yu Sisi called her, took a quick look, and before Hou Zihao could even say “Hello, Auntie,” she pulled Zhou Leqi inside and slammed the door shut without a word.

Yu Sisi was dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe that her usually gentle and kind aunt would treat someone so rudely. She was momentarily stunned. She dared not say anything and waited quietly until Yu Qing, with a cold expression, returned to her room. Only then did she quietly go to find her cousin and tug on Zhou Leqi’s arm, asking, “Qiqi... what’s wrong with Auntie? Why is she upset?”

Zhou Leqi hadn’t expected her mom to react like that—just rejecting Hou Zihao outright without even talking. She felt a little panicked and had no heart to say much to her cousin, so after a few perfunctory words, she cautiously walked into Yu Qing’s room.

Yu Sisi stood there scratching her head, then went to the door to peek out the peephole. She saw her cousin’s boyfriend still standing outside the door, head slightly bowed. Although he looked handsome and respectable, he also seemed a bit pitiful at this moment...

But that wasn’t the main issue.

...The main issue was that this man looked somewhat familiar?

When Zhou Leqi pushed open the door and entered the room, Yu Qing was editing footage. Around the Spring Festival, their family always cooked elaborate meals, and some pots and soup bases needed to be prepared days in advance. Yu Qing planned to do a big project and had been collecting footage bit by bit. She even said a couple of days ago that this time she wanted to boost the viewership.

She heard her daughter come in but kept her head down, busy with her work. Zhou Leqi sensed it and quietly came in, closing the door behind her.

She sat beside her mother for a while, watching Yu Qing skillfully edit the footage. After a moment of silence, she asked, “Mom, should I get you a new computer?”

Yu Qing hadn’t wanted to respond, but upon hearing this, she frowned and asked casually, “Why change it? Isn’t this one still pretty good?”

“But it’s been used for a long time, hasn’t it? Like seven or eight years,” Zhou Leqi said quietly. “Besides, Mom, you don’t like him, so isn’t it uncomfortable to use a computer he gave you?”

That one sentence left Yu Qing speechless.

Indeed... the computer Yu Qing was using to edit videos was the one Hou Zihao had given her over seven years ago. At the time, he had lied that it was a prize won at a company event, insisting it was a gift for Zhou Leqi. But Zhou Leqi was in high school back then and didn’t really need a computer, and Yu Qing had just started getting interested in video editing, so she ended up using it.

...Who would have thought she’d keep using it for seven or eight years?

Hearing her daughter bring this up, Yu Qing felt stuck—she couldn’t decide whether to keep editing the footage or not. After a moment, she shut the laptop and crossed her arms silently.

Zhou Leqi fell silent as well, then glanced at her mother’s expression and cautiously leaned in to hug her arm. She was only pushed away twice.

She smiled quietly to herself and leaned on her mom, saying, “Mom... I really like him.”

She liked him just as much now as she did seven years ago.

No matter what had happened between them, she still liked him.

She became a bit emotional. Yu Qing didn’t want to beat around the bush either. She sighed deeply and spoke earnestly from the heart:

“Qiqi... have you really thought this through?”

“What exactly is marriage? I’ve been through it, and in the end, I didn’t get a good outcome... I’m not trying to use my experience to persuade you, but marriage does carry risks and the possibility of pain. You may be very much in love now, but what about later? What if you’re not in love anymore?”

“Maybe he is really good, but he abandoned you once—for a whole seven years, child. How many seven-year stretches does a person have in a lifetime? What if he abandons you again? Could you bear it?”

“I just hope my baby can live more safely... don’t get too emotional, don’t love others too deeply. Protect yourself.”

Her words only touched the surface and didn’t dig into the past pain or current feelings, but it was enough to move Zhou Leqi deeply.

She felt the same way. Because of her parents’ divorce, she had long been skeptical about marriage. She thought marriage was ridiculous—how could a person love only one person for life? After passion fades, living together is just mutual torment, which leads to hatred and hostility, and eventually ends in a broken or even tragic conclusion.

But she believed him—not marriage, not human nature, just him.

And she loved him very much... For this, she was willing to place the biggest bet of her life. Even if it ended badly, she would never regret it.

She was willing to make a resolute and unnatural lifelong commitment with him.

Zhou Leqi’s heart grew calm as she hugged her mother’s arm and explained what had happened seven years ago. Yu Qing had already known most of the story from recent news, and hearing it again from her daughter made it clear that his departure wasn’t abandonment but a kind of brave and foolish protection.

“He really is a very good person,” Zhou Leqi said with a smile, though tears welled up in her eyes. “He’s always taken good care of me... Once, he even got injured trying to save me.”

She then told Yu Qing about the car accident they unexpectedly encountered while looking for Luo Siyu. Hearing this, Yu Qing’s face turned pale. She held her daughter’s hand and looked her over anxiously, as if afraid Zhou Leqi had some unseen injury. But in reality, Zhou Leqi was completely unharmed; it was Hou Zihao who suffered a fractured right shoulder and a concussion while protecting her.

Yu Qing’s expression grew complex and her eyes softened a little.

“He’s also really good at cooking. Over the years, he’s been secretly watching your videos,” Zhou Leqi added with a smile. “He said one time he tried to learn how to make duck feet from your video and messed it up several times, but eventually got it right. He even cooked it for me a couple of days ago, and it tasted just like yours.”

Her voice was gentle and light, the corners of her eyes and brows filled with a soft smile—looking tender and warm, as if she had found the perfect happiness.

Yu Qing didn’t know what to say and was at a loss for words. Just then, Zhou Leqi leaned on her shoulder, a rare moment of affection, and said, “Mom, just meet him... Let’s give him one last chance, okay?”

In the end, after being “punished” with two hours of standing outside, Hou Zihao finally earned the right to enter his future mother-in-law’s home.

The household was split into two camps: the children, who were quickly won over by the small gifts from their future brother-in-law, jumping around and saying “Thank you, brother!” one after another; and the adults, who accepted the gifts but remained ambiguous, neither openly rejecting nor expressing fondness. Especially her two uncles, sitting with their arms crossed on either side, watching Hou Zihao closely, making Zhou Leqi, as a bystander, feel nervous.

But when she saw Hou Zihao politely and sincerely greet her family, and later help Yu Qing in the kitchen preparing ingredients for cooking, a more solid sense of happiness welled up in her heart. She overheard the aunts and grandmother chatting, seemingly praising Hou Zihao for being handsome and well-mannered, looking somewhat satisfied. Her cousin Yu Sisi even excitedly added that he was Zhou Leqi’s first love, and that she had seen him seven or eight years ago, which surprised the elders greatly.

As soon as those words were out, Zhou Leqi naturally became the subject of questioning by the aunts. Before that, she glanced at the man’s figure in the kitchen—he had neatly rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt and was skillfully yet somewhat awkwardly helping her mother. That scene suddenly rebuilt the faith in family she had abandoned since her youth. It became solid, real, and filled with everyday warmth.

We have all been tossed about in the vast maze of fate, watching the bridge of time collapse, separating us on distant shores.

But one day, I met you again, and the wounds of the past stopped hurting. I didn’t even know I could have such courage—to turn past pain into a new vessel, and hope to grow a beautiful flower inside it with someone.

How incredible.

But if that someone is you...

...then it doesn’t seem so unbelievable.

<The End>