Tsk, the system wanted them to find a way to sponge things off the Xia family!
What a dog of a system!
One had to know that in the Xia family, there was only one enamel basin with a misprinted character.
It was the dowry of the eldest sister-in-law, Wu Hong!
To take someone’s dowry—the system certainly dared to issue such a mission!
“System, it’s just a single portion of Spicy Cold Rabbit, yet you’re giving me this level of difficulty? Are you treating me like an outsider?”
[Host, no matter which country it is, it belongs within the confines of Earth.]
“Ha! Quit spouting this nonsense to me.”
[The system mission has already been issued and cannot be changed.]
Meng Wenzhou gave Xia Xianxian’s hand a squeeze.
“The reward and the mission are not proportional. We demand an appeal and additional compensation.”
[Spicy Cold Rabbit was requested by you.]
Ignoring the system as it feigned grievance, Meng Wenzhou directly operated the panel to file an appeal.
Along the way, Wu Hong’s mouth hadn’t stopped for a moment; she was already incredibly thirsty and had no time to pay attention to the two behind her.
Running into the courtyard in a hurry, she told the Xia family that the guests had arrived, then headed straight for the kitchen to chug water.
Hearing the news of their arrival, Lin Jiafeng quickly lifted the curtain. Responding to her daughter and son-in-law’s greetings as she walked, she took three or five large strides straight up to the two of them.
She glanced at her daughter, whom she hadn’t seen for two days, and then looked at the son-in-law standing straight as a ramrod in front of her. Smiling, she said, “Quick, come inside the house. Your father and your brother are both waiting for you in the main hall.”
In the main hall, only Xia Changzhu and the eldest son, Xia Aijun, were present.
Even though she possessed the memories, Xia Xianxian still dazed out for a moment upon entering the door.
Two dark, robust, large men sat on the chairs in the room like two great mountains.
With the exact same square jaws, buzz cuts, and signature prominent dark complexions, anyone could tell at a glance that they were father and son without a word being said.
Xia Xianxian felt incredibly fortunate; luckily, her body took after her mother and was very fair-skinned.
In this family, some were dark and some were fair; looking at them gathered together was actually quite amusing.
Lin Jiafeng handed the two of them the white sugar water she had prepared long ago. After exchanging a couple of hospitable words, she rushed back toward the kitchen in a flurry.
“You two sit and talk for a bit, I still have things to do in the kitchen.”
Although aided by memories, Xia Xianxian felt no sense of familiarity with the two men in the room.
Past memories were like a movie; even when she tried hard to recall them, they were just frame-by-frame animations. She only vaguely remembered that these two didn’t like to talk, and everyone didn’t interact much on regular days.
Seeing that Lin Jiafeng was about to leave, Xia Xianxian dropped a line and immediately followed her out.
“You guys sit, I’ll go to the kitchen to help out.”
Perhaps it was the innate mother-daughter nature within the body, but the moment Xia Xianxian saw Lin Jiafeng, she subconsciously wanted to follow her, completely forgetting about the incident of staying in bed and getting beaten a few days ago.
“You girl, why did you follow me out? You are a guest now, go back out quickly and sit with your dad and the others.”
“Didn’t I miss you? I just want to follow behind Mother like a little tail.”
Xia Xianxian acted coquettishly toward Lin Jiafeng, following behind her with brisk steps.
Meanwhile, back in the main hall, since the women had left, the atmosphere became somewhat silent and subtle.
People always said the Xia father and son were alike, referring not only to their looks but also to their taciturn dispositions.
Since entering the door, the father had only said a single sentence: “You’re here.”
He hadn’t opened his mouth again since.
Seeing his daughter, who had returned for her homecoming visit, run behind his old wife’s back the moment they faced each other, he didn’t utter a word either.
During this time, he neither offered words of advice to his son-in-law nor exchanged pleasantries with him; he just sat in the main seat holding the tobacco pouch in his hand.
In the end, it was Xia Aijun who couldn’t hold back and blurted out a sentence to Meng Wenzhou that resembled a caring gesture of politeness: “Drink water, drink water.”
Even with his outgoing personality, Meng Wenzhou felt a bit uncomfortable. Whenever he wanted to break the ice, the father and son pair would look at either the ceiling or their teawals, maintaining a stance of refusing to open their mouths to speak.
Even though Meng Wenzhou had a stomach full of words, he was forced back by the stance of this father and son.
He sullenly took a sip of the sugar water in his bowl, reworking a draft in his head as he prepared to chat about something with the pair, when he heard a commotion coming from the doorway.
“Sister! Brother-in-law!”
A dark, chubby, big boy began shouting at the top of his lungs before even entering the door, rushing in from the courtyard like a little whirlwind.
With two large dark faces present in the room and three grown men sitting face-to-face in silence, anyone entering the door would normally subconsciously lower their volume and behave themselves.
But this little dark, chubby boy didn’t care; he was entirely at ease, shouting “Brother-in-law!” the moment he saw Meng Wenzhou.
Then, while yelling, “Thirsty to death! Tired to death!” he reached out to cradle the sugar jar—which hadn’t been put back into the cupboard in time—in his arms, pouring sugar into his bowl with a loud whoosh.
Xia Changzhu tapped the long pipe in his hand, but the little dark, chubby boy didn’t react. Xia Aijun glared at him, and he still didn’t react.
Finally, seeing Xia Aijun stand up from his chair, he reluctantly set the sugar jar down, though he quickly poured another handful right as it left the rim of the bowl.
The sight made Meng Wenzhou thoroughly amused. This little dark, chubby boy was thick-skinned and precise with his hands; it seemed he had done this quite often.
“Is school dismissed?”
The little dark, chubby boy held the bowl, which was a good half-full of white sugar water, without drinking it, just cradling it in his hands.
Seeing Meng Wenzhou strike up a conversation with him, the little dark, chubby boy nodded with an air of gravity.
“Yes, indeed. I was thinking about you and my sister the whole morning, so I rushed back the moment school was dismissed.”
Seeing that the chubby boy was cute and that his manner of speaking and doing things faintly carried a hint of Xia Xianxian’s style, Meng Wenzhou couldn’t help but tease him: “Oh, then your school certainly dismisses quite early. I remember mine used to be a bit later.”
At this point, the two large dark faces sitting there finally couldn’t hold back anymore.
“I was dismissed early! The teacher had to go to the city for a meeting, and the other teachers couldn’t spare the time, so we were let go early!!”
The little dark, chubby boy was rich in struggle experience. Sensing that the situation was bad, he immediately cradled his head and scurried around the room, loudly shouting his innocence!
“It’s true! If you don’t believe me, you can ask Xiaohua and Tiedan, we came back together!”
At least he managed to avoid a beating!
Until they reached the dining table, the gaze the little dark, chubby boy directed toward Meng Wenzhou still carried a trace of resentment.
The brother-in-law, who was usually talkative and good at coaxing people, was extraordinarily quiet today, drawing many glances from Wu Hong.
Lin Jiafeng poured the liquor from the cupboard for the men, then began to call upon everyone to pick up their chopsticks.
The table was laden with various dishes: stir-fried eggs with chives, braised eggplant, green beans with eggplant, and in the center stood a large bowl of pork stewed with vermicelli. This level of hospitality was exceptionally high; even during the Lunar New Year, it was pretty much just like this.
“Come, everyone eat quickly. Today it was mainly Wu Hong who was busy working, so Wu Hong, you must eat a couple more bites in a bit.”
The meat dish was something Lin Jiafeng had prepared beforehand; she hadn’t interfered with the rest.
Previously, Wu Hong hadn’t cooked many dishes in the kitchen, mostly acting as an assistant.
She wasn’t picky either; in whose house did the mother-in-law not manage the keys and the kitchen at home? It just so happened that she could shirk some work, and the family wouldn’t treat her poorly anyway.
It was just that today in the kitchen, Wu Hong had accepted Xia Xianxian’s candies, so her hands were shortened and her mouth softened after taking the favors.
Therefore, she took the initiative to say to Lin Jiafeng, “Mother, take Er-ni back to the room to talk for a bit.”
However, no one expected that Xia Changzhu, who had always disliked speaking, actually took the initiative to place a piece of food into Meng Wenzhou’s bowl.
“Eat meat.”
The brief two words actually managed to freeze the people at the table who were holding their chopsticks.
One after another, they looked toward Xia Changzhu, and upon looking, it became even more incredible.
Everyone could actually see a blush through such a dark face.
The dark skin looked like a jar splashed with cinnabar, turning purple-red with a hint of dark brown.
“Eat meat!”
Unlike Xia Changzhu’s awkwardness, this sentence came out of Lin Jiafeng’s mouth.
She placed a piece of meat into everyone’s bowl, rescuing the blushing Xia Changzhu from his predicament.