Chapter 268 265. The Parents' Attitude
Su Peng felt as if he were being stalked by a tiger.
He couldn't even eat anymore. He cautiously observed the expressions of the two people beside him and shot An Han a pleading look for help, only to helplessly find that she had already been thoroughly intimidated and was completely ignoring him.
He had to admit, this family was terrifying...
Their speed at changing moods could rival An Han's.
Su Peng desperately thought about his next move. He could tell that An Han's parents genuinely loved his gifts, but evidently, a few gifts weren't enough for them to sell out their daughter.
He could see a hint of regret in her mother's eyes, and he also noticed that as long as they didn't bring up the topic of An Han, the atmosphere at the dining table wasn't as tense and explosive as before.
After some thought, he figured he needed to find a different excuse to present the gifts.
Su Peng immediately spotted a loophole. He turned his head and said to her mother, "Auntie, I'm already here and I brought the things over. It wouldn't be very appropriate for you to put them back in my car, right?"
"Let's keep things separate. Those are just meeting gifts. Besides, you treated me to a meal, right..."
The mother shook her head resolutely.
Su Peng's smile froze again. He had no choice but to lower his head and continue eating in the capacity of An Han's friend, rather than her boyfriend.
Seeing that An Han was no longer being mentioned, the mother's smile returned. She amiably put food in Su Peng's bowl and occasionally asked about his background.
She asked about his grades, his future plans, and how An Han was doing at school...
Su Peng answered honestly. After that sudden change in attitude earlier, he didn't dare try anything reckless.
"When are you planning to head back?" the mother asked with a smile.
She's kicking me out...
Su Peng caught her underlying meaning and looked hesitantly at An Han, only to see her give a slight nod.
"I'll leave right after we finish eating; I still have some things to take care of."
Both parents breathed a sigh of relief at the same time and noticeably became even warmer.
Seeing them like this, it was as if they were guarding their family's gold and treasure; anyone who even took a peek would instantly trigger their vigilance.
Su Peng sighed inwardly. About ten minutes later, he finished his lunch, put his bowl and chopsticks in the sink, turned around, and said his goodbyes.
"Uncle, Auntie, I'll be taking off now."
"Be careful on the road," the mother nodded with a smile.
An Han also hurriedly finished her meal and wanted to run upstairs to avoid her parents' impending interrogation, but then she saw Su Peng shoot her another look.
She froze for a moment, looked up at her parents' eyes that were almost constantly watching her, and lightly kicked her younger sister's calf under the table.
The younger sister looked up in confusion, but the moment she met An Han's gaze, she instantly understood. With her usual boisterous energy, she jumped up and ran off.
"You haven't finished eating!"
"I'm not eating anymore!"
...
Lunch ended. The mother cleared the bowls and chopsticks expressionlessly.
The father finished most of the leftovers. At this rate, he suspected he'd gain at least ten pounds before he went abroad again.
Almost every meal required him to dispose of the leftovers, like a human food waste bin...
Patting his stuffed belly, he wobbled toward the living room, but his eyes were immediately drawn to the two gifts on the coffee table.
"When did these get brought back in?"
"What?" The mother wiped her hands with a rag, hurried to the living room doorway, glanced inside, and froze.
On the coffee table were the cosmetics and liquor Su Peng had prepared for them. The mother had clearly instructed the younger sister to stuff them back into his car, yet somehow, in the blink of an eye, they had returned.
An Han had gone upstairs right after eating, so she wasn't a suspect.
"An Siqi!" The father furiously wanted to go settle the score with his younger daughter, but the mother grabbed his arm.
"What is it?" He stopped and turned around, only to see a gentle, elegant smile already forming on his wife's face.
"Forget it, who knows where that kid ran off to."
"That kid?" the father corrected. "That brat!"
The mother put down her rag, walked over, and picked up the cosmetics she had coveted for a long time but hesitated to buy due to the price. Her smile grew genuinely sweeter. "I think that boy, Su Peng, is actually quite decent."
"......"
Sitting on the second-floor staircase and eavesdropping on the commotion below, An Han couldn't help but silently mutter a complaint.
She was bribed, but not entirely bribed.
Her mother's psychological gymnastics were simply too complex; she couldn't figure her out at all.
Initially, An Han thought her mother had kept Su Peng for dinner because she was bribed. Later, she realized it seemed more for the sake of face. Looking at it now... it was probably a bit of both?
Su Peng had barely managed to crack a tiny opening in her mother's defenses. Should they press their advantage now?
But her father was still going to be difficult to deal with...
An Han poked her head out from the balcony to look down and faintly heard her mother's voice.
"He's decent-looking, comes from a good background, and he's polite and sensible... he's not as bad as I imagined."
"Decent, my ass! No man is any good!" The father sat down huffily on the sofa.
Even though he was a man himself, that ironically gave him more authority to speak on the matter.
"Handsome and wealthy. No matter how you look at it, he's exactly the type who'll mess around outside in the future!"
The father was indignant, cursing and muttering, "He doesn't look like an honest guy at all! If An Han marries him, she's definitely going to suffer!"
Why are you already thinking about me getting married?
Eavesdropping from the stairs, An Han couldn't help but roll her eyes.
She was just trying to complete a task, only wanting her parents to agree to her dating Su Peng. But in her parents' eyes, Su Peng seemed more like he was here to propose marriage.
She sent a message to Su Peng on her phone, informing him of her parents' stance: "My mom's attitude has softened a bit. You'll need to figure out a way to deal with my dad."
Having passed on intel as the insider, she nervously continued to eavesdrop on her parents' conversation.
"You're bought off by this little bit of stuff?" the father demanded, extremely dissatisfied. "If you like it, I'll buy it for you!"
The mother looked up in pleasant surprise, her eyes seemingly sparkling: "Really?"
"How much is it?"
"Altogether, around ten thousand yuan? A full set would be tens of thousands."
The father choked on his words. Although spending ten thousand wasn't an exorbitant amount, for a normal family, even a one-thousand-yuan expense required careful consideration.
"That Maotai of yours is pretty expensive too, isn't it?"
The mother reached out, trying to grab the liquor on the table, but the father snatched it away. "Clumsy hands! Will you take responsibility if you drop and break it?"
"I'll give it back to him the next time he comes over. It's too expensive."
The father muttered, then let out a soft sigh and carefully hid the two bottles of liquor in the deepest part of the cabinet.
If he hadn't accepted the gifts, he could still righteously scold Su Peng. But now that the gifts were accepted, his hands were tied... It was all because that little traitor of a sister had defected.
The father fidgeted uneasily, feeling that he shouldn't change his attitude over this—otherwise, it would be akin to selling his daughter.
"No, I need to have a serious talk with that brat."
He raised his head and shouted upstairs, "An Han! Stop eavesdropping! Come down here!"
"Coming, coming!" An Han, rather excited, quickly ran down the stairs.
The mother glanced at her eager appearance and muttered under her breath, "I'll settle the score with you later for secretly going to meet Su Peng's parents behind our backs..."
An Han's smile instantly vanished.
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