To be fair, Shen Cui didn't hate Zhou.

Although Shen Cui complained about her being too pedantic and rigid when she first read the book, and everyone knew that Shen's stepmother-in-law was vicious and hypocritical, she still adhered to filial piety and served and took care of her.

But if you look at it from your own perspective, who would really hate a truly kind person?

But Shen Cui really didn't want to have more contact with her.

After all, standing behind her is Mu Yunchuan, who has the halo of the male protagonist!

Shen Cui didn't want to, or didn't have the ability to, provoke that guy for the time being. I just want to keep quiet and maintain the current superficial calm.

So Chen Cui did not invite Zhou to come in and sit for a while, but only apologized: "I just cleaned the house, and it's full of flying ashes. I won't invite you to come in and sit."

Of course, Zhou had no objection to this. Not only that, she was very flattered when she saw Shen Cui's cheerful and smiling face.

"It's okay. I just came to give something to my mother-in-law." After Zhou said this, she showed her the things in her hand to her with some trepidation.

Speaking of which, Zhou has been feeling uneasy for quite some time.

Although she and Mu Yunchuan moved out to live separately, her father-in-law was just missing but not dead, and the two families had not separated, so they had to celebrate the New Year together. As a daughter-in-law, she should behave well in her first New Year's Day after entering the family.

But she also knew that her mother-in-law didn't like her, so after finishing the work in her own broken house every day, she would stay at the door and not go anywhere, waiting for Chen Cui to call her when she needed her.

I didn't expect that I would have to wait until now.

It's New Year's Eve now, and it would be wrong not to send some gifts.

The New Year's goods she brought were also mainly meat and eggs, but they could not be compared with those given by Zheng. What Zhou brought were two ordinary eggs, a piece of bacon not much bigger than the palm, a small grass carp, and a large cabbage.

Zhou is the representative of foolish filial piety in the original book. Although she is definitely dissatisfied with herself in her heart, with her temperament, what she can produce now is definitely the best she has.

Shen Cui's eyes moved downwards, and she noticed that there were many more cracks on her hands, so she frowned unconsciously.

Zhou misunderstood and immediately explained, "I should have come here with my husband on this important day. But my husband's mentor called me, so he went into the city and hasn't returned yet, so I came alone."

Shen Cui was not surprised by what she said, because Mu Yunchuan's mentor was the principal of Qingzhu Academy.

Most of those students from other places came here because of his fame.

The headmaster is particularly fond of Mu Yunchuan. The reason why Mu Yunchuan has been suppressed for so many years without any result was all due to the headmaster's idea. This shows how much hope he has placed on Mu Yunchuan.

A while ago, many students from other places were still staying in the academy. The dean didn't want to show it too obviously, so he let Mu Yunchuan go home first.

When the end of the year was approaching and there was no one else in the academy, the dean called Mu Yunchuan back and gave him special lessons.

The environment of the academy is naturally better than that of the village, so Mu Yunchuan told Zhou that he was going to study and did not tell her when he would return. Anyway, Zhou was a smart woman he liked and could take care of herself.

After hesitating for a while, Shen Cui finally asked what she wanted to ask, "Didn't I give you some silver money last time?"

Chen Cui thought that the two taels of silver should be enough for the young couple to use until the New Year, so Zhou would not have to ruin her hands like this - such marks were obviously caused by a lot of hard work.

And the original book does have such a plot - the original Shen drove them out of the house without giving them a penny. Although Mu Yunchuan could copy books for others to supplement the family income, the exam was about to start and he did not have the energy, and Zhou was reluctant to let him work so hard at multitasking.

Zhou was a truly virtuous wife, and she managed to make a living by helping people wash and mend clothes.

But the current situation is obviously not like that. Chen Cui really doesn't understand why Zhou would make herself suffer like this.

Zhou misunderstood again, thinking that Shen Cui wanted the money back, so she explained: "I asked my husband to take the two taels of silver to the academy, I..."

As she spoke, Zhou handed the New Year's goods to Shen Cui, and after rummaging in her bosom for a long time, she pulled out a few coins.

"I'll figure it out later."

Seeing that she misunderstood one after another, Shen Cui waved her hand and simply didn't explain to her. She just said: "Well, since you are here anyway, it's time to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner. I'll leave it to you to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner."

Zhou had come to honor her, and it was only to cook a New Year's Eve dinner, which was really not a big deal - she had thought that according to her stepmother-in-law's lazy nature, she might have to clean the house, so she didn't say a word, immediately rolled up her sleeves, and followed Shen Cui to the kitchen.

There weren't many ingredients left at home, but with what Zheng gave and what Zhou sent, it was more than enough to make a few meat dishes.

Shen Cui was still worried about her own dark cooking skills, so she didn't intervene to help and just let Zhou cook some meals on her own.

After giving the instructions, Shen Cui went back to the room to practice calligraphy with Mu Erpang.

Zhou was used to doing housework and was indeed very efficient. By dusk, a table of New Year's Eve dinner was ready.

Fragrant white rice, freshly made dumplings stuffed with sauerkraut and eggs, fried sausages, cabbage and egg soup, and braised grass carp are all delicious.

Mu Erpang smelled the fragrance and put away his pen and ink, then put on his shoes, got off the kang, washed his hands, and sat down at the table.

Not long after Zhou married into the Mu family, she was kicked out of the house by her original owner. The former Mu Erpang was a lazy man who only focused on lying on the kang, so the uncle and sister-in-law only met a limited number of times.

Zhou wanted to decline, saying that she would just go back and eat.

Chen Cui said, "There is so much food, Er Pang and I can't finish it. Besides, we are going to his grandparents' house later, not staying at home. There is no need to waste it."

It was not appropriate to argue with others during the New Year, so Zhou obediently said nothing. She waited until Chen Cui and Mu Erpang sat down and picked up their chopsticks before she started eating.

The New Year's Eve dinner was quickly finished, and the three people at the table sighed with satisfaction.

After dinner, Zhou didn't let them do anything and took on the task of clearing the table and washing the dishes.

When Mu Erpang saw this, he couldn't help but say to Shen Cui: "Sister-in-law is so capable. If she still lived at home, mother wouldn't have to work so hard every day."

Chen Cui thought to herself, do I need you to tell me this? If she hadn't been concerned about Mu Yunchuan, Shen Cui would have found a way to bring Zhou back long ago.

Of course, she was not ordering people to work for no reason. She would definitely treat Zhou and Mu Erpang equally in terms of food and drink, and she could also give her some hard-earned money.

It’s definitely better than Zhou’s current life!

But it’s definitely not possible now.

The first reason was naturally because of Mu Yunchuan's consideration. They were husband and wife, and there was no reason for Chen Cui to let only Zhou come back.

Shen Cui didn't want to stay under the same roof with Mu Yunchuan.

Secondly, the family seems to be quite wealthy now, mainly relying on the remaining money from the past.

With no income in the future, Chen Cui no longer has the nerve to rely on her parents for support.

So in fact, this family can no longer afford to support one more person.

After dinner, Mu Erpang continued to practice calligraphy.

In one afternoon, he finished tracing three pages of "Three Character Classic" and now he took out a copy of "Hundred Family Names" to write.

Chen Cui discovered that he really liked practicing calligraphy. After practicing for an entire afternoon and half a night, his mood score didn't drop at all.

In fact, Mu Erpang couldn’t explain why he liked writing. He just felt that when writing, he only needed to concentrate on how to write each stroke.

His mind was empty instead, and he didn't have to think about the things that were bothering him.

However, it got dark very quickly outside, so Chen Cui only let him write for a short while before straining his eyes.

Soon Zhou packed up the dishes and came back into the house, ready to say goodbye to Shen Cui and leave.

Unexpectedly, she saw the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone. Zhou couldn't help but asked in surprise, "When did Erpang learn to write?"

Mu Erpang will have to study for many years in the future. There is no need to hide this, and it cannot be hidden.

Chen Cui simply opened up and said, "Yes, didn't he borrow a book from Dalang last time? Erpang has been reading it since then, and I found a few other books for him later. Now that he has read them, he wants to start writing."

Reading is of course a good thing, especially Zhou likes people with books the most, otherwise she would not have wanted to marry Mu Yunchuan so wholeheartedly after meeting her once.

She looked at Mu Erpang again, and she didn't know if it was a psychological effect, but she felt that he was more bookish than before.

"No wonder mother-in-law asked about the two taels of silver earlier. It costs money for studying. I know." Zhou laughed again, "Er Pang is really different now. When we were having dinner earlier, I thought I was overthinking it. After all, we were only separated for a few days. It turned out to be because of studying!"

Shen Cui touched her nose and said nothing.

Mu Erpang was not familiar with this sister-in-law, but when he heard Zhou praising him, he flipped open the copybook of "Hundred Family Names" and said, "Sister-in-law, I just learned the character 'Zhou'. Can you see if I wrote it well?"

It's obvious that this brat hasn't written enough and is trying to be clever!

Shen Cui glanced at him amusedly.

Fortunately, Zhou just waved her hands awkwardly and said, "I can't read, and I can't write."

"It's good that you can't write! It's a good opportunity for your sister-in-law to learn with me." At Mu Erpang's enthusiastic invitation, Zhou went over and watched him write.

In fact, it was not really forced. Zhou liked scholars so much that she naturally thought about having Mu Yunchuan teach her to read and write after she married him.

But Mu Yunchuan's upcoming scientific expedition was a big deal, so she couldn't say this out loud.

The two of them were killing time, one was genuinely eager to learn, and they hit it off.

It is not a good idea to scold a child during the New Year, especially when there are outsiders present, so Chen Cui indulged Mu Erpang this time.

Later, when it was almost New Year's Eve, the village suddenly became lively and people who were staying up all night started setting off firecrackers outside.

Only then did Zhou remember to say goodbye, saying that she had to go back, fearing that Mu Yunchuan might not be able to find her when he came back.

It was a bit embarrassing to say, she was planning to come and honor her step-mother-in-law, but after arriving, she only cooked a meal and ate a lot of other people's meat dishes.

Since their parents passed away, Zhou had been making a living with her younger brother. When her younger brother grew up, he went to the city to learn a craft, and the two siblings spent less and less time together.

Later, her younger brother settled down in the city and wanted to invite her to live with him.

She understood that it was easy to meet but difficult to live together. Moreover, the house in the city was purchased by her brother's wife's family, so she was too embarrassed to go. It was at that time that she started looking for a marriage partner, and within two years she married into the Mu family.

Zhou never expected that she would feel the long-lost family warmth here. She even forgot the time.

Shen Cui thought that Mu Yunchuan would not rush back overnight to spend the New Year with Zhou, but since she wanted to leave, Shen Cui did not try to keep her.

After seeing Zhou off, it was time for Shen Cui and Mu Erpang to go to bed.

At this moment, Chen Cui's "laziness" was about to strike again, but she still resisted the urge to lie down directly and went to the kitchen to get hot water to wash up.

Outside, the sounds of firecrackers and children's laughter filled the air. After washing up, Mu Erpang didn't rush to bed, but continued talking to Shen Cui - the mother and son had just chatted for a while in the morning, and he only talked about the competition with Chen Daniu, and there were still many things he hadn't said.

Shen Cui listened to him quietly without any impatience. When Er Pang was about to fall asleep, Shen Cui asked him a question softly.

Mu Erpang didn't hear clearly, and asked her what she said in a sleepy tone.

Shen Cui tucked him in and said it was nothing, "I just want you to go to bed quickly. We still have to go to your grandparents' house to pay New Year's greetings early tomorrow morning."

Mu Erpang smiled and nodded, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Shen Cui watched him for a while, then called out the system in her head.

【I am here. 】The system responded quickly,【How can I help the host? 】

[I have a question. Erpang's mind is getting more and more normal. Why hasn't he mentioned other family members until today when the whole family is reunited? 】

Mu Erpang in the front was not very smart, so naturally he didn't think about caring about others.

But Erpang is obviously normal now. Would a normal child miss his elder brother and father during the Chinese New Year?

If you want to, there is no reason not to say a word. Your mood value should be affected.

[This is the host. The person you are training is the control group of this world. In the setting of this world, he is in a chaotic state. It was only after the host intervened that he came to real life. 】

Therefore, Mu Erpang has no feelings for the people and events in the past. He only has impressions of the people he met and the things that happened after he truly "came back to life".

Shen Cui nodded in understanding. That was fine. Anyway, nothing good had happened to Mu Erpang in the past. His eldest brother had no feelings for him, and his father was missing. It’s okay not to remember.

The sound of firecrackers rang out again outside, and the light screen in front of Shen Cui also showed midnight.

【System, Happy New Year. 】

He paused for a long moment, as if he had not expected Shen Cui to say this to him.

Soon his smiling voice followed: [Host, Happy New Year to you too. 】