Free Web NovelChapter 39: Chapter 39: Zhou Lian Teases Mrs. Zhou (Part 2)
Everyone stared at Zhou Ying and Zhou Huaitai in surprise. Were they overthinking things, or were the aunt and nephew duo being too simplistic?
"No, that’s not right. Yingzi, how do you know so much?" Zhou Xiang asked, looking suspiciously at her younger sister.
"Third Sister, I’ve read a lot of books. Second Sister explained it so clearly, what’s not to understand?" Zhou Ying said calmly. ’I’m pretty smart too, you know.’
Everyone fell silent. Zhou Lian walked into the room and saw the looks on her family’s faces. She felt helpless. ’What on earth are they all worked up about?’
"Mom, what are you worried about?" Zhou Lian asked softly, sitting down next to Mrs. Zhou.
"I don’t know either. I just have a bad feeling," Mrs. Zhou couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Logically, shouldn’t she be happy that her son-in-law treated her daughter so well? But it was so good it made her worry.
Zhou Lian understood her mother’s conflict. Her mother had seen less of the world and couldn’t articulate her feelings clearly.
"Mom, are you worried because he’s excessively good to me, and you’ve never seen anything like it before?" Zhou Lian knew that if she didn’t explain things clearly, her family would continue to worry.
"Mom, Li Xiu isn’t like other people. He was forced into this mindset from a young age. He feels like everyone will eventually leave him—that even his own children will grow up, start their own families, and leave. A wife, however, is someone he brings home, someone who is truly his, who will be with him until they’re old. He’s afraid that if he isn’t good enough to me, I’ll leave too. So whatever he does, I just accept it. Things will settle down over time."
Mrs. Zhou looked at Zhou Lian in disbelief. "Is it that simple?"
Zhou Lian smiled. "It’s that simple. Why make it so complicated? We’ll get used to it. He’s never really been good to anyone before, so he’s just acting on instinct. He feels comfortable doing this, and I’m happy with it. Isn’t that enough?"
It took Zhou Kun a while to understand what was going on, and he laughed in exasperation. "You women have too much time on your hands. When a young buck falls for a girl, he wants to rip his own heart out for her; some just don’t know how to show it. The first time Li Xiu walked through that door, his eyes were shining like a wolf that had just seen meat. Now that he’s married his girl, of course he’s going to treat her as best he can!"
With that, he flicked his hand and walked out into the courtyard. ’Making such a fuss over nothing,’ he thought. ’I thought something was actually wrong. Turns out it’s just the women being idle. I could tell from the start that Li Xiu is a man of deep and true emotions! If I hadn’t seen how much he cherished my daughter, why would I have ever let her marry him!’
The women looked at each other, realizing they had been overthinking things. Zhou Lian couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. She had only meant to reassure her mother, but who knew they would all be so dramatic? Their imaginations had run wild.
"You wretched girl, you did that on purpose, didn’t you!" Mrs. Zhou, seeing her daughter trying to hide her laughter, grew angry out of embarrassment.
"No, Mom, I was just telling the truth. What were you thinking, leading Eldest Sister-in-law, Third Sister, and Fourth Sister astray like that? I can understand Third and Fourth Sister, but Eldest Sister-in-law! You and Eldest Brother have been married for so many years. How could you let Mom lead you astray too?"
’I really can’t help it,’ Zhou Lian thought. ’What did I even say? How did they interpret it as Li Xiu being abnormal? They’re too easily swayed! I can understand my younger sisters being young and unmarried, but my mom and my sister-in-law... They’ve been so spoiled by my dad and my eldest brother that they’re just too naive!’
The Zhou family’s eldest sister-in-law looked helplessly at her young sister-in-law. ’Wasn’t she always the most honest and well-behaved one? How come she’s teasing her own mother and sister-in-law now?’
Seeing her daughter laughing so hard, Mrs. Zhou’s temper flared. Her honest, well-behaved daughter had gotten married and was now teasing her own mother. Didn’t she know she would worry!
She got up to look for a broom. The moment Zhou Lian saw her mother get up and turn around, she knew what was coming. She had never been hit as a child, but her siblings had gotten their fair share. She shot up and ran outside.
Seeing her run, Mrs. Zhou grabbed the broom and followed. When she got to the courtyard, she saw her daughter hiding behind her son-in-law.
Li Xiu stared, dumbfounded, as his mother-in-law came charging at his wife, brandishing a broom with murderous intent. ’My wife has always been so obedient. In our last life, my in-laws never would have dreamed of laying a finger on her!’
"You brat, get over here!" Mrs. Zhou yelled at Zhou Lian, exasperated.
Li Xiu quickly stepped forward to block her, trying to placate her. "Mom, Mom, don’t be angry. Let’s talk this out. My wife has always been a good girl."
Mrs. Zhou was so angry she was flustered, so she just dumped all her frustrations on Li Xiu. Li Xiu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was rare for his wife, who had lived for two lifetimes, to be so unreliable. He gave his wife a deep look. ’And my mother-in-law... she’s really something else, imagining me as some kind of pervert based on a few ambiguous words. What a character.’
"Mom, you’ve misunderstood. Lian’er just wanted to reassure you, and maybe she went a little overboard. Calm down, please. Look, the suckling pig I’m roasting is almost ready. Let’s go get dinner started. My father-in-law and my brothers-in-law have been working all afternoon and must be starving. The little ones are probably famished too," Li Xiu said, soothing Mrs. Zhou while guiding her toward the kitchen.
"They’re all hungry? Let’s go, I’ll go make dinner."
With just a few words, Li Xiu had talked Mrs. Zhou into going to cook dinner, leaving the crowd of onlookers in the courtyard speechless. Was their mother too easy to fool, or was this brother-in-law just too smart and silver-tongued?
When their mom wanted to hit someone, she didn’t stop until she was done. But it was over just like that? They had all thought that while none of the other siblings could escape their mother’s punishments, Zhou Lian had always been the exception. Today, they’d thought her lucky streak was over. Who knew it would end so quickly!
Li Xiu, who had been shooed out of the kitchen after delivering his mother-in-law, looked at the crowd of spectators in the courtyard and was left speechless. ’Don’t these people have anything better to do!’
"Eldest Sister-in-law, Third Sister, Fourth Sister, Mom wants you in the kitchen to help! Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, the meat is about to burn!" Seeing how upset his wife was, Li Xiu’s heart ached for her. ’What kind of people are these! Not even protecting their own sister!’ He quickly shooed everyone away with his false orders.
He wrapped his arms around Zhou Lian and started comforting her. "Bao’er, why did you have to go and provoke Mom? It’s okay now, she’s gone to make dinner."
Zhou Lian felt very wronged. ’How was I supposed to know Mom would be so explosive? Besides, I’ve lived two lifetimes, and I never knew she could be this dramatic!’
"Dad, what do you think Mom was thinking? I didn’t say anything wrong," Zhou Lian asked Zhou Kun, confused.
Zhou Kun laughed. ’His wife really did overthink things.’ Looking at the daughter he had always worried about most, he comforted her, "It’s nothing, your mom was just overthinking. No, wait, why were you trying to trick your mom?" As he said it, Zhou Kun felt puzzled too. ’My second daughter isn’t usually so unreliable.’
"When did I trick Mom? She kept asking me what I do at home all day, so I just told her the truth. The more she asked, the weirder her questions got. I just answered honestly. Who knew she’d get the wrong idea and lead Eldest Sister-in-law, Third Sister, and Fourth Sister astray? What I don’t get is, Eldest Sister-in-law and Eldest Brother have been married for so many years. How did she get led astray by Mom too?"
The three Zhou brothers couldn’t hold back their laughter. ’Second Sister is really something else. At first, she was definitely just trying to reassure Mom. Later, when Mom started overthinking, she must have noticed, but since Mom didn’t ask directly, she didn’t explain directly either.’
’Then Dad, not knowing the full picture, asked a question, and she started talking nonsense, which set Mom off. That protective Li Xiu immediately jumped in, which only made Mom think even more. Second Sister must have realized things were going south and tried to explain, but... an explanation is an explanation. Why did you have to laugh at Mom? Weren’t you just asking for a beating?’
Zhou Lian shot a hateful glare at her three laughing brothers. ’None of them are any good.’ "Eldest Brother, how did you raise Eldest Sister-in-law? You’ve been married for so many years and have four kids already. How is she still so naive? You didn’t raise her like you’re raising Lingzi, did you?!"
Lingzi was Eldest Brother’s youngest child, only three years old. As soon as Zhou Lian finished speaking, even Zhou Kun couldn’t help but laugh. ’This daughter of mine has a truly venomous tongue.’
Seeing her second brother laughing so hard he sat on the ground, Zhou Lian continued, "Second Brother, I heard you went to see a movie in the county town with your fiancée the other day. A movie is only a little over an hour long, but I hear you two were in there for a whole afternoon. Tell me, what were you doing in there after the movie was over?"
The moment Li Xiu heard this, he knew his wife remembered it from her past life. His second brother-in-law had drunkenly revealed this story himself, long after his own children were grown. Li Xiu couldn’t help but laugh out loud. At the time, his second sister-in-law had given her husband a good walloping for being so shameless.
Third Brother Zhou stifled his laughter and cautiously tried to smooth things over. "Second Sister, ah, Third Brother wasn’t laughing at you, I was..."
"Third Brother, I would never tell outsiders about the time you climbed a wall to peek at your then-fiancée, only to have her chase you for two whole streets with a broom!" ’You want to laugh at me? I’ve got plenty of dirt on all of you. You think I’m scared?’
