Chapter 1539: Obsession

Zichen:...

"Mom, wait a moment. Shouldn't we be talking about me right now? Aren't we talking about Lu Feifei?"

"What you said is wrong, or at least incomplete. If Lu Feifei really liked you back then, would she have saved Yuxin's life? This doesn't seem like something she would do. No, there's a logical error here, unless something else happened that you didn't tell me."

Zichen realized his mother was too sharp; he couldn't get away with saying even a little bit less.

He was too hesitant—should he say it or not?

If he said it, he feared his mother's opinion of Lu Feifei would hit rock bottom again; if he didn't, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to gloss over this matter.

"Forget it if you don't want to say it. If you don't want to tell me, I don't want to hear it either."

Seeing that he couldn't gloss over it anymore, Zichen had no choice but to recount the crazy things Lu Feifei had done at the very beginning, one by one, though he did not mention the incident involving her and the rich kid.

Shi Youxuan didn't speak for a long while, which made her son feel very uneasy.

Later, she finally opened her mouth: "You are all grown up now. Do whatever you want; I won't interfere anymore."

This counted as tacit approval.

Shi Youxuan asked her son what plans he had for the future.

"Mom, I don't want to take the postgraduate entrance exam. I just want to open a restaurant after graduating with my bachelor's degree. I also don't want to inherit the family business. Back then, Dad was able to give up everything the family had and start from scratch, so I can start from scratch too."

Shi Youxuan said: "Actually, we still hope you can continue your studies. Your sister had no choice back then; such a big thing happened in the family, and she didn't get to go to graduate school. That is her regret. If you don't take the exam either, will you have regrets in the future?"

"Yuxin's family is a scholarly household. If you were to find a girl from a family that also does business, it wouldn't be a big deal, but since you are dating Yuxin, you cannot ignore these things."

Zichen said: "Not going to graduate school is my sister's regret, not mine. I don't want to take the exam; I just want to be myself. I won't have any regrets."

"You won't have regrets, but the Gu family has been a scholarly household for generations. Will they mind?"

His mother's worry was not without reason. If the Gu family knew he didn't want to pursue a master's degree, he feared their reaction would be even more intense than his own family's.

They probably would mind.

Shi Youxuan asked: "If Yuxin's parents oppose it because of this, what will you do?"

"Then we break up."

Shi Youxuan:...

She didn't continue speaking; she knew exactly what her son was like.

He wasn't stubborn, but he was extremely obstinate when it came to cooking—no one could change his mind!

Principal Gu's birthday arrived.

Ever since his granddaughter started dating Zichen, Zichen would go to their home to cook a meal whenever someone in the family had a birthday, and this time was no exception!

The food was cooked and fragrant; everyone came over to eat.

Grandma said with a smile: "Our Yuxin has really found a treasure. How many boys these days still know how to cook?"

"Exactly."

Grandpa Gu also agreed and urged his granddaughter: "Yuxin, you need to be nicer to Zichen. You should rein in your spoiled-miss temper and don't be too willful."

She hugged her grandfather's arm and acted like a spoiled child: "Grandpa is biased. You only have him in your heart and not me. I'm not happy."

"It's Grandpa's birthday today, you must be happy."

"Grandpa—"

On this side, the grandparents and grandchild were happy and harmonious, but on the other side, the atmosphere began to tense up.

No one expected that at the dinner table, Father Gu would suddenly ask Zichen: "Zichen, whose graduate program do you plan to apply for?"

Yuxin saw that things were not looking good.

The two of them hadn't reached a consensus on this issue yet, so why did he suddenly bring it up?

She was afraid of Zichen answering.

She immediately took over the topic: "Dad, today is Grandpa's birthday. Why are you so boring, talking about nothing but studies or work? Let's only talk about happy things today, not studies."

"You girl, you get a headache as soon as we talk about studies; you've been like this since you were little." Her father looked at her dotingly and indeed didn't continue.

Yuxin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fearing that her parents would bring it up again, she steered the conversation elsewhere. Yuxin took out a wool vest and handed it to her grandfather: "Grandpa, this is my birthday gift for you. Try it on and see if it fits?"

The wool vest was something she had knitted herself, and she had spent a full two months preparing this gift.

Gu Yuxin was the kind of girl who was clever but not very handy, especially when it came to knitting—she was truly hopeless!

If it were an average person, they would have finished it in two nights.

Yet she spent a full two months on it, and she even used the simplest stitch.

Even so, there were still many places where she dropped stitches and had to sew them up with thread!

Her mother covered her face, unable to bear looking.

How could she be embarrassed enough to take this out?

But her grandfather didn't mind; he laughed and put it on right there on the spot.

Even though it was ugly, it fit quite well!

"Very good, very comfortable. My granddaughter has grown up and is becoming more and more sensible."

The gift Zichen brought out was a peach, placed in an exquisite box. It was very large, and there was even dew on it.

"My goodness, such a big peach!"

"I've never seen one this big at the market."

"It looks delicious. Is it real?"

The whole family was shocked.

Grandpa touched it lightly with his hand and asked curiously: "Why is it soft?" It turned out to be made of cake.

It was so realistic that it looked exactly like the real thing. The whole family marveled at it; it was amazing. If he opened a cake shop with this craftsmanship, business would surely be booming.

"Mm, I'll open a shop after I graduate."

Gu Yuxin:...

Yuxin's mother asked, "I was just saying that casually, you don't really want to open a shop, do you?"

"It's fine for a boy to open a shop as a hobby when he has free time, but you mustn't let your proper business be delayed. You all still need to prioritize your studies right now. By the way, Zichen, whose graduate student are you planning to be?" This topic didn't get bypassed; it circled around and came right back.

"That's right, I really want to open a shop, and it's..." Yuxin nervously poked his waist, meaning not to let him continue speaking.

But he still continued to say, "I'll open a restaurant after I graduate from my undergraduate studies; I won't be reading for a graduate degree."

The dining table suddenly went quiet; there wasn't a single sound.

Yuxin smiled awkwardly, attempting to ease the atmosphere: "Why, he's jok—joking, we'll talk about this matter later."

"I am not joking, I am serious."

Zichen wasn't dull either; he just felt that since this was a topic that couldn't be avoided, he might as well not evade it, and it wouldn't be a bad thing to let everyone know his choice.

It was better than lying.

"Serious? You aren't going to take the graduate entrance exam anymore?" Gu's father was the first to break the silence, very furious.

"Yes, I never thought about taking the graduate entrance exam." Zichen answered honestly.

He had actually told the Principal about this matter, and at the time, the Principal didn't have such a big reaction, but Yuxin's parents had quite a big reaction.

"Nonsense!" Gu's father slapped the table with one palm.

"A dignified graduate of Jiangzhou University going to open a restaurant? To be a cook? I'm afraid if that gets out, it'll make people laugh their heads off!"

Zichen argued on the strength of his case: "I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Professions have no distinction of noble or base; being a cook is fine too. Being a cook and being a professor are the same; it's just a different division of labor."