SCHS - Chapter 100
Chapter 100
Meng Yuezhu's words drifted down, like a black hole instantly erasing and swallowing all surrounding sounds, leaving only dead silence.
Wen Shixue gazed at her mother before her. Meng Yuezhu was also watching her intently, her gaze clearly focused only on her, yet it made Wen Shixue feel trapped in a net, with nowhere to escape under those eyes, forced to obediently give the answer as her mother wished.
To be honest, she hadn't expected Meng Yuezhu to find out so quickly. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since Qin Zhen's visit.
But thinking about it, she felt it was all reasonable. Today, in front of them, her attitude towards Qin Zhen was neither distant nor overly intimate, but liking someone is something you can't hide. Even if you cover your eyes or your mouth, it will find a way to leak out in every detail.
"Yes," she answered frankly, just as she had charged forward on the day she confessed to Qin Zhen. "I like her."
Playing tricks in front of parents is useless for a child, and she didn't want to hide it anymore. Just like when she got a perfect score as a child and wanted to proudly tell her parents, she now wanted to proudly tell them that she had a perfect girlfriend, so they wouldn't have to worry about her significant other anymore. She had found her correct answer.
Furthermore, the word "panic" didn't exist in her dictionary as a little devil causing chaos. When soldiers come, block them; when water comes, cover it with earth. It was that simple.
Even though Meng Yuezhu had prepared herself mentally before coming in, she still felt startled and shocked when she heard her daughter admit it with her own ears.
This was something they had not anticipated. Wen Shixue was their only child. After she was born, they had imagined her future, guessing whether she would like handicrafts like Meng Yuezhu or enjoy making money like Wen Lianchang. They had also thought about what kind of boy she would like when she grew up – lively, gentle and refined, or perhaps introverted and shy...
They had simply forgotten that she might also fall for a girl, and that this girl was even the teacher they had chosen for her, the one they had personally sent to be by her side.
Meng Yuezhu was silent for a moment.
Wen Shixue looked at her and asked softly, "Can't I like her?"
Meng Yuezhu paused.
Wen Shixue asked again, "Or is it that I can't like women? Should I be with a man, as is generally accepted?"
Meng Yuezhu pursed her lips and said, "Shixue, this is the first time you've liked someone. Do you really understand what liking someone means?"
Leaving aside the matter of her daughter changing her sexual orientation, she had the right to understand clearly whether her daughter was taking this seriously. If she was only liking the other person because it felt novel to be with someone of the same sex, then she had to correct this playful attitude.
"Perhaps..." she said tentatively, "you're just curious about Qin Zhen?"
Wen Shixue suddenly laughed upon hearing this. "Mom, why do you say the same things she did?"
Meng Yuezhu was taken aback and couldn't help but ask curiously, "What else did she say?"
Wen Shixue recalled the day she confessed to Qin Zhen, counting on her fingers as she spoke. "She said I liked her just out of curiosity about what it felt like to be with someone seven years older than me, and told me to think it through. She also felt... sigh, she also felt she wasn't good enough for me."
"So, Mom, back then I could already distinguish between liking and curiosity. I can be sure that I like her. I just want to be with her, to be that indispensable person in her life, and to let her know that she and I are the most perfect match."
She couldn't deny the surprise and helplessness she felt when she first heard Qin Zhen say she felt she wasn't good enough for her. It turned out that someone so excellent and dazzling could also feel so inferior at times.
Fortunately, that was all in the past. Her Qin Zhen now had ample security and no longer worried about being abandoned by her at any moment. They would be together for a lifetime, and no one could separate them, including Wen Lianchang and Meng Yuezhu.
Meng Yuezhu hadn't expected that Wen Shixue not only liked Qin Zhen but was already with her. But what surprised her even more were the things Qin Zhen had said to Wen Shixue – rational yet humble, clear-headed yet restrained. It was completely different from the child she remembered, who was always calm and outstanding, seemingly never feeling inferior.
In her heart, she must really care about being abandoned by her parents...
Seeing that Meng Yuezhu had stopped talking, Wen Shixue leaned over and hugged her waist, acting spoiled. "Mom, I really like her, and she really likes me too. We are both very serious about wanting to be together for a lifetime. And she's just like you said, she's truly devoted to me and treats me well."
"How is she good?" Meng Yuezhu asked.
Wen Shixue immediately opened the floodgates, blurting out, "No matter how tired she is after work every day, as long as there's something I want to eat, she'll definitely cook it herself. She knows I like cola, but she controls me and doesn't let me drink too much, just like you, caring about my health."
"Also, whenever we're outside, if she sees I've forgotten to wear a scarf, she'll immediately give me hers, afraid I'll get cold. Because the doctor said my immunity is low, she supervises me running and exercising every day now."
Meng Yuezhu said again, "Don't you dislike running?"
Wen Shixue said shamelessly, "Yeah, so she coaxed me for a long time and proposed a harmless little condition that I couldn't refuse, and then I agreed."
Meng Yuezhu didn't press her about what this harmless little condition was. Seeing this, Wen Shixue brought out her trump card. "Mom, guess what New Year's gift she gave me today?"
Meng Yuezhu couldn't guess. "What?"
Wen Shixue's eyes curved into smiles. "Her salary card. Lao Meng, you must be able to guess what that represents, right?"
Meng Yuezhu was slightly surprised but quickly fell silent again.
Wen Shixue rested her head on her shoulder and said softly, "Mom, you taught me that whether I like something or not, I should say it directly. And you also said that as long as I could find someone I liked, who also liked me wholeheartedly and treated me well, you would ask for nothing more."
"I can tell you with certainty now, that person is Qin Zhen."
"I like her. Whether she's a man or a woman, I like her, and I only want her."
Meng Yuezhu looked at her daughter beside her, who was both docile and firm, and suddenly realized that at this moment, she had nothing to say to her.
Qin Zhen was a mature and rational child. The problems they, as parents, would think of, she had almost all anticipated in advance, listed them clearly to Wen Shixue one by one, and only chose to be together after resolving them together. Moreover, Qin Zhen had even voluntarily given her salary card to their daughter, which was enough to show whether she was serious about this relationship or just playing around.
But Meng Yuezhu still felt her heart in turmoil, filled with the melancholy and entanglement of her envisioned future for her daughter being overturned, making it impossible for her to truly accept this matter calmly for a while.
She raised her hand and gently stroked Wen Shixue's hair, saying beside her, "Give Mom a little time, let Mom think about it properly, okay?"
How long this time would be, she didn't know. She just needed some time to process.
Whether she could accept it, whether she would give her blessing, this answer could only be given responsibly after she had calmed down.
There had always been no secrets between Wen Lianchang and his wife, so Wen Lianchang already knew about this matter. The snowy night was silent. The two of them stayed up late, which was rare. Meng Yuezhu leaned against the headboard, thinking about Wen Shixue's words, unable to sleep for a long time.
Wen Lianchang looked at the light hanging from the ceiling, slowly processing this sudden reality: the person he had chosen himself had become his daughter's girlfriend. For a moment, he didn't know which was more shocking to him – this, or the fact that his daughter liked women.
But thinking carefully, he realized that he wasn't that repulsed by this matter, and neither was Meng Yuezhu. The reason they felt complicated now was actually more about the helplessness and emptiness regarding the fact that their daughter had completely grown up.
In the eyes of parents, even if a child is fifty years old, they are still a child who needs their love. Many parents haven't even thought that one day their child will spread their wings and fly towards the sky alone, seeking their own life.
The Wen family was wealthy, with enough capital to protect Wen Shixue to be a carefree child for a lifetime. They had indeed thought this way, which was why they initially wanted to arrange her future life properly. But Wen Shixue, through her actions, broke through this layer of shackles again and again, jumping out of their grasp, and stood before them holding the hand of the person she had chosen to love, bravely telling them that she had grown up, could decide her own life, and was no longer a child who needed protection.
This forced them to face the passage of time directly. Their child had grown up, and they had grown old with her. It was inevitable to feel a sense of melancholy and emptiness in their hearts.
However, he still felt comforted in his heart. At least he had personally witnessed the process of his little princess growing into a little queen, even if the person she needed by her side wasn't a prince or a knight.
Actually... there was nothing wrong with that. He thought so.
"Lao Wen," Meng Yuezhu said softly, "What are you thinking?"
Wen Lianchang sat up upon hearing this, smiled, and said very casually, "As long as that child Qin Zhen is truly good to Shixue, I will try my best to process this and accept this fact calmly. After all, we just said that as long as she finds someone she likes, and that person is wholeheartedly good to her, we would ask for nothing more. As parents, we can't go back on our word."
"Besides, you know what kind of child Shixue is. She knows right from wrong, she's stubborn at heart, and she has her own opinions. If we say no, will she really break up with the other person? And after all these years, have you ever seen her try so hard to speak well of someone for anyone else?"
Meng Yuezhu sighed slowly. "That's true... We just want her to be well."
Wen Lianchang held her hand to comfort her. "If you're really worried, then find some time to visit Xiao Qin's home and see. That child is sincere and won't lie. If we have any questions, we can just ask directly, don't keep them bottled up."
Meng Yuezhu nodded and said again, "Let's go in a few days. I need to process this for a couple of days first."
The daughter they had raised for over twenty years turned out to like women. Any pair of parents would need a cooling-off period for this matter. Meng Yuezhu felt that if anyone was to blame for this, it was themselves for not considering this possibility in the first place, which was why they were caught so off guard and bewildered when this new outcome suddenly pried open their understanding and was added in.
Wen Lianchang patted the back of her hand and said softly, "Okay. Don't you dislike staying up late the most when you're not working on something? Go to sleep now."
Wen Shixue waited for two days but didn't get an answer from Wen Lianchang and Meng Yuezhu. If she waited any longer, the New Year would be over. However, what she was most worried about was Qin Zhen's state of mind, fearing that she would feel guilty again because of this, thinking she had let down Wen Shixue's parents.
As she waited, she received news that Meng Yuezhu had gone to Qin Zhen's house, which made her nervous instead.
In the reception room on the second floor, Wen Lianchang refilled her tea. "Why do you look so nervous?"
Wen Shixue couldn't help but shake her leg. "Because Lao Meng went to my girlfriend's house."
Wen Lianchang calmly picked up his tea cup. "So what? Can't she go?"
Wen Shixue: "That's not it. I'm mainly worried that Lao Meng will say some classic lines."
Wen Lianchang: "What classic lines?"
Wen Shixue demonstrated with great feeling: "—Here's five million, leave my daughter!"
Wen Lianchang: "???"
Are there even such classic lines???
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