Su Mo took a fierce bite of the skewer in her hand.
“Lin Yuyi, that bastard.”
Who could have imagined that what should have been a sweet night for the newlyweds would be completely ruined by her mother-in-law.
“And you’re still laughing.” Su Mo lightly smacked Zhao Xiaoxiao’s arm.
“Alright, alright. Isn’t your good sister here drinking with you?”
“To hell with men and mothers-in-law.”
Su Mo was truly upset.
“You don’t know my destination wedding is already ruined. Luckily there’s still the honeymoon. I hope that doesn’t get ruined too.”
“And I only took one month off. When I go back to the company, I’ll probably be swamped. So during this last bit of vacation, I must make the wedding the way I want it.”
Zhao Xiaoxiao picked up her cola and lightly clinked it against Su Mo’s glass.
“Hard to say!”
“Zhao Xiaoxiao!”
“But I wish everything goes smoothly!”
From ten to midnight, Su Mo dragged Zhao Xiaoxiao into complaining for a full two hours.
Especially when it came to Zhang Lanhua’s red envelope even Zhao Xiaoxiao was stunned. She had never seen such a stingy mother-in-law.
She couldn’t help feeling worried for Su Mo’s future life.
A stingy mother-in-law meeting a pampered young lady that was bound to cause chaos!
Before getting the marriage certificate, Su Mo had never imagined that after marriage there would be so many trivial matters to handle and discuss.
It was even more troublesome than working at the company.
When Lin Yuyi came to pick Su Mo up, she didn’t speak, just sat in the car by herself.
Zhao Xiaoxiao stepped forward to smooth things over.
“Alright, little princess. You’re married now you should tone down that temper. See? He even came to coax you.”
“After all, Lin Yuyi was raised by his mother alone. You should be grateful to your mother-in-law. Without her upbringing, would you have gotten such a perfect husband?”
Zhao Xiaoxiao really knew how to talk.
Her comforting words came in smooth, practiced waves.
And Su Mo fell right for it.
She glanced at Lin Yuyi, who was still outside the car.
“Why aren’t you getting in? I’m sleepy.”
“Wife, coming right away yes, ma’am!”
Lin Yuyi smiled apologetically, afraid she might get upset again.
“So? Finished watching TV dramas with your mom?” Su Mo let out a small burp she’d drunk too much cola.
Without Lin Yuyi beside her, she didn’t dare drink alcohol.
Fortunately, the barbecue stall wasn’t far from their neighborhood, so they arrived home quickly.
As soon as they got home, Zhang Lanhua stood at the door in the large-flowered cotton pajamas she had brought from the countryside, her face gloomy with displeasure at Su Mo’s behavior.
Just as she was about to scold her, Lin Yuyi pushed Su Mo inside.
He didn’t want to finish coaxing his wife only to start all over again.
“Alright, Mom. We’re both sleepy. Time to sleep.”
In the bedroom
Lin Yuyi deliberately didn’t turn on the light. He wrapped an arm around Su Mo’s waist and began kissing her, trying to make up for the moment that had been interrupted earlier.
As emotions deepened, Su Mo held on to a final thread of reason.
“Wait, wait…
Go put one on.”
Lin Yuyi felt a bit annoyed, but they had long agreed to wait two years before having children.
So he obediently went to get protection.
In the dark room, Su Mo listened to him rummaging through drawers for a long time without coming back.
“Are you done yet?”
“I remember it was right here why can’t I find it?”
Su Mo instantly lost interest. She turned on the light too bright wrapped herself in a bath towel, and went to take a shower.
“Maybe your mom came into our room earlier and took it.”
Lin Yuyi didn’t believe it. He couldn’t imagine his mother even recognizing such a thing.
“How about… Mo Mo, I go buy some?”
Su Mo blushed. “Lin Yuyi, it’s the middle of the night. Go to sleep!”
Her mood had already been ruined by Zhang Lanhua earlier, and now that she was full, she just wanted to sleep.
So on their wedding night, Su Mo fell asleep with a belly full of anger.
Morning
Before dawn, Zhang Lanhua was already knocking on the door.
“Mo Mo, Yao’er, wake up! I made breakfast come eat!”
Normally, Su Mo liked to sleep a little longer and would just grab something quick on the way to work.
And she had taken leave precisely to sleep in she absolutely didn’t want to get up this early.
She reached out and pushed the half-asleep Lin Yuyi beside her, eyes still closed.
“You go tell your mom…
We’re not eating breakfast. I’m sleepy.”
Lin Yuyi pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead earning immediate disgust from Su Mo.
“Okay, baby wife. I’ll go now.”
“Ah! You haven’t brushed your teeth don’t kiss me.”
But before he could open the door, Zhang Lanhua used the bedroom key to open it herself.
Wearing an apron and holding a spatula, she stood right by the bed.
Her voice was already loud; one shout startled Su Mo awake.
“Mo Mo, get up. Don’t sleep anymore.”
“You’re young you should exercise and take care of your health.”
The moment Su Mo opened her eyes and saw Zhang Lanhua’s face, she wanted to go home. She wanted to cry.
She had always been gently coaxed awake by Qin Hui since when had someone pulled off her blanket while she slept?
Su Mo felt disrespected and was on the verge of tears.
She wrapped her arms around Lin Yuyi’s waist.
“Yuyi… sob, sob…”
In truth, she wasn’t really crying this was a trick Zhao Xiaoxiao had taught her the night before.
If the mother-in-law was unreasonable, then she would do the opposite become a delicate, pitiful little flower.
The moment Lin Yuyi heard her crying, he panicked and shielded her in his arms.
“Mom, Mo Mo works very hard every day. Could you not disturb us so early in the morning?”
Zhang Lanhua reacted as if provoked.
She raised her voice and began lecturing Su Mo.
Su Mo got scared. She couldn’t keep playing the delicate flower anymore.
She had no choice but to get out of bed and obediently go eat breakfast mainly because Zhang Lanhua’s voice was just too loud.
Every sentence spoken near her ear made her heart tremble.
After washing up, Su Mo was fully awake.
She sat at the table and looked at the chili sauce, pickled vegetables, and plain porridge.
Suddenly she lost her appetite especially for the chili sauce.
She could still remember how spicy it had been that day.
“Yuyi, I don’t want to eat this. I want soup dumplings from South Street. Let’s go buy those, okay?”
She acted coquettishly, and Lin Yuyi was almost powerless to resist.
Hearing her cooking being rejected, Zhang Lanhua sipped her porridge and spoke in a sarcastic tone:
“Oh, I’m old.
It’s normal not to like what I cook. At least food at home is clean. If Mo Mo likes soup dumplings, Mom can learn to make them next time surely cleaner than outside, right?”
Su Mo pursed her lips.
This was the first time she experienced wanting to eat something but not being able to and instead having to eat something she didn’t want.
It felt truly agonizing.
Su Mo had a premonition:
this “first time” would happen many more times in her future life.
She looked eagerly at Lin Yuyi and suddenly thought of something.