Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 165 - 162: Everything Else is Inferior

Yan Yan’s English name, Yann, was the one she used when she audited courses in the English department at Xiamen University, apart from Lei Pili, actually very few people called Yan Yan by the name Yann.

Yan Yan had never taken a photo with Lei Pili, nor had she given him any pictures of herself.

After graduating from university, Wei Fengsui had gone back to Beijing to visit his younger brother.

Wei Fengsui had seen a photo by Lei Pili’s bedside of a woman’s back. Lei Pili told his brother that he had secretly taken it, a photo of the girl he liked.

Wei Fengsui was somewhat skeptical of his brother’s story at the time.

In the photo, there were Xiamen University dormitories with their red bricks and green tiles, and the fiery red phoenix flowers—both were absolutely the main subjects.

And the girl’s slender back, small and even a bit blurry.

Even the sharpest-eyed person might not be able to tell just who the figure in the photo was.

But Wei Fengsui had heard the name Yann so often that his ears were almost calloused.

The current bizarre scene had everyone, "inside and outside the play," a bit shocked.

Yan Yan’s uncle and aunt were shocked by the "liberal customs" of Australia, their shock was the mildest of all.

Yan Yan’s parents were now seeing their daughter’s intimate behavior with boys for the third time today.

If it had been just with Qi Yi hugging and cuddling, that would be fine, but the key point was that this third time involved a different male lead—what on earth was going on?

The shock level of Yan Dabang and his wife was much higher than that of Yan Dingbang and his wife.

Seeing his girlfriend in the arms of an unfamiliar man, Qi Yi felt an overwhelming sense of desolation and distress.

But because there were so many parents present and Qi Yi didn’t understand the situation, it wasn’t appropriate for him to directly push away the man who had taken liberties with his girlfriend, although he had done so a thousand times over in his heart.

Qi Yi was very shocked, but within that shock, there was even more indignation.

The level of shock felt by Lei Pili’s parents was likely the highest among all the "spectators."

Over the years, Lei Pili had been impervious to persuasion, and even though his family tried all sorts of methods to arrange blind dates for him, Lei Pili never even showed up.

The Wei family had never heard anything about Lei Pili dating, nor had they ever seen him with any girl.

Before this scene unfolded, Lei Pili’s parents had already begun to wonder if their second son was abnormal or oriented differently.

In contrast to Qi Yi’s shock, the surprise Wei Fengsui and his parents felt had more elements of delight in it.

...............

After walking out from Yan Yan’s family’s place, the group, still in shock, gathered around where Wei Fengsui’s car was parked.

"Let me make the introductions," Yan Yan gathered her emotions and adjusted her demeanor.

All eyes were on Yan Yan, everyone curious.

Yan Yan first introduced Lei Pili to her family.

"This is my senior from Xiamen University, with a thundering name, Lei Pili, a highly talented student from our English department, and a rising star in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Yan Yan started speaking after she walked over to Qi Yi’s side.

While Yan Yan was verbally introducing Lei Pili, she took Qi Yi’s arm and nestled close to him.

Yan Yan only needed to introduce her relationship with Qi Yi to one person.

"My boyfriend, Qi Yi," Yan Yan introduced to Lei Pili.

Introducing Qi Yi didn’t require any special mention of his occupation, nor any prefixes or suffixes; simply stating ’boyfriend’ was enough.

Lei Pili’s mood plummeted from boiling point to absolute zero.

Just when he thought that fate was somehow pulling him and Yan Yan back together, Yan Yan’s family had already welcomed an official boyfriend.

"Ah, you’re Xiao Yan’s senior," Yan Dabang cordially shook hands with Lei Pili, but he still couldn’t quite grasp the situation from Yan Yan’s introduction.

Brother Wei had just said that the older son went to pick up the younger one, yet the younger son wasn’t here, and instead, Yan Yan’s "Lei" senior had shown up, creating an already somewhat shocking situation.

Yan Dabang, looking utterly confused, waited for Wei Fengsui’s father to clear things up for him.

"Our younger son takes his mother’s surname, Lei, and he works for a government agency, so going abroad is restricted for him.

He rarely has the opportunity to come and see us; we are the ones who have to visit him.

He was recently seconded to the Ministry of Commerce and luckily got the chance to come to Melbourne on official business.

He has meetings tomorrow and is heading back the day after.

We were also thinking about where to go today.

Since you and your family were planning to visit Twelve Apostles Island, we thought it’d be nice to join in on the fun." Brother Wei explained the situation to his Brother Yan.

"State ministry, huh? Impressive, very impressive," Yan Dabang repeated after finally understanding the situation.

Yan Dabang’s praise was undoubtedly genuine.

In the eyes of Wenzhou entrepreneurs, all is inferior, only education stands high.

Here, education doesn’t depend on how high your degree is, but rather if you’ve become a civil servant.

Parents in Wenzhou don’t think making a billion a year is all that impressive.

They’ve all seen ups and downs over the years.

Only the income of a few thousand yuan a month from a ’iron rice bowl’ civil servant job is considered a truly stable income in their eyes.

So, not just any state ministry—any young man in Wenzhou who becomes a local civil servant will have girls lining up to meet him.

If a family has only one daughter, they hope even more to find a civil servant with a stable job.

In Wenzhou, there are also marriages between powerful business families, but that usually happens when the children have known each other privately for a while or when there is a real business issue that needs solving through marriage.

The most important way to arrange a marriage in Wenzhou, whether parents are finding a match for their son or daughter, the profession of civil servant is the first choice without question.

The term ’civil servant’ can make parents in Wenzhou abandon many of their original principles.

For example, parents who are reluctant to let their daughter marry someone from out of town will completely change their attitude if that out-of-towner gets a civil servant position in Wenzhou, even in the most remote countryside.

Before Lei Pili, Yan Dabang had never met a "living person" from a state ministry, so he was truly impressed by Brother Wei’s son.

"Our Pili is quite a handful; he’s just come back from Africa and was hoping to stay in Beijing for a couple of years, but next month he’ll be posted to Europe instead. But it’s good too, Europe is nice for tourism. If you two get bored in Melbourne, let’s arrange a time to go together," Lei Pili’s mother joined the conversation between "Brother Wei" and "Brother Yan" about Lei Pili’s work.