Chapter 14 Distant Goals
pain.He now understood why Zhao Yanzi, as the only daughter of a Dragon King, still had such low cultivation levels. It was likely due to two reasons: she wasn’t focused or afraid of hardship.No wonde...Chapter 14 A Distant Goal
Now that everything had been openly discussed, the atmosphere became clearer and less tense than it was at the beginning of the meal. The mood gradually eased.
Durings their conversation, Hao Ren learned that Zhao Hongyu personally designed the interior decoration of the house they were in. In her ordinary life, Zhao Hongyu was a designer well-known within the design circle.
Upon further discussion, Hao Ren was surprised to find out that Zhao Yanzi's mother had also been the architect behind one of the標誌性建築之一，也是東海大學招生簡章上常用的宣傳圖片——去年剛剛竣工的東海大學體育館。
With a father who was a business tycoon and a mother known as a famous designer, such a family clearly exceeded the realm of modest comfort. Even without their so-called hidden identities, Zhao Yanzi, at her young age, had enough reasons to be proud in real life. Hao Ren thought this while eating.
During the meal, Zhao Hongyu was primarily the one conversing with Hao Ren. Zhao Guang steadily ate his food and occasionally chimed in. Zhao Yanzi kept her head down, eating large mouthfuls of food as if she were chewing not just food but also Hao Ren.
The legendary meeting of future in-laws didn't seem much different from this, Hao Ren thought to himself while answering their questions.
"Your parents are abroad, right" Zhao Hongyu asked Hao Ren next.
"Yeah, they should be coming back next month," Hao Ren answered.
Zhao Hongyu considered for a moment and said, "Why don't we meet once your parents return"
Hearing this, Hao Ren felt his heart skip a beat. Just when he had barely come to terms with the reality of having long-term contact with Zhao Yanzi, Zhao Hongyu brought up this request, pushing him back to the brink.
What would my parents think if they knew I found myself an underage fiancée while they were out of the country
"Since everything has been decided, it’s normal for both sets of parents to meet," Zhao Hongyu said when she saw Hao Ren hesitating.
Looking at Zhao Hongyu's gentle face and seeing her earnest expression, Hao Ren knew that she wished to settle this matter as soon as possible. After all, in her mind, such matters ultimately needed parental approval.
"I never said I wanted to marry him!" Zhao Yanzi raised her head and finally couldn't help but speak up.
"You must take responsibility for your own mistakes. If you hadn't left Senior Elder Lu's supervision on your own, how could there have been a mistake Do you expect others to bear the consequences of your wrongdoings" Zhao Hongyu's expression remained gentle, but her tone turned stern.
Zhao Yanzi didn't say anything further; she knew she was in the wrong. But it made her very unhappy to be forced to marry this "uncle" just because of a mistake like this.
"Hao Ren is懂事, and I'm quite satisfied with him." Zhao Hongyu stared at Zhao Yanzi, "You're not young anymore; you can't continue acting like a child throwing tantrums. You should take responsibility for your actions. How long do you think Father and I can protect you We're hoping to set things straight so that you'll stop behaving like an unruly child."
Upon hearing Zhao Hongyu's words, Zhao Yanzi looked at her pitifully, wanting to cry but unwilling to lose face in front of Hao Ren; she could only bite her lip and hold back her tears.
Zhao Guang, the father who remained silent as Zhao Hongyu lectured his daughter, clearly shared the same stance.
Hao Ren felt that there was a deeper significance behind how Zhao Yanzi's parents handled this matter, but Zhao Yanzi was too young to understand it.
Were they taking advantage of this opportunity to entrust Zi Zi to me Could it be that with their abilities and background, there are still some hidden dangers
"Ren," turning to Hao Ren, Zhao Hongyu said, "Zi Zi is just a child having a tantrum; you should be more accommodating towards her in the future."
"Yes, I understand." At this moment, all Hao Ren could do was agree.
Seeing that Zhao Yanzi's eyes were red and she seemed about to cry, Zhao Guang, though stern on the surface, felt a bit of sympathy for her. He told her, "Go upstairs to rest after you finish eating."
Zhao Yanzi nodded and ran up the stairs with quick footsteps.
Hao Ren watched her slim figure retreat before turning back to Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Guang.
"Let her be alone for a while," said Zhao Hongyu.
Hao Ren awkwardly lowered his head and chuckled.
"To be honest, what do you think of Ah Zi" Zhao Hongyu asked.
In fact, Hao Ren didn't have a very good impression of this ill-tempered little girl, but he couldn’t say anything bad about her in front of her parents. So, he racked his brains to come up with the merits of Zhao Yanzi.
"She's pretty, though she has a bit of a temper, she’s also quite cute." After thinking for a few seconds, he said. Pretty and spoiled were the only virtues he could think of.
"You’re older than her, so you should take care of her more often. My husband and I have many things to attend to daily, thus we don’t spend much time taking care of her. This has caused her character to become a bit stubborn and somewhat arrogant," Zhao Hongyu looked at Hao Ren and said sincerely.
"Alright." Hao Ren nodded. Although he didn't particularly like the little spicy pepper Zhao Yanzi, he was still moved by Zhao Hongyu's parental heart.
He could actually understand Zhao Yanzi’s feelings. When he was young, his parents were busy with work and paid him very little attention. As a result, he was quite independent and self-centered during his childhood. Fortunately, he had an over-attentive grandmother who looked after him well, giving him some beautiful memories from his teenage years.
"Go up there to keep her company," Zhao Hongyu pointed in the direction of the stairs with her mouth.
"Alright." Hao Ren immediately put down his chopsticks and walked up the wooden staircase to the second floor.
The walls of the staircase were decorated with abstract paintings, giving it a gallery-like atmosphere. Through a small window at the corner of the second floor, Hao Ren could see the tranquil beauty of the backyard, which made him admire Zhao Hongyu's sense of design.
Zhao Yanzi’s room was the first one at the corner on the second floor; he recognized it from the black cat hanging on her door.
He stood by the doorway and knocked.
There was no sound inside.
"Hey, don’t let me in" Hao Ren asked after standing there for a few seconds.
"You have the ability to go and complain about it," came Zhao Yanzǐ's voice, full of委屈 (grief/worry).
Hǎo Rén smiled and took a few small steps deliberately, creating the illusion of going downstairs on the wooden floor.
Thump thump thump... There was a quick run in the room. Zhao Yanzǐ thought Hǎo Rén really went downstairs to complain, so she hurriedly came to open the door.
She rushed out of her room wanting to go down the stairs and grab Hǎo Rên, but unexpectedly found that he was right at the doorway, crashing into him.
The soft and tender body didn't hurt Hǎo Rên, but tickled his stomach instead.
Hǎo Rên reached out both hands to catch this clumsy little girl's shoulders, looking down at her. "Am I the kind of person who goes around tattling"
Zhao Yanzǐ looked up with a red face, stubbornly saying even though she made a mistake in judgment, "You definitely are!"
Hǎo Rên smiled and didn't argue with her. He gently pushed her aside and walked into her bedroom.
"Hey, you have no manners! Entering my room without permission," Zhao Yanzǐ stood at the doorway, unhappily looking at Hǎo Rên.
"What's wrong with me entering my fiancée's room" Hǎo Rên deliberately turned back to look at her and said.
"You..." Zhao Yanzǐ glared at Hǎo Rên, wanting to get angry but couldn't really do it.
Her eyes were red as if she had been crying. Seeing this, Hǎo Rên didn’t want to bully her either and avoided her fiery gaze, pretending not to mind while casually looking around her room.
The small bedroom through the floor-to-ceiling window could overlook the Eastern-themed courtyard's flowers and trees. The slanting sunlight outside shone on clear glass cups, creating a dazzling beauty.
On the windowsill was a light green fish tank with a few goldfish inside. A framed calligraphy scroll hung above her bed, adding a unique artistic flair to this bedroom.riate." Zhao Hongyu spoke up.She was siding with Hao Ren—or rather, with Zhao Ranzi—even though the current situation was very troublesome. She opposed treating Hao Ren as a sacrifice in this incident...