Dragon King's Son-In-Law

Chapter 64: Grandma’s Suspicion

Panda Novel

When they finally returned to their dorm room, all four of them were feeling a little intoxicated. Still, Hao Ren was the soberest.

After such stressful events, Hao Ren should have stayed in the dorm to care for Zhao Jiayi. However, at this time, he dearly missed his grandma who had recently been discharged from the hospital. Also, he would like to have Zhao Guang’s advise on the matter. Hence, Hao Ren gathered up his materials and took the bus to Zhao Yanzi’s home.

When he arrived at Zhao Yanzi’s, it was already seven o’clock in the evening. Zhao Hongyu had just finished cleaning up after dinner and had joined Hao Ren’s grandma for conversations while watching TV.

As Hao Ren entered the house, he was surprised to see the healthy glow on his grandma’s face.

“Ren, we were just talking about you! I thought you are not coming tonight.” seated cozily on the couch, Grandma was pleasantly surprised to see Hao Ren.

“Something happened at the school, so I couldn’t leave until later. How are you feeling, Grandma?” Hao Ren asked.

“Haha! Never better! Even my blood pressure has returned to optimal levels!” Grandma’s answer was loud and clear.

Indeed, Hao Ren thought Grandma’s face looked vigorous, nothing like a recovering patient. In fact, she was looking a few years younger than before.

Standing next to Grandma, Zhao Hongyu smiled in silence.

“Hongyu took excellent care of me, after all. She’s been making me chicken soup every day for the past two days, so my body has recovered quickly and grown even stronger!” Grandma added as she looked to Zhao Hongyu appreciatively.

Hao Ren suspected that Zhao Hongyu had been putting some elixir in the chicken soup. The more he looked at her smile, the more he believed it. By all means, it could also be that Grandma was in a great mood, so she was able to recover quickly.

In any case, seeing that his grandma was in good health, Hao Ren finally felt relieved. He turned to Zhao Hongyu and asked, “Where’s Zi?”

“She’s working on her homework upstairs, go join her. I will chat with your grandma some more,” Zhao Hongyu responded kindly.

“Okay!” carrying his stuff, Hao Ren started climbing up the stairs.

On his way, he turned to look at Zhao Hongyu and Grandma who were in the living room. He found that they were getting along exceptionally well and seemed to have developed a relationship even closer than that of Grandma and her own daughter-in-law. “What an interesting world this is,” he thought.

Soon, he arrived at the door of Zhao Yanzi’s room. Quietly pushing open the door, he found Zhao Yanzi sitting in front of her desk and burying herself in homework.

Hearing the door, Zhao Yanzi turned around and immediately let out a “humph” at Hao Ren.

“What now? What did I do to piss you off this time?” Hao Ren walked over and returned the few textbooks he had borrowed from her last time.

“My mom made a lot of your favorite dishes tonight. Yet, with just a phone call telling her that you were not coming to dinner, you made all her good intention and effort go to waste,” pouting her lips, Zhao Yanzi replied grumpily.

“Oh?” as he only learned that from Zhao Yanzi right now, Hao Ren felt surprised and touched.

“Something happened in school today so that I couldn’t make it,” Hao Ren explained as he sat down next to her and started pulling out materials from his bag.

Zhao Yanzi ignored Hao Ren’s remark as she continued to puff out her cheeks, looking like a pufferfish.

“Your midterm exams are this Friday, aren’t they?” Hao Ren asked.

“Yeah,” Zhao Yanzi nodded her head lightly.

She was wearing a ruffle layered printed top and a pair of mid-length khaki pants, looking nifty and vivacious. Yet, the outfit also made her seem especially sweet. Her lovely petite body gave off a faint after-shower fragrance, slightly stimulating Hao Ren’s olfactory sensations.

She was no doubt the daughter of a renowned designer as even her casually matched outfits were even flawlessly brilliant.

“Let’s review for the midterms then,” Hao Ren suggested as he spread out the materials.

After having read the textbooks Zhao Yanzi lent him, Hao Ren now had a clear understanding of her learning progress and was able to pinpoint the areas that she should focus on. Therefore, he could now tutor Zhao Yanzi in a way that would better help her prepare for the midterm exams.

Surprisingly, Zhao Yanzi did not try to argue but simply followed Hao Ren’s instructions this time and began the review session at once. In the end, it turned out to be the most productive tutoring session Hao Ren had had with her thus far.

Hao Ren felt that Zhao Yanzi was genuinely trying to learn. He could tell that she was taking the midterm exams seriously this time.

After he finished arranging and refreshing the important concepts of each subject for her once, two hours had already passed.

Hao Ren suddenly stopped lecturing and turned to her as he said, “You should go to bed now. I’ll go check on my grandma.”

“Okay,” Zhao Yanzi nodded while her head was still down, busily organizing the notes from today’s lecture.

Her unexpected compliance had caught Hao Ren off guard. For a second, he suspected whether if the Zhao Yanzi before him really was the real Zhao Yanzi.

Quietly, he left the room and moved to the next room to visit his grandma.

“Are you done tutoring Zi?” lying in bed, Grandma was still awake as if she had been expecting Hao Ren.

“Yep. We didn’t finish going through everything, but we will do that over the next few days,” Hao Ren sat down on Grandma’s bed as he answered.

“Ren, I feel that your relationship with Zi’s family is not as simple as you have said. When I asked Hongyu about it, she kept telling me that you are only Zi’s tutor,” Grandma focused her attention on Hao Ren and said, “Is there something you are hiding from me?”

“Uh… no,” Hao Ren shook his head, “I just became really close to her family.”

“Alright. Anyway, I am greatly indebted to Hongyu and her family for saving my life, so you must do your best to tutor Zi,” Grandma gently put her hand on Hao Ren’s shoulder as she said.

In the few days she had spent at Zhao Hongyu’s home, Grandma felt that the Zhao’s were treating her as if she was a senior member of their own. The way they were so respectful and considerate towards her made her believe that the Zhao’s was indeed a family of great virtues.

For instance, Zi had been giving Grandma greetings every morning and night. In the morning, Zi would come to wake Grandma up for breakfast; and after Zi came home from school every night, she would check on Grandma and see how she was doing. Grandma had grown very fond of Zi as she felt Zi was attentive and understanding.

As a result, Grandma had decided that even after she recovered and returned to the cottage by the ocean, she would not cut ties with Zhao Hongyu and her family. Moreover, she was planning to introduce her son to the Zhao’s. No matter how busy life could get, they would try to maintain a good relationship with the Zhao’s, and she hoped that the friendship between the two families could last generations.

On the other hand, Grandma thought it was a pity that Zi was a few years too young and did not seem to have any romantic feelings for Hao Ren. Otherwise, the two teenagers could make a great couple… Slowly, as Grandma’s imagination was running wild, her old-fashioned idealism had also resurfaced again.

She kept thinking that since it was impossible for Zhao Hongyu to be her daughter-in-law, it would still be great if the two families could be relatives by marriage. If that happened, the ties between the families would be more cemented and complete.

“Unfortunately, Zi is too young to be Ren’s girlfriend,” Grandma thought disappointingly.

Hao Ren certainly had no idea about Grandma’s crazily wild imaginations that suited her traditional ways of thinking. He focused on telling her about his school life in their on-and-off conversation, just the way he had when they lived by the ocean.

Just like that, half an hour had gone by, and it was time for Hao Ren to leave for school.

Although Hao Ren was ready to return to school, Grandma was not willing to part with her darling grandson yet. “Hongyu said that you could stay here tonight. You can take my room or the studio in the attic.”

“That’s alright, Grandma. I should go back to school. It wouldn’t be very convenient if I stayed out too often,” Hao Ren tried to comfort her. Actually, he was still worried about Zhao Jiayi and wanted to go back to be with him.

“True. Staying out too often might negatively affect your school work. You should be on your way then,” Grandma had hoped Hao Ren could stay for the night, but she also did not want him to do poorly in school.

“Yep. You rest well, too, Grandma. I will come to see you again tomorrow,” while browsing his grandmother’s spotless room, Hao Ren got up from the bed and walked out.

From the corridor on the second floor, Hao Ren could see that the light was still on in the study room next to the living room on the first floor, he assumed Zhao Guang had not gone to bed yet. After he climbed down the stairs, as expected, he found the door of the study room wide open, and Zhao Guang who had a big shirt draped over his shoulders was reading over some files.

Hao Ren walked to the door and knocked.

Zhao Guang looked up. When he saw Hao Ren, he nodded faintly and said, “Come in.”

“Uncle, I would like your opinion on something,” as he entered the study room, Hao Ren looked up at the clock and saw that it was almost ten o’clock.

Hao Ren thought Zi’s father was always serious in both speech and manner. Nonetheless, Hao Ren could tell that Zhao Guang did indeed have an enormous amount of work to take care of. He secretly hoped that Zhao Guang would not get annoyed when asked to be involved in such a small school affair.

“Yes?” Zhao Guang put down the files in his hands and looked straight at Hao Ren.

“Well, here’s what happened. A classmate of mine fought with the school’s basketball team today…”

Hao Ren told Zhao Guang the entire incident, including its causes and potential effects. Sitting in his chair and facing Hao Ren, Zhao Guang listened quietly and collectedly, not giving away any thoughts he might have.

“Is that all? You participated in the fight as well?” after Hao Ren finished talking, Zhao Guang finally opened his mouth.

Hao Ren nodded in response. It was awkward for him to ask Zhao Guang to get involved and help him out as Zhao Guang was not his father after all.

On top of that, Hao Ren had already troubled them once with Grandma’s incident, and Grandma was now staying in their home. Hao Ren had always been thin-skinned and was now afraid that asking for Zhao Guang’s help again would make him seem hopelessly shameless.

“You don’t have to come to me for matters like these,” Zhao Guang looked at Hao Ren and stated coldly.

Hao Ren’s heart sank. He felt that he had upset Zhao Guang, just as he had anticipated.

“Go talk to Lu Qing tomorrow,” Zhao Guang added.

Hao Ren’s face was flaming red due to embarrassment. As he was ready to bid his goodbye, Zhao Guang spoke again, “I will give the principal a call about this shortly. Your classmate’s name is Zhao Jiayi, correct?”

A sliver of hope rose in Hao Ren. Gazing at Zhao Guang who was aloof looking but was always willing to help, Hao Ren expressed his gratitude heartfully, “Yes, thank you, Uncle!”

“It’s alright. According to your account of the incident, you guys were not at any serious fault. I also hope the school can handle these matters more impartially. At any rate, be careful in the future,” Zhao Guang looked up at the clock and continued, “You are staying here tonight, right?”

“No, I should get back to school now,” Hao Ren responded.

“I still have a lot of work to process here, is it okay for you to go back on your own?” Zhao Guang asked.

“I will be fine! Thanks again, Uncle!” Hao Ren turned and gleefully walked out of the study room.

When he went back to the second floor and tried to retrieve his teaching materials from Zhao Yanzi’s room, he found that Zhao Yanzi had fallen asleep on her desk.

Hao Ren tiptoed to the desk and quietly observed her face and hands that were turning red from being pressed against the desk. “She definitely seems to be trying her best to study for these midterms,” Hao Ren thought; he had never seen her work so seriously before.

Watching her sleeping so sweetly, Hao Ren did not want to wake her up. However, he was also concerned that she might catch a cold or wake up with a sore back. Therefore, after a moment of consideration, Hao Ren bent down, placed one hand underneath her knees and the other on her back, gently lifting her up.

Zhao Yanzi seemed to be in a deep sleep as Hao Ren’s action did not wake her at all. Her eyes had remained closed, and her breathing stayed calm.

Carrying Zhao Yanzi who was soft like a plushie, Hao Ren was immersed in her sweet scent. Promptly, he placed her carefully on her bed and tucked her in with the quilt. Then, he picked up his materials and tiptoed to the door again. Before he walked out and closed the door, he turned off the big lights and left a small one on.

As the door closed, Zhao Yanzi who was “deeply asleep”, slowly opened her eyes as a blush of red instantly covered her face.

“That jerk…” she whispered quietly in her heart.

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