Chapter 19 - A confirmation in the waiting.

Back in the Li mansion, Bao received a call from Roulan. He answered the call, and said, "Good morning aunt."

"Good evening Bao."

"How are you? You must be pretty tired after the shift."

"Yes, and how did my young prince remember me?"

Bao paused for a moment, and then asked, "Aunt, can I ask you something? You don't need to answer if you are not comfortable."

"You ask your concern first, I have no secrets as such."

"Did you choose Zhen uncle over my dad, after canceling your betrothal into the Li family?"

Roulan had for long been prepared for such a day. She, however, did not expect it so soon, and so sudden. She took a breath, and replied, "Yes, it is true, and I have no regrets about it. I did not reject your father but chose Zhen over him because I loved him deeply. I could never get married to a man whom my best friend loved deeply."

Bao was relieved, to know the truth from the horse's mouth, as he would no longer need to dig and explore the truth out.

"Wow! I admire you, aunt. It takes nerves of steel to do that."

Roulan was surprised, and said, "Don't you feel agonized, at the thought, that I have hurt your family?"

"Nope, I would also have traded the world's treasure, to have a family life like yours. In fact, I envy you, and wish, that I get to marry someone like you."

Roulan laughed, and said, "You certainly don't talk like the son of Li Enlai."

"I always thought of myself as your son."

Roulan smiled, and responded, "You are welcome."

"Did you ever try to reconcile with the Li family?"

"I did not want trouble for Li Diu in any form. Hence I kept my distance."

"Why don't you come to Shanghai for a visit with your family?"

"Well, let's see, and hope, that God will make a way if it is his will."

"Did my family force your dad, to give up his stake in the business, as a compromise?"

"Nope, I don't know what conspired exactly, but it had nothing to do with your family insisting on doing so."

"It was probably, that my father wanted to avoid any form of awkward incident post that, and wanted to move away from them. Moreover, he did not want Li Diu to feel herself, as my replacement in the Li family, at any point in time."

"That was the correct thing to do under those circumstances according to his wisdom. We have never looked back, and regretted any of the choices we made over these years."

"Do you feel awkward now, that you know the truth?"

"Aunt, I promise you, our status quo will never change, come what may. You better take a rest. You must be tired."

As he was about to say goodbye, he heard a loud sound at the other end saying, "Mom, surprise."

"Aunt, who was that?"

"I have a Roulan duplicate at home you know. It's my daughter."

Bao was about to reply, when someone picked the phone at the other end, and said, "Hey, can you leave my mother for me for some time. She always chooses you over me nowadays. Did I snatch aunt Diu from you?"

"I don't mind you doing that. We could have an exchange policy if you want."

She laughed, and said, "No way. You better let her rest for some time. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Before he could add anything further, the call was disconnected abruptly.

Bao stretched his arms and thought, "She has a daughter! I had in the past never seen or spoken to her but her conversation makes me feel like she knew me through and through. She speaks pretty much like aunt Roulan."

Bao called up Liqin, and informed, "Did you settle down?"

"Jia has just gone to freshen up, and I was looking at the places of interest, and preparing a schedule for the visit."

"I spoke to aunt Roulan, and she has confirmed, that she had walked away from her wedding weeks before the wedding."

"That explains the reason for your father's animosity. It must have hit his ego pretty hard, to go through all that. Imagine the feeling, of the fact, that one of the greatest entrepreneurs of his era, lost his fiancé to a rival, without even getting any chance for putting up a tough fight. He must have loved her deeply, to be hurt in this fashion."

"I feel sorry for him, however, love cannot be forced. Isn't it? Moreover, I feel my mom is better suited to his character than aunt Roulan, and she loves him deeply."

"That is well said. No other person could have understood, and patiently withstood the complexities of being the daughter-in-law of the Li household with the solitude, that it brought in, as your father was always busy with business."

As they were talking, Jia walked out looking fresh, and stunning in the pale pink set of pajamas, with a long heavy set of wet hair being wrung out with a towel to dry. For a moment he lost control of his self, and gazed at her in disbelief, and then came back to reality, and continued with the call, "Well I need to freshen up. We will catch up with you tomorrow."

"Fine. Good night."