Chapter 119 Chen Ang Disrupts the Situation

A variety of dishes were brought out one after another by young waitresses in uniform.

The dishes at Jinlu Restaurant were on par with those at Suiyuan Restaurant, but Chen Ang had no appetite. He just held his teacup, sipping slowly, and occasionally poked at a few vegetable dishes with his chopsticks.

"Pianran, do you remember how you used to always follow Mr. Zheng around when you were little? In the summer, you'd chase fireflies in the courtyard, and once you fell and scraped your knee. Mr. Zheng carried you home, and you told him you wanted to marry him when you grew up."

Shen Pianran's mother placed a piece of sea bass into her daughter's bowl, her voice filled with just the right amount of nostalgia.

"How old were you then? One was seven or eight, the other just over ten. Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, so many years would pass, and Mr. Zheng would be so successful, becoming a Vice President at Binjiang Holdings. Your taste as a child was really quite good."

Chen Ang looked at the people at the table, then turned to Shen Pianran, his gaze full of the question, "How desperate is your mother to marry you off?"

Shen Pianran understood Chen Ang's confusion, and a bitter smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Is there? How come I don't remember? And even if there was, that was all in the past when we were children; how could you take it seriously?" She put the fish into her mouth and chewed slowly.

As she finished speaking, the atmosphere in the private dining room suddenly became stifling.

Everyone at the table harbored their own thoughts, each keeping their expressions in check.

"Mr. Zheng is young and promising. To be a Vice President of a state-owned enterprise at thirty-four—you can't find many like him in all of Bin City." Shen Pianran's father raised his wine glass to Mr. Zheng's father, then turned to Mr. Zheng with a smile, "How many people do you manage now?"

"About a hundred or so, and if you include the construction teams for the projects below me, it's probably three or four hundred. It's not that many." Mr. Zheng waved his hand modestly, but his posture straightened noticeably.

"A few hundred people isn't considered a lot? At the law firm where our Pianran works, there are only a few people in total, including her."

Shen Pianran's mother pushed the plate of crab meat lion's head meatballs that Shen Pianran hadn't touched much toward her, her gaze glancing at Chen Ang intentionally or otherwise.

"I've told Pianran many times, don't work so hard. Women should eventually return to the family. Look at how good Mr. Zheng is—successful in his career and steady. Pianran, if you were with him, you wouldn't have to work so hard in the future."

Chen Ang gently set down his chopsticks. He felt that he had become the foil to Mr. Zheng's high-status, successful image—the short, ugly, and poor one.

Shen Pianran looked over, and upon meeting Chen Ang's gaze, she gave him an apologetic look.

Chen Ang gave a wry smile.

"Pianran's work is something she enjoys herself; she can just take it slow in the future."

Mr. Zheng turned his face, looking at Shen Pianran with an almost perfect, impeccable, and focused gaze.

"The current workplace is indeed unfriendly to women—lots of overtime and high pressure. Pianran, you should rest more in the future. You don't need to work so hard; you have me."

He had just directly positioned himself as Shen Pianran's intimate partner.

Clearly, he had been watching Chen Ang and Shen Pianran, and in his eyes, the eye contact between the two was equivalent to flirting.

At this moment, he naturally wanted to assert his dominance.

Shen Pianran's chopsticks paused in mid-air for the briefest of moments. She lowered her gaze toward Chen Ang, signaling that it was his turn to step in, then reached for the plate of three-set duck.

"She won't quit her job." Chen Ang suddenly stopped eating and leaned back in his chair, casually holding his teacup. "Pianran is a representative of the independent women of the new era. She loves working, and she'll fight anyone who tries to stop her from working."

Shen Pianran suddenly turned her head and glared at him.

The meaning in those eyes was: "Since when did I become a radical feminist? Is that how you fight for women's rights?"

But Chen Ang clearly caught a hint of amusement in the corner of her eyes that she was trying very hard to hold back.

Mr. Zheng also saw that hint of amusement.

His expression stiffened for a moment, and then he forced a smile again, but this smile carried a hint of bitterness and strain.

At this moment, Shen Pianran's father set down his wine glass and looked at Chen Ang, "Mr. Chen, how long have you known Pianran, and where do you work?"

"Chen Ang has three siblings in his family; he is the oldest. His younger brother works at a private company, his younger sister is still in school, and he himself is currently unemployed." Shen Pianran answered for Chen Ang before he could.

"Young people should still find a proper job. To start a family and build a career, how can you do it without an economic foundation?" Mr. Zheng's mother picked up her teacup. Her tone was still polite, but her eyes had already turned cold.

"Our Mr. Zheng is at Binjiang Holdings, earning at least 800,000 a year, not including his year-end bonus. In a place like Bin City, that's considered upper-middle class. To speak bluntly, if you don't even have a proper job, what can you use to give Pianran happiness?"

Mr. Zheng's mother's words had stripped away all pleasantries; she was ready for a direct confrontation.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Chen Ang, waiting for his response.

"Pianran will earn money for me." Chen Ang chuckled, placed his teacup on the table, and said calmly, "She will support me."

As soon as these words fell, everyone's expression changed. Especially Shen Pianran's parents—both of their expressions were almost twisted. Their daughter was rejecting a man who was extremely outstanding in every aspect, and instead, she was supporting a middle-aged man who didn't even have a job. Who could stand that?

Meanwhile, Shen Pianran lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly. To others, it looked like she was angry, but the way she poked at the three-set duck with her chopsticks clearly showed she was holding back laughter. She covered her mouth with her left hand, pinched the web of her thumb to suppress the laughter, and only then did she lift her head.

She turned to her parents, "Dad, Mom, I know you really have my best interests at heart. But in this life, why must I live according to your expectations?" She paused and straightened her posture.

"I don't have any plans to never marry; I just haven't found the person who makes me feel that marriage isn't just a way to cope with life. Every person you've introduced to me is very good, but there isn't only one standard for what is 'good'."

Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke slowly, "I hope you can give me more time, instead of always having 'it's for your own good' on your lips."

When she finished speaking, Shen Pianran's parents were instantly stunned. Mr. Zheng's parents, as well as Mr. Zheng himself, were equally rendered speechless.

"If we aren't doing this for your own good, could we possibly be trying to harm you?" Recovering, Shen Pianran's mother's voice rose sharply, but then lowered again, her eyes already turning red. "In a few years, you'll be an older mother; even if you're not anxious, I'm anxious for you."

"Mom, I..." Shen Pianran's emotions were also somewhat agitated. Just as she started to speak, Chen Ang reached out and stopped her.

"Uncle, Auntie, Pianran has her own ideas, and you should respect her." Chen Ang took over the conversation, his voice neither too soft nor too loud, but every word fell clearly into everyone's ears.

"From childhood to adulthood, she has taken every step very steadily. She has never failed to meet your requirements. She has achieved everything you expected of her."

"But some things are not within her control, nor are they within yours. You want her to be happy, and she is also working hard to make herself happy; it's just that her definition of happiness is different from yours."

"The best thing a child can do for their parents is to live as their own person. She has already done that; can you also do your part and accept that she has become her own person?"

Chen Ang said everything he wanted to say in one breath, and inexplicably felt a sense of clarity surge through his entire body. These words applied not only to Shen Pianran but also to himself. Afterward, the private dining room fell into a long silence.