Unfortunately for him, his hesitation was all the opportunity Ming Guang needed. With two quick strides, he easily subdued Tai Xuan's errant fists with his own, twisting his arms behind his back the same way Yue Niang did to Poh Jin Lian.
"Oi, get your servant to let me go, you bastard!" Tai Xuan yelled as he tried to escape, furiously straining at Ming Guang's hold so that he could make a second attempt to beat Sun Jingwei into a pulp. He stared up at Jingwei, with misplaced hatred in his eyes.
"You dare to knock up my sister, but you don't dare to suffer the consequences? Coward! Face me like a man, damn it!"
"What consequences are you talking about? I'm not pregnant!" Xue Ning declared hotly, throwing both hands into the air in exasperation. "Guys, I'm not pregnant! Even if I were to have sex before marriage, do you think I'd be dumb enough to not use protection? I'm not Ge!"
Both parents had to concede that point. Meanwhile Tai Xuan's face flushed an ugly red, both from the exertion and from his sister's words.
"I'm only introducing my boyfriend. It's not as though I got pregnant and we are getting a shotgun marriage, unlike someone I know. Why are you treating me worse than Ge when he thought he knocked up his girlfriend?"
"You knocked up your girlfriend?" Xin Yu narrowed her eyes as she glared at her husband, crossing her arms. "When was this? Who is the girl? Why did I not know about this?"
"It was before I met you, Xin Yu," her brother quickly added, not liking the frown on her face. "It was just a pregnancy scare! If she was really pregnant, how could I marry you? I would have married her!"
"I see," her sister-in-law said, her voice deceptively even, a sign that she was unhappy. "Why didn't you tell me this when I asked about your exes?"
"I - it's not important!" Tai Xuan replied, blustering. He had to redirect the blame to survive.
"And that's not the point - we are talking about Xue Ning's relationship! If I didn't tell you about one ex, I'm sure Sun Jingwei didn't tell my sister about all his exes! He probably doesn't remember half of them!"
Everyone turned back to look at Xue Ning, casting Jingwei disapproving looks.
"Hey, I've met his ex-fiancee! And his bed partner! I had a great time!" Xue Ning declared. Those weren't technically lies. She had a great time fighting Zhou Yu and Xiumin. They probably didn't have a great time facing her, but that wasn't her problem!
Her mother's eyes nearly bulged out at her words.
"Yah, Li Xue Ning, don't get smart with me! Didn't you swear to your father and I that this man was just a good friend of yours? Someone you just happen to help? That the whole wife situation was faked? Now you're telling me that the both of you were dating all this while?"
"That was not what I expected from the phone calls," her father agreed, his voice a lot milder than her mother's, but he was also looking at them disapprovingly.
"Did you take your father and I as fools? You even got Wei Yan to pretend to be your fake boyfriend because you didn't want us to find out! When did you learn to lie like this?" Her mother continued hotly.
"Hey, I didn't make Wei Yan do it! He offered without telling us! I was surprised too!" Xue Ning protested. She was a liar, but she didn't rope in other people!
Everyone turned to Wei Yan.
"It's true," Wei Yan said, nodding. "I thought that those Neighbourhood Association women would continue to pick on Miss Li if they found out she was still single, so on a whim, I decided to lie."
The women reminded Wei Yan of rude people in his hometown. When he saw Xue Ning cornered and cut down by their well-meaning words and not being able to retaliate, he instinctively jumped in to help!
If he got to pretend to be her boyfriend, just for that short while… It was still worth it.
"And why didn't Sun Jingwei here just tell people she was his girlfriend? Yah, Sun Jingwei, are you ashamed to admit that you're dating my daughter?"
"We were keeping it a secret!" Xue Ning exclaimed. "He wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to, because I knew both of you would disapprove! Just like now!"
"And that makes it okay to lie to us?" Her father asked, sounding strangely hurt. "We disapprove because we care about you, and we don't trust him with your welfare." Tai Cheng glanced at Jingwei from the corner of his eyes.
That boy looked crestfallen, and a small part of him felt pity. But a bigger part of him was determined to protect his daughter from his playboy ways! The worst case scenario had happened - his youngest had been taken in by a handsome face and charming smile, just like all the girls he must have had before.
"Dad, you and Mom don't even know Jingwei well-enough to disapprove of him so fiercely! I know his online reputation is shit," at this, Xue Ning gave Jingwei an apologetic look.
"In fact, I also judged the shit out of him when I first met him! I thought he was an idiotic rich kid who was an utter dickhead."
Jingwei could only laugh weakly. He's still idiotic and rich, but at least he's was becoming a better person day by day, thanks to Xue Ning's presence in his life.
"Then? Why did you still go for him? I know we lack money, but surely you didn't think of pimping yourself out. I heard about the houses -"
"Hey! How could you say this about your own sister? Just because you don't like me, doesn't mean you should insult your sister's character! You're behaving just like those aunties earlier!" Jingwei yelled in protest, eyes burning as he glared at Tai Xuan.
He had held his tongue all this while since it wasn't his place to argue in a family dispute, especially when said dispute was caused by him, but he couldn't sit back and let Xue Ning be unthinkingly insulted by her own family!
Tai Xuan got madder at his words. How dare this privileged stranger lecture him about how to talk to his sister! "Outsiders shouldn't interfere!"
"Why can't he interfere?" Xue Ning retorted challengingly. "He's the main thing we are arguing about!"
Before anyone could reply, she continued to rant, as though a dam had been broken inside her mouth.
"And I have to say one thing Ge - since I've met him, he has never, never ever implied I was a slut, a prostitute or gold-digger! Unlike you, my own brother! He has treated me with kindness and love, respect and care! So much so that sometimes I don't even know how to deal with it!"
"He's not what the rumours paint him to be. Even if you don't trust him, surely you should trust me to decide who I want to surround myself with!"
Xue Ning ended her speech defiantly, once again lifting Jingwei's hand in hers. Her last words echoed in the restaurant.
Jingwei was torn between telling her to not fight with her parents for his sake, and crying ugly tears because once again, Xue Ning had defended him from the judgemental eyes of people!
He had to become a better person, to be worth Xue Ning's love and devotion.
"Uncle, Auntie, I know I cannot convince you right now about my character, but with time, I hope you give me a chance to be accepted in your family!"
Jingwei then bowed low, surprising everyone present.
The high and mighty Sun Jingwei, the wealthy second son of cutthroat billionaire Sun Haowei, the same man that had struck fear in the Poh couple and admiration among the crowd had willingly lowered his head to them, an ordinary couple running a family restaurant!
Yue Niang and Tai Cheng could only trade incredulous looks of surprise.
"Please give me approval to date your daughter! I promise that I will never let your daughter suffer any hardship, and I will do whatever it takes to help her achieve her dreams! I will always love and support her, in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer - "
"Stop right there, youngster," Tai Cheng said warningly, holding up a hand. Jingwei fell silent respectfully, his head still bowed.
Tai Cheng rubbed at his temples. Why was his spiel sounding remarkably like a wedding vow? Weren't they talking about dating? Why did it seem like this man was asking permission to marry Xue Ning for real?
"Mom, Dad, I have to let you know something! Even if you don't give your permission, I'll date him anyway! So you should just accept it!" Xue Ning declared rebelliously, gazing at her shell-shocked parents, daring them to react.
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