Jiang Baizhou turned and glanced at her, lowered his eyes to look at the umbrella she handed over, raised his eyebrows slightly, and took it. Before leaving, he specially reminded her, "Go and dry off the water."
"Okay." Cen Jin nodded seriously, watching him walk into the rain with the umbrella toward the villa next door, before slowly retracting her gaze and closing the door.
As soon as she returned to the living room, she noticed Ms. Qin getting up. Cen Jin quickly went over to support her, "Mom, why are you getting up?"
"I’m fine. Go upstairs quickly and take a hot shower, dry your hair, don’t catch a cold. I’ll go to the kitchen to make some ginger tea to warm you and Jiang Bai up." Ms. Qin waved her hand, moved her waist slightly, and felt it was nothing serious.
"That won’t do, didn’t the doctor tell you? You need more rest."
"Resting isn’t urgent right now! Just look at Jiang Bai today, he’s soaked. If he doesn’t warm up, he’ll definitely catch a cold." Ms. Qin gave her a meaningful look, ignored her protests, and headed to the kitchen, commanding her in a very strong and assertive tone, "You go upstairs and shower quickly. Once the ginger tea is ready, you take some over to Jiang Bai and drink a bowl yourself."
Cen Jin was speechless, thinking of how Jiang Baizhou was soaked through, she couldn’t really argue, especially with Ms. Qin being so forceful, it felt like disagreeing would make her seem ungrateful, like some historical villain.
"Alright, I understand." Cen Jin sighed helplessly and chose to compromise, "Just don’t tire yourself out, if you really can’t manage, I’ll make it later."
"You make it?" Ms. Qin heard this and reacted as if she’d heard a huge joke, "You can’t even cook a proper meal and I’m supposed to expect you to make soup? On weekends when you’re home alone you only order takeout, and you dare say you’ll make it? I’m really worried about how you’ll manage if you ever get married, not knowing how to do this or that, and maybe your in-laws will send you back. I’d be totally embarrassed."
Cen Jin was at a loss, staring hopelessly at Ms. Qin, who was slicing ginger, her mouth twitching slightly. That’s a real mom for you, who doesn’t hold back when it comes to banter.
In order not to provoke Ms. Qin’s fighting spirit, Cen Jin wisely chose to avoid the argument, steering clear of these topics, or else she’d surely be the one to suffer, and at this rate, it would definitely end up on her lifelong matters.
"Hey, I’m not done talking, where are you going?" Seeing there was no response, Ms. Qin glanced over and saw her heading upstairs, putting down the knife and shouting at her.
Cen Jin stopped in her tracks, rolled her eyes helplessly, and turned back with a smile to point at her own hair. Ms. Qin, seeing this, gave her a slightly dissatisfied and reluctant look, "Then hurry up! Come down when you’re done, understand?"
While she was still in the bathroom blowing her hair dry after the shower, the bathroom door was knocked on, and Ms. Qin’s voice came through, "Cen Jin, I’ve made the ginger tea, it’s in the pot. Serve a bowl to Jiang Bai later and don’t forget to drink one yourself. Don’t you dare pour it out and deceive me! If I find out, I’ll skin you!"
Cen Jin stopped her hair-drying, her eyebrows furiously twitching twice, remembering how she used to hate taking medicine when she had a cold, always secretly pouring it away. If she hadn’t been caught red-handed by Ms. Qin once, this might have been a lifelong secret, thus Ms. Qin always adding this warning whenever it involves drinking something.