Page 9 of He Is My Bride
In the evening, Li Ying sat on the couch at home, listening to the TV and trying to read a medical article while practicing a French-braid bun.
Anne had told him to always leave some strands of hair hanging by the sides of his face, to cover his jawline which, while not super defined, wasn’t exactly delicate, either.
They had to use every trick in the book to soften Li Ying’s features.
Hanjun came home from the gym and went to take a shower.
Returning with just a towel wrapped around his loins, Li Ying took an appreciative look at his subtly toned abs.
The man wasn’t shredded, but he followed his PT program religiously and did qi gong in the nearby park every morning—when Li Ying didn’t keep him in bed, that is—plus no small amount of tennis and golf with co-workers and affiliates.
He also ate like a monk, or so Li Ying thought, so he was fairly slender with a healthy amount of bulk.
Li Ying didn’t want to think of himself as superficial, but he couldn’t help feeling like a lucky boy, knowing many girls would be jealous of his man.
And many were; Li Ying had snapped a faceless photo of Hanjun’s body one time while he slept, then boasted while showing it off to his girl friends.
The girls had hated him for it just a little.
Li Ying made a growling noise at Hanjun, and the man looked at him with his ‘you’re gonna get it’-face.
“You’re working hard,” Hanjun noted, watching Li Ying practice his hairdo. Hanjun found it attractive, the way the man groomed himself lately .
“U-huh.” Li Ying peered at himself from a small table mirror and sorted out his bangs to finish the do. “Hanjun, can we talk?”
It was Hanjun’s turn to worry about his boyfriend wanting to have a talk. “Wait.”
“No, no need to get dressed—hmph.” Li Ying humphed in disappointment, but Hanjun had already gone to the bedroom and soon returned in a bathrobe.
Tying the sash, Hanjun came over and sat down next to Li Ying, waiting for him to speak.
“So, um…” Li Ying chewed on his lower lip. “Anne had bought me some pretty expensive clothes to try on today and said you would be paying for everything. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Is that really necessary? Like, do I really need those kinds of things for Shanghai?”
“I trust Miss Lü,” Hanjun stated simply.
“I trust her too, but I shouldn’t need designer clothes to convince your family that we should get to marry. That’s not what’s important.”
“Of course it isn’t.” Hanjun wrapped his arm around Li Ying and pulled him close. “But appearances are everything in Shanghai. It’s one thing to convince them you are a woman, and another to convince them you are the right kind of woman.”
“Which is… Rich? Hanjun, I’m not rich, I’m just some orphan! I got lucky that Uncle Qian raised me middle-class after my mother dumped me, but I never held any illusions that I was born into it. Mrs. Qian made sure of that.”
True, but neither was Li Ying raised poor: Hanjun knew the Qians were well off here in the States with a security tech business, but they were not old money, and indeed Li Ying wasn’t even their own child.
Li Ying had been fostered out of the kindness of Qian Hong, the man whom Li Ying called ‘Uncle.’ Years ago, Qian Hong had been the college sweetheart of a woman named Li Zhihao.
She had come from mainland China to the States to study.
However, Zhihao had ended up having a child with another man, out of wedlock.
Having ended in such a troublesome situation, Zhihao had not wanted to return to the mainland with a fatherless child.
One might argue that Zhihao may have been entirely selfless in leaving her child behind in the States, knowing that the life of an illegitimate child would be hard in her motherland, but she must have only been saving herself from the shame, at the cost of Li Ying having neither a father nor a mother.
Zhihao had given Li Ying up for adoption when he was no older than four and left the country after completing her studies. It had been her old flame, Qian Hong, who had stepped up out of sympathy for his ex’s child, but by then he had already married another woman: Mrs. Qian.
Mrs. Qian had refused to let her husband properly adopt Li Ying and take his family name, only agreeing to a fostering arrangement.
Hanjun understood it hurt Mrs. Qian’s pride as a woman to have another’s child in her care, but how heartless could one be to make it the child’s fault?
From what Li Ying had told Hanjun, he guessed Mister Qian had done his best to raise Li Ying as equal to his own children, but it must not have been easy for Li Ying to grow up under the wing of a man whose wife pecked at him for being the child of someone else.
Still, with the help of the Qians, and not least of all of his own wits, Li Ying was on his way to make something of himself from these unlikely circumstances.
But it was true that even with an M.D. Li Ying would never be Wu-rich. He would never be Wu- status. Even without the hurdle of convincing his family Li Ying was a woman, Hanjun knew they would have some work to do to assure his uncle he was an eligible marriage prospect.
“Don’t worry,” Hanjun said. “While status is important in Shanghai, and we should do our best to make you fit in the circles, I trust my uncle will see you for your character and approve of you, regardless of your origins.”
“Your uncle? What about your father? …Your mother?”
Hanjun’s face was overcome by a shadow of melancholy. “Father hasn’t been involved much since…”
Li Ying waited patiently until Hanjun could finish:
“Since he had to retire.” Hanjun looked away, finding it took a toll on him to talk about this.
“It’s not public knowledge, but he’s been in poor health.
He left Uncle Yiheng to raise me, since I was six, and will surely refer to him in any matter regarding me. Including decisions about my marriage.”
“Your father is sick?”
Hanjun swallowed, his expression stiff. He’d refuse to talk about his father or mother whenever Li Ying had asked, so Li Ying hadn’t pressed the matter.
He understood all too well that family could be a complicated topic.
Although Li Ying had freely talked of his own past, he didn’t expect everyone to be so open about their wounds.
He noted how Hanjun couldn’t even begin to address the topic of his mother.
It was a missing piece, but Li Ying thought this puzzle wasn’t for him to put together until Hanjun was ready to help him do it.
“Mental health,” was all Hanjun finally managed to say on the matter.
Li Ying caressed his cheek. “Thank you for telling me. It also helps me avoid asking any thoughtless questions once I meet your family.”
Hanjun nodded. After a moment’s silence, he said, “Don’t worry, you are the one I want to marry, and I think uncle will come around to the idea, eventually.” He kissed Li Ying’s temple.
“Hanjun, Anne told me your family actually owns the business you work for and that it’s… kinda big.”
Hanjun remained quiet, weighing his words before saying, “That is my family’s legacy. My uncle’s and father’s, and their father’s before them.”
“‘Of over three hundred years?’ ”
“The Wus used to make traditional Chinese medicine as far back as the 18th century, and Wu Pharma was established in the early 1900s by my great-grandfather, who wanted to develop Western medicine alongside it. I am to continue as the head of the company, and it’s imperative that I continue the line as well.
That’s why they must believe I’m marrying a woman. ”
“Don’t you have, like, a cousin or something?”
Hanjun once more weighed his words before speaking, “The family situation is… complicated. I have cousins on both sides of the family: the Wus and the Wangs. My second cousin from my father’s side, Wu Hanrong, currently works for the company as well.
While Uncle Yiheng approves of him, he’s hesitant to make him inherit the chairman position.
That leaves me as the only Wu in our generation who is old enough to inherit in the coming years. ”
“You’ve mentioned Cousin Hanrong before. Didn’t you two get along well?”
“Mm, Hanrong and I were raised together. We are as close as brothers. I think he would be a good fit to lead, but there was a reason my grandfather bought out their side of the family years ago. Up until then, the two lines of Wu had held equal power, but there were differences in vision. Uncle Yiheng still fears they might not be fit to lead, and he believes Cousin Hanrong is too soft to be the next chairman. I had begun to think he had no choice but to take a chance on him, but now when I see you working so hard for the plan, I believe everyone can be satisfied. Even Uncle Yiheng.”
“Mm, I’m working so hard…” Li Ying mewled in his nasal voice and climbed on Hanjun’s lap to snuggle. “Just tell me one thing.” He kissed Hanjun’s neck.
“Hm?” Hanjun’s hands rose to Li Ying’s waist, and he craned his neck to welcome Li Ying’s kisses on it.
“I’m not upset, but why didn’t you tell me about your family’s business? It just seems like a big thing to omit, considering we’ve been together for so long. ”
Hanjun’s breath stayed shallow even when Li Ying stopped teasing him. Li Ying watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed.
“I didn’t want to scare you,” Hanjun said.
“What’s that?” Li Ying chuckled. “You thought I would be scared of your money?”
“Rather the status that comes with it, the expectations of my family. And I didn’t want you to think differently about me. I’m sorry I kept things from you, I know it was selfish, but I was afraid of losing you, especially over something as unimportant as money.”
Li Ying thought Hanjun truly was filthy rich if he could afford to say money was unimportant. But Li Ying wouldn’t fault him for it; neither of them had chosen the circumstances of their birth.