My boyfriend gave my parents a big red envelope before leaving on his first visit, and after seeing him off, I was torn

(From a reader submission, images from the internet)

My boyfriend went to my home for the first time and gave my parents a big red envelope before leaving. After seeing him off, I was torn.

You cannot have your cake and eat it too. When making a difficult choice, people often hesitate and stall for a long time, because giving something up is very hard. But now I have to face exactly this kind of difficult choice, a choice between family and love. When I learned I had to make a decision, I completely broke down.

My boyfriend and I were deskmates in middle school, but after graduating from middle school and taking the exam for high school, we went our separate ways and each went off to finish our own studies. Later, by a twist of fate, we met again at a social gathering held by the company. That meeting made us fall in love at first sight, and we started a relationship that lasted 3 years. During the relationship, I found that my boyfriend had turned into a bookworm after years of studying. He was very dull and knew nothing about social niceties. But he treated me so well that I had nothing to complain about, so I did not mind his dullness too much. Sometimes I even thought it was a strength, at least he was honest and simple-hearted, which is a good thing. But I never imagined that this would ruin our big plan.

By the fourth year of our relationship, my boyfriend proposed to me on my birthday. I was overjoyed and happily said yes, and I also brought him to meet my parents. Unexpectedly, on the day he met my parents, all the relatives in the family heard that I was bringing my boyfriend home and came over to join the fun, and they brought a lot of children too. This made my already nervous boyfriend even more restrained. Later, my boyfriend responded to the relatives' greetings the whole time in a dazed and silly way, and I secretly laughed at him in my heart. But looking at such a happy and peaceful atmosphere, I thought our matter was almost settled, yet in the end we still did not get my parents' approval.

When the family gathering was nearing its end, the relatives left one after another, and my boyfriend also said goodbye to my parents and got ready to go home. As he was leaving, my boyfriend gave my parents a big red envelope and apologized to them, saying he did not know there would be so many children and had not prepared anything, and that he would definitely make it up next time. But after my boyfriend left, my mother kept pressing me relentlessly to break up with him. My mother felt my boyfriend was immature and had not given anything to those children, and that at the very least he should have given each of them a 200 red envelope. She also said my boyfriend had made them lose face, and they were not at ease with me marrying someone like that.

After all the commotion that day, I felt my boyfriend had understandable reasons for this. He did not know so many children would come to the house, and he apologized before leaving and also said he would make up for it. My mother should not have been so harsh. But my mother kept crying and making a scene with me, insisting that I break up with my boyfriend. Facing a boyfriend I share deep feelings with on one side and a mother who will not let it go on the other, where should I go from here?