The Zhou family set up a few tables in the staff quarters and brewed a few pots of tea for the guests to play cards and drink tea for entertainment.

Pei Yang was dragged by Zhou Shuhuan and other friends to play cards, Pei Ziheng was playing in the yard with other children in the family compound, and Shen Mingzhu was sitting at the tea table set up by the Zhou family, drinking tea, eating melon seeds, and listening to people chatting.

In the entire residential compound, the Zhou family is the one that makes the most jokes.

The most talked-about couple in the Zhou family are Ma Sufen and Shen Baolan, a perfect pair of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Ma Sufen now hates her daughter-in-law Shen Baolan from the bottom of her heart. Even though Shen Baolan is pregnant with her Zhou family's child and will give birth in a few months, Ma Sufen is determined not to want this daughter-in-law and encourages her son Zhou Shuhuan to divorce Shen Baolan every day.

But Zhou's father and son had the opposite idea to Ma Sufen.

Neither the father nor the son agreed to divorce.

In their opinion, all daughters-in-law in the world are the same. Although Shen Baolan behaved in a rude manner after she became pregnant, everything would be fine once the baby was born.

Another thing is that marrying a wife (daughter-in-law) is a considerable expense.

It cost nearly a thousand to marry Shen Baolan, and then Shen Baolan threw more than a thousand when she got into trouble. If they really divorced, wouldn't all the money be thrown into the water in vain? This shows that both father and son are selfish people at heart.

Because in the fight between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law Shen Baolan and Ma Sufen, the lives of the father and daughter-in-law were not actually affected too much.

No matter how fiercely the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law quarreled, they still had food to eat, clothes to wear, and sleep to sleep.

If you really can't stand it, just hide away. One can find old friends to drink tea and chat, the other can find brothers to drink and play cards. There are always ways and places to kill time.

But Ma Sufen and Shen Baolan could only stay at home, they were fed up with each other and started fighting.

Zhou's father and son never stood in Ma Sufen's shoes to understand her suffering, nor did they ever think about reconciling the conflict between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

It really is true that if the knife doesn't stab them, they will never know how painful it is.

After Shen Baolan returned to her parents' home, Ma Sufen never mentioned her at all, as if Shen Baolan did not exist in the family. Zhou Quanxiong, on the other hand, was like a hands-off boss and did not care about anything.

As for Zhou Shuhuan, his wife is not at home, so he doesn't quarrel with his mother and he is happy to have some free time.

As a result, Shen Baolan stayed at her parents' home for a whole month, and no one in the Zhou family thought of bringing Shen Baolan back.

It was because of this birthday party that Zhou Quanxiong was afraid of being laughed at by relatives and friends, so for the sake of face, he asked his son to go to Shenjiagou to bring Shen Baolan back.

After drinking a bellyful of tea and listening to gossip for an entire afternoon, as the sun was about to set, Shen Mingzhu contentedly took Pei Ziheng home.

Shen Mingzhu felt a little sick of the rich fish and meat at noon, so she planned to have some porridge in the evening to clear her stomach.

Cook the snow-white rice until it is soft and blooming, add the thinly shredded white radish, and cook until the shredded radish and the porridge become transparent and blend into one, then add ginger, onion, salt, sesame oil, and a little bit of pepper.

The sweet and fragrant radish porridge, with a hint of spiciness from the Hu Shufen, makes you sweat slightly after eating a hot bowl of it, and your whole body feels refreshed.

It was already dark when the porridge was ready, but Pei Yang didn't go home.

Shen Mingzhu did not go downstairs to urge him, and left half a pot for him. She and Pei Ziheng each had a bowl of porridge, and squatted in front of the coffee table, eating while watching TV.

The TV station is broadcasting "Journey to the West" recently.

Although she was very familiar with Journey to the West, she had never watched the old version, so she turned on the TV at a certain time every day and watched it with great fascination.

It’s boring to watch the drama alone, so she dragged Pei Ziheng to watch it together.

The reason given was also something Pei Ziheng could not refute, "Journey to the West is so popular, all the classmates in the class have watched it, but you haven't. When everyone was discussing the plot, you didn't know anything and couldn't say a word. How damaging to your academic temperament."

After establishing Pei Ziheng as a hardworking, sensible and independent person, Shen Mingzhu gave him a new persona - a top student.

Shen Mingzhu firmly believes that as long as her stepson follows the character she has set for him and changes himself, sooner or later he will become an upright and outstanding young man.

After dinner, the performance of Journey to the West was over. There was only one episode a day, and we finished watching it.

Shen Mingzhu took the bowls to the kitchen to wash them. There were only two bowls and two pairs of chopsticks. Before she had finished washing, the phone in the living room rang.

"Ziheng, answer the phone."

Pei Ziheng didn't respond after being called several times. The phone in the living room kept ringing, so Shen Mingzhu had no choice but to answer the phone while wiping her hands.

The call was from Pei Yang, who said he was going out to party with some friends in the evening and would not be back for dinner, so he asked the mother and son not to wait for him.

Shen Mingzhu replied directly, "We didn't wait for you. We have already finished eating and washed the dishes."

“…”

After hanging up the phone, Shen Mingzhu turned and went to Pei Ziheng's room.

"Ziheng, what are you doing? I just asked you to answer the phone, why didn't you answer me?"

Although she was asking, Shen Mingzhu's tone was very gentle, even a little joking, to avoid the child from feeling rebellious and resistant.

Pei Ziheng turned his head and looked at her with his dark eyes.

"I don't like you calling me Ziheng."

Shen Mingzhu was stunned for a moment, then walked into the room, moved a stool and sat next to her stepson, looking like she wanted to chat with him.

"Come on, tell me why you suddenly don't like Ziheng anymore? Did someone tell you something?"

"Anyway, I just don't like it."

After saying that, Pei Ziheng took the Rubik's Cube from the table and started playing with it.

Shen Mingzhu thought about it and said tentatively: "How about I call you Hengheng from now on?"

“It sounds bad.”

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"Pei Pei?"

“It’s even worse.”

"Baby?"

"Little baby?"

Pei Ziheng looked disgusted after saying several nicknames in a row. Shen Mingzhu had no choice but to say, "How about I ask your son to smash it in the future?"

Click.

The Rubik's Cube was restored.

Pei Ziheng put the restored Rubik's Cube back on the desk and said reluctantly, "This one is a little less unpleasant."

Shen Mingzhu looked at her stepson's pretty, fair face and couldn't help laughing. After she finished laughing, she felt a little sad in her heart and a little hot in her eyes.

She had taken good care of him for so long, and finally there was some response.

Shen Mingzhu's chest was filled with happiness, relief, and joy.

She opened her arms, held her stepson in her arms, and gently kissed the top of his soft head.

"Son, you're so cute."

Pei Ziheng let her hold him, his black eyelashes trembling slightly.

This is what it feels like to be hugged by your mother, warm, fragrant, and soft, as comfortable as being trapped in a cloud. He has slept with his father for so long, but he has never had such an experience.

No wonder they say there is only one good mother in the world and a child with a mother is like a treasure.

Being a mom feels really, really good.

——

In a small restaurant not far from the family compound, Pei Yang, Zhou Shuhuan and several other brothers who had grown up together were drinking and talking freely.

When they were drinking happily, I don't know who started it, but the brothers all started talking about Shen Mingzhu.

They praised her for her beauty, gentle personality, and virtuous and capable character, and envied Pei Yang for being so lucky to have found a treasure and married such a good wife as Shen Mingzhu.

Pei Yang was naturally happy to hear his brother praising his wife.

But his happiness was only on the surface, and his heart was filled with bitterness.

His wife is good, so good that he likes her very much. However, such a good wife is like the moon in the water, which can be seen but not touched.

It has been eight months since they got married, and apart from holding his wife's hand and chatting with her while lying on the bed under the quilt, he has never even kissed her on the mouth.

No one would believe it if he told others, and he was too embarrassed to tell anyone.

All the sadness, grievance and depression in his heart eventually turned into glass after glass of wine, which Pei Yang swallowed into his stomach.

(End of this chapter)