Yan Xuming had planned to accompany his mother for shopping today. Since he started university, he has only been home during the winter and summer vacations. There was always too much going on at school, and he could never break free.
Last night, the family had hot pot for dinner. In the first half of the meal, they enjoyed the hotpot, but the second half was filled with questions directed at Yan Xuming.
Are you in a relationship? And is it with a boy?
This was the first time everyone knew that Yan Xueming liked boys.
There weren’t many people at the table—Yan Xuming’s parents, his uncle, and his aunt, along with his aunt’s daughter, who was a sophomore in high school. It wasn’t smooth sailing, with his parents mostly silent while his uncle and aunt bombarded him with questions, trying to ease the tension. By the end, they had gathered enough information about his high school classmates, college friends, and acquaintances of many years.
The professional composition of Yan Xuming’s family was much simpler compared to Mai Dong’s family. His mother, Madam Huang, was a university professor, and his father, Old Yan, was a researcher at the Engineering Institute.
Although neither of them had conservative personalities, their thinking was relatively traditional, and they couldn’t immediately accept their son’s preference for boys.
Returning home last night, the atmosphere was somewhat awkward. The three of them hardly exchanged a few words. Around eleven o’clock, Madam Huang sent Yan Xuming a WeChat message, inviting him to go shopping together the next day. Yan Xuming knew that shopping was just an excuse; the real intention was to have a heart-to-heart conversation.
At nine o’clock the next morning, the two set out. Yan Xuming drove, while Madam Huang sat quietly in the passenger seat.
As they waited at a red light, Yan Xuming’s phone rang. He happened to be wearing headphones and casually answered it. He could immediately sense the hesitation in Mai Dong’s voice and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, my dad wants to meet you, but if you’re busy, it’s okay! I told them yesterday…”
Yan Xuming stared at the red light ahead, not turning his gaze. “I am indeed busy this morning; I have something to take care of here. Can I come over in the afternoon?”
“It’s okay, you’re busy. We can arrange another time. I told him not to suddenly ask you to come over. Um… your family isn’t giving you a hard time, right?”
Yan Xuming smiled, “No, don’t worry.”
After exchanging a few words, they hung up the phone.
Madam Huang waited for a moment before speaking up, “Mai Dong?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Yan Xuming didn’t lie either. “Yes.”
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Madam Huang turned her head to look out the window, lost in thought. She remained silent until the next traffic light before speaking again, “Last night, I looked through your childhood photo album. You were really cute when you were young. Do you remember? Others joked that they wanted to arrange a doll marriage with little girls, and you said many little girls wanted to be with you.”
Yan Xuming curved his lips, his tone relaxed, “I didn’t know any better back then.”
Madam Huang turned to look at him, “And now? Ming Ming, you’re only twenty-one. You might not actually like boys. It could just be a momentary impulse.”
Madam Huang didn’t expect Yan Xuming to nod in agreement. He said, “I really don’t like boys. I like Mai Dong.”
Madam Huang seized upon his words, “So, does that mean you’ll be with a girl after you and Mai Dong break up?”
This time, Yan Xuming shook his head firmly, “I won’t make such assumptions, Mom. You should know me well. I always do what I set out to do. You guys have given me confidence, but I’ve shaped it for myself. I don’t see that as a flaw.”
Madam Huang used to be proud of this aspect of Yan Xuming’s character, but now she found it somewhat headache-inducing.
Humans always tend to overthink things; it’s probably part of human nature, and even Madam Huang couldn’t escape this flaw.
The first time Madam Huang was stunned by her son was when Yan Xuming was in junior high. She overheard him comforting a friend on the phone, who seemed to be in a bad mood. Yan Xuming said a few comforting words and then, in a carefree tone, said, “Your life is your own. Live it however you want. If you’re afraid of death, then don’t be born.”
Madam Huang found it hard to imagine Yan Xuming saying such words. Indeed, at the time, Yan Xuming was going through a subtle rebellious phase, and his character wasn’t mature enough. But those words gave Madam Huang some insight into the youth’s wildness and the kind of person her son was.
She was proud of this, clearly her son had the courage and confidence to take responsibility for his own life. Yet, she also worried, fearing that one day Yan Xuming would encounter completely uncontrollable negative events, causing his beliefs to crumble. And homosexuality, in Madam Huang’s eyes, was precisely one of those completely uncontrollable negative events.
Madam Huang opened her mouth several times, not knowing what to say.
She turned to look at Yan Xuming and suddenly felt like her son was a stranger.
Yan Xuming obtained his driver’s license after the college entrance examination. Apart from occasions like family gatherings where his parents had to drink and couldn’t drive, he would take on the responsibility of being the designated driver, but other than that, she had never seen him drive. Yet here he was, one hand on the steering wheel, attentively watching the road ahead, his proficient and serious demeanor showing no hint of timidity.
When did he become so much like an adult?
When he was a child, Yan Xuming was indeed adorable. Because his parents were busy with work, Madam Huang was afraid her son wouldn’t get proper nutrition as he grew up. So, she specifically asked a nutritionist to ensure that Yan Xuming had well-balanced meals three times a day. Until he started elementary school, his face was chubby and cute, very appealing to others.
Even in kindergarten, Yan Xuming was very clever and mischievous.
When the teacher taught that one plus one equals two, he had already figured out on his own that one plus two should equal three. The teacher assigned twenty addition and subtraction problems for homework, but he thought they were too simple and didn’t want to waste time doing them. Instead, he played with blocks on his desk. When it was time to hand in the homework, he copied it from his deskmate, only to find out that he got most of the twenty problems wrong.
In elementary school, he became the class monitor, leading all his classmates to skip self-study sessions and play hide and seek. They ended up losing one boy, and the teacher had to call Madam Huang to the school. It was a struggle to find the boy in a tree pit outside the school.
When did Ming Ming, who was once a cheeky and mischievous child, become such a firm and mature adult? Madam Huang had no idea.
She felt a lot of sadness and guilt in her heart, realizing that her son had always been with her but had changed into a different person quietly without her knowledge.
But regardless, should he even be liking a boy? Madam Huang knew about homosexuality, knew there were many homosexuals nowadays, and knew it wasn’t a disease or illegal. But she found it hard to imagine what to do if her son were gay.
A tear fell from Madam Huang’s eye. She rarely cried; exaggeratingly speaking, Yan Xuming, at twenty-one, couldn’t remember ever seeing Madam Huang cry. She quickly wiped the corner of her eyes with a tissue and sniffed.
Yan Xuming parked the car in the underground parking lot of the mall and sat silently for a moment before saying, “I’ll go get some coffee. Wait here.”
Ten minutes later, Yan Xuming returned with two steaming cups of coffee.
Madam Huang had already composed herself, returning to being the elegant and intellectual Professor Huang.
Yan Xuming handed her the cup with extra sugar and spoke first, “I only officially started dating him at the end of December. I never planned to hide it from you guys. I could have, but I didn’t because I love him, and I love you, Mom.”
Madam Huang felt like crying again, her voice low, “How old are you? Do you even know what love is?”
Yan Xuming murmured softly, “En,” then asked, “Then teach me, what is love?”
Madam Huang’s thoughts were clear, “Love is an unsolvable problem. I won’t discuss what love is with you. I just want to say, you have experienced too little. You might easily think that a certain moment’s feeling is destined, but that’s not true.”
Yan Xuming replied, “I’ve never thought that Mai Dong and I are destined. We can be together because he works hard enough, and so do I.”
Madam Huang didn’t want to say more. She found it surprising that as a university professor who prided herself on her eloquence, she couldn’t argue with her own son. She didn’t dislike the boy named Mai Dong, and she was willing to believe in her son’s choice. That boy must be someone worth Yan Xuming’s efforts
She swallowed her coffee, surprised to find that the sweetness of this cup was just right for her. Then she spoke up, “But this path is difficult, Ming Ming. It’s very difficult.”
Yan Xuming nodded, “Of course, I know. But I never doubt myself.”
At two in the afternoon, Yan Xuming drove to the antique market. He had never been to a place like this in his first twenty-one years of life.
The market wasn’t very lively; the circle was small, with only a few people dealing with antiques. Most of the people were there just for a stroll, to see what was going on.
Mai Dong stood on the roadside dressed like a cute polar bear, his hands in his pockets. He didn’t recognize Yan Xuming’s car and looked around. Yan Xuming honked the horn, and Mai Dong suddenly turned his head, craning his neck to look for a while before finally confirming that his boyfriend was sitting in the driver’s seat.
The car window rolled down, and Yan Xuming asked, “Where should I park?”
Mai Dong waved his hand, “It’s okay, just park at the entrance.”
Mai Dong seemed even more nervous than Yan Xuming, his words stuttering a bit, “Um, my dad is actually a very nice person, it’s just… sometimes he’s a bit stubborn. Sorry ah for insisting that you come over right away when he heard we were together. Are you busy today?”
Yan Xuming casually ruffled Mai Dong’s hair, “Not busy. I went shopping with my mom in the morning and had lunch together.”
Mai Dong suddenly widened his eyes, “Did I disturb you guys?”
Yan Xuming shook his head, “No, she has something to do in the afternoon, and she wasn’t planning to be with me anyway.”
As the two walked into the store, before they even stepped inside, Yan Xuming heard an extremely sarcastic greeting.
“Aiya, aiya, who do we have gracing us with their presence ah!”
😭😭😭
Thank youbgot the chapter!🫶
We love who we love. We can’t just control it, can we❤🙂
Hope Mai Dong’s dad don’t give our Ming Ming a hard time.. it’s just the power of love
Oh, now you should win in this parent’s trap, Yang Xuming
Thank you for your translation 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
It’s nice to see the parents’ reaction towards their sons’ love relationship. It’s understandable why madam huang feels the way she feels as a mother that loves her son and only wanted the best for him. And by communicating her worries with yan xuming rather than immediately reprimanding him and asking him to break up, I know in time she will come to terms with his relationship with mai dong in time. And nowww we have Mai Dad playing the tough dad 😂 goodluck ming ming 💪
It’s sad that she wasn’t in his life :<
Thank You for the new chapter ♡(ӦｖӦ｡)