While Yunxuan was helping out with her daughter, she would occasionally glance up at her daughter, who was chatting and laughing with Chen Bing, between her conversations with Liu Yue. She thought to herself, "My silly daughter, I practically sold you to afford this meal today, and you're still here, clueless about everything."

After smiling to herself, Yunxuan heard Liu Yue complaining about society again.

They talked about things like the gender imbalance, how hard it is to pursue women, how young people are unwilling to have children, and even rare cases of daughters-in-law being unfilial.

"I really don't know if my son will be able to find a wife in the future, and even if he does find one, will she be filial?"

"No, Mom..." Sitting next to Liu Yue, Chen Bing blushed instantly, just like a little girl. Although he was known for his thick skin, this level of shameful talk was still too difficult for him.

To prevent Liu Yue from continuing the conversation, Chen Bing reminded her in a very low voice, just like before.

But the mother seemed not to hear. Suddenly, the gloom on her face vanished, and she turned to Shang Yunmiao beside her, smiling as she said, "Daughters are the best. They're obedient and worry-free, especially someone as beautiful, sensible, and filial as Yunmiao. If only you were my daughter."

As is not widely known, in my country's civil law, there are generally several ways to establish a parent-child relationship.

Firstly, there's the parent-child relationship established based on the fact of birth. But clearly, Shang Yunmiao isn't Liu Yue's child, so this method won't work if you really want Shang Yunmiao to be Liu Yue's daughter.

Secondly, there is the parent-child relationship established through the stepparents' care of their minor stepchildren. Clearly, both families are in a happy situation, making remarriage impossible.

Thirdly, adoption is an option. However, Shang Yunmiao is already quite grown up, and both her parents are alive and well, and she has not lost her ability to work, so this method is also not feasible.

As for the last method, it is not explicitly stipulated in the Civil Code, but it can be deduced from the relevant clauses.

According to Article 1129 of the Inheritance Section of the Civil Code, widowed daughters-in-law and sons-in-law who have fulfilled their primary support obligations to their parents-in-law are considered first-order heirs when participating in the inheritance of their parents-in-law's estate.

The so-called first-order heirs refer to the spouse, parents, and children.

Daughter-in-law and son-in-law are obviously not the same as spouses or parents, so they can only be understood as children.

From this, we can see that in China's legal system, dutiful daughters-in-law and sons-in-law are generally considered to be the children of their parents-in-law.

In other words, if Liu Yue really wanted Shang Yunmiao to be her daughter, the most feasible way would be to make her her daughter-in-law.

Although the people present did not understand the meticulous legal reasoning above, they could still roughly guess the final conclusion.

Yunxuan was immediately taken aback, not reacting for a moment. Chen Bing, on the other hand, pretended to be a little dragon, keeping her head down and not hearing anything. Of everyone present, only Shang Yunmiao was still dazed, thinking that Yueyue's mother wanted to formally adopt her as her goddaughter.

After a moment, Yunxuan came to her senses and made this statement in a half-joking manner.

"If you really want it, I'll give it to you. But Yunmiao has been raised in our family for fifteen years. Do you have any children that you've also raised for fifteen years that you could give me as a return gift?"

Okay, I know the answer to this question, it's Chen Shichao. He and Yueyue have been married for almost twenty years, and Yueyue has supported him for almost twenty years. Consider those extra years a gift to your family.

Just kidding, how could that be...

Although both mothers were joking, the underlying meaning behind their jokes was not false.

A simple translation of their conversation is:

Liu Yue: Can Shang Yunmiao be my daughter-in-law?

Yunxuan: Okay, then Chen Bing will be my son-in-law.

Good heavens! This is about discussing our future marriage!

I, I, I can't stand this. As a human being who has lived for so many years, this is the first time Chen Bing has encountered something like marriage.

Even if it's just a joke, even if it's just a test to find out what the other person means, don't you think it's too early?

I think I'll just slip away. After all, it's such a big deal as marriage, so it's best to leave the decision entirely to my parents. Isn't that a way of showing filial piety?

Of course, if Liu Yue wanted to find him another girl's parents to discuss marriage, that would be feudal dregs, and Chen Bing would fight to the death for freedom.

Well, that's the gist of it. Coming to her senses, Chen Bing pulled her little boy up and said goodbye to the two mothers. She explained that she had just finished her exam and needed to go back to her bedroom to rest.

The two mothers didn't say anything, agreed, and then watched him and her leave with smiles.

What, you're asking for Shang Yunmiao's opinion?

What could this girl possibly have to say? She's still in a daze and doesn't know what happened.

"What happened, Chen Bing?"

As expected, as soon as she entered the bedroom, that silly girl Shang Yunmiao started asking Chen Bing a question.

After hesitating for a moment, Chen Bing felt that Xiao Shang was still a child after all, and it was best for her not to know about such adult matters.

So Chen Bing used two fingers to lift Xiao Shang's chin and said to her with a serious expression, "We haven't seen each other for almost two days. I have reason to seriously suspect that your little mouth can't help but want to kiss me."

"Wh-what?!" A hint of shyness seemed to appear on Shang Yunmiao's face, and then this shyness spread like a flood across her cheeks.

Finally, Shang Yunmiao stubbornly said, "I can hold out until after dinner, unlike Chen Bing who's in such a hurry..."

"Yes, yes, I'm so impatient, let me kiss you already."

A hint of embarrassment appeared on Shang Yunmiao's face as she tried to maintain her composure.

“Mom might get suspicious seeing us leave in such a hurry…” But she quickly added to herself, “Well… anyway, she’s already suspicious…”

Okay, okay, so you're playing like this, huh? You're starting to get all smug.

Chen Bing felt a surge of joy. All thoughts of marriage had vanished in the face of Shang Yunmiao's adorable appearance. Now, he only wanted to test whether Shang Yunmiao's cute little mouth was truly as soft and firm as it sounded.

Adhering to a rigorous scientific attitude, Chen Bing investigated for a while and finally discovered that it was actually quite soft.

Indeed, knowledge gained from books is ultimately superficial; true understanding requires personal experience. In truth, everything in the world requires investigation and inquiry to arrive at the truth.