# 1578
Chapter 1578: Honored Parents
"Is this the place?"
"Yes, this is it."
After an unknown amount of time, An Qingyu and Jiang Er arrived before a house.
The house was close to Erhai Lake, but it wasn't a villa—it was a renovated rural self-built home with a small courtyard, not much different from the other houses around it.
An Qingyu walked to the courtyard gate, about to knock, when his hand suddenly stopped mid-air.
After hesitating for a moment, he awkwardly asked:
"When I meet your parents, what should I say?"
"That's a good question." Jiang Er furrowed her brow, thinking seriously. "The key issue is, I can't appear before them looking like this. If you go alone, they'll definitely think you're a scammer..."
The two fell into contemplation before the house.
"It seems like they're about to come out." After a moment, An Qingyu seemed to sense something and said.
"Quick, quick, hide me first!" Jiang Er cried out in alarm, directly diving into the ground. If her parents came out and saw their daughter turned into a ghost, they might faint from shock.
Creak—!
At almost the same moment, the courtyard gate opened, and a middle-aged man in his fifties sitting in a wheelchair was about to leave. Seeing the flustered An Qingyu at the door, he paused in confusion.
The woman hanging clothes in the courtyard caught sight of him, and wariness immediately appeared in her eyes. She quickly stepped forward and studied An Qingyu carefully.
"Who are you? What are you doing at our house?" She frowned, her tone somewhat fierce.
An Qingyu looked at the couple before him, opened his mouth, swallowed the excuse he had prepared, and not knowing where he found the courage, deeply bowed down.
"Good evening, Uncle, Auntie. I am Jiang Er's fiancé. I've come to propose."
The sea breeze brushed past the lifeless shore. Jiang Er's parents both froze at the doorway.
After several full seconds, Jiang Er's father suddenly widened his eyes, pushed his wheelchair aside, and pulled a broom from behind the door, cursing as he spoke:
"In this day and age, what kind of scammer isn't there... proposing? She doesn't even have time for a relationship in the military, so what are you proposing about? And she's only twenty! She's not old enough to get married yet!
You little rascal, let me teach you a lesson!!"
As he cursed, he swung the broom toward An Qingyu's feet. An Qingyu didn't dodge—he just stood there quietly until Jiang Er's mother couldn't bear to watch and hastily pulled her husband back:
"Oh, talk if you're going to talk, why hit him? This kid doesn't look like a bad person. Let him go..."
"Doesn't look like a bad person? Look at the wounds on his face—that's clearly from getting into fights. And that eye, what is that thing on it? Oh, colored contacts, right? Hmph, he's exactly like those street hoodlums!"
Though her words were sharp, she still put down the broom and glared at An Qingyu.
"Go on, get out of here. Listen, if you fancy our Xiao Er, fine, but marriage is out of the question for now. Wait until you actually reach that age, and if you really have that intention, come eat a meal at our house first, understand?"
An Qingyu helplessly smiled, said nothing, and silently bowed to them again.
The courtyard gate slowly closed. With a dull thud, An Qingyu stood alone outside the door and sighed:
"Sorry... we won't be able to wait until that age."
"You... you really dared to say that? Knowing you'd be treated as a scammer?" Jiang Er's form floated up from underground.
"Treated as a scammer, so be it." An Qingyu shrugged and smiled at her. "At least I've already paid respects to your parents."
Hearing this, Jiang Er froze, and a faint blush appeared on her already somewhat blurred face.
"Wow, so that was your plan all along!"
"How do you plan to tell your parents... that you're leaving?"
"Just now while you were talking to them, I left something in the house. They'll be at ease."
An Qingyu nodded, then seemed to remember something. "Oh right, I also gave them the betrothal gift."
"Betrothal gift? What did you give them?"
An Qingyu smiled mysteriously and turned to walk toward Erhai Lake.
"Tell me, what betrothal gift did you give?"
"Not telling."
"Oh come on, tell me~ An Qingyu! Just tell me... what did you give my parents? I didn't see anything..."
"Not telling."
"..."
In the evening sunset, this dying couple walked away into the distance, their laughter carried on the wind.
...
Jiang Er's father pushed his wheelchair back inside. His wife, still in the courtyard, glanced at him and asked curiously,
"Didn't you say you were going out to play mahjong? Why did you come back?"
"Forget mahjong... I need to call our daughter." The father muttered. "I have a bad feeling..."
"She's in the military. Even if you call, she won't pick up."
"I'll call multiple times. How do I know until I try?"
Just as Jiang Er's father picked up his phone, a call came in. He paused, then quickly answered.
"Hello... it's Xiao Er! Hey, I was just about to call you... Oh, I see..."
As Jiang Er's father spoke, he nodded, then helplessly sighed. "Alright then, take care of yourself."
"What happened?"
"Xiao Er said their unit is being transferred to the mountains. There's no signal there, so they probably won't be able to receive our calls... But she said during holidays, she'll have someone send us videos." Jiang Er's father handed over the phone.
"Look, this is what she just sent."
Jiang Er's mother took the phone and saw the lively Jiang Er in military uniform, waving at them cheerfully from the top of a mountain, looking very healthy.
"Can't receive calls, only able to have someone send videos? Do military units have rules like that nowadays?" She asked suspiciously.
"Oh, Xiao Er is in a special forces unit. You know that." Jiang Er's father stood up naturally, picked up the hot water on the table, and gently blew on it. "Let's just rest easy. Xiao Er has never needed anyone to worry about her. She'll do fine on her own in the mountains."
Jiang Er's mother's eyes grew wider and wider. She stared at her husband as if seeing a ghost.
"You, you, you..."
"What's wrong with me?" As if sensing something, Jiang Er's father looked down and saw that he was standing on the ground without the wheelchair. Disbelief flickered in his eyes.
"My legs... they're better? Strange, my waist doesn't hurt either... How is this possible?"
"I also feel light as air... I just finished hanging the laundry and I'm not even tired?"
"Honey, why did you get so much younger?!"
Jiang Er's mother quickly grabbed her phone. Her reflection in the screen had completely changed—her originally sallow complexion had become bright and translucent, looking at least ten years younger.
"This wasn't like this just a few minutes ago..."
The two looked at each other, and as if thinking of the same thing, they bolted out of the courtyard.
By the lake outside, the shore was already empty.