Chapter 2
After clearing the table, Zhang Weilan began to make the kang. "Miaomiao, sleep in this room tonight. It's our old Pei family's fault that you encountered something like this on your wedding night. Don't be afraid. Sleep with Lao Er and An An tonight. Mom will go to the side room."
"Yeah, okay." Zhong Miao agreed in a muffled voice.
Pei Ze handed over a glass of water. Zhong Miao thanked him, took it, drank two sips, and handed it back.
Pei Ze took the cup back and raised his eyebrows. This girl was really not polite to him and was quite good at ordering people around.
"Tell me what happened just now?" Pei Ze looked down at Zhong Miao and asked tentatively.
"I was alone in the room when he suddenly came in, saying a lot of dirty things and trying to pounce on me. I hit him with the big basin, but he got up and pounced on me again, so I hit him again."
Zhong Miao didn't feel that traveling through a book was real at all. He seemed to be floating in the void, as if he was talking to a paper man.
"Then what?"
“And then you guys came.”
After getting over the fear, Zhong Miao calmed down, even became a little indifferent. Her father was gone, so she didn't care about anything, let alone just a book.
"Aren't you curious whether he is dead or not?" Pei Ze asked with a wicked smile.
"Is he dead or not?"
Pei Ze's lips curled up with a hint of amusement, "I won't die, but living won't be too comfortable either."
Zhang Weilan was unhappy and slapped Pei Ze on the shoulder. How could she not know what kind of person her son was?
"What nonsense are you talking about? Can you be more careful with your words on such a happy occasion?"
"I know, Mom."
After making the bed, Zhang Weilan pulled Pei Ze out and closed the door.
The main house has one bedroom and one living room, and the living room is also the kitchen. Pei Ze helped his old mother clean up.
Zhang Weilan also helped him clean up and reminded him, "I've made the bed. Sleep between the two of you tonight. After what happened, you better behave yourself tonight and don't bully your wife."
"Mom, you worry too much. I'm not a beast."
"I don't know you at all. You little beast have the darkest heart." Zhang Weilan was not at all like the pedantic old mother in the countryside. Instead, she teased her son.
"Well, my mother understands me best."
"I'm not saying anything bad about you, but now that you're married, you should change your temper. You're already 27, so stop being so frivolous and live a good life from now on."
"Okay, got it."
"You know shit, alas." Zhang Weilan was helpless. She knew Pei Ze would not listen at all.
She secretly thought that she must be good to her daughter-in-law. It was really pitiful that she married such a heartless person, but she was the one who asked for this daughter-in-law, and she also had a share of responsibility for digging the pit.
Pei Ze returned to the house and picked up the basin from the washbasin rack. He tapped the enamel basin with his fingers, listened to the crisp sound of the basin, weighed it, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face.
After filling a basin with clean water, Pei Ze took out a new towel from the cabinet and brought a pair of slippers for Zhong Miao. "Zhong Miao, go wash up and go to bed after that."
"Okay." Zhong Miao got up from the kang and washed her face with soap. She looked at herself in the mirror. The body looked about 80% like hers, except that it was a little rough.
She is a well-known painter. Although oil painting is a kind of physical work, under the care of her old father, every aspect of her life is exquisite. She has seven or eight housekeepers and servants at home, lives in a mansion and drives a luxury car. The word "rough" has never been associated with her.
She didn't feel wronged about being in a book, but the more she thought about it, the sadder she became. No one would ever treat her like her father did again.
"I want to brush my teeth." Zhong Miao turned her eyes and looked at Pei Ze.
Pei Ze was speechless. He really had to take care of everything. He found a new toothbrush, poured a glass of water for Zhong Miao, and considerately squeezed toothpaste for her.
Zhong Miao took it calmly, as if she was born to be served like this.
After the two adults and one child washed up, they got on the kang. Zhang Weilan was afraid that Pei Ze would not be careful enough, so she deliberately spread Pei Mingan's small mattress between them.
After turning off the lights, Pei Mingan perked up. "Aunt Zhong, you married my dad. Does that mean I have a mother too?"
"Uh, I guess so."
"Hehe, Mom, I have a mother too. Can you hug me?"
The moonlight shone into the room through the window, making Pei Mingan's eyes sparkle and watery, and his round little face was very cute. The child was very clean and it was obvious that he was well taken care of.
Zhong Miao felt a little uncomfortable, but she didn't hate the child. However, she had a shadow over the word "mother". It was a taboo that neither she nor her father wanted to mention.
"All right."
She still stretched out her arm from the quilt, and Pei Mingan immediately came over and rested his head on her arm.
Zhong Miao opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling, his mind full of his father's voice and smile. Could he still be alive?
-
The next morning, when Zhong Miao woke up, it was already bright. Pei Ming'an and Pei Ze were not there, and the two quilts beside them were scattered.
She tried to fold the quilt, but gave up after fiddling with it for a few minutes. Folding the quilt is like learning to paint. You watch the teacher do the demonstration and feel that you can do it, but when you actually try it, you find that there is a world of difference. You can't even copy the teacher's example.
She thought about what she had seen on her phone before. Some parents were curious and said that since no one was hiding their work during the art exam, would it be copied?
examination paper.
Zhong Miao found it quite funny. Throughout history, there were so many masters' works out there, but he had never seen anyone copy their own works and become a master.
Thinking back to when her father accompanied her to learn painting, no matter whether she could paint well or not, she always received encouragement from her father.
After tidying herself up and putting on her cotton jacket, she opened the door and saw Zhang Weilan cooking. She moved carefully for fear of waking up her daughter-in-law.
However, Zhong Miao couldn't bring herself to call out "Mom" and said, "Good morning, Grandma."
"Miaomiao is awake, come and eat."
"good."
Zhang Weilan didn't care about this title, it was the same if she called her mother-in-law. She opened the door and called Pei Ze who was working in the yard and Pei Mingan who was running around the yard to come back for dinner.
The room didn't feel cold because of the kang, but the kitchen was not that warm. As soon as I opened the door, the cold wind blew in and instantly took away the warmth.
It was a bit crowded with three adults and one child sitting around a small dining table.
Zhang Weilan made white flour buns, cornmeal porridge, two mixed vegetables and two large bowls of egg custard.
Zhong Miao hadn't eaten since last night and was a little hungry. The steamed buns and side dishes tasted pretty good.
After eating the warm food, she felt a little more alive.
The villagers were not rich, and rice and flour were valuables. Eggs and meat were luxuries, which even the workers in the city might not be able to eat often. The fact that Zhang Weilan could make these foods showed how much she valued her daughter-in-law.
Zhong Miao was thinking about the book while eating. Comparing the plot with reality was her only pleasure.
In fact, Zhang Weilan was not poor, it was the old Pei family that was poor.
The original owner was really lucky and married into a wealthy family, but unfortunately she didn't know it herself.
The book tells about Zhang Weilan's life story. She was a poor lady from a wealthy family. Her first husband was a second-generation rich man who was a good match for her. In addition to Zhang Weilan, he also married two concubines, who eventually ruined him.
Later, Zhang Weilan met Pei Ze's father while fleeing, and she returned to the village with her eldest son and this rural man who was a few years younger than her.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. A few years after Pei Ze was born, his father died of illness.
After all, Zhang Weilan was a rich girl. Her temperament and appearance were incompatible with the villagers. Her husband had died. Although she was a little old, she could not escape the naked and obscene gazes of the men and the thief-like eyes of the women.
The villagers treated orphans and widows with some strangeness. Some felt sympathy for them, while others took advantage of their misfortunes. It was hard to imagine how Zhang Weilan managed to survive with her teenage son and Pei Ze, who was only three or four years old.
Widows are always targeted, let alone a rich and beautiful widow.
The overall environment was not good at that time, and the outside world was even more chaotic than the village. From then on, Zhang Weilan stopped dressing up. In order to maintain stability, she hid her ancestral property and lived a poor life like the villagers.
This went on for more than 20 years. The family had seen the warmth and coldness of human nature and had become accustomed to keeping a low profile and not showing off their wealth.
After returning to his hometown, Pei Ze opened a furniture factory on the edge of the city, but no one in the village knew about it.
Not only was the college entrance examination resumed in this era, but the economy also became increasingly open. Workers in the city lived in houses allocated by the factory, and some wealthy people even bought newly built apartment buildings, which were the earliest commercial housing.
At that time, the demand for furniture in the market was huge, but the supply was limited. Pei Ze often went to the city to take care of his business in recent years and rarely went home. The furniture factory business was good, and he could be considered a boss of medium size.
Of course, Pei Ze would never tell the original owner about his family background, and Zhang Weilan didn't want to move to the city, so the family still maintained a normal life.
Pei Ze looks like a lazy and dishonest person, but in fact he is a cruel and black-hearted person. If he hadn't been so stubborn and insisted on going against the male and female protagonists, he wouldn't have ended up like this.
Zhong Miao put down his chopsticks after eating half a steamed bun.
"Why do you only eat so little?" Zhang Weilan wondered.
"Grandma, I'm full."
Pei Ze was unhappy when he heard Zhong Miao's address. "What's the point of calling her mother-in-law? You should call her mom."
"I don't have a mother, I can't call her out." Zhong Miao said this in a flat and calm tone.
Pei Ze didn't expect Zhong Miao to confront him like this. Even Zhang Weilan and Pei Ming'an were stunned for a moment. Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, neither the old nor the young interrupted.
Zhang Weilan couldn't help feeling sad. Her son had no father, her daughter-in-law had no mother, and her grandson didn't even have parents. He could only be adopted by his uncle.
There was indifference in Zhong Miao's eyes as she just stared at Pei Ze. There was no emotion in those deep brown eyes, as if she was not talking about herself.
Pei Ze has always known that she is very beautiful, but unfortunately, he is not a man who is gentle with women.
Although the original owner was not as pretty as Zhong Miao in her previous life, she was also a unique beauty in this village. If her father had not stopped her, suitors would have broken down the door.
Even though Pei Ze had been to college and worked in the city, he had never seen anyone prettier than her.
It's a pity that this beauty is a fool and is particularly noisy.
Pei Ze snorted coldly and put down his chopsticks, "Follow me in."
Zhang Weilan just stood up and was about to follow when Pei Ze gave her a look and pushed her back. She sighed and just listened to the noise at the door, thinking that if the second son bullied her daughter-in-law, she would rush in to stop him.
As soon as Pei Ze entered the room, he saw the messy bedding on the kang. "Why don't you make the quilt? Who are you waiting for?"
"I won't."
"No, I'll teach you."
Pei Ze folded the quilt neatly in a few seconds and said, "You come."
After reading it, Zhong Miao started to imitate it and finally folded out a big fat bag.
"It's been demolished and overlapped. You can't even do such a small thing. How can you have the nerve to get married?" Pei Ze said sarcastically.
Zhong Miao untied the quilt and folded it again. She didn't say anything and had no expression. She was as serious as a well-behaved student doing her homework according to the teacher's requirements.
Pei Ze stood beside the kang and stared at her like a supervisor.
Zhong Miao repeated it four or five times under Pei Ze's command before he could barely pass.
"Everything else has been packed up and folded in the cupboard."
Pei Ze was a little surprised by every command and every action. In his impression, Zhong Miao was not someone who would just accept things as she pleased. She would probably have quarreled with him a long time ago. How could she be so obedient?
Besides, a girl of this age wouldn’t even know how to fold a quilt. It would be a joke if people told others about it.
Zhong Miao is certainly not someone who would just accept things as they come, but she doesn't care about anything around her and naturally has no real feelings.
She never cared about these details of life, but she had read the historical literature and knew that it was not good not to work.
Even if it was just a book, she would not let herself become a vicious daughter-in-law, letting her mother-in-law do everything and being the laziest in the family. That would make people look down on her and question her lack of upbringing, which would be an insult to her father.
Zhang Weilan couldn't help herself after hearing this. She hurriedly pushed the door open and grabbed her daughter-in-law's hand, which was still busy. "Miaomiao, ignore him. If he doesn't want to, then he doesn't want to. We don't tolerate people who torture their daughters-in-law."
"It's okay, mother-in-law, I learned it." Zhong Miao was a little relieved. Folding a quilt is much easier than learning to paint.
"Mom, don't stop her. Let her do it. We don't keep idle people in our family."
"If you say one more word, get out. You don't want a wife, but I do. From now on, the three of us will live the same life."
Zhang Weilan was really angry. She had been married twice and had encountered vicious mothers-in-law and bastard husbands. Even though she was well-educated and had a good family background, she still felt aggrieved for several years until the bastard died and she was able to get out.
She would not allow herself to become that kind of mother-in-law, nor would she allow her son to treat his wife that way.
Seeing that his mother was really angry, Pei Ze could only admit his mistake and said, "I was wrong, I was wrong. Mom, calm down."
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