After trying everything to get information from Kang Wei, using both soft and hard tactics, he still wouldn’t talk. Then suddenly the person in question came home and admitted everything. Guan Hui’e stood stunned in the kitchen for a while. When she came to her senses, Aunt Zeng was already washing the yams. She wanted to say stop washing them, that she wouldn’t eat such questionable things… but no, no, such words would be too harsh and would hurt Zhou Cheng to hear.
Guan Hui’e took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm.
In the living room, Zhou Cheng was still calling Kang Wei an idiot for just leaving things at the unit’s entrance and leaving – when he opened the package today, some yams had spoiled. Kang Wei looked regretful, feeling he had wasted his future sister-in-law’s thoughtfulness.
Guan Hui’e felt her head aching.
These two – which one was short a few yams in the head? How could yams from anyone be so precious?
“Zhou Cheng, I didn’t catch what you said earlier. Who sent the yams?”
Zhou Cheng turned to look at his mother. This time his expression was particularly serious, and he looked especially spirited. Guan Hui’e thought she saw stars twinkling in her son’s eyes, that kind of joy radiating from deep within:
“Your daughter-in-law, my partner sent them.”
What daughter-in-law!
She knew nothing about this rural girl from another province.
“I thought they were just making things up, I didn’t expect there was such a girl. Chengzi, explain this properly to your mother. I was left speechless when your grandparents asked me about it. Everyone knows you’re dating someone, yet I, your mother, don’t know?”
Zhou Cheng glanced at Kang Wei, who nearly raised both hands in surrender: “It was Little Guang who told.”
Oh, it was the big-mouthed Shao Guangrong – no wonder his mother said everyone knew.
Well, if they knew, they knew. Zhou Cheng didn’t think Xia Xiaolan should be hidden away. If only she weren’t in Shangdu now, Zhou Cheng would have already brought her home to meet his parents, to get the marriage plans moving forward – that would put his mind at ease.
“Listen to yourself – how could a living person be fake? Your future daughter-in-law is called Xiaolan, surname Xia, from Anqing County in Yunan Province. I met her when Kang Wei and I went to Shanghai, then we met a few more times. I felt we were very compatible, so we started dating. After this July, you’ll be able to meet her. Mom, don’t worry, she’s a wonderful person – I guarantee you’ll like her!”
Xia Xiaolan from Anqing County, Yunan Province.
Guan Hui’e hadn’t been sure the person was from Yunan Province – she had only used that guess from Zhou Cheng’s father to test Kang Wei.
She hadn’t expected Zhou Cheng to admit it so readily.
Somehow, inexplicably, the anger in Guan Hui’e’s heart diminished, and she even sat down on the sofa.
“Never mind whether I’ll like her or not, tell me clearly about her situation. How old is she? What do her parents do? And how did you meet?”
Zhou Cheng knew how to phrase things skillfully.
“Not quite 19 yet, taking the college entrance exam this July, currently a high school senior. Her parents are farmers in a village in Anqing County. She’s a good student, and I told her to apply to Beijing universities, that’s why I said you’ll be able to meet your daughter-in-law after July.”
A student?
And with rural household registration.
Guan Hui’e felt indescribably uncomfortable.
But listening to it, the worst part was just that rural registration. Xia Xiaolan’s family background had nothing in common with the countless versions of future daughters-in-law Guan Hui’e had imagined. Even if Zhou Cheng didn’t find a girl from an equally prestigious family of high officials, Guan Hui’e could accept someone from a respectable scholarly family. Other people’s sons might need advantageous marriages, but her son could rely on his abilities!
But how could they settle for a girl with rural registration?
It wasn’t that Guan Hui’e was prejudiced against farmers’ daughters, but what kind of wife Zhou Cheng needed wasn’t just about Zhou Cheng’s needs – it was about the Zhou family’s needs. His future wife should at least be presentable, and able to represent the Zhou family in social interactions. Even if she couldn’t help Zhou Cheng’s career, she should at least be able to manage the home front well, so Zhou Cheng wouldn’t have to worry about both outside matters and home affairs!
To put it bluntly, in a family like the Zhous, even though Zhou Cheng had started working in his teens without attending university, was he any less intelligent than those university students?
Among university students, there were bound to be bookworms, but Zhou Cheng wasn’t one. The education he had received since childhood, what he had seen and heard – how could it be the same as an ordinary 20-year-old? This was the gap between Zhou Cheng and that rural girl – they weren’t from the same world at all.
Guan Hui’e rubbed her temples:
“Zhou Cheng, Mom has no objection to you dating, but Mom hopes you remember, she can’t be your marriage partner.”
Kang Wei curled himself into a ball, trying to minimize his presence before Guan Hui’e.
He had known this day would come – how could the Zhou family possibly agree to Brother Cheng being with Xia Xiaolan? Zhou Cheng had only mentioned that Xia Xiaolan was in her senior year, not that she had just transferred to high school, nor about her falling out with her family, her parents’ divorce, and other circumstances… If Aunt Guan knew, the Zhou family living room would explode – forget eating yams, those yams would either be used to beat Zhou Cheng to death or him, surname Kang.
Kang Wei’s mouth turned down pitifully – most likely he would be the one beaten to death, as Brother Cheng had promised and was needed for greater things.
Zhou Cheng looked at his mother as if seeing her for the first time, with curiosity:
“How can you say such things? Chairman Mao said that dating without the intention to marry is hooliganism, and hooliganism is a criminal offense. You want to harm me – is that why you picked up Kang Wei to be your son instead?”
Kang Wei wanted to cry – Brother, this has nothing to do with me!
Guan Hui’e was so shocked she forgot how to speak.
“…Did you act like a hooligan with that girl?”
Oh no, young people with their passionate blood – if Zhou Cheng had done something impulsive, that rural girl would cling to him.
Guan Hui’e felt utterly dejected. Seeing that expression, Zhou Cheng knew his mother well – she could never be a cruel mother-in-law. If Zhou Cheng dared to admit to anything now, his mother would be at her wit’s end.
“I’d like to be a hooligan, but your daughter-in-law is a proper person – I’m afraid of scaring her.”
Zhou Cheng smacked his lips, his tone full of regret.
Admitting to something now would save him a lot of nagging, but Xia Xiaolan would never be able to hold her head up before her mother-in-law. All mothers think alike – their sons can do no wrong, it’s always the vixen who seduced him who’s at fault.
Besides, nothing had happened between him and his wife – he hadn’t even managed to steal a kiss.
Guan Hui’e breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhou Cheng was above lying, so things were pure and innocent – what was there to worry about?
“I’m not joking with you, and you know Mom never jokes. Dating is fine, but marriage is not! If you don’t want to hurt the girl, tell her early on. Having boundaries while dating is fine, but to enter the Zhou family’s door… the Zhou family’s threshold isn’t very high, but she falls far too short.”
Zhou Cheng didn’t want to argue with his mother.
How good Xiaolan was – they would know when they met her in person.
He held back from asking his mother: You say you’re not joking, but do I look like I’m joking?
Really now, complaining that his wife couldn’t step over the Zhou family’s threshold – Xiaolan had such long legs, but Madam Guan looked down on Xiaolan, not knowing that her son was constantly worried about being abandoned by his future wife.
Never mind, better not bring up such heartfelt words – saying them would only make his mother angrier.
Leaving that topic aside for now, Zhou Cheng only had half a day off, and Guan Hui’e called her husband home for dinner. Aunt Zeng had been cooking for the Zhou family for many years and knew everyone’s tastes well.
She stir-fried some yams with black fungus and steamed another plate of yam pieces.
Aunt Zeng served the yams with a dish of white sugar. Zhou Cheng thought it looked just like cat scratches and wanted to dip the yams in the sugar.
“The yams are quite sweet.”
Zhou Cheng’s father didn’t even ask about Zhou Cheng’s relationship, while Guan Hui’e, in her anger, hadn’t touched a single piece of yam.
Don’t eat it, don’t eat it, take it all away! What future daughter-in-law? A future daughter-in-law who grows yams? She wouldn’t have it!