Xia Xiaolan’s wrist was hurting, and Zhou Cheng’s heart was aching too. It was hard to tell which pain was worse.

Under Zhou Cheng’s intense gaze, Xia Xiaolan suddenly felt uncomfortable continuing with her lie:

“Well, it still hurts a little, but it’s not that serious. It’s been twenty days since the injury. It was just a hairline fracture, and I only got the cast removed after the hospital checked it. As long as I don’t lift anything heavy, it’s fine.”

Zhou Cheng gave a soft “mm” in response. “From now on, don’t hide these things from me, Xiaolan. I want to share in your life, to be part of your life.”

Xia Xiaolan obediently nodded, but after hesitating for a long while, she still couldn’t bring herself to reveal that her hand injury was caused by Xia Changzheng and Zhang Cui’s schemes. While she intended to tell Zhou Cheng about future matters, she had already taken her revenge for this incident in her way. Xia Xiaolan didn’t want Zhou Cheng to get involved—she felt she was considering things from his perspective.

Zhou Cheng was disappointed, though he didn’t expose his wife’s deception. A man shouldn’t argue with women, and it was Xiaolan’s birthday today—he definitely couldn’t upset her.

“Get some sleep early. Your flight is tomorrow afternoon. I’ll see if I can take another half-day off in the morning.”

Zhou Cheng gave Xia Xiaolan an especially gentle kiss. With his mind preoccupied with her injured hand, he couldn’t possibly have any amorous thoughts.

Xia Xiaolan was still staying at Kang Wei’s work unit guesthouse. She knew her way around well, and she had the introduction letter from Kang Wei. The ministerial guesthouse was very safe, so Zhou Cheng felt at ease.

After Zhou Cheng left, Xia Xiaolan opened the gifts from his family members.

Zhou Cheng’s elder aunt-in-law, Second Aunt, and younger aunt all gave red envelopes containing the same amount—ten hundred yuan notes each. A hundred yuan per person? This wasn’t a small sum, considering they were just relatives, and it was Zhou Cheng’s first time formally bringing home a girlfriend for dinner. Giving a hundred-yuan red envelope was already quite generous. If anything, it was Xia Xiaolan who should feel bad, as she hadn’t known there would be so many people and only brought four meeting gifts.

No blame could be placed on those who didn’t know, and she hadn’t expected Zhou Cheng’s family to be so close-knit. She could make it up to them later.

Grandmother Zhou’s gift was a jade bracelet with gold inlay—fine gold threads winding around pure white jade. Xia Xiaolan couldn’t tell if it was mutton-fat jade, but it was the elderly woman’s heartfelt gift, and its value couldn’t be measured by its cost alone.

As for Guan Hui’e’s gift, it was surprisingly a pair of diamond earrings. Set in platinum, they featured two square diamonds of about 50 points each. Xia Xiaolan didn’t know the price of diamond jewelry in the 1980s, but it couldn’t have been cheap. The earrings were beautiful, and Zhou Cheng’s family was more agreeable than she had expected. Xia Xiaolan carefully put away the bracelet and earrings, feeling that this birthday had been quite meaningful.

Zhou Yi’s opinions were influenced by her allegiances—being closer to Tong Lili naturally made her view Xiaolan unfavorably. Zhou Cheng’s elder aunt-in-law’s words also carried hidden meanings, but Xia Xiaolan felt it had nothing to do with her—it must be internal family dynamics. After all, no family was completely harmonious, and every family had some difficult members. Xia Xiaolan herself had a nest of troublesome relatives, and compared to them, Zhou Cheng’s elder aunt-in-law at least maintained appearances.

She still needed to consider maintaining good relationships with Zhou Cheng’s family. Even if she and Zhou Cheng were to discuss marriage in the future, having his parents’ approval would be enough. Xia Xiaolan was clear about this! Zhou Cheng’s parents didn’t need to particularly like her, as long as they could be reasonable.

After Zhou Cheng left with Xia Xiaolan, his family continued discussing her until they dispersed at 11 o’clock.

While Zhou’s elderly parents had a private car and driver, others had to find their way home. Not everyone in the Zhou family had reached the level of having their car. For instance, Zhou Cheng’s younger aunt’s family of four had come by bicycle. Zhou Cheng’s second aunt’s family lived closest and could walk home in just a few minutes.

Zhou Yi and her mother had come by car, but their driver couldn’t possibly have waited until now. When Zhou Guobin offered to send a car, Old Master Zhou stopped him: “It’s very late now, be considerate of the driver. Why make them come out again? Zhou Yi and your elder sister-in-law can take our car.”

Zhou Yi wanted to shrink her head into her collar and hide.

Surprisingly, her grandfather hadn’t said a word to her the entire way. When they got home, Zhou Yi felt relieved, but her mother wasn’t smiling. After watching the elderly couple’s official car disappear into the night, she turned to Zhou Yi with irritation:

“You’re still feeling pleased with yourself!”

Thinking she’d escaped a scolding from grandfather, feeling quite satisfied, were you?

Zhou Yi’s mother was fuming from every pore. How could she have given birth to such a foolish daughter? Being scolded showed closeness—what was so bad about being scolded? It meant the old master was willing to guide Zhou Yi. Not being scolded meant the old master didn’t care about Zhou Yi at all!

The old master favored the second son’s family, from Zhou Guobin to Zhou Cheng. Guan Hui’e had given the Zhou family a son, and her position in the family had completely surpassed her own as the eldest daughter-in-law! Just because she hadn’t given birth to a son, and her husband’s position wasn’t as high as Zhou Guobin’s, no matter how carefully she and Zhou Yi tried to please the elderly couple, good things never came their way!

In contrast, look at Zhou Guobin’s family—Zhou Cheng was just bringing home a girlfriend, not getting married, yet Grandmother Zhou had made such a fuss, gathering everyone together to welcome Zhou Cheng’s girlfriend… wasn’t it all because of their favoritism toward Zhou Cheng?

Zhou Yi’s mother was extremely unhappy. If only Zhou Cheng had brought home a girlfriend with particularly poor circumstances, then she could have enjoyed watching Guan Hui’e’s embarrassment. She had hoped Zhou Cheng would have a dramatic falling out with the family and marry someone unimpressive—yet the girl Zhou Cheng brought home today, despite her humble background, had outstanding personal capabilities and had won the elderly couple’s favor!

Zhou Yi’s attempt to challenge her had backfired, instead highlighting the other’s excellence.

And Gu Zhengqing was just a bootlicker.

Zhou Yi’s mother was dissatisfied on all counts, while Zhou Yi couldn’t understand why her mother was scolding her—hadn’t she been on her side earlier? Why was she now berating her?

The entire evening, Zhou Yi had been repeatedly humiliated. When she reported back to Tong Lili about Zhou Cheng bringing his girlfriend home to meet the family, her attitude was decidedly negative:

“Lili, you got me into trouble. I don’t even want to talk about what happened today. If Zhou Cheng and Xia Xiaolan get married in the future, I’ve made an enemy of this sister-in-law!”

Tong Lili had stayed up late specifically waiting for Zhou Yi’s call.

She had carefully planned to create a grand scene for Xia Xiaolan, knowing that some vixens could maintain a facade in front of men but would surely reveal their true nature before the family. Someone like Xia Xiaolan would surely show many flaws in front of the sharp-minded Zhou family members.

How could Zhou Cheng’s mother possibly like a petty and poor daughter-in-law?

While Tong Lili was explaining her reasoning confidently, Zhou Yi couldn’t even get a word in.

After Tong Lili finished speaking, Zhou Yi could only sigh:

“…She’s completely different from what we imagined! I can’t explain it clearly over the phone. Let’s talk about it when we meet tomorrow.”

The scene had indeed been grand, but the result was not what Tong Lili had wanted to see. If she hadn’t meddled, Uncle Gu Zhengqing wouldn’t have shown up, and Xia Xiaolan would have just had a quiet dinner with Zhou Cheng’s parents. How would there have been so many opportunities for Xia Xiaolan to show off?

Lili had, as they say, lifted a rock only to drop it on her own feet!