Chapter 802 — Tang Yun's Unease

For a moment Tang Yun was at a loss. She glanced at her mother, so smug and pleased with herself, stamped her foot again, and fretted inwardly. They had already troubled Wei Zhao so much — how could her mother go and trouble him over someone else's affairs as well?

Just as Tang Yun was wondering what on earth to do, she suddenly felt her small hand taken in another's. The familiar, warm grip set her heart at ease. She looked up and found Wei Zhao smiling at her.

"Ah—" Tang Yun started. "You... when did you slip over here?"

Wei Zhao had been keeping Mother Tang and Xiaofen's family company while they looked over the renovation plans. Tang Yun herself had stayed at the doorway without going in; her mind was not on the renovation at all, only on what her mother had done earlier, and she had not noticed Wei Zhao approaching.

"What are you thinking about?" Wei Zhao had noticed earlier that Tang Yun's expression was a little unnatural, as though something were troubling her, embarrassing her.

"Nothing..." How could Tang Yun possibly bring herself to tell Wei Zhao what she really thought?

"The reason I'm helping Xiaofen's family is actually because of Kang Xiaobo. Xiaofen isn't just your good friend — she's Xiaobo's girlfriend too." Wei Zhao had more or less guessed what was on Tang Yun's mind. Buying Xiaofen's family a discounted apartment had already cost Fatty Lai plenty; now to have him renovate their place as well was frankly a bit much.

But to Wei Zhao, none of this amounted to anything, and Fatty Lai would not care about such a trifling sum.

"Thank you..." Hearing Wei Zhao say this, Tang Yun felt much better. Her gaze toward him was full of tenderness. Thinking of the road their feelings had traveled — rough in places, yet on the whole smooth — the smoother it was, the more it made her careful, treading as if on thin ice. From her earliest misunderstandings of Wei Zhao to the depth of feeling she now held for him, Tang Yun did not want to lose this love easily, and so she treated it with extraordinary caution.

"You don't need to take it so much to heart, really. Your mother has had a hard life." Wei Zhao saw people clearly. "Uncle Tang broke his leg and has been bedridden ever since, and Auntie Wang has held the whole family up alone. When she suffers grievances, she can only bury them in her heart — she can't pour them out to you or to Uncle Tang. She's borne it silently for all these years, and now that she's finally got a chance to show off... ah, a chance to be proud of herself, naturally she won't let it slip by..."

Tang Yun did not know whether to laugh or scold. She glared at Wei Zhao. "You make it sound so ugly. My mother may be a bit of a snob, but she's still a good person..."

"I know that. That's why I played along with her, isn't it?" Wei Zhao shrugged.

"I'll have a good talk with her when I get home. I don't want you to keep being put on the spot..." Now that things were out in the open between her and Wei Zhao, Tang Yun breathed a sigh of relief. From the look of it, Wei Zhao did not mind this business much at all.

"It's not really putting me on the spot." Wei Zhao shook his head. "Still — I'm afraid your mother might run into some big boss even richer than me and sell you off to him."

"How could she?" Tang Yun shook her head. "Only over my dead body."

"Heh..." Wei Zhao tightened his grip on Tang Yun's hand. "Come on, let's go see your family's renovation style. This is your home, after all — you ought to offer some opinions too."

"Mm..." The knot in Tang Yun's heart had come loose, and her mood lifted. She followed Wei Zhao around the new apartment.

The place really was enormous. Tang Yun had never imagined her family could one day afford a home this big. Once she stepped inside, she did not want to leave again.

That evening, at the hospital, Tang Yun resolved to have a proper talk with her mother.

"Mom, how could you ask Fatty Lai... President Lai to renovate Xiaofen's place too?" Tang Yun pouted. "Don't you know how expensive renovation materials are? How could there possibly be leftovers? And even if there were, they'd go to other owners who won the grand prize — how would anything be left over?"

"Look at you, child. Xiaofen's family has it so hard, and Xiaofen is your good friend — if you can help them out, you help them out!" Mother Tang said, wholly unconcerned.

"But you're putting them out! In the end, won't it be Wei Zhao who owes them a favor?" Tang Yun was furious at her mother's ridiculous words. A good friend was a good friend, and helping within one's means was one thing — but going beyond one's means was just putting on a show of wealth one did not have.

"What favor?" Mother Tang shot her daughter a glare. "Don't think I can't tell — that little Lai is one of Wei Zhao's underlings!"

"What?" Tang Yun had not expected her mother to have seen even that. She was momentarily stunned.

"So I hit the mark, didn't I?" Mother Tang could not help feeling pleased with herself. "Every time I asked him something, he'd look at Wei Zhao, all set to ask permission, and so respectful and deferential! He treats you the same way too — did you think I wouldn't notice? What were you about to call him just now? Fatty Lai, wasn't it? You've grown up and you're still lying to your own mother? You're quite familiar with him, aren't you? Putting on a show for my benefit on purpose, weren't you?"

"Mom... I..." Tang Yun's face flushed red. She was not much good at lying, and being caught out by her mother left her wishing she could sink through the floor.

"Hmph, look at that little Lai's attitude — calling me auntie, no less. How could the president of a company possibly be so respectful to a housewife like me? We're the ones asking him for a favor, not the other way around! Did you think your mother was blind? And that grand prize I won — grand prize my foot. It was obviously an electric kettle, but they insisted I'd won the grand prize!" Mother Tang rattled on. "Did you think I didn't know? Little Lai wants to curry favor with Wei Zhao and with you! And you, child — with connections like that, you don't know how to use them. You could have just had him give us an apartment for free!"

"I... I... I..." Tang Yun was beside herself with anger at her mother's ridiculous words. She had meant to talk to her mother about what she had done, and now she was the one being lectured instead. Struck speechless, she could only blurt out in exasperation, "But isn't that still troubling Wei Zhao? Even if he's his underling, doesn't he still belong to Wei Zhao?"

"What's Wei Zhao's is yours, isn't it? How can you be so foolish, child? You're his girlfriend — that makes you little Lai's sister-in-law!" Mother Tang said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"How is that the same? With all these things you've stirred up, I owe Wei Zhao more and more. I feel like I can't even hold my head up in front of him!" Tang Yun raised her head, agitated, and looked stubbornly at her mother. "Do you have any idea how many girls like Wei Zhao? I haven't helped him with anything, and I trouble him every single day — how am I supposed to compete with them when the time comes?"

"Compete over what? Aren't you Wei Zhao's girlfriend right now?" Mother Tang shot back. "Besides, what does a girl need to help with? Once you sleep with him, everything's settled!"

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