After the Divorce, My Wife and I Were Both Reborn

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Mother-in-law and Mom

Lin Yanwan watched as Jiang Xia’s escape attempt failed and his mother dragged him back. All she could do was give him a look of helpless sympathy.

Whatever kind of grilling he was about to face, she, at least, felt a bit of satisfaction.

As the two sisters walked away hand in hand, Jiang Xia gave up on the idea of escaping.

"Mom, why’d you make me stay? I need to get back to studying."

Xia Shanshan mercilessly called him out. "You’ve been wandering around all afternoon, and *now* you’re thinking about studying? Could you at least put some effort into your excuses?"

"Speaking of which, how did you do on the monthly exam?"

"I feel great about it. It was my best performance yet," Jiang Xia said smugly.

"So confident. You’ll definitely get first place, then?"

"Mom, you have to take things one step at a time. Scores have to rise bit by bit. I think a wife is in my future."

"It had better be. When the scores are out, if they don’t match up with what you’re saying, you can pray for yourself!" Xia Shanshan huffed, pulling her son toward the office.

’From start to finish, she hadn’t asked a single thing about that girl. Given the current situation, the probability that they weren’t dating was practically zero.’

’So, there was no point in asking. It would only make her son anxious.’

’As long as his grades didn’t drop, and they encouraged and motivated each other, this kind of positive relationship was actually a good thing.’

’More importantly, the girl had made an excellent first impression on her today. She was not only beautiful but also very polite. And it definitely wasn’t because hugging her felt like warmly embracing her future daughter-in-law.’

"Mom, you’re not taking me to your office to make me grade papers for you again, are you?"

"Is there anything wrong with a son helping his mother out a little?"

"It’s my duty, it’s my duty."

Jiang Xia looked around; there wasn’t a single person in the office. As for helping grade papers, he had lost count of how many times he’d done it growing up.

"Help me grade this stack of tests." Xia Shanshan handed him a paper with a perfect score.

He glanced at the name, written neatly in pencil: Lin Xiaoman. ’As expected of my little sister-in-law.’

Although a first-grade test was extremely simple, having such nice handwriting was difficult.

Time ticked by as Jiang Xia slowly graded the tests with a red pen. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

’He’d expected his mom to take this opportunity to ask about Lin Yanwan. Shouldn’t she at least ask what their relationship was? But to his surprise, even after he had finished grading all the tests, Xia Shanshan didn’t say a single word about it.’

’With his mom’s sharp intuition, he refused to believe she hadn’t noticed anything.’

’Could it be that she was actually giving her tacit approval for him to be in a relationship at such a critical time, right before the college entrance exams?’

’No matter how he thought about it, that seemed impossible.’

Xia Shanshan gathered the test papers, slipped her purse onto her wrist, and locked the office door. With Jiang Xia’s help today, even her work had felt much easier.

"What do you want to eat tonight?"

"Your braised pork ribs," he said without a second thought.

"Just that? Anything else?"

"Then let’s have some twice-cooked pork, too."

’Jiang Xia was a little surprised. His mom seemed to be in a particularly good mood today. Was it because he helped her grade papers, or because she’d unknowingly gotten to hug her future daughter-in-law?’

’Or was it both?’

As the mother and son left the academic building, he deliberately fell a step behind, took out his phone, and secretly sent his girlfriend a text.

Jiang Xia: "Babe, did you guys get home?"

Lin Yanwan: "A while ago. What about you?"

Jiang Xia: "I was just helping my mom grade papers. We just left the school. By the way, Xiao Man got a 100 on her test."

Lin Yanwan: "She’s always gotten good grades. She takes after me in that respect."

Jiang Xia: "As expected of my sister-in-law."

Lin Yanwan: "Shameless. What’s it got to do with you?"

Jiang Xia: "Xiao Man is your sister, and you’re my wife. How is it not related?"

Reading his proud tone, Lin Yanwan was suddenly speechless, unable to find the right words to argue back.

’Xia Shanshan secretly glanced at him. The boy had been staring down at his phone this whole time. She didn’t know what he was doing, but judging by how fast he was typing, he was probably texting that girl.’

"You didn’t go home after school let out for lunch?" she asked casually.

The reason for her conclusion was simple: Jiang Xia was still wearing his backpack.

"Mm... I was at school doing some homework," he said, making up a casual excuse without batting an eye.

’Hearing this, Xia Shanshan’s face twitched. She was too embarrassed to call out her son’s lie. He had his backpack on the whole time, but Lin Yanwan had been empty-handed.’

’If the two of them had been together the entire time, then it was obvious her son had walked Lin Yanwan home.’

’The thought of a young man and woman alone in a room together—especially at an age where passions run high and first love is blooming—gave her a headache. What if they tasted the Forbidden Fruit and didn’t take precautions? What if it resulted in a pregnancy?’

’Maybe she should just be decisive and break the two lovebirds up?’

’It would prevent them from making a mistake.’

’But, considering Jiang Xia had been a sensible kid his whole life and had never made a mistake on a matter of principle, she figured kissing and hugging might happen, but he probably wouldn’t do anything that crossed the line.’

’And even though she’d only met her once, she could tell that girl was strong-willed too; she wouldn’t be easily tricked into giving up her body.’

’In any case, to be on the safe side, she still had to find an opportunity to bring this up. At the very least, she needed to give him a preemptive talk.’

Lost in thought, the mother and son gradually made their way to the market. Xia Shanshan first walked around to check the freshness of the vegetables and meat before picking a vendor.

But as luck would have it, while buying pork ribs, Jiang Xia ran into his "mother-in-law," Ji Wanqiu, at the same butcher stall.

"Hello, Aunt Ji," Jiang Xia said, politely taking the initiative to greet her.

’He really hadn’t wanted Ji Wanqiu and Xia Shanshan to cross paths so soon, but he couldn’t just pretend he hadn’t seen her.’

Ji Wanqiu froze for a moment, staring at him for a good while before remembering. This was the boy who had walked her daughter home last time, the one who had even called her "Mom."

’It had been nighttime then, and with the power out, she hadn’t gotten a clear look at his face. Now that she could see him properly, she realized he was even more handsome.’

"Oh, hello, hello! You’re Xiao Jiang, right? What a coincidence, you’re here buying groceries too?"

’Xia Shanshan habitually looked up to see who her son was talking to and suddenly realized—wasn’t that Lin Xiaoman’s mother?’

’Oh, right. And Lin Yanwan’s mother now, too.’

’No wonder the two of them knew each other.’

’Wait a minute. Didn’t that mean Jiang Xia had already met his girlfriend’s mother?’

’This boy... what else was he hiding from her and Old Jiang?’

"Hello, Lin Xiaoman’s mother," she said with a nod.

’Although the chances of a high school romance leading to marriage were low, it was still possible their two families could become in-laws. Besides, she was currently Lin Xiaoman’s homeroom teacher, which put them in a teacher-parent relationship. All the more reason to communicate.’

’Xia Shanshan inexplicably realized that the relationship between their two families was surprisingly close.’

"Ah, Teacher Xia, you’re buying groceries here too," Ji Wanqiu said.

Ji Wanqiu blinked, her eyes falling on the woman’s handbag Jiang Xia was carrying, and she suddenly put two and two together.

"Are you Xiao Jiang’s mother?"