Chapter 774: Chapter 774: Stop Pretending
Yinyin gently hugged her: “Mom, I’ve grown up, I’m not the five-year-old Yinyin anymore, you both should accept that I’ve grown up.”
“Seventeen years…” Lin Qi said, “You don’t know how much I regret in my heart, I haven’t watched you grow up properly, we owe you seventeen years of love.”
Yinyin: “You never owed me. It’s you who brought me into this world, and that’s the biggest blessing you have given me.”
After saying this, she softly said, “Mom, let go of that regret. Although there aren’t many seventeen years in life, I will be by your side until the next seventeen years.”
Tears slid down Lin Qi’s cheeks: “Yinyin, Mom loves you… It’s Mom’s fault, loving you the wrong way.”
She thought her daughter needed material wealth, but in fact, she didn’t want these things.
Lin Qi smiled and said, “Mom understands now.”
…
The next morning.
Huo Tinghan took Yinyin and Huo Linzhou to school.
In front of the teaching building, the siblings said their goodbyes.
When Huo Zijin appeared at the classroom door, the classroom instantly quieted down.
During the two days she was absent, rumors about her at school had gotten increasingly outlandish.
The two most widely spread versions included, [Liang Yin is in a relationship with Huo Linzhou but was separated by her parents, dropped out, went back home to get married and have kids.]
The second version is [Huo Linzhou and Liang Yin are dating, discovered by both parents, now at the stage of meeting each other’s families, and if all goes well and gets approval from both families, Liang Yin should quit school and get married next.]
The third and most widely circulated version is [Liang Yin and Huo Linzhou secretly dated, ended up pregnant, and took leave to get an abortion.]
This is the version most believed by the gossip-loving students in the school.
After all, they all generally knew that Huo Linzhou had quite a background, and although few knew, behind Huo Linzhou was the super-rich Huo Family in Beijing.
But Liang Yin’s background had long been spread around her class, coming from a small county, a “small-town exam scholar” who struggled through ten years of cold study finally made it to a prestigious high school, but no matter how good the education, it couldn’t compare to the poverty of her family, no matter how good her character and academic performance were, her parents might not necessarily approve.
This campus romance, I’m afraid, will come to nothing once again.
Therefore, when Huo Zijin entered the classroom, everyone looked at her with strange eyes.
There were scrutinizing, doubtful, puzzled, and assessing glances.
Especially Chen Shanshan.
She thought Liang Yin had been sent back home to get married, but unexpectedly, she hadn’t quit school.
After Huo Zijin sat in her seat, she looked up and saw her classmates staring at her with curious eyes and smiled: “Why are you all staring at me like that?”
A female classmate mustered up the courage to ask: “Liang Yin, we all thought you had dropped out and went back home to get married!”
As soon as she finished speaking, the whole class secretly laughed.
Chen Shanshan laughed the loudest: “Of course! In a backward place like Yan City, the bride price must be a lot.”
A male classmate said: “Liang Yin wasn’t it your goal to become a Diplomat after graduation? If you can become a Diplomat, the income should be quite good then!”
Chen Shanshan sneered disdainfully: “Do you think it’s so easy to become a Diplomat! There are so many excellent graduates from the foreign languages class, which family doesn’t have some connections, how could it be her turn? After graduation, at most, she could work as a junior translator in a multinational corporation, with that income, how long will it take to earn back the bride price?”
Another female classmate said: “Isn’t this like selling a daughter? This is too backward! Such traditional dross is unacceptable.”
Chen Shanshan couldn’t help but tease: “How noble of you. Are you not going to demand a bride price when you get married? Be sure you don’t ask for any when you marry!”
The quiet chubby girl Zhouzhou spoke up: “Liang Yin hasn’t been back to school for several days now, and she hasn’t returned to the dormitory either, where has she been these days? Could it be… she has been with Huo all this time?”
As soon as she finished speaking, the entire classroom went dead silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Upon hearing this, Huo Zijin understood.
It seems that someone misunderstood her relationship with her brother.
Could they be thinking that she and her third brother are in a romantic relationship?
How ridiculous.
But since they love gossiping and prying into other people’s private affairs so much, let them have at it all at once!
Huo Zijin looked at Chen Shanshan, seeing the mocking expression on her face, suddenly smiled, and mischievously said: “A few days ago, I met with Huo’s parents.”
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone’s eyes were wide with astonishment staring at her.
Chen Shanshan also lost her smile, her eyes full of doubt.
The chubby girl blushed and asked a few more questions: “Did you both already meet each other’s parents?”
Huo Zijin neither confirmed nor denied: “Yes, he has also met my parents.”
Chen Shanshan: “Liang Yin, stop boasting. Do you even know who Huo Linzhou’s parents are?”
Coming from a prestigious family, Chen Shanshan might be the only one in the whole classroom who knew Huo Linzhou’s true background.
Huo Zijin looked at her, smiled meaningfully: “I know. His mother’s last name is ‘Lin,’ right?”
Chen Shanshan’s face instantly froze with shock in her heart!
Could it be that she’s telling the truth?!
Have they really reached the stage of meeting each other’s parents?!
What’s more, how did the Huo Family approve of someone with her background!?
Chen Shanshan didn’t believe it, stood up abruptly: “Where did you hear this information from?”
Huo Zijin replied: “His mother likes me very much; she even bought me lots of pretty clothes and bags.”
Chen Shanshan retorted angrily: “What are you showing off about?!”
Meanwhile, classmates around them started discussing: “Could she be telling the truth?”
“It must be! I saw her holding hands with Huo going to the cafeteria a few days ago! Besides, Huo’s dad was also there! I saw from afar, his dad is so handsome and young!”
“It’s just meeting the parents, not at the marriage-confirmation stage yet!”
“I think she’s just bragging! Definitely not at the formal meet-the-parents stage yet!”
“I’ve heard that Huo’s family is very well-off, even better than Shanshan’s family.”
“Shanshan’s family is already very wealthy; just how rich is Huo’s family!?”
“With such wealth, it should be considered a high-class family! High-class families care about family background matching! These days, the reality doesn’t accommodate fairytales of Cinderella and a Prince!”
Amidst the discussion.
Huo Zijin raised her eyebrows and smiled slightly: “I currently have no plans to get married. My next goal is to go to graduate school; I’m not thinking about anything else for now.”
Chen Shanshan snorted coldly: “Stop pretending! You may have met with the Huo’s parents, I can believe that, but whether they approve of you is another matter entirely!”