To be fair, Shen Cui didn’t dislike Mrs. Zhou.

Although when she first read this book, Shen Cui criticized her for being too old-fashioned and rigid, knowing that Mrs. Shen was evil and hypocritical, she still adhered to filial piety and served her, taking care of her.

But in reality, who would truly dislike a genuinely kind person?

However, Shen Cui didn’t really want to have much contact with her either.

After all, standing behind her was Mu Yunchuan, who was enveloped in the halo of the male lead!

That guy, Shen Cui didn’t want to, or rather, didn’t have the ability to provoke for the time being. She just wanted to stay put and maintain the current appearance of calm.

So Shen Cui didn’t invite Mrs. Zhou to sit inside, just apologizing, “I just finished cleaning the house, and it’s all dusty inside. I won’t invite you in.”

Mrs. Zhou naturally had no objections to this. Not only did she have no objections, but she also felt extremely flattered by Shen Cui’s smiling and gentle appearance.

“It’s okay, I just came to bring something to my mother-in-law.” After Mrs. Zhou finished speaking, she nervously showed Shen Cui what she had in her hands.

Speaking of which, Mrs. Zhou had been nervous for quite some time.

Although she and Mu Yunchuan had moved out to live on their own, their father-in-law was only missing, not dead. Since the two families hadn’t split up, they would definitely celebrate the New Year together. As a daughter-in-law, she should behave well at her first New Year’s festival after marriage.

But she also knew that her mother-in-law didn’t like her, so besides finishing the chores in her own broken house every day, she just stayed at the door waiting for Shen Cui to call her when she needed her.

Unexpectedly, after waiting for so long, the opportunity finally came.

It was New Year’s Eve, and if she didn’t send something as a filial gift now, it would be inappropriate.

The New Year goods she brought were mainly meat and eggs, but they couldn’t compare to what Zheng Shi had given. Mrs. Zhou brought two ordinary eggs, a piece of bacon that was barely larger than a palm, a small grass carp, and a large Chinese cabbage.

Mrs. Zhou is the epitome of foolish filial piety in the original book. Although she must be dissatisfied with Zhou Shi, with her temperament, what she can present now is probably the best she has.

Shen Cui’s gaze shifted down and noticed that there were many rough cracks on her hands, causing her to involuntarily frown.

Mrs. Zhou misunderstood immediately and explained, “On such a big day, my husband should have come with me. However, his mentor summoned him, so he went to the city and has not returned until today, so I came alone.”

Shen Cui was not surprised by what she said. Mu Yunchuan’s mentor was the head of the Qingzhu Academy.

Most of the out-of-town students came here because of his great reputation.

The head of the academy had a special favor for Mu Yunchuan. Despite being under pressure for so many years, it was the head’s idea, which showed how much hope he had for Mu Yunchuan.

Recently, many out-of-town students were still staying at the academy. The head did not want to show his favoritism too obviously, so he let Mu Yunchuan return home first.

As the New Year approached and there were no other people in the academy, the head called Mu Yunchuan back and gave him special attention.

The environment of the academy was naturally better than that of the village, so Mu Yunchuan told Mrs. Zhou that he was going to study and did not mention when he would return. Anyway, Mrs. Zhou was the clever person he admired, so she could take care of herself.

After hesitating for a while, Shen Cui still asked the question she wanted to ask, “Didn’t I bring you last time…”

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“some silver coins?”

Shen Cui thought that the two taels of silver would be enough for them, a young couple, to use until the New Year. It was unlikely that Mrs. Zhou would have mistreated herself like this—these marks were clearly the result of hard labor.

The original book did have such a plot—after Shen Shi drove them out of the house, she didn’t give them a single copper coin. Although Mu Yunchuan could earn some money by copying books to support the family, with the exams approaching, he obviously didn’t have the energy for that.

Mrs. Zhou was a true virtuous wife who managed to get by solely by helping people wash and mend clothes. But the current situation was clearly different, and Shen Cui couldn’t understand why Mrs. Zhou would put herself through this.

Mrs. Zhou misunderstood again, thinking that Shen Cui wanted the silver coins back, so she explained, “I’ve already sent the two taels of silver with my husband to the academy, I…”

As she spoke, Mrs. Zhou handed the New Year goods to Shen Cui and fumbled in her pocket for a while before finding a few coins.

“I’ll think of another way later.”

Seeing her repeatedly misunderstand, Shen Cui waved her hand and simply didn’t explain. She just said, “Let’s do this. Since you’re here, it’s time to prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner. I’ll leave it to you.”

Mrs. Zhou had come to show her filial piety, and cooking a New Year’s Eve dinner was not a big deal—she had originally thought that, given her lazy mother-in-law’s temperament, she might even have to do the housework herself. So, without a second thought, she rolled up her sleeves and followed Shen Cui to the kitchen.

There wasn’t much food left at home, but with what Zheng Shi had given and what Mrs. Zhou had brought, there was more than enough for a few meat and vegetable dishes.

Shen Cui still had lingering fears about her dark cooking skills, so she didn’t intervene and let Mrs. Zhou handle the cooking herself.

After giving instructions, Shen Cui went back to her room to accompany Mu Er Pang in practicing calligraphy.

Mrs. Zhou, accustomed to such work, was indeed very efficient. By dusk, a table full of New Year’s Eve dinner was ready.

The fragrant white rice, freshly wrapped dumplings with sour cabbage and egg filling, stir-fried sausage, cabbage and egg soup, and braised grass carp were all delicious and satisfying.

Mu Er Pang smelled the aroma and put away his writing tools, then put on his shoes, washed his hands, and sat down at the table.

Mrs. Zhou had not been married to the Mu family for long before she was driven out by the original owner of the body. Previously, Mu Er Pang was a lazy person who focused on lying on the kang, so the two brothers had only met a few times.

Mrs. Zhou initially wanted to decline, saying she would just go back to eat.

Shen Cui said, “There’s so much food, Er Pang and I can’t finish it. Besides, we’re going to his maternal grandparents’ house later and won’t be staying at home. There’s no need to waste.”

During the New Year, you can’t argue with people. Mrs. Zhou obediently didn’t say anything more and waited until Shen Cui and Mu Er Pang were seated and eating before she started.

The New Year’s Eve dinner was quickly finished, and the three of them at the table sighed contentedly.

After dinner, Mrs. Zhou didn’t let them help and quickly took care of clearing the table and washing the dishes.

Seeing this, Mu Er Pang couldn’t help but say to Shen Cui, “Sister-in-law is so capable. If sister-in-law were still living at home, mother wouldn’t have to work so hard every day.”

Shen Cui thought to herself, “Do you even need to say that?” If it weren’t for considerations for Mu Yunchuan, Shen Cui would have found a way to bring Mrs. Zhou back long ago.

Of course, she wasn’t just ordering people around for no reason. She treated Mrs. Zhou well in terms of food and drink.

She definitely treated Mrs. Zhou and Mu Er Pang equally, and she could also give Mrs. Zhou some hard-earned money.

It must be better than the life Mrs. Zhou was living now!

But it was definitely impossible now.

First of all, it was because of considerations for Mu Yunchuan. They were a couple, so Shen Cui had no reason to only let Mrs. Zhou come back.