Chapter 316. First Impressions 1/4
The air in the room was filled with the aroma of sautéed garlic sauce. Ning Chu sat on the living room sofa, her gaze repeatedly drawn to the kitchen. Through the transparent sliding door, she could clearly see Uncle busy making seafood and frying steak.
Her stomach, triggered by the delicious smell, growled in protest.
In the kitchen, Mom was bustling about, bringing the pre-prepared lunch to the table, helping to clean the seafood, and crushing the garlic. A hint of youthful joy adorned her brows, her cheeks were always flushed with a light blush, and her steps seemed lighter.
“Mom~ I’m hungry!”
Hei Dou was entangling nearby, occasionally receiving snacks from Mom. Her tone was as gentle as water: “You go eat first; the seafood and steak will take a bit longer.”
“I want to eat steak~”
“I also stewed some braised pork for you~”
It was clear that Mom was in a good mood, even the inflections at the end of her sentences had a slight uplift.
Ning Chu had never seen Mom behave like this before. She inhaled the fragrance, swallowed hard, and turned to the expressionless Ning Yuan sitting nearby: “Bro, don’t you think Uncle and Mom are quite a match~ what do you think?”
“Hmm, seems alright.”
Leaning back on the sofa, she muttered, “Bro, have you never noticed this before?”
“I’ve been in college these past few years, how would I notice? But how come you haven’t picked up on it?”
“I…” Ning Chu could only awkwardly look away. “Must be that Mom is hiding it well! Deliberately keeping it from us!”
Since the passing of her mother in middle school, everything she experienced was unrelated to this parallel world, and she had no memories of those three to five years. Luckily, her personality was similar, so she didn’t slip up.
As for where the original “Ning Chu” went?
Maybe she crossed over to the world she’s in, or maybe their souls merged into one. Who knows what actually happened?
Ning Chu had no intention of probing into such matters… she wasn’t a protagonist nor did she have any ambitions. She only focused on the present as a simple citizen hoping for a good life for herself and her family.
What caused the crossing, the essence of this parallel world, the connections between the roles and plots of those light novels…
Exploring those things wouldn’t return her to being a man, nor would it bring her back to her past world, and she had no interest.
Even if she could go back, she didn’t want to.
She was even more afraid that everything before her was a dream, ready to disappear without a trace at any moment.
“Dinner’s ready!” Mom shouted, “Ning Chu! Ning Yuan! Come eat!”
“Coming, coming!”
All the chaotic thoughts in her head vanished cleanly, and Ning Chu immediately stood up. She excitedly ran to the dining table, greeted by her mother’s warm smile.
Looking at the table full of dishes, she exclaimed, “It wasn’t this lavish when I came back yesterday~”
Mom shot her a glare: “Today your brother and Uncle are both here; with two more mouths to feed, of course, I had to make more.”
“Hei Dou! The steak is one serving per person; don’t drool over your sister’s steak.”
“Oh~”
Ning Chu sat at the table, cut her steak in half with the knife, and forked a piece onto Hei Dou’s plate.
“Sis is so nice to me~”
“Just greedy,” Mom ruffled Hei Dou’s hair firmly.
“Kids are like this; they grow when they’re young~” Ning Chu didn’t mind, smiling as she looked toward Uncle in the kitchen, “Isn’t the seafood done yet?”
“It just needs to be plated before it can be steamed.”
Unlike the imposing impression he left at first, Uncle was now busy in the kitchen, a smile at the corners of his eyes, like a devoted hubby.
This image was definitely a better one than before, making Ning Chu feel more at ease.
At least he seemed easygoing now.
Ning Chu turned to glance at her brother, Ning Yuan, who was silently eating. Occasionally, he would observe Uncle but showed no signs of rejection or acceptance.
“The seafood still needs to steam for a while; just eat first.”
Uncle walked out from the kitchen, carrying a bowl of boiled shrimp, and sat down beside Mom.
He glanced at the brother and sister, smiled, and nodded at them, then started chatting with Mom: “This steak was bought special from Sam by my assistant. I heard it’s pretty good, so I brought some for you to try.”
“If you like it, I can have someone bring more, let the kids have it for breakfast.”
Hei Dou perked up his ears and quickly looked up in agreement: “Good! Have it for breakfast!”
“Such an expensive thing for breakfast?” Mom shot Uncle an unhappy glare, muttering, “You’ve got money to burn?”
Uncle awkwardly chuckled, took a few bites, and habitually pulled a cigarette from his pocket.
“Smoke in the hallway, we don’t want the place to smell of smoke.”
He obediently got up and went to the hallway to smoke.
Looks like he’s a bit henpecked? At least he’s not a macho man.
Ning Chu looked at Uncle’s departing figure. So far, her impression of him was pretty good. He was affectionate toward her mother, didn’t get upset when faced with rejection, had a notable air of authority when expressionless, but was also very friendly when he smiled.
The key point was his build! He definitely wouldn’t be easily drained dry and run away!
At least he wasn’t the greasy, sleazy fat uncle commonly seen in those novels, or else no matter how nice he was to her mother, the first impression wouldn’t be great.
“Mom, you always used to scold Bro for smoking~” Ning Chu rested her chin on her hand, teasingly asked, “Why do you just let Uncle go outside to smoke?”
“How old is your brother? What does he need to smoke for?”
“I’m in my twenties too.” Ning Yuan mumbled, “Why are you making it sound like I’m a kid?”
“Mom’s elbow is turning outwards~”
Mom angrily tapped Ning Chu on the head with her chopsticks: “Can’t you keep your mouth shut? Can’t you learn from Ning Xin? Just eat, don’t talk!”
Hei Dou was completely focused while eating, cheeks stuffed so much that he couldn’t even speak.
Ning Chu only stayed silent for half a minute before she couldn’t help but say, “Mom~ Uncle seems to treat you pretty well.”
“What does he do for a living?” Ning Yuan also followed up with a question.
“Let’s say he’s a small contractor.”
Ning Chu didn’t have a concrete concept of a contractor, having never encountered it. She only knew that such a profession often made the news for wage disputes.
She muttered softly, “Sounds pretty average.”
“Much better than your boyfriend.” Mom shot a glare at her daughter.
Now Ning Chu had a problem with that: “Wen Yang is only in college, okay! How can you compare them! By the time he’s forty, he may very well be a big boss!”
“Right, big boss, big boss.”
She glared at her mother, and Mom added a piece of pork rib to her bowl: “Eat your food; grown-up matters aren’t your concern.”
“Ugh~”
Ning Yuan sighed softly, seeing his sister defend Wen Yang made him feel a strange sense of sorrow like a father watching over his flower plants getting trampled by outsiders. It left him feeling unsettled inside.
As for Mom and Uncle, he actually enjoyed seeing it. Just like Ning Chu, he was willing to see Mom find a compatible partner.
——————
A long-awaited extra chapter~
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