You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 34 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 34 Part 1

All three of them, inside and outside of the door, were caught by surprise.

Before they had the chance to greet each other, Xu Huaishi cried out “wow” in a suggestive manner. Ruan Yu was embarrassed by the implication in the tone of Xu Huaishi’s voice and swallowed back the word “Auntie” as she was about to greet Tao Rong.

It was Tao Rong’s smile that melted away Ruan Yu’s uneasiness. Tao Rong said: “How are you, I’m Huaisong’s mother. Is Huaisong here?”

Ruan Yu smiled back: “I remember you, Auntie. Huaisong’s on his way back to San Francisco on urgent business. You probably just missed him.”

“Urgent business?” Tao Rong’s expression changed a little. “Is there anything wrong with his work?”

“No……” Ruan Yu felt it didn’t seem proper to have them standing at the door and moved a little away to say: “Please come in first.”

She led both of them to the couch and had them put down all the packages they were carrying.

Tao Rong explained to Ruan Yu: “We were afraid that if we told him that we were coming over beforehand, he’d probably drive all the way back to Su City to save us the trouble of making the trip. So we did tell him that we’re coming.”

Ruan Yu felt that Tao Rong seemed to act rather low key when she talked, as if she, as the mother of Xu Huaisong, wasn’t as close to her son as the woman who happened to show up in his hotel room. 

It seemed that the mother and son were a little estranged, probably from living apart for so many years.

Ruan Yu explained: “He misses you two as well and had planned to go back to Su City for a visit. See, he bought all those gifts.” She pointed to all the gift boxes piled up in the living room: “He just hadn’t decided whether to go tomorrow or the day after, so he didn’t mention it to you.”

Tao Rong glanced over at all the boxes and smiled.

Ruan Yu got up and said: “I’ll go make tea for you.”

She went over to the kitchenette to make the tea. She heard steps coming from behind after a short while and looked back. Tao Rong was coming up to her in an awkward manner, lowered her voice and asked hesitantly: “Over in San Francisco, did anything happen to his father?”

Originally, since Ruan Yu didn’t know the current situation of Xu Huaisong’s family, she wasn’t sure whether she should tell Xu Huaisong’s mother about his father’s condition. Now, Tao Rong acted as if she didn’t want Xu Huaishi to notice anything. Ruan Yu nodded her head lightly and said in a small voice: “He seems to have had another stroke.”

Xu Huaishi, who was sitting on the couch and playing with her cell phone, heard some noise in the kitchenette. She looked over and murmured: “Mom, what are you whispering about with Jiejie?”

Tao Rong turned to give her look.

Ruan Yu changed the subject with a laugh: “You’ve come all this way, let’s give Huaisong a call.”

“Nevermind.” Tao Rong shook her hand: “He must be driving in a hurry right now. Let’s not tell him. We'll get going soon.” As she was talking, she looked down at Ruan Yu’s hand which was busy opening the tea package: “Don’t bother with that, either.”

Ruan Yu didn’t insist on making the tea and poured a glass of water for her instead. Tao Rong seemed absent-minded when she took the glass of water. Ruan Yu added in a small voice: “Don’t you worry too much.”

Tao Rong tittered as if Ruan Yu had read her mind. After a while, Tao Rong gathered herself again and asked: “Are you getting along with Huaisong alright?”

Ruan Yu almost choked, but she knew that under the circumstances, it was quite natural for the mother to misunderstand. While she was considering how to explain, Tao Rong seemed to have misread Ruan Yu’s silence and hurriedly said: “Please bear with him if you feel he has done something wrong. He hasn’t had girlfriends before, so he probably isn’t aware of many things.”

Ruan Yu was surprised and subconsciously blurted out: “He hasn’t had a girlfriend all these years?”

Tao Rong seemed more relaxed talking about this topic and was quite frank with Ruan Yu: “As far as I know, he hasn’t. As a Chinese person, it’s not easy to be a lawyer in the US; if you aren’t better than others, you’ll be easily discriminated against. Especially after his father fell ill, he has only had himself to rely on. He spent all his energy on his work and there hasn’t been any room for a relationship.”

Ruan Yu replied: “En.” Now she was no longer interested in Xu Huaisong’s past romances, which she had been curious about for quite some time.

Something seemed to have tingled her heart.

Tao Rong kept going: “Actually, there’s a flaw in Huaisong’s character.” As if she was afraid her words had scared Ruan Yu, she kept explaining: “I don’t mean any pathological flaw.”

Ruan Yu turned her head over: “Hum?”

Tao Rong sighed with a smile: “Has he told you about me and his father?”

Ruan Yu nodded.

“We had disagreements way before he started junior high school and this matter influenced him more or less. He’s easy to shy away from things. Sometimes you may feel that he isn’t direct and decisive enough, that’s because he cares for that thing too much. I hope you can forgive him for that. It's the fault of me and his father.”

Ruan Yu lightly patted the back of Tao Rong’s hand to comfort her: “I know now. Don’t you worry.”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.