Xiao Yu had finished washing and chopping the vegetables. Just as he was about to start cooking, he heard the sound of a door opening outside the yard.
He moved with exceptional speed, almost flying out of the kitchen, and settled onto the sofa, picking up a book to read.
Song Yuan glanced at him. "I'll cook, but I won't clean up."
She slowly rose and walked into the kitchen at a leisurely pace.
As she rolled up her sleeves, the villa door opened, and a beautiful middle-aged woman in a lake-blue dress entered.
Seeing her son, Xie Wenhan smiled. "A'yu."
"Mom, you're back."
Xiao Yu stood up, appearing gentle and refined.
Xie Wenhan smiled and walked over. After a brief chat with her son, she suddenly heard a sizzling sound from the kitchen, followed by white smoke billowing out and muffled coughs.
The smile immediately vanished from Xie Wenhan's face.
Xiao Yu looked over with concern, about to go towards the kitchen when his mother grabbed him. "What man goes into the kitchen? Let her handle it. If she burns the kitchen down, I'll have it renovated again."
"..."
On matters of conviction, Xiao Yu truly admired his mother.
"Come, sit down. Tell me about the company's recent situation."
"Okay..."
Xiao Yu sat down again, his eyes occasionally drifting towards the kitchen.
Bang—
Another sound.
Clang!
It sounded like a pot had fallen to the floor.
Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer and stood up. "Mom, I'll go check on Xiao Yuan."
"You..."
Xie Wenhan was not pleased with her son's actions.
Xiao Yu strode towards the kitchen. Upon entering, he found the place in a mess.
As for Song Yuan, she was stubbornly persisting in her battle with a pot and a spatula!
She refused to believe that if she could swing a fifty-pound sledgehammer with vigor, she would be afraid of these trifles?
Following the clatter of her spatula, Xiao Yu detected a persistent tenacity, akin to stir-frying coal.
In short, it was quite moving.
He raised his hand to wave away the smoke filling the room and quickly went to take her spatula. "Let me!"
"No need!"
Song Yuan was still obstinate. "If I can't handle this today, I'll write my name, Song Yuan, backward!"
Xiao Yu turned his head and looked at her dark eyes. He suddenly realized that her eyes were actually quite beautiful, but they possessed too much of a heroic spirit. As a result, when making eye contact, those with less presence would instinctively look away within three seconds, making it difficult to appreciate the beauty of her eyes.
Sensing his gaze, she turned her head. "You're blocking my view."
"Uh, oh."
Xiao Yu obediently moved aside, watching her start to add salt to the pot.
When she was about to add the third spoonful, he abruptly stepped forward, gripped her wrist, and with an expression of enlightened acceptance of life and death, said, "That's really enough!"
His mother preferred bland food and was accustomed to less salt. If he continued adding salt like this, it would send her straight to the afterlife.
"Alright, then."
He could even detect a hint of compromise in Song Yuan's tone.
It seemed as though cooking was a matter of following one's heart, and it was people like them who complicated something simple.
Finally, he watched her take a dish out of the pot. It had a scorched color, flecked with unripened oil, and chili peppers whose original colors of green, red, or yellow were no longer discernible.
Xiao Yu smiled.
Following one's heart, that was quite good.
From then on, he was determined to stop her from cooking any further.
"Xiao Yuan, you're tired and can't keep working under such strain! Let me handle the rest!"
"How can I do that?"
Song Yuan frowned. "You're loyal, but I can't abandon you!"
"It's fine, I'll remember your kindness~"
"That's not the same..."
"Stop arguing, and leave this opportunity for improvement to me!"
"...Alright, then."
Since he had put it that way, Song Yuan couldn't possibly snatch someone else's chance.
Thus, she came out.
As she stepped out, she saw Xie Wenhan standing in the hallway, watching her quietly. Her posture conveyed, "I'm waiting for you. You should know why I'm waiting for you. And if you don't know, you should pretend to know why I'm waiting for you."
Song Yuan might not be skilled at cooking, but that didn't mean she couldn't understand Xie Wenhan.
"Auntie, please speak."
She always got straight to the point, without any lengthy introductions.
Xie Wenhan maintained her elegance. "Let's talk outside."
"Okay."
Song Yuan strictly adhered to her role. She was playing Xiao Yu's girlfriend, and being put through trials by her potential mother-in-law was part of the job.
Furthermore, she had researched how to display stress emotions such as "sadness," "disappointment," and "inferiority."
The two walked into the courtyard. Xie Wenhan lived in a detached, self-built villa. In front of the house was a patch of greenery, interspersed with flowers, giving it a touch of rustic charm.
She stood in the center, ethereal, as if time had barely touched her face.
"Do you think you are worthy of my son?"
Xie Wenhan also got straight to the point.
After several days of observation, she had realized that Song Yuan was straightforward. If one spoke indirectly, she might not understand.
So, she decided to follow Song Yuan's lead and address the matter directly.
"No, I am not."
Song Yuan complied readily.
The script was set up this way. She couldn't conjure tears, otherwise, she would have certainly shed a couple to match.
When she settled accounts with Xiao Yu later, she was sure to receive her bonus.
"Since you know this yourself, why are you still with him?"
As Xie Wenhan asked, her gaze sharpened.
Song Yuan pondered the question carefully and said slowly, "I've asked him this question too, but he said he likes me. He doesn't like anyone else who might be considered a suitable match."
After speaking, she shrugged. "Since he said that, there's nothing I can do. I can't really force him to become a monk, can I?"
Xie Wenhan snorted. "Don't think that just because you said that, I will accept you! He simply hasn't met someone who can make his heart flutter again, so he's cherishing a stone as if it were a gem."
Frankly, Song Yuan felt her words were accurate.
People, after all, should look forward and not dwell on the present.
"That's true. But how long will it take for him to find that person? If Auntie could divine the future, giving an exact timeframe would be helpful. After all, if he doesn't find anyone in ten, twenty, or even thirty years, then there are only two outcomes: first, he'll play around and lose his true self, and then even if he does meet true love, he might not recognize it. Second, even if he does meet her, he'll no longer have the capacity to love and will become timid, afraid to accept."
Song Yuan swore that this was the longest speech she had given in a long time!
Moreover, it was quite logical.
She felt she was almost admirable to herself.
Xie Wenhan's expression gradually darkened after hearing this, and her gaze became somewhat unfriendly. She sneered, "Are you mocking me?"
Her past was no secret; her son would have undoubtedly told her.
Meeting Xiao Yu's father was the greatest shame of her life!
"No, truly not."
Song Yuan quickly explained, "I just feel that one shouldn't let abstract, ephemeral things prevent them from embracing the present."