"The two of you have both met the parents now. For most people that step doesn't come until they're talking about getting married, but there's nothing to be done about it — you and Xiao Xu are already at that stage, and not meeting the parents wouldn't have made any sense either."

"But you're still in school, so marriage is at least two years away. There are things nobody will tell you if your mother doesn't, so don't hold it against me for lecturing you."

Jiang Meilin was patient about it. "Men and women treat love completely differently. Most women, once they truly love someone, will be good to him with everything they have. Men aren't like that. Your mother has dealt with a great many men whose careers have gone well, and plenty of them are self-made successes — but a great many of them, once the career starts to take off, walk out on the wife who was with them in the lean years, or keep another woman on the side. Your mother isn't saying Xiao Xu is that kind of man, of course. But there is something you have to understand: nobody is irreplaceable in another person's heart."

"So love has to be worked at. And the one thing us women most need to do is this… hold on to a man's heart."

Chen Qingqing did not notice that what Jiang Meilin had said was us women — not girls, and not women.

Nor did she register what that implied.

"I've told you before, there's no avoiding entertaining in business, so don't pick him apart over it, and don't let it turn into a quarrel. Remember what your mother says: if you have an objection, if you have something on your mind, tell him the moment you have it. Most of the arguments that end up past saving are the ones that were building for a long time. If you're unhappy, don't sit on it and stew. That does no good to you and no good to him."

"Next. When the two of you are alone, there's…