Chapter 18 - part 3

Second Aunt panicked and tried to pull her hand back. No no no don’t come any closer!

“Don’t joke like that, you and Mingchuan already got your marriage license! How are you gonna marry Yongming too? That’s bigamy!”

Then, to make it seem like she wasn’t just rejecting Lu Miao outright, she added, “If you hadn’t married Mingchuan, I’d definitely have let you marry Yongming.”

Lu Miao smiled so sincerely. “What a coincidence. We need a photo to register the marriage, and we only just took it today. We won’t get the photo back for three days, so we haven’t actually registered yet.”

Everyone there had gotten married years ago and had no idea what the current marriage registration process was like. Naturally, no one doubted her words.

Second Aunt had a very bad feeling.

Lu Miao continued, “Mingchuan and I aren’t married yet. Maybe fate intervened and let me meet you just in time. Since you like me so much, I think I should marry your son instead.”

Second Aunt glanced nervously at the old man and saw that he looked deep in thought, like he was actually considering it.

Professor He and You Yonglan were both stunned by Lu Miao’s chaotic antics. They stood frozen, completely unsure how to react.

Should they blame someone? Or reflect and apologize?

Their brains short-circuited. They could only stare blankly at Lu Miao tugging at Second Aunt’s hand.

Lu Miao scanned the room, looking for someone who resembled Second Aunt. Not seeing anyone obvious, she pointed at a random young guy. “You must be Yongming, right?”

The guy was terrified and quickly pointed to the actual son. “Not me, it’s him.”

This poor kid hadn’t even entered the workforce yet and was already traumatized by Lu Miao’s nonsense. He stammered, “I-I-I’m still young…”

“That’s okay,” Lu Miao replied, dead serious. “I can wait.”

Second Aunt: …… Is she insane?!

She stuttered, “You’ve got it all wrong. I’m not actually a good mother-in-law.”

Lu Miao didn’t buy it. “How could that be? I knew you were genuine and down-to-earth the moment I saw you.”

Second Aunt seriously regretted that one dumb sentence she said earlier. She didn’t even dare look the old man in the eye, afraid he’d actually tell her to marry her son off to the country girl.

Then what? Refuse? Or… still refuse?

If she refused, the saintly “filial daughter-in-law” image she’d built up would crumble.

But if she didn’t refuse, her precious Yongming’s whole life would be ruined!

He Mingchuan finally stepped in, sounding exasperated. “Alright, enough fooling around.”

Mission accomplished. Lu Miao knew it was time to back off. She obediently played along.

She pulled out the red marriage certificate from her pocket and waved it in front of Second Aunt. “Just kidding. I really thought you wanted me to be your daughter-in-law. Got all excited for nothing.”

Second Aunt was about to explode. So this whole thing wasn’t Lu Miao trying to marry into her family, it was just a setup to mess with her and embarrass her in front of all the relatives!

She fumed, “Mingchuan, your wife is so disrespectful to her elders. Aren’t you going to say something?”

You Yonglan spoke up before he could, trying to protect Lu Miao, though she came in hot like usual. “Lu Miao is my daughter-in-law. No need for you to stick your nose in.”

Lu Miao shook her head. “You’re the elder here. Why are you getting into it with someone like me? I don’t think you’re being very gracious.”

Second Aunt almost fainted from the injustice. You mess with me this hard and I’m the one who’s not gracious? Is there no justice left in the world?!

Lu Miao also pulled out a red envelope, the one You Yonglan had given her that morning as a gift for calling her “Mom.”

The envelope was open, and a few large-denomination bills slid right out.

You couldn’t tell exactly how many, but it was clearly seven or eight at least.

“Oh no, I wasn’t careful. My mom’s gift this morning just slipped out.” Lu Miao put a hand to her forehead and chuckled. “She’s just too generous. She insisted on giving me so much money.”

Everyone else: …… Can you be any more obvious?

If you say You Yonglan isn’t a good mother-in-law, Lu Miao won’t argue. She’ll just let the money do the talking.

Professor He chuckled, “Alright, alright. San Shui’s our new daughter-in-law—no one’s allowed to bully her.”

Second Aunt knew the old man was biased toward Lu Miao. She’d wanted to stir up drama between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, banking on the old man taking Lu Miao’s side and scolding You Yonglan.

But somehow, she ended up getting hit by her own sword. And it stung.

“This is your wedding gift from Grandpa,” said Professor He.

Lu Miao smiled brightly and called out, “Thank you, Grandpa.”

He handed over another red envelope. “And this is your ‘call me Grandpa’ money.”

She held up the marriage certificate. “We just got it—it’s still warm. The photo will be ready in three days, then we can stick it in.”

He’s father grinned and waved her over. “Your mom gave you the gift this morning—this one’s from me.”

“Thank you, Dad.”

Sitting next to He’s father was He Kefi. When Lu Miao’s gaze swept over her, she panicked and clutched her pocket. No way, is she expecting a gift from me too?

The He family’s youngest aunt hadn’t arrived yet, something came up at her school, but her husband had already sent over their red envelope.

Professor He had one older sister and one younger sister.

The elder sister had passed away early. The younger one’s family remained close with them.

Her husband’s surname was Xu, and he’d worked at the North City University Library in his younger days.

The Xu family had two daughters and a son.

The eldest, Xu Xiuzhi, worked at a supply and marketing cooperative. She’d married well. Her husband was the head of HR at his work unit.

Lu Miao called her “Aunt” along with He Mingchuan. She and her husband had a son who joined his dad’s work unit after finishing vocational school.

The second daughter, Xu Xiu Shu, didn’t work. Her husband worked in the cafeteria of a factory.

From her clothes alone, you could tell her financial situation was the worst among everyone there.

The youngest son, Xu Xiurong, worked in the hospital’s security department. He’d been a local big shot in his youth but had never landed a decent job since getting married.

His current job had been arranged by He’s father.

The He kids, plus the Xu kids, plus their kids… and their kids’ kids…

No wonder Lu Miao had felt like the room was packed the moment she stepped into the private dining room.

Here’s your rewritten version with smoother grammar and natural flow, while preserving all details and avoiding shortening any sentences:

Before the meal even began, Lu Miao was the first to collect her hush money.

With Lu Miao and Second Aunt He showing up before the meal started, the atmosphere became unusually quiet.

Everyone thought Lu Miao was a little crazy, and no one wanted to be embarrassed in front of so many relatives.

No one dared bring up children or ask about Lu Miao’s parents’ jobs.

When Aunt He hurried in through the door, the entire room was oddly silent, nothing like the lively scene she had imagined. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, “Something came up at school at the last minute, I couldn’t get time off, so I’m late.”

She immediately spotted the only unfamiliar face in the group and smiled, “This must be Sanshui, she’s really pretty.”

She secretly thought her father had done something right this time. He insisted that one of the He family’s sons marry the granddaughter of the family’s benefactor, and the whole family had argued bitterly over it.

The two sons of her eldest and second brothers were the same age as the Lu family granddaughters, and both had been considered for the match.

Of course, no one was thrilled about marrying a country girl, but the old man was stubborn. Whatever he set his mind on, he would make happen.

They had argued about it several times at home, he even went on a hunger strike and took medicine. In the end, it was the eldest brother who gave in first.

Aunt He figured the old man initially wanted the match for his eldest grandson, but feared the daughter-in-law wouldn’t accept it, so he turned around and pressured his eldest son instead, asking him to persuade his wife.

At the time, her sister-in-law had been heartbroken over the idea of marrying her eldest son to a country girl.

Thankfully, her own son was still young and not yet close to marrying age.

But now, seeing her nephew’s wife, Aunt He felt that she wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone had imagined. At the very least, she was beautiful and appeared quiet and well-behaved.

Later, after Aunt He returned home, she learned what had happened in her absence through her husband. She found out that Lu Miao,her nephew’s wife, was not as gentle and quiet as she had seemed.

Listening to her husband’s account of the lunch confrontation between Lu Miao and Aunt He, her sister-in-law was left speechless.

Her younger brother-in-law chimed in, “She had her reasons, it was to protect the sister-in-law.”

Aunt He shook her head and said, “My sister-in-law is a good person, but she’s too straightforward. I’m not sure if Sanshui will be able to get along with her.”

Of course, Lu Miao could get along with You Yonglan, especially since all the red envelopes and gifts she received today would now be hers.

Even if You Yonglan didn’t speak well.

When Lu Miao returned to her room and looked at the red envelopes she had received today, her face lit up with joy.

It was a lot of money.

Meanwhile, Father He noticed that He Mingchuan was still in the living room and hadn’t returned to the bedroom. The bedding he had used was still on the sofa—it was clear he planned to sleep there that night.

A sense of alarm went off in Father He’s heart. Something was wrong—very wrong.

What kind of couple sleeps in separate rooms on their wedding night?

He pulled his son toward the doorway and asked in a low voice, “Did you two have a fight?”

He Mingchuan didn’t answer, but his silence was enough for Father He to take it as confirmation.

“I told you, you need to change that bad temper of yours. You can’t just ignore other people’s feelings. That’s your wife now, and the two of you are in this for life. Have you ever seen your mother and me raise our voices like that? A man should be generous. That’s your wife, what could she possibly do that you can’t accept?”

“You’re still not satisfied with Sanshui? She’s a good girl, and she even stood up for your mother in front of the relatives.” Father He was worried that some conflict had occurred between Professor He and You Yonglan, and that this was the reason Lu Miao had stood up for her.

“I know your mother didn’t say anything, but I can tell, she’s actually quite pleased with this daughter-in-law.”

Father He’s words came out like a machine gun, fast and unrelenting.

He Mingchuan finally couldn’t take it anymore and muttered, “We didn’t argue.”

Father He got even more worked up at this, though he still kept his voice low so Lu Miao wouldn’t hear, “Then if there’s no argument, why are you sleeping separately? What are you thinking?”

He Mingchuan replied calmly, trying to brush the whole thing off, “I know.”

But the calmer he acted, the more suspicious his father became.

Father He lowered his voice even more, “Or is there something you’re not telling me?”

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed—his son had a stunning wife, yet he chose to sleep on the sofa?

This wasn’t just about wanting a grandson soon, he might not even be able to produce one.

“Don’t avoid seeing a doctor. I’m on good terms with Director Li from Urology. If you’re embarrassed, I’ll take you to his place myself.”

“I’m not!” He Mingchuan snapped, grabbing his futon and storming back to the room, worried that if he delayed any longer, he’d be dragged off to the hospital.

Lu Miao had been counting money halfway through when she overheard the conversation between the father and son about sleeping arrangements. She didn’t take it seriously, Lu Lu had said in the original novel that He Mingchuan was cold.

Even though Lu Lu had once said that You Yonglan was a vicious and difficult mother-in-law, Lu Miao personally felt that she wasn’t bad, her only flaw was that her words could be a bit harsh.

The conversation outside had become intentionally hushed, so Lu Miao couldn’t make out much of it and assumed the matter was over.

But after a while, the door opened from the inside.

Lu Miao was still sitting cross-legged on the bed, money in hand, when she saw He Mingchuan walk in carrying the futon. She looked up, momentarily confused.

What did this mean?

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