Chapter 1198: Officially engaged!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
On the campus.
The students dispersed.
Su Hongyan went to look for Zhang Ye. "Zhang'er."
Zhang Ye turned around and said with a smile, "Yo, Teacher Su."
"Are you leaving already?" Su Hongyan asked.
Zhang Ye shrugged and said, "Yeah, class has ended, and I have no other business here."
Su Hongyan looked into his eyes and giggled. "You're a natural at teaching. Do come back again when you're free to give the kids a lecture."
Zhang Ye said in surrender, "Oh, spare me, Teacher Su. Shouldn't you know me by now? I might be good at other things, but I'm no good at giving a serious lecture. It's fine if I just come back occasionally to teach, but if you're thinking about getting me to hold classes every day for the students, I won't be able to do that. Besides, I still have a lot of work to handle on my end, so I'll be too busy for such things."
Su Hongyan glanced at him. "There's some good talent in my class; how about taking them under your wing?"
Zhang Ye quickly said, "Are you trying to bring harm upon them?"
Su Hongyan said in a half-threatening manner, "Will you take them or not?"
"Aiya, I will if there's an opportunity, alright?" Zhang Ye said helplessly.
Su Hongyan smiled and said, "OK, you said it yourself. I'll be sure remember it."
Around them, some students passing by spotted them.
"Ah!"
"Professor Zhang!"
"Alum!"
"Alum!"
"Please give me an autograph!"
"Me too!"
"Alum, I have a question to ask you about your line of work."
"I also have something I'd like to consult you about!"
More and more students were gathering around. Su Hongyan walked off with a smile on her face, leaving Zhang Ye to get surrounded by the group of students. He stood there for a long time, signing autographs for them and answering their questions.
The video of Zhang Ye's lecture was uploaded onto the school's intranet.
Many of the students who did not get into the lecture hall or missed the lesson hurriedly clicked on it to watch. They ended up laughing for the entirety of the video!
"Hahaha!"
"Zhang Ye's lesson is so interesting!"
"It's so damn funny!"
"Chinese is still entertaining to learn!"
"Right, let's study it well!"
"Our alum is so cool!"
Quite a few celebrity teachers had been hired by Media College, and many famous hosts who held honorary teaching roles in the college. However, Zhang Ye was the only associate professor in the entire college whose popularity was one of the highest in the country. Zhang Ye was a singer and a poet as well, so not all of his popularity came from him being a host. But he was a true blue broadcasting graduate, and hosting was his main profession. Since he had won both the Silver and Golden Microphone Awards as a host, even if he could not be considered a spiritual leader of the hosting world, he would still be one of the top hosts around. Not many people would disagree with that.
Naturally, the students were in awe of him.
Because the man they were facing was not just an associate professor or some celebrity, he was the tallest peak in the Chinese world of hosting.
Ring ring ring. His cell phone rang.
As there were too many people around, Zhang Ye did not hear it. It was a female student close to him who alerted him instead. "Alum, is that your phone ringing?"
"Oh, it's really mine." Zhang Ye took it out and saw Wu Zeqing's name on the caller ID. He excused himself from the enthusiastic students and quickly went away to answer the call. "Hello, Old Wu. I just finished lecturing, what's the matter?"
Wu Zeqing said: "I'm at home now. My mother was just asking me about meeting your parents. Hur hur, she's quite anxious about it, so when is a good time?"
They had already talked about the two families meeting with each other, but the exact date was not set yet.
"Any time is fine."
"Are you done with your work?"
"Yes."
"What about your parents?"
"They're just idling at home."
"Then why don't we let them meet today? You can check with them first."
"No need, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Where should we meet?"
"We definitely cannot go out and have dinner. Everyone would recognize me wherever I went, and your status is special too. Uh, why don't we have it at your parents' place?"
"Sure, just check with your parents if they're busy today. We can always arrange for them to meet in a few days."
"What could they be busy with? My mom has been urging me for the past two days as well. Let's just go ahead with this arrangement. I'll give them a call and let you know after I've confirmed it with them."
Zhang Ye made the call on his drive back home.
"Mom, do you want to meet Old Wu's parents today?"
"What time?"
"How about tonight?"
"Great, that's really great. Your dad and I are free anytime!"
"Alright then, I'll come home to pick you two up. Get ready, alright?"
"Alright, alright, I got it."
When he reached home, his parents were changed and ready.
His father had dug up a tunic suit from somewhere that resembled something from 800 years ago. But wearing it, he looked rather spirited, and it did not look outdated on him at all. His mother was checking herself out in front of the mirror.
His father asked, "How did the lecture go?"
Zhang Ye said happily, "So good that there was critical acclaim."
His mother stood up. "Alright, let's go."
"Eh? You want to go now? We arranged the meeting for dinner tonight, so we can leave later in the afternoon," Zhang Ye said.
His mother grinned and said, "What do you know? We have to go out to buy some gifts first, and I have to get my hair done. This is our first time meeting them, so we mustn't be too casual about it, understand?"
His father, who rarely shared the same opinion as her, agreed, "I need to do my hair too. It's been such a long time since I've dyed it. All my grey hairs are starting to reappear."
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Alright then, let's go."
Buying things.
Dyeing their hair.
Doing makeup.
After going around all day, they finally finished at 4 in the afternoon.
…
At Old Wu's residence.
In the courtyard house.
Li Qinqin kept asking, "Are they here yet? Where are they?"
Wu Zeqing smiled and said, "They should be arriving soon."
Wu Changhe worried, "There's no space left in the yard to park the car. Get Little Ye to drive it to the east entrance and park there."
"He knows." Right as Wu Zeqing finished speaking, there was a knock on the courtyard door.
"They're here! They've arrived." Li Qinqin went outside happily to welcome them.
When the door opened, Zhang Ye and his family stepped into the courtyard.
Zhang Ye immediately introduced everyone, "Auntie, Uncle, these are my parents."
Li Qinqin said very passionately, "Brother, Sister, come in quickly."
Wu Changhe did not have his usual stern look and was all smiles. "Come into the house and have a seat. We're probably older than you two by just a few years, so don't mind if we just address you two as brother and sister."
His father smiled and said, "Big Brother, there's no need to be so courteous to us. I've always liked watching you play Go, and now I've finally gotten the chance to meet you in person."
Wu Changhe's eyes lit up. "Bro, you like to play Go too?"
Zhang Ye's mother smiled and said, "He really liked Go in his younger days and was adamant that Little Ye sign up for extracurricular Go classes during elementary school."
"Then let's play two games later," Wu Changhe said happily.
His father quickly waved it off. "I can't, I'm terrible at Go."
Li Qinqin laughed and said, "Changhe will play anyone he can find. Our neighbors used to like visiting our home, but no one comes around these days."
Zhang Ye volunteered himself. "It's alright, I'll play Uncle."
Wu Changhe rolled his eyes and said, "I'm not playing you."
Zhang Ye laughed.
Next to Zhang Ye's parents, Wu Zeqing chuckled and said, "My dad can't beat Little Ye—that's why he's not willing to play him."
Everyone laughed.
In the house, after tea was served, everyone sat down and chatted up a storm.
"Little Wu is such a nice child."
"Little Ye is very nice too, I like him very much."
"It looks like the two of them have been dating for quite some time."
"Yeah, we only found out about it recently as well."
"Say, why did they have to keep it from us?"
"Hur hur, we wouldn't understand what the children these days are thinking."
Their meeting was arranged with the approval of both sides in regards to the relationship between Zhang Ye and Wu Zeqing. So there were no unnecessary issues brought up during the meeting. His parents liked Wu Zeqing, while Li Qinqin and Wu Changhe had also acknowledged Zhang Ye as their future son-in-law. As for buying a house? The betrothal gifts? None of them mattered since neither family lacked money, so there were no obstacles in their talks. With this common understanding, it was naturally going to be much easier to handle.
It was time for dinner.
Wu Zeqing and Zhang Ye were in charge of cooking today. Of course, the latter's contribution was as good as negligible. Other than messing around in the kitchen, this fellow was basically no help to Old Wu. He even secretly took a few bites of the dishes before serving them.
At the dining table.
Zhang Ye's mother said, "Big Bro, Big Sis, our children's relationship has progressed this far and we didn't know about it. Regarding their engagement, we wonder if you two have any traditions or practices that you might be particular about?"
Li Qinqin immediately waved her hand and said, "Oh, we're not fussy about that."
His father said, "That won't do. We'll do it according to your traditions; we can't ignore them."
Wu Changhe laughed and said, "We aren't particular about it. When I got married to Zeqing's mom, we didn't even have any betrothal gifts. It was just a meal between two families and the wedding was considered complete."
Li Qinqin asked, "Do you have any traditions that need to be observed?"
His father immediately said, "We're not fussy either. We always meant to do it according to your traditions."
Li Qinqin smiled. "We only intended to have our two families meet for a simple meal to confirm the engagement. That's how we did it back then too."
Zhang Ye exclaimed, "Then does it mean that we're engaged as of today?"
Li Qinqin looked at her husband. "I think it counts?"
Wu Changhe nodded and said, "It does!"
His mother exclaimed, "But we haven't prepared anything. The sweets, alcohol, betrothal gifts…"
Li Qinqin smiled and said, "Those are just a formality, so let's not be too particular about them. We'll talk about the formalities again when it's time to hold their wedding."
His mother said excitedly, "Alrighty then, let's make today the day of our children's engagement!"
Wu Changhe said, "We're one big family now."
Li Qinqin asked, "As for their wedding, do you intend to make it a grand one or a simple one?"
"It has to be a grand wedding!" his mother said.
His father nodded. "Right, we'll hold a grand wedding for them."
Li Qinqin was thinking the same. "Then we'll leave it to you. If there's anything you need our help with, feel free to let us know. We can help out too."
His mother was smiling from ear to ear. "Don't worry, we'll handle everything. I'll check the almanac for an auspicious day when I get home, then we'll set a wedding date for them."
Li Qinqin said, "Alright."
Wu Changhe raised his glass and said, "Brother, a toast."
"Cheers." His father clinked glasses with Wu Changhe.
Wu Zeqing stood up with a smile. "Uncle, Auntie, I can't hold my liquor well, so I'll use this cup of tea in place of wine to toast you two."
Zhang Ye hurriedly raised his glass and said to Old Wu's parents, "Uncle, Auntie, let me toast you two too. In the future, you can summon me anytime you need a hand at home. Just order me around like I'm your own son."
Li Qinqin was all smiles. "Sure, sure."
This was meant to be a meeting over dinner between the two families. But they never expected that this meal would end up as their official engagement party. Zhang Ye was so happy that he drank a lot more glasses of wine!