The first watch of the night had passed.
--------------
Old Madam Zhou knew her youngest son’s temperant all too well. At the sight of his anxious and flustered deanor, she imdiately deduced that the girl had co to blackmail them. Thus, she put on a stern face and looked at Qin i, "Young lady, if you back off now, we can pretend nothing has happened."
"I... I really am carrying his child..." Qin i’s face turned beet red, "He keeps avoiding at work, never giving the chance to speak. If I weren’t at my wit’s end, I wouldn’t have co here... If... If you, as his elders, don’t wish for him to take responsibility, then my only path left is death."
"Are you threatening us?" Old Madam Zhou glared at her fiercely. "Who told you to do this?"
Qin i was taken aback, "What... What do you an?"
"Who instigated you to make trouble at the Zhou family?" Old Madam Zhou asked bluntly.
Qin i was stunned for a mont, her complexion turning from red to purple: "Is this how you wealthy families bully people? I mustered up my courage to co here because I feared I couldn’t hide my pregnancy for long. I am an unmarried girl; how can you treat like this?
I swear on Chairman Mao’s na, if there’s even a shred of a lie in what I’ve said today, may I be thrown into prison to be gnawed on by rats and have no one to collect my corpse!"
In that era, Chairman Mao was regarded as a deity-like figure. If she dared to swear like this, it ant she was truly not lying. Old Madam Zhou couldn’t be certain anymore and looked doubtfully at Zhou Shanping.
"Mom, I can also swear on Chairman Mao’s na, that if I lay a finger on her, may I too be thrown into prison to be gnawed on by rats and have no one to collect my corpse!"
Chuxia frowned deeply, judging from Third Uncle Zhou’s honest manner of speaking, she believed that this was absolutely not a lie on his part. However, looking at Qin i’s expression, she also truly didn’t appear to be lying.
The atmosphere grew tense as everyone present, except for Lin Wenbin and Chuxia, knew Zhou Shanping very well. It was unlikely for anyone in the Zhou family to engage in such acts, especially not Zhou Shanping.
However, Qin i didn’t seem to be faking either, and in that era, no one dared to lie in front of Chairman Mao. Even if the oath didn’t co true, they wouldn’t escape legal punishnt.
Chuxia’s gaze unintentionally fell on Qin i’s stomach, and a sudden idea struck her. She stepped forward and took Qin i’s hand, "Let’s talk privately for a mont."
"You..." Qin i struggled forcefully, not wanting to go with her.
Chuxia taunted her, "Are you afraid?"
Qin i bit her lip, "Fine. I’ll go with you."
Seeing that Lin Yanqiu and others wanted to follow, Chuxia hurriedly stopped them, "Everyone, please wait a mont. Let have a private talk with Comrade Qin. Perhaps, we can clarify what’s really going on."
As the two won disappeared by the stairs, Old Madam Zhou sighed and turned to Lin Wenbin with a wry smile, "I’m sorry you had to see this."
Lin Wenbin hurriedly said, "Grandma Zhou, I’m Chuxia’s cousin; we’re one family." His implication was clear: no matter the outco, the gain or loss was shared with the Zhou family, so there was no need for formality with him.
This was also where he showed his cleverness. In fact, when Qin i first arrived, he had thought about excusing himself. However, doing so would have inevitably created a barrier with the Zhou family.
Withdrawing would an they were not close enough, so for Chuxia’s sake, he chose to stay.
The Lin Family had always been predominant with males and lacking in females. For his cousin Chuxia, he genuinely cherished her, and of course, so did all mbers of the Lin Family. When he had the chance for a job assignnt, the entire family unanimously decided to let him go to City A,
In truth, the best choice for him wasn’t City A, but as his grandfather said upon his departure, opportunities missed will co again, but family cannot be passed by again.
Relationships require ti together to develop. Having finally found each other, they wanted to compensate for the lost years as much as possible, allowing their second-grandfather and second-grandmother to truly rest in peace.
His answer pleased Old Master Zhou, who patted him on the shoulder and turned his gaze to Zhou Shanping, "Laosan, now that we’re all family, you really haven’t been involved with that woman, right?"
"Dad, I’ve sworn already..." Zhou Shanping slumped weakly on the sofa, letting out a sigh, "Anyway, I don’t ever want to get married again in this lifeti."
Zhou Huakang, who had been silent up to this point, spoke up, "Dad, don’t speak so absolutely. Forget it, from now on, I’ll help you look for a suitable person. My judgent is definitely better than yours."
Zhou Shanping looked at him with a mix of annoyance and amusent, "Don’t stir up trouble. If I go through another ordeal like this, I’ll probably walk the other way when I see a woman for the rest of my life."
"This isn’t stirring up trouble..." Zhou Huaping looked at Old Madam Zhou, "My dad is just not good at judging people, yet he wants to rule out all won with one blow. Grandma, don’t you think I’m right?"
"Whether you’re right or not is none of your concern." Old Madam Zhou looked at Lin Yanqiu, Liang Xiaohong, and Zhou Yueping, "You three, keep your eyes open. If you et soone of good character and of the right age, start making arrangents."
Zhou Shanping pleaded anxiously, "Mom, please spare , I really don’t want to look anymore. This tangled ss hasn’t even been sorted out yet, please let rest."
"It’s not that you have to find soone right now. Do you think it’s that easy to find a woman of your age, with a good heart, who you can talk to?" Old Madam Zhou gave her youngest son a scornful look, "Anyway, you don’t need to worry about this anymore. Every woman you’re interested in, without exception, has scared to death."
Zhou Shanping was an elder, so the younger generation found it inconvenient to speak and simply sat aside, acting as a backdrop. Although the older generation were joking around, the atmosphere was incredibly solemn.
Such an incident, in this era, would be taken seriously by any family. It would be even more awkward to sit in silence, which is why Old Madam Zhou was deliberately needling her youngest son.
However, she genuinely didn’t want her youngest son to find another half on his own. When it ca to his choice of a wife, his judgnt was exceptionally poor. For the stability and unity of the Zhou family, it was necessary to nip such possibilities in the bud.
Before long, Chuxia and Qin i descended the stairs, one after the other.
Qin i’s face was pale, and her eyes were sowhat red, obviously from crying. She walked straight up to Old Master Zhou and Old Madam Zhou and bowed deeply, "I’m sorry, it’s all my fault, I’ve caused a disturbance."
Seeing this, Old Madam Zhou gestured dismissively with her hand, "It’s fine. I’ve said it before; if we decide to let it go, we won’t pursue it any further."
After standing up straight, Qin i looked nervously at the elders, "May I... may I leave now?"
"Yes," said Old Madam Zhou.
Little Jing hurriedly ca over and led Qin i away.
Everyone turned their inquisitive gazes towards Chuxia.
"She is very likely ill, and then she must have mistaken that for being pregnant. I have already spoken to her. We’ll go to 401 tomorrow and have the teacher check her," Chuxia said.
Zhou Yueping was clearly puzzled, "What kind of illness could be mistaken for pregnancy?"
After a mont’s hesitation, Chuxia still shared her suspicion, "We need to examine her to know what illness it is, but I suspect it’s a tumor. Judging by the growth rate, the chances of it being benign are relatively high."
"Niece-in-law, thank you. Your Third Uncle Zhou owes you a great deal," Zhou Shanping said as he walked up to Chuxia and bowed deeply with sincerity. Chuxia quickly steadied him, "Third Uncle, if you’re so formal with , are you trying to drive away?"
"No, no, no..." Zhou Shanping waved his hands frantically, "No matter who we drive away, we can’t drive away the niece-in-law."
Old Madam Zhou snorted, "Listening to you, it sounds as if you do want to drive soone away?"
"Mom..." Zhou Shanping said with a pained expression, "It’s not like that at all; you know I’m not good with words." Then he turned to Zhou Mikang, "Xiaomi, your Third Uncle knows your situation."
Zhou Mikang looked at him earnestly, "Third Uncle, isn’t it ti to set the record straight for won?"
Zhou Shanping was montarily startled, then embarrassedly scratched his head, "Yes, yes, yes, it’s my poor judgnt of character that’s wrong. One shouldn’t generalize about everybody. I apologize."
At that mont, Zhou Jiping and Zhou Xiangping had already taken Chuxia upstairs for a private interrogation. They realized that Qin i’s issue was probably not sothing to discuss in front of everyone, but they were too curious.
"Third sister-in-law, what exactly happened?" As soon as they entered the room, Zhou Xiangping quickly bolted the door and eagerly asked, Zhou Jiping also stared at Chuxia with an impatient look of curiosity.
"Thump, thump, thump..." Zhou Yueping’s angry voice ca from outside, "Open up, open the door!"
"The little aunt is too curious. Can we discuss it in front of her? If not, I won’t open the door. If yes, then let her in," Zhou Xiangping said.
Chuxia nodded, "Yes."
Zhou Xiangping scurried to open the door, and Zhou Yueping, Lin Yanqiu, Liang Xiaohong, Yu Tao, and Old Madam Zhou all cramd in. Zhou Yueping did not forget to glare at Zhou Xiangping, "Damn it, too selfish! Knowing that we’re anxious to hear the truth, yet you bolt the door. Are you asking for a beating?"
Lin Yanqiu also displayed displeasure, "You child, the older you get, the less sensible you beco!"
"Chuxia, what on earth happened?" Old Madam Zhou shoved a few people aside, sat in front of Chuxia, and asked impatiently.
It seems the person with the strongest curiosity was the oldest of them all...
Faced with the crowd, Chuxia couldn’t help but feel a mix of amusent and embarrassnt, but the matter really had to be discussed, and even though she felt a bit uncomfortable speaking about it, as a doctor, she couldn’t harbor such feelings...
The psychological encouragent worked wonders, and after thinking it over, she began to explain the situation openly, "Although I haven’t been part of this family for long, I believe I have co to understand Third Uncle Zhou quite well. Qin i doesn’t seem like a liar, and I noticed that Qin i’s belly seed abnormally large for her body size, so it occurred to that she might have confused being sick with being pregnant. Of course, I couldn’t be sure at that mont, so I took her upstairs to ask her privately."(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please co to Qidian (qidian) to cast your votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian to read.)
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