It’s A Monster Chapter 59: Parents

Chapter 59: Parents

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Shi Wenze continued, “The gallery opens the day after tomorrow. Uncle Lin is coming to Chengdu too, so our families can have dinner together.”

Was it really just dinner? Lin Su had his doubts. Especially since the new apartment was nearly finished being renovated. Part of him felt annoyed—Shouldn’t you have at least talked to me about this beforehand?—but another part of him grew nervous. He asked, “What did you tell them?”

Shi Wenze took his hand and pressed it to his cheek, reenacting a classic pitiful scene. “I told them I haven’t won you over yet.”

Lin Su: “…” Right. His status hadn’t been upgraded yet. 

Meanwhile, back in Yangcheng, inside Shi Wenze’s childhood home, things were chaotic. Cabinet doors were flying open as the whole household bustled with activity.

Mrs. Ji Yun, strictly speaking, was a very distant relative of the Chengdu guardian qilin, but she had no desire to shoulder the divine duty of guarding cities. All she wanted was to be a carefree elementary school music teacher, singing songs like The Snail and the Oriole with adorable kids. Her husband, Shi Yuan, currently held a small managerial position at the local tax bureau—though, according to reliable sources, he was expected to get a promotion next year. A bright future indeed.

Ji Yun held up two boxes. “Which of these teas do you think is better? Or would the Pu’er be a better option?”

Shi Yuan replied, “Either is fine, but it’s not enough. I have two bottles of wine in the cabinet—wait, do they smoke?”

“Forget it. No cigarettes. Your son already looks like he’s ready for a street fight. No alcohol either. We need to create a clean-cut, smoke-free, alcohol-free kind of image. We still have that new shawl—woven from the down of a Firefeather Sparrow. I’ll pack it in a pretty bag and give it to Mrs. Lin.”

“That works.”

Shi Wenze had come clean to his parents on the phone like this: “Back in high school, Lin Su used to tutor me. He tried to get me on the right path, be more studious and all that. But I didn’t want to study and ended up yelling at him so badly he cried.”

Ji Yun felt her head spin. Though her son’s days as a hopeless student were long behind him, the trauma hadn’t faded. She still had dreams—nightmares—of parent-teacher conferences where all the other parents sat in the audience, and she alone was seated at a desk right beside the teacher’s podium. The embarrassment defied words.

Then Shi Wenze added, “I tanked my college entrance exams. He tried to convince me to retake the year. Called me for days—I didn’t answer once. Even blocked his number.”

Ji Yun recalled that June vividly—her son locked in his room, staring at the flickering screen of his phone. It was kind of tragic, but also kind of messed up. She didn’t know whether to scold or comfort him, so in the end, she simply asked, “So how did you two reconnect?”

“Not long ago, he came back to the country. I went to find him,” Shi Wenze said. “I’m chasing after him now.”

Ji Yun, unaware of the daily-upgrade-card situation, assumed he was still in the early stages—flowers and apologies. Like a snail slowly dragging its heavy shell uphill, still not quite at the top. She couldn’t help but question, “But can you actually win him over?”

She did think her son was quite outstanding now—tall, handsome, a civil servant—but she had to admit, he still had a bad temper. And the whole lineage thing. Not to mention his infamous high school record.

The other party, on the other hand, was a graceful white dragon. From the photos, he looked sweet and pretty, smart, artistic, well-known, and came from a wealthy family. The whole thing felt like a cliché—a rich beauty getting seduced by a street punk. Completely unrealistic.

Shi Wenze reassured his mom, “It’s fine. Even if I haven’t caught him yet and it looks pretty hopeless, I’ll just cling to him shamelessly.”

Ji Yun felt suffocated. Do you not have a PLAN B that involves a little cunning or basic intelligence?

Meanwhile, Shi Yuan also had concerns. Mainly the gender issue. His son was a young male qilin, and the other party was a young male white dragon. He discussed it with his wife. “Do you think the gender thing is… still up for discussion?”

Ji Yun replied, “But it’s not like your son has many women around him.”

Other than coworkers, the only one was that blue-haired rocker elf who worked at the hospital. Shi Yuan said, “I don’t think that little weed has any interest in being with Xiao Ze.”

Ji Yun nodded. “Exactly.”

Shi Yuan added, “But that pretty boy white dragon doesn’t seem to want to be with Xiao Ze either.”

Ji Yun recounted, “Your son said this to me on the phone—‘Even though the odds aren’t great, I’m going to cling to him shamelessly.’”

Shi Yuan: “…” Another breathless soul had just been added to this already suffocating city.

There were a few interviews with Lin Su floating around online—more recently because of the upcoming gallery opening. The pre-launch hype was picking up. After all, even artists needed to make money, get married, and raise their own qilins. His appearance alone was a natural click magnet, and though he’d posted fewer than ten updates on Weibo in total, each one drew a flood of comments: some calling him “husband,” some “wife,” others “son” or even “daughter.”

Shi Yuan scrolled through these comment sections, feeling more and more breathless himself. In this chaotic, large-scale family recognition gala online, he grew increasingly convinced that his son’s chances were essentially zero. Could shameless persistence really work? Wouldn’t Lin Su call the cops on him? Both husband and wife were struck by a sudden, fierce headache.

On the other side of town, Lin Su’s father was on the phone with his wife. Si Longqiu said, “You don’t need to bring any gifts. I’ve already prepared everything here.”

Lin Di replied, “Then I’ll bring a set of ceramics I made.” It was a newfound hobby of his—aside from managing the household. Si Longqiu had always supported her husband, even when his creations looked like cursed relics from an ancient dig. She still managed to praise every odd pot and crooked vase with “So beautiful, so amazing.” But this time, they were meeting potential in-laws. Maybe this needed to be rethought.

Mr. Lin added, “They could put it in their new home.”

Si Longqiu let out a sigh of relief. That was fine. As long as it wasn’t an official gift to the parents, he could clutter their son’s new apartment however he pleased. Even placing a statue of Prometheus in the living room would be fair game.

Mr. Lin asked, “Xiao Su must be busy these days, right? I should’ve come earlier to help him.”

Si Longqiu massaged her temples. “Nope. Your son is not busy. He slept in until noon today. The gallery stuff is being handled by Xiao Yue and Xiao Shi. Especially Xiao Shi—he’s so busy he barely has time to drink water, and mind you, the kid still has to clock in at the Monster Management Commission. He’s a civil servant.”

Mr. Lin frowned. “That’s not right.”

“I know,” Si Longqiu sighed. “We’ll talk more after your flight lands.”

Mr. Lin’s flight landed around the same time as Shi Wenze’s parents’. Originally, Shi Wenze planned to send one car to pick up all three. But Lin Su shut that plan down immediately.

“No,” he said. “I have to be there in person. Meeting for the first time in a car? That’s not nearly formal enough.” He added, “How about this—you go pick up my dad on your motorcycle.”

Shi Wenze explained, “It’s not that I don’t want to… but my motorcycle isn’t allowed on the airport expressway.”

Lin Su saw right through him. “You’re nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” Shi Wenze insisted. “Fine. I’ll pick up your dad, you go pick up my parents.”

Lin Su: “…” And so, in the end, each kid picked up their own parents. The ever-reliable Du Siyue sent a driver to fetch Uncle Lin and also lent a car to Shi Wenze. Being considerate, he asked, “Wouldn’t something low-key be better? I’ve got a friend’s Toyota you could use.”

“No,” Shi Wenze said. “It needs to be high-profile. The flashier, the better. Thanks. I’ll treat you to dinner sometime.”

For Du Siyue, high-profile was child’s play. He immediately offered, “I could get you four identical but differently colored Lamborghinis—two for the parents, two for the luggage. They could drive side-by-side on the expressway.”

Shi Wenze was briefly moved but declined. No need to go that far. And so, when Shi Yuan and Ji Yun landed, they were greeted by a Rolls-Royce.

Shi Yuan, seated beneath the starlit ceiling of the car, worried the entire ride. Was his son’s driving even safe? This wasn’t some ex-military driver—they’d only recently gotten their license, and that too in manual transmission. What if he scrapped someone’s luxury car?

Ji Yun asked, “This is Xiao Lin’s car?”

Shi Wenze replied vaguely, “Sort of. He’s thinking about buying it.”

Ji Yun didn’t want to think too hard about it. Is this really a gap you can close just by clinging to someone shamelessly? It felt just as impossible as asking Shi Wenze to get into Peking University. A totally unachievable mission.

“It’s fine,” Shi Wenze said coolly. “I’ve got thick skin.”

Shi Yuan barked from the passenger seat, “Turn signal! Why didn’t you yield to that pedestrian on the right?!”

Ji Yun clutched her forehead. “Stop yelling! Let the boy drive!”

The hotel was hand-picked by Lin Su, discounted by Du Siyue, and paid for with Shi Wenze’s credit card. But his parents didn’t know that. All they knew was the hotel belonged to one of Xiao Lin’s friends. Shi Yuan suggested, “Why don’t we just stay at the budget hotel next door?”

“I already paid,” Shi Wenze said as he stashed the luggage. “And if you walk out now, they’ll think you’re against the whole thing.”

Shi Yuan looked pained. “Is this even about our approval? Isn’t the real problem that you haven’t even gotten the guy yet?”

Shi Wenze nodded, utterly unbothered. “Exactly. I haven’t won him over yet. Which is why it’ll look even worse if you two seem disapproving.”

Shi Yuan: “…”

Shi Wenze went on, “And sure, I haven’t caught him yet—but Lin Su’s mom actually likes me. Otherwise, why would she suggest a family dinner?”

Shi Yuan blinked, confused. “What exactly does Lin Su’s mom like about you?”

“She likes that I’m a civil servant,” Shi Wenze said confidently. “I have job security, annual leave, insurance, housing fund… and I get rice, cooking oil, and spirit fruits as holiday benefits.”

Shi Yuan was convinced. Honestly, he also loved those New Year gift baskets from his own workplace.

“You two rest,” Shi Wenze said. “I’ll pick you up at five for dinner.”

Shi Yuan reminded him, “Drive safe. And return that Rolls-Royce before you scratch it.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Lin had arrived at Qinghu Garden. Lin Su, still in his pajamas, hair tousled, was sitting out on the balcony sunbathing while nibbling strawberries. This was not the vibe of a man whose gallery was opening in two days. Lowering his voice, Mr. Lin whispered into the phone, “If their parents ask, we’ll say Xiao Su hasn’t been going to the gallery lately because he’s been focusing on his art.”

A little embellishment was necessary. Until things were set in stone, that wrapping paper had to stay thick.

 

 

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