Chuxia burst into laughter as she maintained her gaze on Old Lady Jiang, who was also chuckling: "Thank you, Grandma Jiang."
Grandma Jiang then said with a smile, "Xiao Chuxia, come and visit my house later, and I will cook you some delicious food."
"Sure, as long as you don’t find me annoying, I will visit," Chuxia politely responded, yet her mind was filled with perplexity. She could understand why Zhu Xinqin was kind to her since Jing Zhe had spoken highly of her, but why was this Grandma Jiang so nice to her?
Anyway, she had noticed some discrepancy in Jiang Xue and could even feel a slight rejection from her. But, Jiang Xue liked Zhou Xiangping’s husband, so why would she reject her?
Oddly enough, Old Lady Jiang seemed to like her very much, which completely baffled her.
No matter what she thought internally, the female guests at this table were extremely enthusiastic toward Chuxia, but this enthusiasm made her feel like she was just a visitor.
Fortunately, Zhou Xiangping and Zeng Meili truly treated her like family. They protected her from either side, and when any pointed questions were asked, they blocked them without even needing Chuxia to respond.
Lin Yanqiu’s silence was an unspoken form of support. As for Old Madam Zhou, no matter how she felt about Chuxia in her heart, during such times, she definitely wouldn’t allow outsiders to laugh at her. Hence, she chose to ignore her cousins’ protective actions toward Chuxia.
A slim girl suddenly burst out laughing. When everyone looked at her, she stopped laughing and said, "I just thought of how Third Brother hadn’t fancied any girl for so many years and yet, he had eyes for Third Sister-in-Law immediately. Isn’t this what they call ’fate’?"
"What’s so funny about that?" Zhou Xiangping glared at her, looking toward Chuxia, "She is the daughter of Fourth Uncle from the second grandpa’s family, in the cultural troupe, just ignore her, she’s completely crazy."
The girl restrained her smile and looked toward Lin Yanqiu: "Eldest Uncle’s Wife, I heard from Regimental Command Wang that Third Sister-in-Law is particularly talented in the arts, can we see it for ourselves?"
Lin Yanqiu uncompromisingly replied: "We are eating now, what is there to see?"
"Eldest Uncle’s Wife, I meant after we finish eating. How about after the meal, each of us performs a piece, having a mini show to celebrate Third Brother’s marriage, how about that?"
"Not a good idea!" Zhou Xiangping retorted, "Li Lina, you just want to show off your piano playing, right? Do you really need to beat around the bush so much? Just stand up and shout a few times, that’ll do."
"Old Madam..." the girl known as Li Lina turned to Old Madam Zhou, "Where on earth did I offend Fourth Sister? She always targets me, you must stand up for me."
"If you want to play, just go and play by yourself, don’t drag everyone else into it." Old Madam Zhou sternly looked at her, "Lina, Third Sister-in-Law is a daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, don’t think because you hear others saying I’m dissatisfied with your Third Sister-in-Law that you should always try to drag me into it. Your little schemes, it’s time you dropped them."
Chuxia unexpectedly glanced at Old Madam Zhou. She had not anticipated that Old Madam Zhou would defend her , which slightly altered her perception of Old Madam Zhou.
If Old Madam Zhou was merely protecting the Zhou family’s reputation, fearing she would be embarrassed, she would only have let Li Lina perform, without the need for all that was said afterwards. That was clearly a warning to the cousins who had spoken sharply earlier, indicating her extreme satisfaction with her newly-wed granddaughter-in-law.
With that episode, the atmosphere became much more subdued. Chuxia could see that these cousins were very close to the Zhou family, but mostly they just thought of benefiting from the Zhou family, and in the past, they had often introduced girlfriends to Zhou Mikang for the so-called benefits. As it turned out, she was now Zhou Mikang’s wife.
Because of this, these people naturally harbored an innate animosity toward her.
When you think about it, her presence had blocked the path they hoped to profit from, so how could they not dislike her?
Meanwhile, Zhou Mikang, who was busy attending to the guests, was also keeping an eye on the situation here. If not for Zhou Xikang tightly holding on to him, he would have probably come over much earlier.
Those messy cousins, although closely related, what right did they have to question his young wife?
Finally enduring until the lunch was over, Zhou Mikang quickly pulled Chuxia and headed upstairs: "Go rest for a while. Don’t stay down here listening to their nonsense."