Fu Ying pondered for a moment, unsure of what punishment to give him.
"How about this, if I cheat, I'll be punished by kissing you!" Zhou Xuan said with a smile.
Fu Ying spat and said angrily, "Dream on! You cheated and you get this kind of good fortune?"
"Haha. How about I punish you by making you kiss me!" Zhou Xuan joked and laughed.
Jin Xiumei, standing to the side, didn't find the mushy gesture nauseating; she just smiled and pretended not to hear.
Zhou Xuan continued, "Yingying, let me tell you a joke. A little girl got terrified after a kiss, worried she might get pregnant. She went to ask her mother, and to scare her, her mother replied, 'According to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics, it's possible, and many people get pregnant after swimming!' As a result, the girl was so scared that she never dared to go swimming again, let alone kiss a boy!"
Fu Ying listened to Zhou Xuan's nonsense, but since she wasn't alone with him and Jin Xiumei and Aunt Liu were also present, she just blushed and giggled.
Volume 1, Chapter 243: Blindly Guessing
After playing around for a while, Fu Yingmu kept losing. Even if Xi Jie didn't cheat, he had the Ice Qi Detection ability and knew Fu Yingmu's hand inside and out. He had already calculated what cards to play. Although he didn't use any tricks on the surface, he was actually cheating by using the Ice Qi.
At first, Fu Ying joked and played around with him, but after a while she lost interest. She lost every time, and even though she knew Zhou Xuan must have used ice energy, she still wouldn't let him urinate.
"You're not allowed to cheat!" Fu Ying said angrily.
Zhou Xuan said with a grin, "I didn't want to cheat, but I saw it myself, so there's nothing I can do."
Seeing the two joking around, and considering it was a commercial break, Jin Xiumei came over to help Fu Ying, saying, "No cheating, Yingying. Punish him if you catch him. Mom will help you!"
Fu Ying just smiled, hesitating to speak, and finally said, "Mom, he... He has very sharp eyes, no matter how I hide my cards, he can see them."
Jin Xiumei was taken aback, then immediately said, "I don't believe it! Yingying, you just wait!" After saying that, she went to the inner room and found a thick towel. She first covered her own eyes to test it, making sure it was impossible for her to see through it, and then she took it to Zhou Xuan and said, "You better behave yourself. I've blindfolded you. Let's see how you see now!"
Fu Ying bit her lip and said helplessly, "Mom, it's no use doing that."
Jin Xiumei didn't believe it and covered Zhou Xuan's head with a towel, obscuring his eyes. Then she said to Fu Ying, "Yingying, I've tried, I can't see through him!"
“Mom!” Fu Ying smiled and shook her head, “It’s no use, he…” He has a very good memory, even if he’s blindfolded, he knows what the cards are.”
Jin Xiumei naturally didn't believe it. Her son was her own; how could she not know? She immediately grabbed a deck of cards, randomly picked one, and asked Zhou Xuan, "You can remember even when you're blindfolded? You were quite smart in school when you were little, but not this smart, right? Son, what card do I have?"
"A playing card!" Zhou Xuan answered seriously, which earned him a hard smack on the head from Jin Xiumei. "Be honest, tell me, what card is this in my hand?" Jin Xiumei asked him again, but she didn't believe her son could know.
Zhou Xuan chuckled and then said, "My eyes are covered, how could I know? Maybe it's the three of hearts, or maybe it's the four of spades!"
Jin Xiumei was taken aback; in her hand was a three of hearts!
But Zhou Xuan said this in a joking tone, not seriously at all, which made Jin Xiumei think that her son had probably guessed by accident. After all, there was another sentence, "Maybe it's the four of spades!"
Jin Xiumei paused for a moment, then took out another card from the deck—a nine of spades. She then asked, "Guess what I have in my hand now?"
Zhou Xuan laughed and said, "Mom, I'm not a child prodigy. I was just joking. How could I possibly remember so many cards? There are fifty-four cards. If you just randomly pick a nine of spades or a two of hearts, how am I supposed to guess?"
Jin Xiumei was stunned again. Her son seemed to be talking nonsense, but it was impossible for him to say it a second time in a row.
Even if she were to guess, she couldn't be right every time. Jin Xiumei thought for a moment, then quickly mixed up the cards in her hand, shuffled them haphazardly a few times, and was about to draw a card when she glanced at her son. Then she turned her back to him, her face still facing him, but her hand hid the cards behind her back. Then she secretly drew one out, without even looking at it, and asked, "Son, show me again if you guess randomly, I don't believe in bad luck!"
Zhou Xuan laughed and said, "Mom, you believe me even if I just guess? Well then I'll just guess. Hmm, it's a diamond."
Jin Xiumei then brought her hand from behind her back to the front, revealing a diamond card. She was stunned for a moment before finally saying, "No, you can't peek through this towel!"
As he spoke, he looked around and saw a leather jacket lying on the sand. He immediately picked it up and covered Zhou Xuan's head with it.
Zhou Xuan just smiled. Fu Ying said, "Mom, it's no use, he... he knows!"
Jin Xiumei refused to believe it, and pushed Zhou Xuan around to sit down, covering his eyes with a towel. Then she covered his head with a thick, large leather coat. Surely he couldn't cheat now, right?
Fu Ying smiled and shook her head. Of course she understood that even if Zhou Xuan's head was covered with ten or eight thick quilts, he would still know!
Jin Xiumei glanced at the cards, then stopped, satisfied. She picked up the deck again and shuffled it haphazardly a few more times. Then she drew another card. It was an eight of clubs. She asked, "What card do I have, son?"
Zhou Xuan mumbled, "Mom, you covered my head with a towel and then put this thick leather coat on me. Then you drew a card like the eight of clubs or the two of spades. How was I supposed to know?"
Jin Xiumei was stunned for a moment, then laughed and asked in surprise, "Son, how did you do that? It's really strange. How can you still see the cards in my hand like that?"
"I can't see it, I was just guessing!" Zhou Xuan took off his leather jacket and then a towel. He turned around and smiled, "Mom, you actually believe my guesses? Would you believe me if I said I'm a god?"
Jin Xiumei laughed and scolded, "You're such a big-headed god!"
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "If I were a deity, then Yingying would be the Seventh Fairy, and my mother would be the Queen Mother of the West!"
Jin Xiumei was startled. She quickly said, "Don't talk nonsense!"
Some people in rural areas do believe in gods and Buddhas. Although they've never seen them, they always have this feeling that they can't offend the gods and Buddhas. It's fine for my son to say that he and Fu Ying are a perfect couple, but saying that she's the Queen Mother of the West is going too far!
Jin Xiumei was annoyed by her son's nonsense. But seeing him and Fu Ying together, her heart warmed. Her son's wedding day was fast approaching, and the prospect of having a grandson wouldn't be far off. At her age, she had no more desires. Her son had been successful, building such a large fortune—enough for the whole family to live on for generations. And he had found such a beautiful, sensible, and filial daughter-in-law. If they had a grandson, she would be completely content. Taking care of her grandson had become something she dreamed of and eagerly anticipated.
After thinking for a while, Jin Xiumei looked down at the playing cards in her hand and suddenly remembered the card-guessing game she had just played with her son, and her curiosity was piqued again.
"Son, how exactly did you learn to recognize the cards?" Jin Xiumei couldn't understand and was genuinely curious.
"Mom, it's actually very simple. I don't have X-ray vision, and I'm not a god. I just have a good memory!" Zhou Xuan chatted with his mother, laughing as he said, "I don't know how, but my memory is getting better and better. I can remember everything I see. And my hearing is also excellent; I can hear even the slightest movement. So, Yuan, no matter how you shuffle that deck of cards, I can hear you!"
Jin Xiumei laughed and scolded, "Just keep talking nonsense to your mother!"
The family was happy and harmonious. Zhou Xuan had never been so relaxed. He no longer had the pressure of making money, and Fu Ying was with him. The whole family was together. He wouldn't trade this kind of life for a god!
The heavy snow continued for three days. The sky finally cleared, but the sunlight seemed to lack warmth, and the snow showed no signs of melting.
During the days of heavy snowfall, Li Wei unusually refrained from bothering Zhou Xuan. However, as soon as the snow stopped, just as Zhou Xuan was having breakfast, Li Wei arrived uninvited again.
Jin Xiumei actually quite liked Li Wei. She had heard from Zhou Xuan that Li Wei came from a wealthy family, just like Brother Hong's. Aside from being straightforward and a bit impulsive, Li Wei had no other flaws. To her, she saw this as a kind of simplicity; at least Li Wei didn't have the arrogance often associated with sons of officials. He wasn't presumptuous or presumptuous at all, and he was very polite to her, calling her "Auntie" affectionately when he came to her house.