Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 753 Still being pretentious at 60
Liu Xiaoli couldn't talk to Liu Yifei about this, so she could only suffer in silence.

But as time went on, Liu Yifei noticed that her mother's mood was off. When she pressed her for answers, Liu Xiaoli only said that she was almost 60 and wanted to go back to Jiangcheng to retire, instead of staying in Yanjing.

Liu Yifei knew immediately that her mother was not being sincere. The two had discussed this matter more than once. Liu Xiaoli only had Liu Yifei, and Liu Yifei wouldn't let her go anywhere but stay by her side. In a couple of years, she would enjoy the company of her grandchildren, and that would be the kind of family happiness she would have.

The fact that this was being said suddenly must mean something was wrong. Liu Yifei assumed it was because the two had been married for three years but hadn't been able to conceive, which made Liu Xiaoli feel disheartened.

But Liu Xiaoli said that wasn't the reason; she just wanted to go back to Jiangcheng.

Liu Yifei insisted on arguing with her mother, refusing to let her leave until she gave a convincing reason.

The day Li Qiutang returned from Chengdu, Liu Yifei was still sulking with her mother. Li Qiutang could clearly sense that something was wrong at home, but he didn't know what had happened.

Before going to sleep that night, he asked his wife, "Were you arguing with your mother?"

"I wasn't angry with her at all."

"You call yourself a movie queen? You can't even fake it properly," Li Qiutang teased, leaning closer and putting his arm around his wife's shoulder. "Come on, tell me what's wrong, and I'll help you out."

Liu Yifei explained the situation, and Li Qiutang also found it strange.

"Why are you saying such things when you're just sitting there peacefully?"

"So, I feel like something's wrong, but she won't tell me. Am I really going to let her go back?" Liu Yifei rarely said anything so domineering. "She can just go back to visit relatives and friends normally, but in a couple of years when the baby is born, she'll have to come to Yanjing to help me take care of it."

"Did someone say something to her?"

"I don't know what happened, I just went out for two days, who knows what she heard or saw."

Li Qiutang couldn't figure it out that night either, but the next day he did an interview for "Marriage Story". The reporter asked him, "Many young netizens say that they see the shadow of their mothers or mothers-in-law in Aunt Sun. They will invade their children's private space without restraint. Did you deliberately create the character of Aunt Sun?" At this moment, Li Qiutang was stunned. The reporter thought he was thinking about the question, but in fact he was thinking about his own family.

But he still answered politely: "It's not that I deliberately portrayed Aunt Sun like that. Mothers like Aunt Sun are very common; she's not an exception. I don't like the word 'invasion,' because it makes young people seem selfish."

"Aunt Sun really did help Liang Jiangong and Zhu Xiaoyan with cooking and housework, and even said she would pay for their help and would definitely help them take care of their children in the future. If you enjoy your parents' help, you have to accept that they are part of your life. You can't just think about taking advantage of others. Even if you hire a nanny, there are many inconveniences, right?"

The host then asked him, "As far as we know, the original title of 'Marriage Story' was 'The Butterfly Lovers.' Why was it renamed? 'The Butterfly Lovers' sounds beautiful too."

“Initially, we decided to use Marriage Story overseas, while calling it ‘Liang Zhu’ in China, but later we simply changed it to both.”

Why is it called "The Butterfly Lovers"?

"When I first conceived this story, I wondered what would happen if Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai really got together? What would their married life be like? Would they also encounter the troubles of daily life? What if this story happened in modern times?"
"Although the title has been changed, our male and female protagonists still share the same surname, Liang and Zhu, so changing the title has not deviated from my original concept."

Because "Marriage Story" focuses on family life, Li Qiutang and Liu Yifei will inevitably be asked similar questions during the promotion process.

Neither of them was very willing to expose their private lives, so they talked more about their understanding of life and their marital relationship.

Do you and Yifei also experience the problems that ordinary couples face?

“Of course.” Li Qiutang nodded. He was currently facing a thorny family problem. “We’re just ordinary people; we all have conflicts and problems in our daily lives.” “So how did you resolve them?”

Li Qiutang thought for a moment and said, "I don't know about her side. I get so angry with her every time, but when I see that she's really beautiful, I just let it go."

This answer left the host both amused and exasperated, yet also quite reasonable, considering it was Liu Yifei after all; how could they possibly have argued?

That day, Li Qiutang went home early, while Liu Xiaoli went out. Liu Yifei was at home watching TV with Dongdong in her arms.

Is your mom not home?

When Liu Yifei saw her husband come back in a huff, asking this question without saying a word, she wondered what he was up to.

"He's not here. Can't we talk about what you want to do later? I just woke up."

"Tsk. You perverted lecher, who told you that?" Li Qiutang snatched Dongdong from Liu Yifei's arms. "I know what's wrong with your mother now."

He then shared his guess with Liu Yifei.

“Your mom must have read ‘Marriage Story’ and felt that living with us was affecting us.”

Liu Yifei only watched "Marriage Story" once at Cannes, and hasn't watched it since.

She didn't think about that aspect when she was acting, and when she watched it in Cannes, she was so busy with interviews and the joy of winning the award that she didn't think about anything else.

Now that her husband had reminded her, she realized she really did have that thought, and immediately asked Li Qiutang, "You really didn't mean that?"

"What do I mean? I'm not that petty. My mother-in-law does my clothes and cooks for me; I'm the one taking advantage. She hasn't bothered us at all. I can't say anything about this; you go and talk to her."

"understood."

"Buy her a gift to appease her."

"Okay, I understand." But still feeling uneasy, she asked Li Qiutang, "You really don't mind?"

“I really don’t mind. Think about it, your mother raised you all by herself, handed you over to me, and after you got married, she took care of everything for us. She kept this big house so neat and clean. If I were to send her back to Jiangcheng, wouldn’t I be human?”

"If I marry you, I will accept everything about you." Li Qiutang suddenly confessed, "I know you can't leave your mother, and I completely accept that. Your mother only has you, and she will definitely have to live with us in her old age. We will have to bring her to live with us sooner or later. Besides, this house is big and well soundproofed, so your mother hasn't bothered us at all."

Liu Yifei was so touched by her husband's sudden confession that she wanted to go back to the room with him right away, but his next sentence ruined the romantic atmosphere: "You're getting inappropriate after just a few words."

"You should find some time to have a good talk with your mother. She's 60 years old, and she'll be a grandmother in a couple of years. She's being so dramatic about watching a movie."

Liu Yifei laughed in exasperation: "You're the one being dramatic. Give the cat back to me, Dongdong clearly doesn't like you." Liu Yifei snatched the cat back and continued watching TV.

(End of this chapter)