The bride and her husband returned to her parental home, and they were accompanied by her brothers and male relatives. The Cheng family had few members; Father Cheng only had one younger brother in his generation. Before him, there was an elder sister who was mentally disabled and had died young after falling into the river as a child.
In Cheng Su’s generation, there was only her and her brother in the family. Her third uncle had a pair of twin brothers, not much younger than Cheng Zhi.
Now, they had all been called to the Cheng family home, and Third Aunt also came over to help make lunch.
The women were busy talking and working in the kitchen, while the men gathered in the main room. Mother Cheng first pulled Cheng Su aside to have a private conversation, even asking about the marital affairs, causing Cheng Su, who lived in an open era herself, to blush with embarrassment.
"Mom, you’re asking too many questions," she said in annoyance.
Seeing her daughter’s red face, Mother Cheng pinched her teasingly and mocked, "Oh, you’re blushing? Weren’t you the one who was so eager to get married? Why are you embarrassed now? What were you doing earlier?"
Uh...
How was Cheng Su supposed to respond to that? Could she say she wasn’t really her daughter? But looking at Mother Cheng’s face, she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
In her previous life, Cheng Su was an orphan and didn’t even know what her biological mother looked like. Now she had Mother Cheng, who wasn’t her real mother, but the body’s mother. Seeing the lady’s teasing smile, she felt an unusual sense of affection.
It was as though her mother was supposed to be just like that.
So now, hearing her mother tease her, she couldn’t bring herself to get angry.
Thankfully, Third Aunt came to her rescue, saying, "Sister-in-law, stop teasing her. A newlywed young lady is still shy!"
Mother Cheng snorted lightly, then asked, "Is Taiguo going back to the army this afternoon?"
Cheng Su nodded.
"And you? Have you packed your things?" In Mother Cheng’s eyes, it was natural for a daughter to follow her husband and live with the army after getting married.
"I’m not going just yet!"
Mother Cheng was taken aback, "Why not? Is it Taiguo who doesn’t want you to go? I’ll talk to him." She was aware that her son-in-law was somewhat reluctant about the marriage.
"No, it’s not that. I just don’t want to go for the time being, I’d like to stay at my in-laws’ house for a while before deciding," Cheng Su hurriedly explained.
"Are you silly? If you don’t go to the army, how are you going to take care of his daily life? How are you supposed to have children? How can you nurture affections?" Mother Cheng strongly disagreed, saying, "Once you’re married, you should prioritize your husband. As a wife, it’s only right to follow and attend to his needs. Living together will strengthen your bond. Otherwise, when will he have time to come back? Can children just spring out of stones?"
After a moment’s thought, she felt something was amiss and asked, "It’s not your mother-in-law’s idea, is it? Keeping you deliberately at your in-laws’ house?"
Her barrage of questions left Cheng Su both amused and moved. This was how a mother was, always thinking of her daughter’s well-being, and she couldn’t help feeling a closeness.
"Listen to me, once you’re married, you should live together. Now that Taiguo has tasted the joys of a woman, how can it be okay not to have his wife by his side? What if some ’Fox Spirit’ catches his eye and lures him away? If that happens, you’ll have something to cry about!" Mother Cheng continued, "Life in the army is good; you wouldn’t have to deal with your mother-in-law’s nagging. Are you being foolish?"
Well, that really took a turn.
Cheng Su quickly said, "Mom, you’re overthinking it. Qi Taiguo is a soldier; he wouldn’t mess around. I just don’t want to go yet. I’m thinking of getting to know the Qi family a bit better first, to avoid people saying I left to enjoy my husband’s company as soon as I got married without having done any housework for the in-laws."
She certainly couldn’t say that she was afraid of sharing a room with Qi Taiguo and that was why she didn’t want to go!