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Chapter 121: Chapter 112: The Eccentric Queen Mother_1
In the afternoon.
Wang Yan arrived home.
Before she even entered, Wang Yan heard noises coming from inside her house.
"Brother Chen’s mantis fist technique is peerless, Liu admires it, please accept my next move..."
"Ah, you’re actually resorting to hidden weapons, you despicable person..."
"..."
A corner of Wang Yan’s mouth twitched as she opened the door.
At this moment, Wang Yan’s mother was cooking dinner in the kitchen, with a Hong Kong martial arts movie that Wang Yan had never seen before playing on the TV. To help her hear it in the kitchen, the volume was turned up quite high. 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝒑𝙪𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝙢
Seeing this, Wang Yan couldn’t help but roll her eyes. You’d expect someone her age to watch family dramas, or youth idol dramas, and even traditional Chinese operas would make sense. But watching Hong Kong martial arts movies, which are typically watched by men?
What’s most puzzling is not just that you love watching, but that you even rent DVD’s to watch them over and over, sometimes mimicking the dialogues. She truly can’t understand such behavior from her mom, who apparently doesn’t have any violent tendencies.
Back in junior high, Wang Yan liked watching Taiwanese idol dramas, she had a large collection of these at home. However, after falling for Tang Qing, she stopped following these shows. Instead, she enjoyed daydreaming alone in her room, most of the time using studying as a distraction from her increasingly intense feelings for Tang Qing. This is the main reason her studies improved so dramatically starting from the first year of high school.
"Yan’er, how did you do on your monthly exam?" asked Wang Yan’s mother from the kitchen. Although she couldn’t see her, she could still recognize after all these years from the sound of the door closing that it was her daughter.
Yan’er is Wang Yan’s pet name. When Wang Yan was a child, her grandfather used to call her Yan’er. One day, someone added an extra word, and so her pet name became Yanzi (meaning swallow). Wang Yan was speechless at how old-fashioned her pet name was, but there was no choice. Everyone had been calling her that for over a decade, so it was impossible to change it.
"Pretty much the same as last time, third place overall in the grade." Wang Yan replied loudly as she took off her shoes. There was no way around it; the TV was too loud. If she spoke softly, her mom wouldn’t be able to hear.
"That’s good, keep it up. Try to surpass the top two next time." Wang Yan’s mother, Shi Lan, encouraged. Her daughter’s academic performance had always been a matter of great pride for her. In her opinion, average results would have been fine, being in the top of the grade was an unexpected pleasure.
"Okay." Wang Yan replied. She might have a chance to surpass the second place student, but she didn’t dare to hope to beat Tang Qing, who had terrifyingly high grades. Moreover, she had never thought about surpassing Tang Qing. The better Tang Qing performs, the happier she is.
Every time she thought of Tang Qing, Wang Yan couldn’t help but smile sweetly. However, Wang Yan’s mother was still in the kitchen and didn’t see it.
Wang Yan first turned off the unbearable VCD, then put her school bag away in her room before going back to the kitchen.
Seeing her mother plucking vegetables, she went over to help and said, "Mom, one of my classmates is coming over for dinner tomorrow night."
Shi Lan looked up and asked, "How many people are coming?"
Although Wang Yan had previously mentioned inviting a classmate over for dinner and mentioned it would only be one person, things can always change.
"Just one." Wang Yan replied.
"This is the first time you’ve invited a male classmate over for dinner. I’m curious to get a good look at this young man tomorrow." Shi Lan said, smiling. She had never heard of her daughter having any male friends before.
Wang Yan knew her parents didn’t care much about a girl’s academic performance as long as it was average, but they cared a lot about a boy’s academic performance. Therefore, Wang Yan rarely mentioned Tang Qing at home. However, recently, Tang Qing’s grades had been getting better and better, and she sometimes mentioned him unintentionally when she was at home. Before their senior year of high school, her parents only knew her desk mate was a boy, and they knew nothing else. They only found out recently that Wang Yan had been sitting with Tang Qing for more than two years, and they didn’t ask for more information.
Seeing that their daughter invited a male classmate to have dinner at home without saying anything beforehand, how could she not imagine more as a woman? However, she knew that although her daughter was determined, she was shy about these things and also quite stubborn. She didn’t want to mention things like "no dating" without knowing anything, and would judge after they meet.
"Mom, make some of your best dishes tomorrow. By the way, where’s dad? Why isn’t he back yet?" Wang Yan changed the subject.
She certainly could guess what her mother’s last words were implying, but she was now stuck and had to go with the flow. While she didn’t regret inviting Tang Qing - even if it might make her parents overthink - for the sake of ’helping’ Tang Qing, she didn’t mind at all.
"Your dad’s been quite busy these days, running around doing various procedures. I’m not quite sure about the details." Shi Lan responded, laughing. She didn’t call out her daughter for hastily changing the subject. But she became even more curious about Tang Qing: just what kind of boy could move her daughter’s heart so deeply? As for details about Tang Qing, she didn’t want to ask right away. She trusted her own judgment and decided to make a decision after meeting Tang Qing in person.
Perhaps it’s because she likes watching martial arts dramas, but she’s never been much for gossip, even though these two things couldn’t be more unrelated.
As soon as the dinner was ready, Wang Yan’s father, Wang Sheng, returned home.
