Chapter 134: Jiang Xia, a Sharp One!
Chapter 134: Jiang Xia, a Sharp One!
Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei entered the house together.
Zhou Chenglei greeted first, "Dad, Mom, Second Brother, Second Sister-in-Law."
Jiang Xia followed suit, greeting them in the same order.
Hearing their voices, Zhou Chengsen turned around and smiled, "Alei, our fourth brother and sister-in-law are back!"
Zhou Chengsen's wife, Li Xiuxian, also smiled, "Fourth Brother, Fourth Sister-in-Law."
Zhou Chengsen's features bore a resemblance to Zhou Chenglei's, but his face was slightly rounder, and his belly was a bit larger, giving him a hint of middle-aged prosperity. Overall, he still maintained a refined and handsome appearance.
Li Xiuxian had fair skin, was not very tall, and had a dignified air about her. Her facial features were quite delicate, but her eyebrows were plucked too thin, giving her a somewhat stern and sharp look.
Li Xiuxian then turned to her daughter and said, "Yingying, call your Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt."
Zhou Ying responded politely, "Fourth Uncle, Fourth Aunt."
Jiang Xia smiled and complimented, "Yingying is becoming more and more beautiful."
Zhou Ying's appearance combined the best features of both her parents, making her quite attractive.
Zhou Ying was the only child of Zhou Chengsen and Li Xiuxian, and she was already ten years old. The book mentioned that Li Xiuxian had severe bleeding when giving birth to Yingying and never conceived again.
In the past two years, with the implementation of family planning policies, the couple, due to their work commitments, had no chance of having a second child.
People from the coastal areas tended to place great importance on carrying on the family line, believing that having a son was essential. Therefore, every time the couple returned to the village, someone would ask them when they planned to have a son, saying that without a son, they would have no one to take care of them in their old age.
As a result, Li Xiuxian was determined to nurture Yingying well, forcing her to learn many things, hoping that she would get into university, bring glory to the family, and also be able to support them in their old age.
However, things often backfire, and later on, Yingying became a bit rebellious, refusing to listen to her mother. She didn't even attend high school and instead took the entrance exam for the teacher's college in her third year of junior high, hoping to become a primary school teacher as soon as possible.
At that time, graduates from teacher's colleges were highly sought after and immediately assigned jobs, but a renowned teacher's college in the city had higher admission scores than high schools. Unfortunately, Zhou Chengsen and Li Xiuxian were both far-sighted individuals who believed that attending university would offer a brighter future.
Alas, their daughter didn't cooperate! As time went on and society progressed, the educational requirements for teachers increased, and Yingying, with her insufficient qualifications, had to continue her education through correspondence courses to improve her credentials, regretting not having listened to her parents earlier.
Perhaps it was because she grew up in a loving family, but Yingying was much more outgoing than Zhou Zhou, and she had a sweet tongue. She replied sweetly, "Fourth Aunt is the real beauty; the most beautiful person I've ever seen is Fourth Aunt. The first time I saw Fourth Aunt, I thought Fourth Uncle had married a celestial beauty as my aunt! After some time apart, Fourth Aunt has become even more beautiful!"
Jiang Xia smiled and took out some chocolates, candies, and biscuits from the drawer under the tea table, offering them to Yingying and Zhou Zhou. "Yingying has such a sweet tongue; let's see if this chocolate is sweeter or if you are."
Yingying's eyes lit up, "I'm definitely not as sweet as this chocolate!"
Everyone laughed.
Li Xiuxian's gaze lingered on Jiang Xia for a moment, as if searching for something. Jiang Xia noticed, but Li Xiuxian had already looked away.
Jiang Xia didn't mind.
Her temperament was different from the original host's; after all, Zhou Chenglei had also looked at her with a probing gaze in the beginning.
Regardless of their different personalities, this body belonged to the original host, and Jiang Xia was confident that even a DNA test would prove her identity. It was natural for one's character to change after experiencing certain events, and she had witnessed such transformations in real life.
Zhou Chengsen and his wife had returned to visit their parents. Although they lived in town, not far from home, they hadn't been back for a long time. With Yingying's school starting in a couple of days, they had brought her back to spend a few days with her grandparents.
That evening, the three of them would stay at the house.
As it was getting late, Jiang Xia set about preparing dinner.
Initially, the dinner preparation involved Jiang Xia, Zhou Chenglei, Zhou Mu, and others.
Zhou Chenglei started by slaughtering a chicken, then tending to the fire, while Jiang Xia took charge of the cooking, and Zhou Mu washed the vegetables.
When the eldest son's family arrived, Tea Caihua took over the fire-tending task, and Jiang Xia asked Zhou Chenglei to leave.
Once they were alone in the kitchen, Tea Caihua couldn't hold back and said to Jiang Xia, "Every time she comes back, it's like she's visiting relatives! She doesn't do anything and just sits there waiting for the meal. Does she think she's a guest? This is her visiting her parents! And we're supposed to serve her and her family? What kind of logic is this? Shouldn't she be the one cooking a meal for her parents? We're all daughters-in-law of the Zhou family, why should we be cooking for her while she sits there waiting to be served? Am I right?"
Tea Caihua felt that she and Jiang Xia were now on the same side, and this was the perfect time to discuss this issue!
Jiang Xia, a young mistress herself, had to cook for her, and she was sure Tea Caihua must have complaints!
Jiang Xia listened and replied, "Second Sister-in-Law, another day, let's go to the town market together, and then we can visit Second Sister-in-Law's house and have a meal while we're there, okay?"
Tea Caihua was stunned for a moment, then widened her eyes, and gave a thumbs up, "Great! Let's do it! Next time we go to the market, I'll go with you to visit her and have a meal! It'll be a chance to bond as sisters-in-law."
Oh my!
Jiang Xia was truly cunning!
How had she never thought of this approach before?
Tea Caihua decided that from now on, every time she went to town, she would have a meal at Second Sister-in-Law's house!
With this thought, all her grievances and complaints vanished, and she eagerly awaited the next market day. She looked forward to having a meal at Second Brother's house and getting some pampering from Li Xiuxian.
Jiang Xia was truly impressive!
No wonder Zhou Chengxin wanted her to learn from Jiang Xia whenever she had the chance.
That night, Zhou Chengsen and his wife stayed in the attic room prepared by Zhou Mu, while Zhou Ying slept with Zhou Zhou.
With the new school year approaching, Jiang Xia had bought some pencils and exercise books for Zhou Zhou and brought them over.
She saw Zhou Ying sitting at her desk, studying English.
Zhou Zhou was also at the desk, practicing her handwriting.
Jiang Xia handed the exercise books to Zhou Zhou and gave Zhou Ying a Hero pen. She then asked, "Has the town's primary school already started teaching English?"
Zhou Ying replied, "No, this is a junior high school book. My mom wants me to start learning it now."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia thought to herself that it was just as the book had described—Zhou Ying was being pushed by Li Xiuxian to learn many things, aiming to nurture a top scholar and prove that having a daughter could also bring glory to the family.
Zhou Ying asked again, "Fourth Aunt, do you know how to read this word? I forgot."
Jiang Xia took a look and saw it was a hospital-related word, so she read it out for Zhou Ying.
At that moment, Li Xiuxian walked in and smiled at Jiang Xia, "Why isn't the fourth younger sister-in-law sleeping yet?"
Jiang Xia smiled and said, "I'm about to sleep. I just came to check on the kids. Second Sister-in-Law, you should sleep early too. I'll head back to my room now!"
Li Xiuxian smiled and said, "Okay, I was just checking on the kids too."
Jiang Xia bid them goodnight and returned to her room.
After Jiang Xia left, Li Xiuxian turned to Zhou Ying and asked, "Which word don't you know how to read?"
Zhou Ying pointed to the word and said, "This one, Fourth Aunt just told me."
Li Xiuxian didn't know English either, so she took a look and said, "Let's ask Teacher Feng when we get back to town. Don't ask your Fourth Aunt next time, and don't study tonight. Go to sleep early."
Li Xiuxian was aware that Jiang Xia had taken the college entrance exam three times without getting into university, and she didn't want someone with such grades to influence her daughter's studies.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
