Shen Lingfeng returned to his bedroom to get ready for bed. His mother, Wang Rong, sent him a WeChat message: "Son, are you asleep?"Shen Lingfeng: "Just about to sleep."
No sooner had he sent the message than Wang Rong sent a video call request.Shen Lingfeng helplessly accepted the call. "Mom, it's already late."
"Did you get your marriage certificate today?"
Shen Lingfeng replied with a simple, "Mm."
"Did you meet the person? What do you think?""It was the first time we met, and we didn't say much. There's nothing much to say."
He believed Xu Zhen wouldn't reveal her true thoughts so quickly.Seeing that Shen Lingfeng seemed uninterested, Wang Rong could almost be sure that he wasn't fond of Xu Zhen. She had never met Xu Zhen, but she had heard that she was very beautiful. However, clearly, her son wasn't someone who valued beauty above all else.
As for her character, though Shen Laozi (Grandpa Shen) said she was a good girl, Wang Rong found it hard to believe that someone from a broken family—whose mother was unreliable, and whose stepfather and brother were involved in shady dealings—could be untouched by those influences. It really was unfair to her son.
She could only hope that this daughter-in-law was merely greedy for money and wouldn't stir up any trouble.
"Where are you staying?" Wang Rong asked."Tianhua Garden."Shen Lingfeng said as he rubbed his forehead. He had been in meetings all day and had drunk a few glasses of alcohol during a social event. Now, he was exhausted.
Upon hearing this, Wang Rong was sure that her son hadn't yet seen Xu Zhen as his wife. Shen Lingfeng had a villa in He Yuan, which was by the mountains and rivers, and usually, when he wasn't working late, he would return to that villa. Tianhua Garden was only a temporary place.
It seemed that her son felt the same way she did. This daughter-in-law, forced upon him by Shen Laozi, still needed some time to be accepted.
She had originally worried her son might be swayed by beauty, but now she felt relieved and smiled."Rest well. Good night."
The video call ended.
Shen Lingfeng lay on the bed, thinking about what Xu Zhen had said in the restaurant earlier.In his high position, he was sensitive and suspicious. When she mentioned her concern for Grandpa Shen, he wasn't surprised at all.She probably thought that in order to secure her position in the Shen family, she had to pretend to care for Grandpa Shen, to cling to his leg.
The next day, due to his late night, he didn't wake up until 7:30 AM, an hour and a half later than usual. By this time, Xu Zhen had already left for work, but she had made him breakfast: a boiled egg, a cup of hot milk, and three slices of toasted bread.
His preferences for breakfast were probably shared by Grandpa Shen, but he never ate bland boiled eggs. He preferred fried or scrambled eggs.He sneered at the boiled egg on the table.She was trying to please him, but didn't put much thought into it, didn't bother asking how he liked his eggs.
He ate the toast and drank the milk, leaving the boiled egg on the table. When she came back, she would see that she hadn't won him over, but instead had revealed her lack of sincerity.
The story continues with Xu Zhen at work. At the OCL Bank, she rushes to clock in and handles a text from her troublesome half-brother, Wang Shenghua, who is asking for money again. She chooses to ignore his call and message, despite his threats. Later, her colleague Yang Hui shares gossip about the bank's acquisition by AK, which she finds unsurprising.
Later, Xu Zhen visits her mother at home, where they share a meal of her mother's famous cilantro beef noodle soup. Xu Zhen notices how much her mother has aged, making her feel both heartbroken and helpless. Despite living under the same roof, her mother rarely makes this dish due to the cost of beef.