"My mom can swim, we won't live with her in-laws, and if there's a difficult birth, we'll save the mother. We'll spend New Year's with the Shen family, everything I have belongs to my wife, we can do a marital property notarization anytime, I'll name Tinglan as the beneficiary on all my insurance policies! My wife is never wrong!" (T/N: The first sentence 'My mom can swim' is usually the question people used to ask whether to save the mother or wife when they were both drowning and you can only save one.)
Even though Father Shen was a seasoned veteran of the world, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, 'Each generation has its own talents! I've never seen someone so shameless…'
Every objection he could think of had been preemptively blocked by Mingting, so what was there left to say?!
Father Shen decided he'd have to ask Father Gu later. He really wanted to know how did he raise a son who looked like a refined gentleman on the outside but was utterly shameless on the inside.
Father Shen even sighed inwardly, 'Thank goodness Mingting isn't my biological son. Otherwise, I might not be able to stop myself from beating him to death.'
But looking at it another way, since the one making these promises was his son-in-law, that was a different story, after all, the beneficiary was his precious daughter.
Gradually, the stormy expression on Father Shen's face cleared, and he said, "Mingting, are these promises of yours for real? Does your family know about this? Does your father agree?"
"Dad, don't worry. My parents are very open-minded. As long as I'm happy and living well, they won't object."
Mingting is also a person who climbs up any ladder offered to him.
Mingting knew full well that sweeping away someone's painstakingly raised daughter without any discussion was underhanded.
So he had to give Shen's parents some reassurance, a guarantee to put their minds at ease.
As for things like whose surname the kids would take, who managed the household finances, or whose house to go during the New Year... were those really so important?
In the end, Father Shen couldn't accept Mingting's offer to 'marry into' the Shen Family.
The second son of the illustrious Mingyue Group becoming a live-in son-in-law? What kind of nonsense was that?
If this son-in-law really married into the Shen Family, Father Shen is afraid that Mingting will have his legs broken by Father Gu.
'Tinglan can't marry a cripple!'
In the end, Father Shen only gave Mingting two conditions:
First, there was no rush to hold the wedding, as he wanted to observe Mingting for a while first.
Second, before the wedding, if Shen Tinglan changed her mind, Mingting had to gracefully let her go and give each other freedom.
Mingting completely understood Father Shen's protective paternal instincts and immediately expressed his full support for his father-in-law's decision.
Then, he was mercilessly kicked out by Father Shen.
"It's getting late, we won't keep you for dinner. You should head home early!"
Father Shen smiled and waved cheerfully at Mingting.
"Also, when you have time, watch more CCTV-1 news, read more books, study more, and read less of those 'live-in son-in-law' web novels!"
Seeing Mingting leave dejectedly, looking back every few steps, Shen Tinglan felt a little helpless, "Dad, it's already dinnertime. Isn't it a bit inappropriate to kick him out now…"
"Don't defend him! Thinking he can marry my daughter that easily? Not a chance!"
Father Shen turned around and angrily called Father Gu to tattle on Mingting.
Since he wasn't Mingting's biological father, it wasn't his place to discipline him. Naturally, he has to leave that to someone who could, and make sure Mingting got a good lesson.
Getting kicked out didn't upset Mingting.
Being able to get the marriage certificate with Shen Tinglan so quickly was already an unexpected joy for him.
As for things like moving in together or becoming a real married couple, Mingting wasn't in a hurry.
Even if he and Shen Tinglan are legally husband and wife now, it is too early for them to do so.
Many marriages in their social circle were unions of convenience.
Shen Tinglan had reached marriageable age, the Gu family had a good reputation, and Gu Mingting was a suitable match, which is why she had chosen him, nothing more.
At least for now, all Mingting saw in Shen Tinglan's eyes was appreciation and fondness, which is far from deep love.
Of course, this was also because the original owner had been passive and unenthusiastic in their relationship over the past six months.
One of the original owner's wishes was to make it up to Shen Tinglan.
In the original timeline, Shen Tinglan was not very old when she died in a car accident, and the best way Mingting could think to compensate her was to stay by her side.
As a lucky spirit born of heaven and earth, blessed with immense fortune, his mere presence would ensure the Shen Family would always turn calamities into blessings and avoid disasters, and they would never face dangers like that car accident again.
After eating dinner alone outside, Mingting returned to his apartment complex around 7 PM.
When he returned to the community, just as he reached the entrance, he was ambushed by Shi Yunyun.
"Mingting, why are you only coming back now? I've been waiting for you all day..."
Shi Yunyun was dragging a powder-blue suitcase behind her, her face haggard, her eyes teary as she gazed at him.
The look in her eyes made it seem like he was some heartless scoundrel who had abandoned her.
[Hehe, she has been waiting here all afternoon, and she finally caught you." The system suddenly popped up, [What an adorable little pest! Mingting, let her come upstairs!]
Mingting had long since realized this bastard system loved stirring up trouble and watching the drama unfold.
Without a word, he pointed to the coffee shop next to him and walked there.
"Mingting, wait for me…"
Shi Yunyun struggled to drag her suitcase after him, stumbling along pitifully.
But what did any of that have to do with Mingting?
He chose a seat facing the entrance in the coffee shop and ordered a latte.
On his way back, Mingting had already gone through all the WeChat messages and voice notes Shi Yunyun had sent him.
He swiftly converted the voice messages to text, took screenshots, then opened Xiao Yu's contact and sent him the café's location along with the string of screenshots.
Finally, he added a pointed question:
"Shi Yunyun is with me. Why did she run away from home? Is it true you forced her to get an abortion? How could you do that, Xiao Yu? Are you even a man?!"
After doing all this, Mingting turned off the WeChat, found the recording function on his phone, and turned it on.
'Thank goodness for modern technology.' He found it so interesting to enter a small world to do tasks for the first time.
[Host, you're such a scumbag! You're really not human!] After witnessing Mingting's operation, the system smacked its mouth.
It found that the concepts like 'cherishing beauty' was completely ineffective with Mingting.
"Thanks for the compliment, but I was never human to begin with…"
Mingting was utterly unapologetic.