Before leaving for the TV station, Talia suddenly thought of something and waved Lu Qi over.

She was wearing a dark green dress today with her hair tied up, looking noble and beautiful, like a goddess in ancient Greek mythology. Mu Chuanbai was also dressed very formally, but he would not accompany his wife to the recording. He was wearing such formal clothes for a work meeting.

Lu Qi walked over obediently and couldn’t help but say with eyes full of tiny stars: “You are so beautiful today.”

Talia had multi-faceted and exquisite facial features, and when she was not smiling, there was a sculpture-like coldness and distance. Mu Nanqiao was very similar to her in this way, but once she smiled, there was a gentleness like the spring breeze blowing away the ice and snow. This was a softness unique to women.

“Thank you, dear. Even though I know I’m very beautiful today, your compliment still makes me extra happy.” She lifted her hands and hugged Lu Qi. “Come, let’s take a family picture. I’m going back to Russia in a few days, and I want to take my family with me.”

My family…..

Lu Qi was a little embarrassed, and turned to give Mu Nanqiao an uncertain look.

Mu Naqiao entwined their fingers and lowered his head to ask him: “Do you think this is somewhat offensive since I haven’t proposed to you yet?”

“No…..” Lu Qi’s ears warmed. “I just feel flattered.”

Thus, Mu Chuanbai and Talia sat on the sofa and Mu Nanqiao and Lu Qi stood behind, as well as Xiao Sanhua and the little black pig, who had come to eat tuna. One obediently rubbed against Mu Chuanbai’s trouser leg while the other rested her head on Talia’s lap.

Click—

The scene froze. The chef, who had taken the photo, happily showed it to Talia on his SLR camera and said casually: “Madam, your family is so eye-catching…..”

After taking photos, Mu Nanqiao and Lu Qi sent Talia to record the show. Talia asked when they got in the car: “Xiao Lu, I heard that you can ride motorcycles. Why don’t you ride a motorcycle to see me off?”

Mu Nanqiao was speechless for a moment, and then said: “Mom, you got your hair done today. Are you sure you can wear a helmet?”

Lu Qi gave him an approving look.

“Okay.” Talia appeared regretful. “Let’s talk about it next time.”

When they arrived at the TV station, Mu Nanqiao and Lu Qi were placed in the reception room while Talia went to the recording hall alone with the staff.

The ratings of the Art Star program were already very low. After all, young people no longer watched TV, with most of them watching movies or variety shows, so its general audience was middle-aged to elderly people.

The people in charge of the program never dared to think of being able to invite Talia, but this excellent ballet artist actually took the initiative to work with them, and also drew in investment from Mu Group.

Talia had already seen the flow of the show. She changed into ballet shoes and danced the solo part in the second act of the ballet “Giselle” after taking the stage. The ghost queen danced in a cold, silent forest, her skirt spread out like pedals. Her leaps were light and graceful, and if you didn’t look at her toes, it really seemed as if she was walking on air.

After a short dance, there was applause from the audience. The female host began to introduce Talia as she went backstage to change her shoes.

When the interview officially started, the host began to ask questions according to the previous process. First, she respectfully shook Talia’s hand. Once the two sat down, she smiled and said: “Teacher Talia looks very ‘slender,’ like a graceful swan. Is this rare in your hometown?”

Talia elegantly smoothed back the hair at her temples and showed off her excellent biceps to the host, saying in standard Chinese: “I can even carry my husband. As we all know, swans are birds of prey.”

There was friendly laughter from the audience, and the atmosphere became relaxed.

The interview lasted an hour, from her opportunity to enter the ballet industry, to mentioning the honors Talia had received over the years, and then talking about her recently announced retirement from the ballet stage. Then she finally started talking about her family.

Lu Qi also learned that Talia was an orphan, and was able to reach this point without any help from relatives. She was truly a determined woman.

The host said: “Your husband is also a legendary person. How did you meet him?”

Talia inconspicuously glanced at the time on her watch, then raised her head and said with a proper smile: “How do you know that I have two sons?”

The host: “…..I don’t, the information says…..”

Talia: “Do you want me to talk about my two sons?”

Host: “…..Then talk about them.”

Talia smiled sheepishly: “Sorry, did I hear the question wrong? My Chinese is not very good.”

The host: ……

I can see that you are not good at Chinese when it comes to topics that you don’t want to talk about, but you are good at Chinese when it comes to topics that you want to talk about.

The staff at the back cooperated very well, and a photo was displayed on the big screen. It was the one of the four of them on the sofa, except that Lu Qi’s face was blurred out.

Talia said: “My other child is not a public figure, and I don’t want his life to be disturbed.”

The host said: “I understand, but don’t you and your husband only have one son?”

In order to prevent the show from being canceled, Talia explained it like this: “Yes, ah, one is biological and one is a very good friend of my son. I like him very much, so I treat him as my own child.”

The host had “this is okay” all over her face, and the hand holding the cue card visibly trembled.

Fortunately, this beauty from the fighting nation followed the process step by step, which made the host sigh in relief.

“One last question.” The host gave an easy laugh. “Do you have anything to say to your family?”

Talia looked toward where the camera was, her eyes gentle and encouraging: “I want to tell my children, don’t pay attention to those who don’t love you. Your life has nothing to do with them.”

Crash—

A plate fell to the floor and broke into several pieces.

Lin Chunhe heard the noise and ran out, exclaiming: “It’s alright, ah, Fangfang. Did you cut your hand?”

But Lu Fanshu stared blankly at the screen, the words still echoing in her ears: Your life has nothing to do with them.

Even though Lu Qi’s face was blurred out, how could she be unable to recognize her own child?

She had thought that Lu Qi’s sexual orientation would cause him to be regarded as a freak, that he would be hurt and discriminated against, but it turned out that this was not the case. He was accepted by others and received a lot of love, but it was his mother who had truly hurt Lu Qi.

Some mothers went beyond faith to accept their children’s differences, but she insisted on hurting Lu Qi because of other people’s prejudiced eyes.

Lu Fangshu abruptly crouched down, covered her face, and cried.

Lin Chunhe was taken by surprise and looked at the TV, at a loss. He could only crouch down awkwardly with his chubby frame and pat Lu Fangshu’s shoulder, saying cautiously: “Wife, what’s wrong?”

“I’m fine…..” Lu Fangshu choked out: “Lao Lin, I…..before, you said we should see a psychiatrist…..when are we going?”

. . . . . . .

A week had passed since the recording of the program. Lu Qi never thought that his mom would watch that show. After all, his mom was not very interested in foreign artists. However, he was unaware that the Mu family father and son had activated their superpowers and had been replaying Talia’s interview this week and also bought a push for Yuncheng.

When Mu Nanqiao was about to leave in the morning, Lu Qi greeted him and said: “I’m going back to the Garden Community for a while.”

Mu Nanqiao raised his eyes and looked at him: “What’s up? I’ll drive you there.”

Following Lu Qi’s suggestion, he wore a light gray waffle-patterned sweatshirt, and there was even the outline of a deer on the chest where his heart was. His untended hair hung naturally between his eyebrows.

Lu Qi especially liked it when he was dressed like this. At the thought that this was his boyfriend, he couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss Mu Nanqiao on the face. “No need, la. It’s not convenient. I’ll just go back by myself.”

“Come here…..” Mu Nanqiao caught this person who ran away after a kiss. He held him on his lap and fed him a bun as he said: “What are you going back to do? Is there something you didn’t take? Did you drop the Holy Sword of Physics?”

“The holy sword belongs to the landlord, okay…..” Lu Qi bit into the bun and said, “The little sister I sponsored got into university. She sent me a picture of the admission notice and a handwritten thank you letter, which were mailed to the Garden Community. The landlord called me to pick them up.”

Mu Nanqiao knew that Lu Qi had sponsored a child, but he never suspected that it would be such a big “child.” He frowned in puzzlement and asked: “Baby, how did you sponsor this child before you were financially independent?”

Lu Qi swallowed the bun and explained: “My grandpa was sponsoring her before, and I continued to support her after he passed away. At first it was the New Year’s money I saved, and then I got some income from part-time work…..”

He smiled with satisfaction: “Good, la. Now it’s been successfully accomplished.”

When he smiled, his eyes were clear and curved, looking sweet and good. Mu Nanqiao kissed his small pear dimple and rocked him back and forth like a child holding a doll. He asked half-seriously and half-teasingly: “Baby, are you a small god who came to earth to accumulate merit?”

It was indeed easy for such a good Lu Qi to attract others. No one disliked beautiful things. But fortunately, his little boyfriend only had eyes for him.

“Ride your motorcycle to pick me up tonight…..” He nuzzled Lu Qi’s neck, acting coquettishly.

Lu Qi said: “It’s going to snow soon. You’re really not afraid of the cold.”

“This is the last time,” Mu Nanqiao said. “Don’t ride when it snows, it’s cold and unsafe.”

Lu Qi gave a hum. He wanted to find time to practice driving a car so that he could go pick up the coquettish boss!

The two separated after breakfast, and Mu Nanqiao went to the company. Mu Chuanbai had been very interested in “abdicating” recently, and did not covet the position of Chairman. He wanted to go to Russia to be a househusband, but Mu Nanqiao didn’t want to spend too much time on work, and ruthlessly rejected Mu Chuanbai’s proposal.

During lunch, he went to the cafeteria with the employees. The company’s food was far superior to the standards in the same industry. For lunch, he had Lu Qi’s favorite steamed chicken with chopped peppers, and for dessert, he had coconut milk cake. He took a picture and sent it to Lu Qi.

[ (picture) ]

[ Детка, next time, I’ll take you to experience our company’s canteen ]

He gave the dessert to Assistant Zhang when he finished taking the picture. After the meal, Assistant Zhang gained three pounds with tears in his eyes.

Lu Qi didn’t reply. Mu Nanqiao thought that he might be taking a nap, so he led some others to another conference room in the afternoon.

It was already two o’clock in the afternoon when the meeting ended. He leaned back in the chair and tilted his head up to loosen his tie, then picked up his phone to take a look.

Lu Qi still had not replied.

Mu Nanqiao frowned and called directly this time.

The female voice said: “I’m sorry, the user you have dialed has shut off their phone.”

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Chapter Forty-Six << Table of Contents >> Chapter Forty-Eight