Jiang Tingting smiled deeply, knowing this was Zhou Qinghao’s younger brother, Zhou Qingrui—a sensible, good child.
In those worlds she’d traveled through, Zhou Qinghao had often brought up his younger brother in front of her, even telling her about the time Zhou Qingrui wet the bed at an older age.
He’d thoroughly sold his brother out.
“Yes, I’m your sister-in-law.” Jiang Tingting looked at Zhou Qingrui’s handsome, refined features, and her mind began to imagine what Zhou Qinghao might look like.
Because of the transmigration rules, they couldn’t even sketch their own appearances.
In her feeling, Zhou Qinghao should be more rugged than Zhou Qingrui.
“Sister-in-law, your younger brother greets you.” Zhou Qingrui bowed formally, all the way to the ground.
Jiang Tingting smiled—what a good child.
“Young uncle, your sister-in-law returns the greeting.” Jiang Tingting gave a slight bow.
Zhou Qingrui’s face visibly flushed red in an instant.
His shyness made Jiang Tingting burst out laughing—what an adorable little guy.
Both were twelve years old, but Zhou Qingrui was far better than Jiang Mother’s son, who was a detestable, annoying brat.
“Sister Zhou, excuse me, could I borrow a broom?” A voice from outside the courtyard gate made a cold glint flash quickly through Jiang Tingting’s eyes.
It was that outsider man.
The one who’d been hiding in the corner eavesdropping when Jiang Mother spoke to her.
His behavior was too strange.
Was he truly a refugee, or a spy sent by the court to watch the Zhou family?
Jiang Tingting grew wary, marking Zhou Qinghao as a suspect to keep a close eye on.
She ignored Zhou Qinghao and said to Zhou Qingrui, “Qingrui, hand a broom to that big brother.”
“Okay.” Zhou Qingrui immediately grabbed a broom from the yard and handed it over.
Zhou Qinghao took it, smiling and nodding: “Thanks, I’ll return it when I’m done.”
“No rush, use it first.” Zhou Qingrui said politely.
Jiang Tingting had already put the basket into the kitchen.
Zhou Mother called out, “Tingting, come here, see what’s missing in your room, and I’ll make up for it later.”
Jiang Tingting acknowledged and stepped inside, then froze completely.
No matter how tidy a mud-brick house was, it was still dark and dingy, but Zhou Mother had replaced her bedding with new quilts and placed the family’s best cabinet in her room.
Not to mention the new wooden basin and cloth towel set in the corner.
In the short time she’d been up the mountain, Zhou Mother had transformed the small room into something fresh and new.
Such conditions were quite shabby for Jiang Tingting, who had traveled through countless worlds.
But given Zhou Mother’s current circumstances, this was the best she could offer—and that heartfelt sincerity made Jiang Tingting’s heart feel warm and soft.
Zhou Qinghao hadn’t exaggerated at all; his mother was truly a very, very good person.
“Mother.” As soon as Jiang Tingting spoke, she realized her voice was thick with tears. Embarrassed, she sniffled, trying to hold back the crying.
Zhou Mother understood Jiang Tingting’s feelings and took her hand: “Tingting, I know you’ve been wronged. My son… but since you’ve married into our family, you’re my daughter-in-law now, and I’ll protect you.”
She wasn’t worried that Jiang Tingting harbored ill intentions, because Jiang Tingting was a local from Xixia Village, not an outsider.
Even if the court sent someone to watch them, they couldn’t buy Jiang Tingting over.
During her time in Xixia Village, she’d observed everyone’s temperament, and Jiang Tingting was a simple, upright, good girl.
As for why Jiang Tingting had so much silver on her, she didn’t want to ask.
She’d seen clearly how Jiang Tingting lived in the Jiang family, and the girl’s ability to plan for herself showed she was clever.
If Jiang Tingting hadn’t kept something back, she’d probably have been sold by now.
Zhou Mother quite admired Jiang Tingting’s decision to marry into the family—she was a bold and resourceful girl.
Jiang Tingting smiled: “Mother, don’t worry, from now on, our family has me.”
“Oh, Mother, I caught a rabbit—tonight, we’ll have stir-fried rabbit meat.” Jiang Tingting wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, got up, and went out to prepare the rabbit.
A smile spread across Zhou Mother’s lips as she looked out the window. Was it her late husband’s spirit in heaven blessing her, giving her such a good daughter-in-law?
To be honest, she’d tried hard to blend into village life, but she still stumbled along.
Going without food herself was fine, but Qingrui was at a growing age, and she couldn’t even feed her own son now.
Qingrui was also very sensible, going to chop wood and such—but unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough to fill their stomachs.
Now it was better—Jiang Tingting had come, and she could learn farming from her to bring more food to the household.
With that thought, Zhou Mother got up and went out: “Tingting, let me learn how to prepare the rabbit with you, I…”
Jiang Tingting’s deft movements in cleaning the rabbit stunned Zhou Mother so much she forgot the rest of her sentence.
Not to mention her, even Zhou Qingrui stood off to the side, staring blankly in a daze.
“Mother, you don’t need to learn these. You just stay home and help with making clothes and shoes. My embroidery isn’t good, so all our clothing and bedding will have to rely on you.” Jiang Tingting swiftly cleaned the rabbit, then turned around with a smile and said to Mother Zhou.
“Alright, alright.” Mother Zhou swallowed hard and nodded hurriedly in agreement.
She felt that cleaning rabbits wasn’t something she seemed able to learn.
Zhou Qingrui was startled by his new sister-in-law’s deft hands. He stammered, “Sister-in-law, even my brother isn’t as quick as you when cleaning a rabbit.”
Jiang Tingting smiled faintly and casually made up an excuse: “Maybe it’s because I’ve been used to it since I was young.”
In a certain mission world, she had been a top surgeon, her scalpel skills nothing short of miraculous, hailed as the world’s finest blade.
Such skill, used to kill and skin a rabbit, was more than enough.
It was practically overkill.
“Qingrui, go wash the rabbit for me. I’ll start the fire and cook.” Jiang Tingting instructed Zhou Qingrui with practiced familiarity.
She and Zhou Qingrui were indeed meeting for the first time in this world, but through countless worlds traversed, thanks to Zhou Qinghao’s introductions, Zhou Qingrui held no secrets from her at all.
She knew Zhou Qingrui very well!
“Okay.” Zhou Qingrui happily went off to wash the rabbit.
“Tingting, what should I do?” Mother Zhou asked.
“Mother, just rest for a bit. Come taste my cooking in a while.” Jiang Tingting said with a chuckle, “See if it suits your palate.”
“Alright.” Although Mother Zhou responded with that, she didn’t actually rest. Instead, she took out some clothes and began mending them in the courtyard.
In the neighboring courtyard, Zhou Qinghao spoke in a low, cold voice to his father: “Father, that Jiang Tingting definitely has a problem.”
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