With the two of them working together, lunch was ready soon.
Aside from the two sweet dishes that Jiang Ningyue made, the rest were basically done by Lin Xinyuan herself, and she casually cooked a pot of pork rib soup.
Even though it was frozen meat, at least it didn’t have that fridge taste…
Seeing her future daughter-in-law’s quite skilled appearance, the woman nodded happily, becoming even more satisfied with Lin Xinyuan.
It had been her overthinking, afraid that the young lady would mess up, forgetting about her past experiences; how could she be someone who never lifted a finger… It was really that the girl’s appearance was too deceiving…
Only one dish of cola chicken wings remained, which Jiang Ningyue was still making, while Lin Xinyuan first carried the dishes out.
But as soon as she returned to the kitchen, she saw Jiang Ningyue on the phone.
“She’s here, mm-hmm… I’ll have my daughter-in-law go open the door…”
Lin Xinyuan only caught the last sentence, and then Qin Mother hung up. Hearing footsteps, Jiang Ningyue turned to look at the girl:
“Xiaoyuan! Auntie’s friend is here. Help Auntie open the door lock—just press the smart switch to the left of the main door! Then when someone rings the doorbell, just open the door for her.”
“Oh… okay.”
Lin Xinyuan nodded obediently, quickly walked back, crossed the living room to the main door, pressed the switch Qin Mother had mentioned, and then waited with curiosity and nervousness for the friend Jiang Ningyue had spoken of.
‘Auntie’s friend? Could she be some wealthy wife or something…’
At the thought, she couldn’t help but feel nervous, but then she remembered the way Jiang Ningyue had referred to her in the conversation with the other person, and her expression grew more serious.
‘I have to make a good impression, at least not embarrass Auntie and Feng Ge…’
‘Lin Xinyuan, keep going!’
The girl silently encouraged herself in her heart.
She didn’t have to wait long—the doorbell rang. Lin Xinyuan, who had been standing there in a daze, immediately snapped out of it at the sound and hurried to open the door.
“Hello…”
The moment the door opened, before Lin Xinyuan could even see the person’s face clearly, she spoke first to greet them, slightly lowering her head, looking a bit shy.
But before she could lift her head, a shockingly familiar female voice suddenly reached her ears.
“Xiaoyuan?”
Hearing this, Lin Xinyuan also happened to look up and saw the face of the person in front of her, instantly stunned.
“Ou-jie?”
Xu Ou looked at the girl appearing here in surprise, truly astonished.
After a moment of shock, though her heart was not calm, Lin Xinyuan saw it was cold outside and quickly ushered her in:
“Ou-jie, you… you come in first…”
“Mm.” After Xu Ou came in and the girl closed the door, shutting out the cold again, she couldn’t help but ask, “Didn’t you go home with your boyfriend? Your boyfriend is… Qin Nanfeng?”
Connecting this with what her classmate had just said and what Mother Lin had explained to her earlier, Xu Ou quickly guessed the truth.
In fact, ever since she had learned about the girl’s situation, she had found it hard to believe, but soon she felt it wasn’t that unexpected.
After all, it explained the strangeness she had noticed when she first met Lin Xinyuan, and she increasingly felt the hardships of the girl’s first eighteen years.
And when she learned that Lin Xinyuan even had a boyfriend and had already gone to spend the New Year at his family’s place… she was just happy and relieved that the girl had been able to accept herself.
But Xu Ou never expected that the boyfriend’s parents that Mother Lin mentioned would actually be her old college classmate? The same one who was one of her few close friends besides Mother Lin…
“Ou-jie… I… uh… how to put it…”
Lin Xinyuan was also at a loss. She really hadn’t expected that Auntie Qin’s friend would happen to be Ou-jie.
Hearing the question, she felt both surprised and unavoidably awkward.
Just as she was about to nod and say something, Jiang Ningyue on the other side had finished cooking and came out carrying the prepared dish.
“Here, Little Bird!”
Setting the dish on the table, she walked over to the two, calling out instinctively.
But seeing that the atmosphere between them seemed very off, she was a bit puzzled:
“Hey? Little Bird, you know Xiaoyuan?”
Lin Xinyuan and Xu Ou had already turned their gazes at the sound.
Hearing this, Xu Ou was immediately embarrassed, internally cursing her old classmate— calling her by her old nickname in private was one thing, but to do it in front of a junior!
She rolled her eyes at Jiang Ningyue:
“Xiaoyuan is Xiao Xin’s child, of course I know her!”
Saying that, she deliberately called out the other’s old nickname: “Little Yueyue!”
Jiang Ningyue didn’t mind and quickly connected everything.
Actually, she had already heard from her old classmate about the other’s friend, who had supposedly suffered a lot… Otherwise, she might have been schoolmates with her too… But back then she had been waiting for news about Qin Nanfeng, and since the youth had reconciled with his family, she had been busy helping her husband with some matters, so she hadn’t had much mood to pay attention.
But she never expected that this person and her future daughter-in-law’s mother were the same person?
No time for pleasantries; even though the indoor heating was on, the food would cool quickly, so after Jiang Ningyue invited Xu Ou to sit down, she went to call her son and husband for the meal…
At the dining table, it was a harmonious scene, but there was a hint of awkwardness mixed in.
The awkwardness naturally came from the girl; she still hadn’t quite recovered.
It was really because Xu Ou across from her had a strange look, almost constantly staring at her and Feng Ge beside her…
Qin Nanfeng, on the other hand, was calm; after seeing Xu Ou, he greeted her.
She used to visit his home often, and he had even been held by Xu Ou as a child, so it was normal for them to know each other.
Lin Xinyuan kept her head down, picking at her rice, trying to act calm.
“So the one who stole Xiaoyuan away, as Xiaoyuan’s mother said, is actually Xiao Feng?”
Xu Ou saw Jiang Ningyue put a cloyingly sweet chicken wing into her bowl, shook her head in ungracious disgust, then looked straight at the youth and finally spoke.
“Auntie Ou is joking. To be stolen away, someone has to agree. This is called mutual affection.” Qin Nanfeng chuckled, making a joke.
Glancing at the girl still silently eating, Xu Ou then swept her gaze over Qin Changkong, who hadn’t spoken, and her friend, who was pouting like a child over her earlier expression of disgust. S
he thought it over and decided to speak. After all, some words… didn’t need to be avoided…
“Those things about you, her mother doesn’t know, but I know everything…”
At this point, Xu Ou’s expression turned serious.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the girl couldn’t help but look up, so she just smiled reassuringly and nodded, signaling that she wouldn’t do anything.
But Lin Xinyuan still wasn’t entirely at ease.
And the Qin family parents also became serious.
After all, when it came to this matter… they more or less felt that Qin Nanfeng had wronged the girl… Although their son might not have had anything to do with those messy people, it was true that it didn’t sound good if word got out.
Jiang Ningyue was about to say something, but her husband stopped her, shaking his head to signal not to interfere.
Helplessly, Qin Mother could only continue eating her meal, but she kept her eyes fixed on them, not relaxing…
Hearing Xu Ou’s words, Qin Nanfeng didn’t feel unhappy at being refuted.
He squeezed the girl’s soft hand, who was about to speak, signaling her not to defend him.
Instead, he still had a smile on his lips, but his usual frivolity had faded, and his eyes were full of sincerity as he looked at the woman.
“Auntie Ou, I will definitely face what you want to talk about, and of course I will treat her well, so no need for you to worry too much.”
The youth’s words were a bit blunt, but the firmness in his tone left no room for fault.
Seeing the girl hesitant to speak, looking like she wanted to protect him, Xu Ou felt a bit helpless inside.
But after staring at the youth who didn’t seem to be faking, she put away the intention to test him due to her worry, sighed, and had to nod.
“Mm, I hope so…”
“It’s certain.”