Chapter 489: The Gift – Daily Gossip in the Courtyard of the Sickly Young Lady

Chapter 489: Gifts—Daily Drama and Gossip in the Compound

Mother Su and Qin Xianglian never imagined that the "he" she mentioned and the "he" the other referred to were entirely different.

But no matter what, both got what they wanted.

Mother Su thought Zhang Mengyun had been humiliated, while Qin Xianglian believed she had received affirmation—completely unaware that their understanding of "the neighbor" was not the same.

Meanwhile, at the Zhou household.

Auntie Zhou was seething with frustration. With Wang Qiaomei arrested, all the household chores fell on her shoulders. The Zhou men, father and son, acted like carefree bosses and couldn't be bothered with chores.

Then she looked next door, where Cen Gong, a senior engineer, was working his ass off, handling everything inside and out. She burned with jealousy!

But she didn’t dare protest. After all, she had always preached that men belong outside the home while women managed the home. So she could only endure it.

Truthfully, the biggest reason was that she simply didn’t have the courage.

Someone who relied on others for survival—how could she possibly dare?

In the end, she redirected all her resentment toward Wang Qiaomei. If only she hadn’t been arrested, none of this would have happened!

At the Gu household.

Mother Gu was laying into Jiang Li, furious that she hadn’t stepped in to help during the earlier fight.

"What was that just now? Were you hoping I’d get beaten to death, huh?" Mother Gu lashed out with a thin cane, striking Jiang Li.

She deliberately aimed for the back—a spot where Jiang Li couldn’t just lift her clothes to show others.

Jiang Li trembled with each strike, which only fueled Mother Gu’s anger. "What’s with the slutty act? There’s no man here for you to seduce!"

"I wasn’t," Jiang Li murmured, head bowed.

"You weren’t? Then why were you putting on such a show? Don’t think I missed that!"

"I should never have let my son marry you! You ungrateful traitor, you scheming bitch, always flaunting yourself like some cheap tramp—" Mother Gu’s verbal abuse wasn’t enough, so she whipped her twice more.

"Ah—" Jiang Li clamped her lips together, choking back cries.

Mother Gu, bored by her lack of reaction, waved her off. "Enough of this miserable routine. Go cook. If Ahang comes home hungry, I’ll make you pay! Hmph!"

Jiang Li obeyed and left, her head still lowered—until the moment she stepped outside. Then, for just a second, she lifted her gaze, eyes filled with a flash of lethal coldness. But just as quickly, she lowered them again, reverting to her usual submissive act.

As luck would have it, Lin Qing had never felt her eyesight was so good, to have caught such complex emotions in Jiang Li’s eyes…

"Sigh—"

"What’s wrong now?" Lin’s mother and Cen Xi turned to look at her.

"Nothing… I just think people are really complicated."

Lin Qing’s musing left her mother totally lost. What did that even mean?

Where did that come from?

Cen Xi, however, assumed she was lamenting office politics. "Qing Qing, this isn’t your fault. You’re just too capable, so others are intimidated by you. Take it as proof you’re a force to reckon with—you should be happy!"

Lin’s mother grew even more confused. "Wait, what are you two lovebirds talking about?" Then a deadly glare swept over them. "Are you keeping something from us?"

Cen Xi looked at Lin Qing and blinked. Uh... I guess... they hadn't told their family about it...

Under Lin's mother's piercing glare, Cen Xi pushed up his glasses and explained yesterday's incident. "Mom, it's like this. Qing Qing yesterday..."

Lin's mother patted her arm with concern. "Oh, sweetheart, just forget about it then. Why didn’t you tell your dad or me? Did you want to worry us to death?"

No sooner had she spoken than Lin's mother slapped her own mouth. "Knock on wood! Don’t say things like that around the holidays!"

"Mom, mom, mom! Don’t be like this. I just didn’t want you to worry."

"If you didn’t want us to worry, you should’ve told us! Don’t bottle everything up. Speak up if something’s wrong."

Lin Qing blinked. She hadn’t!

Cen Xi guiltily rubbed his nose. His wife hadn’t actually hidden anything—she just hadn’t told her parents!

"Cen Xi, don’t you dare help her hide things in the future!" Lin's mother turned the pressure onto Cen Xi.

Cen Xi, Cen Xi didn’t dare argue and obediently agreed.

"Nuan'nuan, just keep your distance from such colleagues from now on. Don’t get too close. What if she turns on you for her own gain later?"

"Yeah, I understand!" Lin Qing agreed meekly.

After enduring a long lecture from Lin's mother, Lin Qing was finally released.

Lin Qing missed her dad. Where was he? Why wasn’t he back yet?

Seizing the moment when Lin's mother was tired from talking, she quickly changed the subject. "Mom! Where’s Dad?"

Unexpectedly, Lin's mother snorted again. "Hmph! Don’t even mention your dad to me."

Lin Qing threw a desperate glance at Cen Xi. She’d only meant to change the subject, but now she’d walked right into another trap. Help! Help!

Cen Xi cleared his throat lightly. He hadn’t expected this either, but there was nothing he could do!

Well... you're on your own??!

Lin Qing glared fiercely at Cen Xi when Lin's mother wasn’t looking.

He guiltily rubbed his nose again. He was helpless too—caught between his mother-in-law and father-in-law, it was impossible to pick a side!

Lin Qing had no choice but to tentatively ask, "Mom, what did Dad... do to upset you?"

"Hmph! That blockhead of a father of yours. The other day when we went to your uncle’s place, I saw how envious he was of the gift your uncle got from your aunt. So today, I thought I’d buy him a gift too."

Lin Qing nodded. That sounded great!

So what happened next?

And it still managed to upset her mom?!

Cen Xi loudly praised, "Mom! You’re so good to Dad! You even bought him a gift!"

Lin's mother sniffed. "Of course!"

"Mom, what did you buy for Dad?"

"Spent five yuan on a weiqi set for him." At this, Lin's mother looked quite proud. She’d heard your father mention that most people at the park in their neighborhood played Chinese chess, while weiqi was rare or even nonexistent. So she thought weiqi would be a novel gift and immediately bought a complete weiqi set with a board for five yuan.

Lin Qing and Cen Xi were a bit confused—so how exactly did her father upset her mother?

"And then?"

"Then, hmph! Your dad, the cheapskate! I just mentioned that I met a kind old man while buying the Go set today. I didn’t even do anything wrong! I just thought he might not understand Go, so it’d be good for him to learn from that old man. But he threw a fit over it!" Mrs. Lin didn’t see anything wrong with her idea at all.

"……" Cen Xi and Lin Qing fell into a long silence.

They were at a total loss for words!

"Can you believe it? I went through the trouble of buying him a gift, and he still had the nerve to complain!"

Cen Xi and Lin Qing: [speechless]

They suddenly felt stuffed!