It was her first time meeting his family, so of course she had to observe every courtesy. When Zhan Wei had formally met her parents and relatives for that dinner, he too had brought thoughtful gifts for everyone, charming them all into singing his praises non-stop.
Once inside, Hai Tong tactfully let Zhan Wei take the lead.
He guided Lan Ruoruo straight to the old lady.
“Grandma.”
He smiled, then said, “Grandma, this is Lan Ruoruo, my girlfriend. I’ve brought her home so you can finally meet her.”
The old lady’s face lit up with a kind, welcoming smile.
“Ruoruo, Grandma has waited so long to see you. Ever since Tong Tong first mentioned you, I’ve been looking forward to this day.”
Lan Ruoruo returned the smile. “Grandma Zhan, I’m usually so busy with work that I really couldn’t find time to visit earlier.”
“That’s all right, dear. Grandma knows young people have demanding jobs. Work comes first.”
Zhan Wei then introduced his parents, uncles, and aunts one by one.
After Lan Ruoruo had greeted each elder politely, he presented his brothers and their wives.
She was already used to Zhan Wei’s good looks and had heard the Zhan men were all handsome, yet when she finally saw them together, she still marvelled inwardly: every strikingly handsome man in the world must have been reborn into the Zhan family.
Some were gentle, some serious, some always smiling, but whatever their personality, they were breathtakingly attractive.
His sisters-in-law were all stunning beauties too.
Lan Ruoruo had always been confident about her own appearance, but after meeting the Zhan wives, she quietly decided that among this crowd her looks were only average.
Even the elders took excellent care of themselves; you could still see how extraordinarily attractive they had been in their youth. No wonder they had produced such gorgeous sons. And the newest generation, Baobao and the others, were clearly destined in twenty years’ time to become Guancheng’s next crop of heart-throbs and favoured sons of heaven.
After everyone had been introduced, the housekeeper announced that dinner was served.
The old lady beamed, asked Zhan Wei and Lan Ruoruo to help her to her feet, then held one of them on each side as she walked into the dining room.
The parents’ generation followed.
The younger ones brought up the rear.
Everyone was long accustomed to the old lady’s habit of instantly favouring the newest arrival.
Lan Ruoruo’s first day at Youyou Mountain Villa was filled with warm hospitality.
Only on the second day did she finally find time to stroll around the estate with Zhan Wei.
There is no need to describe the beauty of the grounds again; she walked until her feet ached and still hadn’t seen everything. Eventually he led her to a waterside pavilion.
“There are so many lotus flowers here.”
Lan Ruoruo leaned on the railing, gazing out at the vast expanse of lotus blooms.
It was summer, the height of lotus season.
“This is the Lotus Garden. Nothing but lotus as far as you can see.”
She admired them for a while, then returned to the stone table and sat down. “Good thing there’s a bit of a breeze today, but it’s still scorching. Guancheng really is hot, much hotter than Yangcheng.”
Yangcheng did not have many extremely hot days, and even then the temperature never climbed as high as here.
Zhan Wei nodded. “Guancheng is hot, though not as bad as those furnace cities. If it’s too much, we can go back inside and enjoy the air-conditioning.”
He handed her a packet of tissues so she could wipe the sweat from her face. His eldest sister-in-law had slipped it to him quietly just before they left the house. At the time he had wondered why, but now, seeing Lan Ruoruo dripping with perspiration, he understood perfectly.
