"I remember when I was young, at my maternal grandmother's house, we would eat dumplings together during the Lunar New Year." Although Mrs. Fang didn't know how to make dumplings, she learned how to make the dough from Hanhan and her younger sister, which helped her a little.

“In the North, making dumplings during the Spring Festival is the most lively activity,” Zhou Xing’s mother said with a smile.

"I thought Xiaoyu couldn't cook, but now I see she's quite skillful. She made beautiful dumplings." Madam Fang took the little mouse that Qin Xiaoyu had made and examined it carefully.

Qin Xiaoyu loved to play, and she always came up with some fancy ideas when making dumplings, which unexpectedly caught the eye of Madam Fang.

"I don't cook much at home, and my cooking skills are just so-so," Qin Xiaoyu said, not entirely modestly.

“We don’t require our daughters-in-law to cook, but they should be able to prepare a few dishes that they can be proud of. When we were young, we were taught how to cook. We didn’t have to cook ourselves, but we had to learn how to cook so that we could tell the difference between good and bad work when the servants were doing it, and not be fooled by them…” Madam Fang then adopted the demeanor of a large family. Zhou Xing’s mother glanced at Qin Xiaoyu, somewhat worried.

"Grandma, I will study hard." Qin Xiaoyu said sincerely. She had always admired these socialites from the Republic of China era; their lives were truly lived. As for these vulgar people nowadays, they could only be called surviving.

A Lei was originally just watching the fun, but when he saw that Qin Xiaoyu's sculpting was interesting, he, who had an artistic talent, casually sculpted a Mickey Mouse, attracting Xiao Mei and Han Han's attention.

"The children are very close to A Lei," Mrs. Fang said with satisfaction.

“When he lived at my house, they always played together,” Qin Xiaoyu explained.

Mrs. Fang's gaze was somewhat strange, and Qin Xiaoyu knew she had said the wrong thing again. The older woman probably still minded things like unmarried cohabitation, but she couldn't explain that they were innocent. She could only glare fiercely at A Lei to vent her anger.

After a night of playing, both adults and children were exhausted. They went to rest early, and A Lei couldn't wait to take Qin Xiaoyu to his own territory.

"Look, Grandma already thinks we've already done it. Since everyone thinks that way, why don't we just go ahead and do it?"

"You big dummy! You've really gotten me into trouble." Qin Xiaoyu nudged A Lei with her elbow. Was that abs? This guy plays games all day, where did he get abs from?

Qin Xiaoyu couldn't resist poking it again with her hand to get an assessment.

"Are you planning to play with it all night?" A Lei looked at her with innocent eyes.

"I'm envious, but that's not allowed."

“You don’t need to be envious, this is yours.” A Lei proudly raised his arm, showing off his biceps, then turned around, pulled his shirt off his head, and showed her his back.

"Wow!" Qin Xiaoyu was pleasantly surprised to see two sacred nests and couldn't resist taking another bite. But the position... and those jeans... weren't they a bit too low-waisted...?

Her slender fingers traced across A Lei's waist, and when he turned around, his eyes were red.

"You're the one who started this trouble, so don't blame me..."

"A car is coming! Wenwen is back!" Qin Xiaoyu hurriedly ran outside.

"You little devil, you're so naughty!" A Lei chased after him to the door and found himself shirtless, so he had no choice but to give up.

"Sister-in-law, everything's arranged!" Tang Wenwen came up from downstairs with a plate of dumplings, which she placed on the table and started eating one after another.

"It's cold, why aren't you heating it up? What if your stomach hurts?" Qin Xiaoyu said with concern, quickly pouring her some hot water.

"I'm really starving. I didn't eat lunch." Tang Wenwen choked and hiccuped.

"It's just an engagement ceremony, what kind of grand ceremony do you expect!" Qin Xiaoyu sighed.

"You know what, your engagement ceremony is quite something. Do you know what kind of guests came?" Tang Wenwen asked with a wry smile.

"I don't know," Qin Xiaoyu answered honestly.

"Do you know who you married?"

"Isn't that obvious? I married A Lei."

"Pig." Tang Wenwen poked Qin Xiaoyu's forehead and scolded, "What's his mother's name? What does she do? What's his father's name? What does he do? Do you even know?"

"Why should I care about that? I'm marrying him, not his mother." Qin Xiaoyu said defiantly, but she still had some doubts in her heart.

Tang Wenwen must have a reason for asking this, so she changed her expression with a playful smile and leaned closer to ask, "If you know, just tell me."

"Sigh, I don't know either. I only know one thing, you must know about his grandfather. It's in our elementary school textbook, but he's already passed away."

"Elementary school textbooks?" Qin Xiaoyu then realized that she must have some misunderstanding about A Lei's background.

In her memory, A Lei should be the descendant of a capitalist, whose ancestors had some money and some businesses abroad. After the liberation, his parents went abroad, and he traveled around. But now it seems that his background is not simple.

She recalled what Xiao Pang had told her last time: Lei Bingzheng couldn't handle a thousand invoices, but Lei made a phone call to his uncle and got it done.

What kind of family is this?

"You can question him slowly and let him tell you. Anyway, the hotel is booked, Jinjiang Hotel. I was worried about not being able to come up with the menu well, so I brought our manager Zhang with me. He's a local and knows more about things than I do. He and A Lei are classmates, so let him be the host. His position is qualified to receive those people." As she spoke, Tang Wenwen suddenly leaned close to Qin Xiaoyu's ear and whispered a few words.

"What? His son?"

The name Tang Wenwen mentioned sounded familiar, because it was mentioned almost every day on the news.

"What's wrong with his son?" Tang Wenwen asked dismissively.

"His son is a manager at a department store?" Qin Xiaoyu asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Sister-in-law, that's because you lack perspective. First, Shanghai No. 1 Department Store isn't just any ordinary department store. Second, he has many children; he's the tenth oldest. So, do you understand?"

"Wenwen, I feel like Cinderella."

“You’re not just like Cinderella, you *are* Cinderella.” Tang Wenwen hugged Qin Xiaoyu and turned to the dressing mirror. Qin Xiaoyu looked at herself in the mirror, still somewhat dazed.

The next day, the house suddenly became lively, with guests arriving from the morning onwards.

According to A Lei, it was very inconvenient for his father to return to China, so he couldn't attend his engagement ceremony. He would have to bring Qin Xiaoyu abroad to meet him later.

The eldest sister arrived first. She and the third sister were born of the same mother, and she was only five years older than the third sister, but her face was full of wrinkles, and she looked much older than her age. Foreign women just don't age as quickly, especially thin women. They have an excellent temperament, which is an elegance cultivated from a life of plenty. They were cousins ​​from Uncle Alei's branch of the family.

The eldest sister had two mischievous boys who were about the same age as her younger sister, and the three children quickly became acquainted.

She chatted with Qin Xiaoyu in English and Chinese for a while, then returned to her room satisfied.

"Very good." The eldest sister gave her third sister an OK sign.

Second Sister and Fang Baobao arrived together. Since they had met once before, Fang Baobao didn't stand on ceremony with Qin Xiaoyu and greeted her with a cheek kiss.