Chapter 6: Zhou the Contrarian

The next morning, Xu An was woken up by knocking on the door.  She opened her eyes, looked towards the door, and heard Pan Hehua knocking and calling out.

“Second son’s wife, still sleeping?”

Xu An closed her eyes in annoyance, rubbed her temples, sighed softly, and raised her voice to respond.

The knocking stopped. Xu An listened to the footsteps walking away, finally getting some peace. She closed her eyes and relaxed for a while.

Zhou Yu was gone, he must have already gotten up. Xu An turned over, her eyes narrowed into slits, she stared blankly at the window.  Through the gap in the curtains, she could see the sky outside, a dark, gloomy sky with only a sliver of light.  The sun hadn’t fully risen yet.

She propped herself up on the bed and got up.  She could only change back into her clothes from yesterday, she only had this one set to wear.  She needed to go to the department store to buy a couple of outfits.  She put the money she had collected yesterday in her pocket and pushed open the door.

The cold air outside instantly hit Xu An’s face, bringing a bone-chilling coldness and a slight sting.

Only the main room had light in the entire courtyard.  Xu An went into the main room and saw Pan Hehua sitting on a small stool washing dishes.  Seeing her enter, she casually pulled over a stool. “Wash the dishes with me, we’ll have breakfast soon.”

Xu An looked around the room, her brow furrowed slightly, “Where’s Zhou Yu?”

Pan Hehua didn’t even look up. “He runs out every morning, I don’t know what he’s doing. He’ll be back soon.”

“Hurry up and lend a hand, what are you standing there for?”

Xu An found it a little funny. They had just gotten married yesterday, and she was already being ordered around.

She yawned lazily and turned to see the teapot boiling on the stove.  As she walked out, she said, “Mom, you’re so diligent. You go ahead and wash.”

It was obvious that Pan Hehua had woken her up.  Whether it was to intimidate her or to bully a country girl, she didn’t care.  But with so many people around, she definitely wouldn’t let them pick on her, a soft target.

She slowly went to the bathroom, got a basin, poured hot water from the teapot, and washed her face.  She returned to the main room, huddled near the stove to warm up.  She didn’t know her way around yet, she could only wait for Zhou Yu to come back and persuade him to take her out.

Pan Hehua’s bowl clattered loudly, as if she was afraid Xu An wouldn’t hear.

“Second son’s wife, you’re blind, don’t you know how to lend a hand?”

“My hands are heavy, I’m afraid of breaking your bowl. I won’t get in your way. If you break another bowl, it’s not good to wake them up.”

She was soft-spoken, but this was clearly a situation where only she would suffer.  If she did it once, there would be countless more times waiting for her. Xu An was naive, but not stupid.

Pan Hehua didn’t expect the seemingly meek country girl to be so sarcastic and stubborn.

“Fine, you don’t wash the dishes.  Go get the teapot and make breakfast.”

Xu An rubbed her hands and blew on them.  She explained softly, “Mom, I don’t even know where the pots and pans are in this house. Don’t delay breakfast.”

Pan Hehua muttered and washed the dishes, smashing them loudly.

“What are you yelling about!”

Zhou Youlu’s voice came from inside the room, loud and harsh. Pan Hehua instantly shut up, glared at Xu An, and went out to pour the water.

Xu An smiled. Pan Hehua couldn’t keep up her act for a whole day.  Yesterday, she called her “little sister” and “little sister.”  Today, it was only the first day after marrying Zhou Yu, and she was looking at her like she was an enemy.

She yawned softly, watched Pan Hehua wash some millet and put the pot on the table, then cut a sweet potato and put it in to boil together.

When it thickened, Pan Hehua quickly washed a few green leaves and added them to the pot.

The people in the other rooms gradually got up.  As soon as Zhou Dandan saw Xu An sitting by the stove, she rolled her eyes.

“Second sister-in-law, Mom is making breakfast, you don’t help out at all.”

Xu An looked up at her, stared at the pimples on Zhou Dandan’s face, and blinked. “Dandan, your face didn’t have any pimples yesterday, so it’s all makeup?”

She furrowed her brows, a little worried, and said kindly, “Don’t wear makeup when you have pimples, otherwise, they’ll get worse, and you’ll become ugly.”

Zhou Dandan subconsciously covered her face and glared at Xu An fiercely. “What are you talking about, you’re the ugly one.”

Her words had no convincing power when she looked at Xu An’s pretty face.

Zhou Dandan stomped her foot, angry and ran out of the room.

Feng Yiyou looked at Xu An. “Dandan is just going through puberty, it’s normal to have pimples. You’re being too harsh.”

Xu An turned to look at Feng Yirou. “I was just trying to remind her. Which part was harsh?”

Her innocent look, coupled with her pure face, made Feng Yirou speechless. She took a deep breath, stopped talking to Xu An, and turned to wash her face.

The whole family got up, washed up, and gathered around the stove.  Pan Hehua took a bowl and scooped a bowl of sweet potato porridge for everyone, except Xu An.  After she finished, there was barely any left, just enough.

Xu An was a little hungry, she furrowed her brow slightly, but didn’t ask them to share with her.

Pan Hehua looked at her. “This is the usual amount, I’m used to it.  You don’t want to do it yourself, you’ll survive without eating one meal.”

The others didn’t say anything, and no one offered to share with Xu An.

Xu An lowered her gaze, wondering why Zhou Yu hadn’t come back yet. She needed to get him to take her to buy breakfast.

Just as she was thinking that Zhou Yu was probably like Cao Cao, she was just thinking about him when the main door, which hadn’t been closed properly, was kicked open with a bang.  It creaked and swayed, and the cold wind whistled in.

Zhou Yu swaggered in, limping, looking like a big shot.  He saw Xu An, his face cold, and casually threw something at her.

Xu An caught it in a daze, and lowered her eyes to see that it was two steamed buns.  She looked up at Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu glanced at her sideways, his voice flippant. “Not dead from hunger yet?”

Xu An held the bun and took a bite, responding softly.

“You’re not around all day, and you come back making a racket. You’re spoiled rotten.”

Zhou Youlu slammed his bowl on the stove, glaring at Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu lazily glanced at the clean bottom of the pot, picked his ear, and walked over to pick up the pot, swaying. “Is there any left for me? The bottom of the pot is shining, you’re not ashamed saying that. You’re really funny.”

“Second son! How can you talk to Dad like that?”

Zhou Hongguang frowned at Zhou Yu, saying in a deep voice, “If you weren’t running out all day, would you not have any? Who did Mom make it for if you weren’t here?”

Zhou Yu snorted, raised his chin towards Xu An, who was quietly eating her buns. “You’re blind, aren’t you? My wife is right here, a big person, does she have any?”

“Second brother, second sister-in-law just watched Mom make it, she didn’t do anything, how could she have any?” Zhou Dandan shouted.

Zhou Yu glared at her sideways, his eyes sweeping over every member of the Zhou family.

“So you’re all dead, right? My wife, an outsider, has to serve your whole family.  You all look like ugly pumpkins, you’re dreaming.”

Zhou Dandan had just been called ugly by Xu An, and now she was called ugly by Zhou Yu.  She was furious, covered her face, and ran back to her room.

Xu An, eating her bun, couldn’t help but smile.  This Zhou Yu was quite likable when he wasn’t picking on her and was picking on others.

Zhou Yu moved a chair over, sat down with his limp leg stretched out, and sat next to Xu An.  Xu An couldn’t help but turn her head to look at him, just meeting Zhou Yu’s gaze.

“What are you looking at, eat.”

Xu An blinked, and said softly, “Did you have breakfast?”

Zhou Yu turned his head and glared at her, muttering, “Don’t worry about it, eat yours.”

Xu An silently lowered her head and finished her breakfast.

After she finished the two buns, she turned to look at Zhou Yu and said softly, “Zhou Yu.”

Zhou Yu turned his head and glared at her. “What?”

“I don’t know Kyoto well, I want to go to the department store to buy some clothes.”

Zhou Yu’s eyes fell on Xu An’s colorful cotton jacket.  He couldn’t help but think of the charming and glamorous look she had in her red wedding dress last night. He furrowed his brows, squeezed his limp leg, and stood up.

“I don’t have any money, you pay yourself.”

Seeing his intention to take her, Xu An immediately stood up and followed behind Zhou Yu.

Zhou Youlu winked at Pan Hehua.

Pan Hehua immediately understood and stopped Zhou Yu.

“Second son, there’s something I need to talk to you about, don’t leave yet.”

Zhou Yu crossed his arms and looked at her. “Talk to me… about something?”

His eyes were like he was watching the greatest joke.

“Yeah.”

Zhou Youlu puffed on his pipe, his eyes fixed on Zhou Yu and Xu An, who was behind him.

“Second son, you’re married now.”

“We can’t control you, you always have your own ideas.  Since that’s the case, I’m not going to bother anymore.”

“Let’s split up.”

Zhou Yu grinned, staring at Zhou Youlu. “Old man, you’re quite humorous. How can you not control me? If you couldn’t control me, how could I have reached this day?”

Zhou Youlu was speechless, he took a puff of his pipe. “I can’t argue with you.”

Zhou Yu turned his head and glanced at Xu An beside him, he clicked his tongue. “If you want to split up, it’s fine. How do we split? Just send me and my wife out to live on our own?”

Feng Yirou was a little anxious when she heard Zhou Yu say this, she secretly tugged on Zhou Hongguang beside her.

Zhou Hongguang quietly patted his wife’s hand, without saying a word.

Zhou Dandan heard about the split from inside the room and immediately ran out.  Hearing Zhou Yu say this, she nodded naturally.

“Second brother, you don’t like our family anyway.  Now that you’re married, it’s perfect for you and second sister-in-law to move out and live on your own. No one will bother you.”

The other Zhou family members didn’t say anything, obviously they thought the same.

Feng Yirou’s hand directly pinched Zhou Hongguang’s arm.

This family of bloodsuckers, they were all living off her and Zhou Hongguang’s salaries!

If they couldn’t move out and live on their own today, she would absolutely disagree.

Xu An watched this family’s dramatic performance and understood.  No wonder Pan Hehua had grabbed a random corpse off the street, someone whose face she couldn’t even see clearly, and immediately got Zhou Yu married.

It turned out they wanted to get him married so they could send him out to live on his own.

She turned her head to look at the unruly Zhou Yu beside her.  Were the Zhou family so disgusted by their second son, who had been to prison and was a cripple, that they couldn’t wait to get rid of him?

Zhou Yu was about to speak lazily.

Feng Yirou finally couldn’t help herself and spoke up. “Dad, if we only send second brother out to live on his own, the neighbors will gossip. They’ll think you’re biased, that you don’t like second brother.”

Zhou Yu raised his eyebrows and snorted. He hadn’t said anything yet, but someone was already anxious.

It seemed that this family wasn’t truly united.