Seeing that she was angry and embarrassed, the man dared not provoke her any further and quickly tried to appease her: “Wife, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have made you angry. Let’s get up and go serve tea to our parents!”
Hua Yaoyao was just putting on an act. After all, everything had just begun, and she didn’t dare to act too recklessly, for fear of ruining her future. So, when the man gave her a way out, she was ready to give in.
But the man’s last words made her dizzy. Truly, people die for money! Our ancestors were right! Yesterday, after transmigrating, all she could think about was a carefree, parasitic life, forgetting how rigid the hierarchical relationship between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law was in ancient times. Her future was ruined!
Seeing her with such a mournful face, Si Yiyuan couldn’t help but laugh: “What’s wrong? It’s just offering a cup of tea—no need to be so afraid.”
Hua Yaoyao turned around and asked tremblingly, “What kind of girl does Mother Li like?”
Mother Li? What kind of address was that? Si Yiyuan was momentarily confused, but quickly realized: what kind of girl does Li Hao’s mother like? How would he know!
Anyway, they’re both stand-ins, so they could just hold on until Li Hao came back and that would be the end of it! Thinking this, the man immediately reassured her, “Don’t worry, my wife—Mother’s always kind. Just follow the proper etiquette when serving tea, and I’ll stay with you.”
The man’s comfort reassured Hua Yaoyao somewhat. Although it had only been one night, women are emotional creatures after all, and they tend to trust and rely more on men they have already been intimate with. So Hua Yaoyao obediently got up and let the maid tidy her up, then went to the front hall with the man’s companion.
“Son and daughter-in-law greet Father and Mother. Father, please have some tea. Mother, please have some tea.” As Si Yiyuan served the tea, he secretly made a mental note: Li Hao, you owe me a huge debt, I even served you tea!
“Daughter-in-law greets father-in-law and mother-in-law. Father-in-law, please have some tea. Mother-in-law, please have some tea.” Hua Yaoyao didn’t know how ancient people served tea, so she just followed suit and served tea like Si Yiyuan.
Although Father Li had a stern face, his tone was extremely gentle: “Alright, alright, now that you’re married, you’re all family. There’s no need to be so formal. You two living a harmonious life is the best way to show your respect to us!”
Mother Li beamed and said, “That’s right! Only by living a good life can Qianqian give birth to a big, healthy boy soon! So your father and I can enjoy the pleasure of being with our grandchildren!”
Upon hearing this, Father Li’s eyes narrowed with delight, clearly looking forward to it! Hua Yaoyao, however, blushed instantly. Who had told her that people in ancient times were reserved? Reserved my foot! Who discusses having children on the first meeting? In front of so many people!
Si Yiyuan, of course, understood his wife’s feelings, so he quickly tugged at his mother’s sleeve and said in a coquettish tone, “Mother! How can you be like this! Qianqian just married into our family! She’s still shy!”
He and Li Hao had always been on good terms, and he was also very familiar with Li Hao’s parents. Therefore, he didn’t feel awkward at all when he pretended to be Li Hao and acted coquettishly. Li Hao’s mother was so happy that she squinted her eyes and nodded repeatedly: “Good, good, good, I won’t say it, I won’t say it. It’s so different to have a wife! It’s been so long since A-Hao has acted like this with his mother!”
Si Yiyuan stiffened immediately, coughed to cover up his discomfort, and imitated Li Hao’s usual manner, saying, “As your son enters officialdom, he naturally needs to learn to be more mature so that his parents can rest assured.”
Father Li chuckled and agreed, “That’s right, a real man should be more mature and not listen to your mother, that’s just a woman’s opinion!”
Mother Li immediately turned to Father Li with a stern face, looking fierce and menacing.
Father Li remained expressionless and continued, “But occasionally coaxing your mother and making her happy is also a way of showing filial piety. After all, women need to be coaxed!”
Hua Yaoyao watched from the side, her lips twitching. It seemed that “bronchitis” existed in every era, and had nothing to do with technological, cultural, or social development!
Si Yiyuan never expected such an unexpected gain. After all, when he visited the Li family before, Aunt Li had always given Uncle Li a lot of face.
The two body doubles, who had inadvertently overheard some secrets, silently covered their faces. To avoid embarrassing her father-in-law too much, Hua Yaoyao decided to change the subject: “Mother-in-law, your daughter-in-law has just married into the Li family and knows very little about her husband’s preferences. Could you please…?”
At this point, Hua Yaoyao turned to look at “Li Hao” in her heart, and a blush appeared on her face at just the right moment. Sure enough, seeing how much she cared about Li Hao, Li’s mother became very talkative: “What’s there to be shy about? As a wife, you should want to understand your husband. Come on, let’s have a good chat!”
……
For the next full hour, Li’s mother was immersed in memories of Li Hao’s past twenty years, from his mischievous and embarrassing childhood to his intelligence and diligence in his teens, and then to his maturity and composure in his twenties. Her recollections flowed like the Yellow River, lingering for days…
The father and son, Li’s father and Si Yiyuan, had already silently picked up the chessboard and started playing chess less than fifteen minutes after Li’s mother began. After each game, the two couldn’t help but express their heartfelt admiration and sympathy for Hua Yaoyao. To be able to maintain a proper smile even with Li’s mother being so long-winded, this girl was extraordinary!
Of course, they would never know that Hua Yaoyao was able to hold on until now entirely because she had honed her skills in dealing with teachers to the highest level when she was in school: her eyes were focused, her face was smiling, she seemed to be listening attentively but her mind was wandering far away, drifting around like the wind, able to control herself at will.
In short, although she appeared to be listening attentively, her mind was actually wandering far away! She only picked out some keywords to memorize for future reference.
Even with such amazing skills, she still struggled to deal with Li’s mother. This mother-in-law’s nagging was comparable to that of Tang Sanzang from A Chinese Odyssey! [1]In A Chinese Odyssey (1995), Tang Sanzang is depicted as an overly talkative, comical, and often irritating mentor to Joker (the reincarnated Sun Wukong); unlike the noble monk of the original tales, … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2106127_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2106127_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
“Master, Madam, Young Master, Young Madam, the food is ready.” Finally, the maid’s announcement saved Hua Yaoyao’s life. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief, wishing she could bow to the maid to express her gratitude, but on the surface, she pretended to be surprised and said, “Oh! It’s so late! I was listening to my mother-in-law’s interesting story and forgot the time!”
Mother Li had finally found a kindred spirit who was willing to listen to her and didn’t find her rambling, and she felt that the conversation was not yet over. Upon hearing this, she quickly said, “It’s alright, it’s alright. After lunch and a rest, we can continue chatting, mother and daughter!”
Hua Yaoyao’s vision went black for a moment, and she wished she could faint immediately! Stop nagging! Aren’t you tired? Aren’t you thirsty? Don’t you want to rest? Don’t you want to drink water?!
Si Yiyuan naturally felt sorry for his wife. He had experienced Aunt Li’s nagging firsthand, and he couldn’t bear to let his wife endure it for another afternoon. He quickly said, “Mother, Qianqian just got married and hasn’t even seen all of our house yet! After she rests this afternoon, I’ll show Qianqian around the garden!”
Father Li chimed in, “That’s right, that’s right! We need to give the children some time to spend together!”
Since her son and husband had both said so, although Li’s mother was unwilling, she couldn’t say anything more. After all, no mother-in-law would monopolize her daughter-in-law’s words every day. It wouldn’t sound good if word got out, and people might think she was ruining her son and daughter-in-law’s relationship! So she had no choice but to reluctantly acquiesce.
Seeing that someone spoke up for her and saved her from the ordeal of being obedient today, Hua Yaoyao felt much more at ease. However, seeing Li’s mother’s aggrieved and unwilling appearance, she couldn’t bear it. After a pause, she still spoke up and said, “I am new here and there are many things I don’t understand. I need my mother-in-law to guide me from time to time.”
The implication was that she would often chat with Li’s mother in the future. Upon hearing this, Li’s mother immediately smiled, her eyes crinkling: “My good daughter-in-law is the best! Ah! Why don’t I have such a thoughtful daughter! If only I had a thoughtful daughter…”
Hua Yaoyao felt as if she had a mouthful of blood stuck in her chest. Was it too late for her to take back what she had just said?
Fortunately, the Li family’s table manners were quite good; at least they maintained the rule of “not talking while eating,” which allowed Hua Yaoyao to eat in peace without being bothered by nagging.
After lunch, it was the Li family’s usual rest time. As soon as she returned to her room, Hua Yaoyao couldn’t help but collapse onto the bed. Chatting with her mother-in-law all morning was more tiring than not sleeping all night!
Si Yiyuan had just closed the door when he saw the girl lounging on the bed without any regard for her image. He couldn’t help but chuckle gently, “You clearly don’t like listening to Li… cough cough, you clearly don’t like listening to your mother’s nagging, so why force yourself to do it!” The man, who had almost given himself away, secretly patted his chest, thankfully he had changed his tune in time!
The petite woman sprawled on the bed clearly didn’t pay much attention, only mumbling, “She’s your mother! What’s wrong with making her happy? I’m just killing time anyway…”
The teasing remark that was about to come out suddenly got stuck in his throat. The man reached out and gently stroked the woman’s hair, his eyes softening even more. What a kind little woman!
From initially changing the subject to avoid embarrassing her father, to insisting on listening to her mother’s nagging, and then willingly enduring her chatter to comfort her mother, he saw everything in this little woman’s eyes.
Originally, she was willing to accept all of this, but because she thought these were his family, she accepted him as her husband and thus accepted his family as well.
Although she was a stand-in, she did not panic or give up on herself. Instead, she tried her best to accept and adapt to her fate, and find the best way to survive in the predicament arranged by fate.
However, a thought suddenly crossed the man’s face, and his smile vanished. This clever, kind, and strong woman mistook him for Li Hao, so all her feelings were born from Li Hao. When Li Hao returned and she discovered that he was just a substitute for Li Hao, would she still accept and depend on him as she did now?
The moment this thought popped into his head, the man couldn’t help but feel jealous of Li Hao. Why was such a fun and adorable little woman so devoted to Li Hao?
So, driven by jealousy, the man pulled the little woman, who was already fast asleep, into his arms, pinched her nose to wake her, and asked in a snort, “If one day I am no longer the young master of the Li family, will you still love me?”
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