Growing Fond of You, Mr Nian

An Lan hesitated. She actually had a lot of questions, but she didn’t know where to start.

Xu Baohan, on the other hand, put down his chopsticks and said with a frown, “My mother runs an import and export trading company in Zhejiang.”

An Lan nodded, not surprised. After all, his mother’s clothes were so eye-catching.

Xu Baohan looked at her and smiled. “You must have noticed that my mother is dressed… like a nouveau riche, right?”

An Lan was silent.

Was it that obvious on her face?

“No,” An Lan cleared her throat and said, “In business, you have to dress up in a conspicuous manner in order to attract business partners. There are so many luxury car drivers nowadays, some of them are actually quite poor, but they still have to appear good externally.”

Xu Baohan shrugged and smiled bitterly, “You’re thinking too much. My mother is just trying to satisfy her vanity though she cannot really afford to do so. When she was young, her family didn’t have any money and she suffered a lot. Her education wasn’t high, so when she joined the workforce, she was humiliated and looked down on. After that, she used all her means to marry my father. My father’s family was well-off and with his help, my mother started her own business. But after my relationship with my father fell apart, the relationship between my parents could no longer be maintained. Now, without my father’s help, her company’s business is going downhill. Those jewelry were given to her by my father in the past.”

An Lan suddenly understood. She really didn’t know how to describe this family, but his mother was quite pitiable. “Actually, using jewelry to highlight one’s worth is something that many bosses would do, but… I think the next time you see your mother, you can persuade her. She can do it during the day, but it’s not safe to go to places where there are fewer people. It’s better not to be so high-profile.”

“Yes, I’ve told her before.” Xu Baohan shook his head. “But when we meet, we always hear her complaining about my dad. She complains that it’s all because of me that she divorced my dad, causing her business to go downhill. After that, we fell out, so she hates me.”

“Then… What about your dad?” An Lan asked doubtfully. “Actually, I’ve always wanted to ask. You’ve been in the hospital for so many days, your dad…”

“Probably he saw on the news that I didn’t die.”

The smile on Xu Baohan’s face was very sarcastic, “I forgot to tell you, my dad opened more than thirty 4S stores all over the country, and basically all the Xu family’s members work there, such as my aunt and my cousins. There were two 4S stores that belonged to my uncle previously, but my uncle cheated a few of his customers’ money for a huge profit, involving a sum of more than a million dollars. He was suspected of fraud and was prosecuted…”

“My father and my grandparents asked me to see if I could pull some strings, so that my uncle’s matter could be turned into a small matter. I didn’t agree, and then my uncle went to jail. The Xu family hates me now. The house you’re cooking for me is where the three of us used to live. Later, when my parents divorced, they all moved away, leaving me to live alone.”

An Lan’s heart ached as she watched him recount his past with a relaxed tone.

She was sometimes angry with her parents, but no matter what, her family still understood her, while Xu Baohan was abandoned by his family for a man who had brought it upon himself.

It was too much to misunderstand him as a cold-blooded and inhumane person.

“It’s okay. In the future… you have me.” An Lan hugged his head. She decided to treat him better in the future.

If she could do it all over again, she would buy him a cell phone that was slightly more expensive.