“Helloooooo, my beautiful daughter~ Mother missed you sooooo much!” Wei Lan’s dramatic (and slightly annoying) voice said through the phone.
Iris allowed the woman to talk and talk and talk. When Wei Lan continued to chatter without any signs of stopping, Iris began feeling impatient. She was exhausted with everything that happened earlier tonight. She just want to sleep, especially since she still had to wake up early the next morning for work. She had no time for Wei Lan’s useless chatter.
“Mother, did you have something important to tell me?” she interrupted the older woman. “It’s already so late. I still have work tomorrow.”
“Ooooh! Why didn’t you say so? Honey, you should’ve interrupted me sooner!” Wei Lan cried. “A lady’s beauty sleep is super important! Like the most important ever! But yes, I called because I wanted to tell you something important. Like super important! Oh my goooodness! I almost forgot about it!”
Iris forced herself to be calm and politely urged Wei Lan to speak.
“You see—”giggle giggle”—Mother has finally married again!” Wei Lan revealed in excitement.
Iris blinked a few times. This would only be Wei Lan’s second marriage. Even though she had countless lovers, she surprisingly didn’t marry again after divorcing Long Tengfei. She claimed that marriage wasn’t for a free spirit like her (more like she wasn’t the type suited for long-term commitments).
“I see. Congratulations, Mother,” Iris greeted her politely.
She was surprised, but not too surprised. She figured that if the woman met a man who was several times wealthier and more powerful than Long Tengfei, Wei Lan would marry him in a heartbeat. And Iris assumed that was what happened in this case.
“Ooooh. Thank you soooooo much, honey! Mother is sooooo happy right now! I finally met the love of my life! We married in Rio de Janeiro. It was such a small, intimate but beautiful ceremony! I felt like a blushing girl again!” Wei Lan gushed. Then her tone became a bit sad. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to invite you, honey. I heard about everything that happened to you back there with the car crash actually turning out to be attempted murder and all that, so I didn’t want to make it stressful for you by asking you to travel all the way to Rio just to attend my wedding.”
Was it just her or the woman actually sounded nice and considerate? These were words that she would never associate with Wei Lan.
She looked at Jin Liwei who was observing her. She turned on the speaker so the he could also hear the entire phone conversation.
“My new husband is a foreigner, so the difference in culture is challenging. But I love him sooooooo much! I hope that you’ll like him, honey. He’s the kindest and understanding man that I’ve ever met in my entire life! And I’ve met soooooo many men in my life, including your father. You know that.” Wei Lan giggled.
Iris’ impatience was gradually replaced by curiosity. She didn’t give a whit about the woman’s new husband, but she was extremely curious about this seemingly nicer and considerate Wei Lan.
Even Jin Liwei looked surprised. He had listened in on phone conversations between the mother and daughter before. He also noticed the change in Wei Lan’s way of speaking to her daughter. It was as if she really cared this time.
“I want you to meet my husband soooooon! Unfortunately, there are still many things that he needs to finish in South America. He’s sooooo hard-working! But I’m really starting to feel homesick, so I decided to return to China ahead on my own. Surprise~ I’m coming home soon!” Wei Lan happily announced. “I can’t wait to see my dear baby girl! I missed you soooo much! I know that you’ve become soooooo beautiful—just like ME!”
Iris and Jin Liwei looked at each other. It seemed like it was finally time for the future mother-in-law to meet her future son-in-law.
“So honey, can you have someone pick Mother up from the airport?” Wei Lan asked.
“Of course, Mother. Just send me your flight details.”
Iris rubbed her temples, starting to get a headache listening to the older woman’s voice. Wei Lan might have become nicer and considerate but she could still be really annoying, especially when she talked and talked and talked nonstop.
Jin Liwei crawled on the bed and positioned himself behind her. Then he started massaging her shoulders and back.
She sighed in pleasure and appreciation of her darling’s thoughtfulness.
“One more thing, honey. Can Mother stay at your penthouse? Pleeeease?”
Iris frowned. “Don’t you have your own place, Mother?”
“Yes, but I want to spend quality time with my beautiful dear daughter. I haven’t seen you for sooooooo long! I also want to meet your fiancé! Let’s bond together! We’re familyyyyyy~”
Iris turned her head and looked at Jin Liwei, silently asking him for his opinion. He nodded.
“Alright, Mother. You can stay at the penthouse. I’ll have a room prepared for you.”
“Oh! Thank you soooooo much, honey!”
“How do you feel?” Jin Liwei asked her, knowing that the mother and daughter weren’t close at all.
She shrugged. She didn’t really have any other strong feelings besides curiosity and slight annoyance. If possible, she didn’t want to trouble herself with Wei Lan on a regular basis. However, she also felt curious about Wei Lan’s change. She wanted to know if the woman had truly changed or was just faking it. In the end, her curiosity won over.
Jin Liwei nodded, accepting her shrug as an answer. He turned off the lights after they settled on the bed.
After a few seconds of getting comfortable in his arms, his baby girl immediately fell into deep sleep as usual. As for him, he thought about all of the things that they had to deal with today. So many things happened in just a few hours.
And now his future mother-in-law was coming. It wasn’t a secret that a huge part of his baby girl’s bad reputation in the past could be attributed to Wei Lan. She was notoriously known as a gold digging, social climbing seductress. In high society where many women hated her, she was called a slut.
Even Long Hui used Wei Lan to insult Iris earlier which pissed Jin Liwei off so badly that he beat the motherfucker. If the brother could use Wei Lan to insult Iris, how much more the other people?
Jin Liwei couldn’t help but feel a little trepidation that Wei Lan chose to return to the country at such an unstable period in the Long clan. His baby girl just decided that she would directly join the battle for succession. She needed to arm herself with the best weapons, and also to boost her position and reputation.
He hoped Wei Lan wouldn’t create trouble for his baby girl, especially at such an important time like this.
I hope she really changed for the better, he thought before falling asleep while embracing his baby girl.
