Su Lang said in a low voice, “She’s only just started her freshman year, while you’ve already graduated and entered the workforce. You two are at completely different stages of life. Have you ever considered that she might be mistaking admiration for love?
“Once she enters society too, the sense of disparity and novelty caused by this difference may gradually disappear.
“She’s our daughter. Auntie Lin and I also regard you as our own child. If the two of you ultimately don’t end up together, how will our families get along afterward?
“Rather than waiting until that day comes, you should end things now.”
Su Lang suppressed his anger and tried to reason with Yan Yuan as calmly as possible.
His wife supported their daughter’s relationship. After being persuaded by her, Su Lang could reluctantly understand it—but what he had envisioned was Linlin dating someone her own age from school.
Yan Yuan had already left campus and entered the workforce. When Su Lang found out that he was dating his daughter, he couldn’t deny that he had been furious.
And that was despite Yan Yuan himself being an outstanding young man.
Objectively speaking, Yan Yuan had the advantages of experience, financial independence, and social maturity. To a university student who had yet to enter society, this was undoubtedly a form of “temptation.”
Most people were instinctively drawn to strength and superiority. Students who had not yet experienced the real world were especially likely to be attracted by the differences between their stages of life.
Su Lang wasn’t so old-fashioned that he believed his daughter should never date. But when it came to Yan Yuan, he truly wasn’t satisfied.
It wasn’t that he disliked Yan Yuan as a person. He simply wasn’t certain about the sincerity of their feelings or the future of their relationship.
Just as he had said, if they didn’t make it to the end, how would they face each other afterward?
For a moment, Yan Yuan really did feel that Uncle Su had a point. He wasn’t sure whether Linlin’s feelings for him were merely the result of novelty.
But…
Yan Yuan’s eyes sharpened. “Uncle, just as you said, I’m more mature than Linlin, so I’m perfectly clear about my feelings. As for Linlin, whether what she feels for me is just novelty or not, I won’t let her go.
“Uncle, if Linlin is going to date someone eventually, why can’t that person be me?”
Yan Yuan laid all his cards on the table, trying to move Su Lang. “At the very least, I will never hurt her. Even if one day she doesn’t want me anymore…”
Su Lang fell silent.
Just as Yan Yuan had said, compared with other men, Yan Yuan was indeed someone whose character and background they understood well.
Su Lang would have liked to play the Queen Mother of the West and draw a Milky Way between the two of them.
The real trouble was his daughter’s defense of Yan Yuan.
Su Lang suddenly felt so angry that he became dizzy.
Jiang Chengzhou suddenly appeared at the door, frowning as he asked, “What dating? Who’s dating whom?”
The nerve of him. His little sister had been stolen right from under his nose, and he still had the gall to ask!
Su Lang let out a cold snort. “You didn’t know? I thought you were covering for him. Otherwise, how could you, as her brother, have kept quiet for half a year without saying a word to the family?”
“I…”
The bucket of water in Jiang Chengzhou’s hand hit the ground with a loud clang. He charged forward, seized Yan Yuan by the collar, and swung his right fist.
Yan Yuan’s head was knocked to the side. His teeth split his lip, and a trace of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Are you an animal?” Jiang Chengzhou snarled, gripping his collar. “She’s your sister. How could you date her?”
Yan Yuan raised a hand and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb. He looked up at Jiang Chengzhou. “Jiang Chengzhou, Linlin is your sister, not mine.”
Jiang Chengzhou’s eyes turned red, and he threw a second punch.
This time, Yan Yuan raised his hand and blocked it.
Su Lang stood to the side, watching expressionlessly.
Yan Yuan and Jiang Chengzhou had both trained in martial arts for several years when they were young, so Yan Yuan had a solid foundation. But Jiang Chengzhou had spent all these years receiving training at school and in the military. His stamina and reflexes had long since surpassed Yan Yuan’s.
After several exchanges, Yan Yuan was clearly at a disadvantage.
Jiang Chengzhou threw another punch. Yan Yuan twisted aside, and the force of the blow skimmed past his ear. But he failed to evade the next punch. It struck him squarely in the shoulder, sending him staggering backward two steps before he crashed into a veranda pillar.
“Brother!”
Lin Zhilan and Linlin heard the commotion and ran out of the room.
The moment Linlin saw that Yan Yuan was hurt, she rushed over and spread her arms to block Jiang Chengzhou. “Brother, stop hitting him.”
Jiang Chengzhou’s fist hung suspended in midair. After a few heavy breaths, he gritted his teeth and said, “Linlin, break up with him, and I’ll stop.”
Yan Yuan pulled Linlin behind him and said calmly, “Impossible.”
“I—” Furious, Jiang Chengzhou was about to strike again, but Lin Zhilan shouted him down.
“That’s enough!” Lin Zhilan said coldly. “All of you, back inside.”
Jiang Chengzhou released Yan Yuan’s collar and stormed away.
Once they were inside, Lin Zhilan stood in front of the coffee table and started by giving Su Lang a dressing-down.
The two young men had gotten into a fight, and he had simply stood by with his arms folded. Did he look anything like a responsible elder?
Su Lang obediently listened to her scolding, waiting for her to deal with the children.
But after reprimanding him, Lin Zhilan was done. “Linlin, go put medicine on your brother’s injuries. Li Li, go treat Yan Yuan’s wounds. Anyone who gets into another fight will go back to the capital for the New Year.”
Su Lang pulled his wife into the bedroom. “Zhilan, that’s it? It’s over? Aren’t you going to punish them?”
Lin Zhilan sighed. “How am I supposed to punish them? Everyone has their own reasons. Let the children deal with it themselves.”
Su Lang paced around the room. “No, this still isn’t right. I don’t approve of Linlin dating him.”
“Then go tell your daughter that.”
Su Lang was momentarily speechless. “What did our daughter say to you just now?”
“She said she likes Yan Yuan. What do you suggest we do?”
…
In Jiang Chengzhou’s room, Linlin was applying medicine to her brother’s injuries.
He barely had any injuries at all—just a bruise on his shoulder. In Jiang Chengzhou’s eyes, it was nothing.
But Linlin was crying as she treated him.
Jiang Chengzhou was both exasperated and amused. “What are you crying for? This little injury is nothing. Yan Yuan is much worse off.”
“Ow!”
The next second, Linlin pressed the cotton swab hard against his swollen bruise.
Jiang Chengzhou winced in pain, then laughed. “You’re already turning your elbow outward, huh?”
Linlin lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Brother.”
“What are you apologizing for? If anyone should apologize, it’s Yan Yuan!”
Linlin lowered her head even further.
Jiang Chengzhou sighed. “Linlin, do you really want to be with him? Even if your uncle, aunt, and I all disagree?”
“Mom agrees,” Linlin said weakly.
“What if your uncle and I don’t?”
Linlin looked up at him with a wounded expression. “But I already said I was sorry.”
Jiang Chengzhou felt a headache coming on. This wasn’t about saying sorry!
In Jiang Chengzhou’s mind, Yan Yuan had grown up alongside him and had watched Linlin grow up too. For him to be in a relationship with Linlin was simply absurd.
“Linlin, has Yan Yuan ever deceived you, bullied you, or threatened you?”
Linlin shook her head. If she was being honest, she was the one who bullied Yan Yuan more often.
Jiang Chengzhou still refused to give up. He pressed on, “Are you sure you like Yan Yuan? You’re not just mistaking him for an older brother?”
