Xiaoxiao and Yang Ming brought the dishes to the table, but no one in the family dared to pick up their chopsticks. The reason was that both daughters-in-law had just stated that the food had a strange taste.
Still, Yang Dong ate it graciously.
"Third sister-in-law, this is really delicious!"
"What is this called again?"
"You’re amazing, you could probably sell this in a restaurant!"
"This flavor, it goes so well with rice!"
"..."
As he chewed, Yang Dong talked. After spending so much ti together, he and his third sister-in-law always seed to find themselves talking more.
"This is sothing I pickled with Chinese cabbage, called sauerkraut. Eating a pot of this during winter is just so delicious! You should grab more at, it tastes even better dipped in this."
As Xiaoxiao spoke, she passed the garlic sauce she made to Yang Dong.
"Hmm, this is tasty." Yang Dong kept eating and comnting as he dipped his food in the garlic sauce.
Seeing the interaction between his wife and his younger brother, Yang Ming felt an unpleasant emotion stirring inside. When would he and his wife ever talk like that?
"Co on, everyone, eat up!"
Seeing that no one was moving their chopsticks, Xiaoxiao promptly urged them. After all, a Northeastern Chinese winter dinner table couldn’t be without sauerkraut!
Yang Ming was the first to pick up his chopsticks. Xiaoxiao, watching him, felt he knew the score. Wasn’t a sham marriage all about putting on an act for others?
After eating, Xiaoxiao and Yang Ming went back to their room. Xiaoxiao had been thinking about hiring soone to chant Buddhist scriptures and cook lunch. She had considered giving these jobs to relatives, so she hadn’t asked the Village Chief to find soone.
She wasn’t familiar with the relatives, so she thought it best to ask Yang Ming.
"I’d like to find soone to watch the yard at night, and soone else to cook lunch. It’s best if it’s soone from our own family. You know our relatives better, who do you think would be suitable?"
"For cooking, how about Great Aunt? She has a real knack for it. For watching the yard, we can use Fourth Brother!"
Actually, his suggestion to have Fourth Brother take the job was also driven by his selfish motives. Their family would be better off keeping things as they were for now; if it really didn’t work out, they’d deal with it then, but not yet.
"Fourth Brother? No, that won’t do!"
Xiaoxiao hadn’t even thought about it before she decisively refused. She felt that Fourth Brother was already tired from a day’s work and needed a good night’s sleep, especially since at fifteen, he was at the age where a young man’s body was growing.
But to Yang Ming, her words had a different aning. He thought she didn’t want Fourth Brother to leave.
"If Fourth Brother won’t do, am I suitable then?"
Yang Ming’s face had turned cold, and after dropping that remark, he wanted to hear her response.
Because it was dim in the room at night, Xiaoxiao didn’t see Yang Ming’s dark and gloomy facial expression. Even if she had, she probably wouldn’t have thought much of it, as Yang Ming’s face was usually expressionless, except when it twitched occasionally.
"You’re so smart, why didn’t I think of that! This solution is perfect, it solves all the problems."
Yang Ming could use watching the yard as a pretext to live separately from her, which would be ideal! So, in high spirits, she even praised Yang Ming for his intelligence, completely unaware that Yang Ming’s mood had turned ice cold upon hearing her response.
"Then you can start moving over there tomorrow."
"..."
She indeed chose for Fourth Brother to stay over herself. Yang Ming didn’t speak, and the conversation ended like that, with both of them washing up and going to sleep.
The next day, the workers arrived, and Great Aunt was enlisted to cook the midday al; everything at work was on track.
That evening, Xiaoxiao discovered that it was Fourth Brother who had moved over to keep watch over the yard, not Yang Ming.
What was going on? How could Yang Ming go back on his word like that? After a few days of getting along and the good impression beginning to build, it was instantly gone. Negative rating! Negative rating!
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