The meaning of refuting her is quite clear.
"..." Stephen Chow blinked and forced a smile: "Our little baby is so cute..."
Shen Wuqiu was too lazy to argue with her. "If you don't tell the truth, then I don't welcome you."
Su Yunzhi also said, "Xingxing, we're all grown up now, we can't let our parents worry."
Helpless, Stephen Chow had no choice but to confess: "Well, I don't know what suddenly went wrong with my parents. After the New Year, they insisted on keeping me at home and said I wasn't allowed to go out until I found a partner. Isn't that crazy?"
Shen Wuqiu was a little surprised, "I've never heard you say before that your parents are pressuring you to get married this much?"
Speaking of this, Stephen Chow looked dejected and plopped down on the sofa. "Who knows what kind of evil spirit they suddenly possessed? If I had known that going home for the New Year would turn out like this, I wouldn't have gone home for the New Year."
Gu Miaomiao seized the opportunity to interject, "So you didn't run away from your wedding, did you?"
Zhou Xingxing glanced at her. "Pretty much. My maternal grandmother's cousin's son introduced me to someone. We had just had one meal together, and they asked me what I thought of her. I politely said she was alright. Then, out of nowhere, the two families started discussing engagement. If I didn't run away, would I really be waiting to jump into the grave of marriage?"
Just as the others were wondering how to respond, Gu Miaomiao, who usually didn't get along with people, surprisingly agreed with her: "Then you did the right thing by running away. Arranged marriages like this are the most boring thing ever..."
Shen Wuqiu secretly pinched her and gritted her teeth, saying, "Even eating can't shut you up."
Gu Hanhan was puzzled, but still obediently put a mouthful of bayberry into his mouth.
The atmosphere became somewhat awkward for a moment.
After a few seconds of silence, Su Yunzhi spoke in an elder's tone: "These days, people value freedom of love and marriage. Your parents aren't unreasonable people, so you should communicate with them properly. Running away like this isn't the solution..."
Gu Miaomiao felt she had a lot to say about this: "There's a way, isn't there? You should find someone you like, and it would be best if you could get pregnant and have a baby. Your parents would definitely..."
"Gu Lingyu!" Shen Wuqiu was speechless. After all, Zhou Xingxing was an outsider present. She still gave her partner some face and softened her voice, "Go and see what Er Mao and San Mao are doing. I haven't seen them for a while."
“Oh, don’t worry, Ah Shu is keeping an eye on things, he should be nearby…” Noticing that her partner’s gaze was a little strange, Gu Miaomiao immediately changed her mind: “Okay, I’ll go right now.”
After sending the person away, Shen Wuqiu said, "Lingyu just likes to joke, don't listen to her nonsense."
Gu Miaomiao, with her sharp ears, poked her head in from outside the door: "I'm not making this up. I have experience with this, so just listen to me."
"..."
After a brief silence, Stephen Chow burst out laughing. "Shen Xiaoqiu, don't tell me you're the true love that some cat met on her way to escape her wedding?"
"..." Shen Wuqiu really wanted to get angry, but she held back. "I don't have time to talk to you about this now. I'll give you two choices: either call your parents and tell them you're here, or take your pickup truck somewhere else."
Stephen Chow pursed his lips: "Isn't there a third option?"
Shen Wuqiu replied coldly, "No."
Stephen Chow thought for a moment, "Then I'll call tonight, okay? Let me rest for a bit first. I drove all the way here from where I came from, and I've been on the road for almost forty hours. I haven't slept well or eaten well..."
Hearing this, Su Yunzhi felt sorry for her. "Making a call is to put your parents at ease. There's no need to rush. Go back to your room to wash up and rest. I'll cook dinner now. Once you've rested, you can call your parents and talk to them properly."
"Mom Shen is so kind, I love you the most." Zhou Xingxing said sweetly, then glanced at Shen Wuqiu, afraid that someone would object, and immediately dragged his suitcase off the car outside and slunk upstairs.
Shen Wuqiu watched her go upstairs, feeling helpless. Since there was nothing else to do, she went to the kitchen to help Su Yunzhi cook.
Seeing that she was about to wash the pot, Su Yunzhi sent her away to another place. "I don't need your help. You wash some fruit and serve it to people... Oh, and try the cantaloupes that Er Aizi's family grows. His mother sent some sweet corn yesterday and a few cantaloupes today, saying it's for you to try something new."
"His corn is pretty good. Even Da Mao, who has the smallest appetite, ate more than half a bowl of corn porridge last night. This morning, he gnawed on the steamed corn cobs for quite a while."
"If the kids like it, I'll buy some more from them later."
Shen Wuqiu nodded and took the cantaloupe out from the kitchen shelf. This cantaloupe looked a bit like a chestnut pumpkin, but its color was milky white. She hadn't seen it much before. "What variety is this? It smells really good."
"I don't know what kind it is, but his mother said it tastes pretty good."
Shen Wuqiu quickly peeled the melon with a peeler. Just as she was about to cut it open and remove the seeds, Su Yunzhi stopped her, saying, "Tsk, these melon seeds are the most fragrant and sweetest; they're the essence."
"Hmm? Are these seeds edible?"
"Of course I can." Seeing that she didn't know how to cut the melon without removing the seeds, Su Yunzhi took it from her and cut it into pieces along the stripes of the melon, including the seeds. Then she put the last bit to Shen Wuqiu's lips and said, "Try it."
Shen Wuqiu still felt a little uncomfortable when she saw the seed, but she couldn't refuse her stepmother's hospitality, so she reluctantly accepted it.
Surprisingly, the melon seeds were indeed as fragrant and sweet as Su Yunzhi had said, but she still found it a little hard to get used to them and swallowed them with difficulty. "They are indeed quite sweet."
Su Yunzhi smiled broadly, "I told you, you take this first and let the kids and Lingyu try it, then I'll carve one for Xingxing."
Shen Wuqiu nodded, but as she picked up the fruit plate, she seemed to remember something, "Mom..."
"Um?"
"You don't actually... really see Xingxing as... um, your future daughter-in-law, do you?"
Su Yunzhi was taken aback for a moment, then asked, "What? You're not happy about it? You think your brother isn't good enough for her?"
Shen Wuqiu quickly shook her head, "That's not what I meant..."
"Just kidding," Su Yunzhi chuckled. "Xingxing is such a carefree girl, I do like her. But these things aren't something we can just have one-sidedly love for, are they?"
Shen Wuqiu quietly breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.
"Qiuqiu, I'm nice to her not only because I like her, but also because she's your friend."
Shen Wuqiu's heart trembled. Thinking back to her petty thoughts just now, she felt ashamed despite her gratitude. "I... Mom, thank you."
Su Yunzhi smiled and said, "Go and deliver the fruit."
Shen Wuqiu smiled and nodded, then took the fruit and went out.
Just as I reached the gate of the courtyard, I saw Gu Miaomiao come in, followed by two kittens. The two kittens were not quiet at all, making a fuss as they walked. One of them would bare its teeth, and the other would grin, just like two little enemies. But as soon as they saw her, the two little enemies immediately became well-behaved and pretended to lick each other's fur.
They are very close sisters.
Shen Wuqiu pretended not to see it. The last accident hadn't completely changed their antagonistic relationship, but it had allowed them to maintain a facade of affection. At least it allowed her, as their mother, to avoid seeing it, which was already quite good.
When you're a mother, you can't have too high expectations, otherwise your maternal love won't be gentle.
Where did they go?
Gu Miaomiao seized the opportunity to complain about her son: "He's almost run to the main road at the foot of the mountain..."
Meow~
[We strongly protest! We didn't go to the main road, we were just near the Rose Garden...]
Shen Wuqiu glanced at Gu Miaomiao, then looked at the two little ones, "The Rose Garden, that's quite a distance away."
Gu Miaomiao coughed lightly, pretending to speak, and said before Zai Zai could, "Someone was taking pictures there and picking flowers. I guess those two were trying to shoo people away."
Shen Wuqiu walked to the side, found a spot with a wide view, and looked around at the foot of the mountain. Usually, there were few people at the foot of the mountain, but now there were quite a few figures.
"Old Du's Gesang flower base started welcoming visitors today. These tourists who came to admire the flowers wandered around and ended up here."
Gu Miaomiao nodded, "Anyway, I don't know any of them."
With more people, there are both advantages and problems.
Shen Wuqiu said, "After lunch, we'll make a sign and order it there. It's okay to take a look, but we can't just pick them randomly."
As he spoke, he beckoned the three of them to the stone table in the courtyard, "I just cut you a melon, it smells quite good..."
She had barely finished speaking when she saw that the melons she had placed on the stone table had all been eaten by that gluttonous little Si Mao.
To be precise, it wasn't that we didn't finish it; we ate every single piece.
Because Su Yunzhi had coated each slice of cantaloupe with cantaloupe seeds, but now there wasn't a single seeded slice of cantaloupe in the fruit platter; it was all bare flesh.
Having seemingly enjoyed his meal, Simao didn't miss a single seed left in the fruit bowl. Only after making sure he hadn't missed a single one did he lick his lips and look at them, meowing.
After greeting them, she jumped off the stone table, then swung her chubby little body into the house, leaving the melon she had licked all over for her sisters.
"..."
A note from the author:
Love you all, muah!
Chapter 151
"Is this the cantaloupe you were talking about?"
Gu Miaomiao was unaware of the inside story and only saw Si Mao licking the fruit plate. She didn't know that every piece of melon in the plate had been licked. She excitedly picked up a piece and put it in her mouth.
With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, this small southern town has officially entered the height of summer. Gu Miaomiao had just gone for a walk, and the fragrant and sweet melon was incredibly refreshing and thirst-quenching for her. "Mmm, it smells really good, and it's quite sweet..."
"..." Shen Wuqiu seemed to have something stuck in her throat, unsure whether she should say it or not.
"What's wrong?" Gu Miaomiao asked with concern, noticing her complicated expression. She quickly swallowed the melon in her mouth. "Are you feeling unwell?"
Shen Wuqiu shook her head, glancing out of the corner of her eye as Er Mao and San Mao each picked up a piece of cantaloupe from the fruit plate. The two sisters were seriously tilting their heads and munching on it, looking like they were enjoying their meal.
It's okay, it's really okay. We're all family, it's alright for us to taste each other's saliva.
Shen Wuqiu comforted herself in this way, but when she saw her gluttonous partner reach out his hand again, she quickly stopped him.
"Huh?" Gu Miaomiao asked, puzzled.
"Why don't we leave these for Er Mao and San Mao? I see they're enjoying them."
Gu Miaomiao pouted, looking a little aggrieved, "I enjoyed eating it too."
The two little cubs, thinking they had received their mother's favor, were very proud and guarded their food against their mother. As soon as Gu Miaomiao glanced at them, the two little cubs immediately stretched out their feet and put them on the fruit plate.
This little move was undoubtedly provocative and a challenge. Gu Miaomiao was even more annoyed. She hadn't originally planned to really fight with the baby for it, but after being provoked like this, she was now tempted to actually try to snatch it.
“There are still some at home, I’ll go cut you another one.” Shen Wuqiu quickly pulled her into the kitchen.
"Oh, you're back. Where did Er Mao and San Mao go?" Su Yunzhi had just finished cutting the cantaloupe. Seeing them come in, she handed them the fruit platter she was carrying. "Perfect timing. I've cut two or three more. Take some to Xingxing."
Gu Miaomiao reached out and took it first, looking at the cantaloupe arranged in the fruit plate, "Is this also a cantaloupe?"
Su Yunzhi casually replied, "You've never eaten this before?"
“We’ve never seen this kind of fruit before in our tribe.” Gu Miaomiao nodded, then asked Shen Wuqiu, “Qiuqiu, why does this melon have so many yellow things on it?”
Shen Wuqiu pondered how to phrase it.
Su Yunzhi spoke up, "This yellow stuff is the seeds and juice in the center of the cantaloupe. The seeds of this first batch of cantaloupes are especially delicious."
Gu Miaomiao seemed to understand but not quite, "Then why wasn't there any just now?"
Su Yunzhi blurted out, "How could there not be? I cut that one too. Wu Qiu didn't know the seeds were edible, so I cut it very evenly so that each piece was coated with a little seed."
"..." Gu Miaomiao paused for two seconds, then looked at Shen Wuqiu. She understood. "So the melons outside were taken by Si Mao..."