“Why didn’t they spend more time together first?”
After putting the washed rag aside, Meng Zeyan placed the bowls his mother had cleaned into the cabinet.
An arranged marriage wasn’t strange in itself—but why not spend more time getting to know each other? Meeting only two or three times and then deciding to marry… wasn’t that a bit too rushed?
As the saying goes, a mother knows her son best. Xing Cui could guess what Meng Zeyan was thinking. She leaned back slightly and glanced toward Tang Huan’s room across the yard.
Seeing the door was closed, she nudged Meng Zeyan’s arm with her elbow.
“Go, close the door.”
Meng Zeyan walked over and closed it, then came back to continue helping with the chores.
Xing Cui simply pulled up a stool and sat down, handing all the work over to him. Her son could handle both household chores and social situations—what was that saying again… right, “well-versed in both civil and military matters.”
Meng Zeyan rolled up his sleeves and finished putting the bowls away, waiting for his mother to speak privately.
She even closed the door on purpose—clearly this was going to be a private conversation.
“I know you can’t accept Zeyu’s death in your heart,” Xing Cui began. “Your father and I can’t accept it either.”
Their second son had only passed away a month ago. She couldn’t even bring herself to mention it properly; just thinking about it made her tears fall again. She sighed.
“But it was an accident. He died saving someone. Since Zeyu’s accident until now, I’ve watched Xiaohuan lose a whole circle of weight. That child is suffering inside.”
She was only twenty. Her life had just begun, and she was already a widow. No matter who it was, no one could easily accept something like that.
Xing Cui sighed again—more times in this past month than in her entire life. She grieved for her young son who died too early, for her daughter-in-law who became a widow the day after marriage, and for herself and her husband who had to send off their child before them.
While working, she explained everything about Tang Huan and Meng Zeyu to Meng Zeyan.
Tang Huan’s father had remarried, and her stepmother was a terrible woman who wanted to force Tang Huan to marry her own useless son.
To escape that arrangement, Tang Huan and Meng Zeyu had met only a few times before getting married, planning to slowly build feelings after marriage while avoiding their respective problems.
Thinking of that troublesome in-law family, Xing Cui was still irritated.
“If Xiaohuan’s brother were home and doing business instead of being away, those two would’ve gotten what they deserved.”
Meng Zeyan, as always, did not comment on other people’s family matters. He simply listened in silence.
After finishing speaking, Xing Cui left first, knowing he disliked gossip.
Inside the room, Tang Huan took a short nap.
When she woke up, she stared blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds before fully coming to her senses.
It was 3:30 in the afternoon. She got out of bed, changed to a math textbook, and went back under the grape trellis to study.
It was 1983, and exams were divided into liberal arts and science streams. She still hadn’t decided what she wanted to do in the future, so she wasn’t sure which path to choose yet.
As she sat down to study, she suddenly remembered something—she had forgotten to tell her mother-in-law about Aunt Wu picking on her, because Meng Zeyan’s return had interrupted her earlier.
In a little while, her mother-in-law would go out to buy vegetables. Prices dropped in the afternoon market, so she would just wait here.
She was taking notes in her book when she soon heard the sound of her mother-in-law leaving the house.
“Mom, Aunt Wu today again—”
As she spoke, she looked up—and froze.
It wasn’t only her mother-in-law leaving. Meng Zeyan was following behind her.
The rest of her sentence swallowed itself back down.
The brother-in-law looked easy to get along with, but for some reason, Tang Huan vaguely felt that he didn’t like her.
As soon as Xing Cui heard the first half of her sentence, she immediately understood. Her anger flared up at once.
“Did she pick on you again?! I’ll go deal with her right now. Always bullying the soft ones—what kind of trash is she!”
“…Mm.”
If it had only been her mother-in-law, Tang Huan might have argued that she wasn’t actually a “soft persimmon.”
She couldn’t curse, but she could call for backup.
So she probably didn’t count as one.
Meng Zeyan’s gaze once again fell on the textbook in front of her. Earlier it was Chinese, now it was math—she really was quite diligent.
Angry, Xing Cui grabbed her basket and stormed out.
Meng Zeyan followed a step behind. He had just returned after a long time away, and his mother clearly wanted to take him out to show him off a little.
At that hour, most households were heading to the market because vegetables were cheaper.
As expected, Aunt Wu was there too.
The moment she saw Xing Cui with her tall military son beside her, she didn’t even turn her head. She walked straight forward as if she hadn’t seen them.
She wasn’t stupid—why give Xing Cui a chance to show off?
“Wu, stop right there!” Xing Cui wasn’t actually trying to show off; she was just furious that the woman kept bullying Tang Huan while picking on the weak.
But Aunt Wu only walked faster.
“Calling me to stop like I’m deaf? Showing off because you’ve got a military son?”
That anger only made Xing Cui even more furious. She rushed forward and grabbed her arm, yanking her so hard she stumbled.
“Didn’t you hear me? Running so fast—what guilty conscience are you hiding?!”
Meng Zeyan took a few steps forward with the basket in hand but didn’t get too close. He kept a distance just right—close enough to intervene if needed, but far enough not to interfere.
“What guilty conscience? Xing Cui, are you crazy!” Aunt Wu shouted angrily as she tried to shake her off.
Xing Cui let go, hands on her hips, sneering.
“You’re the one who’s crazy! I warned you before not to pick on Xiaohuan. You think I was joking? Bullying people behind their backs—you shameless old thing!”
“If you dare do it again, I’ll tear your roof off. Believe it or not?”
“I didn’t bully her!” Aunt Wu said, glancing at Meng Zeyan standing nearby. “Fine. From now on I won’t talk to her at all, alright? So many daughters-in-law in this street—only your Xiaohuan is precious?”
Xing Cui didn’t care about others. She only protected her own.
“Stop twisting things. Just remember what I said. One more time and I’ll fix your roof!”
She turned and walked away, not bothering to argue further—she still needed to catch the cheaper vegetables.
As they passed, Meng Zeyan spoke mildly to Aunt Wu.
“Auntie, don’t be angry. My mom was just threatening you.”
Aunt Wu looked up at him, caught that faint smile in his eyes, and hurried off with her basket.
She had clashed with Xing Cui for years—she knew exactly how fierce that woman was.
And this Meng Zeyan kid… he’d never been good either. Even with that military uniform on now, he was still the same on the inside—smiling on the surface, but full of scheming thoughts.
When they arrived, the market had just started lowering prices. Vendors shouted over each other, calling out discounts.
Xing Cui picked out a few cheap vegetables with Meng Zeyan, then took him to the fish stall.
Fish and shrimp weren’t cheap. As long as they stayed alive, they could still be sold the next day.
A fish and half a kilo of shrimp cost three yuan and twenty cents.
When Xing Cui paid, she didn’t even blink.
Their family wasn’t short of money—save where needed, spend where it mattered.