Chapter 292: Parental Love

The Granje family's kitchen.

At this moment, Hermione and Gelanjie Fu Ren, mother and daughter, were silently preparing dinner.

Hermione lowered her head, concentrating on slicing radishes, when Gelanjie Fu Ren suddenly spoke in a cold, detached tone.

"Daughter, you and John, what stage are you at?"

In that tone there was both concern and teasing.

Hearing that, Hermione's hand trembled, and the neat radish slices went crooked.

"Mom!"

Hermione's ears burned hot, embarrassed to the point of nearly steaming, and she coquettishly addressed Gelanjie Fu Ren.

"Oh dear, what's with the shyness?"

"Weren't you just having a lot of fun?"

Gelanjie Fu Ren laughed teasingly.

Hermione simply fell silent, burying her face even lower.

Gelanjie Fu Ren, however, did not stop; after a pause she said softly.

"But, daughter..."

"You two are still young, some things, don't be too eager..."

Hermione was no longer a child, and she instantly understood what her mother meant.

Her face flushed again, and she quickly waved her hand.

"Mom! What are you thinking!"

"We, we were just messing around..."

The more she spoke, the less confidence Hermione had, and her voice at the end was almost inaudible.

Gelanjie Fu Ren merely gave a gentle smile, patted her daughter's head and said laughingly.

"Your mother and I were together when I was fifteen; you think I don't know what you're thinking?"

Hermione:?

Hearing this, little Hermione was hit with a huge shock.

Her gentle, virtuous, intellectual mother had also begun a romance at fifteen, and with the father who now appears somewhat simple and honest?

"I have known your father since we were children."

"Back then your father was still very handsome, ah, of course, and now... uh... not bad either."

"A man's prime sometimes is shorter than a woman's; you get what I mean, right?"

Gelanjie Fu Ren talked with her daughter about those youthful days as if chatting with a close female friend.

Hermione was also amused by her mother's words, the flush on her face turning into a sly smile, and she couldn't help but ask, "What happened next? How did you... confirm the relationship?"

At this point, Gelanjie Fu Ren exclaimed in exasperation.

"It was after school when my bicycle tire went flat, and your father gave me a ride home; at that time our relationship was fine, so we agreed."

"But then, for several days in a row, my tire kept losing air every day."

"I wondered if I had offended someone?"

"Until later I deliberately waited near the bike and discovered that the air in my tire was being secretly let out by your father!"

Upon hearing this, Hermione couldn't help laughing and asked, "And then? And then?"

Gelanjie Fu Ren continued.

"Then I surely gave him a good lesson! He was to blame for making me refill the tire every day."

"After that, to punish your father, I made him bring me to and from school every day."

Hearing this, Hermione's eyes lit up.

That's not a punishment at all; it's clearly a reward!

"It was also then, after I discovered it, that your father mustered the courage to confess."

As Gelanjie Fu Ren kept speaking, a shy maiden's blush appeared on her face.

Hermione, listening nearby, felt sweetly delighted.

So the parents' naive romance also began at this age.

"How wonderful..."

"Hey, John, I tell you, don't believe the way women are after marriage..."

"I met your aunt when we were very young; she wasn't as virtuous as she is now when she was little..."

In the living room on the other side.

John, feeling extremely awkward, grabbed any topic and said that Hermione truly has a good mother, adept both in the hall and the kitchen.

Just after the compliment, Gelanjie Xian Sheng got triggered and began low‑voicing his grievances about his youth to John.

"Your aunt used to be fierce, a pure school bully..."

"I was bullied by her since childhood, and at that time I hadn't developed as quickly as she had, so she always bullied me."

Listening to Gelanjie Xian Sheng's lament, John was also taken aback.

Female school bully?

Who?

Gelanjie Fu Ren?

John was left with a shocked expression; the aunt who was tying an apron in the kitchen, skillfully cooking dinner, had once been a female school bully?

Before John could react, Gelanjie Xian Sheng kept talking.

"So, later when I was about fifteen at school, I thought of getting a little revenge on her, deliberately letting the air out of her bicycle so she could only walk home after school."

As a result, for several days in a row, she kept coming to snatch my bicycle!

After that I even thought I'd just stop, since the suffering was on me anyway.

But just as I was about to let go of my last grudge and wash my hands of it, she caught me...

Speaking of that, Gelanjie Xian Sheng wore a look of painful recollection.

"At that time, the slab she held was only 0.01 centimeters away from me..."

"To avoid being beaten, I had to grit my teeth and say I liked her... that I only let go of my anger because I wanted to go home with her...."

"Originally, I thought she would definitely reject me, mock me or something, but at least I wouldn't get hit..."

"Result! She actually agreed!"

Gelanjie Xian Sheng said with an incredulous expression.

Obviously, the botched stopgap left him feeling absurd.

Not to mention him, even John, the bystander, found it absurd.

What does it mean that revenge turned into romance?

"Then didn't you explain at the time...?" John asked, trying not to laugh.

"I wanted to explain then, but she was holding a slab in her hand!"

Hearing that, John couldn't hold back his laughter.

But thinking that this would be his future father-in-law, he suppressed a laugh and kept asking.

"What happened afterward?"

Gelanjie Xian Sheng scratched his head, a little embarrassed, and continued.

"Later, I became boyfriend and girlfriend with your aunt, and we were together for five years."

"She brought a slab to school every day......"

"But I gradually truly fell in love with her."

It felt like reminiscence, yet also a sigh, Gelanjie Xian Sheng exhaled lightly and laughed.

"Back then I was still being bullied by her, until after we married and had Hermione, she became the gentle person she is now."

"I also feel fortunate that I could confess to your aunt back then."

John nodded along, saying that love of the older generation was truly wonderful.

I always thought Hermione's tenacious grit and edge came from her father, Gelanjie Xian Sheng.

But since being fully approved by Gelanjie Xian Sheng last time, as my relationship with him grew familiar, I discovered that Gelanjie Xian Sheng's personality is completely unlike Hermione's.

Affection is inherited from the mother, after all...