Chapter 11

Kindness… Maybe?

Qiao Xuan was completely unaware of how her mother-in-law had thrown her temper. She herself had not finished sorting her dowries yet, and was entangled in this errand again.

However, when they were having lunch, Qiao Xuan noticed that there was some strange expression on her sister-in-law’s face, especially when she was facing mother-in-law… She was trying to avoid her eyes!

That made her feel quite surprised.

She was wondering if there was anything that happened between mother-in-law and sister-in-law when she had not been around.

But she was not going to ask them about the matter, after all. Therefore, she just pretended as if she hadn’t noticed anything, and still spoke with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law with a smile.

Thanks to her conversation with both of them, Ms. Fang and Ms. Xu suddenly seemed to have gotten out of the awkward air, for some reason.

Ms. Xu could not help but feel more a.s.sured.

Ms. Fang, however, was still wearing a cold look. Yet inside her heart, she started to like Qiao Xuan more and more, thinking that it had been the correct decision to have gotten a daughter-in-law like this.

As for Ms. Xu… She was a person with a heavy heart, and loved to split hairs. She tended to turn a deaf ear to any kind of persuasion. In the past, she would have shared some of her thoughts, but after years of living here, she was not bothered to say anything like that anymore. Her husband was honest and devoted to his parents, and Ms. Xu, despite her heavy mind, was never bold enough to cause any fuss.

Well, it would always be better, if the atmosphere at home could be more bustling.

Farmers’ families attached more importance to breakfast and dinner. When they were well-fed at breakfast, they could go out and do labor work with more strength. After they were done with a day’s work, they would treat themselves a better dinner. As for lunch… that was the meal they would eat least properly.

At lunch today, the dishes were porridge with red beans, properly dense, served with a few pickles. It was enough for them.

After two meals, Shao Yunduan found that Qiao Xuan did not show any disdain towards the food served at home. And it seemed that Qiao Xuan had not even shown any disdain towards anything at home either…

Honestly speaking, Shao Yunduan was very surprised by this behavior of hers, and suddenly, he felt somehow guilty.

He had not thought that she would be this good. He started to believe that he must have misjudged her somehow.

Since she was behaving so cooperatively, he was wondering if he should offer some kindness?

After all… she was a newcomer to the Shao Family, and might feel a bit restrained and unaccustomed to the surroundings.

However, Shao Yunduan did not feel like making the offer first. After all, Qiao Xuan had annoyed him badly first!

He was in the middle of his confused thoughts, absently staring at Qiao Xuan for a long while before he realized that. Qiao Xuan spotted his stare and chuckled. Then she approached him and said in a low voice, smilingly, “Hey, anything you would like to tell me, Darling?”

Shao Yunduan felt as if he had been caught red-handed. He replied calmly as he withdrew his look. “Nothing. It is just that… you are new here, and you can tell me anything, if you feel that you are in trouble.”

Qiao Xuan blinked and showed a smile. “Sure!”

Shao Yunduan was startled, as his heart skipped two beats forward at this moment.

He had thought that she would counter him again, but when he, unexpectedly, heard this word spoken in a sweet, girlish voice, he almost did not know what he ought to do.

He avoided looking at her out of nervousness and said, “…Okay then, I have to go!”

Qiao Xuan nodded, trying hard to hold her laughter as she replied in an even sweeter voice. “Okay, take care, Darling!”

Shao Yunduan dashed off as if he were escaping from something.

Seeing the way he left, Qiao Xuan believed that this man was running away in embarra.s.sment.

She burst out laughing with a bent back.

This man was so funny! Hahahaha…

For one moment, she felt that her mood was elevated. Humming a song, she turned around and continued with her task of sorting her dowries.

There were many kinds of things lying around which had been exaggeratingly-packed, many of which she had yet to sort out.

At around 4 in the afternoon, Shao Xiaoqi came home from somewhere, covered with mud and gra.s.s. Even the straw-shoes were filled with dirt.