Chapter 6 part 2: Mother in law/daughter in law talks

 Lin Li withdrew from the room with a smile, and was absentmindedly walking around at home. She came to the Zhou family once before, and Zhou Han took her back the day after signing the certificate last time. The two had dinner here, and because something happened in the company, and they went back after only sitting for a short while.

Because she was bored, she casually opened a door of a room. It was purely a masculine design and layout, a single bed, and next to the bed there was a desk, and a simple wardrobe. The whole room looked a bit empty, and Lin Li was a little surprised. There were even posters of NBA and Slam Dunk on the wall. She could see that the posters had been a few years old. The edges of the paper were a bit yellowish, but the whole room was neat, even with a slight mint smell. The quilt on the bed was folded flat, and there was no dust on the floor and the table. Even by the window sill of the room, there was a pot of well-cared plants that Lin Li did not know the name of, but the plants were growing vigorously.

"Knock, knock..." The door sounded when Lin Li was wondering whose room this was. Turning to look around, she saw Mother Zhou stood at the door with a faint smile, and seeing Lin Li turned around to see her, she stepped up, smiled and said to her: "I was still thinking where have you gone to, I didn't expect you to be here."

Lin Li was ashamed, a little embarrassed by her intrusion, and said awkwardly: "I see this room is empty, I was curious so I came inside."

"I don't mean to blame you. You are Zhou daughter-in-law. This is your home. It doesn't matter where you want to go." Mother Zhou smiled faintly, took her hand to sit on the single bed beside her. She put her hand on her lap and patted gently, looked at her and said, "Do you know whose room this is?"

"Is it Zhou Han's previous room?" Lin Li guessed. 

In fact, it was not difficult to guess that, there was only this one son in Zhou family. And these NBA posters and Slam Dunk posters were obviously unlikely to be liked by Father Zhou. With that assumption, could only be Zhou Han's, but she was a little surprised. Zhou Han would only watch news broadcasts and stock market analysis when watching TV, and only read the financial section of the newspaper, and he would always look at everything very seriously, but apparently he was no different from others when he was young, and he also liked the NBA and slam dunks!

Mother Zhou nodded and smiled, "Yes, this is Ah Han's previous room." 

----- Please read the translation from https://irisatdusk.blogspot.com/

Turning her head and looking around at the room, Mother Zhou’s tone was full of emotion, “This is Ah Han’s room before he went to college. Although he went to the university in Jiang city, but because he didn’t want others to know that he was an official’s son, he insisted on living on campus. He came back only once a month, and he rarely stayed at home when he came back. He always came and went in a hurry. After graduating from college, he bought a small apartment outside with the money from stock trading during college. Then he found a job and started a company by himself, and didn’t come back much. I forced him to come back for a quick dinner and then he said he was busy and hurried back."

Mother Zhou said with a smile at the corners of her mouth. It seemed that everything was only yesterday. Looking back on it, it was still vivid. It didn't take long, but if they really counting the time, more than ten years have passed since Zhou Han was now 32, and even his child was 6 years old.

Lin Li just smiled, she turned her head to look around the room, thinking that the layout of this room was actually quite similar to Zhou Han's character. The furnishings were all practical, except for useful things, without any extra decorations, of course, except for the posters.

Pulling out from her own memories, Mother Zhou smiled and asked Lin Li again: "Has Xiao Li always stayed at home before?"

Lin Li shook her head, "I am not Jiang city's registered permanent resident. Came here for college, and after that also found a job here. Actually, I am almost like Zhou Han. After graduating from high school, I rarely stayed at home when I was in college. "

"Oh, you are not from Jiang city!" Mother Zhou looked at her slightly surprised.

Lin Li pursed her lips, slowly withdrew her hand. She shook her head and said, "No." 

She was afraid that she would mind. She had experienced this kind of reaction before. When Cheng Xiang took her to see his parents for the first time, his mother took her by the hand and asked about her enthusiastically, but when she knew she was not from Jiang city, the attitude changed 360 degrees, and immediately said in front of her that they would not agree with her and Cheng Xiang, because they did not want to find a girl with foreign registered permanent residence as their wife.

----- Please read the translation from https://irisatdusk.blogspot.com/

"It turned out to be like this," Without noticing the change in Lin Li's attitude, Mother Zhou muttered to herself: "I was about to say that next time to ask your parents out and the two families will sit together and have a good meal."

While saying that, she looked up at Lin Li, "Originally, when you got a marriage certificate without a wedding like this, Zhou Han's father and I felt aggrieved for you. But you also know this is Ah Han's second marriage, and the previous relationship was also unpleasant. This time, Ah Han told me to keep everything simple. I know that firstly, he had a bad relationship with his group of friends, and secondly, he considered Xiao Bin. But no matter who you consider, marriage without a wedding is our Zhou Han that has wronged you, so I still wanted to meet with my in-laws and apologize, but I didn't expect that they were all outside. "

Lin Li was taken aback for a moment, she (Lin Li) didn't think that she (Mother Zhou) was even thinking about these things. She thought that Zhou family was minding her foreign registered permanent residence...

Mother Zhou pulled her hand over again, held tightly, looked at her and said: "Xiao Li, I really wronged you. For our Ah Han, if you married so unfairly, and you also have to leave your home so far away, furthermore, your parents are also not by your side."

"Mom, you..." Lin Li was stunned, unable to say a word.

She patted her hand, and Mother Zhou said with a serious and assured expression: "Xiao Li, don't worry, if Zhou Han wrong you in the future, you come to Mother. Mom will never favor her son, she will give the justice for you!

Lin Li looked at her, only feeling a little moved inexplicably, her mouth raised slightly, and she nodded seriously, "Okay."

Mother Zhou also laughed and nodded while holding her hand. After a while, she said: "You are Ah Han's wife now, so I will ask you to help Mother to take care of Ah Han and Xiao Bin. Ah Han and Xiao Bin these two father and son's lives are not easy. They have been harmed miserably by that woman." Speaking of this, Mother Zhou, who was originally gentle, became a little harsher and ruthless.

"Zhou Han's ex-wife?" Lin Li asked tentatively. Zhou Han had never told her about his ex-wife. Of course, there was no need to say this because of their fake relationship. But today Xiao Bin said that his mother often used the needle to prick him, and she was thinking how can a mother still landed her hand on her only child!

Mother Zhou nodded, and sighed helplessly, and said: "Hhhh (sigh), let's not talk about her. Can't blame others, can only blame Zhou Han was too stupid at the time and was bewitched by that woman. For her, even friends and parents, he didn't want anymore. But in the end, what did he get? Even got kicked away by her."

Lin Li fixed her stare at her, and was inexplicably curious about that woman. She couldn't imagine that Zhou Han could act like that, for a woman, to not care about friends and to not want parents anymore.

Mother Zhou returned to her senses, raised her head just to meet Lin Li's inquisitive eyes, secretly scolding herself for saying too much. Why she had to talk about Ling Ran in front of her, and talked about the ex in front of the current partner. As a woman, she couldn't be so magnanimous for nothing.

She then said with a smile: "Oh, it's nothing, it's nothing, it has been in the past for so long, let's not talk about this, not talk about this." She was afraid that Lin Li would think too much, so she changed the subject and talked to her casually.

Lin Li could see that she didn't want to say much, she just nodded with a smile, and responded casually. In fact, she was purely curious. After all, with her situation with Zhou Han, she couldn't care about all these.

--------------- Please read the translation from https://irisatdusk.blogspot.com/

TN: Welp! As they said... Love is blind! and also... who else read Slam Dunk in the past? 🙋