Morning Longing for Warmth – Chapter 25
by Little PandaGirlfriend
Hello, I am Wei Hui’s girlfriend.
The Wei family and Shen family have always been intertwined [connected]. When Wei Changyuan was still alive, the two families frequently interacted, otherwise there wouldn’t have been the baby engagement [arranged marriage] between Wei Hui and Shen Hao. Although after Wei Changyuan’s death, Wei Tian was solely controlled by Wei Hui, and ties with the Shen family were mostly severed, outsiders still viewed the two families as having deep connections. Because of this, for many years, the Du family remained an outsider.
Previously, Wei Hui didn’t care about outside opinions, nor did she care about cooperating with the Du family, because she could handle everything herself.
But Luo Zhouping’s return to the country broke this balance, forcing her to seek help from the Du family’s influence.
She knew what the Du family’s concern was. Ever since the Shen family got involved in the abandoned building project, many people said this was the Shen family’s betrothal gift to the Wei family, attempting to curry favor with her. There were even rumors about her and Shen Hao getting engaged. Who spread these rumors was obvious. She knew coming to the Du family without sincerity wouldn’t work, so she brought Shiyi.
She clearly told everyone that she now had someone by her side, and it wasn’t Shen Hao.
Smart as Du Yuexiao was, how could he not understand Wei Hui’s meaning? He smiled as he walked into the living room, being ten years older, looking mature in his suit: “CEO Wei, long time no see.”
The last time they met was at the New Year’s banquet, and a year had passed in the blink of an eye. Wei Hui nodded: “CEO Du.”
Old Master Du twisted his waist: “Ah, my body gets worse year by year. I’m old now. After sitting for a while, I want to move around. You two chat, I’ll go for a walk.”
He looked at Shiyi while saying: “Young one, you don’t mind accompanying this old man for a walk, do you?”
Shiyi, originally having an irregular heartbeat and buzzing mind because Wei Hui was holding her hand, didn’t react immediately to the old master’s words, just staring at him blankly. Wei Hui squeezed her hand and smiled: “Of course she doesn’t mind.”
“Shiyi, accompany Grandfather Du for a walk around here.”
As she spoke, she let go of Shiyi’s hand, using her eyes to signal her to follow Old Master Du. When Shiyi met her eyes, her chaotic heartbeat strangely calmed down. Those eyes had a steadying effect, making her temporarily forget her status and rules, only wanting to listen to her words. Shiyi withdrew her hand, her palm already damp with sweat, and said softly: “Mr., Mr. Du.”
“Ah—” Old Master Du smiled: “Why be so formal? San’er calls me grandfather, you should call me grandfather too.”
Shiyi glanced at Wei Hui, saw her slight nod, and felt more at ease inside. She obediently called out: “Grandfather Du.”
Her voice was clear and crisp, like a oriole singing in the valley, pleasant to the ears. Old Master Du was very satisfied: “I’m taking her with me.”
“Come over when you’re done talking.”
Shiyi looked at Wei Hui, saw her calm gaze and slight nod of the head, and understood: “Grandfather Du, let me accompany you for a walk.”
“This child,” Old Master Du chuckled: “So well-behaved.”
“If Yuemeng were half as obedient as you, I’d be happy.”
Yuemeng? Yuemeng? Why was this name so familiar? Only when Shiyi reached the door with the old master did she remember – the person who had chatted with her at the banquet before seemed to be called Du Yuemeng.
Could she be——
“Grandfather!” Just as Shiyi figured out the connection, she heard a voice. She looked up to see a woman several meters away wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, carrying a beige bag, walking over in seven-to-eight-centimeter high heels. Her long hair was lifted by the wind, revealing her carefully made-up features, still glamorous and rebellious [or: striking and unruly].
After getting out of the car, Du Yuemeng saw a young girl standing next to her grandfather, pretty and well-behaved – it was Shiyi whom she had met at the Shen family banquet. She quickly walked over, handed her bag to the butler, and stood in front of her grandfather smiling: “What a coincidence, how come you’re at my house?”
The old master looked at the two: “You know each other?”
Du Yuemeng told the old master: “Last time at the Shen family’s banquet, CEO Wei brought her.”
She winked at Shiyi and said suggestively: “Right, Shiyi? We chatted for quite a while.”
Shiyi met her enthusiastic gaze and smiled slightly: “Mm.”
The old master got irritated seeing Du Yuemeng’s behavior: “Enough, don’t bring your outside manners into the house. Since you know she’s San’er’s person, you better control yourself.”
“Acting crazy and unruly all day, who knows when you’ll ever amount to anything.”
“Look at San’er, she’s been managing Wei Tian for several years now, hasn’t had any major problems, and the company…”
Du Yuemeng rolled her eyes secretly and hugged the old master coquettishly: “Oh grandfather, I have my brother, don’t I? If you keep talking like this, my ears will get calluses.”
The old master felt both love and frustration towards her, shaking his head helplessly.
The Du family had wanted a girl since his generation, but he and his three brothers had no daughters. Later he had Du Yuemeng’s father, followed by several more brothers. So by Du Yuemeng’s generation, it had become an obsession to have a gentle, sweet little girl. Du Yuemeng’s birth was like having the moon surrounded by stars [treasured]. They were afraid she would melt in their mouths and break in their hands [treated with extreme care]. Back then, people joked that the Du family and Wei family were like ‘twin lotus flowers’ [perfect match], because the girls were the same age and had similar status in their families, leading to this joke. Though it was a joke, Du Yuemeng never suffered any hardships growing up. Whatever she wanted, she got – even if it was stars from the sky, her family would find ways to get them for her. Yet despite all this, she fell in love with girls.
The entire Du family couldn’t accept this fact at first. His son and daughter-in-law made Du Yuemeng go on countless blind dates, find boyfriends, tried everything possible, but both sides were hurt in the process. Finally, he spoke up.
If she likes girls, then let her like girls. Let her be. As long as she’s happy, that’s enough. Life is only several decades long, isn’t it all about finding happiness?
Though he thought this way, seeing it in person still made him uncomfortable, so he moved abroad with his wife and son. The advantage abroad was its openness – after seeing many same-sex couples, he now felt it wasn’t such a big deal. That’s why he started returning to China frequently in recent years. When in a good mood, he would even ask Du Yuemeng if she had found any nice girls, suggesting they could marry abroad.
But this child couldn’t settle down, so whenever he saw Du Yuemeng, he would get angry, though he couldn’t bear to scold her. Finally, he waved his hand: “I give up on you.”
As he spoke these annoyed words, Du Yuemeng clung to him unwilling to let go: “Grandfather.”
“When I say I give up on you, I mean it.”
“Please care about me, please! I’ll go to brother’s company tomorrow.”
Shiyi watched Du Yuemeng and the old master chatting and couldn’t help feeling envious – this was how family should be, how nice.
She wondered if Third Miss would also act coquettishly with her family members?
But she seemed to have never seen other members of the Wei family.
Shiyi’s thoughts wandered as the two of them accompanied the old man around the flower bed. When the old master wanted to rest, he asked Du Yuemeng to continue walking with Shiyi. Shiyi originally wanted to stay with the old master, but unexpectedly, Du Yuemeng grabbed her wrist: “Come on, let me show you that area.”
Shiyi smiled apologetically at the old master and followed Du Yuemeng to another part of the flower bed. There was nothing special there, and while she was wondering what they were looking at, Du Yuemeng asked: “Are you and Third Miss really together now?”
“Hey! I could tell last time, don’t try to fool me.”
Shiyi was dumbfounded and didn’t know how to answer. Du Yuemeng continued on her own: “So you still haven’t answered my question from last time – is she good at it?”
Finally asking the burning question that had been bothering her, Du Yuemeng’s face showed anticipation and gossip-hunger. Shiyi opened and closed her mouth without answering. Du Yuemeng patted her shoulder: “Sister, this isn’t just something I want to know, the whole group wants to know!”
She took out her phone as she spoke. Shiyi saw a group chat on her phone with messages constantly popping up, her sharp eyes catching something about Third Miss. Seeing Du Yuemeng still looking at her, Shiyi shook her head: “I don’t know.”
Du Yuemeng wrinkled her delicate brows: “You don’t know? I get it, that means she’s not good.”
Shiyi couldn’t bear hearing anyone say Third Miss wasn’t good, and hurriedly said: “No!”
Du Yuemeng nodded: “Then she is good.”
“Also…” Shiyi’s “also not” got stuck in her throat, so she simply lowered her head and stopped responding to Du Yuemeng.
After having fun teasing her, Du Yuemeng smiled and said: “Oh right, you still haven’t given me your contact information from last time. Let’s hang out when you’re free. Third Miss doesn’t keep you on too tight a leash, not letting you go out, does she?”
It was purely to satisfy her curiosity – she really wanted to know what it was like for that Buddha to be in love. This was something their social circle gossiped about every day, and now that they fortunately had the person involved here, they had to get all the details.
Shiyi wasn’t good at refusing people, especially Du Yuemeng. Though she wasn’t clever, she could tell that Third Miss came to the Du family today for something important, so she absolutely couldn’t offend Du Yuemeng. Thinking of this, she took out her phone from her handbag. Du Yuemeng asked: “What’s your number?”
Shiyi shook her head: “I don’t know.”
Du Yuemeng glanced at her sideways, took her phone, quickly typed in a series of numbers, and dialed. Music started playing. She said to Shiyi: “This is my number. Call me to hang out when you’re free.”
Shiyi: “Mm.”
After entering the number, Du Yuemeng asked: “What about WeChat, do you have it?”
Shiyi shook her head again, looking down at her phone. Du Yuemeng said: “This one, open it.”
She obediently opened WeChat, entered the number, and after quite some struggle finally logged into her WeChat account. Du Yuemeng said laughingly: “Why are you like someone from ancient times, did you time travel here?”
The direct words made Shiyi slightly embarrassed, her pretty face turning slightly red. Seeing her expression, Du Yuemeng clicked her tongue twice in her heart – so beautiful, this shy and timid look made one can’t help but think—
She quickly moved her eyes away and said to Shiyi: “Let me add you to a group.”
“They’re all my sisters [close female friends].”
Shiyi gave a soft “mm” sound, saw the screen change, seemingly entering some group, and then there was a flood of flower [emoji] messages.
——Oh, we have a little sister joining us?
——Is she Yuemeng’s new love interest?
——I don’t think so, little sister, say something.
——What do you mean little sister, she might be older than you all!
——Then she’s a big sister!
Shiyi held her phone, not knowing how to reply. She looked somewhat bewildered at Du Yuemeng, who took her phone and typed rapidly, sent the message, then stuffed the phone back to her. Shiyi looked down and saw the message that had just been sent.
——Hello everyone, I am Wei Hui’s girlfriend.
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