CHAPTER 669: CHAPTER 449: MISUNDERSTANDING

The first watch of the night had passed.

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Old Madam Zhou knew her youngest son’s temperament all too well. At the sight of his anxious and flustered demeanor, she immediately deduced that the girl had come to blackmail them. Thus, she put on a stern face and looked at Qin Mei, "Young lady, if you back off now, we can pretend nothing has happened."

"I... I really am carrying his child..." Qin Mei’s face turned beet red, "He keeps avoiding me at work, never giving me the chance to speak. If I weren’t at my wit’s end, I wouldn’t have come here... If... If you, as his elders, don’t wish for him to take responsibility, then my only path left is death."

"Are you threatening us?" Old Madam Zhou glared at her fiercely. "Who told you to do this?"

Qin Mei was taken aback, "What... What do you mean?"

"Who instigated you to make trouble at the Zhou family?" Old Madam Zhou asked bluntly.

Qin Mei was stunned for a moment, her complexion turning from red to purple: "Is this how you wealthy families bully people? I mustered up my courage to come here because I feared I couldn’t hide my pregnancy for long. I am an unmarried girl; how can you treat me like this?

I swear on Chairman Mao’s name, if there’s even a shred of a lie in what I’ve said today, may I be thrown into prison to be gnawed on by rats and have no one to collect my corpse!"

In that era, Chairman Mao was regarded as a deity-like figure. If she dared to swear like this, it meant she was truly not lying. Old Madam Zhou couldn’t be certain anymore and looked doubtfully at Zhou Shanping.

"Mom, I can also swear on Chairman Mao’s name, that if I lay a finger on her, may I too be thrown into prison to be gnawed on by rats and have no one to collect my corpse!"

Chuxia frowned deeply, judging from Third Uncle Zhou’s honest manner of speaking, she believed that this was absolutely not a lie on his part. However, looking at Qin Mei’s expression, she also truly didn’t appear to be lying.

The atmosphere grew tense as everyone present, except for Lin Wenbin and Chuxia, knew Zhou Shanping very well. It was unlikely for anyone in the Zhou family to engage in such acts, especially not Zhou Shanping.

However, Qin Mei didn’t seem to be faking either, and in that era, no one dared to lie in front of Chairman Mao. Even if the oath didn’t come true, they wouldn’t escape legal punishment.

Chuxia’s gaze unintentionally fell on Qin Mei’s stomach, and a sudden idea struck her. She stepped forward and took Qin Mei’s hand, "Let’s talk privately for a moment."

"You..." Qin Mei struggled forcefully, not wanting to go with her.

Chuxia taunted her, "Are you afraid?"

Qin Mei bit her lip, "Fine. I’ll go with you."

Seeing that Lin Yanqiu and others wanted to follow, Chuxia hurriedly stopped them, "Everyone, please wait a moment. Let me have a private talk with Comrade Qin. Perhaps, we can clarify what’s really going on."

As the two women disappeared by the stairs, Old Madam Zhou sighed and turned to Lin Wenbin with a wry smile, "I’m sorry you had to see this."

Lin Wenbin hurriedly said, "Grandma Zhou, I’m Chuxia’s cousin; we’re one family." His implication was clear: no matter the outcome, the gain or loss was shared with the Zhou family, so there was no need for formality with him.

This was also where he showed his cleverness. In fact, when Qin Mei first arrived, he had thought about excusing himself. However, doing so would have inevitably created a barrier with the Zhou family.

Withdrawing would mean they were not close enough, so for Chuxia’s sake, he chose to stay.

The Lin Family had always been predominant with males and lacking in females. For his cousin Chuxia, he genuinely cherished her, and of course, so did all members of the Lin Family. When he had the chance for a job assignment, the entire family unanimously decided to let him go to City A,

In truth, the best choice for him wasn’t City A, but as his grandfather said upon his departure, opportunities missed will come again, but family cannot be passed by again.

Relationships require time together to develop. Having finally found each other, they wanted to compensate for the lost years as much as possible, allowing their second-grandfather and second-grandmother to truly rest in peace.

His answer pleased Old Master Zhou, who patted him on the shoulder and turned his gaze to Zhou Shanping, "Laosan, now that we’re all family, you really haven’t been involved with that woman, right?"

"Dad, I’ve sworn already..." Zhou Shanping slumped weakly on the sofa, letting out a sigh, "Anyway, I don’t ever want to get married again in this lifetime."

Zhou Huakang, who had been silent up to this point, spoke up, "Dad, don’t speak so absolutely. Forget it, from now on, I’ll help you look for a suitable person. My judgement is definitely better than yours."

Zhou Shanping looked at him with a mix of annoyance and amusement, "Don’t stir up trouble. If I go through another ordeal like this, I’ll probably walk the other way when I see a woman for the rest of my life."

"This isn’t stirring up trouble..." Zhou Huaping looked at Old Madam Zhou, "My dad is just not good at judging people, yet he wants to rule out all women with one blow. Grandma, don’t you think I’m right?"

"Whether you’re right or not is none of your concern." Old Madam Zhou looked at Lin Yanqiu, Liang Xiaohong, and Zhou Yueping, "You three, keep your eyes open. If you meet someone of good character and of the right age, start making arrangements."

Zhou Shanping pleaded anxiously, "Mom, please spare me, I really don’t want to look anymore. This tangled mess hasn’t even been sorted out yet, please let me rest."

"It’s not that you have to find someone right now. Do you think it’s that easy to find a woman of your age, with a good heart, who you can talk to?" Old Madam Zhou gave her youngest son a scornful look, "Anyway, you don’t need to worry about this anymore. Every woman you’re interested in, without exception, has scared me to death."

Zhou Shanping was an elder, so the younger generation found it inconvenient to speak and simply sat aside, acting as a backdrop. Although the older generation were joking around, the atmosphere was incredibly solemn.

Such an incident, in this era, would be taken seriously by any family. It would be even more awkward to sit in silence, which is why Old Madam Zhou was deliberately needling her youngest son.

However, she genuinely didn’t want her youngest son to find another half on his own. When it came to his choice of a wife, his judgment was exceptionally poor. For the stability and unity of the Zhou family, it was necessary to nip such possibilities in the bud.

Before long, Chuxia and Qin Mei descended the stairs, one after the other.

Qin Mei’s face was pale, and her eyes were somewhat red, obviously from crying. She walked straight up to Old Master Zhou and Old Madam Zhou and bowed deeply, "I’m sorry, it’s all my fault, I’ve caused a disturbance."

Seeing this, Old Madam Zhou gestured dismissively with her hand, "It’s fine. I’ve said it before; if we decide to let it go, we won’t pursue it any further."

After standing up straight, Qin Mei looked nervously at the elders, "May I... may I leave now?"

"Yes," said Old Madam Zhou.

Little Jing hurriedly came over and led Qin Mei away.

Everyone turned their inquisitive gazes towards Chuxia.

"She is very likely ill, and then she must have mistaken that for being pregnant. I have already spoken to her. We’ll go to 401 tomorrow and have the teacher check her," Chuxia said.

Zhou Yueping was clearly puzzled, "What kind of illness could be mistaken for pregnancy?"

After a moment’s hesitation, Chuxia still shared her suspicion, "We need to examine her to know what illness it is, but I suspect it’s a tumor. Judging by the growth rate, the chances of it being benign are relatively high."

"Niece-in-law, thank you. Your Third Uncle Zhou owes you a great deal," Zhou Shanping said as he walked up to Chuxia and bowed deeply with sincerity. Chuxia quickly steadied him, "Third Uncle, if you’re so formal with me, are you trying to drive me away?"

"No, no, no..." Zhou Shanping waved his hands frantically, "No matter who we drive away, we can’t drive away the niece-in-law."

Old Madam Zhou snorted, "Listening to you, it sounds as if you do want to drive someone away?"

"Mom..." Zhou Shanping said with a pained expression, "It’s not like that at all; you know I’m not good with words." Then he turned to Zhou Mikang, "Xiaomi, your Third Uncle knows your situation."

Zhou Mikang looked at him earnestly, "Third Uncle, isn’t it time to set the record straight for women?"

Zhou Shanping was momentarily startled, then embarrassedly scratched his head, "Yes, yes, yes, it’s my poor judgment of character that’s wrong. One shouldn’t generalize about everybody. I apologize."

At that moment, Zhou Jiping and Zhou Xiangping had already taken Chuxia upstairs for a private interrogation. They realized that Qin Mei’s issue was probably not something to discuss in front of everyone, but they were too curious.

"Third sister-in-law, what exactly happened?" As soon as they entered the room, Zhou Xiangping quickly bolted the door and eagerly asked, Zhou Jiping also stared at Chuxia with an impatient look of curiosity.

"Thump, thump, thump..." Zhou Yueping’s angry voice came from outside, "Open up, open the door!"

"The little aunt is too curious. Can we discuss it in front of her? If not, I won’t open the door. If yes, then let her in," Zhou Xiangping said.

Chuxia nodded, "Yes."

Zhou Xiangping scurried to open the door, and Zhou Yueping, Lin Yanqiu, Liang Xiaohong, Yu Tao, and Old Madam Zhou all crammed in. Zhou Yueping did not forget to glare at Zhou Xiangping, "Damn it, too selfish! Knowing that we’re anxious to hear the truth, yet you bolt the door. Are you asking for a beating?"

Lin Yanqiu also displayed displeasure, "You child, the older you get, the less sensible you become!"

"Chuxia, what on earth happened?" Old Madam Zhou shoved a few people aside, sat in front of Chuxia, and asked impatiently.

It seems the person with the strongest curiosity was the oldest of them all...

Faced with the crowd, Chuxia couldn’t help but feel a mix of amusement and embarrassment, but the matter really had to be discussed, and even though she felt a bit uncomfortable speaking about it, as a doctor, she couldn’t harbor such feelings...

The psychological encouragement worked wonders, and after thinking it over, she began to explain the situation openly, "Although I haven’t been part of this family for long, I believe I have come to understand Third Uncle Zhou quite well. Qin Mei doesn’t seem like a liar, and I noticed that Qin Mei’s belly seemed abnormally large for her body size, so it occurred to me that she might have confused being sick with being pregnant. Of course, I couldn’t be sure at that moment, so I took her upstairs to ask her privately."(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)