Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 381: Let Me Properly Give You Some Fatherly Love

Li Qiang definitely wanted to meet Lu Hui. After all, he was at an age of boundless energy, and Lu Hui frequently posted photos and videos of herself in stockings and short skirts on her gaming feed. For Li Qiang, this was undoubtedly pure torment. He had wanted to meet her for a long time, but she had consistently refused.But now, Lu Hui had unexpectedly taken the initiative to suggest meeting up.

Forget the fact that he was currently right there in Jinling—even if he were actually back in his northern hometown, he probably would have been so thrilled that he'd book a train ticket on the spot and rush over to meet her the very next day.

Unfortunately, Lu Hui had just been emotionally unstable earlier and was merely venting her frustrations at him.

Now, seeing Li Qiang taking it so seriously, Lu Hui was skeptical. "Didn't you tell me you were eating at your grandparents' house?" she asked. "If you come looking for me, would your parents even allow it?"

"Whether they allow it or not is their business. Either way, Sister Hui, you have to believe me. I am willing to give up anything for you!" Li Qiang declared solemnly.

Naturally, Lu Hui did not believe him. Besides, it was the New Year period, making tickets incredibly difficult to buy anyway.

However, seeing his foolish devotion did make her happy. Perhaps this was what women referred to as emotional value.

In truth, Lu Hui and Li Qiang were already considered lovers online. But honestly, she had never considered actually letting anything happen between them. For one, Liu Shuo genuinely treated her well. No matter how foolish she might be, she wasn't about to dig her own grave by tossing aside a comfortable life to hook up with a poor student. Secondly, by staying with Liu Shuo, she could at least maintain a presence in front of Zhou Yuwen.

Having stayed in Zhou Yuwen's company for so long, Lu Hui had figured things out. Zhou Yuwen was truly capable, and his future prospects were limitless. Sticking close to him meant that, even if she couldn't become his woman, she could at least catch some of his wealth and enjoy smooth sailing in life. If she actually fell out with Liu Shuo, wouldn't she be left with absolutely nothing?

As for Li Qiang, at best, he was nothing more than a digital pet.

Li Qiang kept telling Lu Hui how much he truly missed her.

"Baby, just thinking about you being all alone in Jinling with no one to keep you company makes me feel awful. Just let me come over and keep you company, okay? (Sad face)."

Lu Hui no longer wanted to discuss this topic with him, so she asked, "Don't you need to eat with your family?"

That single question left Li Qiang feeling a bit awkward. Where was he eating with his family right now? He had just finished his part-time shift at a hotel. Because it was New Year's Eve, the pay was slightly higher than usual, allowing him to earn three hundred yuan for the night.

Before leaving, he had swiped two bottles of beer and half a pack of cigarettes from a table, then hitched a ride back to the university in an acquaintance's minivan.

So, instead of rushing to reply to Lu Hui, he opened Chang Hao's chat window. "Happy New Year, Brother Hao! (Grin)"

At that moment, Chang Hao was indeed having a meal at his grandparents' house.

In front of Zhou Yuwen, he might still seem a bit naive, but his experiences over this past semester had made him mature significantly. In the past, he had a flamboyant personality and always loved to grandstand to draw people's attention no matter the occasion. Now, however, while his relatives were clinking glasses and toasting each other, Chang Hao could endure the solitude, quietly smoking a cigarette by himself.

Quite a few relatives remarked that little Hao had truly grown up.

Receiving Li Qiang's message right then, Chang Hao replied, "Happy New Year to you too."

Li Qiang then followed up, "What are you up to, Brother Hao?"

"What else is there to do on New Year's Eve? I'm having the reunion dinner with my family," Chang Hao replied, taking a deep drag of his cigarette.

Li Qiang murmured in acknowledgment, saying he was really envious.

"Brother Hao, could you snap a couple of photos for me?"

"?" Chang Hao was utterly bewildered. "Why do you want me to take pictures?"

Li Qiang explained, "Well, I'm stuck here working a part-time job in Jinling, right?"

"I've never seen a large family gathering before. This country bumpkin wants to broaden his horizons. (Grin)"

Seeing this, Chang Hao could not help but chuckle. He initially wanted to ridicule Li Qiang and say he certainly knew his place.

But after thinking it over, he let it go.

He snapped a few photos of the dining table and sent them to Li Qiang.

Chang Hao's family actually had decent living conditions. After all, they were in Jingcheng, and with a large number of aunts and uncles from the previous generation, there were bound to be wealthy relatives among them. For such a major holiday, the dining standards were quite high. At the very least, there was leopard coral grouper and a couple of lobsters.

As for the liquor, serving Moutai might have looked a bit too pretentious.

But at the bare minimum, they had to have Wuliangye.

Chang Hao also had a mind to show off, so he photographed everything and sent it to Li Qiang.

Without a second thought, Li Qiang took the photos and forwarded all of them straight to Lu Hui.

After looking at them, Lu Hui thought to herself that Li Qiang's family circumstances were surprisingly good. Judging by the background out the window, the place looked just like a traditional courtyard house.

Meanwhile, Li Qiang messaged Chang Hao again. "Brother Hao, you're so badass. Your family actually has a courtyard house?"

Chang Hao smiled and replied, "Since when did you become so observant?"

"Hehe, isn't it because I've been hanging around Brother Hao for so long?"

They say a leopard cannot change its spots, and there was truth to that. Even though Chang Hao had indeed grown, the innate arrogance in the bones of Jingcheng locals could never be entirely erased. After just a few words of flattery from Li Qiang, Chang Hao started chatting with him, detailing exactly where his family home was located.

"It's not of much use. The government has issued documents now; it can't be demolished for redevelopment."

Chang Hao logically and clearly explained the exact location of his family's old residence to Li Qiang, mentioning specifics like the Dongcheng District and Qianmen Street, while reiterating that it truly could not be torn down.

His tone undoubtedly carried a hint of pride.

Li Qiang did not alter a single word; he just copied and pasted the messages directly to Lu Hui.

Staring at her phone, Lu Hui was slightly lost in thought by the sheer sense of superiority radiating from the text. She wondered how wonderful it would be if she actually married into a family in Jingcheng, right at the foot of the emperor.

This Li Qiang at least had a bachelor's degree, and with such excellent family conditions, he was far better than Liu Shuo.

But...

If it were not out of consideration for Zhou Yuwen, Lu Hui probably would have broken up with Liu Shuo a long time ago.

In truth, given Li Qiang's clumsy acting skills, he logically should have been exposed by Lu Hui long ago. The only reason they had been chatting for so long was truly thanks to Chang Hao.

Ever since heading home for the winter holiday, Li Qiang had been pestering Chang Hao, asking him to take pictures of his high-speed rail ticket and the scenery along the journey.

Then, while chatting with Lu Hui, she would occasionally mention that she had been to Jingcheng.

She would list the specific places she had visited.

Li Qiang obviously had no clue about any of those places.

But Chang Hao knew them. In fact, Chang Hao knew them like the back of his hand.

This ended up providing Li Qiang with an enormous amount of help.

As a result, even though Lu Hui occasionally had her suspicions about the rustic behavior Li Qiang displayed during their conversations, seeing how well he knew Jingcheng made her dismiss her doubts as overthinking.

Just like right now, as Li Qiang spoke with a hint of pride about "his" family's old residence and mentioned his grandparents.

Lu Hui genuinely felt that for some people, hard work paled in comparison to simply being born into the right family.

The only true dividing line in life was amniotic fluid.

After the New Year, Lu Hui would turn twenty-six. She naturally had to start planning for her future. She would have to have a child eventually. If not, maybe she could have one for Li Qiang? Secure her status through her child?

While Lu Hui was letting her imagination run wild, Li Qiang pressed his attack. "Sister Hui, I really miss you. I'm going to book a ticket right now!"

"You're so lonely all by yourself in Jinling. Can I just come keep you company? At the very least, I'll come over and treat you to a meal, and we can part ways right after we eat."

Li Qiang was truly racking his brains trying to find a way to sleep with Lu Hui.

But Lu Hui had these little boys wrapped around her finger. Her heart stirred, but she simply told Li Qiang, "Let me think about it some more."

"It's getting late. I'm going to sleep." "Don't go, Sister Hui."

Pleading further was useless. In the end, Lu Hui announced that she was going to sleep and ignored Li Qiang for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, Li Qiang was in the prime of his youth. Tormented by youthful hormones, he found it impossible to fall asleep.

Especially since his mind was completely filled with images of Lu Hui wearing stockings and tight skirts.

After agonizing for a long time, he finally opened Lu Hui's feed, picked a random photo of her beautiful legs in stockings, buried himself under the covers, and started working vigorously...

However, this kind of thing only ever treated the symptoms, not the root cause. Although it relieved the immediate urgency, he was bound to start yearning for her again as soon as he woke up the next day.

Especially over the first few days of the New Year. With no part-time job to go to, he spent every day lying in his dormitory reading novels. As he read, he couldn't help but start thinking about Lu Hui again. Ultimately, Li Qiang couldn't hold back any longer; he decided to give Lu Hui a surprise.

So, he first went and bought a train ticket from Jingcheng to Jinling. After taking a few photos of it, he promptly returned the ticket for a refund.

That was on the fourth day of the New Year. In the blink of an eye, three days had already passed. Over those three days, a heavy snow had fallen across the Xuzhou-Huaibei region. When Zhou Yuwen opened his eyes on the first morning of the New Year, the world outside was already blanketed in pure white.

Out in the courtyard, Lu Wanting seemed exceptionally excited. Bundled up in a padded jacket, she ran around shouting, "It's snowing! It's snowing!"

She looked as if she had never seen snow before in her life.

Because Zhou Yuwen had expended a great deal of energy on Su Qing in the car the previous night, he woke up quite late today. First thing in the morning, he received plenty of eye rolls from his mother, who snarked, "Oh, whose child is this? I thought you weren't coming back!?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yuwen could not help but give a wry smile. When he returned last night, his mother had been busy playing mahjong with several of his aunts. At the time, he thought she hadn't noticed he'd gone out. Who would have guessed she was just holding her breath, saving her reprimand specifically for the first day of the New Year.

During a meal, Zhou Yuwen brought it up to his mother, saying, "Mom, Su Qing is a good girl."

"You shouldn't have a bias against her."

"What kind of good girl asks for a Mercedes-Benz when you've barely just started dating?"

"I gave that to her on my own, okay?" Zhou Yuwen retorted.

"And she just takes it because you offered? If you don't believe me, ask your Sister Wanting. If Xiaoyong gave her a Mercedes-Benz, would she accept it?"

Since Lu Wanting happened to be sitting at the dining table right then, Yang Lirong dragged her into the conversation.

Hearing this, Lu Wanting offered an awkward smile, thinking to herself, 'Of course I wouldn't accept it, because Xiaoyong isn't my boyfriend!'

Meanwhile, Zhou Yuwen thought to himself, 'Even if she wanted one, Brother Xiaoyong wouldn't have the ability to give it to her anyway!'

Everyone in the family sat there, each harboring their own thoughts.

On the first day of the New Year, heavy snow continued to fall outside, so nothing much happened all day. Zhou Yuwen hid at home playing on his computer, occasionally chatting with a few of his female confidantes.

Zheng Yanyan said she missed Zhou Yuwen very much and wanted to come to the Xuzhou-Huaibei region to find him.

Zhou Yuwen simply replied, "Then come over."

"If I really go, will you come pick me up at the station?" Zheng Yanyan asked.

"No," Zhou Yuwen said.

"Hmph! Then why did you even suggest it?"

Zhou Yuwen told her to stop fooling around.

"Stay home and spend proper time with your parents for the New Year. If you suddenly run off, would your parents even allow it?"

"I'm going to marry into your family sooner or later anyway. What's wrong with going early to familiarize myself with the environment?" Zheng Yanyan stated as a matter of course.

"What do you mean 'sooner or later'? Did I ever say I was going to marry you?"

"(Going crazy) (Going crazy)"

The heavy snow fell for the entire morning, only finally stopping after two in the afternoon.

Su Qing sent Zhou Yuwen a photo of the snow outside her window.

Zhou Yuwen remarked that it looked quite beautiful.

Then, Su Qing asked him, "Guess what I'm doing right now?"

"How should I know?" Zhou Yuwen replied.

Su Qing then sent Zhou Yuwen a picture of Pan Min. In the photo, Pan Min was wearing a sweater, her legs crossed in tight pants, sitting on the sofa knitting.

"I'm keeping my mom company while she watches TV," Su Qing said.

"Oh, that's nice."

"Zhou Yuwen, I'm so bored. Can I come find you?"

"You'd better not. It just stopped snowing, and the roads outside are going to be difficult to walk on."

"But I miss you!"

In the end, Su Qing still made her way to Zhou Yuwen's house, bundled up so tightly she looked like a rice dumpling. As Zhou Yuwen opened the door and led her inside, they happened to run into Yang Lirong walking out.

Su Qing was as polite as ever. She bowed her head slightly and greeted, "Hello, Auntie."

However, Yang Lirong merely cast a cold glance at her and turned away without uttering a single word.

Sensing the shift in mood, Su Qing could not help but grab onto Zhou Yuwen's sleeve. "Hey, why do I get the feeling my mother-in-law dislikes me a bit now?"

"Does she?" Zhou Yuwen played dumb. "Not at all. It's not like she knows you aren't going to have children, so how could she possibly hate you right now?"

Zhou Yuwen laughed to himself even as he said it, remembering that in their previous life, the two women had constantly feuded over this exact issue.

In their previous life, Su Qing had been incredibly stubborn, stubbornly refusing to have children no matter what.

Hearing Zhou Yuwen bring it up now, Su Qing immediately pouted and called him annoying.

"When did I ever say I wasn't going to have children?!"

"Are you sure you never said that?"

"The past is the past, and the present is the present. Now I'm going to give you a big, chubby baby boy. Didn't that fortune teller say so? He said I could have one son and one daughter!" Su Qing said, tugging at the corner of Zhou Yuwen's clothing.

"You actually believe him?" Zhou Yuwen asked. "He also claimed your mother would have a son."

Honestly, before the old fortune teller claimed that Pan Min could have a son, Zhou Yuwen had truly believed him. He had panicked at the time, given that he did indeed have several women. Predicting 'eight sons' wasn't something a normal person would casually guess.

But when the old man brought up Pan Min, Zhou Yuwen let out a sigh of relief. He figured the man was just completely spouting nonsense.

Aunt Pan had been divorced for who knows how long.

Bringing up the old topic this time, however, Su Qing said, "Maybe it's actually possible."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. We're definitely going to bring my mom to Jinling in the future. Who knows, maybe she'll find a second spring of romance in Jinling!" Su Qing reasoned.

Zhou Yuwen shot Su Qing a rather surprised look and said, "It seems you really are lacking fatherly love. Get upstairs, let me properly give you some fatherly love."