When it was time to leave that evening, Shen Xuyue took Zhao Mingyue home on his bicycle. Zhao Mingyue sat silently on the back seat, clearly downcast. Shen Xuyue asked with some concern, "Mingyue, are you alright? What did my mom say to you?"

Zhao Mingyue lowered her head and said, "It's nothing, they just asked about my family situation and the job assignment after graduation."

Shen Xuyue said, "Shall we get off and take a walk together?"

"Okay." Zhao Mingyue jumped out of the back seat of the car and walked side by side with Shen Xuyue.

"What's the job assignment process after graduation?" Shen Xuyue asked.

Zhao Mingyue said, "Your mother said that I will be assigned to my hometown in the future, while you will stay in Beijing, so we will have to separate."

Shen Xuyue was silent for a while: "How did she know you would go back to your hometown? You are so outstanding, there is a very high chance that you will stay in Beijing." Moreover, with family connections, it would not be difficult for Zhao Mingyue to stay.

"What she said makes me quite worried." Zhao Mingyue was worried that Shen's mother would deliberately make her return to her hometown.

Shen Xuyue sighed and said, "I'm sorry, Mingyue, I've made you suffer."

Zhao Mingyue shook her head: "No, she didn't say anything nasty."

“But she has already shown her attitude towards you. This was all so sudden. I didn’t expect to run into them directly. It caught you completely off guard, and I wasn’t prepared either. It turned into a complete surprise attack.” Shen Xuyue looked at Zhao Mingyue. Although she kept saying that everything was fine, she couldn’t seem to be happy.

Zhao Mingyue wondered if Shen Xuyue insisted on being with her, would his parents eventually accept her? If they refused, it would be difficult, since China still values ​​family traditions, and the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is very important, directly affecting the quality of the marriage.

"Have your parents already returned to work?" Zhao Mingyue asked.

Shen Xuyue nodded: "Yes, my parents just received the exoneration notice and have been arranged to work in Beijing."

Zhao Mingyue smiled slightly: "From now on, you'll be my home."

“Yes,” Shen Xuyue said, but he didn’t feel the expected joy. He sighed softly.

Zhao Mingyue said, "This is a good thing, why are you sighing?"

"I've made you suffer."

Zhao Mingyue turned to look at him: "These are two different things. They must have suffered a lot over the years. Your whole family went their separate ways, and now that you can finally reunite, of course you should be happy."

Shen Xuyue nodded: "Yes, don't worry, Mingyue, I will definitely let my mother get to know you better. You are so good, no one can dislike you. Although my parents may have some prejudices, they can still distinguish right from wrong, and it's only a matter of time before they accept you."

Zhao Mingyue thought to herself, "You really know your parents well. We've only just clashed, and you've already figured out they don't like me. First impressions are crucial. If things don't go well from the start, it'll take a lot of effort to change their minds later." But this was something she had expected. Compared to ordinary people like herself, their family was worlds apart. How could they accept her so easily?

Even Commander Song and his wife, although they expressed their fondness for her, would probably think twice before letting their son marry someone from her background. Thinking of this, Zhao Mingyue regained her confidence: "Yes, I believe it. It's alright, this is pretty much what I expected."

Shen Xuyue looked at her: "You expected this all along?"

Zhao Mingyue suddenly laughed: "Our situation is completely in line with the current social reality. My mother looks at you like a mother-in-law looking at her son-in-law, the more she looks, the more satisfied she becomes. Your mother looks at me like a mother-in-law picking her daughter-in-law, finding fault with everything she does. Don't you think so?"

Shen Xuyue looked at Zhao Mingyue and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I am your husband and you are my wife."

Zhao Mingyue realized what was happening and spat at him, "Pah, who's your wife?"

Seeing that Zhao Mingyue seemed much more relaxed, Shen Xuyue also felt a little relieved and said to her earnestly, "Mingyue, don't worry. No matter what, my mother's attitude won't affect our relationship. My mother is still my mother. She cares about me and will consider my feelings and thoughts. She won't be unreasonable. This is a new society now, not the era of arranged marriages. No one can interfere with our own free choice of marriage."

Zhao Mingyue said, "Well, so I think other people's attitudes don't matter, what matters is your attitude."

Shen Xuyue nodded: "I understand, you can rest assured."

After walking for a while, Shen Xuyue said, "My parents have returned to Beijing and haven't been assigned a permanent place to stay yet. So, once they're settled, I'll take you to formally meet them."

"good."

Shen Xuyue added, "I'm going back to school tomorrow and I might be busy for a few days. I'll come find you when I'm done."

"Um."

"I see you still have quite a bit of fabric left. Can you finish your business before the end of summer vacation?"

Zhao Mingyue said, "I will try to control the number of orders. I haven't started taking on much business yet. I'll try to finish all the work I have on hand before the summer vacation ends."

Shen Xuyue said, "Your clothes are so beautiful. Make two outfits for my mom and my sister in the future. Women always pay a lot of attention to their appearance. If my mom knew how capable you are, she would definitely change her opinion of you."

Zhao Mingyue smiled helplessly: "I think we should just forget about it." Today, when Wu Jie talked about opening her own shop, she saw Shen's mother's attitude. She clearly looked down on her making clothes for others. If she made clothes for her, she'd be lucky if the clothes weren't used as rags, let alone liked them. She really didn't dare to hope for anything.

Shen Xuyue looked at her: "What's wrong?"

Zhao Mingyue sighed and said, "Wu Jie said today that your mother seems to look down on me opening a shop in Beijing."

Shen Xuyue frowned: "Is Wu Jie talking nonsense again today?"

"Anyway, she definitely won't say anything nice. She'll seize every opportunity to belittle me. Wu Jie is such a jerk. Xu Yue, even if we can't be together in the future, you absolutely cannot be with Wu Jie, you hear me?" Zhao Mingyue felt disgusted whenever she thought of Wu Jie. How could there be such a woman in the world? Stupid, narrow-minded, and self-righteous. In her past life, which eye of Shen Xu Yue was blind to have fallen for Wu Jie?

Shen Xuyue frowned at her: "Why are you bringing this up again? We will definitely be together, don't overthink it."

Zhao Mingyue emphasized, "I mean, hypothetically. Will you promise me that you can't have any relationship with Wu Jie?"

Shen Xuyue looked at her helplessly.

Zhao Mingyue emphasized again, "Are you going to agree or not?" Her tone softened, with a hint of coquettish intimacy.

Shen Xuyue laughed: "Okay, okay, I promise you. To be honest, I hate her too."

After hearing what he said, Zhao Mingyue stopped worrying about the issue.

Shen Xuyue said, "Wu Jie must be stirring up trouble again, isn't she? She's making up stories about you again."

"Does your mom dislike people doing business? She seems to look down on business people."

Shen Xuyue thought for a moment and said, "My maternal grandfather's family was a scholarly family, so she was a bit aloof."

“No wonder he looks down on people like us who come from rural backgrounds,” Zhao Mingyue said. “And you really can’t tell he’s such a cultured person. He’s asking about my affairs in front of so many outsiders. He’s not as reasonable as my mother, a rural woman.”

Shen Xuyue laughed and said, "My dad actually came from a farming background."

Zhao Mingyue imagined it for a moment: a young lady from an intellectual family and a revolutionary soldier from a peasant background—they seemed so mismatched, how could they possibly end up together?

As if guessing her thoughts, Shen Xuyue explained, "My mother joined the Party when she was in school, and their marriage was arranged by the organization. It's all too complicated for the older generation. Their relationship is quite good, but occasionally when my mother gets angry, she will call my father a peasant, which shows that she does have a certain... well, she doesn't really look down on the working class."

Zhao Mingyue thought to herself, "With this level of awareness, how did they even get involved in the revolution? Doesn't the organization conduct ideological assessments?"

Shen Xuyue added, "Actually, to put it bluntly, my mom is a bit of a formalist, but she's not a bad person at heart. I heard that when my dad was pursuing her, there were many difficulties, but he still managed to win her over. So I believe that we will definitely be able to win over my mom too."

Zhao Mingyue asked, "Who's in charge in your family?"

Shen Xuyue said, "My parents discuss important matters, and my mother makes the decisions on minor matters."

Well, it seems his mother is still the one in charge at home. Looks like she really needs to work on her. Zhao Mingyue felt this was a bit tricky. Handling interpersonal relationships was usually one of her strengths, but the difficulty lay in the fact that she hadn't prepared at all and had just run into her, especially with that bitch Wu Jie stirring things up. So, her first impression was greatly diminished. If she wanted to erase these bad impressions later, something that could be done with a score of 50 would now require a score of 100, and even that might not be enough.

Zhao Mingyue said, "I understand. Let's take it slow. It's already like this anyway."

Shen Xuyue said, "Well, don't rush, there's plenty of time."

Shen Xuyue took Zhao Mingyue back, leaving her belongings behind, only taking some changes of clothes with him, saying he would pick them up on the way the next morning.

After seeing Shen Xuyue off, Zhao Mingyue looked at the dazzling array of clothes and dresses in the room, and her initial sense of accomplishment diminished. She sat under the lamp, holding her cheek in her hands, lost in thought.

Mao Jianlan looked at her and said, "What's wrong, Xiao Zhao? You already miss her after she just left?"

Zhao Mingyue gently shook her head: "It's not about that. I ran into his parents today."

Mao Jianlan was startled: "Huh? Didn't they say his parents were in reformatory? They're back?"

Zhao Mingyue nodded: "What bad luck. Nobody knew it, we weren't prepared at all, and we just ran into it like that."

Mao Jianlan could tell from her expression that things looked grim: "His parents are difficult to get along with?"

"I suspect they have a strong sense of social class. Wu Jie was here today too, and she said that her mother didn't seem very happy that I opened a clothing shop here."

Mao Jianlan looked at her with sympathy: "You really are unlucky, you've run into all sorts of bad luck. Did your mother give you her opinion on the spot?"

"No, that's not it. She put it in a very high-sounding way. But what she meant was that she didn't think highly of me and Shen Xuyue," Zhao Mingyue said.

Mao Jianlan said, "That's good. As long as Shen Xuyue himself is firm in his attitude, his parents can't do anything about it."

"That's true. But we Chinese value family, so if you're not favored by your parents, you're not perfect."

Mao Jianlan said, "Hey, nothing in this world is perfect. Don't worry about what so many people think. Just do what makes you happy. Go wash up and go to bed. It's getting late. Don't overthink it."

"Um."

The next morning, Shen Xuyue came from the Song family, bringing breakfast with him. After having breakfast together and resting for a while, Shen Xuyue picked up his luggage and prepared to leave.

Zhao Mingyue remembered something: "Xuyue, wait a minute, I have something to give you."

Shen Xuyue stopped: "What's wrong?"

Zhao Mingyue went into the room and came out with a stack of letters: "This is for you. Take your time reading it when you get back."

Shen Xuyue took the letters and looked at the dates on each one, all of which were written during the days he had sent them back. He smiled and said, "Okay, go back and get busy. Don't work too hard. I'll come see you when I'm done."

"Okay. Be careful on the road." Zhao Mingyue waved.

Mao Jianlan said to Zhao Mingyue, "At least in my opinion, Shen Xuyue is still sincere towards you. His mother's attitude shouldn't change anything. Don't worry about that. Think of a way to win over the old man's heart."

Zhao Mingyue nodded, "I understand." This matter can't be rushed anyway; let's wait and see. Being too hasty would only make her seem impetuous. Regardless of what Shen Xuyue's mother is like, she just needs to handle Shen Xuyue.

A few days later, before Shen Xuyue arrived, his older sister, accompanied by Wu Jie, came first. Shen Xuyue hadn't properly told Zhao Mingyue about his older sister; she only knew that her name was Shen Fuyu and that she had returned from the Great Northern Wilderness, but nothing else.

When they arrived, Zhao Mingyue was taking measurements for a customer, a man in his thirties who wanted a suit made to order. Zhao Mingyue had never made suits before; this was her first customer, accompanied by a regular client. Making a suit requires higher standards, and the details differ from a regular shirt. Mao Jianlan couldn't help with this, so Zhao Mingyue had to do it herself.

Zhao Mingyue was taking a customer's waist measurement when she turned her head and saw Sister Shen. She was slightly embarrassed and said, "Sister, you're here. Please have a seat. Did you come to take a look, or do you want to have some clothes made?"

Sister Shen went to the Great Northern Wilderness in 1964 and stayed for more than a decade. She went as a carefree young woman and returned as a woman in her thirties, having endured much hardship in the harsh northern lands. Shen Xuyue rarely mentioned Sister Shen to Zhao Mingyue, but he still felt sorry for her, saying she had suffered a lot in the north. Zhao Mingyue also sympathized with her.

Sister Shen glanced at Zhao Mingyue, her face expressionless, but Zhao Mingyue could guess that Sister Shen probably didn't have a good impression of her. Sister Shen didn't say anything, but simply looked around the room and said, "You go ahead with your work, I'm just looking around."

When Mao Jianlan saw that it was Wu Jie, that damned woman, who had come with her, and that Zhao Mingyue respectfully called her "elder sister," she immediately understood and quickly poured water for Zhao Mingyue, who took it and said, "Elder sister, please have some water."

Sister Shen glanced at it, took it, but didn't drink it. She placed it on the table and wandered around the room looking at the clothes. She found that the clothes hanging in the room were indeed quite beautiful, the kind you rarely see outside. She was secretly surprised; Zhao Mingyue did have some talent.

Mao Jianlan enthusiastically acted as her tour guide, explaining the features of each garment. Sister Shen glanced at Mao Jianlan: "Are you her hired helper?"

Mao Jianlan smiled and said, "No, I'm her classmate. I stayed in Beijing during the summer vacation to find a holiday job. Xiao Zhao's business here is so good that he can't handle it all, so he asked me to come and help. What style do you like, ma'am? If you like it, I'll ask Xiao Zhao to make one for you. All the styles here are designed by Xiao Zhao himself. They're unique and can't be found anywhere else. Ma'am, you're so beautiful and have such a great figure. You'll definitely look good in a dress."

Everyone loves to hear compliments, and Sister Shen was no exception. Mao Jianlan was usually not very talkative, but she was an extremely intelligent person and often got to the point. With just a few words, she made Sister Shen laugh and say, "You really know how to talk."

Mao Jianlan smiled and said, "I'm just telling the truth."

Sister Shen nodded: "The clothes are not bad."

Hearing this, Wu Jie secretly rolled her eyes. She had learned from others that Zhao Mingyue made clothes here and had seen the clothes worn by others. The styles were indeed quite unique. She was a woman and of course could distinguish between beauty and ugliness. But thinking that the clothes were made by Zhao Mingyue, she was extremely jealous and angrily cursed: "What's so great about her? She's just a pretty face."

Seeing so many beautiful clothes now, she felt both jealous and resentful. She was jealous because so many clothes were made by Zhao Mingyue, and resentful because she could never wear them! Because she would never wear clothes made by Zhao Mingyue.

After Zhao Mingyue took the customer's measurements and set a time for them to pick up the goods, the customer left. Zhao Mingyue quickly came over to keep Sister Shen company: "Sister, do you have any styles you like? I can make one for you."

Sister Shen turned around, looked at Zhao Mingyue, and sized her up: "No need, I'm too old for a dress. I was just passing by and thought I'd take a look. There are quite a few men here getting their clothes made."

Zhao Mingyue calmly said, "Not many. I mainly make dresses here. I don't have many male customers. This is the first male customer to come here to make a suit today."

Sister Shen said, "You have quite a few ideas; you actually thought about opening a shop in Beijing."

Zhao Mingyue smiled and said, "I originally made a few clothes for my classmates, and many people liked them, so everyone encouraged me to open a shop. I thought I could earn some money to help support my family, so I opened it during the summer vacation. I'll close the shop when school starts."

Sister Shen remained noncommittal: "I have to go now. Thank you for your hospitality. I'm sorry to have disturbed your work. Xiao Jie, let's go."

Sister Shen appeared suddenly and left just as suddenly; Zhao Mingyue had no idea what she was doing there. Watching her retreating figure, Zhao Mingyue said, "Take care, Sister!"

Mao Jianlan looked at the other person's back and asked, "What do you mean by 'her'?"

Zhao Mingyue shook her head: "I don't know." She sighed, slumped her shoulders, and turned to go to the car to buy clothes.

Mao Jianlan comforted her, "Don't worry, we'll stop doing it after summer vacation, right?"

Zhao Mingyue thought to herself, "I plan to continue doing this next year, and make money to start a bigger business later." This family is so old-fashioned; they don't seem to like women showing their faces in public. What era are we living in? They still have so many rigid rules.