Dong Xiufang paused mid-step.
She turned, her eyes dark and sharp as they swept over Meng Yu.
The Zhou family had just held a wedding yesterday, and any little stir would attract spectators.
Meng Yu’s words sounded polite, but no one was naive—wasn’t this just a subtle jab, implying she was looking for trouble, coming to the main house just to play at being a mother-in-law?
With the neighbors’ curious eyes on her, Dong Xiufang’s anger boiled!
She hadn’t expected that Fan Cuixiang, that fool, had married such a formidable daughter-in-law—she had seriously underestimated her.
Ignoring Meng Yu, Dong Xiufang turned and walked away.
Watching her hurried departure, the corner of Meng Yu’s mouth curled up.
Trying to size her up?
This second aunt had a long way to go.
She turned her head and saw Zhou Sinian squinting at her, studying her.
Meng Yu jumped but quickly regained her composure, raising her thin chin slightly.
“Am I impressive?”
Zhou Sinian hadn’t expected her sudden question. He paused, then nodded.
“Impressive.”
Meng Yu grinned smugly and passed Zhou Sinian to return inside.
Watching her back, Zhou Sinian’s gaze deepened with curiosity.
A rural girl who could turn sweeping a yard into a dust storm, clever and subtly cutting others down—every aspect of her was completely unlike the third daughter of the Meng family he’d heard of, supposedly so timid she could barely speak.
This investigation couldn’t be delayed any longer.
At noon, Meng Yu obediently went to help in the kitchen, but in less than five minutes, Fan Cuixiang screamed and chased her out!
“Big brother! Big brother! Make her leave!”
Zhou Sinian froze mid-strike with the hammer.
Zhou Fengnian took the hammer from his elder brother, a trace of sympathy in his eyes.
“Big brother… everything will be fine.”
Glancing at Zhou Fengnian, Zhou Sinian left the east storage room.
He then saw his mother angrily pushing Meng Yu out of the kitchen.
Though embarrassed, Meng Yu still tried to plead her case.
“Mom, don’t worry. If you won’t let me cook, I can tend the fire instead.”
“I’ll do it properly this time…”
“Mom…”
Zhou Sinian: ???
Who could tell him what this woman was up to now?
Fan Cuixiang’s head was throbbing just from looking at her. Seeing Zhou Sinian, she waved urgently.
“Hurry! Big brother, take her away quickly!”
“There’s only a little bowl of cooking oil left in the house, and she poured it all into the pot!”
Mentioning it, Fan Cuixiang’s face twitched with pain.
“Tending the fire… oh!”
She didn’t even want to mention it.
No need, because Zhou Sinian saw the thick black smoke billowing from the kitchen.
And his second brother’s wife running out, covering her nose and mouth, in a pitiful state.
Good.
Even his mother didn’t want to scold her—she was truly a talent.
Sighing, Zhou Sinian stepped forward and grabbed Meng Yu’s thin wrist.
It was so slender he felt he could snap it with just a pinch.
Meng Yu tried to plead further.
“I promise this time—”
Before she could finish, Zhou Sinian tugged her back inside.
Xin Hongmei coughed twice, glancing at the big brother and sister-in-law’s room.
“Mom, does this eldest sister-in-law… really not know how to cook?”
She wasn’t trying to stir trouble—after all, hadn’t this rural girl grown up doing chores like this?
Fan Cuixiang, allergic to Meng Yu, waved her hand frantically after hearing the second daughter-in-law.
“Don’t mention her, don’t mention her. My head hurts from anger.”
With that, she clapped her hands and dashed into the kitchen.
Her cooking oil! It had to be scooped out of the pot!
Elsewhere, after Zhou Sinian closed the door, he turned to Meng Yu.
His gaze, full of scrutiny, was unapologetically direct.
Meng Yu coughed, subtly averting her eyes.
Looking down at her toes, she wore a pair of red cloth shoes, slightly large—her size was much smaller than Meng Jixiang’s, so the shoes were loose.
“Uh… sorry.”
She truly wanted to help, not create trouble.
Zhou Sinian said nothing, continuing to appraise her.
Just as Meng Yu felt suffocated under his gaze, Zhou Sinian spoke.
His voice cold, probing without disguise.
“The third daughter of the Meng family may speak little and be timid, but she’s capable at home and outside. Yet seeing you now, I’m beginning to think the rumors were unreliable.”
“Don’t you agree, Meng Doyu?”
Meng Yu suddenly raised her eyes to meet the man in front of her.
He still wore a dark green vest, his muscular arms exuding a strong sense of pressure.
He was doubting her.
But the next moment, Meng Yu smiled.
On her thin face, the smile looked exceptionally bright.
“Yeah, so why do you think that is?”
She stepped closer to the man.
Her eyes, large from her thinness, now sparkled even more.
“If I hadn’t acted convincingly, could I have survived until today in the Meng family’s tiger den and wolf’s lair?”
Next, her small hand pressed against the man’s solid chest.
Especially feeling the muscles tighten beneath her fingertips, her smile widened.
She pressed harder with her fingers.
Her gaze fixed on Zhou Sinian.
“Zhou Sinian, you should thank me for pretending. Otherwise, you’d have married that sharp-tongued, lazy Meng Jixiang. She would have teamed up with your aunt and your mom to fight you—believe me?”
Zhou Sinian frowned.
Something felt off.
Meng Yu didn’t give him time to react and continued her verbal attack.
“Think I’m exaggerating? I know Meng Jixiang better than you do.”
“You should thank the army for sending her back. Otherwise… how could you ever have a peaceful day?”
A peaceful day?
Hearing this, Zhou Sinian couldn’t help but let out a cold snort.
He raised his hand, seizing Meng Yu’s rebellious hand.
Pulling her forward, the thin yet commanding Meng Yu stumbled, nearly falling into Zhou Sinian’s arms.
Then his cold words rang in her ear.
“Yesterday you came in with a red cloth covering you. From this morning until now, in just half a day, have you made this household peaceful?”
Just because Meng Jixiang was restless, does that make her obedient?
And was she trying to change the topic?
Zhou Sinian placed his other hand under Meng Yu’s chin, forcing her to lift her head and meet his gaze.
“Meng Yu, what makes you think you could seduce me?”
With her emaciated body, or those overly large, skull-like eyes?
A personal attack!
Hearing this, Meng Yu’s expression immediately darkened. The next moment, she lifted her foot and stomped hard on the man’s instep!
Zhou Sinian didn’t even frown, though it nearly made her scream from pain.
This stinky man was rock solid all over!
She might not cook or do housework, and in her previous life, her hands, precious and delicate, had only played the violin!
This life, she had no intention of changing that!
Meng Yu tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“Seduce? You’re imagining things.”
“You can investigate all you want, dig up the Meng family tombs even—I don’t care. But one thing I can tell you for sure.”
“I am Meng Doyu.”