In the kitchen, Su Zijin stood in front of the stove, her ears perked up as she eavesdropped on the conversation between Mu Jinyu and Wen Rou, while carefully stirring the food in the pan with a spatula.
Then, in an incautious movement, she knocked over a porcelain plate resting on the table. As she clumsily tried to catch it, it was beyond her grasp and she could only watch helplessly as the glossy plate fell onto the tiled floor, shattering into pieces!
"Bang!"
Su Zijin grimaced, hurriedly covering her ears as if trying to deceive herself, not daring to listen.
She gazed at the countless fragments of the smashed plate on the ground, feeling as if her heart had been shattered just as thoroughly.
Her eyes held a vacant expression, convinced that she was bound to be mercilessly driven away by Mu Jinyu any moment now.
Quite a while.
Finally, Su Zijin came back to her senses, slowly releasing her hands from her ears, cautiously eavesdropping on the sounds outside once again.
There was no noise outside.
Her brows furrowed tightly, and her heart grew restless, uncertain whether Mu Jinyu had heard the sound of the plate breaking or not.
Su Zijin was full of regret, blaming herself immensely for her carelessness.
She had come over today intending to sneak a few glances at Mu Jinyu before returning.
But it just so happened that she ran into Wen Rou, who was coming back from shopping. Upon learning that Mu Jinyu was not at home, she pleaded earnestly with Wen Rou.
Wen Rou, ever so soft-hearted, faced with the earnest pleas of Su Zijin, her future mother-in-law, how could she bear to refuse?
So, with a heart full of joy, Su Zijin followed Wen Rou inside, intending to show off her cooking skills and make an elaborate lunch of Mu Jinyu's childhood favorites.
Of course, fearing that Mu Jinyu would disdain to eat the meal if he knew she had cooked it, she planned to leave as soon as lunch was ready, then have Wen Rou take the credit, claiming it was all her own cooking.
It could be considered that Wen Rou cooked as well, since she did help out.
That way, even if Mu Jinyu did not know that she was the cook, Su Zijin would still feel very happy, and later that night she could ask Wen Rou in detail about Mu Jinyu's reaction when eating the dishes...
However, to her surprise, Mu Jinyu suddenly came back, catching her completely off guard.
She was extremely nervous, having planned to have Wen Rou draw Mu Jinyu away later so she could sneak out. However, she was so nervous that she accidentally broke the plate!
'Now it's all over, there's no way to secretly cook for Jinyu anymore.'
Su Zijin thought regretfully.
At that moment.
Wen Rou approached carefully from outside, looking at the dazed Su Zijin, and asked, "Auntie, are you hurt?"
Understanding Su Zijin's identity, Wen Rou initially felt it wasn't appropriate to call her auntie, feeling a bit estranged, but being too affectionate might anger Mu Jinyu if he overheard.
So she ended up using that address anyway.
"Ah?" Su Zijin snapped out of her daze, her face pale as she forced a slight smile, shaking her head slowly at Wen Rou, "It's nothing, auntie is fine, sorry for the trouble I've caused you."
Su Zijin was filled with self-reproach for having earnestly begged her way in, which caused Wen Rou to let her inside, and then, because of her own carelessness, had made Mu Jinyu find out about these things, surely burdening Wen Rou as well.
"It's okay, he didn't scold me." Wen Rou's expression was complicated as she glanced at the broken plate pieces on the floor, softly saying, "Auntie, you clean up the porcelain pieces, I'll take the food out, then you come out and we can all eat together later."
"Oh, right, I got it..."
Su Zijin felt terrible as she listened to Wen Rou's words, initially thinking that Wen Rou wanted her to clean up the porcelain pieces, then she'd throw away the dishes since these dishes were her own essence blood, and she would definitely not bear to do it herself.
But as she listened to the end, she felt something wasn't quite right.
Just as she was squatting down, preparing to pick up the porcelain pieces and throw them into the trash can, Su Zijin paused, then suddenly raised her head and looked at Wen Rou with an excited voice, "Xiaorou, what did you just say? You're not going to throw away the dishes? I can... I can also take a seat and eat later?!"
Wen Rou looked at Su Zijin's face full of excitement and exhilaration and felt a bitter pain in her heart, then she gently nodded and said, "Yes, he said the food is all prepared, it would be wasteful to throw it away, and it would be too much trouble to wait hungrily for me to cook again, so let's just eat it…"
Wen Rou organized her speech to convey Mu Jinyu's words more tactfully.
Back in the living room, Mu Jinyu hadn't spoken like this, his tone was quite unpleasant, but Wen Rou had also sensed the obstinance and insincerity in Mu Jinyu's words, so she translated them to sound nicer.
"Great, great, great…" Su Zijin, thrilled to no end, quickly picked up the pieces of porcelain from the floor and threw them into the nearby trash can, then took a broom and dustpan to sweep up the broken pieces.
Wen Rou, on the other hand, carried the dishes that Su Zijin had just served while they were still steaming hot out to the dining room.
In the dining room, there was only Mu Jinyu sitting distractedly.
Liu Mei's figure was nowhere to be seen.
Although it was somewhat impolite, once Mu Jinyu knew that Su Zijin was the one cooking in the kitchen, he thought about it and let Liu Mei leave without asking her to stay for the meal.
Liu Mei naturally didn't dare to say anything; she could also sense the abruptly tense atmosphere in the house, which felt quite frightening. Being driven away was a relief to her.
Wen Rou brought the dishes to the table one by one, glancing cautiously at Mu Jinyu whose expression was changing constantly, and said in a soft voice, "Little Mu, the food is served, you can start eating first…"
At her words, Mu Jinyu came back to his senses, his eyelashes fluttering a few times, then with a stiff expression, he forced out a sentence, "Wait for that person."
Upon hearing this, joy surged in Wen Rou's heart as she knew her guess had not been wrong.
"Okay."
Wen Rou responded with a voice full of delight, and then swiftly ran out to the kitchen to call Su Zijin, who was still apprehensive, to come to the dining room to eat.
Su Zijin followed Wen Rou to the dining room with a heavy heart, glanced at Mu Jinyu who was sitting with a stern face and lowered head, then found a seat to sit down.
Her heart was pounding; she was excited, pleased, and felt like crying.
For so many years, Su Zijin had always longed to have a family reunion, to eat a peaceful and happy meal together.
But unfortunately…
Today, even though her husband had left her forever, their son was sitting with her at the same table.
Wen Rou glanced at the two of them, not daring to make a noise to shatter the unspoken silence. She opened the rice cooker, picked up a porcelain bowl and a wooden spoon, and began serving rice to them.
After that, they started eating silently, quietly picking up food and eating their meal.
The quiet dining room was left with only the subtle sounds of their chewing and swallowing.
After eating for a while, Su Zijin saw Mu Jinyu didn't resist her presence too much but also didn't show any reaction to the meal she had painstakingly prepared.
Thinking it over, Su Zijin mustered her courage, picked up a piece of braised pork, placed it in Mu Jinyu's bowl, then quickly withdrew her hand and went back to idly pushing rice around in her bowl with her head down.