Chef Hua
Chapter 271: Episode 160: Lying on the Ground Crying

Chapter 271: Episode 160: Lying on the Ground Crying

The things in the main room...

Hua Xiaomai was utterly confused and couldn’t help but raise her hand to touch her forehead.

She had just run out of the room and darted into the bathhouse like a rabbit before immediately getting busy on the kitchen stove; as for entering this main room, it only happened after Old Lady Meng asked her to come and offer incense with Meng Yuhuai. From beginning to end, she had not stepped into the main room alone. What play was her mother-in-law putting on?

"I didn’t touch anything in the main room..." Hua Xiaomai turned her head and glanced at Meng Yuhuai subconsciously, her eyes carrying a plea for help, yet that person didn’t even look up at her but kept his head down, shoveling the vegetable porridge into his mouth and suddenly said, "Xiaomai, this porridge tastes really good."

Pfft! Hua Xiaomai almost spat out, was this man really dodging the topic? That was a very stiff diversion!

"Don’t change the subject!" Old Lady Meng wasn’t buying it and knocked on the rim of her bowl with her chopsticks, pointing at Hua Xiaomai’s face fiercely, "Don’t play dumb with me. Do you think just because I am over forty, I don’t know anything? Those items, since being brought in yesterday, were well placed inside the main room. How could they just disappear without a trace this morning? No thieves have entered our house, if it wasn’t you who took them, then who could it be?"

Hua Xiaomai was starting to understand.

So the "things" Old Lady Meng mentioned were her dowry?

In Fire Knife Village, on the day a bride gets married, she must place her dowry in the main room for the visiting relatives to see and comment on, and only move them back to her own room the next day. Not to mention she hadn’t had the chance to touch those things, even if she had taken them back herself, so what? Once married, cannot she even control her own dowry? What kind of rule was that?

Seeing her silent, Old Lady Meng thought she guessed right and showed a smug expression, pointing to the ground, "Look, it was placed right here, but why is it now completely empty? You say you didn’t take it, could it have grown legs and flown away? Don’t make me laugh!"

Her words were so certain, branding the new daughter-in-law a thief of her own dowry, that Hua Xiaomai felt anger rising. She was about to retort when she heard the steady voice of the man beside her say unhurriedly, "I moved it."

That statement shocked not only Old Lady Meng but also Hua Xiaomai. She quickly turned her head to look at Meng Yuhuai, whose expression hadn’t changed, "It was you? But... why didn’t you tell me about it?"

"What’s there to say?" Meng Yuhuai looked up, smiling at her, "Is such a trivial matter even worth mentioning specifically? The boxes were just taking up space and causing inconvenience in the main room, it’s better to move them back early to avoid my mother complaining."

Saying this, he glanced at Old Lady Meng with a half-smile.

Upon hearing this, Old Lady Meng became visibly restless. After a moment’s pause, her lips began to tremble, "Are you implying that I would secretly keep your wife’s belongings? She’s married into our family and is now one of us, isn’t it the same whether it’s mine or yours? I just thought that your room isn’t big, with the two of you it must be inconvenient, and I alone... I thought I’d keep the stuff in my room..."

"Mother, you are overthinking it," Meng Yuhuai curved his lips, his tone still light, "I was truly worried that the belongings would be in the way, so I moved them earlier. My room always looks a bit empty; a few more boxes make it look warmer and livelier. Besides, the items are Xiaomai’s, if she needs to use something, it’s more convenient this way."

He paused, then added, "Maybe grandmother didn’t keep your dowry in her room either, did she?"

His tone was so calm and light, yet the underlying message of guarding against Old Lady Meng was clear, even Hua Xiaomai felt a chill.

Meng Yuhuai was willing to protect her, which naturally made her happy, but...

Old Lady Meng was trembling with rage, unable to continue eating. She threw down her chopsticks, turned around, and went back to her room, slamming the door shut with a "bang."

This sudden tense situation made Hua Xiaomai shiver. She turned to say something, but Meng Yuhuai had already reached out to touch her head, casually smiling, "Eat quickly, I know you’re worried about what’s happening at the restaurant. Finish eating so we can clean up, and I’ll go with you to check it out."