"Sure," Xue Ning got up and began to lift the chairs with help from Jingwei, intent on finishing this task as possible, but then she felt intense stares in her direction, causing the hairs at the back of her neck to stand.
She whirled around, holding the chair threateningly, only to realise it was just her parents staring. At her glare, Tai Cheng pretended to wipe the cutlery clean, acting like he wasn't spying on his youngest daughter. Meanwhile, Yue Niang merely raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, expecting them to continue.
Xue Ning rolled her eyes. Her mother wasn't even trying to hide it!
Jingwei also felt the stares, and he coughed, feeling strangely self-conscious. He usually had a lot of self-confidence, but now under the wary eyes of his future in-laws, he was afraid of making a mistake!
"Hey Xue Ning, maybe I should do all the heavy lifting while you just rest," he whispered into her ear, sensing deadly glares behind his back. It didn't take a genius to know that her parents were unhappy at his decision to work together with her! "If not, your mom might think I'm a useless man. I need to prove my manliness!"
Xue Ning rolled her eyes again and smacked his arm. "That's ridiculous, what manliness is there if you strain your muscles? Moron. And how can I sit here and let you do all the work? That's even more ridiculous! You're not my servant."
"But if I don't do this I cannot marry you!"
"Shut it and help me with this table, or I'll dump you even before we reach the altar!" Xue Ning threatened.
"Yes dear," Jingwei said meekly, immediately following suit. If Xue Ning dumped him, he wouldn't even need to think about impressing his mother-in-law! With his priorities now in order, he obediently listened to Xue Ning, much to the grudging approval of his judges.
Watching them, her parents reluctantly agreed that they were a pretty good team. They cheerfully bantered as they did their jobs, and it didn't take long for them to finish sorting and tidying the furniture.
("Well, at least this boy has sense, even though I still think he should have insisted.." Yue Niang scowled.
"At least he knows our daughter is the main priority in his life, not us." Tai Cheng replied.)
In this fashion, they quickly shifted the furniture around. Jingwei didn't know if he passed the test her parents gave, but at least Xue Ning and him actually did their jobs, which is more than what he can say for Li Tai Xuan and his wife, who were arguing in the corner.
"We're done here," Xue Ning announced. "Anything else you want us to help you with?"
"...Go cook dinner in the kitchen," Yue Niang said, with a glint in her eyes. "Jingwei did say he knew how to cook right? Now he can prove it! Let's see if he can cook a satisfactory bowl of noodles for all of us. Xue Ning, go show him around the kitchen - and don't you dare do anything unsanitary in there!"
Both kids spluttered, their cheeks turning red.
"Mom! That's gross!"
"I would never!" Jingwei added. At least not in someone else's kitchen.
His own kitchen was a different story altogether. It would be fun to introduce Xue Ning to sex on the kitchen island, but he couldn't think of that now, especially when her mother was staring at him as though she could sense whatever filthy thoughts rolling in his head!
"Come on, let's go and cook," Xue Ning said, face still red as she dragged Jingwei to the kitchens by hand, and him eagerly following behind like a puppy out for a walk with his beloved owner. "You can cook the noodles you made for me back then - "
Tai Cheng watched the way his daughter's eyes brightened when she was talking to Jingwei, and the way Jingwei gazed at her as though she strung up all the stars in the night sky, faithfully hanging on to his every word.
How long had it been since he saw his daughter this pleased? This happy? Especially in this tiny town, where people insulted her in the guise of giving advice.
Tai Cheng could only sigh. He had failed her as her father.
This boy - no, this man, the son of his old friend, was here picking up the pieces and giving the daughter a rare, ordinary happiness that she had all but given up on.
"He's going to break her heart in future," Yue Niang murmured. She watched the same scene happen in front of her and came to a depressing observation. "The happier he makes her now, the worse it'll be when he eventually leaves her."
"That's… upsetting to say, wife. Maybe things will work out between them?" Tai Xuan asked. He didn't know what he could do to help his daughter, if she ever had to deal with Sun Jingwei's permanent absence.
"Maybe pigs will fly." Yue Niang scoffed quietly. "He's his son, I'm not getting my hopes up. Remember how he treated us despite years of friendship?"
"He's her son too," Tai Xuan pointed out. "So far, he seems more like Bi Yu than Haowei."
"Bi Yu died over a decade ago though, how much influence could she have over him? If he was more like her, he wouldn't have become a playboy. She would never have let him run riot." Yue Niang sighed, her heart aching at the thought of her old friend that was gone too soon.
She and Tai Xuan never got to see her before she died. She blinked back the tears that were threatening to well up at that thought. They heard from news outlets that Sun Haowei's wife was battling cancer, but never did they think that Bi Yu would succumb to it!
It was unfathomable for a woman as strong-willed as Bi Yu to cave to the illness, especially with the medical care provided by the Sun family.
But she died anyway.
"Nevermind. Let's not talk about this anymore. Just thinking about this upsets me." She grumbled, her throat closing up with grief. She desperately wanted a drink.
"Let's just wait for dinner." Her husband suggested, before raising his voice. "Now Tai Xuan, are you done sweeping yet? Do you need your father to do it for you?"
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