The Family Business (2)

Lin Kang did not think it would be wise to share his relationship trouble with them. They would only see it as his character foible. Furthermore, they would not offer him sincere advice, after all, it would be against their interest to do so.

However, Lin Kang also understood the importance of outside opinion. Therefore, Yi Nian proved to be the most valid candidate.

Looking at the young man that was frozen solid, Lin Kang asked, "By the way, Yi Nian, do you have a romantic partner in your life?"

"Huh?!" The question and the confusion it elicited in Yi Nian broke the young man out of his state of terror.

Lin Kang was not that used to social interaction and its rules so he did not realize how weirdly he had phrased his question. If Yi Nian did not know Lin Kang had a wife that he was devoted to, he would assume his boss was directing him some inappropriate proposal.

In any case, Yi Nian answered honestly, "Yes, boss, I do." He would do anything to save his job, and if that meant answering some slightly invasive questions, then so be it. Yes, the young man probably was still suffering from some residual misunderstanding.

The two was connected in a way because the reason why Yi Nian would not want to miss his lucrative job at Lin Corps was because he needed the money to plan a future with a girlfriend that he had a stable relationship with. If everything go well, Yi Nian planned to pop the big question some time in the coming year.

Lin Kang nodded solemnly even though internally he sighed in great relief. At least he did not ask the wrong guy.

He then proceeded to ask Yi Nian directly for his opinion, "What have you done to get your partner to say yes to the relationship?"

"Huh?!" Yi Nian was increasingly confused by Lin Kang's series of questions. He would love for his boss to explain himself why he was asking those questions but Yi Nian knew Lin Kang would never do so. He could ask of course, but Yi Nian believed that would not earn any favours from his boss. Therefore, the only thing he could do was to answer honestly and see where his boss was ultimately going with this.

"Hmm..." Yi Nian thought back to the period before he managed to get his current girlfriend to agree to be her girlfriend. He remembered a lot racing heart, sweaty palms and sleepless nights. Yi Nian summarized the history in his mind and told Lin Kang, "We went on dates, held hands and shared several hugs before I managed to get her to say yes."

With a blush rising to his face, Yi Nian added, "We did not do anything beyond kissing though because both of us wanted to wait until we're in a more serious stage of our relationship. That was our consensus."

Yi Nian was too enraptured by the sweet memories of his past to notice his boss rolling his eyes at him.

'We've done more than that, hell, there's a kid between us as proof and the relationship is still going nowhere.' Lin Kang scoffed. Lin Kang was starting to regret asking the young man. Perhaps he had overestimated Yi Nian's usefulness to his situation.

Lin Kang was about to ask the young man to leave him be when Yi Nian snapped his fingers like he just remembered something important. He quickly added, "Right, before I asked her to be my girlfriend, I paid a special visit to her parents to clarify my intentions and to get their blessing."

"You visited the girl's parents?" Lin Kang turned his head up with interest. This was something that he had not yet considered.

Although to be perfectly honest, Lin Kang did not really see the purpose of it. From how he understood it, a relationship was between two persons, so why would it involve paying the families a visit? And that was the inquiry that he posed towards Yi Nian.

The young secretary explained patiently to Lin Kang, "Boss, you're not wrong to think that way but not everyone share that view. At the end of the day, if the relationship is to lay the foundation for marriage in the future, then it should be considered a union between two families. This means that things will be different if it is just a fling or a hook-up.

"As I've mentioned earlier, the purpose is to get the blessing from the girl's families. This might not seem important, especially to us guys but for the women, approval of her partner from her family can be a big deal. After all, the influence of family ties cannot be underestimated, especially if she's close to her family. In other words, if the girl's family accepts you, it'll influence the girl and make it easier for her to accept you as well."

Lin Kang had attended a lesson that day. This was something that indeed he could use to improve his chances of getting a yes from Xiu Ling.

Now that Yi Nian mentioned it, Lin Kang realized how close Xiu Ling was to her mother. Therefore, if Lin Kang could get Xiu Ling's mother to stand on his side, then it should greatly improve his chance.

Lin Kang nodded to himself and soon excused Yi Nian. The young man exited his boss' office, wondering what that was all about. In any case, Yi Nian sighed in relief because it seemed like he had not landed himself in hot waters like what he thought earlier.

Lin Kang sat in his seat, trying to figure out a way to approach this. This was because the last time he saw Mrs. Xiu, things were rather... chilly between them to say the least. If he wanted to get Mrs. Xiu's aid, then Lin Kang would have a lot of apologizing to do.

However, if this was going to help getting Xiu Ling to say yes, then he was up for it.