Chapter 304 303: Dinner Party

"Look into it. We're free for now anyway! My body is getting worse and worse. I have to get it treated quickly!"

"Hurry and prepare. I must recover and cure this illness as quickly as possible!"

"Yes, sir!" Wu Henghai replied earnestly.

Meanwhile, Mu Lin was on the phone with Tao Xinxin.

"Brother Mu! Thank you so much for saving my parents!"

Mu Lin laughed. "It's nothing. It was just a small favor, not a big deal."

"My parents want to thank you in person. Why don't we find a place to meet?"

Mu Lin thought about it for a moment. "Alright, I'll leave it to you."

Mu Lin sent a message to Li Xue, telling her he wouldn't be back for dinner.

Then he headed straight for the place Tao Xinxin had chosen.

Tao Xinxin had picked a relatively high-end restaurant. It was mid-tier for Anhua, but the food was still pretty good.

When Mu Lin arrived, he saw Tao Xinxin waving at him. Now that the crisis was over, she was like a flower in full bloom, completely different from before.

"Brother Mu!" Tao Xinxin said with a slight bow as Mu Lin approached.

Mu Lin smiled. "Just call me Mu Lin. What's with all this 'Brother' stuff..."

He scratched his head. 'Honestly, if we were to really get into the subject of age, all the girls who call me 'Brother' would probably have to call me 'little brother' instead.'

It was just that he usually didn't care about it.

But having Tao Xinxin formally invite him like this made him a little uncomfortable.

After all, his meeting with Tao Xinxin had been a complete chance encounter.

"Alright, Mu Lin! You can just call me by my name too," Tao Xinxin said with a smile.

Tao Xinxin led Mu Lin toward a private room upstairs. "My parents are already here. Since Mr. Long was the one who rescued them, they've never actually met you, so they insisted I arrange this dinner to thank you in person."

Pushing the door open, they entered. Father Tao and Mrs. Tao smiled at Mu Lin; they seemed to have very pleasant temperaments.

Father Tao's name was Tao Yingtian, and Mrs. Tao's name was Chen Fengluan.

They ran a small business and lived a relatively comfortable life. They thanked Mu Lin profusely.

As they spoke, Mrs. Tao kept shooting meaningful glances at Father Tao.

Father Tao was preoccupied with opening a bottle of wine and didn't catch her meaning at all.

Mrs. Tao had no choice but to ask herself, "Xiaomu, do you have a girlfriend?"

Mu Lin replied, "I don't."

'To be honest, the thing with Li Xue didn't really count. She would be leaving soon, so how could he take it seriously?'

When Mrs. Tao heard this, her eyes widened.

She looked Mu Lin up and down, her excitement plain to see.

Father Tao tugged at Mrs. Tao. "What's the rush? Our Xinxin is so wonderful, do you think Xiaomu could get away? Let things happen naturally."

Mrs. Tao shot her husband a glare. "You really don't understand anything. A great kid like Xiaomu must have so many people's eyes on him!"

A blush crept onto Tao Xinxin's face. She was utterly mortified.

'Heaven knows how her parents could be so blunt right from the start. Mu Lin hadn't said a thing, and they were already planning out his entire life for him.'

"Dad, Mom, can't you just hope for the best for me? Mom, I know what I'm doing, okay! Stop it!" she said stubbornly.

"Alright, alright, we'll stop!"

Mu Lin was extremely awkward. He could only sit there without a word, afraid of getting dragged into a complicated situation.

As they were chatting idly, Father Tao's phone rang. "Oh, it's a call from Lao Liu."

"Lao Liu? What does he want now?"

"Be nice. Lao Liu isn't a bad person, there's no need to be so defensive!"

Father Tao said to Mrs. Tao. Then, after a few pleasantries, he gave him the number of their private room.

Mrs. Tao said, "We didn't invite them. How did they just show up? They have some nerve."

Father Tao tugged at Mrs. Tao. "Watch what you say! He said he saw our car and was just coming up to say hello."

A moment later, a few people came in.

The man in the lead smiled at Father Tao and said, "Brother Tao, long time no see! I heard *our* Xinxin is back, hmm?"

Tao Xinxin's expression soured. Mrs. Tao quickly intervened, "Lao Liu, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want. What if Xinxin can't get married because you keep calling her that?"

Lao Liu was about the same age as Father Tao.

"Oh, come on. We arranged their marriage years ago. Xinxin is my Liu Family's daughter-in-law. When we built our villa, I even specifically set aside a house for you guys!"

Lao Liu looked Tao Xinxin up and down, clearly very pleased with her.

'A girl as beautiful as Xinxin is definitely worthy of my precious son.'

Mrs. Tao's expression was very serious, with none of the polite smiles expected at a dinner gathering. "He was drunk and just spouting nonsense. I never agreed to it, and Xinxin certainly never agreed!"

As she spoke, Mrs. Tao viciously stomped on Father Tao's foot, intending to teach him a lesson.

Father Tao's face twisted in pain, but there was nothing he could do. He could only use alcohol to numb it.

Lao Liu looked very displeased. He pointed at Father Tao and said, "Old Tao, you're going back on a promise you made in plain words. How can you do that?"

Father Tao said, "You! Stop making a scene. The kids are grown up now and have their own ideas. We can't interfere in a life-long matter like this! A forced melon is never sweet!"

Lao Liu's expression turned incredibly foul.

Tao Xinxin called out, "Uncle Liu."

The moment Lao Liu saw Tao Xinxin, his face broke into a smile. "Xinxin, you've been abroad for so long. How was life over there?"

Tao Xinxin replied, "There were good parts and bad parts, but I prefer being back home because my parents are here."

Lao Liu said, "That's right. No matter how good it is abroad, it's not our own country. In fact, there are more opportunities here at home."

Lao Liu glanced at Mu Lin, looking him up and down. 'How could this punk possibly compare to my son?'

"Xinxin, is this your boyfriend?"

Mu Lin shot Lao Liu a glance. 'They'd been making small talk for a while before he finally addressed me. It was obviously a deliberate snub.'

'If I were actually interested in Tao Xinxin, I probably would have lost my temper when he brought up the arranged marriage.'

'This guy, Liu, is really obnoxious.'

Tao Xinxin said, "Not at all. We only met by chance. He helped my family out of a big jam yesterday, so we invited him to dinner to thank him."

Lao Liu pursed his lips. The wariness in his eyes faded considerably, but he still didn't say anything to Mu Lin.

"Old Tao, you've got to at least get me a seat, right? I can't just stand here and eat!"

Lao Liu's full name was Liu Jinyang, his wife's name was Su Mary, and his son's name was Liu Wenchang.

Old Tao called a waiter to bring over a few more chairs. Everyone squeezed in a little closer, making just enough room for them all at the one table.

But the atmosphere at the table was tense. It was impossible to say that the earlier exchange between Chen Fengluan and Lao Liu hadn't left an impact.

Everyone made idle small talk.

As they were eating, Liu Wenchang suddenly asked, "Mr. Mu, where do you work?"

Mu Lin smiled faintly. "At the Li Group. I'm the team leader of the special group in the project department."

Liu Jinyang was a little surprised. He hadn't expected Mu Lin's position to be decent.

The Li Group's reputation was quite significant.

Almost everyone in Anhua had heard of the Li Group.

Liu Wenchang said, "I work at Huawei Technology. I'm the technical director."

As he spoke, a contemptuous expression touched the corners of his mouth.

'In terms of future prospects, he was far superior to Mu Lin.'

'There's no future for Tao Xinxin with Mu Lin.'

Liu Jinyang said proudly, "Even though we as parents haven't been able to help him much, my greatest pride in this life is having a good son like Wenchang."

"He's not that old, and he's already the technical director at Huawei, with an annual salary in the hundreds of thousands! It won't be long before he gets another promotion."

Tao Xinxin said, "That's really impressive."

However, her tone was merely polite, holding no extra emotion.

Liu Jinyang said, "Xinxin, you just got back from abroad. You haven't found a job yet, have you? Wenchang knows a lot of company bosses, he could ask around for you."

Tao Xin said, "That won't be necessary for now. Mu Lin recommended the Li Group to me, and I have an interview coming up. If it doesn't work out, it won't be too late to ask you then."

Liu Jinyang was taken aback, while Liu Wenchang said sharply:

"The Li Group is a construction company! Xinxin, you graduated with a finance degree from a prestigious university. How could you go to a place like that? Uncle Tao didn't raise you all this time just for you to live like this!"