Chapter 63 - Shaoming, It’s Your First Time Meeting Mom, Talk Nicely

Ning Qing was stunned as she looked up in a panic. She bumped into a pair of dark eyes that were deep and bright. It was Lu Shaoming.

Lu Shaoming was back.

He was still wearing the white shirt he’d worn yesterday afternoon. The corners of his shirt were tucked into his black trousers by a shiny metal belt, his waist strong and narrow. Perhaps because of the flight, his clothes had been wrinkled, but it had not diminished his nobility and power. Even those wrinkles gave off a man’s elegance and handsomeness.

Behind him stood a personal assistant, who held his suit in one hand and his business bag in the other.

One hand was shoved into his pants’ pocket while another gripped onto her waist, he deep gaze swept past the tears on her face. His sexy thin lips tipped slightly, and he looked at her with a slight adoration, as if he were looking at a little girl who loved to cry.

“Wahh…” Ning Qing’s suddenly released her tightly wound up feelings and cried out. She was like a lost soul wandering in the lonely sea who had finally spotted a moored port.

“Lu… Shaoming, you’re back. You’re back at last.”

Not only was this girl not overjoyed that he was back, but she was crying with increasing ferocity. Lu Shaoming frowned helplessly at that.

He took his hand out from his trousers pocket, and caressed her delicate back, patting her back lightly. “What happened, don’t cry, I’m here.”

Ning Qing put her small head on his broad chest. Although he was only holding her gently, his gentle strength was enough to ignite all her sadness, fear and grievances.

“Shaoming, *Sobs*… Mom’s ignoring me. Mom doesn’t want me anymore. I lied to her and told her I was learning to play the piano, she knows that I’d been acting all along, Wahh…”

Lu Shaoming heard roughly what had happened from the girl’s sobbing voice. He didn’t change his expression. He looked at the closed door in front of his eyes. He said, “Alright, I get it. Trust me. I’ll go have a talk with your mother.”

Have a talk?

Ning Qing raised her head in his arms. She looked at him with a pair of teary autumn eyes. “How? Mom refuses to open the door.”

Ning Qing looked down. She hung her two little hands down helplessly in front of her, like a child who’d done something wrong. “And, I’m sorry, I haven’t had time to tell my mother about our marriage… Mom doesn’t know about your existence yet.”

Although she hadn’t kept it a secret deliberately, they were already married. Her hiding it from her mom made it seem as if she was having an affair with Lu Shaoming. She felt apologetic towards him.

He’d be angry for sure.

Her cold helpless little hand was slowly enveloped by a big warm hand. Lu Shaoming put his arm around her shoulder and pinned her against the wall. “I understand, we can take it slowly. You stand here and wait. Don’t run around, I’m going in now.”

Isn’t he angry?

Ning Qing looked up and wanted to ask him, but then Zhu Rui came over with Dr. Luo. After Dr. Luo bowed respectfully to Lu Shaoming, he took out a bunch of keys from the pocket of his white coat.

Ning Qing quickly grabbed onto Lu Shaoming’s sleeve. “Shaoming, Mom will be angry if you go in like this.”

Lu Shaoming looked sideways at her, and his bright eyes flashed with a sharp and resolute light. “Ning Qing, do you want your mother to be angry for a little while or for a long time?”

Ning Qing pouted her pink lips and stopped talking. She released her grip.

The door of the ward cracked open. Ning Qing watched as Lu Shaoming strode in with his long legs. She grabbed the corner of his clothes and blushed.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Shaoming’s impression of Ning Qing was that she was a liberal and dignified girl. It was his first time seeing her blush without speaking, looking shy and awkward.

“Shao… ming, it’s your first time seeing Mom, talk nicely. Try to leave a good impression on my mother.”

“Ah…” So she wanted to tell him this. It wasn’t anything remotely ambiguous, why was she blushing so much, her skin was thin indeed.

Lu Shaoming reached his hand out and ruffled her hair as he laughed in a low voice. “Don’t worry, leave everything to me. Nobody will come and break us up.”

Ning Qing said nothing, she was too embarrassed.

…

Yue Wanqing was leaning on her bed. She heard the door open and was about to shout at them to get out. But Dr. Luo came in and had invited someone in respectfully, a man.

Yue Wanqing had lived for so long but it was her first time seeing a handsome man with such prominent features; he was like a Greek sculpture.

And the man’s temperament was also very good, she’d attended many business events with Ning Zhenguo when she was young, she can see at a glance that this man was a highly regarded businessman. His clear and profound eyes exuded calm and steadiness from the accumulation of his rich and fulfilling life experience. His many years in a high ranking position had allowed him to remain calm and unmoving even in the face of collapsing mountains.

His gait, his every move, exuded a particular air of nobility that was in his blood. He must have been born into a good family and had received a top-notch education.

Yue Wanqing had forgotten about driving them away for a moment there. Even though she was old enough to be his elder, the man’s aura was fearsome.

Lu Shaoming stood in front of Yue Wanqing. His ink black eyes were clear and elegant as he bowed and greeted her, “Hello, Auntie.”

Yue Wanqing came back to her sense. She had no interest in chatting with him so she asked directly, “Who are you?”

“Auntie, I’m a friend of Ning Qing.”

“Friend? If you want to be a lobbyist for Qingqing, there’s no need for that. I don’t want to listen to anything. Qingqing was such a good child before, she’d always listened to her mother’s words, but she has lied to me now. What kind of place is the entertainment industry, is that a place a decent girl would go? What else had she done behind my back?”

Yue Wanqing was distressed. In her feudal thinking, the entertainment industry was a dirty trade, and none of the women in it were clean.

Li Meiling was a good example.

Dr. Luo brought a chair over and Lu Shaoming sat down slowly. His two magnificent long legs crossed together with dignity. His facial features were sharp and handsome, but also gentle.

“Auntie, you want Ning Qing to learn to play the piano? As her mother, you should know how hard Ning Qing had been working in the past three years, even if Ning Qing hadn’t said anything. Her tuition fees, living expenses, and your medical expenses were not earned by a girl who was just sitting at school playing the piano.”

“…” Yue Wanqing was stunned. Lu Shaoming had gone straight to the point and touched her sore spots. Yes, ever since the divorce, what she’d felt most guilty about was that she couldn’t give her daughter a good material foundation.

But Ning Qing said that her tuition fees were assumed by Ning Zhenguo. She’d earned her living expenses by teaching children to play the piano. Her medical expenses were paid for by the state.

Now it seemed like they’d all been fake. She’d only been 18 years old that year. She was so young. Where could she have gotten the money from?

“Even so, she shouldn’t have earned that indecent money. I’d rather die than spend her money,” Yue Wanqing said resolutely as tears streamed down her face.

“Auntie, there is no distinction in nobleness or indecency in making money. Are all the people in the entertainment industry dirty? Ning Qing is your daughter. Don’t you know her? Why would you believe what an outsider says and doubt your daughter? You don’t even want to listen to her explanation and you’ve disappointed and made her sad by doing so.”

Yue Wanqing covered her mouth and sobbed softly. She could not refute it because the man hadn’t argued in Ning Qing’s defense right away.

He spoke smoothly and skillfully. He’d just kept emphasizing their relationship between mother and daughter. He’d spoken of the hard and sad life that Ning Qing had led for the past three years and had put Ning Qing on the weak side.

She was Ningqing’s mother. Even if Ning Qing had done something wrong, no mother in the world would not be distressed by her daughter’s suffering!

“Auntie, you are the closest person to Ning Qing. She’s pitiful enough without her father. She’d been crying the entire time you’d shut her out, thinking that you don’t want her anymore. Give her a chance and listen to her explanation.”

…

Ning Qing did not know what was being talked about inside. She was very anxious as her mother was ignoring her while on the other hand, it was Lu Shaoming’s first meeting with her mother. She was afraid that her mother would not like him.

At this time, the door opened with a click, Lu Shaoming stood by the door, as Doctor Luo supported and helped Yue Wanqing stand in front of her.

“Mom!” Ning Qing’s eyes lit up, and the tears that had just been dried out by Lu Shaoming fell down again, but this time she was weeping with joy.

Yue Wanqing looked at her daughter while she was crying and laughing at the same time and her heart turned into mush, but she hardened her heart and asked sharply, “Ning Qing, let me ask you, why didn’t you learn to play the piano but instead attend the Beijing Film Academy? Did your father not give you money for the tuition fees?”

Ning Qing knows she couldn’t hide it from her mother anymore. She wiped her tears away with her little hand. “Yes, I went to look for dad to ask him for money that day, but he didn’t even let me past the Ning family door. I’ve thought about it. I’m no longer the young madam of the Ning family anymore. Playing the piano is a waste of time and money. It’s not suitable for me.”

“Even so, you can’t enter the entertainment industry. If you don’t learn to play the piano, we can learn something else. Why didn’t you discuss it with me?”

“Mom, I had no other choice at that time. The tuition fees cost tens of thousands of dollars. I’d have to sleep on the streets if I could not afford to pay the rent… That day, a friend asked me to act as a stunt double for an actress. It was an ancient costume drama. I’d jumped off a very high cliff even though I was afraid of heights. My entire body was trembling as I stood on the cliff, but I jumped off with my eyes closed anyway…”

Yue Wanqing never knew that her daughter’s life had been so hard for the past three years. She could not imagine her daughter’s tiny body jumping off such a high cliff. She would feel as if a thousand arrows were piercing her heart.

She’d still been the delicate young daughter of the Ning family at the age of 18. Why had the resentment of the previous generation affected her daughter?

Her daughter was clearly the most pitiful and innocent one.

Ning Qing saw that her mother had turned her tear laden away. She went forward, gripped her sleeve timidly with her pale little hands, and choked out in a low voice, “Mom, no matter what we major in, we have to spend money. Only the entertainment industry can allow me to make money while learning. Your shoulders always hurt badly when it rains. There used to be a massage chair at home. Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring it away with me. I wanted to buy one for you. I can make money by just acting casually. I can support you all by myself without depending on others.”

Yue Wanqing was so distressed that her 45-year-old self had to depend on her 18-year-old daughter to support her. She’d focused all her strength on taking care of her husband and child all those years in the Ning family, and had already derailed from society and lost the ability to survive by herself.

It was she who’d harmed her daughter.

Lu Shaoming looked at the girl. She held her mother timidly in one hand, eyes downcast. Her long eyelashes that were like butterfly’s wings fluttered a couple of times. A whole string of glittering tears slid down her fair porcelain cheeks.

She was crying very sadly.