Chapter 71 Reunion Dinner
Zhou's mother muttered, "What's there to be embarrassed about meeting outside? Food is so expensive these days! I really don't understand your thinking. Anyway, as long as you give me money and ration coupons, I won't say much. You'll just get annoyed if I say too much."
Lin Yuanshu awkwardly touched his nose. The reason was indeed a bit far-fetched, but he really had no other choice. It was all for Zhu Huilan's plan.
During this time, Zhu Huilan brought her several handwritten books and journals about foreign pharmaceuticals and medicines. If her grandfather hadn't participated in the translation, it would have been impossible to get these handwritten copies. These books were hard to find anywhere else. She was truly indebted to Zhu Huilan.
With this information, let alone dealing with Zhu Huilan's mother-in-law, even if Zhu Huilan wanted to deal with her lover, she would still help without hesitation.
Seeing this, Sister-in-law Xue shamelessly said to Zhou Ma, "Mom, my parents also want to come and have the reunion dinner. Since the second daughter-in-law's parents can come and have the reunion dinner, it doesn't make sense that my parents can't! You can't be so biased."
Zhou's mother resolutely refused, saying, "Come on! Your parents are stingy and unwilling to spend a penny more on us. They're not here for a family reunion dinner, but to buy goods. Do I look like a sucker, eating and taking things?"
Sister-in-law Xue muttered softly, "My parents have changed. They won't do such a thing again for the sake of their grandson."
Zhou Ma still refused, saying, "We're not a wealthy family. You really don't know how expensive food is. With so many mouths to feed, where are we going to get so much food?"
She asked Lin Yuanshu to invite his parents over for dinner, not just to have them eat, but also to see what their personalities were like. If they were easy to talk to and reasonable, she thought it would be much better for them to educate Lin Yuanshu than for her to do it herself.
She didn't believe that Lin Yuanshu would disobey his own parents if he didn't listen to his mother-in-law.
She didn't mean to target Lin Yuanshu; she just wanted Lin Yuanshu to respect her more. Just like Lin Yuanshu could use her mother-in-law to threaten her, she could use Lin Yuanshu's parents to threaten him in the future.
Sister-in-law Xue was unaware of Zhou Ma's plans. She just felt it was incredibly unfair. They were all daughters-in-law, so why could Lin Yuanshu's parents come while hers couldn't? This was discrimination!
The next morning, after the Zhou family finished breakfast, Zhou's mother took Zhou Xiangyang to make a reunion dinner. She didn't know how long Lin Yuanshu's parents would stay in Beijing. If they only stayed for one day, they would only be able to eat lunch. After all, it would be too late to return to the production team after dinner, so she could only have all the main dishes for lunch.
Aunt Wen passed by Aunt Zhou's house and saw Aunt Zhou cleaning duck feathers. She smiled and said, "Such a fat duck? It looks like your family's New Year's Eve dinner is going to be very lavish tonight."
Zhou Ma said in a serious tone, "This is not the New Year's Eve dinner, but a reunion dinner for my second daughter-in-law's parents. Since my in-laws have come all this way, I can't make it too simple, so I specially bought a duck and a fish for good luck."
Aunt Wen said in disbelief, "You're so generous!"
If she remembered correctly, a few years ago when her eldest daughter-in-law's parents came over for dinner, she simply made a dish of cornbread with pickled vegetables, which infuriated her eldest daughter-in-law's parents, who kept cursing Zhou Ma for being extremely stingy.
Zhou Ma argued, "I may be stingy, but I can't lose face in front of my second daughter-in-law's parents."
She wanted Lin Yuanshu's parents to speak up for her, so she definitely needed to treat them well.
Aunt Wen really couldn't tell that Aunt Zhou was the kind of person who cared about appearances, but since Aunt Zhou had said so, she could only pretend to believe it.
Zhou Ma and Zhou Xiangyang were really too busy to handle everything, as they had to process the ducks, the fish, and prepare the dough for steamed buns.
So Zhou Ma decided to call someone else for help. She went into the living room, glanced at Sister-in-law Xue's belly, then looked at Lin Yuanshu and her older brother sitting on the sofa reading, and decisively called out, "Xiang Jun, come and help me knead the steamed buns?"
The older brother looked at Zhou's mother with disbelief. He felt that his mother had been acting strangely lately, always asking him for help no matter what happened.
He protested, "Mom, cooking is a woman's job. I don't want to go to the kitchen to knead dough. There are people coming and going in the corridor. Other men will laugh at me if they see me. Mom, can you bear to see me being laughed at by other men?"
Aunt Zhou paused for a moment, then said firmly, "Who dares to laugh at you? Tell me, and I'll help you deal with them. Besides, Xiangyang is cooking too. If anyone's going to laugh, it should be Xiangyang first."
The eldest brother said speechlessly, "Xiangyang is a chef. He cooks every day. How could any man laugh at him? What I want is not for others to help me clean up, but for me not to go to the kitchen to knead steamed buns. That's the work that Xiao Er's wife and my wife should do. How could you ask me to do that?"
Lin Yuanshu raised an eyebrow. She couldn't stand it anymore. She put down the book in her hand and said indignantly, "What do you mean by 'work that women should do'? Xiangyang does it too. Why doesn't he talk as much as you? You're a man, and I'm a leader, a team leader in the factory. What kind of talk is it to cook in the corridor outside! I've never heard of any leader personally cooking reunion dinners for their family. In this family, besides Mom, you have the lowest salary. How dare you say you won't do it?"
The older brother broke down and said, "That's because most leaders are men, so you haven't heard of leaders personally cooking family reunion dinners, not because leaders don't know how to cook family reunion dinners."
Lin Yuanshu directly resorted to shamelessness, saying, "I don't care. Anyway, I'm the leader. I won't do anything. You can go if you want."
The older brother also argued, "I don't care. Anyway, I'm a man, I won't lay a hand on him."
The pressure was now on Sister-in-law Xue. She thought of Sun Yiyi's behavior in the ward earlier, so she frowned, touched her stomach, slowly got up, and said weakly, "Stop arguing, I'll go help."
Seeing that Sister-in-law Xue had difficulty moving around, Zhou Dafu frowned. Between Lin Yuanshu and Zhou Xiangjun, he decisively chose Zhou Xiangjun and said with a serious face, "Xiangjun, go help your mother knead the steamed buns. You have strong hands, and the steamed buns you knead will be chewier."
The eldest brother glared fiercely at Lin Yuanshu, then glanced at the serious-looking Zhou Dafu. He clenched his fists tightly, wanting to vent his anger, but finding no outlet for it, he could only give in and say, "I'll go, I'll go..."
Although he dared to refute Lin Yuanshu's words, he didn't dare to grumble at Zhou Dafu.
Zhou Dafu's decision to have his elder brother knead the steamed buns wasn't out of favoritism towards Lin Yuanshu. Rather, it was because Lin Yuanshu simply didn't know how to knead steamed buns. He thought the steamed buns Lin Yuanshu kneaded were terribly unpalatable, practically like eating stones. Today was a family reunion dinner, and serving such steamed buns to others would be utterly shameful.
Sister-in-law Xue smiled slightly, then sat back down and continued knitting.
Lin Yuanshu was quite satisfied with the result. She was fine with making noodles, but kneading steamed buns was out of the question. In her past life, she always bought ready-made steamed buns.
As he kneaded the dough on the work surface, the older brother muttered to himself, "Damn dough, why do I have to knead it..."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiangyang felt that his older brother was going crazy, so he kept his distance from him.
The older brother noticed Zhou Xiangyang's actions, glared at him fiercely, and said through gritted teeth, "You shouldn't have gotten married."
Hearing this, Zhou Xiangyang became extremely angry. He felt that no one in this family had ever cared about his thoughts. "I said before that I didn't want to get married, but you forced me to. Now that I'm married, you say I shouldn't have gotten married. You've said all sorts of nice things and mean things. What can I say?"
“Mom and I hoped you could marry a good wife so she could take care of you. Look at what your wife has done! She makes our whole family take care of her. What kind of daughter-in-law is that?” the older brother complained.
Since Lin Yuanshu arrived, his status in the family has been declining. Now his mother has stopped making things difficult for Lin Yuanshu and has started making things difficult for him instead.
Zhou Xiangyang said with a puzzled look, "I really don't understand why you all have to make things difficult for my wife. She is so gentle and understanding."
The elder brother sneered, "Congratulations, you've redefined gentleness and understanding."
When Zhou Ma heard the two of them arguing back and forth, it gave her a headache, so she asked them to cook a family reunion dinner. Why all the complaints? She had been doing it for decades and had never uttered a single complaint.
"Instead of arguing here, you'd better hurry up and get things done so we don't miss lunchtime," said Zhou Ma expressionlessly.
After seeing Zhou Ma get angry, the two immediately shut their mouths and started working on their tasks.
It's a rare treat to have such good weather today; there's no snow, and the sun has finally come out to shine after a long absence.
Ma Long arrived at the Zhou family's door with a smile, carrying five jin of cornmeal on his back. "Excuse me," he asked Zhou's mother, "does Comrade Lin Yuanshu live here?"
When Zhou Ma saw Ma Long, she froze on the spot and couldn't help but ask, "Are you... are you Brother A Niu?"
Ma Long frowned and said, "You've mistaken me for someone else. My name is Ma Long, and I'm a distant cousin of Comrade Lin Yuanshu."
“Brother Long,” Zhou Ma blurted out.
When Lin Yuanshu heard the voice of a strange man coming from the doorway, she knew that the "stepfather-in-law" arranged by Zhu Huilan had arrived. She quickly went out and heard her mother-in-law call the man "Brother A-Long".
Her heart skipped a beat. The man in front of her was Zhu Huilan's "stepfather-in-law." She absolutely could not let him become her "stepfather-in-law"!
She quickly looked at the man, who was wearing faded blue overalls that were stretched taut, clearly the result of years of hard work and a strong physique.
He stood ramrod straight, his back as broad as a wall, yet he always wore a smile, his eyes gentle, without a trace of ferocity, making him appear exceptionally kind.
Ruggedness and gentleness are strangely blended in him; he truly is a "gentle strongman."
At this moment, all she could say was, "Zhu Huilan's mother-in-law is eating way too well! If this happened in her previous life, she could easily have become an internet celebrity."
"Uncle, you've finally arrived. I was worried something might have happened to you. This is my mother-in-law. Please come in and rest for a bit. My parents will be here soon," Lin Yuanshu said with a smile.
Ma Long smiled憨厚ly, then handed the 5 jin of cornmeal from the bag to Zhou Ma, saying, "This is my food ration. Thank you so much for your help today."
Zhou Ma stared at Ma Long without blinking. As she took the cornmeal, she said, "It's no trouble at all. What's the trouble? It's just one more mouth to feed."
Lin Yuanshu sensed something was amiss and quickly interjected, "That's not what you said before."
Aunt Zhou cleared her throat and said in a serious tone, "I said that before because I had never met your distant cousin and was afraid that he was a bad person. But after seeing him today, I know that he is definitely not a bad person. This amount of food is too much!"
Ma Long smiled sheepishly, "I'm planning to look for a job in Beijing, so I might have to stay for a few more days. I'll need your help then."
Aunt Zhou said excitedly, "We're all family, why be so polite! Stay a few more days! You'll fall in love with Beijing if you stay a few more days."
Lin Yuanshu said with a straight face, "Uncle, please sit on the sofa first. My mother and I have something to talk about."
Zhu Huilan had previously told him that once he arrived at the Zhou family, he would be under Lin Yuanshu's orders. So he didn't hesitate and went straight in, greeting Zhou Dafu with a smile, "Team Leader Zhou, it's an honor to meet you! I never imagined I'd be related to you by marriage, it's truly a great honor..."
Chow Tai Fook was taken aback. "Who are you?"
“I am Comrade Lin Yuanshu’s cousin. Yuanshu has been praising you to me, saying that you are reasonable and capable at work. I have always admired people like you.” Ma Long said from the bottom of his heart. He really envied people in the city who had jobs.
Chow Tai Fook was a little embarrassed by the praise, and he subconsciously straightened his chest. "You flatter me. I'm not as amazing as you say."
Just as the two were praising each other, Lin Yuanshu lowered his voice and asked, "Mom, what are you doing? Just talk, don't stare at my uncle."
She didn't want Zhou Ma to have an affair; before the matter of Zhu Huilan's mother-in-law was even resolved, her family had already become a tragedy.
Aunt Zhou smiled sheepishly, then asked, "Does your uncle have a wife?"
Lin Yuanshu: "..."
She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, saying, "Although my uncle doesn't have a wife, don't forget that you have a lover."
Hearing this, Aunt Zhou's face turned red. She slapped Lin Yuanshu on the shoulder and said angrily, "What are you thinking? Of course I wouldn't be interested in your cousin. I just think your cousin looks like Brother Aniu, who used to play with me and Sister Ahua when we were little. Sister Ahua and Brother Aniu were the best of friends. Unfortunately, Brother Aniu ended up marrying the most beautiful woman in the village. Your cousin didn't have a wife, and Sister Ahua didn't have a man. They're a perfect match. It's good for Sister Ahua, and it's good for your cousin too."
As Zhou Ma spoke, she became more and more excited, wishing that Ma Long would be with her Sister Ahua immediately.
She wasn't stupid; how could she not see the loneliness in Sister Hua's eyes? Sister Hua would often look at her and Zhou Dafu with envy. Sister Hua was still so young; how could she bear to let Sister Hua be alone?
Although Sister Ahua has a son and a daughter-in-law, there are some forms of companionship that her son and daughter-in-law cannot provide.
She hadn't found the right person until she met Ma Long today, who caught her eye. He looked just like Ah Niu, the guy Sister Hua liked when she was young.
Lin Yuanshu looked at Zhou Ma's smiling face and felt very conflicted. Her mother-in-law had really fallen for the couple. Luckily, Ma Long wasn't her real cousin, otherwise she would definitely have objected to the marriage.
She had considered that the plan might not go smoothly, but she hadn't expected it to go this smoothly, and she even had an extra helper. As far as the relationship between Zhou Ma and Li Xiaohua was concerned, ten words between them couldn't compare to one word from Zhou Ma. It seemed that the matter was already more than half successful.
Lin Yuanshu cleared his throat, frowned, and said, "Let me make this clear: I will only try to matchmake my uncle and Aunt Li, but I will not force my uncle, and you are not allowed to use my name to force my uncle."
It would seem suspicious if she agreed without hesitation.
Hearing Lin Yuanshu's reply, Zhou Ma didn't think much of it and was very happy. "No problem, you are really my good daughter-in-law. I will first find out about Ma Long's family situation, and then have Sister Ahua change into a beautiful dress and make a dazzling appearance."
Lin Yuanshu raised an eyebrow. When it came to matchmaking between Ma Long and Li Xiaohua, Zhou Ma was much more enthusiastic than her.
Lin Yuanshu followed behind Zhou Ma, listening to Zhou Ma and Ma Long chat.
Zhou Dafu was somewhat displeased. He was having a pleasant conversation with Ma Long when Zhou's mother suddenly appeared, pulling Ma Long aside and pressing him for details about the family. Even checking the household registration was not as thorough as she had done.
The reason Ma Long was willing to answer Zhou Ma's various tricky questions with a smile was because Lin Yuanshu nodded to him, and he immediately understood what Lin Yuanshu meant.
He needed to find a way to win over Aunt Zhou. According to the information Comrade Zhu Huilan gave him, Aunt Zhou and Li Xiaohua were friends. Winning over Aunt Zhou would make it easier for him to get close to Li Xiaohua. He could only be patient and answer all sorts of strange questions.
Comrade Li Xiaohua is now his lifeline. As long as he can be with Comrade Li Xiaohua, he can have a job and a city household registration.
After his son kicked him out of the house, he realized one thing: he couldn't rely on his son, and he could only rely on himself. Even if his son treated him well now that he was back in the production team, it was only because he was healthy now. When he got old, he would still be kicked out of the house by his son.
As long as he has an urban household registration, even if he doesn't have a job, he will still receive "rations" and won't starve.
Lin Yuanshu looked at Ma Long thoughtfully. The stepfather-in-law that Zhu Huilan chose was quite clear-headed. Smart people are always better than stupid people. Just like her mother-in-law, she knew that she was not easy to deal with, but she still insisted on provoking her. Even if she suffered a loss, she would relapse into her old ways after a while and never learn her lesson.
Hearing laughter and chatter coming from the living room, the older brother felt extremely frustrated. He vented his anger on Zhou Xiangyang, saying, "Your wife is really something! With just a few words, she managed to get Mom away. Look how many men are busy in the kitchen outside!"
Zhou Xiangyang paused for a moment, then suddenly realized and said, "You want to call your sister-in-law over to help with cooking? But she's pregnant with your child, and she was complaining of stomach discomfort this morning. Are you sure you want to call her?"
The older brother took a deep breath and said through gritted teeth, "What I mean is to call you 'wife'."
Zhou Xiangyang looked troubled and said, "But my wife is a leader, how can she do such a thing?"
His wife is someone who does great things; how could he let her worry about such things!
“Director Tang is a leader, yet she still cooks for her own in-laws,” the older brother retorted.
Unfortunately, he didn't think of this rebuttal when he was arguing with Lin Yuanshu.
Zhou Xiangyang argued confidently, "Therefore, Director Tang is still Director Tang, not Deputy Factory Director Tang."
Big Brother: "..."
The older brother couldn't argue with Zhou Xiangyang because he realized that Zhou Xiangyang's thought process was different from that of a normal person; he had been brainwashed by Lin Yuanshu.
On the other side, Mr. and Mrs. Sun led Mr. and Mrs. Lin to the tenement building. Mrs. Lin said very gratefully, "It's a good thing we had you here today, otherwise we would have been really confused. The roads in this city all look pretty much the same, and we couldn't tell east from west at all."
Sun Ma nodded in agreement, "That's right! I didn't know the way when I came last time either, and I had to ask another woman to show me the way. You'll know the way after you come a few more times."
Lin's mother sighed and said dejectedly, "There aren't that many opportunities to come here! As long as Xiaoshu is happy, it doesn't matter whether I go to the city or not."
Following behind Lin's mother, Lin Yuanfeng curiously looked around at everything in the city. This was her first time in the city, so she felt incredibly new and curious about everything.
Four strangers suddenly appeared downstairs in the tenement building, attracting the attention of the older women.
Not one to hesitate to go through trouble, Aunt Wen was the first to walk over, smiling as she asked, "Who are you? Who are you looking for?"
Lin's mother said somewhat reservedly, "We are Lin Yuanshu's parents, and we've come here today for a family reunion dinner."
As soon as these words were spoken, the older women swarmed around her, chatting animatedly with Lin's mother.
"You've really raised a wonderful daughter. She's so polite and kind-hearted. How did you raise her?"
"I really envy you for having a daughter like Comrade Lin Yuanshu. If she were my daughter, I would be laughing to death in my dreams."
"No wonder you looked familiar to me. You and Comrade Lin Yuanshu look so alike. It's obvious you're mother and daughter."
Lin's mother was a little overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of her neighbors. Wasn't it said that city people were all indifferent? She felt that she was no different from her neighbors in the village.
Lin's mother said shyly, "I raised my child the same way you do. My daughter has always loved reading, and I supported her studies, so I supported her until she graduated from high school. I don't feel like I did anything extra..."
The neighboring aunties were immediately stumped when they heard the word "education." Did they not know that education was good? No, they did know, but they simply didn't have enough money. Children needed money for food, for finding jobs, for getting married—money was needed everywhere. Where would they find extra money for education?
Aunt Wen turned her gaze to Lin Xiangfeng and asked with delight, "Is this Comrade Lin Yuanshu's sister? Have you started dating her?"
Although Lin Yuanshu's sister didn't have as sweet a smile as Lin Yuanshu, she looked much healthier than him, and it was obvious at a glance that she would definitely be able to give birth to a son.
Lin's mother said frankly, "We haven't talked about anyone yet. Her father and I have decided to keep her with us and she won't get married."
Aunt Wen frowned and said, "What's the point of staying in the production team? If you're willing, I guarantee I can introduce a good match to Comrade Lin Yuanshu's sister."
Lin's mother continued to refuse, saying, "The biggest regret of my life is not having a son-in-law with my husband, so my youngest daughter must stay at home and find a husband."
Seeing that Lin's mother had already said that, Aunt Wen naturally couldn't continue. She couldn't very well advise Lin's mother not to take in a son-in-law!
Sun's mother felt very uncomfortable. Lin's father and mother were so popular, while they were ignored.
“We are Sun Yiyi’s parents. Thank you for taking care of Yiyi every day. I also have a little daughter. Lin Yuanshu’s mother doesn’t want a son-in-law, but I do!” Sun’s mother forced her way in.
The expressions of the neighboring aunties became subtle. They had heard about Sun Yiyi's parents, and that they had pushed Xiang Jun's wife down and run away, almost causing her to miscarry.
Sun Yiyi is uneducated, so her parents are also impolite and act rashly, while Lin Yuanshu is highly educated, so her parents don't seem like the kind of unreasonable rural people.
It seems that in the future, when choosing a wife, one should choose one who is educated. Otherwise, if one marries someone like Sun Yiyi or Zhou Ma, the whole family will suffer.
Seeing that no one spoke, Sun's mother smiled awkwardly, inwardly cursing these older women for looking down on them just because her daughter Sun Yiyi didn't have a job and wasn't a city resident.
Aunt Wen stepped forward to ease the awkwardness, saying, "We won't take up any more of your time, otherwise your daughter will be getting impatient. Old Zhou's wife specially killed a duck and fish to treat you, and she's definitely looking forward to your arrival."
Lin's mother was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect Zhou's mother to be so generous as to kill a duck and fish to entertain them. At that moment, her goodwill towards Zhou's mother increased dramatically. The high regard she had for them also represented Zhou's mother's satisfaction with her daughter.
"Then let's chat again next time we have time," Lin's mother said with a smile as she bid farewell to her neighbors.
As they walked down the stairs, Mr. and Mrs. Sun's mood grew heavy; they certainly didn't want to be kicked out by their in-laws today.
Lin's parents, completely unaware of what was happening, continued walking forward.
Although Lin Ma didn't know the exact location of Xiao Shu's in-laws' house, when she saw Zhou Xiangyang cooking on the stove in the corridor, she knew that Xiao Shu's in-laws' house should be nearby.
Moreover, Xiao Shu's life at her husband's family home is quite comfortable; otherwise, it wouldn't be Zhou Xiangyang and another man cooking, but Xiao Shu doing the cooking.
When Zhou Xiangyang saw Lin's mother and father, he put down what he was doing, handed it to his older brother, and called out with a smile, "Dad, Mom."
He hurried over and took the burlap sack from his sister-in-law's hand. As soon as he exerted force, the heavy weight kept pulling him down, and his palm was instantly squeezed painfully. He couldn't lift it with one hand at all and had to use both hands.
My sister-in-law is as strong as ever; she can lift such a heavy thing with one hand.
Seeing how considerate Zhou Xiangyang was, Lin Ma smiled and said, "Is Xiao Shu being lazy again and asking you to cook? I'll have a good talk with Xiao Shu later. How can she always ask you to cook? You are her lover, not her servant."
Before Zhou Xiangyang could reply, the eldest brother heard this and immediately felt that Lin's mother had hit the nail on the head. He smiled and said, "Auntie, you don't need to wait anymore. Lin Yuanshu is in the living room right now. You can go over and talk to her and ask her to come and cook."
Lin's mother's smile froze for a moment. She was just being polite; only a fool would take her words seriously. How could she not protect her own daughter and choose to protect someone else instead!
Zhou Xiangyang retorted without hesitation, "My wife didn't do anything wrong, why should I criticize her? She's a leader, doesn't she have any dignity?"
Hearing this, Lin's mother was very satisfied with Zhou Xiangyang. Fortunately, Zhou Xiangyang was her son-in-law, not the idiot standing next to her.
"Xiangyang is right, I didn't think it through. Let's go in and see Xiaoshu first, you can continue with your work." Lin Ma said as she walked into the living room.
The eldest brother was completely speechless at Zhou Xiangyang. He had finally found someone who could deal with Lin Yuanshu, but Zhou Xiangyang persuaded him to give up. He gritted his teeth and said, "If you want to cook, then cook. Don't drag me into it."
Zhou Xiangyang asked, puzzled, "I didn't mean to involve you. Dad asked you to come and help. If you have any complaints, you can tell Dad."
Big Brother: "..."
Didn't he say so?
I said so.
Is it useful?
It's useless.
Lin Yuanshu heard his mother's voice coming from the doorway. He turned around and saw his mother and the others walking in, with Zhou Xiangyang dragging a burlap sack behind them.
Seeing this, Ma Long strode over, picked up the burlap sack with one hand, and placed it in the corner of the living room.
The last time Lin Yuanshu saw her parents was when she brought pork home. At that time, Zhu Huilan had not yet come to her door to discuss her plan to deal with her mother-in-law, so her mother did not know about Ma Long.
She didn't write back, mainly because she felt that writing letters was very unsafe. If someone saw the letter or it was accidentally lost, it would be like leaving evidence of the plan, as if she was afraid that others wouldn't discover the evidence.
She blinked and introduced with a smile, "Mom, this is my distant cousin, Ma Long. You two must have not seen each other for many years! I only recently got in touch with him. He has missed you a lot all these years."
Lin's mother paused for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "Brother Long, it's been a long time."
Lin's father chimed in, "It's been many years since we last met."
Although they didn't know why Xiao Shu suddenly had a distant cousin, since Xiao Shu had said so, they certainly wouldn't contradict him.
Ma Long sighed, "Yes! I really miss you all. Of all my relatives, you are the only ones who care about me."
The three of them chatted idly with smiles on their faces, appearing to be very close friends, and it was impossible to tell that this was their first time meeting.
Lin Yuanshu breathed a sigh of relief. She knew her parents would cooperate with her instead of foolishly asking, "When did we get this distant cousin?"
Aunt Zhou warmly greeted them, "Don't stand there, come and sit down and chat."
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