Chapter 428: – Xia Tian’s Family Stuff
To be honest, the scene of Xia Tian having dinner with her dad... was really awkward.
Even though Lin Jin stayed out of it, she felt weirdly embarrassed by watching her dad look at Xia Tian with an expression as if he was evaluating his son in law, while Xia Tian just looked back with an indifferent expression.
How did these two even manage to target each other?
Lin Jin picked up a piece of meat and stuffed it in her mouth. She looked left and right, utterly confused.
The atmosphere during this meal really had that vibe of introducing your boyfriend to your parents. Although she had never experienced something like this herself, from what she’d seen online and in TV dramas, this was exactly what Lin Jin was going through now.
“What’s your name?” Dad stared at Xia Tian for a long time before finally asking.
“Xia Tian.”
“Last name is Xia?” Dad smiled warmly and asked Xia Tian again “Where are you from? How's your family situation?”
Lin Jin sighed. Although her dad had already asked her these questions before, it was clear he planned to interrogate him personally.
“From Hainan, my family’s situation is just so so." Xia Tian was still expressionless.
"You can just call me uncle from now on. Thanks for taking care of Lin Jin." Her dad looked nothing like his usual domineering self at home. He looked completely like a caring father, even putting two pieces of meat into Xia Tian's bowl, acting every bit the doting parent and elder.
However, Xia Tian remained unmoved, not even bothering to change his expression. He just nodded in response.
Lin Jin almost wanted to laugh. Although she hadn't discussed this with Xia Tian beforehand, he had clearly picked up on the tension between her and her dad. As a result, not only was his face expressionless, but he couldn't even be bothered to glance at her dad.
Lin Jin’s dad started to feel a bit awkward and was unsure of what to say next. He let out a couple of nervous laughs, then picked up his bowl and began shoveling rice into his mouth.
Earlier at lunch, Xia Tian had a huge appetite, finishing three full bowls of rice and especially enjoyed the dishes Lin Jin had made. But now, after just one bowl, he casually said: "I'm full."
"Are you going to stay here and hang out?" Dad asked.
"No, I'll head back to take a shower and sleep." Xia Tian stood up.
Lin Jin quickly got up too, smiling as she said, "I'll walk you out."
The two of them left, one after the other.
They walked downstairs in silence and it wasn’t until they reached the area outside the community that Lin Jin suddenly broke into a smile and asked Xia Tian, "My dad was so enthusiastic, why didn’t you react at all?"
"What's there to react to?" Xia Tian rolled his eyes. "Anyway, your relationship with him isn't great, right?"
"True." Lin Jin shrugged.
"And he obviously thinks of me as your boyfriend, but I’m not." Xia Tian had long noticed how overly enthusiastic her dad was acting towards him, not to mention the whole family interrogation and stuff. It was exactly like meeting the girlfriend's parents. Even though Xia Tian had never experienced this before, he was naturally an iceberg so acting indifferent was simple.
"Anyways, just ignore him, he's crazy." Lin Jin suddenly realized Xia Tian might be a great person to vent to, so she immediately pulled a bitter face and started complaining. "Can you believe that before I turned ten, my family was actually pretty well off? At that time, my dad's business was doing good and while we weren’t super rich, we at least had everything we needed."
"Then he started gambling. My mom divorced him and I didn’t even complain when he sold off all the furniture and stuff. But can you believe that he even sold the house this time?" Lin Jin huffed. "Sometimes I think it would’ve been better to be an orphan. It would be fine as long as I didn’t have a dad like this."
"If the debt wasn’t too much, my mom could’ve helped him pay it off, but he owed so much that he had to sell the house!" Lin Jin finally had someone to vent to so she kept complaining "During the winter break, my mom and brother even went back for a visit. He acted all decent, at least while mom was around, he didn’t gamble and even got a job. But as soon as she left, he went right back to his old ways!"
Xia Tian listened carefully, understanding that there wasn't much he could say in this situation and just being there to listen quietly was enough.
"Now that he's sold the house, even grandpa won’t help him, and neither will my uncles. He has nowhere to live and is too embarrassed to return home, so he shamelessly came to me, claiming he's here to do business and make money."
Lin Jin's grievances towards her dad had been brewing for a long time. When she was around ten, her mom’s business in Guangdong was still struggling. Her friends were out playing every day, but she had to do odd jobs everywhere to support the family. Even skipping class to go to the internet cafe required her to shamelessly ask her classmates to pay for her. Otherwise, she’d be working right after school with no time for fun. Fortunately, her gaming skills at that time were pretty good, so several of her friends took turns treating her to sessions at the internet cafe.
Well, one of those friends was that guy Liu Shengqi…
"Speaking of which, isn’t your family pretty well off? You live in a two bedroom one living room apartment all by yourself in college." Xia Tian didn’t know much about Lin Jin's family situation.
"That’s my mom’s money!" Lin Jin frowned. "Think about it, after she married my dad, she became a full time housewife. After the divorce, she had to go out and work hard to start a business on her own. If it weren’t for my mom, I probably wouldn’t have even finished high school. And if my mom hadn’t given me money, my dad would have starved to death by now!"
"Alright." Seeing that Lin Jin was still going strong, Xia Tian immediately started sharing his own family’s situation. "My family is okay. We’re not rich or anything, but we run a small grocery store at home. Growing up, I didn’t have much to worry about."
"Right, running a small store and comfortably live life. That sounds pretty good."
What Lin Jin wanted most in life was to own a small store, nothing too big. It didn’t need to earn much, just around ten thousand in net income a month was good. She imagined herself busying around her own store, and when there were no customers, she could happily play on the computer. When she’s unhappy, she could simply not open and take the day off. The thought of that kind of life made her feel amazing.
Of course, Lin Jin knew that she would probably never live such a carefree life. Even if she did have her own store, she would definitely be busy, just like her mom.
"But my family was pretty strict. My dad’s a retired soldier, so he had me practice boxing and stuff since I was a kid. I didn’t have many friends growing up, and after I did poorly on the college entrance exam, my dad almost beat me to death." Xia Tian shrugged. "If my family hadn’t been so strict and I’d had more friends or fun when I was a kid, I probably wouldn’t have a frozen face like I do now."
"I thought your facial paralysis was because of a stroke."
"You’re the one who had a stroke."
Xia Tian rolled his eyes.