My Dad Fell in Love… With Someone My Age - Chapter 6

Though I am one of the rare, brilliant beauties in this world…

Zhou Tingzhi possessed a sensitivity often attributed to women. Even if Tao Xin’s unease flickered faintly like fireflies on a summer night, he could gently gather it into his palm and let it melt into the moonlight—quiet, long-lasting peace.

Of course Tao Xin loved him. And of course, she regretted the eighteen long years she’d missed. Selfishly, she hoped there hadn’t been another woman in Zhou Tingzhi’s life during that time—no one irreplaceable.

Yet at the same time, she feared he might have, like her parents, wasted the prime of his life waiting for the impossible.

As if reading her mind, Zhou Tingzhi smiled and said, “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not an idiot. If I had met someone I liked, I would’ve gotten married and had kids.” He never wanted a relationship to be built on guilt and compensation.

“Really? Not even one?” she asked.

“You know how high my standards are.”

Tao Xin, who had just been feeling rather down, couldn’t help but lift her chin with pride. “That’s true. Someone as smart and pretty as me is hard to come by.”

Zhou Tingzhi looked at her tear-streaked eyes, dark and glistening, and smiled as he handed her a tissue. “Feeling any better now?”

“A little.” Tao Xin said, “Tell me more about my parents. And about you. I want to know everything.”

“Aren’t you hungry? Let’s talk over dinner.”

“I’ve been starving.”

Tao Xin opened her father’s social media profile and saw a long string of nine-grid vacation photos. She finally broke into a laugh. “Hey, my parents even went to Antarctica! Wow, this photo looks amazing—I’m going to print it and put it on my nightstand.”

Just as Zhou Tingzhi thought she was completely absorbed in her phone, she suddenly turned to him and said earnestly, “Even though I’m one of the rare smart and beautiful ones in this world, you’re not bad either. Whether you’re twenty or thirty-eight, you’re still good enough for me. If you were to pursue me all over again, I’d say yes to being your girlfriend.”

“Thanks for the high praise,” Zhou Tingzhi said with a chuckle, hands on the steering wheel. After thinking for a few seconds, he added, “But if I remember correctly, weren’t you the one who chased me first?”

“Are you sure your memory is better than mine?” Tao Xin said confidently. “You were the one who asked me out to dinner and a movie. We had Korean BBQ and then watched Monsters, Inc.—a 7:32 p.m. showing, golden prime time. We sat in seats 2 and 3 of the seventh row. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Zhou Tingzhi’s lips curled into a small smile. “You remember it perfectly.”

She wasn’t lying. It was indeed Zhou Tingzhi who had first asked her out to dinner and a movie. But Monsters, Inc. came out in early November—more than two months after they’d first met at Linhu Park.

Tao Xin left out all the “coincidental” encounters she had engineered during that time, chalking it up to fate.

But then again, was she really the only one engineering those meetings?

Tao Xin casually asked, “Do you still keep in touch with Xu Wentao?”

It was rush hour, and Zhou Tingzhi had most of his attention on the road. He answered without thinking, “Xu Wentao? Haven’t spoken to him in years.”

“Weren’t you two really close? You used to tell him everything.”

Zhou Tingzhi: “…”

Xu Wentao had been his college roommate—and Tao Xin’s most valuable secret informant, bought off with sweet bribes. Back then, nearly every Friday night, Xu Wentao would report Zhou Tingzhi’s weekend schedule down to the minute. Whether he was going to the library, an internet café, the basketball court, or the park, Xu Wentao never got it wrong.

Tao Xin remembered one time when Xu Wentao said Zhou would be at the library at exactly ten. She arrived five minutes early to wait. It was late September, still oppressively hot. She was about to find some shade when Zhou Tingzhi came jogging up—sweaty, right on the dot.

She’d assumed he was obsessively punctual, governed by a strict internal clock. But after they started dating, she realized he was actually laid-back, easygoing, not a hint of compulsiveness in him.

Thinking back, Xu Wentao was too slick and socially savvy to spill Zhou’s schedule unless Zhou had given the green light.

So maybe the secret agent wasn’t acting alone?

Tao Xin had always suspected that Zhou Tingzhi and Xu Wentao were secretly in cahoots. But no matter how she pressed, neither ever admitted it. Zhou Tingzhi even flipped it around, accusing her of disrupting his carefully planned routine.

Even now, Zhou wouldn’t admit anything. “After graduation, we got busy with our own lives. Eventually, we lost touch. Heard he went abroad a few years ago. Not sure if it was for work or immigration.”

“Why is everyone going abroad?”

“Who else?”

“Xuena—Yao Xuena. You remember her, right? Director Chen said she moved to France. Since she’s not a citizen, she couldn’t be my legal guardian.”

“So, I still come after Yao Xuena.”

Yao Xuena had been a key figure in their relationship. She was Tao Xin’s best friend through middle and high school. They often stayed over at each other’s homes. Even though they went to different universities, they still met up every weekend.

After Tao Xin started dating Zhou Tingzhi, Xuena would still call her out of habit. Not wanting her friend to feel abandoned, Tao Xin often canceled on Zhou to hang out with Xuena instead.

Zhou Tingzhi, back then, was full of grievance: Why am I always second to Xuena?

“That’s not the same thing at all,” Tao Xin explained. “Director Chen gave me a ranking form. Female guardians are prioritized over male ones. Unmarried women rank higher than married women. But married men rank higher than unmarried men. So, based on their rules, you ended up below Xuena. I didn’t make the rules… Wait, are we here?”

“Yeah, we’re here.” Zhou parked the car and looked over at her. “And where do I rank in your heart now?”

Tao Xin didn’t hesitate. “You. You’re number one.”

Zhou Tingzhi lifted his hand, hesitated, then gently brushed the tear-damp hair off her face. “Come on. Didn’t you say you were starving?”

They went to a private seafood club famous for its cuisine. After nearly a month of cafeteria meals at the bureau, Tao Xin had built up quite the appetite. Now she could finally feast—on her favorite seafood no less.

She ate so much her belly bulged.

She was happy. After all, she’d just learned her parents were doing well all these years. But when they left the private dining room and bumped into a few impeccably dressed middle-aged tycoons, her mood quickly deflated.

Those men didn’t say anything inappropriate. They simply recognized Zhou Tingzhi, greeted him politely, exchanged a few words, and praised Tao Xin’s youth and beauty after hearing she was his girlfriend.

Everything was courteous.

But Tao Xin could feel it—that subtle, dismissive judgment. Like they saw her as just another luxury accessory beside Zhou Tingzhi, no different from an expensive watch or car. Their compliments weren’t for her; they were for him.

On the ride home, Zhou Tingzhi sensed her mood shift. “Are you upset? Because of them?”

Tao Xin didn’t deny it. If she was going to be with thirty-eight-year-old Zhou Tingzhi, she had to face reality. “Yeah… I guess I felt a little out of place. Maybe I’m still adjusting. It’s not your fault. I need to work through it myself.”

Zhou Tingzhi looked momentarily lost for words, but quickly recovered.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked gently.

“It’s a mindset thing. I have to handle it myself. Didn’t you say that once?”

“I said that when I was younger—less experienced. Doesn’t count anymore.”

Tao Xin looked out the window at the traffic and sighed almost inaudibly. Only now did she truly understand how Zhou Tingzhi had felt back then.

Before dating her, he had been a rising star—admired and chased by many, full of promise. And yet, after she entered his life, he had to endure so much scorn and ridicule. Strangers would approach him and mockingly say, “Congrats, now you don’t have to work hard for ten years.”

Back then, Tao Xin didn’t think it was a big deal. She didn’t believe outsiders’ opinions could affect their relationship. Zhou had said he could adjust his mindset, and she took that at face value. Now, in hindsight, she realized how naïve and self-righteous that had been.

Now it was her turn to feel the sting of those invisible slights.

When they got home, it was around 9 p.m. Zhou Nian was staying at a friend’s, and Aunt Qin had already gone to bed. The big house felt unusually quiet.

Tao Xin wasn’t sleepy. Her gaze kept trailing after Zhou Tingzhi like a lonely little puppy.

After a pause, Zhou said, “Let me show you the third floor. I’ll have someone fix it up in the next few days, add some furniture. You can move up there. The guest room on the first floor is too small.”

“Oh, won’t your son be mad?”

“It’s fine. I’ll talk to him.”

“Wow, Zhou Tingzhi, you’re so cool. Is this what they mean when they say…” Tao Xin was about to say “the charm of a mature man,” but the second her hand landed on his shoulder, she paused.

Huh? This texture?

Through his shirt, she gently pressed on his chest—it was soft. And springy. She poked it again, curiously.

Looking up at Zhou Tingzhi’s slightly flushed face, she said, completely serious:

“I want to sleep with you tonight.”