Chapter 75: The Pitiful Female Supporting Character from a Patriarchal Family in the 2000s (22)

Since Ai Xiaoling moved out, Mother Ye had been feeling gloomy.

A middle school classmate she hadn’t seen in a long time asked her to go shopping. At their age, it was easy to guess why.

Their sons or daughters were about to get married. They wanted to reconnect so they could invite each other to the wedding banquet.

Sure enough, after a bit of small talk, the old classmate handed her a wedding invitation and asked, “What about Ye Zhou? He’s not young anymore. When is he getting married?”

The question made Mother Ye even more upset.

Married?

Marry what? He refused to come home and take over her building materials shop. He wanted to start a business instead and even dragged Ai Xiaoling with him. Mother Ye had finally met a girl she liked.

Just mentioning it made her chest hurt.

The classmate was tactful and said, “These things can’t be rushed. But still, I wanted to buy a coat. Come shop with me and we can chat along the way.”

Mother Ye happened to be free today, so they went shopping together.

And then they bumped into this scene.

At first glance, Mother Ye just thought the girl looked familiar. She didn’t even notice Ye Zhou. On the second glance, when she saw Ai Xiaoling’s face, her heart sank halfway. Then she looked again, and the guy did resemble Ye Zhou—

That feeling was like riding a rollercoaster. Once she confirmed it, she was overjoyed, and the corners of her eyes were already wrinkling with a wide smile.

Ye Zhou, seeing his mother, was afraid she would ruin things. His first reaction was to pull Ai Xiaoling and walk in the opposite direction.

Mother Ye, seeing that, widened her eyes. Afraid they’d run off, she raised her voice and shouted, “Ye Zhou, stop right there!”

Anyone who didn’t know better would think she was catching a thief.

Ye Zhou: “……”

He ignored her and kept walking.

“Stop!” Mother Ye was all dressed up today, wearing a lot of jewelry and high heels, yet she moved swiftly and caught up to them in no time. She grabbed the back of Ye Zhou’s collar directly.

Grinning from ear to ear.

Her old classmate didn’t even understand what was happening. She thought Mother Ye had caught her son doing something bad. But then she saw the big smile and became even more confused.

Ye Zhou had no choice but to stop walking, though he held Ai Xiaoling’s hand even tighter.

“This is my son,” Mother Ye happily introduced to her old classmate.

The classmate looked at the handsome Ye Zhou and said, “Kids look so different when they grow up. Aunt Wang didn’t recognize you at all.”

Mother Ye looked at Ai Xiaoling and beamed with joy. “This is—my daughter-in-law, Ai Xiaoling.” After speaking, she looked at Ai Xiaoling kindly. “Xiaoling, this is Aunt Wang.”

Ai Xiaoling was completely stunned by her calling her daughter-in-law, but she still politely greeted, “Hello, Aunt Wang.”

“When did your son get married?” the old classmate was surprised. Just a moment ago, she thought Mother Ye was worried about her son’s marriage.

Mother Ye said, “Ah, soon, very soon.”

“Make sure to invite me when you hold the wedding banquet.”

“Of course. Just wait for it.”

……

Mother Ye finally went shopping with her old classmate. Before leaving, she repeatedly asked Ai Xiaoling, “Will you come home for dinner later? Mom is going to buy some delicious food.”

She must buy a lot, a lot.

Ai Xiaoling was completely stunned this time.

The other party was already calling herself Mom.

In the end, it was Ye Zhou who helped her out of the awkwardness. He casually dealt with his mother a little and then pulled Ai Xiaoling away.

Even with the casual reply, Mother Ye was still overjoyed. She looked at her old classmate excitedly, completely different from before, and kept praising Ai Xiaoling. “My daughter-in-law, this girl is really impressive. You don’t even know—”

Ai Xiaoling could still vaguely hear some of it and blushed deeply from embarrassment.

If not for the fact that she was wearing high heels, Ye Zhou would have definitely pulled her and run.

Of course, Ye Zhou didn’t bring Ai Xiaoling home for dinner. Mother Ye stretched her neck and waited for a while. Seeing that Ai Xiaoling didn’t come back, she questioned him, “Where’s my daughter-in-law? What are you doing coming back alone?”

Might as well not come back at all.

“Don’t make a fuss,” Ye Zhou said to her with a serious expression. “You scared her.”

“How am I making a fuss? I just asked you to bring her home for a meal. That’s making a fuss?” Mother Ye was dissatisfied, gave Ye Zhou several looks, then squinted her eyes. “You brat. When I tried to match you with Ai Xiaoling, you acted indifferent. Now you’re dating her behind my back, shameless!”

Ye Zhou: “……”

He had no way to refute that.

“If you’ve got guts, don’t go for the girl I like. I was just about to introduce her to Old Zhou’s son, who runs the liquor store next door. He just got back from the army—”

“Mom, stop messing around.” Ye Zhou really couldn’t deal with her.

Mother Ye: “How am I messing around? I told you several times before to interact more with Xiaoling. Didn’t you say no every time? You completely ignored it. What, suddenly your brain started working?”

“……”

“Did the water in your brain suddenly drain out?” Mother Ye said with a sarcastic tone.

“……”

“If you don’t bring her back, how are you going to get married quickly?” Mother Ye changed the topic and coaxed gently, “Meeting the parents early is a good thing. Don’t you want to marry her? You just want to play around?”

After she said that, her face sank.

“What nonsense are you saying?” Ye Zhou was speechless and walked inside as he spoke. “I know what I’m doing. Don’t scare her.”

Mother Ye cried injustice, “How did I scare her?”

Ye Zhou glanced at the second floor and said, “Before Xiaoling comes over, this house needs to be renovated. It’s too old. The furniture also needs to be replaced.” As he spoke, he specifically emphasized, “Mom, not a single courtesy can be missing. We can’t let her feel like our family is slighting her.”

“Of course.”

Ye Zhou: “Not even a little bit.”

Mother Ye didn’t find it troublesome at all. Instead, she smiled even more happily. “Mom will definitely get everything arranged perfectly for you!”

Although they hadn’t met yet after what happened, Ai Xiaoling would constantly receive all kinds of things sent through Ye Zhou by Mother Ye.

Sometimes it was fruit. Sometimes it was local specialties. She even bought her clothes…

Even though they hadn’t met, Mother Ye kept making her presence known.

Ye Zhou didn’t even dare tell Ai Xiaoling that Mother Ye had already told all the neighbors that she had a daughter-in-law.

The second and third floors of the building above the construction materials store were already being renovated.

During the renovation, Mother Ye suddenly told Ye Zhou, “A wedding needs a new house, right? Who gets married in an old house?”

This house was secondhand when it was bought, mainly for the storefront on the first floor.

Mother Ye told Ye Zhou that two streets away, there was a newly built two-story house for sale. She suggested just buying it as the new home.

She also urged, “Take Xiaoling to see it. You two will be living there anyway. People say now that mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law shouldn’t live together. There can’t be two female heads in one household.”

Ye Zhou really did take Ai Xiaoling to see it.

The newly built house hadn’t been renovated yet and was being sold as a whole.

Ye Zhou asked her what she thought of it.

“It’s nice,” Ai Xiaoling replied without hesitation. “And it’s only seventy thousand yuan. This area will definitely develop in the future. The first floor can be used as a shop. Plus, it’s not in a busy district, so it’s livable.”

The land was about to increase in value soon. This price was a real bargain.

“Do you want to live here?” Ye Zhou asked her again.

“I do, but all my money was given to my sister. I don’t have any left to buy it.”

The house being sold was the one with the supermarket. Ai Xiaofen and Ai Xiaoling discussed it and decided to buy it. The house was registered under Ai Xiaofen’s name.

Ai Xiaoling didn’t mind at all. She thought she’d be able to buy a newer and taller house soon.

Ye Zhou took Ai Xiaoling’s hand, looked down at her, and said, “Then let’s buy this one as our wedding house, okay?”

Ai Xiaoling originally just wanted to date him for a while. She did enjoy the process of falling in love. She didn’t expect that in less than a month, Ye Zhou would have already mentioned marriage several times.

“Isn’t it too fast? Shouldn’t dating be about getting to know each other?” Ai Xiaoling said softly.

“Renovations will take months, and then it needs to be aired out for a few more months. We won’t move in until next year. That’s not fast at all.” Ye Zhou kept holding her hand and looked at her sincerely. “There’s nothing about me to figure out. If you want to understand more about me, I’ll let you.”

“Isn’t this too rushed?” Ai Xiaoling started to get nervous.

No one told her that dating would lead to being dragged off to get married.

“Am I not good to you?” Ye Zhou suddenly asked.

Ai Xiaoling shook her head and answered with certainty, “You are.”

“If I treat you well, then why don’t you want to marry me?” Ye Zhou looked at her with burning eyes, never looking away.

Ai Xiaoling couldn’t take the pressure. “Then let’s just go with the flow, take it slowly.”

“Come home with me for the New Year?” He seized the opportunity to make a request. “Mom said you said before moving out that you’d come visit her. How long has it been now?”

She didn’t notice how he had changed how he referred to his mother: “Aunt Ye hasn’t had time either—”

“She’ll have time during the New Year.”

“I’ll go during the New Year—”

Even if she wasn’t going as Ye Zhou’s girlfriend, she would still visit Mother Ye for New Year’s.

When he saw Ai Xiaoling agree, the corners of Ye Zhou’s lips lifted slightly. When he returned home, he told Mother Ye that he wanted to buy that house.

She didn’t even hesitate and bought it, even starting the renovation.

All the workers knew that this was the wedding house Mother Ye was buying for Ye Zhou.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of the year.

Neither Ai Xiaofen nor Ai Xiaoling mentioned going home for New Year’s.

Xu Zhi had already been sentenced. Mother Xu had come to the supermarket and made a scene. The same dark skinned guy from next door, who had helped catch Xu Zhi last time, helped Ai Xiaofen call the police several times.

Mother Xu didn’t gain any advantage and eventually stopped coming.

After some time, Ai Xiaofen ended up together with that dark skinned guy.

The man was from another province, and his name was Lu Hui. He ran a small restaurant not far from the supermarket. He had dark skin and looked fierce, but he was loyal and dependable.

He was hardworking and motivated. He also worked part-time as a chef at a fast-food restaurant. He did not mind at all that Ai Xiaofen had been divorced and often came to the store to help unload and stock goods.

Ai Xiaoling had observed carefully and thought that Lu Hui seemed to treat Ai Xiaofen quite well. Otherwise, during this New Year, Ai Xiaofen would not have completely avoided mentioning anything about returning to the Ai family and instead chose to spend the holiday with Lu Hui.

As for Ai Xiaoling, she had already prepared a bunch of gifts and was feeling a bit nervous and uneasy about going with Ye Zhou to his home to celebrate the New Year.