Dark Fire chapter 46
Meeting the Parents
The entire afternoon, Ling Zhuo was absent-minded, appearing distracted and lost in thought in front of the camera.
By evening, after the recording ended and other guests and staff left, Ling Zhuo followed Lu Chixie back to his small villa. After changing clothes, Lu Chixie took a phone call and then reminded him, “Let’s go. My mom invited us for dinner.”
Ling Zhuo finally snapped back to reality: “Why didn’t you say earlier that your mom would be here? I wasn’t prepared at all, and didn’t bring any gifts. How awkward. What if your mom thinks I’m impolite?”
Lu Chixie said, “You’re overthinking it. I didn’t know she would come today; she came over last minute. As for gifts, it would be more appropriate if she gave them to you. Don’t be awkward. You don’t have to say she’s your idol, just be a little sweet when you meet her. My mom is very easygoing.”
But Ling Zhuo was still nervous. Meeting his idol and his boyfriend’s mom all at once was too overwhelming; no amount of mental preparation could calm him down.
Lu Chixie had no time for his hesitations and directly took him to another large villa halfway up the mountain.
The doorbell rang twice, and the person who opened the door was Xu Yusen, leaving Ling Zhuo stunned.
Xu Yusen greeted them with a smile, but Lu Chixie ignored him and pulled Ling Zhuo inside.
An Xin walked in from the small garden behind the villa, arranging freshly picked flowers in a vase on the living room table. She smiled and spoke to Ling Zhuo, who was still a bit disoriented, “You must be Ling Zhuo, right? I often see you on TV.”
Lu Chixie lightly nudged Ling Zhuo’s waist: “Say hello.”
Ling Zhuo snapped back to reality, blushing as he said, “Hello, Auntie. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
An Xin, who was in her early fifties but looked around forty due to proper care, had retired from acting for several years. She looked almost the same as Ling Zhuo remembered but appeared even more approachable and kind in person.
An Xin smiled warmly, “I’m also very happy to meet you. Let’s head to the dining room and chat while we eat.”
In the dining room, seeing Xu Yusen joining them, Ling Zhuo instinctively glanced at Lu Chixie for an explanation. Lu Chixie replied coldly, “He’s my cousin.”
Ling Zhuo: “…”
Xu Yusen smiled at him, “What a coincidence, I didn’t expect to have dinner with you.”
Ling Zhuo felt a lump in his throat and managed a dry laugh.
An Xin asked, “You two know each other? That makes sense; it’s normal for people in the same industry to know each other.”
Xu Yusen explained, “Auntie, Ling Zhuo and I debuted on the same show. He was first, I was second. I got to know him before my cousin did.”
Lu Chixie coldly reminded him, “Ling Zhuo earned his first place through real talent; you bought yours.”
He then turned to An Xin and said, “The previous exposure of my relationship with Ling Zhuo was done by this guy. He even fabricated a scandalous girlfriend for Ling Zhuo.”
Xu Yusen also added, “My cousin didn’t hold back either. I lost two endorsements and a film role because of his behind-the-scenes manipulation.”
An Xin scolded Xu Yusen first: “It’s one thing to cause trouble for Chixie, but don’t involve innocent people. I won’t criticize you for the negative news you exposed to suppress competitors, but fabricating lies is unacceptable. Don’t do it again.”
Xu Yusen begrudgingly admitted his fault. An Xin then turned to her son, “You should also refrain from bullying others. This time it’s Xiao Sen’s fault, and I won’t complain about your retaliation. But many people have complained about your behavior, saying you’re arrogant and reckless. You should tone it down. It’s always better to leave some room for others.”
Lu Chixie scoffed, “Who’s so petty that they can’t confront me directly and have to come to you to gossip?”
An Xin appeared resigned to her son’s behavior and abandoned the lecture, speaking to Ling Zhuo instead: “Xiao Zhuo, can I call you that?”
Ling Zhuo quickly nodded, “Auntie, feel free.”
An Xin continued, “Chixie has a bad temper and a terrible personality. I know it’s tough for you being with him. As his mother, I haven’t taught him well, and now it’s too late to change him. I don’t want to ask you to tolerate everything, but if you can endure his bad temper, don’t let him go. I’m actually quite surprised he found someone so quickly.”
Ling Zhuo was surprised by how An Xin spoke about her son.
Lu Chixie frowned, “Mom, don’t talk about these things with Ling Zhuo.”
Xu Yusen gleefully remarked, “Auntie isn’t wrong. You should be grateful to have found someone. Maybe one day Ling Zhuo will see your true colors and decide to leave you.”
Ling Zhuo wanted to say something nice about Lu Chixie, so he said, “Auntie, Lu Ge is actually a really good person. He has always taken care of me and helped me a lot. Besides his occasional bad temper, I don’t think he has any other flaws.”
An Xin seemed surprised by Ling Zhuo’s defense of Lu Chixie, noticing his sincere expression. She was taken aback and then smiled, “Is that so? It seems I underestimated my son.”
“Mm,” Ling Zhuo affirmed, “Lu Ge is indeed very good.”
Lu Chixie squeezed Ling Zhuo’s hand under the table.
Xu Yusen, not satisfied, said, “Ling Zhuo, have you not seen his true colors? Why are you defending him so much?”
Ling Zhuo: “He never hid anything from me.”
Xu Yusen: “Be careful, or he might sell you out.”
Lu Chixie put some food on Ling Zhuo’s plate: “Ignore him.”
An Xin reminded them, “You two, tone it down a bit. Don’t make a fool of yourselves in front of Xiao Zhuo.”
After dinner, An Xin sent Lu Chixie and Xu Yusen to the garden to pick more flowers for her, leaving Ling Zhuo to accompany her for tea.
As Ling Zhuo drank the tea An Xin brewed herself, he gradually felt more at ease.
An Xin put down her teacup and asked him, “Do you like it?”
Ling Zhuo nodded, “It’s very good, thank you, Auntie.”
An Xin smiled, “Actually, I wasn’t surprised that Chixie brought you to meet me today. He mentioned you to me not long after he met you, saying that he had met you a few years ago and had never forgotten you. Now that he’s met you again, he is determined to pursue you. So from the beginning, I never intended to oppose your relationship.”
Ling Zhuo felt touched and thanked her again, “Thank you, Auntie.”
An Xin said, “You don’t need to thank me; I should thank you. What I said at the dinner table wasn’t meant to scare you. No mother wants to belittle her own son. Chixie developed his personality partly because of me. I have three children, and Chixie, the youngest, resembles me the most. I had high expectations for him and pushed him to do many things he didn’t want to do. When he was little, he was very obedient and well-behaved, probably the most sensible child in our family. So both his father and grandfather had high hopes for him, and even his older siblings held him to high standards.”
“Perhaps it’s true that extreme pressure leads to a counter-reaction. When he was sixteen, he did something that shocked the whole family. He secretly applied to a high school abroad, got his visa without telling us, and ran away alone. By the time we found out, he was already abroad. Our family took turns visiting him, trying to persuade him to return, even scolding him, but it was useless. He was determined to escape. Only then did he reveal his true nature, saying he was tired of pretending to be a good kid and wouldn’t play along with us anymore.”
An Xin smiled bitterly, “We realized he was set on his path and feared pushing him further away, so we let it go. Fortunately, he came back on his own after having his fill abroad and chose to be an actor like me. But I knew he wasn’t doing it to fulfill my wish; he chose this career because it’s free and less restrictive.”
“I’ve always worried that no one could hold him down and that he might become even more unruly. Fortunately, you appeared. For the first time in many years, I’ve seen a serious expression on his face when he talks about pursuing you.”
“So I’m telling you all this, hoping you won’t give up on him as long as he’s not too bad. This is my selfish plea as a mother.”
Ling Zhuo felt complicated. An Xin’s words were entirely unexpected. When Lu Chixie had casually mentioned his past before, Ling Zhuo had some thoughts, but he never imagined that Lu Chixie’s current personality was shaped by his family’s pressure.
Thinking about this made him feel uneasy, “Auntie, Lu Ge is not bad. I really like him, and I’m willing to accept him as he is. You don’t need to worry.”
An Xin sighed in relief, “It’s good that you’re willing to accept him. Really, Xiao Zhuo, thank you.”
Ling Zhuo felt a bit embarrassed. After all, An Xin was his idol, and hearing her speak to him in such a tone felt strange.
He glanced out at the garden through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Xu Yusen was diligently picking flowers, while Lu Chixie seemed absent-minded, discarding any flower he didn’t like.
“Xiao Zhuo,” An Xin called him again, “Is your mother Professor Chen Meixue?”
Ling Zhuo was stunned, “Yes.”
An Xin laughed, “Really? That’s such a coincidence. Professor Chen was my father’s student. I saw her many times when she was doing her Ph.D. under my father. We had a good relationship back then. She later graduated and returned to her hometown in the south. She brought you to visit my father once when you were very young. I remember Chixie was staying with my father then. You two must have met. Chixie even said he gave a toy I bought for him to the little brother from Auntie Chen’s house.”
Ling Zhuo was completely taken aback. Did that really happen? He had no memory of it.
An Xin winked, “I haven’t told Chixie about this. He probably doesn’t remember either. You should tell him yourself.”
Ling Zhuo: “…Thank you.”
Lu Chixie and Xu Yusen had already returned. Lu Chixie looked impatient. An Xin glanced at the flowers they picked and seemed dissatisfied. This time, she sent Ling Zhuo and Xu Yusen to pick flowers, leaving her son behind.
Lu Chixie sat down on the sofa, frowning, “Mom, do you have so much to say to Ling Zhuo? Don’t scare him.”
An Xin sighed, “I didn’t scare him. I was speaking on your behalf. Did you acquire shares of Haitian Group? Even your father is alarmed. Don’t go too far. You should pursue someone sincerely, not by using every possible means to trap them.”
Lu Chixie: “Dad used every possible means to pursue you back then too. I’m just following his example.”
An Xin was speechless.
Lu Chixie: “Mom, don’t interfere in my relationship with him. Just help me convince Dad. By the way, sign an autograph for Ling Zhuo. He’s your fan and has idolized you since childhood. He probably feels shy asking you directly.”
An Xin: “Really?”
Lu Chixie: “Why would I lie?”
An Xin beamed, “Xiao Zhuo is a good kid. I came here unexpectedly today and didn’t prepare a gift for him. I’ll make it up next time. I’ll give him an autograph and a collector’s edition of my film set.”
In the garden, Xu Yusen stopped working and said to Ling Zhuo, who was carefully picking flower branches, “Everything I said this afternoon was true. You still don’t believe me?”
Ling Zhuo didn’t lift his head, “What you said is true, but Lu Chixie is definitely not like that.”
Xu Yusen: “You trust him that much?”
Ling Zhuo: “If Lu Chixie were like that, you would have listed his faults one by one and might even show me evidence. You wouldn’t be trying to stir things up with vague accusations. Because he isn’t like that, you can only make up stories to provoke us.”
When he mentioned this, he frowned slightly, then looked up at the person in front of him: “Since you’re Lu Chixie’s cousin, why do you dislike him so much? Do you think talking about him behind his back is funny?”
Xu Yusen replied, “What if I told you I have feelings for you.”
Ling Zhuo initially wanted to mock him a few more times, but seeing the look in his eyes, he immediately shut his mouth.
…What a joke.
Xu Yusen self-deprecatingly said, “I clearly met you before him. If only I had made a move three years ago.”
Ling Zhuo: “You wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Xu Yusen: “Why wouldn’t I?”
Ling Zhuo replied, “You’re not good-looking.”
This person wasn’t as attractive as Zhong Yiran, let alone comparable to Lu Chixie. Ling Zhuo’s taste wasn’t that low.
Xu Yusen’s face finally fell.
Ling Zhuo continued, “Besides, I met Lu Chixie earlier. You never had a chance.”
After speaking, he saw that the flowers were almost picked, and he planned to go inside. As he turned around, he thought of something and turned back to the devastated Xu Yusen, saying, “Stay away from me in the future.”
Xu Yusen asked, “Do you really dislike me that much?”
Ling Zhuo replied, “Your cousin is very possessive. If you don’t want to lose thirty resources next time, don’t say things like this to me again. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it this time.”
Xu Yusen was left speechless.
Later, after sitting with An Xin for a while, they each returned to their respective residences.
Ling Zhuo and Lu Chixie walked back along the lakeside path. As night fell, Ling Zhuo felt a bit cold, and Lu Chixie took his hand.
“My mom said, next time she sees you, she’ll give you a complete set of her movie collection, all autographed.”
Ling Zhuo was overjoyed, “Really? When?”
Lu Chixie teased, “Are you that eager to see her again?”
Ling Zhuo replied, “Are you jealous of your own mom?”
Lu Chixie squeezed his hand hard, “What did my mom say to you?”
Ling Zhuo said, “Nothing much, just chatted a bit about you. She told me to reluctantly accept you.”
As for having met him when they were kids, he didn’t plan to mention it yet. He would wait until he got home next time to see if that toy was still there. It should be; he didn’t have the habit of throwing things away.
Ling Zhuo continued, “By the way, why didn’t you tell me earlier that Xu Yusen was your cousin? It scared me. How did he get into Jiaxin? Isn’t Jiaxin a company with a deep cooperation with Leguo?”
Lu Chixie: “What’s there to say? When it comes to business interests, things aren’t always so clear-cut.”
Lu Chixie stopped walking and turned to look at him.
Ling Zhuo: “What’s wrong?”
Lu Chixie: “Just ignore whatever Xu Yusen said. He was like that before, but I’m not.”
Ling Zhuo nodded, “I know.”
Ling Zhuo took a step forward, leaned in, and hugged Lu Chixie.
Lu Chixie asked, “Are you acting cute again? Planning to offer yourself?”
Ling Zhuo swallowed the “yes” that was on the tip of his tongue.
Never mind, he thought. He would wait until Lu Chixie’s birthday and give him a birthday ‘present’.