Reborn in the 70s: Pampered by Regiment Commander
Chapter 297 - 210: Reap What You Sow

Chapter 297: Chapter 210: Reap What You Sow

The first watch of the night had passed.

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Old Lady Zhao knew Wang Meifeng too well. Just by looking at her expression, she guessed the gist and stared at her coldly, "Meifeng, did you just go to see Regimental Commander Xiao Zhou?"

Chuxia looked at Wang Meifeng with surprise on her face. In this era, weren’t all girls supposed to be very reserved?

Under the intense scrutiny of Old Lady Zhao and Chuxia, Wang Meifeng, who was already flustered, flickered her gaze uncertainly, not knowing where to look, and finally, simply hung her head and picked at the bedsheets, feigning pitifulness.

Seeing her act like this, how could Chuxia not understand Old Lady Zhao had indeed guessed correctly? But wasn’t Zhou Mikang with Old Master Zhao and the others...

"Wasn’t Regimental Commander Zhou with your grandfather?" Clearly, Old Lady Zhao’s doubt was the same as Chuxia’s.

"..." Wang Meifeng remained silent.

"I’m talking to you!" Old Lady Zhao’s voice became stern. "If you don’t want me to disown you as my granddaughter-in-law from now on, tell the truth."

Wang Meifeng quickly glanced at Old Lady Zhao and whispered faintly, barely audible, "Together."

"What... what did you say?" Old Lady Zhao’s eyebrows knotted tightly, she knew this granddaughter-in-law was always selfish, but she didn’t expect her to be so brazen.

Wang Meifeng bit her lower lip and didn’t say anything for a long time. Just as Old Lady Zhao was losing her patience, Wang Meifeng raised her head, her eyes filled with defiance as she stared at Old Lady Zhao, "I know, grandmother thinks that by doing so, I have lost Chuxia’s face and made her brother-in-law look down on Chuxia’s maternal family. But if it wasn’t a last resort, I wouldn’t want to take such a step..."

Old Lady Zhao interrupted her, "Cut the nonsense!"

Wang Meifeng quickly glanced at Chuxia and said, "I... I just told my brother-in-law that I wanted to come here to teach, to spend more time with my sister, and asked if he could help."

"In front of your grandfather and the others?"

"Mhm."

"You..." Old Lady Zhao’s hands trembled with anger. Doing this was clearly trying to pressure Zhou Mikang in front of all the elders so that he would find it difficult to refuse. Her granddaughter-in-law truly disappointed her.

Then she thought something was wrong. If the coercion had been successful, she shouldn’t have come begging her to pressure Chuxia. Old Lady Zhao then asked, "Did Regimental Commander Zhou refuse?"

"He..." Wang Meifeng glanced at Chuxia again and hesitated, "He said he knew and didn’t say anything else. I was afraid he would seek verification from Chuxia, so I... just..."

Old Lady Zhao’s cold gaze settled on her, "You know Chuxia won’t help you if you ask her, so you thought of using the Qiang family’s matter to soften my heart, forcing Chuxia to help you?"

"Yes!" Wang Meifeng admitted candidly. Not waiting for Old Lady Zhao to ask further, she confessed like spilling beans, "I begged Chuxia before, and she refused me without even considering it. Having no other choice, I had to ask my brother-in-law myself.

My aunt’s family used to live in such a place, but look at them now. That spacious and bright tiled house, who wouldn’t be envious? I am also a daughter, of course, I hope my parents can live like that."

There she goes again... being so self-righteous... Chuxia was speechless, really not knowing what to say.

"For your parents?" Old Lady Zhao laughed bitterly in anger, "More like the moment you came here and saw Regimental Commander Xiao Zhou, saw the Zhou family’s mansion, your heart started itching, right?

You were also raised under my eye, I know your character all too well. Even if Chuxia agreed to help, I would stop her from doing so!"

"Grandmother..." Wang Meifeng began to cry on the bed, still muttering, "Is it wrong to want to live a good life? If given the chance, who wouldn’t want to live a better life?

I... I just don’t understand, Luo Xiaoqiong has no blood relation to Chuxia, yet she is willing to help her, but I’m her blood cousin, why can’t she help me?

Even if... even if I used to scold Chuxia, but that was for her own good. Grandmother knows how clueless she is, would I scold her if I didn’t care about my aunt and uncle? It seems... it seems that being a good person really can’t be done, once you do, it just makes people hold a grudge, if I had always been only nice, she definitely would help me now, wuwuwu..."

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Upon hearing the knock on the door, Wang Meifeng’s body noticeably shrank back. She just felt that everyone was busy in the kitchen and wouldn’t have time to come up, so she decided to face shame and beg her grandmother and cousin. If someone else saw it... With that thought, she quickly kicked off her shoes and pulled the quilt over her, "Grandmother, Chuxia, just say I’m sick."

"You still care about face?" Old Lady Zhao snorted and gestured for Chuxia to open the door.

It was Luo Xiaoqiong and Luan Xiaoxiang who had come.

"Grandmother, we are done with our work and came to keep you company," Luo Xiaoqiong said cheerfully, popping up beside Old Lady Zhao. Seeing a bulge under the quilt, she asked in confusion, "Who is this?"

"It must be Sister Meifeng, right?" Not waiting for Old Lady Zhao to answer, Luan Xiaoxiang replied first.

"Right, we didn’t see her in the kitchen..." Luo Xiaoqiong poked the bulge under the quilt, "You were fine earlier, what’s wrong now? Have you taken any medicine?"

"Is it a cold?" Luan Xiaoxiang asked.

"Mhm." A voice responded from under the blanket, slightly hoarse.

"You should pile on more blankets and sweat it out..." Luo Xiaoqiong said as she pulled over another blanket to lay on top, tucking in the corners firmly and kindly reminded, "Sister Meifeng, you’d better leave your head out a bit, otherwise you might feel suffocated later."

Wang Meifeng’s voice was weak as a mosquito’s, "It’s okay." Although it was early winter and the temperature was not much different from autumn, one blanket was already warm enough. Adding another, sweat quickly dripped from her forehead, and right now, all she hoped for was everyone to leave quickly so she could get some air. Being smothered like this, she felt like she was going to be suffocated!

"I’ll have my mother cook some Ginger Soup. Drink the soup and sweat it out, and by tomorrow morning, you should be all right," said Luan Xiaoxiang, with such a "good heart."

Hearing the footsteps growing more distant, Wang Meifeng felt like crying. She didn’t eat ginger— not a bit of it, and as for Ginger Soup, was there really any difference from ginger? Most importantly, drinking Ginger Soup and then being covered in blankets, were they trying to kill her?

She was hoping that her grandmother could say something to save her from this predicament. As for her cousin, she hadn’t dared to count on her help at all.

Unfortunately, Old Lady Zhao was just thinking about giving her a lesson to prevent future misbehavior; why would she rescue her? She probably wished her granddaughter would suffer a bit more.

So, she was doomed to continue "enjoying" being smothered under the blankets.

In the time that followed, Luo Xiaoqiong chatted non-stop with Old Lady Zhao, with Chuxia occasionally adding a word or two; time ticked by as wet clothes clung to her body, and that uncomfortable feeling made Wang Meifeng wiggle under the blanket from time to time.

During the conversation, Chuxia was quietly observing Wang Meifeng’s condition. Though she didn’t like her, considering Old Lady Zhao’s feelings, it was still necessary to show some concern.

After all, Wang Meifeng was Old Lady Zhao’s own granddaughter—as the saying goes, both the palm and the back of the hand are flesh. She understood Old Lady Zhao’s thoughts: she wanted to teach Wang Meifeng a lesson, but if something serious happened, wouldn’t she be heartbroken?

She couldn’t help her, yet she didn’t need to torment her until she became ill.

So, seeing the frequency of the blankets’ movement increasing, she knew Wang Meifeng couldn’t take it much longer. Just as she hesitated whether to help Wang Meifeng remove a blanket, Zhao Yuying entered.

Catching a glimpse of the blanket cocoon, Zhao Yuying frowned and turned to Old Lady Zhao, "Mother, is Meifeng having a cold?"

"Hehe..." Old Lady Zhao replied with a laugh. Zhao Yuying then understood and hesitated slightly before tearing off the blanket, "Wang Meifeng, hurry and get up to apologize to Chuxia!"

"Mother..."

With a flushed face and damp hair sticking to it, her collar soaked through..., seeing Wang Meifeng’s miserable state, Zhao Yuying froze, now unsure whether her daughter was genuinely sick or faking it.

Glancing at her granddaughter, even Old Lady Zhao had a flicker of pity in her eyes, but soon, her expression returned to its usual calm.

Luo Xiaoqiong was surprised and her eyes widened, "Chuxia, should we take Sister Meifeng to the hospital? It looks like she might be running a high fever."

"No need, I’ll be fine after lying down for a bit," Wang Meifeng said as she quickly got out of bed, slipped on her shoes, and ran towards the door— "Ah!" Almost immediately, she clutched her leg and shrank back, grabbing a blanket to cover herself again.

"What’s wrong?" Standing at the door, Zhou Mikang touched her cheek in confusion, turning to Chuxia, "Do I look... that scary?"

Chuxia asked with a smile, "How come you’re here?" What she was really thinking was, you’ve come at just the right time!!

"I wanted to keep Granny company for a chat..." Zhou Mikang explained to Old Lady Zhao, "My grandfather and Elder Chen came over; my grandpa is chatting with them."

Old Lady Zhao then asked, "Did Old Lady Chen come too?"

Zhou Mikang nodded, "They came together."

"I’ll go down," Old Lady Zhao said as she got out of bed and put on her shoes, smiling apologetically at Zhou Mikang, "I’m used to sitting on a Kang at home; sitting on a sofa just doesn’t feel right."

Zhou Mikang laughed, "Next time you come over, Granny, we’ll definitely have a Kang for you."

Luo Xiaoqiong whispered to Chuxia, "I never realized Regimental Commander Zhou really cares about you."

Chuxia whispered back, "Are you doing this on purpose?"

"What do you think?" Luo Xiaoqiong fluttered her eyelashes, sneaked a peek at the blanket cocoon, and wore a little look of triumph.

Chuxia quietly gave her a thumbs up.

Just then, Luan Xiaoxiang came in cautiously carrying a bowl. Seeing Zhou Mikang, she was obviously startled, but then her chin gestured towards the blanket cocoon, "She has a cold." The implication was, I’m here to bring her medicine.

Wang Meifeng, hidden under the blanket, clutched the corner tightly. At this moment, she would rather die than let her brother-in-law see her like this!

But as Wang Meifeng was her own daughter, no matter how angry she was, the sentiment of motherly love prevailed, and Zhao Yuying stepped forward, "Xiaoxiang, thank you, but give me the bowl."

(To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)