My dad’s new girlfriend was coming over for dinner to meet me for the first time. But when she saw my Hermès bag, her face darkened instantly. She threw down her fork and stormed out. When my dad asked why, she said, “How can someone so young afford such an expensive bag? She must be living off her parents!” I couldn’t help but laugh. “You have a point. We shouldn’t leech off our parents or our children. So I guess I’ll have to cancel my dad’s credit card!” I had just finished a company meeting when I received a call from my dad. “Honey, are you free tonight? I’ve been dating Autumn for almost a year now, and she suggested we have a formal dinner together. What do you think?” I checked my calendar and saw I had no plans for the evening. “Sure, let’s have dinner at home. I’ll be there.” My dad was thrilled to hear I was coming home. He excitedly told me he’d ask the housekeeper to make my favorite chicken stew before hanging up. My mom passed away in a car accident when I was six. Since then, my dad had been both working and taking care of me on his own. People had tried to set him up, but he always refused, worried it might affect me. It wasn’t until after I graduated from college that he finally started dating someone introduced by a friend. I had been too busy with work to ask much about it, but I occasionally heard from my dad’s calls about how gentle and caring this woman named Autumn was. Thinking this would be our first meeting, I asked my assistant to buy a Chanel handbag as a gift. After work, I drove straight to my dad’s house. After he retired, he moved back to our old family home. I had been living near my office for convenience and realized it had been almost six months since I last visited. As soon as I opened the door, I came face to face with a well-maintained woman. She looked startled for a moment but quickly put on a smile. “You must be Lydia! I’m your father’s girlfriend. You can call me Aunt Autumn!” Before I could greet her, I noticed her gaze shift to my bag. It wasn’t until my dad’s voice came from behind that she slowly moved aside to let me in. It had been two months since I last saw my dad. He was clearly happy to see me, asking non-stop about how I’d been and if there were any developments in my love life. I found it amusing. “Dad, just take care of yourself. I’m in no rush!” Dad chuckled, his gaze naturally drifting towards Autumn, who was busy in the kitchen with the housekeeper. At the dinner table, I took out the gift I had prepared. My dad immediately said, “See how thoughtful my daughter is! She bought you a bag for your first meeting. Quick, see if you like it!” Autumn, whose attitude had been somewhat cool since I arrived, suddenly beamed. She eagerly accepted the gift box, giving me a coy look. “Oh, you shouldn’t have! I feel terrible, I forgot to bring a gift for Lydia. I’ll make it up to you later, I promise!” I just smiled in response. I didn’t really care about gifts; as long as my dad was happy in this relationship, that was all that mattered to me. I lowered my head, sipping the soup the housekeeper had made, when I heard my dad’s confused voice. “What’s wrong? Why do you suddenly look unhappy?”
Hearing this, I instinctively looked up. Autumn, who had been all smiles just moments ago, now wore a displeased expression, her eyes filled with discontent. “It’s nothing. Let’s eat,” she said, roughly shoving the bag back into the gift box and tossing it on the floor. The action was so forceful and loud, it was clearly meant to express her dissatisfaction. By now, I realized she had an issue with the gift. “Aunt Autumn, don’t you like the Chanel bag?” I asked directly, not bothering to hide my confusion. Autumn paused, put down her spoon, and sat up straight, looking at me. “Lydia, I shouldn’t say this on our first meeting, but don’t you think you’re being too obvious?” she said, pointing at the bag on the floor. “This bag isn’t even a tenth of the price of the one you’re carrying. As a younger person, giving an elder a gift that’s worth less than your own – aren’t you looking down on me?” Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it that way at all. My dad was clearly taken aback too. He quickly tugged at Autumn’s sleeve, whispering, “Lydia didn’t mean it like that! Besides, it’s the thought that counts when it comes to gifts. What are you doing?” “Your daughter is looking down on me, can’t you see?” Autumn turned to my dad, her face full of grievance. “If she really respected me, she would have bought me a Hermès bag too! Besides, it’s all your money anyway, so why is there a difference?” Autumn seemed genuinely upset and kept going. “And why is a girl in her twenties carrying a Hermès bag anyway? She’s so vain, who would want to marry her? Robert, you can’t spoil Lydia like this. If she keeps living off you, this child is going to be ruined!” “Are you done?” I said coldly, slamming my chopsticks on the table, startling even my dad. “If you don’t like the bag, I’ll take it back. And by the way, did you think my dad bought this bag for me?” Autumn snorted, “How else could a young girl like you afford it?” I smiled, “You’re right. Since you say we shouldn’t live off our parents, we also shouldn’t let our parents live off us. So I guess I’ll have to cancel my dad’s credit card!”
As soon as I said this, I prepared to leave. Autumn seemed stunned for a moment, then quickly grabbed my dad when she realized what was happening. “What do you mean? Your credit card is your daughter’s?” “Yes,” my dad said with a helpless expression. “Lydia is good with finances, so I let her manage my money. She opened a credit card for me, and my expenses are charged to her account.” Autumn was still a bit confused. Seeing me pick up the gift box from the floor, she quickly pressed her hand on mine. Her expression was a strange mix of anger and flattery. “Lydia, it was all a misunderstanding. I actually really like the bag you bought for me!” “Really?” I smiled. “Well, I don’t want to give it to you anymore.” I pulled the bag away forcefully and waved goodbye to my dad before leaving. On the drive home, I felt a knot in my chest. Every time my dad had mentioned Autumn, he’d always praised her non-stop, making me believe she was a genuinely nice person. But today showed how one bag could reveal her greedy nature. Who knows what other trouble she might cause in the future! I made up my mind to find an opportunity to talk to my dad alone. This relationship definitely needed careful reconsideration! Surprisingly, before I could contact him the next day, my dad showed up at my company. After graduating from college, I had started an investment company with a few friends, and it had been quite successful. That’s why my dad felt comfortable letting me manage all his savings. He had never come to my company before, saying he didn’t want to interfere with my work. When I got the news, I rushed to the reception room to find my dad lost in thought on the sofa. He only snapped out of it when I entered. “Lydia,” he started to stand up, but I gently pushed him back down. He continued, “Autumn was just in a bad mood yesterday, she didn’t mean anything by it. After you left, she cried for a long time, saying she had said the wrong things. Don’t be like her.” Seeing my dad still defending Autumn, I felt helpless. “Dad, I don’t want to interfere with your love life, but you saw it too. One bag was enough to make her start comparing, and now she’s accusing me of living off you and saying hurtful things. If she moves in, will I even be able to come home anymore?” Hearing this, my dad quickly said, “It’s my fault, all my fault. I hadn’t told her what you do for a living. We cleared everything up last night. She’s a good person, just afraid of being poor and always wanting to live better so others won’t look down on her. But Autumn genuinely likes me, I know that.” I could see the obvious anxiety on my dad’s face, and it made me feel bad too. After all these years, my dad had finally found someone he liked, and he had told me more than once that he wanted to marry Autumn. If it was just a bit of greed, I could handle that. I wasn’t short on money, and she couldn’t cause much trouble even if she tried. At worst, I could just visit less often. Seeing my attitude soften, my dad cheered up visibly. He even suggested having dinner at a restaurant in the city the next evening, saying it was Autumn’s way of apologizing to me. I reluctantly agreed and had someone escort my dad out. The next day, I arrived at the restaurant address my dad had sent me and headed straight for the private room. When the door opened, I saw not only my dad and Autumn but also a short, chubby guy sitting nearby, stuffing his face with food. His eyes lit up when he saw me. I frowned instinctively at the presence of a stranger and the fact that they had started eating without me. Just as my dad was about to speak, Autumn rushed over, pulling me to sit next to her, which was also next to the chubby guy. “Oh, Lydia, you’re finally here! We’ve been waiting for you for so long!” What did she mean by that? Was she implying I was late? I chuckled and showed her my phone screen. “There was no traffic today, so I got here in fifteen minutes. I didn’t expect this restaurant to be so efficient, serving all the dishes in just fifteen minutes. Sorry to have kept you waiting.” The screen showed my chat with my dad, where he had told me fifteen minutes ago that they had just arrived and that I shouldn’t rush. Autumn looked a bit embarrassed and sat back down. But she quickly thought of something else and enthusiastically said, “Lydia, your dad never told me what you do for a living, which led to my misunderstanding. I had no idea that someone so young could already be the boss of a company. That’s amazing!” Autumn’s eyes darted around, and she leaned forward, trying to appear intimate. “Lydia, I heard from your dad that you’re still single, right? A young woman like you should be thinking about marriage! You know what? I have a nephew who’s also single. Why don’t you two get to know each other? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have a double wedding? It would be a double celebration!” As soon as she finished speaking, the chubby guy next to me reluctantly put down his chopsticks, wiped his greasy mouth with his hands, and grinned at me, extending his hand. “Hi, I’m Greg. You have a great figure!” I looked around the table, finally fixing my gaze on my dad, who was avoiding eye contact. Suddenly, I understood what this dinner was all about.
Some people say that when you get a stepmother, you also get a different father. I never believed this saying. I had even asked my dad before if he would stop loving me when he fell in love again. Back then, my dad got angry and said no one in the world would ever be more important to him than his Lydia. Now it seemed that someone had become more important. “That’s none of your business,” I said, standing up and suppressing my anger. “I thought this was a family dinner, but it turns out it’s an ambush blind date. I’m not interested in playing along. I’m leaving.” Seeing me leave, Autumn panicked and ran to block my way. “What ambush? How can you say such hurtful things, child? Robert, say something!” Autumn’s shrill voice called out my dad. My dad, who had been quiet like a quail, finally looked up, his smile obviously forced. “It’s just… just a dinner, and a chance to meet your Aunt Autumn’s family. As for the future… being friends is fine too!” “Wait, what?” Greg looked displeased. “Aunt, didn’t you say you were introducing me to a rich beauty to be the mother of my children? How did it turn into just being friends? Didn’t you say she had to be better than my ex-wife?” I laughed bitterly. So not only had they secretly arranged a blind date for me, but they had also set me up with a divorced man looking for a second marriage.
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