“Aunt He, this is a business card for the Seafood Private Cuisine House opened by my friend. I see that Qiao Shu little sister loves food. If you have time, you can bring your family to try it. Their seafood is really good. Oh, and if you go to the store, mention my name for a discount.”
At Chu Linchuan’s words, Qiao Shu’s eyes lit up again. She widened them and instinctively looked at the business card he handed over.
Her little glutton cat appearance naturally fell into the eyes of Chu Linchuan, who had been paying attention to her.
He felt confirmed: the little girl was indeed a cute little glutton cat.
Beneath Chu Linchuan’s gentlemanly and courteous face, his lips curved imperceptibly.
“Alright, thank you.”
He Hong took the business card from Chu Linchuan without hesitation.
After all, she knew better than anyone how much her little girl loved food.
“Cui Ping, your second son is really thoughtful. They just met, and he already knows my Shushu loves to eat. Whoever marries your thoughtful and considerate second son in the future will be truly blessed~!”
After praising Chu Linchuan, He Hong took Qiao Shu’s hand and left the Chu Family.
However, what she did not know was that hearing her praise for Chu Linchuan, Cui Ping could not be happy at all.
Because her second son was someone who wouldn’t get married.
All that thoughtfulness and care? Just hot air. First, he needed to have a wife!
For her own “rebellious” second son, Cui Ping had always been at a loss for what to do with him.
So over these years, after seeing her second son drag his feet on marriage and even outright declare that he would never marry in this lifetime, she gave up on urging him to wed. Instead, she shifted all her focus to her third son, hoping only that her youngest could start a family and establish himself soon.
Unfortunately… she didn’t know if he had been influenced by her second son, but her youngest showed little interest in marriage or taking a wife. He could never muster any enthusiasm for it.
The good thing was, her youngest didn’t pull the same stunt as her worrisome second son and blurt out that nonsense about never marrying in his life.
With that in mind, Cui Ping furrowed her brows and looked toward Tian Tian.
“Tian Tian, did you really call A Yan?”
Tian Tian, who had been watching Qiao Shu’s retreating figure with reluctance, shivered under the sharp gaze of her cousin’s mother. She nodded vigorously.
“Cousin Aunt, I really called Third Cousin.”
“You’re sure you explained everything clearly to A Yan when you called?”
It wasn’t that Cui Ping doubted whether Tian Tian had called Chu Linyan or explained properly. It was just that the girl had a little crush on Chu Linyan to begin with, and she was even the old lady’s chosen granddaughter-in-law. So when her youngest didn’t show up, how could Cui Ping not suspect something?
However, Cui Ping had misjudged the situation.
If some other girl had come to steal Chu Linyan away, Tian Tian might have played a few little tricks to sabotage the blind date.
She did like this cousin of hers a bit, after all. He was handsome, smart, clearly full of promise—an outstanding young man. And his family was all kind and easy to get along with. Which young girl wouldn’t be moved???
But if the one on the blind date with Chu Linyan was Qiao Shu, then Tian Tian had zero desire to get in their way. Even if she did want to interfere, it would only be because she felt Chu Linyan wasn’t good enough for Qiao Shu.
After all, for a little fairy like Qiao Shu, which ordinary mortal stinky man could possibly be worthy!
Not even her former top pick, the most excellent Chu Linyan, measured up~!
Of course, Cui Ping knew none of Tian Tian’s inner thoughts.
“Cousin Aunt, I explained everything clearly to Third Cousin. He just replied ‘Got it,’ what could I do? I even told him that the girl coming for the blind date today was super super pretty, pretty like a fairy. But he still…” didn’t come.
Tian Tian hadn’t finished her words when Chu Linchuan, who had just returned after seeing off He Hong and Qiao Shu, overheard the latter half.
“Blind date? Who with whom?”
Chu Linchuan had just gotten back and heard his cousin Tian Tian’s words. He paused for a moment, then quickly understood why He Hong and Qiao Shu had come to his house.
“Could it be that Qiao Shu and A Yan…?”
As he said this, Chu Linchuan’s brows furrowed tightly.
But Cui Ping was entirely focused on her youngest son right now and didn’t notice the expression on her second son’s face at all.
“Yeah, tell me, isn’t Shushu such a great girl? Pretty, sweet, and smart too. A daughter-in-law like that is hard to find even with a lantern. But your brother? He just leaves the poor girl hanging, doesn’t even pick up when she calls… doesn’t come back…”
Cui Ping grew more incensed as she spoke, her heart filled with anxiety. What if He Hong scratched her youngest off the list of suitors because of today’s mess?!
Just as Cui Ping pondered what she could do to salvage her youngest son’s golden marriage prospect, her second son’s voice rang in her ears—
“Mom, I’ve set my sights on Qiao Shu. I think, since there’s no fate between Little Bro and Qiao Shu, and she can’t be your youngest daughter-in-law, there’s no problem with her being your second daughter-in-law, right?”
Cui Ping, who had been so anxious, was utterly stunned by her second son’s words. She stared at him with a look like she’d seen a ghost.
“Linchuan, w-what are you saying? I didn’t hear that wrong, did I???”
“Mom, you heard right. I like Qiao Shu. I want to marry her.”
Chu Linchuan looked at Cui Ping with a serious and solemn expression, his tone utterly firm.
“How could that work? No, no way!”
“No—!”
Once she saw that Chu Linchuan wasn’t joking, not only did Cui Ping reject it outright, but even Tian Tian instinctively voiced her protest.
Chu Linchuan paid no mind to these two refusals.
After all, this was him getting married, not his parents. As long as he coaxed his wife back, that was enough.
Of course, he still spoke to his mother kindly and patiently.
As for Tian Tian? Just a distant cousin staying at his house—her opinion didn’t matter~!
“Mom, you’ve always doted on Little Bro more since we were kids. You’ve favored him all these years, and I’ve never complained. After all, he’s so much younger than me. But on the matter of marriage, I really don’t want to yield to him for your sake anymore.”
Chu Linchuan had long stopped caring about how his father favored his big brother and his mother doted on his little brother after he grew up.
After all, even ten fingers varied in length. It was normal for parents not to treat their kids equally. Besides, his parents treated him well too—they just treated his older and younger brothers even better.
Perhaps it was because of these factors that he didn’t want to get married and have kids like most people.
He worried that if he married and had children, he might not treat them equally either. Or what if he couldn’t even like his own kids?
So, already uninterested in marriage to begin with, he had even less desire to take a wife and have children.
But today, after seeing Qiao Shu, he felt all those worries vanished!
Just imagining marrying Qiao Shu and having a child that resembled the little girl—boy or girl, as long as they carried her bloodline—he knew he would spoil that child with the blood of him and Qiao Shu to the heavens!
Just thinking about it made him want to give her and their child the very best…
“Mom, to be honest, you just like Qiao Shu and want her as your daughter-in-law. Little Bro is your son, and I am too. So whether Little Bro or I marry her, she’ll be your daughter-in-law anyway. It doesn’t matter which son, right?”
Hearing her second son’s heartfelt words, and especially him accusing her of favoring her youngest—which stirred some guilt in her—Cui Ping faltered.
“Linchuan… I… I’m not favoring your brother over you. It’s just that he’s not as quick-witted as you. Apart from being good at studies and smart, he needs someone to carefully look after him in everything else. So I have to focus more on him. But you’re Mom’s son too, and Mom loves you.”
“Mom, I know. You love me too—you just love Little Bro more.”
Chu Linchuan, hardened by the cutthroat world of business, had honed the skill of pinpointing people’s weaknesses.
This time, though, he applied those tactics on his own family for the first time.
He wanted to leverage his mother’s guilt to get her on his side regarding Qiao Shu.
“Mom, I’ve never asked you for anything or begged you for help. Just this once, I hope you can support me. Since A Xiao didn’t show up for the blind date today, it means there’s no fate between them…”
“…Sigh, alright. You’re right. Since your brother didn’t come back today anyway, fine.”
Though Cui Ping still preferred Qiao Shu to marry her youngest—after all, one with a super brain and one with a super pretty face would surely produce a little fairy child as a grandson!
But this was the first time her second son had ever begged her like this…
Fine, fine. Just as her second son said, whether second daughter-in-law or youngest daughter-in-law, it was still her daughter-in-law. The child they bore would still be her precious grandchild.
So, she needed to think about when to personally visit He Hong…
Seeing his mother nod in agreement, Chu Linchuan breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
Though he didn’t care whether his parents approved or not, it was better if they did.
Now he just needed to figure out how to get close to that little glutton cat who loved to eat…
Qiao Shu, who had returned to the Feng Family, had no idea that although she hadn’t met her blind date that afternoon, she had caught the eye of her blind date’s older brother!
Of course, even if she knew… she wouldn’t care too much anyway.
After all, she had already made up her mind to freeload at the Feng Family!
So, she needed to have a frank talk with her future mother-in-law to stop her from tricking her into blind dates from now on!