When Mu Xi arrived at the dining table, Father Mu, Mu Changhong, was already seated at the head of the table, while Jiang Yun was still serving everyone their rice.
“Xixi, hurry and sit down to eat. The factory was doing its end-of-month cleaning today, so I got home a little late. Are you hungry?”
When Jiang Yun turned around and saw Mu Xi, she immediately handed her the bowl of rice in her hands.
“I wasn’t hungry just now, but I really am getting a little hungry now,” Mu Xi said with a smile as she sat down.
Jiang Yun smiled as well. “You child. Since you’re hungry, eat more.”
As she spoke, she picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks and placed it in Mu Xi’s bowl.
“Thanks, Mom.” Without the slightest hesitation, Mu Xi picked up the meat and put it into her mouth. “Mom, your cooking really is amazing. Why don’t you teach me sometime?”
“Oh, it’s nowhere near as good as you say. Whatever you want to eat, Mom can just make it for you. Why would you need to learn yourself?”
There really was nothing to criticize about Jiang Yun as a stepmother.
Because she and Mu Xi had only become mother and daughter later in life, Jiang Yun had been afraid of overstepping boundaries. In the beginning, she had treated Mu Xi very politely and wouldn’t let her lift a finger when it came to household chores.
And to keep her own daughter from feeling that it was unfair, she likewise didn’t let her daughter do any chores and handled everything herself.
In her view, enduring a little more hardship and exhaustion herself in exchange for a harmonious family was worth it. After all, harmony in the family brought prosperity in everything.
“Mom, I’m already this old. If I still don’t learn anything, what am I going to do when I get married someday and don’t know how to do anything?”
Mu Xi actually knew how to cook, but the original owner didn’t.
If she suddenly whipped up an entire table full of dishes, how could the family members who lived with her day in and day out not become suspicious?
“Xixi, are you seeing someone?” Jiang Yun hesitated for a moment before asking uncertainly.
Even Mu Changhong, who had been quietly eating, looked over.
Mu Xi swallowed the rice in her mouth. “No.”
“Xixi, you’re already eighteen. It’s perfectly normal for you to be seeing someone. In the villages, girls your age already have children.
“So you don’t need to hide it from your dad and me. As long as he’s a good person and treats you well, your dad and I won’t object.”
“Cough, cough…” Wait, how had the conversation suddenly gone in this direction?
“Mom, there really isn’t anyone. I only just graduated. Where would I even find someone to date? There wasn’t anyone at school who caught my eye either. When I really do have someone, I promise you’ll be the first person I tell.”
To be fair, in this era, anyone who could attend high school was practically the treasure of their family, the sort who probably wouldn’t even bother picking up a soy sauce bottle if it fell over.
Dating someone like that, or even marrying them, wouldn’t that just mean finding herself a young master she had to wait on hand and foot?
Although that wasn’t necessarily true of everyone, it seemed that most men in this era…
At that thought, Mu Xi suddenly fell silent.
“Sigh, I thought…” Jiang Yun sighed and didn’t finish her sentence.
But Mu Xi immediately understood.
She was thinking about Mu Xi being sent down to the countryside.
Mu Xi knew the matter was already settled and there was nothing more to say, so she directly changed the subject.
“Mom, has Sis sent a letter recently?”
“Not yet. It should arrive sometime in the next few days. Your sister sends two letters every month, so one could come around the end or beginning of the month.”
“Mm. Life in the countryside is hard. I wonder how Sis is doing. Let’s send her some more things.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Your sister has already been in the countryside for two years, so she can definitely handle things by now. It’s you…”
Jiang Yun’s expression filled with worry as she sighed repeatedly.
If there were even the slightest way around it, she wouldn’t want her daughter to be sent down to the countryside.
But this was national policy. There was nothing they could do.
They had already sent their eldest daughter away before, and now their younger daughter was about to embark on the same path.
“Mom, don’t worry. I’m all grown up now. I can take care of myself, so I’ll definitely be fine. Besides, I have you as my strong support. If anything happens, I’ll just write home.”