Chapter 3

“Why don’t you spend more time together?” Putting the washed rag aside, Meng Zeyan picked up the dishes washed by his mother and put them in the cupboard.

It’s not strange to meet each other through blind dates, why not spend more time together? Isn’t it a bit hasty to decide to get married after meeting each other only two or three times?

No one knows a child better than his mother. Xing Cui knew what Meng Zeyan was thinking. She leaned back and looked towards Tang Huan’s room opposite.

Seeing that her room door was closed, he pushed Meng Zeyan’s arm with his right elbow and instructed him, “Go, close the door.”

Meng Zeyan walked over, closed the door, and came back to continue helping with the work.

Xing Cui simply found a stool to sit down and left all the work to Meng Zeyan. Her son is a man who is both good at cooking and handling affairs of the house. What’s the word for that… Yes, he is a man of both civil and military skills.

Meng Zeyan rolled up his sleeves and put away the remaining bowls, waiting for Xing Cui to whisper to him.

He even closed the door on purpose, didn’t he mean to tell her something in private?

“I know you can’t accept Zeyu’s death. Your parents can’t accept it either.” Xing Cui didn’t dare to mention her second son’s death just one month ago. Tears started to flow down her cheeks whenever she thought about it. She couldn’t help but sigh again, “But it was an accident. He died while saving people. From the time Zeyu got into trouble until now, I’ve watched Xiaohuan lose a lot of weight. The child must be feeling very miserable~”

She was only twenty years old and had just started her life, but she became a widow. No matter who it was, no one would be able to get over it!

“Sigh~” Xing Cui sighed more in the past month than she had in her entire life. She was sad that her second son died at a young age, sad that her daughter-in-law became a widow the day after her wedding, and sad that she and her husband had to see their son die.

While Meng Zeyan was working, Xing Cui told him about Tang Huan and Meng Zeyan. Tang Huan’s father remarried, and her stepmother was not a good person. She wanted to pair Tang Huan with her worthless son.

In order to avoid the stepmother’s calculations, the two would get married after just meeting each other two or three times, thinking that they would not dislike each other and then slowly develop feelings after marriage.

Speaking of the awful in-laws, Xing Cui was extremely upset and said angrily, “It’s only because Tang Huan’s brother is out doing business that he’s not at home, otherwise the couple would have suffered.”

Meng Zeyan never expressed his opinions on other people’s affairs. He just listened without making any comments.

Xing Cui knew that he didn’t like to listen to gossip, so she left after telling him about Tang Huan’s family situation.

Tang Huan took a nap in the house. When he woke up, he stared at the ceiling with lifeless eyes. After dozens of seconds, he blinked and finally woke up completely.

It was 3:30 in the afternoon. She got out of bed, changed her math textbook and continued reading under the grape trellis. It is now 1983, and the exams are also divided into liberal arts and science.

Tang Huan hasn’t thought about what job she wants to do in the future yet, so she hasn’t decided whether to take the liberal arts or science exam.

When she walked under the grape trellis and was about to sit down, she suddenly remembered something. She had forgotten to tell her mother-in-law about Aunt Wu’s bullying of her because of her eldest uncle’s return.

In a while it will be time for my mother-in-law to buy vegetables. The prices of vegetables in the market will drop in the afternoon, so she just needs to sit here and wait.

Tang Huan took a pen and took notes in the book. Soon he heard the footsteps of his mother-in-law leaving the house.

“Mom, Aunt Wu did this again this morning…” Tang Huan raised his head and looked over. He saw that it was not only his mother-in-law who went out. Her eldest uncle was following behind her. He swallowed the rest of the words subconsciously.

Although the uncle seemed easy to get along with, Tang Huan vaguely felt that he didn’t like him.

Xing Cui understood the first half of her sentence and became furious: “She is bullying you again, isn’t she? I’ll go find her later. She only picks on the weak. What kind of person is she!”

“···Yeah.” If it were the mother-in-law alone, Tang Huan might have argued that she was not a soft persimmon.

Although she can’t curse, she can shake people.

It shouldn’t be considered a soft persimmon.

Meng Zeyan’s eyes fell on the textbooks in front of Tang Huan again. In the morning, it was Chinese, and now it was math. She was quite hardworking.

Xing Cui walked out angrily carrying the shopping basket, and Meng Zeyan followed behind her. He hasn’t been back for a long time, and Comrade Xing Cui wants to drag him out to show off.

This point happens to be the time when vegetables in the market are discounted, so almost every household in this area goes to the market for a walk.

Aunt Wu next door was no exception. Xing Cui just wanted to find her, but she didn’t expect to run into her as soon as she walked out the door!

From the corner of her eye, she saw the officer’s eldest son following Xing Cui. Aunt Wu didn’t even turn her head towards them, but walked out of the alley without looking around.

She is not stupid, so how could she give Xing Cuichou a chance to show off?

“Mr. Wu, just stand there!” Xing Cui really had no intention of showing off in front of her. She was just angry that this old woman couldn’t beat her, so she bullied Tang Huan.

Not only did Aunt Wu not stop, she moved her feet even faster. She was so proud! She pretended not to see it and wanted to call her.

Xing Cui stuffed the basket into the back and trotted after her. She grabbed Aunt Wu’s arm and made her stagger. “I told you to stop, didn’t you hear me? You’ve done something wrong and you’re running fast.”

Meng Zeyan took a few steps forward with the basket in his hand, but didn’t get too close. The distance was probably kept so that Comrade Xing Cui could not do it and he could protect her in time without hindering her performance.

“What have I done wrong? Xing Cui, are you sick?” Frightened by her pulling, Aunt Wu shook Xing Cui’s hand down and cursed her angrily, “Don’t think she’s afraid just because she has a military officer son.”

Xing Cui retracted her hand, put her hands on her hips and sneered: “You are sick! Didn’t I, Wu, warn you not to bully Tang Huan? Do you think I was joking with you? You are a shameless old man who bullies others behind their backs!

I tell you, if you dare to bully her again, I will tear the roof off your house, believe it or not? ”

“I didn’t bully her.” Glancing at Meng Zeyan standing by with a basket, Aunt Wu snorted, “I won’t say a word to her in the future, okay? There are so many people on the street who have daughters-in-law, but your Tang Huan is so precious that she can’t even say a word.”

Xing Cui is not so kind-hearted. She can’t care about other people’s daughters-in-law, but she protects her own daughters-in-law. “Don’t talk nonsense to me. I tell you, if it happens again, you can wait for the roof to be repaired!”

After saying that she didn’t want to bother with her anymore, Xing Cui walked out of the alley. If she was any later, she would miss the delicious food!

Meng Zeyan followed and walked out. When he passed Aunt Wu, he stopped and advised: “Aunt, don’t be angry, my mother is scaring you!”

Aunt Wu looked up at Meng Zeyan, and seeing his half-smile, she hurried out with the basket on her shoulder.

After being at loggerheads with Xing Cui for so many years, how could she not know how fierce that tigress was?

And Meng Zeyan has been a bad guy since he was young. Now he is wearing an officer’s uniform, but he is still the same bad guy as before!

He looks smiling, but actually he has evil intentions.

When they arrived, the prices of vegetables in the market had just started to drop, and the vendors were shouting that they were selling them at a low price. Xing Cui took Meng Zeyan to pick out some cheap vegetables, and then took him to the fish stall.

Fish and shrimp are not cheap. As long as they are not dead, they can be sold the next day.

A fish, half a pound of shrimps cost three yuan and twenty cents. Xing Cui paid without changing her expression and did not feel sorry at all.

Their family is not short of money, they save where necessary and spend where necessary.