Novel Bin Chapter 397 - Throwing Her Daughter into a Pit
Actually, Xia Ruoxin wanted to retract her hand away instinctively. However, when she saw the excited Gao Yi chattering away about the things to buy and what to eat and drink, she didn’t have the heart to break up his good mood.
She looked down and saw his hands tightly around hers. His grip was extremely tight, and his palms were sweaty. In fact, he must be nervous, too. Xia Ruoxin didn’t reject. She left it as it was with him doing the talking, and she listened; and when she talked, he would listen.
As they were doing the shopping, they realized they had really bought a lot of stuff; putting the vegetables aside, they were running out of rice, so was the oil, and there was meat, too. Rainy said she wanted to eat braised meat. In the past, finances at home were always bad. So she could only cook meat for Rainy once a month, and her favorite dish was braised meat. Her preferred way of cooking was braised; for example: braised meat, braised fish, and braised eggplants. As long as it was anything braised, she would always eat another extra bowl of rice.
What she didn’t know was Song Wan had been standing at a corner from a distance, witnessing everything. Somehow, she did not feel good because Xia Ruoxin had not been lying. Her son might be good, but she had to admit that there was someone else even better than he was. Someone more outstanding. Besides, her son had a weird temperament, and the things he had done to her were more than sufficient to put him in utter defeat when compared to this man.
At night, Li Manni had come for a visit. Song Wan picked herself up and prepared a table of a feast for her daughter-in-law, worried that her unborn grandchild would starve. Mrs. Li had come along as well.
“Hmph, Parent-in-law, I think you should seriously consider changing your maid. Look.” She picked a piece of meat with her chopsticks. “The meat is overcooked, and it doesn’t taste good. Look at this dish.” She pointed to a plate. “The colors are not appealing. It makes me lose my appetite. This one has its fault, too. The fish has been dead for so long that it has lost its freshness.”
All in all, Mrs. Li managed to pick one or two faults in every dish in the process, degrading the cooking auntie until she was worthless. There seemed to be nothing good about her. It almost rendered the cooking auntie jobless.
“Mom...” Li Manni tugged at her mother’s sleeve and, at the same time, giving her side glances to indicate that she should stay quiet. However, Mrs. Li did not seem to notice that her daughter was tensing up. She curled her lips in disgust as she continued with more negative comments. “Parent-in-law, I think you should sack that maid of yours. I have a good candidate that I can recommend for you. She is smart and detailed in her work. On top of that, she is a marvelous cook. What do you think?”
“That’ll be great.” Song Wan smiled. Light wrinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes which showed that she must have been beautiful when she was young. She picked a slice of meat with her chopsticks and put it in her bowl.
“I also feel that the dishes that I’ve cooked are unpalatable. So I think it’s better that I don’t do any more cooking in the future.” After she was done talking, she pretended to look humbled as she held Mrs. Li’s hand tightly while the latter began to feel her face burn. Mrs. Li was speechless.
Song Wan remained unaffected, and she continued talking.
“Parent-in-law, I must really thank you this time,” she spoke as though she had meant every word. Even her expression was faultless as she looked so sincere and touched.
“Thank me?” Mrs. Li was dumbfounded. “What for?”
“I appreciate your honesty by letting me know that I am not cut out to cook. No wonder in the past, Chu Jiang and Ah Lui were always frowning when they were eating the dishes that I had cooked for them. They looked like they would rather be dead. So they were actually trying to put up with me. I feel so sorry for them.” As she spoke, she even wiped the corner of her eye. Whether she was really crying because of her acting or she was touched by herself, she wasn’t sure, too.
By now, Mrs. Li’s face wrinkled face was always scarlet red.
“Actually, I think the taste is still quite alright.” She picked up her chopsticks, trying to select a dish to salvage the atmosphere. Yet, Song Wan pulled her hand hastily, took her chopsticks away, and put them on the table. “Parent-in-law, it’s too unpalatable. Don’t eat it. You may get indigestion.” With that, she turned around and called, “Sister Jiang, can you come over here and clear the table?”
A maid came out in a hurry and started to clear the table without a word. Mrs. Li not only felt her face burning; even her heart was burning, too.
Everything, even water, was cleared from the table. Mrs. Li was truly embarrassed.
Li Manni felt the awkwardness, too. On one hand, it was her mother-in-law; on the other hand, it was her mother. It was difficult for her as a daughter-in-law and a daughter. She couldn’t offend her mother-in-law, and yet she couldn’t embarrass her mother, too.
She knew her egoistic mother had been shamed by her mother-in-law soundlessly. She was worried that this incident would cause a drift between the two women.
Song Wan had remained smiling although they did not manage to have dinner. However, Li Manni and her mother felt bad as they watched her smile. Li Manni quickly came up with an excuse and took her leave with her mother. Otherwise, she might also be too ashamed to look at her mother-in-law.
“Mom, what made you say all those things earlier?” As soon as they were out of the house, Li Manni could no longer contain herself. She had seen people throwing their parents under the bus. However, this was her first time seeing a mother throwing her daughter into a pit.
“What did I say?” Mrs. Li was indignant. “Your mother-in-law looked as though we have owed them money.”
Li Manni’s face started to burn at her mother’s words. In reality, they had taken the Chu family’s money. However, Chu Lui, as their son-in-law, was supposed to assist her family from time to time.
On the other hand, in the house, Song Wan asked the maid to bring out all the dishes that she had prepared and tasted every one of them. They tasted alright to her. Her family had eaten her cooking for decades, and no one had said anything. Today, she had been degraded by Mrs. Li—that old hag—until she was worthless. She couldn’t help but feel anger rising up from within her. After all, she had woken up early in the morning without washing her face or doing her chores to prepare the dishes. She had even neglected her husband. As soon as she had heard them say they were coming, she had brought the maid with her to buy the groceries. Once they had returned, she had spent so much effort to prepare a feast. Alas, it was a meal filled with much anger and frustration.
What had happened? Chu Jiang had just returned from his workout. He saw Song Wan with a long face sitting on the sofa. The gleam in her eyes looked as though one had taken half her biscuit from her.
Song Wan gestured towards the table. “You must be hungry. Eat.”
“Okay.” Chu Jiang didn’t spare another thought as he went into the bathroom to wash his hands. He came out, sat at the table, and picked up his chopsticks. He took a mouth and felt it tasted nice.