Chapter 33
Sister-in-law?
In her shock, Xia Wei forgot about being hungry. When she snuck a look, Jiang Zhi Zhou"s sister-in-law, still standing outside the door, saw her.
"This is...?" His sister-in-law was puzzled. She looked up at Jiang Zhi Zhou, her eyes sparkling.
"She is......"
"I am the resident of apartment 1908 upstairs! I just came here to borrow some soy sauce!" Without allowing Jiang Zhi Zhou to finish, Xia Wei interrupted. Jiang Zhi Zhou looked at her and said nothing, but the expression on his face wasn"t great.
"Ha ha ha, so Mr. Jiang, about that soy sauce..."
"..." Jiang Zhi Zhou went to the kitchen silently and pulled out a bottle of soy sauce for her. Taking it, Xia Wei smiled and said to him: "Thank you, I"ll bring it back when I"m done."
Jiang Zhi Zhou: "..."
Once again, he was slammed in the face with Miss Xia"s exquisite acting and powerful writing abilities.
Perhaps she will star in the next movie blockbuster?
After Xia Wei left, Jiang Zhi Zhou"s sister-in-law was still looking at the door with a puzzled look: "Why on earth did she run downstairs to borrow soy sauce? Don"t you generally borrow that from your next door neighbor?"
Jiang Zhi Zhou said: "Maybe her neighbors weren"t at home. We got to know each other because of some issues with water leakage."
"Water leakage? From the bathroom? Has it been repaired?"
"It has. What can I do for you today?"
"I mainly wanted to talk to you about Sun Jiao Jiao." His sister-in-law looked down at the house slippers that Xia Wei had just taken off and asked Jiang Zhi Zhou. "When did you start keeping lady"s slippers at home?"
"..." Jiang Zhi Zhou quite calmly began to make up stories. "Don"t you remember I said it was leaking before? Between the property manager, the development company and the upstairs neighbour just now, I received quite a few female guests. So I just bought a few more slippers." "
"I see."
"Mmhmm." Sure enough, life can train anyone into an award-winning actor and screenwriter.
His sister-in-law switched into slippers, but when she walked into the living room she paused in shock. "When did you start raising cats and dogs?"
"Meow~"
"Woof!"
"..." Jiang Zhi Zhou looked at the cat and dog in the living room and walked over. "They were strays. I took pity on them and adopted them."
His sister-in-law smiled and said: "You"re still the same as when you were younger. Your face is cold, but your heart is warmer than anyone else." She raised her hand and tried to touch Tangerine, who dodged, looking aloof. "I heard Jiao Jiao said that you unfriended her on WeChat and QQ?"
"Yes." Jiang Zhi Zhou did not evade the question. "Since it has been decided that we will not meet again, it is not necessary to keep in contact."
"...Even though you aren"t a couple, can"t you just be friends?"
Jiang Zhi Zhou said: "We met during a blind date, the purpose of which is to find a partner. Since we don"t intend to develop our relations.h.i.+p in that direction, wouldn"t it be strange to continue it?"
What"s so strange about that? Although his sister-in-law wanted retort, she finally changed her mind. "Since you"re determined not to, we won"t talk about Sun Jiao Jiao, but you have to date and find someone you like."
Jiang Zhi Zhou stood to the side and did not speak. His sister-in-law patiently persuaded him: "If you were five or six years old, you could wait to find someone you liked, but you"re now going on thirty and can no longer be so capricious. Think about your parents, getting older by the day. Since they"ve handed your affairs over to me, I have to account to them on your behalf."
Jiang Zhi Zhou said: "I"ll account to my parents myself."
"..." So you"re determined to stay single to the end, his sister-in-law thought. But she couldn"t press him any further for fear of making him even more resentful of dating. "I"ll leave first. Please think about it."
"You"re not staying for lunch?"
"I have something to do later. I was just in the neighbourhood and thought I"d come over to say h.e.l.lo, I"m not worried about you." Sister-in-law sighed. Not only did she have to worry about her children, even her brother-in-law was worrisome.
"I"ll escort you down."
"No, you should eat soon, before you go to work."
"Well, then take care on the road." Jiang Zhi Zhou didn"t send her off in the end. After his sister-in-law had left, he picked up his mobile phone and dialed Xia Wei"s phone. "She"s gone, you can come down and return the soy sauce."
Xia Wei: "..."
Afraid that his sister-in-law would make a comeback, she waited a few more minutes before bringing back the soy sauce bottle. Jiang Zhi Zhou had set the table and was sitting there alone.
Xia Wei returned the soy sauce to the kitchen and sat down at the table. The food on the table was still hot, and Xia Wei was drooling inside, but under Mr. Jiang"s unseen pressure she didn"t dare move her chopsticks.
She turned her head, smiling, and asked Jiang Zhi Zhou: "Won"t you eat?"
Jiang Zhi Zhou looked at her: "Why did you tell my sister-in-law that you were borrowing soy sauce? Are you unwilling to disclose our relations.h.i.+p?"
"Try to think of it from my point of view." Xia Wei decided to tell him the truth and reason with him. "If today you were in my home and my mom suddenly came knocking, wouldn"t you be afraid?"
Jiang Zhi Zhou: "..."
Okay, fine, just a little afraid.
"I was scared silly to find your sister-in-law out there, alright? I was completely caught off-guard. I"m not in the least prepared. It"s a good thing I"m witty, or I"d have died here today."
"...what you"re saying is rather exaggerated."
"It"s not an exaggeration. My hair was last washed the day before yesterday. My facial mask was also applied the day before yesterday! I went out in a hurry today, and even my eyebrows aren"t painted well. Look, they"re thicker on one side!"
Jiang Zhi Zhou: "..."
"Also, I"m not dressed formally enough today, ugh, the more I think about it the worse it gets!"
"..." Jiang Zhi Zhou compromised. "Just eat first."
Hearing Mr. Jiang cave, Xia Wei finally picked up her chopsticks and half of the meal soon vanished. Jiang Zhi Zhou suddenly said: "But even an ugly wife eventually has to meet her in-laws."
[Crystal: Metaphor. The truth can"t be hidden forever, basically.]
Xia Wei: "..."
"Who are you calling ugly?" Xia Wei frowned at him. Jiang Zhi Zhou looked back at her and then suddenly burst out laughing. "Looking closer, the right eyebrow definitely seems thinner than the left side."
Xia Wei: "..."
Let"s not talk about the day a straight man talked about love.
"Well, I"ve decided to finish this meal and then continue to ignore you. Seventy-two hours."
Jiang Zhi Zhou: "..."
If you had the backbone, you"d ignore him starting now.
Xia Wei was a woman of her word. After the meal, she led Suns.h.i.+ne away and began her second "Ignoring You" campaign.
This time she persevered for a long time - until the next day at noon, about twelve hours...
In short, as long as Mr. Jiang launched a food attack, she would immediately buckle.
Jiang Zhi Zhou had actually been a little worried at the beginning. Could he make Xia Wei happy? Now he felt quite confident about himself. :)
That day, Xia Wei took a break. When the two finished their dinner, they threw the dishwas.h.i.+ng to the dishwasher and planned to snuggle up on the living room sofa.
"Let"s watch "The Actor", or the "G.o.d"s Forbidden Zone" series." Xia Wei happily proposed.
Jiang Zhi Zhou said: "Haven"t you seen them in the cinema before?"
"I have, but I want to see it again! I can"t get enough of Film Emperor Mo!"
Jiang Zhi Zhou"s hand holding the remote control hesitated slightly, and he looked over at her. "Do you like Mo Zhen?"
"Yeah, I was a huge fan of his in high school. A big part of the reason why we decided to move to City A was because he"s here in City A!" Speaking of which, Xia Wei was beginning to miss the days of high school. Although there had been a lot of pressure to study and do well in exams, their friend group was together all the time, talking about idols together in cla.s.s. "I remember that whenever one person in the cla.s.s bought a magazine with Film Emperor Mo, it would circulate through the whole cla.s.s. At that time, Film Emperor Mo still wasn"t very popular, but he was really handsome!"
"Oh."
"The first thing we did when we got to City A was to camp out in front of Kai Huang"s headquarters for awhile. Ahaha, weren"t we dumb?" Xia Wei laughed, her eyes bright. "But don"t worry, there were quite a few other people there who were just as stupid! Hahaha!"
This time, Jiang Zhi Zhou couldn"t even bother to reward her with words.
"When we were in college, we went to see his concert together and were so excited we almost cried. When she was abroad, Twiggy would sob that she couldn"t see him anymore. Oh, that"s right - Twiggy is the friend who owns the apartment I live in." She supposed that she hadn"t yet officially introduced Jiang Zhi Zhou to her friends.
"Let"s just watch cartoons." Jiang Zhi Zhou said, and clicked Play on a random cartoon in the film library. It was the sort of cartoon made for very young children.
Xia Wei: "..."
Did Mr. Jiang suddenly became angry?
She cuddled Suns.h.i.+ne on the sofa for about five minutes, feeling like her IQ had been insulted. At least Suns.h.i.+ne was happy, his tail thumping.
Xia Wei glanced at Jiang Zhi Zhou sideways. He stared blankly forward at the screen, his expression particularly focused.
Xia Wei: "..."
If she was only looking at his expression, she"d think that he was watching the current news.
"What are you angry about?" she asked.
Jiang Zhi Zhou said: "I"m not angry."
Xia Wei: "..."
So even uptight men can lie!
"Then why are you watching kid"s cartoons?"
"Tangerine and Suns.h.i.+ne like them."
Xia Wei: "..."
She thought for a while and figured out the probable cause, "Weren"t you ever a fan of an actress?"
"Yes, but I like her work, not her beauty."
"...well, if she wasn"t beautiful, would you have paid attention to her work?"
Jiang Zhi Zhou: "..."
"And seriously, how long has Film Emperor Mo been married? Yet you"re still jealous."
"..." Jiang Zhi Zhou pursed his lips and said to her, "I don"t like it when you care so much about another man, even if he"s a star."
... It turns out that some people do get jealous over idols after all.
"Well, I promise that I"ll never care about him more than you, and will try to not mention him in front of you in the future, so... can we change to a movie that Film Emperor Mo is in?"
Jiang Zhi Zhou: "..."
He, too, wanted to play the "Ignoring You for However Many Hours" game.
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Translator"s note: I"m happy people are excited about this translation! :D I"ve worked hard this week and ama.s.sed a solid backlog of translated chapters, so until I run out, I will be releasing regularly every Monday and Friday.
Today is early because I"m excited too! ;D