287— Informing The Old Li Couple

That settled, she called her Mum. Zhou Qiaohui picked on the third ring.

"How are you Baobei?"

"I'm fine Mum, thanks. And you?"

"Same as usual, just missing you and XiaoChen. How was yesterday's party?"

"It went beautifully. And thank you for the gift Mum."

"It's alright, as long as my son-in-law likes it." Zhou Qiaohui said with a smile. Li Chuanmo had already sent her a thank you message earlier.

"Yes, he loves it." She paused, tucking her knees under her. "Mum, I wanted to tell you that I will be going to the Capital in three weeks. Madam Gao wants to hold an introductory banquet for me."

Zhou Qiaohui's heart clenched, but she nodded. She already knew this because Qiao Mingran had been keeping in touch and informing her of the events, but knowing didn't lessen the panic she felt.

It was as if her daughter was slipping away from her, leaving her alone in the world. She just wanted to cry from the burden of it all, but she couldn't let her precious daughter worry.

"Mum, are you alright?"

Zhou Qiaohui nodded as naturally as she could, but Pei Yueran could still see her sadness.

"Mum, you know you'll always be my mother right? That will never change." She said emphatically.

Zhou Qiaohui nodded heavily as she said in a nasal voice, "I know Baobei, I know."

Calming down, she continued, "But don't you plan to change the way you address her? Madam Gao?"

Pei Yueran didn't think there was anything wrong with her manner of address, "Calling her anything else right now would be terribly uncomfortable and awkward for both of us."

Zhou Qiaohui didn't think Qiao Mingran would share the same sentiment, but she decided not to press the issue.

"So when would you leave for the Capital?"

"I don't know yet, but we probably will be unable to leave earlier than the weekend of. There are lots of company matters to settle."

"It's alright Baobei. Have you told XiaoChen about it? He would be getting new maternal grandparents you know."

Pei Yueran nodded slowly. She hadn't given it much thought before, but she really had to speak to him, "I guess I'll go to his school one of these days to speak to him. We'll be going to my in-laws this evening to inform them though."

Zhou Qiaohui approved, "Very good."

After a few more words, they hung up.

Pei Yueran went into their closet to pick out clothes for the evening's outing. The expansive closet was filled floor to ceiling with with clothes arranged according to season and style— work suits, casual wear, formal party outfits and so on.à

Their clothes were arranged side by side, so it was easy to choose matching outfits.

She had just picked out a set for both of them when Li Chuanmo walked in. He kissed her before collecting the clothes.

"You're done?"

He nodded and started to change his clothes, while Pei Yueran busied herself getting the remaining accessories ready.

Afterwards, she changed as well and checked herself out in one of the floor-length mirrors in the closet. She stared at Li Chuanmo through the mirror as she asked, "Is anything missing?"

Li Chuanmo looked at her thoughtfully before saying, "Just one thing."

"What?" Pei Yueran asked, looking around for the accessory she forgot to add.

Li Chuanmo moved closer and buried his face in her neck. By the time he moved away, there was a brand new red mark on her neck.

"Li Chuan Mo! What did you do that for? Now I have to add a scarf." Pei Yueran complained.

Li Chuanmo responded innocently, "I just thought the dress would look better with that scarf you recently bought."

That's why he had to give her a hickey first? What kind of logic was that?

Resigned, she didn't even bother to say anything. She just tied the scarf. Then snatching up her purse, she stormed out without waiting for Li Chuanmo.

He followed after her and by the time they got downstairs, she had already forgiven him. Both of them held hands as they walked to the parking lot.

The drive to the Li family villa was mostly done in companionable silence.

The butler opened the door for them. Different from usual, Zhang Heying wasn't at the door to welcome them today, but they could hear their voices the closer they got to the living room.

"Old man, be careful."

"Wifey, I'm trying."

"It's hurting me."

"Sorry, almost done."

By the time got inside, Li Chuanmo had already deduced what was going on. Zhang Heying had her legs on Li Qianye's laps, and he was helping her clip and file her nails.

For some reason, she found it difficult to cut her toenails herself, so Li Qianye had been in charge of that since they got married. It was also a special time to boss him around.

The lady who was frowning as she watched her husband trim her nails suddenly became all smiles when she saw their guests.

Getting up from the sofa, she moved to give her daughter-in-law a hug, "Ran'er, you're here."

"Good evening Mum. Sorry for the short notice."

"Not at all. You're welcome here anytime. Will you be staying for the night?"

"No Mother. We'll just say what we came to discuss and be on our way." It was Li Chuanmo that interjected.

"Okay then. Sit down. Have you had dinner yet? Because I got the cook to prepare dinner for you. What would you like to drink?"

Under Zhang Heying's insistence, they had dinner before reconvening in the living room.

Without preamble, Pei Yueran began to tell the old Li couple about her birth family.

Totally surprised, the couple listened in shock. Although they knew Director Zhou was her adoptive mother, no one imagined that her birth parents would have such identities.

"This is serious Ran'er." Zhang Heying said in slight worry. She wanted to congratulate her, but she had a feeling that things were not that simple.

As an aristocratic family themselves, they knew what went on in a typical influential household. It was also Li Qianye's habit to have a bit of knowledge about other aristocratic families, especially those they have had business dealings with.

Due to the collaboration with Gaoyi Group on GOLEM months ago, Li Qianye paid more attention to the families in the Capital. Naturally, they knew that the Gao family was definitely more complicated than what was shown on the surface.

The four of them were uncharacteristically silent, but Pei Yueran could see the worry on the older couple's faces.