Chapter 33: She’s Just Pretending with You

Seeing that he hadn’t touched his chopsticks, Jiang Rourou quietly glanced at him sideways: “Comrade Lu, why aren’t you eating? Is the food not to your liking?”

Lu Jianshen: “I don’t like eating cabbage.”

Jiang Xiangxiang: “Oh, I don’t like cabbage either.”

As she spoke, she almost burst out laughing.

Jiang Rourou’s face turned green. They had all eaten, but Lu Jianshen and Jiang Xiangxiang didn’t. How could this play continue? She hadn’t wasted her effort and a good stage for nothing. The thought made her angry.

The most crucial point was that she and her mother had both eaten.

Ye Meiping was the same, almost vomiting. She had eaten herself, sacrificing herself to accompany the gentleman, but these two were fine, simply saying they didn’t like it and that was the end.

Ye Meiping turned her head and glared fiercely at Jiang Xiangxiang: “How come I never noticed you were a picky eater before? Jiang Xiangxiang, are you going to eat or not? If not, I’ll force-feed you!”

Jiang Xiangxiang: “If you’ve got the guts, go ahead. If not, shut up and eat yours!”

Jiang Rourou: “Sister…”

Jiang Xiangxiang: “You too.”

With a raised eyebrow, her imposing manner completely subdued them.

Ye Meiping and Jiang Rourou exchanged glances, not daring to utter a word, looking extremely cautious. The problem was that they had already eaten and couldn’t spit it out.

Jiang Rourou felt a little panicked. Their attempt to poison someone had backfired and ended up poisoning themselves. Nobody else would be this stupid, she thought, probably only herself.

Ye Meiping felt the same, regretting it again. She wished she had been more decisive when giving birth to Jiang Xiangxiang, and simply gotten rid of her, then there wouldn’t be any problems.

Jiang Xiangxiang was genuinely curious about the tricks they had played, going to such lengths to involve her. It was undeniable; they had really gone all out.

Anyway, she wasn’t that ruthless. To plot against others and get herself caught in the trap required courage.

Chunhua didn’t think that much. She was quick-witted, and it was a coincidence that she started matchmaking. She didn’t have such intricate schemes.

Seeing the somewhat tense atmosphere, she didn’t care and picked up her chopsticks to eat.

Jiang Xiangxiang’s cooking was truly excellent. In these times, seeing meat dishes wasn’t easy. Ordinary families, even when stewing meat, would only use water and a little salt, and only during the New Year. Who would usually be so extravagant?

Yet, Jiang Xiangxiang’s stew was amazing – rich but not greasy, sweet and fragrant, making you want more and more. It was incredibly satisfying.

Chunhua ate and said: “Goodness, Xiangxiang, whose cooking skills did you learn from? This is too delicious! If you don’t mind, teach me sometime.”

Jiang Xiangxiang: “Okay, I’ll write it down for you later. These radish balls are also good, try one?”

She offered one using public chopsticks.

Jiang Xiangxiang had deliberately taken an extra pair of chopsticks. She had already developed habits; she couldn’t change them just because she had time-traveled. Hygiene still needed to be maintained.

Chunhua nodded repeatedly, quickly taking the ball and putting it in her mouth. She also took a bite of the pancake. It was also a pancake, but why was Jiang Xiangxiang’s so delicious, so sweet?

“Xiangxiang, did you put sugar in this pancake?”

“No.”

“Then why does it taste sweet? It’s so delicious.”

“Oh, it might be because of the braised meat. I caramelized the sugar when making the red-braised pork.” Jiang Xiangxiang explained softly. She did things this way: either she didn’t do them, or if she did, she did them well, never cutting corners.

Seeing Chunhua eating heartily, Lu Jianshen also picked up a piece with his chopsticks. Upon tasting it, he was stunned. He had never tasted such delicious meat before.

Usually, even a little meat was considered good. He had never tasted anything so delicious.

Besides being amazed, he felt heartache. Jiang Xiangxiang must have suffered greatly to develop such excellent cooking skills. Coupled with Ye Meiping and Jiang Rourou’s attitude, it made him even more heartbroken about Jiang Xiangxiang’s experiences. Her life at home must have been very difficult.

As they spoke, Ye Meiping and Jiang Rourou’s conditions clearly became abnormal. Their consciousness was slightly scattered, yet they tried to act normal, which looked very strained.

Jiang Xiangxiang watched their reactions with an amused expression, the corners of her mouth curving upwards. Serves them right! This is what you get for your own wrongdoing.

Jiang Rourou glanced at the brown sugar water on the table and couldn’t help but say: “You’ve clearly already drunk it, why are you fine?”

Jiang Xiangxiang: “Who said I drank it? I threw it in the trash. Although we were very hungry and thirsty, we wouldn’t drink just any garbage; it’s easy to be poisoned.”

The sarcasm was palpable.

After hearing this, Jiang Rourou’s face turned green. So Jiang Xiangxiang had guessed what she would do and had been playing along with her all along, hadn’t she?

Ye Meiping exploded: “Jiang Xiangxiang, you’ll pay for this!”

Lu Jianshen: “Jiang’s aunt, don’t go too far. Xiangxiang is also your daughter. Even if you’re partial, it shouldn’t be like this. If you persist in this attitude, Xiangxiang might not necessarily marry into this family.”

If he wasn’t worried about Jiang Xiangxiang being unhappy or sad, he would have already lost his temper.

After all, they were from the same village. If things really escalated, the only one who would suffer would be Jiang Xiangxiang. Lu Jianshen originally planned to endure it until they got their marriage certificate, so she could completely cut ties with this family. But now, it seemed a little difficult.

Ye Meiping was indignant: “It’s none of your business how I discipline my daughter!”

Chunhua: “Ye Meiping, what you said is wrong. What do you mean ‘your daughter’? They’ve decided to get engaged. Lu Jianshen will be Xiangxiang’s closest person in this world. Even if you’re her mother, you can’t interfere. Humph!”

Ye Meiping: “Humph what? If you hadn’t interfered, this wouldn’t have happened!”

At this time, the effects of the poison had kicked in. Her consciousness became blurry, and she grabbed the dishes on the table and tried to stuff them into Jiang Xiangxiang’s mouth, clearly wanting to make her suffer.

Jiang Xiangxiang narrowed her eyes, without a word, she hid behind Lu Jianshen, looking very weak. The posture clearly showed that Ye Meiping was bullying her.

Jiang Rourou went crazy and roared: “Lu Jianshen, don’t be fooled by Jiang Xiangxiang! She’s just pretending with you! She’s not like this at all. You haven’t seen her skills. If you had, you would understand that she’s not as she appears…”