Chapter 551: – Meeting the mother in law
Because her mom insisted, Lin Jin couldn’t eat dinner on time. Still, her mom was somewhat considerate and stir fried some noodles for the two siblings at around six o’clock. After they ate, Lin Jin didn’t feel the wait was that bad anymore.
There wasn’t anything to do in the evening. Lin Jin had wanted to take her mom and younger brother to the movies, but her mom was afraid Xia Tian would suddenly come home and refused. Her mom just sat on the living room sofa, watching TV while eating the cherries Lin Jin had bought a couple of days ago, already acting as if this was her own home.
Lin Jin felt a bit troubled and secretly sent Xia Tian a text message, telling him to think about what he should say when he met her mom. Then she laid down on the bed and went on her phone. Lin Chen, on the other hand, started getting into RimWorld. He clumsily controlled the little characters in the game while the viewers spammed the chat roasting him like crazy.
But Lin Chen completely didn’t see the chat at all. As a top student who had also spent a good amount of time watching Lin Jin play, despite being a little overwhelmed at first, he started figuring out how to play after about half an hour. He then started building walls and traps and stuff based on what he understood about the game.
Lin Jin was happy to chill. Lin Chen thought streaming was really interesting, whereas she felt streaming was straight up torture.
Time slowly passed, and at nine o’clock, Xia Tian came home right on time.
Ever since he got Lin Jin’s text around six, he had been on edge all night. After all, he was completely unprepared for meeting his girlfriend’s parents. Especially since Lin Jin’s mom apparently didn’t approve of her dating so early.
Lin Jin was clearly already in her second year, and will basically be a third year at the end of the semester. Yet her mom was still so old fashioned and wouldn’t even allow her to have a boyfriend in college. Was a college life without dating even able to be considered as college?
He opened the door with his key. As soon as he entered, he saw a woman who looked about forty sitting on his sofa watching TV.
That had to be Lin Jin’s mom!
He didn’t even have time to properly take off his shoes. The moment he saw Lin Jin’s mom look at him, he immediately bowed without any hesitation and respectfully shouted: “Mom!”
“Mom” Lin Jin’s mom looked completely baffled.
Then, Xia Tian suddenly realized that he and Lin Jin’s mom didn’t even know each other yet, but he had called her “mom” as soon as they met.
Too nervous! Too nervous! He needed to find a way to calm down.
He straightened up his expression. Seeing Lin Jin’s mom staring at him, he forced out a smile that looked worse than crying, then quickly changed his tune and said: “Hello auntie.”
“Mm.” Her mom coldly nodded.
Xia Tian hurriedly took off his coat, changed into slippers, and then just awkwardly stood at the door, not knowing what to do or say at all.
When he had first met Lin Jin’s dad, it was under the label of being just friends. Later on, he naturally transitioned into the future son in law. But since he had never met Lin Jin’s mom before, his hands were nervously trembling.
This was much more intense than his first time going to a job interview.
“Sit.” Lin Jin’s mom crossed her legs and looked at Xia Tian with a serious expression.
He looked quite decent. Judging by his face, he was probably a serious and upright person.
Lin Jin’s mom thought to herself, then stood up and said to Xia Tian: “Go to the bedroom and call them to come eat. We’ve been waiting a while for dinner, so they’re probably starving.”
“Okay!” Xia Tian hurriedly rushed into the bedroom and called Lin Jin and Lin Chen out.
When the three of them all came out together again, mom had already laid out all the dishes and chopsticks, and was currently sitting at the head of the rectangular dining table, waiting.
They each took a seat, with Lin Jin sitting next to Xia Tian. She cautiously glanced at her mom’s expression, but couldn’t tell whether she liked or disliked Xia Tian. However, Lin Chen was very curious about this brother in law and kept staring at Xia Tian. As if afraid the other wouldn’t notice him, Lin Chen even reached his hand out and nudged the still dazed Xia Tian.
“Brother in law, how did you manage to get my sister?”
Xia Tian, who had been sitting there so nervous he was in a daze, finally got it back together and quickly explained: “I guess our feelings just developed over time, yeah, it developed over time.”
“How long have you two been together?” Mom placed a piece of meat into Lin Jin’s bowl, the expression on her face softening a little. She put on a kind motherly face, smiling as she asked Xia Tian “Are you two planning to get married in the future?”
Lin Jin knew her mom wasn’t asking herself, so she lowered her head, said nothing, and just focused on eating.
Xia Tian didn’t need to think about it at all and immediately answered: “We’ve been together for a bit over two months. We met when she came back from her hometown during the winter break.”
“Oh, so you mean you’ve only known each other for half a year. How can that be considered as feelings developing over time?’” Lin Jin’s mom gently questioned Xia Tian’s words “Besides, she’s still in school, so there was no way you could’ve been together all the time”
“At that time, we just so happen to live in the same rental building, and we also knew each other. She later started live streaming and needed help, so he came to me. Going back and forth like that, we got familiar.” Xia Tian was so nervous his voice sounded a little weird, but he didn’t notice and tried his best to express his care for Lin Jin. “Then later, we started live streaming together and would be together basically every night. Maybe because her personality is quite good, so I just slowly started to like her.”
“Mm, so what do you do for work now?”
“Right now, I’m working in a hotel kitchen. I’m preparing to open a restaurant, so I wanted to work in the kitchen first and familiarize myself a bit.” Xia Tian found himself gradually relaxing as he spoke. “I’ve currently saved over a hundred thousand. Although it’s not enough to open a restaurant just yet, I plan to see if I can get a loan, or borrow some from my family.”
“Mm.” Lin Jin’s mom nodded, and once again asked “What’s your family situation? Is it convenient to say?”
“My family, I’m the only child, no brothers or sisters. My family’s condition can just be considered okay, I’m currently sending them back two thousand yuan each month.”
“Where are you from?”
“A small county town in Hainan, the scenery’s really nice.” Xia Tian smoothly answered.
“So what do you like about my family’s Lin Jin?”
Xia Tian was just about to answer, but he suddenly froze and turned to look at Lin Jin.
He carefully looked at Lin Jin’s face, his eyes full of affection. Lin Jin felt his gaze and impolitely glared at him. She then gave his foot under the table a stomp.
Xia Tian winced and quickly pulled his gaze back. Then he said to her mom: “Auntie, I feel I like everything about Lin Jin. If you really asked me for the specifics, I would actually be at a loss for words.”
“Let me put it this way. Lin Jin is the most special girl I’ve ever met. I fell in love with her the first time I met her.”
Listen to your nonsense. The first time you met me, you were cold to no end, alright? Later, we even had that falling out, okay?
Lin Jin beside him thought.
“Mm.” Her mom looked a bit absent minded as she lowered her head and bit her chopsticks, looking as if she was thinking about something.
Xia Tian immediately shut up and flashed Lin Jin a peace sign under the table.
“I did pretty well, right?” He leaned towards Lin Jin’s ear and asked in a low voice.
Lin Jin gave him a glance, and then casually nodded.
Xia Tian breathed a sigh of relief. This should be considered as having passed, right?