Honey Stewed Squid

Chapter 18 - Having a Blind, Matchmaking Date!

……

Her charade had suddenly been bluntly exposed, and she did not know at all what she should say.

Her mouth opened slightly, and dazedly, foolishly, she stared at him.

In a single second, the atmosphere around seemed to drop to the freezing point.

Cousin looked disbelievingly at Tong Nian, then looked at her blind date whom she had only just met for the first time. What was going on? What kind of situation was this? The two of them knew each other?

But after tossing the pair of cousins into an awkward circumstance, this man, whose words had been blunt and had given no regard to anyone’s feelings, carried on to turn around and release the foot brake. Turning the vehicle into the frontage road and driving on that roadway that was bathed in the light of a row of delicate streetlamps, he easily passed the few vehicles ahead of them and then accelerated towards their destination.

Cousin did not want to let him hear any more of her dialogue with Tong Nian. Grabbing Tong Nian’s hand, she used only her eyes to ask her question: What’s going on?

“We,” Tong Nian stammered a bit, then quietly answered, “aren’t that acquainted. We just know each other…”

Know each other? One had resided outside of the country for years and only just returned to China in December of last year. The other, due to fear of flying, had never gone abroad. Furthermore, there was a ten year age gap between them. How did they even meet?

Cousin swiftly made her assessment: An online friend?

Tong Nian hurriedly shook her head. “No, no. We just met each other by chance.”

Cousin looked dubiously at her. She did not appear to be lying, but yet, no matter how you looked, you could tell she was still hiding something. Since young, this little girlie had always been relatively simple, and when she lied, any ordinary person could see through it… much less someone like her cousin, whose emotional intelligence tended to be comparatively higher.

When their vehicle arrived at the destination and she and Cousin stepped out of the car, the latter was immediately pulled away by Auntie to inquire how things had gone in this first interaction with him. Worried that Auntie and Cousin would interrogate her, Tong Nian made up the excuse that she was going to wait for her mom’s vehicle to arrive and silently stood alone behind the glass door.

Through the glass, she watched as vehicles continually came to a stop.

Handing his keys to the valet, Gun stepped in through the huge revolving glass door to discover her there. “Still not heading in?”

Her hands were stuffed in her coat pockets, and she tried as much as possible to make herself feign that nothing at all was the matter. “I’m… waiting for my mom to come.”

In Gun’s eyes, the little girl was completely forcing on expressions of “I’m fine” and “I don’t care about you.”

He recalled in his mind that sentence he had said a moment ago in the car. Indeed, an ordinary person would interpret it as having crossed the line a little. “I am not interested in your cousin, so I am trying as much as possible to not allow her to develop any interest in me.”

“……” And why is he telling me this? …

“That’s why the things you said in the car were obviously just causing more trouble.” Gun drew on his patience to explain to her, “I don’t need approval or agreement from an outsider about my occupation, especially from someone I won’t really cross paths with in any way in the future. And even more so, I don’t need to explain myself. Understand?”

Even though he did not feel he needed to explain, this little girl could be considered one of the rare, few girls he had ever come in contact with in the many years of his life and could also be considered a friend, so he could not leave her feeling too chagrinned. “As for why, in the car, I laid out in the open that we knew each other, it’s because it would otherwise be a lie that’s not sustainable. In just a while, my younger cousin is going to come. He’s going to recognize you and will definitely state the truth, so from the very beginning, there was no need for us to pretend that we are strangers to each other. Understand?”

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His younger cousin?

She processed that for a moment. It wouldn’t be… that particularly tall boy who had worn the cap the whole time, would it?

“Feeling better about it now?” he asked in conclusion.

“… Feeling better…”

“Then let’s go?” He felt that this time, when he returned to Norway, he would most certainly be able to easily take on all the duties of a family nanny. In a few short days, his patience had practically grown geometrically.

With an “oh,” Tong Nian obediently followed him inside.

The two of them stepped into the private room that had been reserved ahead of time. Due to traffic congestion, only half of the people had arrived for now.

Auntie was still murmuring away with Cousin. Clearly, the former was simply too pleased with Gun’s family and educational background. However, it was also clear that the latter was too repulsed by his lack of a proper occupation and his arrogance and rudeness. Tong Nian’s foot had just stepped into the room before Auntie was pulling her over and, in a kindly, gentle voice, asking about what kind of person this man was since, after all, the two of them knew each other.

Remembering what Gun had said to her, Tong Nian did not know whether she should say good things or purposely speak ill about him. Unable to decide, she simply shook her head and said, “I honestly don’t know him all that well. We just met a week ago, and all I know is that he is really good at gaming.”

“What about his character? Is it true that he doesn’t bother to have a proper occupation? Or is he… just faking it?” Unresigned, her aunt persisted with her questions to get to the heart of the matter.

“… You can’t really consider him as not having a proper occupation, I guess…”

She was worried they would continue asking her, so pretending that she needed to make a phone call, she pulled out her mobile phone and hid herself away in the farthest corner.

As she sipped a drink, she tapped at the screen of her phone, randomly going from Changba[1] to YY[2], then to Bilibili, Weibo, etc., etc. So long as it was a site that she could pass some time in, she would make her rounds through it.

Her mom was the last to arrive and walked in together with her dad. Finally, she breathed out in relief. She was about to tell her mom to come sit beside her when, caught off guard, she soon noticed that young man behind her mom who was wearing a baseball cap and K&K’s team uniform. Without any expression on his face, the young man quietly stepped inside and looked around left and right. Spotting Gun first, he nodded in what could be considered a greeting.

Then, he saw Tong Nian.

In a seldom-seen moment, a slight, peculiar expression actually showed on Dt’s face. After recognizing Tong Nian, he turned once again to look puzzledly at Gun.

“Little Bai, you’re here?” Smiling, the grandfatherly man hurriedly beckoned at Dt for him to go over. “Come, let Granddad have a look to see whether you have grown in these last few months.”

… Still growing? Tong Nian could not help arching her head up to visually gauge Dt’s height.

“If he grows any more… he’ll hit the doorframe. And plus, it’s not good to be taller than your big brother[3]…” she thought silently to herself.

While her attention slid away to muse on this, she suddenly felt her arm being nudged. Snapping her mind back, she realized that everyone’s eyes were on her.

Huh?

Why are they looking at me?

“Come, Nian Nian. Come here. I’ll introduce you to this grandson of mine.” The elderly man was practically itching for them to immediately get to know one another, sit together for the dinner, and then in the end, after discovering that they were so, so right for each other, announce the following day that they intended on getting engaged. “Your parents have seen him twice before, when he was young.”

Tong Nian was once again dazed and out of sorts as she stepped over.

While she walked, she thought, this time, she couldn’t pretend that she did not know him…

Dt, on the other hand, very distinctly perceived what this grandfather of his was trying to do. His expression shifted once again, and somewhat disbelievingly, he stared at Gun, beginning a silent exchange of information with him through their gazes: What is this?

Gun had a look of “this matter doesn’t concern me” on his face: It’s very obvious.

Dt’s eyes moved to the side and slid over Tong Nian: What kind of joke is this?

Gun shrugged, the meaning of that very obvious: It’s your own problem. Solve it yourself.

Dt was in a very bad mood.

Gun had already turned his gaze away, and offhandedly picking up a magazine that had been tossed onto the sofa, he began leafing through it.

Dt shifted his gaze forward again. Tong Nian was already standing dutifully by his grandfather’s side, and the elderly man was holding her hand warmly. He used one-tenth of a second to make an assessment of the situation. Though he had previously hoped that the little lady would give the affections of her heart to another and not end up being ruined by Gun, who was so full of nonsense, it was also apparent that, when weighed against the little girl’s happiness, he even more so did not want to be dragged into this whole thing.

“Little Bai, this is Nian Nian, your Grandpa Tong’s granddaughter—his youngest granddaughter and also, in the family, the apple of everyone’s eye[4].” Grandfather beamed as he looked at Dt.

Calmly, Dt made a decision. “Oh, I know her.”

“You know her?” Everyone was surprised by this.

Dt nodded slightly. “I think she… is my older brother’s girlfriend.”

In an instant, not a sound was heard in the room…

All around, it fell into a deathly stillness.

……

……

“Little Bai—” Gun threw down his magazine and swiftly stood up from the sofa.

“You don’t say anything!” Grandfather suddenly spoke and cast a surly glance at him. “Since young, you’ve never spoken many words of truth. I’m not listening to you. Little Bai, carry on.”

Dt understood when he should continue pressing the issue and when he should drop it, and hence, he did not embellish anything, merely giving an appropriate shake of his head. “I don’t really know anything concrete. The people in our club all call her Sister-In-Law.” This could not be considered a lie anyway.

Tong Nian…

… had completely frozen in shock already.

What was going on? …

“Nian Nian, come here.” From behind her, her mom took her by the arm, enclosing her in an embrace as she asked softly, “Is it true?” Simply too scary. Why had a boyfriend suddenly popped out from nowhere? If he were to be paired with Tong Nian’s older cousin, then at least there was only a few years age difference and could be considered a suitable match. But if he and Tong Nian were together…

Tong Nian’s mom frowned, glancing quite displeasedly at Gun: too old.

“No.” Tong Nian shook her head, then shook it some more. “Honest, it’s not that.”

“Then what is this about?” Mom felt even more that something was amiss. The look on her little daughter’s face was clearly indicating that something was the matter.

Tong Nian wanted to cry, but this was beyond tears. In a quiet voice, she told her mom, “I’m honestly not his girlfriend.”

In the entire room, besides the four who belonged to a younger generation, the rest were all people who had lived the greater part of a lifetime already.

How could they not see that the little girl was embarrassed and discomfited?

And there was Dt’s open, unperturbed expression as well as… Gun’s obviously roiling emotions…

Her cousin and auntie suddenly understood.

Auntie was somewhat angry but was also somewhat frustratingly helpless to do anything. These kids were thin-skinned and refusing to tell the truth. What could she do about it? Auntie shook her head and, with some regret, looked over this future son-in-law whom she had spent a long time carefully selecting. Honestly, he was not bad at all. How was it that… he liked the very young Tong Nian? Didn’t he feel that the age gap was a bit too much?

The room was filled with all sorts of different gazes brimming with different expressions, all sorts of instances of people biting their tongues to contain the words on their lips.

And all sorts of “you get it, I get it, we all get it…”

For the first time in his life, Gun tasted the feeling of frustration from falling into a spectacle of a situation. Somewhat awkwardly, he stood by his grandfather’s side. Several times, he attempted to speak, but each time, the elderly man glared at him and caused him to swallow his words. Irate at this feeling of helplessness, he turned a dangerous glare on Dt: You don’t want to live, do you, punk?

Beneath the brim of his ball cap, Dt’s eyes contained a calmness that was beyond what any normal person would have. It completely carried a candidness in it that said, “Who told you to cross my bottom line and try and make me the bad guy?”

It was evident the elderly man very much liked this little girl, who you could tell in a single glance was very simple. However, it was also evident that the elderly man wanted to match the little girl up with his favourite grandson [eldest grandson born of one’s daughter(s)]. But… oh well. The matters of young people these days were not things you could predict.

The elderly man finally sighed, “Since Little Bai has already told the truth, you don’t have to explain. Go pay your respects and greetings to your Uncle and Auntie Tong, and you can consider this your first time officially meeting them.”

Ah?!

Tong Nian gripped her mom’s sleeve tightly and frantically shook her head. “Honest, no. Mom, you need to believe me. I swear, it’s honestly not that…”

Her dearest mother, however, simply stroked her head, coaxing her in a soft voice and saying somewhat resignedly, “Don’t interrupt when elders are speaking.”

Gosh, were it not for the fact that he was a member of the Han family, they would have turned their noses up at someone so old.

Mom and Dad exchanged a look, extremely disgruntled about this “boyfriend” who had suddenly come out of nowhere.

……

With her eyes, Tong Nian appealed to Gun for help.

The latter swiftly considered possible solutions. He could not allow himself to consider other outside factors anymore. His elderly grandfather was already more than ninety years old. If he truly were to defy and talk back to him, he could not even predict what might happen. And furthermore, it was the Lunar New Year’s celebrations now… Wordlessly, he closed his eyes and made himself calm down. From a trust perspective, in his grandfather’s eyes, the amount he had was absolutely in the negatives and was not even comparable to Dt.

The elders who were present at this moment all most certainly believed that he had tricked the little girl into being with him and then did not even want to take responsibility for it by admitting to it.

With the circumstances as they were, explaining was equivalent to making up excuses.

Unless Dt, that little punk, admitted that he was lying… But it was obvious that he would absolutely not retract any of what he had said.

……

“Han Shangyan!” The elderly man was becoming increasingly displeased, even addressing him by his full, formal name.

He blew out a long breath. Putting his phone into the pocket of his pants, he walked forward, step by step, and moved toward Tong Nian.

When he so close he was only one step away from her, he slowly came to a stop.

And then, using a motion that was very pleasing to the eye, he extended his right hand. “Hello, Auntie, I am Han Shangyan. Nian Nian and I have only just been together for not very long. Without her consent, I did not dare pay a visit to you and Uncle. My apologies.”