Taken literally, “marriage first, love later” was not difficult to understand.
Xia Lizhi was only half convinced. She turned and stared at Lu Sili for several seconds, and Lu Sili remembered how he had told the family that he and an old classmate had reunited and fallen in love at first sight. Thinking back now, that did sound a little fake. Su Yuan was not exactly the kind of person people fell for at first sight.
Xia Lizhi wanted to say that Lu Sili did not look like someone who would get involved in some “marriage first, love later” arrangement, but then she remembered that she had long since stopped knowing what kind of person he was now.
She smiled at both of them. “As long as there’s love.”
Back when Xia Lizhi decided to divorce and transfer to a farther, larger military base, her mother objected and her husband objected too, but Xia Lizhi did not stay.
Even now, she had no idea what the road she had not taken would have looked like.
But she would never romanticize it.
Besides being a mother, she had other identities and other things she wanted from life.
She hoped Lu Sili could understand that too: besides being someone’s son and someone’s grandson, he had a much broader life of his own.
After changing the dressing, Su Yuan went to dispose of the used gauze and gloves.
Only Lu Sili and Xia Lizhi remained in the living room. Their heart-to-heart conversation earlier had finally allowed Lu Sili to lower his guard.
He sat beside Xia Lizhi and reached out to lightly touch one of the raised old scars on her arm.
“This was the worst one. It happened in international waters,” Xia Lizhi explained. She could not discuss the specific details, so she only smiled. “They’re all completely healed now.”
Lu Sili withdrew his hand and obediently rested it on his knees.
Xia Lizhi said, “Lili, these years haven’t been easy for you.”
Lu Sili had already calmed down. He shook his head and said lightly, “Everyone has it hard. At least I don’t have to get shot through the arm in international waters.”
“Can Mom ask you something?”
“Mm.”
Xia Lizhi tilted her head slightly to look at him. “If Mom didn’t support you having the gland-removal surgery either, what would you do?”
Lu Sili pressed his lips together in a smile. “I’d still do it. Just like when none of you agreed with me going abroad to study.”
Xia Lizhi smiled too. “Exactly. If you want to do it, do it. Whether it’s Grandma, me, your dad, or even Su Yuan, our opinions are only references.”
“Mm.” Lu Sili nodded. “I wasn’t even planning to tell Dad.”
Xia Lizhi said, “Hm?”
Although things between her and her ex-husband had not ended pleasantly, she had never spoken badly about him in front of their child.
When Lu Sili was little, he had actually liked this father quite a lot.
Lu Sili said, “We contact each other fewer than twice a year, and whenever he talks to me it sounds like he’s reprimanding a subordinate. Dad gets more ridiculous every year. The money does arrive very punctually, though.”
Xia Lizhi said, “His assistant is probably the one transferring it.”
Lu Sili said, “Speaking of that, he once wanted me to marry that Alpha assistant of his.”
“What?” A trace of mockery flashed over Xia Lizhi’s face. She thought that perhaps the years he had spent with her had simply repressed him too badly. What he really liked was arranging everything for everyone.
“Does it hurt?” Lu Sili asked.
Xia Lizhi came back to herself. “Not really.”
When Xia Lizhi first met Lu Ting, she had already been someone whose life centered on work. Her excellence was well known throughout the military district. Lu Ting had sought her out because of her reputation and openly admired her, saying that a real man would never be afraid of a woman being more capable than he was and that he would not mind living with his wife’s mother after marriage.
But after they married, he could not restrain his male chauvinism. He treated the household and childcare as things a woman ought to handle, and after years of struggling to find a balance, the two of them still divorced.
Those romantic entanglements of the past had long since dispersed like smoke. Xia Lizhi also gathered the courage to say many things she had kept in her heart to her son.
She could see that the partner her son had now was a very good man too.
Alpha, Beta, whatever. On a battlefield, bullets did not care about ABO.
After disposing of the medical waste, Su Yuan came back and sat down with them, bringing a plate of sliced fruit. “I brought some to Grandma too. She still won’t talk to me.”
“What are we supposed to do, Mom?” Lu Sili asked dejectedly.
Xia Lizhi took a bite of strawberry. “Grandma has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Just give her time. When I got divorced, she didn’t speak to me for half a year. When you went abroad to study, she stopped speaking to you too. Just coax her slowly.”
After saying that, Xia Lizhi felt again the guilt toward her mother that could never truly be erased. But she would always put herself first in her own life, so all she could say was, “I’ll call her whenever I have time too.”
Lu Sili and Su Yuan looked at each other, still worried.
Two days later, Xia Lizhi left for the base. They might not see her again for four months. Lu Sili and Su Yuan drove her together to catch her flight.
Their car stopped near the Licheng military district. They did not start back home until both of them saw the military aircraft pass overhead.
A great deal of work had been set aside recently. That morning, Lu Sili received word that two imported blockbusters originally scheduled for the summer season were both being delayed, which meant they had to pick two different films to take their slots. Even thinking about it at home gave him a headache. After going back and forth through the options, only two films still seemed good enough to fill the gaps.
The summer season had always been a battleground for imported blockbusters. It was second only to the Lunar New Year season, and if they chose poor replacements, the effect on the entire year’s performance would be substantial.
By the time Grandma’s private doctor finished her examination and Lu Sili reached the office, it was already after three in the afternoon. Fiona was not in her office, and when he asked at reception, they told him she was in a meeting.
Lu Sili went over and saw seven or eight people in the conference room. Wei Yuan and Fiona were holding a meeting with the Distribution Division.
Several upcoming F&A films were displayed on the screen. A few had already been crossed out in red, leaving three.
Two of those three were exactly the two Lu Sili had chosen.
The people inside were still arguing over which two should fill the empty slots, and Lu Sili stood quietly around the corner listening.
Wei Yuan’s work style was not as serious as Lu Sili’s. He was easygoing but had ideas of his own, and once he made a decision, he stuck to it. The atmosphere in the meeting was excellent, and the staff were much more willing to speak. Whenever someone made a strong point, cheers and laughter of agreement broke out around the room.
Even Fiona laughed along. She would gossip about the preferences of headquarters, and everyone traded industry jargon and laughed together.
Lu Sili, eavesdropping around the corner, could not keep from quietly laughing too.
After he laughed, a faint sense of release spread through him. He did not go in after that, and he did not listen to the rest of the meeting. Instead, he returned to his office and handled the workflows that reached him and replied to emails just as he normally did.
About an hour later, the meeting ended. Once Fiona learned that Lu Sili was at the office, she brought the meeting results to him.
“Director Lu.” Fiona held her laptop and a stack of documents. “When did you get here?”
Lu Sili raised his wrist to check his watch. “About an hour ago.”
Fiona placed the organized documents on his desk for him to review and sign. “I was just in a meeting with Director Wei and the others.”
“How did it go?” Lu Sili asked.
Fiona said, “It was about those two films being pulled from the schedule this morning. Director Lu, which films are you planning to use as replacements?”
Lu Sili did not answer directly. Instead, he asked her, “Which two did you choose?”
At work, everyone accepted and carried out Lu Sili’s decisions almost one hundred percent. Since he arrived, he had driven the China region’s box office performance to its peak. Everyone trusted him and knew his decisions were difficult to change.
Fiona thought for a moment, opened her laptop, and showed him. “These two.”
Lu Sili saw the nervousness in Fiona’s eyes. She had handled a great deal of work for him lately, but decision-making and execution were different things, and she lacked confidence in the former.
“Those are the same two I was thinking of,” Lu Sili said.
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Fiona finally relaxed. Seeing Lu Sili studying the notes on the presentation, she told him about some of the disagreements during the meeting.
“I’ve realized Director Wei actually isn’t as conservative and easygoing as everyone thinks.”
Lu Sili smiled. “Of course. Brother Wei is a lot more capable than we give him credit for. Otherwise, how would the Production Division be managed so well?”
Knowing how to strike the middle path really did work everywhere.
After signing the documents, Lu Sili called Parker and discovered that Parker had already adjusted his mindset. Parker said that simply doing his current job well was already impressive enough. Being too utilitarian only made him miserable, so he had decided to let himself off the hook.
“What about you?” Parker asked.
Lu Sili said, “We’ll talk about me later. Parker, what do you think of Wei Yuan?”
Parker found the question strange. “Why are you asking?”
Lu Sili said, “I want your opinion. What do you think of Wei Yuan’s professional ability and the way he handles people and situations?”
After thinking, Parker said, “Like a cup of hot tea.”
Like a cup of hot tea. It did not seem especially stimulating and appeared mild and harmless, but if you accidentally drank too much, it would teach you exactly how powerful insomnia could be.
“Hahahahaha.” Lu Sili burst out laughing and, for no reason at all, thought of his own husband, Su Yuan.
Having finished testing the waters, Lu Sili said that he planned to give more of his time to family lately and wanted to shift some work over to Wei Yuan.
“Oh no…” Parker wailed. “Baby, don’t tell me you’re going to have a child! Your boobs will get bigger!”
Lu Sili exploded with laughter again, laughing so hard he started coughing. After thinking it over, he chose to be honest with Parker about his health problems.
Testing Parker again, he asked, “If we recommended Wei Yuan to lead the Asia region, do you think Bob would change his current decision?”
“A Chinese Otsu?” Parker suddenly understood.
Lu Sili said, “Exactly. An upgraded Otsu.”
Bob had already been wavering between Otsu and Lu Sili. If he learned there was a plus-version Otsu here, he would probably be delighted.
Parker asked, “Then what about you, elio?”
Lu Sili hesitated. “I need to think some more.”
Hearing that, Parker grew nervous. “You’re not planning to leave F&A, are you?”
Lu Sili only smiled and did not answer directly.
By the time he hung up, it was just about the end of the workday.
Lu Sili stood beside the floor-to-ceiling window on the twentieth floor and looked outside for a long time. Then he turned back toward the office where he had sat for almost three years, took a deep breath, and let it out.
Lu Sili opened WeChat and messaged Su Yuan: [What’s for dinner?]
Su Yuan was handling paperwork and replied immediately: [Uncle Zou said Grandma’s digestion hasn’t been good the past two days and she feels a little bloated. I’m thinking lotus-seed millet porridge, apple with beef, and some stir-fried vegetables.]
Su Yuan: [What do you want? I’ll buy everything together.]
Su Yuan: [Why are you taking the initiative to ask me about dinner today?]
The corner of Lu Sili’s mouth lifted as he replied: [I want pickled-chili chicken giblets.]
Su Yuan had just finished his work. He shut down his computer and called Lu Sili while packing up.
“Hello?” Lu Sili’s voice was light. “Are you off work too? I’ll go grocery shopping with you.”
Su Yuan said, “Sure. Why are you being so proactive today?”
Lu Sili replied as though it were obvious, “Shouldn’t I share the household labor with my husband?”
Su Yuan laughed.
“Getting off work, Xiao Su?” The department director happened to return to the office. Seeing Su Yuan smiling broadly enough to show eight teeth, he could not resist teasing him. “You’re this happy just because you’re getting off work?”
Su Yuan lowered his voice. “Lili’s waiting for me so we can buy groceries together.”
The director understood at once. “Go, go.”
Municipal Hospital was closer to Grandma’s house, so Lu Sili drove over to pick Su Yuan up on the way, then they went to a nearby fresh-food supermarket to buy groceries.
The moment Su Yuan got into the car, he could tell Lu Sili was different today. He was very relaxed and smiling, like a cuter version of Xiaozao.
“What are you looking at?” Lu Sili muttered. Then he reached into the back seat and pulled out a bag. “Here.”
Su Yuan opened it. Inside was milk tea.
Su Yuan said, “You’re in a really good mood today.”
Lu Sili said, “It’s all right.”
“Then can I kiss you?” Su Yuan asked with a smile.
Because of everything with Grandma, Lu Sili had been gloomy every day, and Su Yuan had not dared be intimate with him. Even in bed, he had been lying ramrod straight.
Lu Sili turned the steering wheel and merged onto the main road. “No.”
Su Yuan said, “…”
Lu Sili laughed. “I’m driving.”
Su Yuan looked aggrieved.
“Take your shower early tonight.”
“!”