First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 15 Translation

015. Lin Li’s person

On Saturday morning, Lin Xiao Fen gets up very early in the morning as usual. She gets busy in the kitchen for the father-daughter pair for the early morning, but today is not like the past. The kitchen today appears to be exceptionally lively. Gu Heng Wen and An Ran also gets up early, and the two get Lin Xiao Fen to stop.

Breakfast was not that abundant, but it was very nutritious. Lin Xiao Fen slowly cooks the congee, and Gu Heng Wen goes out to buy steamed buns as quickly as possible. An Ran also has the intention to make fried eggs, even though it did not turn out looking that nice.

On the dining table, the three have a tacit understanding not to ask about what had happened yesterday evening, however regarding the lies that was spun last night to their son-in-law, Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen clearly have not forgotten them.

“Ran Ran, I forgot to ask yesterday. What does Yi Cheng do?” Lin Xiao Fen asks. Concerning Su Yi Cheng, she seems to be quite pleased about him.

“Uh..” An Ran was surprised, unable to come up with an answer. Not even talking about what he does, she doesn’t even know his family members.

“You didn’t ask him?” seeing her odd expression, Lin Xiao Fen guesses the answer.

“N-no, he’s an assistant for a foreign enterprise, the company’s quite big. As to what the company is called, I can’t really remember it right now.” An Ran quickly explained. She remembers that the time when bureau chief Tong saw him, and treated him with politeness, even calling him special assistant Su or something like that. She’s guessing that his company scale ought to be quite big, and also his post ought to be a bit high.

Gu Heng Wen nods, “What his post is and in what company, doesn’t really matter that much. What’s important is that his character is good.”

Smiling, An Ran nods her head, and lowers her head to concentrate on eating her congee.

“Well, since you’ve already received that certificate, when do you guys plan to do this wedding?” Lin Xiao Fen asks again.

An Ran was truly shocked, wedding! She didn’t even think about that. Furthermore, yesterday when she ‘proposed’ to Su Yi Cheng, she said that they don’t need to do a wedding. “Mom, we… We’re not planning to do one.”

“Not doing one!” Lin Xiao Fen wrinkles her brows and frowns, and turns to look at her husband.

Gu Heng Wen puts down his chopsticks, grabs a napkin to wipe his mouth, looks at An Ran and asks, “An Ran, tell dad and mom honestly. You agreed to marry Yi Cheng, is it because you still couldn’t let go of Mo Fei? We’ve already asked Lin Li, she said that Mo Fei is back.”

An Ran was caught off guard, she still feels a thread of pain tightening across her heart. She puts on a vague expression, “No, me and Mo Fei have already no connection since 6 years ago.” She casts her eyes away after finishing, and lowers her head to take a big spoonful of congee.

Her reaction was quite obvious, regardless of her lowering glance anyone could tell.

Gu Heng Wen quietly sighed, and says, “The journey is your own. What you choose, how you go about it, only you yourself can decide. Your mother and I merely wish that you won’t regret it later.”

An Ran raises her head, looks at her father, and nods.

After finishing breakfast, An Ran returns to her room. She took a while to consider giving Lin Li a call as she feels that there is a matter to apologize for, and attitude is very important.

The phone rang for a good while before it was finally connected, not as good as the past, this time Lin Li’s manner of speaking is cold and peculiar.

“Hey hey girl, this afternoon we’re having lunch together.” An Ran also does not fear, she smiles as she speaks.

“No time.” Lin Li coldly declines. She still hasn’t cooled down.

“C’mon, let’s go out. I know that Gong Yuan road just opened a new western restaurant. I heard that that place’s steak is really good.” An Ran said to lure her.

Lin Li is indeed known as a food lover, having good appetite, and despite always eating, she does not gain weight. Thinking about their university days in their dorms, there was one time when they went to the dining hall pretty late, the food was already reflecting light. Surprisingly, there was still food leftover, and the two girls mentally traced back to their dorm and remembered that there was still some snacks. Considering all that, they took those kind of snacks [from the cafeteria].

Their dorm is on the 5^th floor, and the travel to the dining hall isn’t too far. Each person scoops some food into their hands and prepare to go upstairs, in Lin Li’s vision, she sees layers and layers of each flight of steps, and can only sigh hungrily in defeat. An Ran eyes her, and says that they already have the food in their hands, you can only walk and eat at this point. On the journey up, they barely reached the 5^th floor  when they hear a voice cry out “Lin Li!” from behind, asking if they’re still getting food from the canteen. An Ran puzzlingly looks at both hands, empty as a bucket, and asks, where’s your food? Lin Li eyes her oddly, ‘I ate it’ she says as she turns around and runs down excitedly, her mouth muttering, didn’t know there was still more food in the canteen. 

On the other side of the phone, Lin Li was silent for a while. Finally, she coolly says, “Pick me* up at noon, or else I* won’t go.” (the ‘me’ she uses here is one for widowed empresses.)

An Ran smiles, if she didn’t mishear, she had heard Lin Li swallowing down her saliva. But of course, she didn’t mention it, and quickly answers, “Yes, LaoFoYe/ Empress Dowager.”

When An Ran arrived at Lin Li’s house at noon, Cheng Xiang was the one to open the door. Cheng Xiang is a refined lady-killer, his skin fair and clear, his glasses especially accentuates an intellectual air. At the time when Lin Li was bewildered and utterly lost by this intellectual air, she still had the guts to chase after him for years with starry eyes. Finally, at a moonless night and when the winds were great, she successfully won him over.

“You’re here.” Cheng Xiang greets her warmly.

“Yes~ where’s your Empress Dowager?” An Ran asks. Her, Cheng Xiang, and Lin Li were all schoolmates, even after graduating so long ago she still keeps in touch with the two of them.

“Still changing.” Cheng Xiang invites her into the living room to have a seat, as he goes into the kitchen to pour her a cup of water. As he pours her water, he says, “Actually, there’s no need to go out to eat. I can make whatever you guys want to eat.”

“Sure.” She has already had a taste of Cheng Xiang’s craftsmanship, his cooking is as comparable to a high-class kitchen.

“If you’re thinking of falling, heng! I won’t give you servant a chance for my darling Xiang.” Lin Li was ready, coming out from the change room. She sees Cheng Xiang politely hand over the cup of water to An Ran, and reaches out with a hand to intercept it. She tips her head as she drinks a big mouthful, and hands back the empty cup to Cheng Xiang. She looks at An Ran and says, “In the future when this person comes here, you don’t need to serve her any beverages.”  Lin Li is also a beauty, if only she didn’t speak, she would absolutely be in accordance with China’s traditional sense of a beautiful woman. Big eyes, fair skin, tall stature, and a seemingly inherent peaceful temperament… If she didn’t speak she would absolutely be a daughter of a noble house. However, with an open of a mouth, a kick of a foot, that temperament of the daughter of a noble house is completely gone. Besides that, you get the opposite—a bandit girl from the mountains.

With defeat, Cheng Xiang smiles at An Ran, while An Ran smirks with understanding.

“Let’s go, why are you still sitting? You still consider yourself as a guest?!” Lin Li says frowning.

An Ran hurriedly gets up, “Okay okay okay, Lao Fo Ye (empress dowager). I (used to refer oneself as lower) will hold the door for you.” She says as she steps forward to support the open door.

           

Lin Li nods her head in satisfaction, “This is not too bad.” She turns to Cheng Xiang and gives him a gentle smile, and says, “Hubby, I’m going out.” She moves closer to give Cheng Xiang a kiss on the cheek. It’s only with Cheng Xiang that Lin Li will show off this side of her—the charming attitude of a woman. Seeing this kind of attitude nearly made An Ran gag, but Lin Li gave her a threatening look that hid her tyrannical abuse, a look that she had slowly perfected. So after being tormented for nearly 10 years, seeing these scenes of saying goodbye, An Ran has already perfected the art of appearing indifferent.



---END OF CHAPTER---

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