"Mom, you just said Li Xun isn't delivering food anymore and found a job at a Fortune Global 500 company. Do you know what it's called?" Xia Qing asked after the call connected.
"I think it's called Penguin Video. Anyway, it's a fancy office job, and he's got a bright future. Xia Qing, listen to your mom..."
Xia Qing and her mother chatted for a while longer before hanging up.
Then Xia Qing looked at Yu Juan and said, "Li Xun's not delivering food anymore. His new company is Penguin Video!"
The writing fee for the first arc of Young Bao Qingtian had come through: 200,000 yuan per episode, 1.2 million in total. Apparently, thanks to the show's amazing success, the website had also prepared a huge bonus for the director, screenwriter, producer, and other key crew members. It was anyone's guess when the money would arrive.
There was no need for Li Xun to keep living in that rental room of barely ten square meters. He found a decent-sized agency near Penguin Innovation Building, explained what he was looking for, and then left it at that for now. Housing in the area was in short supply, so he probably wouldn't move until after they finished shooting the second arc.
Dai Ying wanted the second arc finished before the New Year, with a tentative release date of the first day of the lunar new year.
They had a reasonable amount of time, but not enough to waste. He would be heading to the filming location in the next couple of days.
At around ten in the morning, Li Xun was lying in bed scrolling through short videos when Dai Ying sent him a WeChat message. Before he could read it, she recalled it.
Li Xun sent her a question mark. A moment later, Dai Ying messaged again.
Yingying: "My parents came to Beijing."
Li Xunhuan: "That's great. Take them sightseeing and show them a good time."
He was also a little puzzled. What did her parents coming to Beijing have to do with him?
A moment later, Dai Ying sent another message.
Yingying: "My mom keeps getting dizzy. She thinks she might have some serious illness, like cancer or something."
Li Xunhuan: "Then get her to the hospital for a full checkup right away. As people get older, there's no harm in getting checked, whether they're sick or not. And if there's anything I can do to help, don't hesitate to ask."
Li Xun was even more confused. Her parents were sick, but he wasn't a doctor. Why tell him? She was rich, too; she didn't need to borrow money from him!
Yingying: "She's already been admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital for tests. It'll take a few days for all the results to come back."
Li Xunhuan: "Good, at least she's been checked. Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine."
A while later.
Yingying: "Come to Peking Union in a bit."
Li Xunhuan: "Okay!"
After replying, Li Xun finally realized how strange that sounded. "What am I going there for?"
Yingying: "Your girlfriend's mother is in the hospital. Isn't it only natural for her son-in-law to visit his future mother-in-law?"
Li Xun stared at Dai Ying's message. He recognized every word, but somehow couldn't make sense of them together.
Li Xunhuan: "President Dai, this is Li Xun. Did you send that to the wrong person?"
Yingying: "No, I mean you, Li Xun!"
Li Xunhuan: "When did this happen? How come I know absolutely nothing about it? Nobody told me!"
Yingying: "My parents kept pressuring me to get married. I couldn't take it anymore, so I told them I was seeing someone. They insisted on knowing all the details, so I sent them your information."
Li Xun sent her three thumbs-up emojis in a row.
Li Xunhuan: "Impressive. Really impressive. Boss, I'm genuinely in awe!"
Yingying: "Make sure you dress up before you come. You need to look presentable when you meet your future in-laws for the first time."
Li Xunhuan: "Why should I dress up? I haven't agreed to this, and I'm not going to pretend!"
It had all happened so suddenly. Li Xun needed a moment to process it.
A while later.
Yingying: "If you don't want to, I'll tell them you dumped me and we broke up!"
Li Xunhuan: "Fine, I guess that's all we can say—wait, when did I dump you? If we're breaking up, you're the one who dumped me!—No, why would you dump me?! Just say we broke up because we weren't compatible!"
Dai Ying didn't reply.
She stared at Li Xun's messages, feeling a hollow ache in her chest.
It had taken real courage to tell Li Xun the truth—that she had pretended to her parents that he was her boyfriend.
Her palms were still slick with sweat.
But things had reached a point where she couldn't keep pretending.
Her parents had come to Beijing for treatment. If her "son-in-law" still didn't show up, it would be hard to justify, no matter how you looked at it.
Besides, she was genuinely scared this time. Scared that her mother might really have a serious illness. Scared that one day her mother might suddenly be gone.
Her mother's greatest wish these past few years had been to see her daughter one day wearing a beautiful wedding dress and marrying a man she loved. If something really happened to her mother this time, and Dai Ying couldn't even fulfill that simple wish, she'd carry the guilt for the rest of her life.
But she couldn't just conjure up a boyfriend on the spot!
What could she do?
So, no matter how awkward or embarrassing it was, she'd come clean to Li Xun. She also hoped he would come to the hospital and play along, so her mother could finish all her tests with a smile.
She hadn't expected him to turn her down without a second thought.
Before messaging Li Xun, she had agonized over it for a full three hours. She'd rewritten the message again and again, but never found the courage to press send.
When she finally worked up the nerve, she sent it—then immediately recalled it.
Li Xun sent her a question mark, and that was when she decided to stop hesitating and tell him everything.
So what if it was embarrassing? She'd just have to face it!
She never expected things to end up like this!
Dai Ying's face burned.
She would tell her mother the truth in a bit.
The boyfriend was fake, the social media posts were fake, and the "boyfriend" himself hadn't even known what was going on. She'd set the posts so only her family could see them.
Fake. It was all fake!
"Mom must be so disappointed in me!"
Dai Ying scrolled through WeChat, looking through her university group, high school group, and even middle school group. Then she went through the boys in each one, one by one.
She looked to see if any of them were still unmarried.
Her mother's sudden illness had made her realize that she really couldn't put off getting married any longer.
But she couldn't just grab some random man off the street and marry him, could she?
For now, the only people she could think of were her old classmates.
At least they knew each other.
At around 11:30 a.m., Dai Ying sat by her mother Liu Fang's bed, peeling an apple for her.
"Yingying, does Xiao Li know I'm in the hospital for tests?" Liu Fang asked slowly.
Dai Ying's hand paused as she peeled the apple. "Don't worry, Mom. I promise I'll get married within six months." She gave her mother some reassurance and made herself a solemn promise. Then she continued, "As for Li Xun, the two of us have already—"
"This must be Auntie, right? You look wonderful! You don't look old enough to have a daughter as grown-up as Yingying. You look so young!" Just then, Li Xun walked in carrying gifts.
Dai Ying stared at him, stunned, as if a martial arts master had struck her pressure point.
Li Xun set down the gifts and looked at the middle-aged man beside her. The man looked somewhat like Dai Ying around the eyes and brows. "You must be Uncle Dai. Dai Ying talks about you all the time. I'm her boyfriend, Li Xun."
"Wonderful, wonderful! Xiao Li, come sit here with me," Liu Fang said with a cheerful smile, patting the edge of the bed.
At her invitation, Li Xun went over and sat down.
Liu Fang saw that Li Xun was even more handsome in person than in the photos and videos. Her face lit up.
"Xiao Li, Yingying said you're from Hunan too?"
"That's right. Lijiawan Village, Changqiao Town, Henghe City, Hunan."
"Wonderful, wonderful. We're both from Hunan, so you're not too far from home."
After chatting with Liu Fang for a while, Dai Ying pulled Li Xun aside.
"Didn't you say you weren't coming because you wouldn't pretend?"
Li Xun said, "I didn't want to come at first. But then I thought about it: if I didn't, you'd tell your parents we'd broken up, and that I dumped you. I haven't even done anything, and I'd already have a reputation as a jerk. How unfair would that be?"
"You are a jerk!"
"How am I a jerk?"
Dai Ying changed the subject. "By the way, how did you find your way here?"
"You're asking me? I called you more than ten times, but you didn't answer. I had to make my way here by asking around and guessing."
Dai Ying's phone was on silent, so she really hadn't heard it.
They returned to the hospital room. Liu Fang had Li Xun and Dai Ying sit on either side of her bed.
"Xiao Li, do you drink or smoke?" Liu Fang asked with a beaming smile.
"Auntie, I don't smoke or drink!" Li Xun replied.
Liu Fang beamed. "Good, good. It's great that you don't smoke or drink. You can have children anytime."
Li Xun stared at Dai Ying in shock.
"Wait, weren't we just pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend? How did we get this far?"
Dai Ying's face turned bright red.
She was mortified!
Just then, Li Xun's phone rang. He apologized, then answered it.
It was the real estate agent. They had found him a place.
Li Xun spent a few minutes discussing things with the agent, then arranged a time to view the place and hung up.
Liu Fang asked him, "Xiao Li, are you looking for a place?"
Li Xun replied, "Auntie, I'm living in a basement at the moment. The conditions aren't great, and now that I have a little money, I'm hoping to find somewhere better."
Liu Fang slapped her thigh and laughed. "Why look for a place? Yingying's apartment is 150 square meters. Isn't that enough room for the two of you?"
"Mom, what are you saying!" Dai Ying panicked. Her mother had no filter. She wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground.
"Auntie, isn't that a bit inappropriate?" Li Xun scratched his head.
Liu Fang took her daughter's hand and smiled. "What, embarrassed? Didn't you just say you'd get married within six months? I don't think you should even go back to our hometown this year. Spend the New Year at Li Xun's family home instead. Meet his parents, then the two of you can work hard and try to give me a grandchild before next year's New Year!"
Both Dai Ying and Li Xun turned red.
Before you continue