For the time being, she did not want to make their relationship public, but they still had to go the route of making things official with her family, mainly because her mother has been chasing after her about this for half a year.
"Teacher Yu's family still doesn't know?" Big Sister Ling asked over the phone.
"Ya, his parents are not as into the gossip like my mother, who knows more gossip news than me." Moreover, she surprisingly could instantly recognize Yu Tu from such a blurry picture.
"Then when will Teacher Yu tell his family? He wouldn't just directly bring you home and scare them, right?"
"...You're the one who scares people. He said that he'll go back and tell them today. After a few days, I will go to his house. He's continuously been on assignments in the second half of this year and only returned from the launching site a few days ago. By reading the news, you will know how busy they are. Anyway, there hasn't been any good opportunity to talk to his parents. Aiya, you ask so much. What gifts should I bring to his house?"
In the living room of her Lujiazui home, Qiao Jing Jing was squatting on the carpet. While she was talking to big sister Ling, she was fretting over the piles of gifts on the floor.
"Didn't I tell you earlier? Two sets of silk pajamas, a scarf, and two bottles of wine will do. Just quickly put away your high-end skin care products and so on. Too expensive."
"Oh... My mom uses this one." Qiao Jing Jing put that skincare set to one side.
While she said this, there was movement at the doorway. It should be Yu Tu coming back after work. Qiao Jing Jing said, "I'm not going to talk anymore. Yu Tu is here to pick me up."
"Let him thank me for helping you to reject so much work!"
"Finished packing yet?" Yu Tu hung up his overcoat and walked into the living room.
Qiao Jing Jing turned on hands-free, held up the mobile phone, and said to him, "Come quickly. Big Sister Ling said to let you thank her for not arranging work for me during Chinese New Year."
Yu Tu drew nearer, stooped down, and laughingly said over the phone, "Thank you, Big Sister Ling, for taking care of Jing Jing this year."
Big Sister Ling: "......"
Did he have to be so Gary Stu (seemingly perfect character with no flaws)?
Originally, she just wanted an expression of gratitude, but why did she feel that she got a plate of dog food (internet slang meaning public display of affection)? She was speechless and hung up the phone.
Qiao Jing Jing beckoned to Yu Tu. "Take a look and see what your mother likes."
Yu Tu looked at the things scattered on the floor and pulled her up. "Just bring yourself. My mom likes pretty girls the most."
Was Teacher Yu teasing her?
Qiao Jing Jing's eyes sparkled. "Then, I have many kinds of prettiness. I can be pure, or mature, or dignified. What kind do you... oh, does your mother like?"
Mr. Yu spent a lot of "energy" to prove that he liked every kind, so their departure time was much later than planned.
For this time where they were going back to Jing City, they took Yu Tu's ordinary car that he had newly bought. In fact, before dating Qiao Jing Jing, Yu Tu had had no intention to buy a car in the short term. After all, his house was close to his work unit and there was still more than ten years of mortgage payments left for it. However, things are different when you have a girlfriend.
Sitting in the car, Qiao Jing Jing replied to a few WeChat messages. "My mom asked us what time we'll arrive."
Yu Tu glanced at the time and said, "Probably about half past nine."
Qiao Jing Jing looked at his seemingly very calm and collected appearance. "You'll meet my parents in a little while. You're not nervous at all?"
"For something which I've been looking forward to, what's there to be nervous about?"
Humph! He made her indecisiveness in choosing gifts seem like she was lacking in confidence. Qiao Jing Jing deliberately said, "Do you still need me to help you to switch on the navigation system this time?"
"It's such a small map, so I won't trouble such a pretty......" Before Qiao Jing Jing had the chance to feel proud, Yu Tu turned around and said, "..... mobile phone."
Qiao Jing Jing's mobile phone case has always been shiny, indeed very pretty.
"Hey!"
While smiling, Yu Tu leaned sideways and kissed her lips. "Fasten your seat belt."
Tomorrow was already Lunar New Year's Eve, so there were a lot of vehicles going out of the city. Qiao Jing Jing still switched on the navigation system. It was not that she was afraid that he would lose his way. It was mainly to see if there were any traffic jams on the expressway.
Not long after he drove out of the neighborhood, Yu Tu's mother's phone call came in. It was inconvenient for Yu Tu, who was driving, to answer it, so he turned on hands-free.
Qiao Jing Jing immediately kept quiet.
"Mom."
"What time will you be arriving home?"
"Probably about eleven o'clock." Yu Tu also included the time he would spend at Qiao Jing Jing's home.
"Do you want me to leave some food aside for you?"
"No need, I have eaten."
Mrs Yu said, "Oh", then suddenly heaved a sigh and called his name. "Yu Tu."
While sighing, she said, "Your aunt wanted to introduce a girlfriend to you last year, but you refused to go and meet her. She is already married and pregnant this year. You should also be considering marriage, which is an important event in your life. I am not pressing you, but after all, each year your dad and I are getting older, and each year our health are deteriorating ..."
As she spoke, her voice began to get hoarse and her mood also appeared very pessimistic. Yu Tu's heart tightened. He did not worry about explaining that he already had a girlfriend and instead quickly asked, "Mom, what's going on?"
"Nothing, just suddenly thought of that, so I said a few words. Call us when you are almost here." She said a few more words like she was trying to cover up for something, then hurriedly hung up the phone.
Yu Tu's heart felt restless, so he parked the car on the side of the road, dialed his father's mobile phone, and asked directly, "What's going on with mom? How is her health recently?"
"Nothing. She's very well, watching TV every day," Mr Yu said in a loud voice.
Yu Tu heaved a sigh of relief. "She seemed emotionally unstable when she called me just now."
"Nothing. She is all neurotic from watching a TV drama. It's that one acted by that person, that big star of our hometown, Qiao Jing Jing. Recently, the TV drama she acted in is being broadcast, and your mom has been watching it every day. It seems that yesterday the father of that character she plays was diagnosed with terminal illness. Your mother cried while watching it, and she cried again while watching the rerun just now. She says that the girl has a hard life. I told her it is fake, but she said that I don't understand. Let her be."
Yu Tu: "......"
Mr Yu made a lot of complaints and in the end hung up the phone without fully expressing everything he wanted.
The two people on this end of the phone became silent for a while.
"... This drama is a bit melodramatic.. .but the ratings are very high..."
"Isn't it a little unkind of you people to broadcast a story line like that during Chinese New Year?"
"The TV station arranged it!" Qiao Jing Jing cried injustice.
Yu Tu restarted the car and said helplessly, "It seems that I have no choice but to bring the leading actress back to let her take a look."
"In fact, after a few episodes, her father will be saved, but the next few episodes have a lot of angst..." Qiao Jing Jing muttered. For some reason, an idea suddenly flashed in her brain, and she quickly shouted, "I know! U-turn! Go to Big Sister Ling's home. I've thought about what gift to give your mother. It's much better than the gifts I prepared before!"
Jing city.
Mrs Yu was watching TV at home while waiting for Yu Tu. Suddenly the phone rang, and she picked it up.
"Mom, I am exiting the expressway and will arrive home in about 20 minutes."
Mrs Yu looked at the clock on the wall. It was only a little after ten o'clock. "How come you're early?"
Yu Tu made a "hmm" sound and said, "Originally, I was going to take a friend home first, but I've now changed my route plan."
Mrs Yu didn't think much about it. She knew that her son bought a new car with his bonus and savings and automatically thought it was probably his colleague or classmate or such getting a free ride from him. After hanging up the phone, she couldn't sit still, so she thought she might as well call Mr Yu to go downstairs together to wait.
After waiting downstairs for more than ten minutes, a black car with a Shanghai A license plate appeared at the intersection. She thought it should be Yu Tu's car. Sure enough, the car stopped in front of her. The car door opened, and the son she had not seen for a long time, wearing a dashing overcoat which she had never seen before, came out from the car.
"Mom, how come you've come down?"
She stepped forward to welcome him and was about to talk, but from the corner of her eye, she saw the front passenger door also open. A graceful figure came out from the other side of the car.
She couldn't help but stare blankly.
The person her son was conveniently giving a ride to was actually not a male colleague?
Before she had time to recover from the shock that "the person her son was conveniently giving a ride to was surprisingly a girl", that graceful figure had already come before her and smiled sweetly at her.
"Hello, auntie, I am Yu Tu's girlfriend.
"I heard that you are unhappy after watching the TV drama, so I helped you to bring all the subsequent episodes. Start watching from episode 30. The subsequent episodes are not angsty at all but very sweet."
She was all smiles when holding the computer (which she had directly grabbed from Big Sister Ling's house because there was not enough time to make a copy). Her eyes looked like tiny moons with her smiles. Very sweet.
Mrs Yu looked at her and also looked at the computer in her hands, then looked at her smiling son who stood to the side. She was completely frozen with shock.
On the afternoon of the next day, Mrs Yu called a group of distant relatives to watch the drama together in the living room. This drama was very popular lately, so everyone had been chasing it.
Yu Tu's eldest aunt (eldest of sisters in mother's family) was very surprised. "Where did you get these from? You have all the subsequent episodes. The TV has only broadcast to episode 20. This pirated version is too fast."
"It's not pirated. It's a legal version!" Can't be anymore genuine. The leading actress personally gave it to her.
"Can I get a copy of this? I will ask my family's Bin Bin to come and copy it."
"No. You can only watch at my house. I have to return the computer to someone."
After Yu Tu's father's oldest sister watched for a while, she remembered to ask, "Where is Yu Tu? Didn't he come back yesterday?"
"He went to a friend's house to have a meal and also to help them sweep the snow." A smile appeared on Mrs Yu's face.
"At a time like this, he's still going to people's house to have a meal. Oh, by the way, did you tell Yu Tu about the blind date arrangement?"
"I still haven't told him, but I am not telling him." Mrs Yu looked calm and collected and pointed at the leading actress on the computer screen to say, "I want a daughter-in-law like this now."
Yu Tu's father oldest sister: "......"