Mother Ruan had originally thought her daughter wouldnât agree to her request. And so, she froze in surprise when her daughter took the two movie tickets before responding with a beaming smile. Although she was over 50 years old, she put effort into maintaining her appearance. In addition, her living standards had greatly improved after her daughterâs marriage. So, she didnât look that different from someone in their early 40âs.
Right now, there wasnât much for her to worry about. She didnât have to worry about money and had a big home to live in. Her only worry was her daughter and son-in-lawâs relationship.
Seeing that her daughterâs attitude had changed, there was nothing else to feel dissatisfied and unhappy about. Her life was simply too wonderful.
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In the guest room, before Little Wang fell asleep, he wanted to chat with his dad. The curve of his little belly was going up and down as he breathed in and out. âDad, I found out that other kidsâ moms arenât as pretty as mine.â
The image of that horrifying face still haunted Song Tingshenâs mind. Now that his son was here, his attention was finally distracted.
âDad, do you think mom is pretty?â Little Wang asked.
Song Tingshen suddenly thought of his first meeting with Ruan Xia. At that time, he already had his own company, and the scale of it wasnât small either. A professor from his alma mater had contacted him and wanted him to come back to give a speech, and he had agreed. When he went back to his college, he saw the young college students and suddenly felt as if time had passed so quickly. He had already passed his thirty birthday.
Ruan Xia had been the student responsible for greeting him. He had only thought that the college-aged her was very pretty from a manâs perspective.
Later on, she came to his company to interview for a part-time job. Perhaps, the HR department saw that she was going to his alma mater and thought that there was a connection between them. In addition, her appearance was really too outstanding. Thus, she was hired.
On the night that she had schemed against him, he hadnât been drunk to the point of losing consciousness. His judgement hadnât been impaired either.
Insiders had all thought she had succeeded because she was a good schemer. It was only Song Tingshen that knew it was because he had allowed himself to indulge that night.
He had lived for over three decades, and he had always practiced self-control and keeping his emotions under control. Unlike other successful people, he hadnât come from wealth. And so, starting from college, he had been careful.He didnât dare to take one wrong step. It wouldnât be an exaggeration to say that his nerves had always been tense. But, he was a mortal, an ordinary person. There was bound to be a time when he wanted to relax.
There were some people in the business world that called him a gentleman, but he wasnât.
If he was a gentleman, that night would have never happened. The current situation wouldnât exist either.
And so, when Ruan Xia wanted to get married to become Mrs. Song and give birth to their child, he didnât have any objections. In his thirties, he had learned the life lesson that if you want to indulge, you have to be prepared to price the price.
After he had gotten married, there had still been countless people that tried to tempt him, but none of them succeeded.
He wasnât willing to set a bad example for his son, and after that night, he never had the urge to indulge.
If he didnât have the urge, naturally nothing would happen.
Before falling asleep, Little Wang asked again, âIs mom pretty?â
Song Tingshen saw that Little Wang was already half-asleep. He covered him with the blanket and whispered, âOf course sheâs pretty.â
He was a mortal, not a monk. Just like any ordinary man, he liked beauty. If she wasnât pretty, he wouldnât have let himself indulge.
Translator Ramblings: I like how the author doesnât make Song Tingshen a victim. His relationship with the novelâs Ruan Xia is more like an egg donor/surrogate mother than wife, and it was a conscious decision on his part. If Song Tingshen had been truthful to his son instead of going along with the maternal grandparentsâ well-meaning lies, I wonder if Little Wang could have been happier after the initial hurt. He wouldnât have developed twisted feelings of love and hate towards the novelâs Ruan Xia. Heâs already old enough to feel sad that his mom is distant to him. Dragging out this lie until heâs too old to be lied to, is it really the better option? Itâs like slowly peeling off a bandaid vs yanking it off and suffering less.
Since Song Tingshen feels that itâs important for a child to have a motherâs love and he has no feelings for his wife, I wonder why he doesnât consider divorcing Ruan Xia, offering continued financial support to keep her happy, and marrying a woman that does love kids? Heâs had four years to see that Ruan Xia has no desire to be a mother. Itâs time to think of Plan B.