Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 308 - 303: Seeking Solutions in the Absence of Solutions (4)
"I’ve only ever had one girlfriend, the one I have now, who is also my high school sweetheart. I want to marry her, but I can’t persuade my mother," Qi Yi explained his purpose.
"Do you want to bypass your mother and get married directly?" Qi Yi’s father asked him.
"I don’t have a better solution," Qi Yi reluctantly told his father the truth.
Before knowing the root cause that had driven his parents to the brink of divorce, Qi Yi might have tried again, but after hearing the reasons for the divorce from his father, he didn’t even think about trying.
Qi Yi had always felt that time could solve many problems, time could change his mother’s view of Yan Yan.
Now, he realized he had no chance at all.
"Are you planning never to see your mother again?" his father asked Qi Yi.
"I... I don’t know." Qi Yi had thought about this question, but he truly couldn’t find an answer.
Applied mathematics, debate techniques, none of it worked when it came to his family environment, especially on his mother’s side.
"Yi, don’t worry. Dad will think of a solution for you. It wasn’t easy for your mom to raise you alone," Qi Yi’s father’s words surprised him once again.
Qi Yi didn’t expect that his father, at this point, would still speak on behalf of his mother.
Before the confrontation between them escalated, Qi Yi’s mother would occasionally praise his father in front of Qi Yi.
She would say his father worked so hard all those years away from home to earn money to buy them a house.
But since the official divorce, Qi Yi had never heard words like "your father has it tough" from his mother’s mouth.
If not silent, it was remarks about the other woman, the vixen.
"If I could afford not to worry, I probably wouldn’t have come to Yiwu," Qi Yi was very frustrated, his needs had been dismissed by his father before he even spoke of them.
His trip to Yiwu was mainly to resolve this pressing matter, yet his father was telling him not to rush.
How could he not be anxious?
His father should understand his current helplessness and struggle better than anyone.
His father had walked the same path, the more he tried to mend things, the more his mother treated him like an enemy.
Now, Qi Yi’s mother was directing all her energy against Yan Yan, but if Qi Yi bypassed his mother to be with Yan Yan, his mother might turn her son into her next target as well.
Despite Qi Yi’s mother having mentally tormented Mr. Qi for many years.
Still, they were husband and wife, and Mr. Qi had never treated her as an enemy.
This situation was not what Qi Yi’s father had wanted to see.
The main problem was definitely with Qi Yi’s mother, but Mr. Qi felt that being too submissive to her from the start of their marriage was also an indirect cause of their current predicament.
Qi Yi was very anxious about having his parents formally request Yan Yan’s hand in marriage.
Even if Yan Yan was willing to wait for him, her parents were not willing to give her more time.
Besides Yan Yan’s parents’ attitude, what Qi Yi found hardest to accept was how Yan Yan had to comfort him each time after being verbally abused by his mother.
Seeing his son’s mood, Qi Yi’s father continued, "Give dad two days, I have an important meeting scheduled tomorrow. Once it’s over, I’ll return to Wenzhou with you and talk to your mom."
"You’re not planning to go there and tell mom you’re remarrying, are you? If you go now, it will only make things worse; haven’t you had enough of quarreling over the years?" Qi Yi did not want to endure another elongated process of negotiation and waiting.
"The marriage is already over, there’s nothing left to fight about, we haven’t fought since," Qi Yi’s father insisted on his view.
"Do you miss fighting?" Qi Yi might have not communicated with his father for too long, he had been surprised several times in this short period.
"If I missed it, we wouldn’t have gotten divorced. It’s rare for you to ask for dad’s help, I want to handle this in the best way possible," Mr. Qi smiled responding to his son’s skepticism.
After so many years, there were no grievances he couldn’t let go of.
Qi Yi indeed came to seek his father’s help, but he hadn’t yet spoken his specific requests.
It was all deduced by his father.
It seemed like his father could see through anything.
His father hadn’t been absent from his growth, but he had engaged in what he felt was the best way.
Even now, the tacit understanding between father and son was something Qi Yi had never anticipated.
"Aunt Li" brought some fruit for the father and son.
Qi Yi’s father introduced her to Qi Yi.
There wasn’t the awkwardness Qi Yi had imagined, everything felt natural.
After entering, "Aunt Li" asked if Qi Yi would be having dinner at home later.
She left shortly after asking.
She was gentle and had a homey kind of vibe.
If he had known years earlier that his father was captivated by such a woman, Qi Yi would have felt it was unfair to his mother, but now, he felt more understanding.
If his father meant for him not to rush as in just waiting another two days, then he truly wasn’t in a hurry to resolve everything today.
However, the feeling of his father seeing through everything wasn’t quite pleasant.
Do unto others as they would do unto you.
"Dad, how old is Aunt Li’s child?" Qi Yi shifted the conversation.
"Probably 22," Qi Yi’s father hesitated while answering because he didn’t know why Qi Yi was suddenly asking this.
"How old was Aunt Li when she had her child?" Qi Yi continued to inquire.
"About 22 as well," Qi Yi’s father watched him, wondering if his son’s girlfriend was pregnant?
Why such odd questions and the rush to get married?
"Dad, I don’t really mind whether I have a younger brother or sister or not. You’re still young after all," Qi Yi began to tease his father.
But what Qi Yi said was true.
Since his father was remarrying, there was no need to forego having children on his account.
His father could see through him, and he could do the same with his father.
If he hadn’t been frequently contemplating this issue, why would the first thing he said upon meeting be that he didn’t want more children?
Qi Yi was already at the age to settle down; he didn’t harbor any thoughts that his father would love him less if he remarried and had new children.
Perhaps in his father’s eyes, Qi Yi was still a child. But Qi Yi was not anymore.
Especially since, with Yan Yan’s "tender care," his sense of security had long changed from what it had been.
～～～～～
[Xiao Mo’s class]Box
Box, a very simple word, but "Box" also relates to Christmas.
The day before Christmas is called Christmas Eve.
The day after Christmas is called Boxing Day.
Adding "ing" to "Box" usually has another meaning—boxing.
But for this holiday, "Box" means just a box.
Why is the day after Christmas called Boxing Day?
