My Online Girlfriend Has a Twin Sister

"Son, how did you get here? Did you take a cab?" Mr. Chen asked in confusion as they walked.

"No, I drove. It’s right over there." Chen Yuan pointed to a black Mercedes parked up ahead, its finish gleaming in the sun.

"Whose car is that?" Liu He asked, somewhat surprised.

"It’s from the company. Dad, Mom, I forgot to tell you, I started an internship a while back—"

Chen Yuan didn’t get to finish.

Liu He’s brow furrowed instantly. "Why are you doing an internship instead of focusing on your classes? Are you short on money, Son?"

"No, I’m not short on money. I just wanted to get some real-world experience and see what the workplace is like."

"Can’t you experience that after you graduate? What kind of company is it? I hope it’s not some shady place. It’s such a waste of your time."

"It’s not..."

"Forget it. Let’s not talk about it out here in the sun. Let’s get in the car."

With a wave of his hand, Mr. Chen took the front passenger seat first, leaving his wife no chance to sit there and nag.

Once inside, Chen Yuan quickly turned on the air conditioning.

"Whoa, your company treats its interns this well? They let you drive a fully-loaded Mercedes?" Mr. Chen truly went with the flow, leaning back comfortably, adjusting the seat, and testing its various functions. "Son, does this have a seat massage feature?"

"Of course."

"Ahh... my back feels so much better."

He hadn’t enjoyed it for more than a few seconds before Liu He slapped his shoulder from the back seat.

"You don’t care about the important things at all! Why aren’t you asking our son why he’s interning instead of focusing on his studies? What stupid massage? You’re really enjoying yourself, aren’t you?"

"What’s there to worry about? I knew right away this had to be Zheng Feng’s doing, didn’t you?" Mr. Chen adjusted his glasses and turned to look at him. "Otherwise, how could a regular intern be given a company car?"

’It is Dad’s company.’ Chen Yuan thought. ’He really can predict everything.’

Chen Yuan had been trying to keep a low profile, so he had picked the cheapest car in the company garage, turning down the other business vehicles that came with chauffeurs.

As the chairman, really, no car would have been an excessive request.

"Such a thoughtless arrangement!" Liu He muttered, then fell silent, sulking by herself.

But in the front seats, Chen Yuan and his dad were enthusiastically studying the car, constantly discussing its performance and features and comparing the heritage of various luxury car brands.

Although Mr. Chen had never driven one, he spoke with great confidence.

Halfway there, Chen Yuan even stopped the car to let his dad have a try at driving.

The two of them laughed nonstop, just like when they were little, exploring a new toy together.

Liu He suddenly felt left out and kept pouting at the two of them.

"Still mad? It’s not my place to say, but Zheng Feng has his reasons for arranging things. Doesn’t he know more than we do? He would never do anything to harm our son, so you can just put your mind at ease."

"Mom, I only go on weekends," Chen Yuan added placatingly. "It won’t affect my studies."

"You’d better not."

With the father and son taking a softer approach to coax her, Mrs. Chen’s mood finally improved a little. She started asking about Chen Yuan’s life in Lanjing, and of course, she couldn’t help but inquire about the apartment in Fengting District.

This was exactly what Chen Yuan wanted. He hadn’t known how to bring up Jiang Ning and Jiang Yao, but now that the topic had come up, it was the perfect opening.

Otherwise, blurting out that he had a girlfriend would have been too abrupt.

It would have been really awkward.

With Chen Yuan’s intentional guidance, the conversation naturally shifted to the sumptuous lunch that awaited them. The main event, which he had been holding in for two days, was about to begin amidst the casual chatter.

"We don’t need to eat out for lunch. I’ve already made arrangements. We can just eat at home," Chen Yuan said with a smile.

"That’s for the best. Back home, we have a tradition that when you move into a new house, the whole family has to get together for a meal. It’s best to pray to the Kitchen God for blessings. Even though you’ve been living here for a while, you can’t skip the ritual," Liu He said, then asked curiously, "Son, did you have it delivered from a restaurant, or what?"

"No, someone is cooking at the apartment..."

"Hmm? Did your biological father hire a housekeeper for you?"

"No," Chen Yuan took a deep breath, glanced at his parents’ faces, and said in a low voice, "My girlfriend found out a couple of days ago that you were coming, and she volunteered to cook for us today."

The moment he said it.

The car fell silent. Not another word was spoken.

Mr. Chen and Liu He were clearly stunned. They replayed Chen Yuan’s words over and over in their minds, their expressions freezing.

The silence was thick and a little oppressive.

If Chen Yuan had been observing them closely, he would have noticed their vastly different and wonderfully complex expressions.

Parents eventually have to face this day; they just probably didn’t expect it to come quite so soon.

Ever since Chen Yuan had gone off to college, the couple had sometimes joked at home about whether he would find a girlfriend, since he was an adult now, after all.

Now, that joke had become a reality with surprising speed.

"Whoa!" Mr. Chen was the first to react, raising his eyebrows. "Not bad, Son. You found a girlfriend pretty quick and already have her acting as the head chef. Alright, you’re no worse than me in that department."

"What... When did you get a girlfriend?" Liu He asked, still a bit dazed.

"A while ago. A few months back, when I moved into this district in Lanjing."

Right now, Chen Yuan could only force himself to stay calm and try to talk about it as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

"That’s a good thing. You’re grown up, you should have a girlfriend. College is the perfect time for dating," Liu He said. Uncharacteristically, she didn’t scold him. After holding back for a long moment, she actually said something positive. But her very next words were filled with worry. "Son, you two aren’t living together, are you?"

"No, of course not."

"Good. Let me tell you, don’t you dare trick some young lady into living with you. It doesn’t matter as much for you since you’re a boy, but her parents worked hard to raise their daughter. You have to be mindful of that. It’s not that I’m old-fashioned, but even with modern dating, you have to know your limits. Going out to eat together, studying in the library, and growing together at school is wonderful." Liu He patted Chen Yuan’s shoulder as she advised him.