Back Then, I Adored You

When Mother Qin spoke to Gu Yusheng the second time, her tone was clearly relaxed. She was not highly educated nor was she well read, and her conversation with him was about daily trivial matters, but he was not the least impatient, gladly discussing the price of eggs with her in detail.

The more they talked, the more pleased and satisfied Mother Qin was. Toward the end, she could not help but compliment his family, secretly in her heart, for having raised such an accomplished son.

……

After dinner, Gu Yusheng went to the corridor and lit up a cigarette while Mother Qin and Qin Zhi’ai were washing the dishes in the kitchen.

Halfway through his cigarette, he recalled that initially, before they had started eating, Mother Qin had thought that Xiaowang was her future son-in-law.

Did Mother Qin actually think that Xiaowang is more handsome than me?

Gu Yusheng leaned against the wall and chewed his cigarette. As he was pondering about how he could make her favor him more than Xiaowang, his eyes inadvertently swept across the electric meter on the wall across from him.

Gu Yusheng stopped puffing out smoke momentarily and rolled his eyes. He walked up to the electric meter and scrutinized it. Then he looked for the electric meter for the Qin home and ruthlessly broke a fuse when he found it.

Through the half-open door behind him, he detected that it was pitch black inside the house and, subsequently, Mother Qin’s voice rang out, “Why is there no electricity?”

Gu Yusheng snubbed out his cigarette with his fingers and quickly entered the house, asking, “Is there no electricity?”

“That can’t be possible. We just paid the electric bill a few days ago…” While Mother Qin said this, she took a flashlight and rummaged through a drawer for the electricity card. When she found it, she went into the corridor and inserted it into the electric meter but the lights in the house still did not light up.

“This is strange…” Mother Qin muttered before turning around to look at Qin Zhi’ai. “Xiao’ai, give the facilities department a call to see if anyone’s on duty now…”

“Auntie Qin, that’s not necessary. Let me see what’s wrong.” Gu Yusheng’s voice stopped Qin Zhi’ai from making the call. While he knew he had caused the problem, he pretended to seriously investigate for some time using the light in the corridor, and he then turned around and said, “The fuse broke.”

After a pause, Gu Yusheng asked politely, “Auntie Qin, do you have a spare fuse?”

“Yes, I’ll go get it.” Mother Qin turned and went inside. After some time, she returned with a new fuse.

Gu Yusheng took it from her and, under her gaze, he agilely changed the fuse to the new one. The interior of the apartment behind them lit up brightly.

Mother Qin’s face was full of smiles. “Xiaogu, we’ve truly imposed on you.”

Gu Yusheng’s lips curled up slightly, and he replied without an ounce of embarrassment, “Auntie Qin, what is this imposition that you’re speaking of? This is part of my responsibilities.”

Upon hearing his reply, Mother Qin smiled even more brightly.

……

There was a saying that the more a mother-in-law looks at her son-in-law, the more she will like him. Toward the end of their visit, Mother Qin was more than pleased with Gu Yusheng, and he had passed the test as a son-in-law. The only other test would be dropping the news about their little peanut.

Gu Yusheng did not dare tell Mother Qin directly that she had a granddaughter who was more than a month old. Thus, he intentionally beat around the bush and said, “Auntie Qin, I plan to host my wedding with Xiao’ai next month. In your opinion, will this be alright?”

Mother Qin had always hoped that Qin Zhi’ai would marry young and, now that she was extremely satisfied with Gu Yusheng, upon hearing this question she replied without hesitation, “As long as Xiao’ai is fine with this, I’m fine as well.”

“Mother-in-law, beyond this, there is also another matter. I’ve discussed this with Xiao’ai, and we will bring you back to live in Beijing.”