Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling
Chapter 233: Extra 6
Of course, Father Zhang took it as a joke, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Although he agreed with Elder Gu, he also said they were both men. Everyone was helpless when they heard his response. Father Zhang just didn’t get it.
The wedding was very lively. Not long after, He Guoliang and his wife came to toast Zhang Siyi’s parents. Father Zhang casually asked: “My son introduced you to such an excellent daughter-in-law. Do you know of any excellent girls that you can introduced him to?”
As soon as the words came out, the faces of all the people at the table changed. Since He Chengtian had already informed his parents of Gu Yu’s relationship with Zhang Siyi, they felt bad when they heard Elder Zhang. He was still in the dark and it was rather awkward.
He Guoliang wiped the cold sweat from his brow and playing it up, he chuckled: “Ha, Zhang Siyi is too good. Who am I supposed to introduce to him? I’m sure there is a line of girls just waiting for him.”
Mother He also exaggerated and put Zhang Siyi in the limelight. They wanted to clearly convey to Father Zhang that since his son was too good, there wasn’t a girl worthy of him.
People loved to listen to good things that boosted their ego and Father Zhang was no exception. With the high praise about his son from the He family, his heart was happy and no longer said anything further.
As the drama became heated, the table worked together to put out any sparks and effectively change the topic. Despite the alarming drama, no storm erupted.
During the banquet, Zhang Siyi also saw Shen Hao. Since he was always on site as a supervisor during the week for his job, his tan and rough face was weathered and as a result, his image had really changed. During the past two years, time wasn’t on his side and he appeared many years older than he really was. Even though he was younger than thirty, his narrow views and his issues with money made him seem like a middle-aged man.
In contrast, Zhang Siyi continued to look youthful and handsome; an elegant scholar. Coupled with the influences from being overseas and his experience getting a Master’s degree, his temperament was completely different from ordinary people.
With different pursuits, people are destined to lead different lives and live in different realms. Before he met Gu Yu, Zhang Siyi thought special people were born to stand out. He didn’t know that with effort and constantly polish, he also became such a person.
Gu Yao’s festive wedding came to an end with joy. The He family’s will also have a celebration at the first of the month, but Gu Yu and Zhang Siyi couldn’t stay.
On the plane back to England, remembering the false alarm at the wedding, Zhang Siyi sighed: “My father was so pitiful…. “
Sensing Zhang Siyi’s guilt, Gu Yu comforted him: “Don’t feel so guilty over it.”
Zhang Siyi: “How can he not see when we have implied so clearly? He even asked Mr. He to introduce me to someone.”
When it comes to this matter, Gu Yu inner fear has come to surface. He was afraid that someone will take Zhang Siyi away from him. He grabbed Zhang Siyi’s hand and held it tightly.
Zhang Siyi smiled back at him and said: “You don’t have to be nervous. I’m abroad so there’s nothing else he can do about it.”
Frowning, Gu Yu was silent for a moment: “While we are in a foreign country, we should try to tell him slowly. Otherwise, this issue will be like a time bomb waiting to go off at any moment.”
Feeling the same, Zhang Siyi nodded. Almost all of the people around him, including his friends back home, knew that his significant other was a man. Having lived openly in England, he didn’t know how much of a breath of fresh air being honest and open truly was. He could never go back to the suffocation of the past and more importantly, he didn’t want to lie to parents anymore.
“But how do we do it?” Zhang Siyi asked.
Brooding over it, Gu Yu asked: “Your Father, is he in your circle of friends on WeChat?”
Understanding where Gu Yu’s was going with his train of thought, Zhang Siyi let out an audible ah: “Are you thinking we should let him see our photos?”
Gu Yu: “Give him a separate group that only he can see.”
Zhang Siyi: “…” This, that was also too cruel! (兀▽兀)
After returning to London, the two finalized their plans to come out to Zhang Siyi’s father, but before the plan was implemented, Zhang Siyi had to discuss it with his mother.
Although Mother Zhang initially insisted that she would neither accommodate nor interfere with their relationship, as a social butterfly and doting mother, she could not resist helping her son. Since Mother Zhang wanted to be part of his life, in the recent years, they exchanged photos and communicated frequently over social media.
After listening to Zhang Siyi’s plan, his mother was a little worried: “You can’t put everything online! It might be too much for him to handle. You better let me evaluate them first so I can make sure your father won’t have a heart attack.”
The meaning of her remark was obvious. How can his father be the only one looking at the photos? She wants to see his real-time-relationship too!
What else could Zhang Siyi say? His mother was asking and he has no objection. They were planning on taking it slowly with travel photos and meals and mundane photos of nature. Why would that be too stimulating for his father? Was his mother thinking about something she shouldn’t have? (=_=)
The task of coming out to Father Zhang via a photo montage had begun. At first Zhang Siyi only posted photos of his work environment, a few projects and London’s landscape.
Ten days later, Zhang Siyi’s mother made a video call and with a polite yet sarcastic tone said: “You seem to be a little conservative.”
Zhang Siyi calmly replied: “Mom, I have to go step-by-step.”
Mother Zhang: “Oh, so that’s why.”
Zhang Siyi: “What did Dad say? Did he have any reaction?”
Mother Zhang: “Yes. Today he told me at dinner that the British scenery was very nice. We also discussed visiting there when we retire.”
Zhang Siyi laughed: “Isn’t this ok? Let’s start talking about small things first, then gradually show him more. I can’t start with something intimate off the bat.”
After catching-up with personal events and discussing a few other things, Mother Zhang suddenly asked: “Where’s Gu Yu?”
Zhang Siyi casually pointed the iPad’s camera at an angle downwards: “Here. With work being so busy lately, he’s been pretty tired.”
While Zhang Siyi had been reclining on his bed talking to his mother, a sleepy Gu Yu was next to him. Since the heating in the room was on the warm side, Gu Yu only wore a loosely-fitted white cotton V-neck T-shirt. While his neck and collarbone were bare, one could see the definition of muscles throughout his torso, no to mention his arms. His unabashed position was rather sexy. Hearing voices, Gu Yu rolled onto his side and with sleepiness still evident in his eyes, he smiled at the camera and mumbled ‘Mom’. Then, nestling his head against Zhang Siyi and laying his arm around his waist, he went back to sleep.
When Mother Zhang saw the scene through her screen, she felt like blood was going to squirt out of her nose. As Zhang Siyi turned the screen around, his mother was trying to stay calm: “In the future, you can show pictures of Gu Yu to your dad.”
Zhang Siyi spontaneously responded: “You mean like this one?”
“Of course not! You can’t send this to your dad! Just send it to me!”
Zhang Siyi: “…” Mom, you seem to have exposed something. (￣_￣ |||)
The next day, in Zhang Siyi’s private circle of friends he took a risk and posted a profile picture of Gu Yu in an apron making a pizza. He was anxiously waiting for his mother to contact him about it because he wanted to know if his father had any reactions.
After waiting for a many hour without hearing from his mother, he peeked at the status of the image again. There was a ‘like’ pinned by his father!
Zhang Siyi couldn’t believe it. After several days in a row of posting various ‘action’ photos of Gu Yu doing the laundry, setting the quilts out to dry and cleaning, Father Zhang finally wrote a comment: “You have to do more housework. Don’t be so lazy.”
Zhang Siyi: “…” Really, that’s it? Does he have no idea!?
In reality, Zhang Siyi wasn’t in a rush to lay bare the truth. He could only be patient and continue to show ambiguous photos mixed with work and leisure. This pattern persisted for six months until there was a change. His mother had called him on the phone and nervously said: “Sisi, your father… I think there might be something wrong with him.”
Zhang Siyi: “What’s wrong?”
Mother Zhang: “These days, he is often staring into space alone in the living room clutching his phone. Once I saw him looking through the photos you posted.”
Zhang Siyi felt his heart in his throat: “What expression did he have? Was he angry or did he seem unhappy?”
Mother Zhang: “Neither. He was expressionless and sometimes, he looks lonely. I tried to ask him if there was something on his mind recently, but he wouldn’t tell me. I’m certain that it has something to do with you.”
Zhang Siyi knew that his father almost always discussed matters with his mother. In this case, since he had kept it to himself, indeed his actions were very uncharacteristic. Zhang Siyi browsed through the photos he posted in the group that he set up for his parents and confirmed that his recent photos weren’t too explicit. In fact, they were all normal scenic photographs.
—— Did the change from quantity to quality produce the desired effect? Did his dad finally figure it out?
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Love More. Hate Less 