Granny Yao kept referring to Liu as a woman who had been married twice, making Liu stand there nervously, constantly fidgeting with the hem of her clothes.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei beckoned to Liu Shi, gesturing for her to sit down next to her.
“Aunt Yao, you’re wrong about that. I think it’s a good thing Yao Guang didn’t listen to you this time. Don’t take offense if I’m being blunt, but if Yao Guang had always listened to you, he probably would never have been able to get married in his life.”
Upon hearing this, Granny Yao's face flushed with anger, and she pounded the ground repeatedly with her cane.
"Madam Jiang, I respect you because you're the manager of this shop, but you can't speak without thinking. I'm your elder, after all!"
Jiang Yuwei smiled faintly and poured a cup of tea for Granny Yao.
"I thought Aunt Yao just liked to talk without thinking, so I told her the truth. Please don't take offense at the way we spoke, since we both genuinely care about Yao Guang."
At this moment, Yao Guang also noticed Liu's discomfort, so he reached out and nudged Yao Pozi's arm.
“Mother, watch your words. Liu is still here. Don’t talk about a woman who has remarried. I was the one who pursued Liu first.”
Hearing her son's words, Granny Yao was even more furious. She had originally planned to come here to properly belittle Liu Shi, otherwise, how could a second-married woman like her be allowed to act so arrogantly in her own home? She didn't even know her own place.
Now they're even thinking of asking me for a dowry? That's ridiculous! My money should stay in my own hands. How can I let an outsider benefit from it?
"Yao Guang, don't interfere when I'm speaking. No matter what, I'm still your mother. If you want to get married, you have to get past me first!"
Seeing that Granny Yao's words indicated she wanted to be in charge in the future, Jiang Yuwei smiled and poured her some tea.
“Aunt Yao, don’t worry. This is Yao Guang’s marriage. He can speak up. Not only Yao Guang can speak, but Liu can speak up too. Actually, Liu has raised her son alone all these years. Whether they get married or not doesn’t matter.”
As she spoke, Jiang Yuwei paused and looked at Liu Shi.
"Isn't it a blessing that the two of them were destined to meet in this lifetime? They met Yao Guang, who happened to be alone. Wouldn't it be a good thing if we could help them fulfill this beautiful story?"
Liu, who was standing to the side, was completely intimidated by Yao Pozi's arrogance. She just lowered her head, hugged her teacup, and dared not utter a sound.
Logically speaking, a woman of her age should have seen all kinds of people and shouldn't be so timid. But Liu was different. Because she was soft-hearted, she was easily manipulated.
In addition, her original mother-in-law was easy to get along with. When the men in the family were not at home, the daughter-in-law and mother-in-law got along like mother and daughter. They were a family that depended on each other for survival. Therefore, she had never dealt with a difficult person like Granny Yao before, so she naturally dared not make any rash moves.
Granny Yao glanced at Liu, who remained silent, then looked at her son before speaking:
"It's not that I'm against the marriage, it's just that my family can't afford the dowry of one or two taels of silver!"
Upon hearing this, Yao Guang immediately became anxious.
"Mother, where is all the money I gave you? I earned quite a bit during my years in the army, how come you can't even come up with a single tael of silver now!"
Granny Yao glared at Yao Guang and scolded:
"You good-for-nothing! You only gave me a few coins, and now you want to settle accounts with your mother just to get a wife? You should calculate how much money I owe you for carrying you for ten months and raising you with such hardship!"
When Yao Guang saw his mother bringing this up again, he was so flustered that he didn't know what to say.
"Mother, why are you bringing this up again? I'm not trying to settle accounts with you, I'm saying, all these years, haven't you saved a single tael of silver?"
Granny Yao's eyes darted around, and she began to pound on the table and wail.
"Oh, old man, my life is so hard! Why didn't you take me with you when you left? You left me with this stupid son. I raised him from infancy, and this is what he says to me? I have nowhere to reason with him, nowhere to reason with him!"
When Yao Guang saw his mother crying, he panicked.
"Mom, please don't cry. I spoke a little too hastily just now. Please, please don't cry!"
Seeing this, Liu looked at Granny Yao with a nervous expression, just about to say that she didn't want the betrothal gifts anymore and that she should stop crying.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Yuwei grabbed her hand, signaling her to be quiet.
Just then, Yunqing arrived at the backyard with the prepared food, and the aroma of the food made Granny Yao's mouth water.
This morning, my son dragged me to Beijing, and I didn't even have time to eat breakfast. Now I'm starving.
Yun Qing put down the food and left. When Granny Yao saw the table full of food she had never eaten before, she forgot all about crying and instead stared at the food on the table, swallowing her saliva incessantly.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei laughed and said:
"Aunt Yao, you must be starving after your long journey. Let's eat first."
Old Lady Yao was just waiting for Jiang Yuwei to say this, so she nodded hurriedly, grabbed the chopsticks next to her, and picked up most of the fried meat with one chopstick.
Sitting to the side, Yao Guang felt somewhat embarrassed seeing his mother eating like this.
"Mom, eat slowly, there's no rush, there's plenty more here."
Granny Yao stuffed her mouth full, glared at Yao Guang, and mumbled a curse:
"What do you know? This meat and vegetables won't taste good when they get cold. You should eat quickly!"
As she spoke, Granny Yao suddenly shoved a large mouthful of food into Yao Guang's bowl.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Yuwei exchanged a glance with Liu Shi and instantly lost her appetite, simply lowering her head to drink her tea.
Liu didn't dare to eat by herself at this time. Seeing that Granny Yao was probably starving, she helped her pick up food. But Granny Yao didn't like what Liu picked up at all.
She was seen rummaging through the dishes with her chopsticks, turning everything upside down. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought she was cooking in the dishes.
Yao Guang knew that his mother's eating manners were not good, but he couldn't stop her from eating. If he dared to interrupt her now, he would probably get scolded again.
Right now, he didn't dare to look up into Jiang Yuwei's eyes, and just kept his head down, taking small bites of the food in front of him.
Granny Yao didn't care whether Jiang Yuwei and Liu Shi ate or not; she simply devoured most of the dishes on the table, then leaned back comfortably, patted her belly, let out a loud burp, and looked at Jiang Yuwei, saying:
"Oh, Madam Jiang, why aren't you eating? Eat quickly, or the food will get cold and won't taste good!"
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