Late at night, the Xu Qinghe family came over, and Xu Zhong thought that Xu Qinghe had come around and was going to return to the Xu Family. He couldn’t help but smile, although his face had been tense.
These days, Liu Sanmei had been constantly complaining in his ear that she was fed up with working every day in the vegetable garden and at home, wishing the eldest in the family was there.
Yes, usually these chores were done by Ji Ying.
Ji Ying’s sister-in-law, Zhao Juxiang, was not nearly as good at these tasks as Ji Ying.
As a mother-in-law, Liu Sanmei naturally had to do more.
"Hmph, they say they won’t return to the Xu Family, but look, they’ve obediently come over, haven’t they?"
Thinking this, Liu Sanmei sat in the courtyard enjoying the cool air, imagining that Ji Ying would handle these tasks in the future, and her good days were about to come.
"Dad, Mom." Xu Qinghe’s family of five, except the eldest who was far away at the county brick factory, the four of them had all come over.
Ji Ying originally did not want to come, but since the three of them had come, and in case Xu Qinghe really wanted to return to the Xu Family, Ji Ying was determined not to allow it, so she came to see for herself.
"Grandpa, Grandma." Xu Nian’an and Xu Nianhua both greeted them. Xu Nianhua said with a smile, "We made Mung Bean Jelly today and specially brought some for Grandpa to try."
Xu Nianhua brought the Mung Bean Jelly to Xu Zhong.
Upon hearing it was Mung Bean Jelly, Liu Sanmei’s eyes lit up. It was excellent for cooling down during the hot summer.
This time, Xu Nianhua had brought six bowls, one each for Xu Zhong and his wife Liu Sanmei, Xu Qingjiang and his wife Zhao Juxiang, and the siblings Xu Zhiyuan and Xu Jiaojiao. As they were on their way, they met quite a few people who knew they were delivering Mung Bean Jelly and praised their filial piety and virtue in repaying wrongdoing with kindness.
Xu Jiaojiao happily ate the Mung Bean Jelly; it was cold and sweetly refreshing, and she loved it so much that she completely forgot about the incident with Xu Nianhua earlier that day.
Suddenly, Xu Nianhua stood in front of Xu Jiaojiao, blocking the moonlight.
Xu Jiaojiao frowned unhappily, "What are you doing? You’re blocking my light!"
She had hardly taken two bites of her Mung Bean Jelly.
"Xu Jiaojiao," Xu Nianhua’s voice suddenly turned sharp as she called out her cousin’s name.
Everyone present was startled by Xu Nianhua’s sudden action.
"On the day of my foreign language college entrance examination, you deliberately distracted Grandma to have her make us meat buns, claiming it was to help us perform well, but actually, you tampered with my bun, didn’t you?" Xu Nianhua spoke rapidly, barely giving anyone a chance to react, as she confronted her directly.
"No," Xu Jiaojiao denied loudly, feeling guilty.
"Yes, you did." Xu Nianhua didn’t give anyone else a chance to interject. She grabbed the Mung Bean Jelly in her hand and splashed it directly onto Xu Jiaojiao’s face.
The cold Mung Bean Jelly and the sweet water from brown sugar left Xu Jiaojiao utterly chilled.
Looking down at her with an air of superiority, the authority she had developed after running a training company in later years was evident. She wasn’t just any young girl; her piercing gaze was as if she had seen it with her own eyes. She asserted firmly, "When Grandma and everyone else were not paying attention, you smeared croton oil on my bun because it had been a long time since I had eaten meat buns, and you even tore it open to feed me, so I didn’t notice the smell."
"Nonsense, I put it in the bowl." Xu Jiaojiao reflexively argued back, and as she raised her head to reason with Xu Nianhua, her eyes met a pair of fierce ones. She instinctively shrank back. Why had Xu Nianhua suddenly become so frightening?
"Xu Jiaojiao, you actually poisoned your younger sister with croton oil!" Xu Nian’an was the first to react. He dashed forward, itching to give Xu Jiaojiao a good beating.