Professor Lu and Dr. Shen - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4.1

-1-

While strolling through Xinghai Square on a business trip in Dalian, I came across a newlywed couple slowly riding in a carriage. 

The bride, adorned in a long white veil, sat beside her groom as they gazed at each other with pure happiness under the blue sky and gentle breeze. Despite the bustling street, they looked like the only two people in the world.

The carriage passed by me, and it made me yearn for my wedding day. 

When I returned, I excitedly told the scene to Teacher Lu, feeling like it was all just a dream. 

To my surprise, he immediately caught on and said with a knowing smile, “You finally want a wedding?”

‘Brother, you understand everything!’

 Me: “A bit, I want to do it before I move to the second stage, but time is a bit tight.”

 Teacher Lu: “It’s not a problem; you don’t have to find a husband now.”

 Me: “…”

-2-

During the wedding preparations, I was busy with the exams, leaving the planning work to Teacher Lu. Therefore, I completely became a hands-off shopkeeper.

After completing the exams, I flew back home and settled down at Teacher Lu’s house in G City.

Upon seeing how much weight I had lost from all the stress, Teacher Wu expressed her concern and insisted on making me nourishing soup to help me regain my strength.

[TL:- Just a reminder. Teacher Wu is Teacher Lu’s mother.]

“Don’t worry about it,” I protested. “We’ve all been busy with preparations; even Zhizhou has lost weight.”

Teacher Wu held my hand and said seriously, “Don’t feel bad for him. Let him know how difficult it is to have a wife.”

Teacher Lu bit the green vegetables and protested. “Why do you have double standards?”

“I can have double standards,” she responded confidently.

I chuckled and thought to myself, ‘Such duplicitous maternal love!’

Anyway, Teacher Wu didn’t forget to leave Teacher Lu nourishment soup. 

-3-

Ever since my wedding date was set, Lao Shen had stopped boasting to others about his daughter’s upcoming marriage. Instead, he was telling others that he was not going to attend the wedding.

My mother: “How can a father not attend his daughter’s wedding?”

Lao Shen: “I don’t want to attend. Letting a father attend his daughter’s wedding is simply the cruellest thing in the world.”

My mother deliberately provoked him, saying, “Some people were too selfish. Unlike you, I have given birth to two daughters in this life.”

Old Shen was on the verge of tears, exclaiming, “Do you want to break my heart even more?”

-4-

Old Shen and Ms. Shi were waiting for me in the living room when I returned from outside before my wedding.

There was tea on the coffee table, and the atmosphere was very solemn.

“Xiaoxiao, come here; I have something to tell you.” Ms. Shi’s expression was so serious that my heart skipped several beats. Fortunately, she called me Xiaoxiao instead of Shen Hanxiao; otherwise, I would have decided to save my life. Just run away.

“Don’t be nervous, Xiaoxiao. Your parents just want to have a chat with you,” Old Shen reassured me with a smile.

We sat around the coffee table with a pot of fragrant lapsang souchong and three white porcelain cups. It was time for the lecture portion of our day.

I couldn’t help but feel wary as she spoke, knowing how she often bullies Old Shen and everyone else around her. But I promised myself not to use any of her tactics against Teacher Lu.

For his part, Old Shen seemed to be deliberately provoking her, pretending to mind his own business as he drank tea and refilled his cup. But I could see that he was having fun stirring things up between them.

The entire lecture process unsurprisingly turned into a quarrel between the two.

My mother: “Marriage requires management.”

My father took a handful of new tea leaves and said, “A marriage that always requires management is not a good marriage.”

Ms. Shi rolled her eyes at me more than a hundred times.

My mother: “Love and marriage are two different things.”

Lao Shen: “In the final analysis, they are the same thing.” 

My mother continued to teach me while giving Lao Shen an evil eye. “In addition to love, marriage requires a sense of responsibility.”

Old Shen put his feet on the ground and whispered, “Everything requires a sense of responsibility.”

Anger had begun to burn between the two of them.

My mother continued her lecture, speaking quickly and angrily, “After you get married, you must stay true to yourself, be independent, keep learning, and not rely on others.”

Old Shen interrupted with a pat on my hand. “And if you don’t want to be yourself, don’t want to be independent or study, just come back to Daddy.” I’ll always take care of you.” He looked at me with a smile that melted my heart.

Ms. Shi slammed the teacup on the coffee table and glared at Old Shen: “Can you let me finish?”

Old Shen was frightened by Ms. Shi’s loud voice, and his momentum immediately withered. “Finish. You can finish; you are the head of the family.”

“Then why are you interrupting?”

Old Shen began to make a new pot of tea pitifully.

Ms. Shi sat upright and straightened up. “Getting married is about living together. Sometimes you will inevitably be wronged. Be patient and bear the burden, and don’t be too willful.”

Lao Shen finally couldn’t help but interject. “It’s not just about living together. Daughter, don’t wrong yourself; it’s okay to be willful. Dad will support you.”

Ms. Shi said angrily, “You can talk more than me.”

Looking down in shame, Old Shen muttered, “I just don’t want our daughter to suffer. After raising her for over 20 years, we can’t just send her off to someone else’s family so easily.”

“And who said she would suffer?” Ms. Shi shot back.

“Didn’t you just say she should put up with being wronged?” Old Shen retorted.

“Which one of your ears heard me say that? I simply said she should be patient and not too willful.”

 …

As their arguments escalated, my brother and sister came out of their rooms. They just looked at their parents, then turned to me and said, “Sister, why are you just sitting there? Run!”

I really forgot to run. 

I snuck back into the room and pressed my ear against the door to listen.

After a heated argument, Lao Shen scolded, “How can you expect our daughter to learn from you when you can’t even give me any respect in front of her?”

Ms. Shi must have realised how contradictory her actions and words were because she quickly retorted, “It’s all your fault for always competing with me. I haven’t finished talking yet. Shen Hanxiao, come here.”

I quickly jumped onto the bed, turned off the lights, and pretended to be asleep—I was really asleep in three seconds.

The next day, it was already past nine o’clock when Lao Shen and Ms. Shi finally woke up.

My sister said while yawning, “Our parents drank black tea at night and couldn’t sleep, so they put their arms around each other and watched the moon on the balcony all night.”

“They did?” I asked in disbelief.

My sister replied bitterly, “Dad woke me up at three in the morning and said mom was hungry for chicken soup with rice noodles and red mushrooms. They scolded you. Why am I always the unlucky one?”

When I heard the rice noodles, I immediately drooled. “This is your honour, do you know? Hey! Do you still have the chicken soup and red mushroom noodles? Give me a bowl!”

Shen Hanjiao: “…”

Have a nice day!