They quickly arrived home, and from the shoes at the front door, Xue Ning's parents had also arrived back home. Jingwei wanted to linger hesitantly at the doorway to buy time to think of a way to apologise, but Xue Ning pulled him inside.
Her father was sitting on the couch with the TV on, but his eyes were dazed, and he didn't look like he was paying attention to the melodrama playing on the TV at all.
"Hi Dad, what are you watching?" Xue Ning said, and Li Tai Cheng startled, as though not expecting people to return.
"Oh you're back!" Tai Cheng said, and then his eyes caught Jingwei's and an indescribable look crossed his face. Jingwei bowed low again.
"Hi Uncle," he began hesitantly, wondering how he should apologise. How could he say 'sorry that my food made you cry, even though I had no idea how this could have happened?'
"How are you?" He asked instead, trying to not sound too nervous even as his palms began sweating again. Xue Ning felt it too, but she still continued to hold his hand.
"Sorry for… sorry." He finished lamely.
"I'm fine," Xue Ning's father smiled gently. "Your cooking just surprised me and my wife, that's all."
"Ah," Jingwei said. 'At least he said 'surprised' and not 'shocked',' Jingwei thought to himself. He looked around, wanting to apologise to Xue Ning's mother, but she wasn't in the living room.
"Where's Mom? Did she go off to bed already?" Xue Ning asked curiously.
"Yes, today has been a long day for her." Her father paused and amended his statement. "For all of us. You should be preparing for bed too."
"Dad, since you've mentioned it…" Xue Ning began hesitantly, walking closer to her father, purposely widening her eyes while twiddling her thumbs. Jingwei wanted to coo at how adorable he found his wife! She was like a kitten with big sad eyes, begging for a cuddle.
"What are you trying to do?" Her father asked warily, surprised at his daughter's behaviour. He knew his daughter well-enough; she would never bother acting cute unless she wanted permission for something she knew he wouldn't approve of.
"Can Jingwei and his bodyguards live with us?" Xue Ning asked, and was promptly greeted by her father choking on air. "Dad! Are you okay? Drink some water!"
At her words, Jingwei hurriedly went to the kitchen to grab a cup of water to give to him. Tai Cheng had to give him points for being proactive, even as he hacked up a globful of saliva at his daughter's shocking words!
"Thank you, but did you rinse this cup?" He asked hoarsely.
"... No?" Jingwei replied sheepishly. "Should I have?"
His answering sigh was loud, and he put the cup back on the table. Jingwei grabbed it and went to wash the cup and refill it.
Meanwhile, Xue Ning was eagerly trying to convince her father to let Jingwei stay.
"Dad, before you reject me, please listen to me first!"
"No," her father replied flatly, pointedly turning up the volume on the TV, focusing on the show. From the TV, a man screamed when he found out his daughter got knocked up by her boyfriend, and said boyfriend refused to take responsibility.
How apt.
Xue Ning then stood in front of the TV with her hands outstretched to get her father's attention. "Dad, you know that our town doesn't have a hotel. It only has a dingy motel where everyone goes to screw people. How can you let Jingwei stay there?"
"Why not? He can just sleep alone then."
"But what if he gets drugged by random women and then taken advantage of?"
"He has his bodyguards. They can all sleep in the same room - It's not as though he's screwing them," her father pointed out. "Unless… he is?"
Tai Cheng then shot Jingwei a suspicious look. Was he a man that slept with his bodyguards? He wouldn't be the first rich heir to do so. He was already willing to paw his daughter in their kitchen, who knows - maybe he would paw his guards when alone too!
"Dad! If you're going to do this I'm going to pack and stay in the motel with him too!" Xue Ning declared, and her father's mouth dropped in horror.
"Definitely not! Over my dead body! The both of you cannot be left alone together! Especially not in a motel!" He yelled in outrage.
The both of them had no qualms about carvoting in the kitchen. If he sent his daughter there to the motel with him, it'd be as good as giving Sun Jingwei blanket permission to do whatever he wanted with his daughter under the blankets! In 9 months, he'd be holding his first grandchild!
"Relax Dad, that's why I offered to let him stay here," Xue Ning said, her face a picture of innocence. "That way, you and Mom can keep an eye on us both!"
Jingwei blinked. That didn't sound like a good thing.
Tai Cheng rolled his eyes in exasperation and crossed his arms. "My dear daughter, there's a better solution. How about you stay here, in your house, where you belong, while that perverted boyfriend of yours and his bodyguards go to the motel instead!"
"Sure, but if you send him away, I'll sneak out to see him anyway." Xue Ning promised. "You can't keep me here, I'm an adult."
"You - "
"But that'll be unfilial, so I have another suggestion!" Xue Ning said excitedly, her eyes gleaming.
"If it's Jingwei and you in a motel room, I disapprove." Tai Cheng began to rub at his temples.
"No it's not, but If you send Jingwei to the motel without me, you'll have to accept the money he gives you for the restaurant repairs."
Tai Cheng's eyebrow twitched. So this was his daughter's plan all this while? To manipulate him into taking the money Sun Jingwei offered in exchange for keeping her at home?
He didn't know where to applaud her for this half-baked scheme or smack the back of her head. What had she learnt in Shanghai?
Meanwhile Jingwei could only mentally applaud. His wife was a genius, to weigh the pride of her parents against their willingness to keep them apart!
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