Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

"Are you just going to keep sulking here?" Suyin's mother asked her daughter. For the past few days, she locked herself inside her room. She hardly ate or came out. They were fed up with the attitude so the three other members of the family went to see her. 

"You are wasting a lot of time sulking. You should be hanging out with your fiance. The engagement party was put on hold, doesn't mean everything is ruined." Her father added. 

Suyin scoffed loudly. She hadn't told them he had broken up with her because she knew how much this meant to her parents. She didn't want to see their reaction. 

She looked at Shen who was giving her a pitiful look. He perfectly understood what she was going through, they had talked about it before and even though he had advised her to tell their parents about it, she was still reluctant. 

"Do not worry yourself because the engagement party was cancelled for now. I will make sure to pull a lot of strings so you two will get married immediately this vacation is ov—" 

"PLEASE!" Suyin yelled and stood up abruptly. She was already tired of listening to her parents repeat the same thing over and over again. She realised the sooner she told them about this, the earlier they would get off her back. But aside from the fact that they were going to be disappointed in her, they may want to take their anger out on Zhu Liang. On a second thought, maybe they should. She was heartbroken and needed at least one person to fight for her or even plead with him to accept her back. 

"He broke up with me." She announced. 

Her parents hadn't recovered from the shock of her yelling just now, hearing this made their eyes widen even further.

"What... are you talking about?" Her father asked first. His tone was filled with disbelief. 

"He... isn't interested." She looked away from them to hide the tears that was forming in her eyes. 

"Why would he not be interested? That is impossible!" Her mother said, hitting her hand on the dressing table. 

"What did you do to him?" Her father asked accusingly. 

"And why do you have to blame her for it?" Shen asked with a frown. 

"You, stay out of this!" His father glared harshly at him before turning his attention to Suyin. 

"Why do you think I did something?" She asked with tears streaming down her eyes. 

"I was loyal, faithful, and I loved him. Why do you think it was I who did something wrong to make him call it off?" 

"Then why would he suddenly call it off if you did nothing?!" Her mother asked angrily. She was fuming and it was evident in how much her chest was rising and falling. 

"I DID NOTHING!" She yelled from anger and frustration. "He just happened to like someone else." 

"That is stupid!" Her father hissed angrily. "You were always close to him. You had the opportunity to seduce him and win his heart. But you let him fall for some slu–"

"Father—"

"I said you should stay out of this!" Elder Yan yelled at his son. His voice sounded sterner than it was before. 

Madam Yan kept shaking her head in disbelief. 

"We cannot just accept it like that. We can't! We must do anything to make sure you end up together." Her mother suggested. 

Suyin didn't know why exactly she was crying at that moment. Because of her heartbreak? Or because of her parents? They were the worst parents anyone could have and she was glad she hadn't lived with them until she turned into an adult.

"You have to get pregnant for him." Madam Yan said after coming to a conclusion. "He can be drugged." 

"MOTHER!"

"MOTHER!"

Shen and Suyin yelled in disbelief at the same time. Had it gotten to this point where they had to humiliate her like that? She didn't even care about her own daughter?

"That is the only way out of this. If you are pregnant, he will have no choice but to marry you." 

Her husband nodded in agreement. It sounded like a really bright idea to him. 

"That is stupid and I am never going to let that happen!" Shen said firmly as he looked at the elders with angry eyes. 

"What is wrong with you two? Have you reduced yourself to this? You want your daughter to whore herself?"

"You don't have any right to scold us!" His mother barked at him. "You cannot even do a fine job yourself so keep quiet!" 

"Wait a minute...." 

Everyone kept quiet and listened to Elder Yan who looked like he had something important to say. 

"Since Shen is finding it difficult to woo Li Heya, why don't we try to pair up Suyin and Li Hoy instead? He is obviously single." 

********

Behind every house, there was a little garden made with artificial flowers. One wouldn't know they were fake until a closer look was taken. The older women sat there while they waited for dinner. Jianjun naturally took the lead with Jaime and Queen assisting him. The women had refused to cook tonight, all claiming they were tired from the game and wanted to rest so the men had to take over tonight. They would also be taking over throughout tomorrow since they had lost the game. 

"You should have a proper discussion with your husband about it. You can't just jump on him like some kind of Zombie." Cixi advised Hoy's mother. They were talking about what happened this morning and advising her. 

The two women had settled their differences earlier so there was no need keeping malice or holding a grudge. 

"I was trying to be romantic." She said defensively.

"And romantic got him thinking you were crazy." Muchen's mother added.

"Look, just have a proper conversation with your husband. Tell him how you miss those days you hang out together." As Cixi advised the woman, she noticed how sad Muchen's mother looked and could guess she was facing a similar predicament. 

She looked at her sister in-law, Song Changyu and used her eyes to urge her to say something. She hadn't wanted to say anything since she really didn't like to speak with the women but she eventually did. 

"Cixi is right. You should have a discussion with your husbands and let them know how you feel. It is never too late for romance. You could also skip the long talks and go ahead to plan a date or candlelight dinners. Get him gifts, look sexy and pretty for him. I'm sure he'll know what to do after that. You shouldn't solely depend on him to do everything." She shrugged. 

The two women pondered on it. They were ready to spice up their relationships. Watching how the younger couples were flaunting their relationships and looking so happy, it made them feel slightly jealous and they wondered if their husbands felt the same.

"If you need more tips, I'm always available. But you'll have to pay for premium classes." Changyu said. 

The three women laughed at the 'joke' until they saw how serious her face was.

"I'm being serious." She said in a straight voice that made the smile vanish from their faces. 

The bell rang inside the house and they heard a call letting them know dinner was ready. 

"Let's go see what we are having for dinner." Cixi said as she stood up excitedly.

*******

"Let's go eat." Reen said to Joreen who was feigning sleep. Ever since she returned, she hid herself under a duvet without even bothering to answer Reen's questions when she asked how things turned out between herself and Hoy's mother and why didn't they get to the house before them? 

She totally ignored Reen and instead, pretended like she was sleeping. Considering how Joreen had been running around earlier during the game, Reen assumed she was exhausted. 

"I am not hungry." Joreen said without raising her head, surprising Reen. It was only then that Reen began to suspect something must have happened to her.

"You are never not hungry! What happened? Did she say something to annoy you? Did you bump into that Wei Yong guy on your way here?" Or Kyle? Reen added in her head as she tried to pull the duvet away to look at Joreen's face. But Joreen's hold was really strong so she could not pull it away. 

"I just want to sleep. Good night." She said dismissively. She didn't want to bump into Hoy. That was going to be very embarrassing!

Having no other choice, Reen left her for the dining. She took her seat and noticed how several eyes were giving her a questioning look.

The first person to ask was Jaime who was coming out from the kitchen, "Where is Jo?" 

Reen could guess there was more to just an excuse of wanting to sleep, but she said nothing about it. "She seem really exhausted. She said she'll eat in the morning." 

Both Jaime and Cixi frowned. That was unlike her. 

Hoy's mother looked around the table but there was no sign of Hoy either. 

"Where is your bos— friend?" She asked Mr Ping. She had wanted to say 'your boss' but remembered how Changyu always corrected her for making Mr Ping look like he was a mere employee here.

"He said he's skipping dinner tonight." Mr Ping informed them. 

That made a lot of eyebrows raise and some wondered how come the two were both skipping dinner at the same time.