Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 794 - 784 ’Gentle’ Ah

Qiu Shuping knew what kind of temper her eldest daughter-in-law had, so she didn’t take it to heart and headed straight inside the house. Of course, when she passed by the main room, she still took advantage of Wang Dan turning her back to stretch her neck and peek into the pot. She also sniffed twice, definitely smelling the scent of meat, and the smile on her face grew as she went to find her son.

"Mom, what brings you here? Is something the matter?" Li Hongxing quickly put on his shoes and got off the bed.

"What are you talking about? Can’t I come see my son if there’s nothing wrong?" Qiu Shuping said with a face full of reproach.

Li Hongxing felt completely at a loss. Why had his mother changed like this? Was it a good or a bad thing? As a man who hadn’t had much schooling, his brain wasn’t quite up to the task.

"It’s not that..."

"Hehe, my silly son, your mom is just kidding with you." Qiu Shuping said, pulling her eldest son’s hand and sitting down on the kang alongside him.

Wang Dan, who was cooking in the main room, was also straining her ears to listen. She feared that this mother-in-law had come back only to start some trouble. But what she heard was her mother-in-law’s "gentleness" that she had never exhibited before, which almost made her vomit out her lunch. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

Now Wang Dan understood that the old lady definitely wasn’t up to any good with her visit.

"Son, I heard from your dad that Goudan has gone out to work, and he’s gone to his second uncle’s place. That’s good, there’s a relative there to look after him, so we can be more at ease. Ah, where are Erdan and Sandan, why aren’t they at home?" Qiu Shuping asked with genuine concern.

"Erdan and Sandan have gone to school, they’ll be back soon," Li Hongxing replied, himself disconcerted by his mother’s uncharacteristic gentleness.

"Is that so? It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen my grandsons; I don’t even know if the kids have gained or lost weight." Qiu Shuping, holding her son’s hand, started chatting away on the kang, topics ranging from the children to the crops in the fields.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before they heard Erdan and Sandan’s voices at the door, and then they ran into the house.

Both kids were taken aback to see an outsider in the room.

"Erdan, Sandan, you’re back. Grandma has missed you so much." Qiu Shuping looked at her grandsons and truly felt a pang of sadness. It’s often said that grandparents favor their grandchildren. Although she favored her youngest son, she only had these three grandchildren from her eldest’s family, and she truly treasured them.

Only then did the two kids realize that the "outsider" in their home was actually their grandma.

The two kids immediately bounded over to Qiu Shuping’s side with joy, and the three of them clung together cozily.

The two children weren’t young anymore; they already had memories when Qiu Shuping was taken away, so they both remembered their grandma who had been quite good to them.

Qiu Shuping was happy; her affection for her grandsons hadn’t been in vain and was certainly better appreciated than by her son and daughter-in-law.

Wang Dan, listening to the saccharine dialogues inside the house, dished out the food from the pot. Afterward, she directly sat down with the rice still in the pot, planning to wait for the old lady to leave before calling everyone to start the meal.

Little did she know that the old lady had come precisely for those dishes that were being kept warm in the pot.

So it went on, with Qiu Shuping chatting away inside while Wang Dan just sat in the main room, not entering the house.

Qiu Shuping, sitting on the kang with a smile on her face, was actually feeling very anxious inside. There weren’t any sounds of cooking anymore, so why hadn’t they been called to eat? If her daughter-in-law called them, and seeing that she was there, her son would surely invite her to stay. That way, she could just naturally stay for dinner. She couldn’t leave her husband at home hungry; later, she could have the kids call their grandfather over to join them for the meal. What a perfect scenario. She would save a coin, get to eat meat, and also improve her relationship with her eldest son.

As she was getting anxious, the old man Li at home was anxious too. His wife had been gone for so long without returning; where could she have gone to buy the meat? Surely she hadn’t gone to have it freshly killed.

In the end, it was Sandan who broke the deadlock. When he came home from school, he was already famished, and without getting a piece of candy, let alone a proper meal, while his grandma kept them chatting, he naturally became hungry.

"Mom, when are we going to eat?" Unable to bear his hunger any longer, the boy wriggled out of his grandma’s grasp and called out towards the main room.

"No rush, we’ll eat after your grandma leaves," Wang Dan didn’t think there was anything wrong with what she said.

But upon hearing this, Qiu Shuping’s expression changed.

Seeing his own mother’s face turn stern, Li Hongxing’s heart hammered with fear, thinking they might start fighting again.

Knowing that eating a meal at her eldest son’s home was unlikely today, Qiu Shuping was angry but had no expectations left. She stood up and said directly, "Your mother just adores seeing you all and forgot about the time. I should head home now; your dad must be hungry too. I’ll go and whip up something for him to tide us over. Go ahead and eat. In a few days, once I’m settled, I’ll cook something delicious and invite my son and my grandsons over for a good meal."

"Mom..." Li Hongxing felt uncomfortable with how his mother put it.

"Sandan, your grandma’s said she’s leaving, so what are you dawdling for? Hurry up and wash your hands, then set the table for dinner," Wang Dan didn’t give the man a chance to speak before finalizing the decision.

Qiu Shuping forced a smile, caressed Erdan’s face and then Sandan’s, before leaving reluctantly. As she saw Wang Dan in the main room, she walked out of the yard without a sideways glance.

"Look at you, it’s mealtime, and you should have kept the old lady for a bite to eat," Li Hongxing complained a bit.

Wang Dan gave him a glare. "Easy for you to say. She came over unannounced, and I’ve only made enough food for four. If you insist on keeping people for dinner, who should go hungry then? Should you starve, or should your son?" Of course, this was just a pretext; Wang Dan never intended to let the old lady stay for the meal.

Li Hongxing ended up with nothing to say, as he never talked back to his wife.

Meanwhile, as soon as Qiu Shuping stepped out of her eldest son’s yard, she was spotted by Old Li, who had been waiting for her at the gate.

"Didn’t you go out to buy meat? Why did you go to your eldest son’s house again? Where’s the meat?" Old Li frowned when he saw his wife coming from the direction of their eldest son’s yard.

"When I came out, I happened to see Erdan and Sandan coming home. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them; they insisted on talking to me, dragging on about this and that, so I’ve only just managed to leave now," Qiu Shuping, even with her thick skin, couldn’t bring herself to reveal her ulterior motives.

"All this nonsense and it’s already this late; are we still going to eat or not?" Old Li’s temper flared when he thought about not having a meal ready.

"Yes, yes, yes, I’m going right now to cook, isn’t that okay? But at this hour, I doubt there’s any meat left to buy. We’ll just have to make do with what we have today; we can have meat tomorrow." She was also speaking to reassure herself.

Old Li didn’t care what they ate, as long as his stomach wasn’t empty.

The two elders entered their yard one after the other, where Mother Zheng and Zheng Huilan had already started their meal. They weren’t eating inside but had each taken a large bowl and were sitting in the yard, clearly enjoying their food. Otherwise, Old Li wouldn’t have had to wait outside the yard.

As Qiu Shuping walked by, she glanced at their bowls and, seeing large chunks on top with cabbage hearts, felt a little consoled.

She quickly made her way to the stove and began cooking.