Chapter 16: This Is Exactly What Works on Her

Mu Chenze sobered up instantly.

He absolutely couldn’t let his mother make the decision.

He hadn’t stayed ashore today just for the blind date.

He reopened the courtyard gate.

“Sister-in-law, you go on home first. I’ll just pop inside and say goodbye to Pingzi before I leave.”

Seeing that he didn’t seem to be lying, Fu Qing headed home.

Mu Chenze walked into the bedroom, picked up the enamel mug filled with warm water, and patted Pingzi on the shoulder. “Pingzi, wake up. Have some water first.”

He knew Pingzi well—give him some water and he’d sober up.

Pingzi groggily drank a few sips and sobered up a bit. “Chenze, I can’t hold my liquor like you anymore.”

Mu Chenze set the mug on the kang table. “I need to head home. Come out and bolt the iron gate.”

Pingzi’s courtyard wall was high, topped with shards of glass. As long as the iron gate was bolted, it would keep thieves out for the most part.

Qiu Daguang often lurked around, clearly eyeing Pingzi’s house, just never having found the chance yet.

About ten minutes later, Mu Chenze returned home in wet clothes and shoes, his face smudged with mud, looking every bit the drunk.

Just then, his blind date Zhang Tao, her family, and Matchmaker Wang were preparing to leave. Qin Mahua and Fu Qing came out to see them off.

Zhang Tao frowned in disgust and whispered to her mother, “I don’t like him.”

Zhang’s mother heard this and didn’t bother being polite with Qin Mahua anymore. “Raising a son like this must have been quite a feat! Let’s go!”

Matchmaker Wang looked helpless—today’s match clearly wasn’t happening.

Once the guests left, only Mu Chenze, Qin Mahua, and Fu Qing were left at home.

Mu Qinlao and Mu Chenfu were still out at sea.

Fu Qing thought her mother-in-law would scold Mu Chenze and was already thinking how to plead for him.

But then she noticed Chenze’s clothes weren’t the same as earlier.

To her surprise, Qin Mahua didn’t scold him at all. Instead, her face was full of concern. “Xiaoze, did you fall in the sea or what? Hurry and change your clothes, I’ll heat some water for your bath…”

Half an hour later, freshly bathed and in clean clothes, Mu Chenze lounged on the bed.

Qin Mahua came in with a bowl of egg tea sweetened with honey. “Xiaoze, drink some egg tea to sober up.”

Mu Chenze took it and downed it in one go, then smiled and said, “Mom, I didn’t stay ashore for the blind date—I had something else to do. Please don’t arrange any more blind dates for me, okay?”

Qin Mahua took the empty bowl from him. “Then tell me, what was so important today? You’ve been distracted these past days…”

“I haven’t been distracted! I’ve just been thinking about how to make money. Look, I made over three hundred yuan today—here!”

He pulled a wad of cash from under his pillow and stuffed it into Qin Mahua’s hands. “I’m only 22. I want to work hard and make more money while I’m young. I’m not thinking about marriage for the next few years, okay? You’re the best mom, you always understand and support me!”

His sweet talk made Qin Mahua beam with joy. “Alright! If you’d just said you were thinking about making money, I wouldn’t have worried you were looking for a wife. Now tell me, how did you make this three hundred yuan?”

Mu Chenze grinned mysteriously. “Actually, I went out early this morning and bought a few hundred jin of hairtail at the dock. I’d prepared ice in advance and hired a truck to take them to the city to sell. After deducting the truck fee and all, I made over three hundred yuan. I got back at five thirty in the morning, didn’t want to wake you, so I left the money under my pillow and went back to the dock to see if there was anything else good.”

“My son is amazing! Earning over three hundred in a day—you must be exhausted. But I still have to ask you a few questions to be sure.”

“Ask away.”

“Did you eat breakfast and lunch? Why did you drink? And why were you soaked?”

“I ate both meals. I drank because I was happy about making money. I got myself wet and dirty on purpose because I didn’t want the blind date to work out.”

“How did you know there’d be hairtail to buy today?”

Hairtail are caught offshore—you can’t just show up at the dock and expect to find them.

Mu Chenze replied easily, “I calculated the dates. The offshore fishing boats were due back early this morning, so I went.”

Actually, their own boat could go further out, but his family was too attached to home and didn’t want to spend days at sea, so they always fished close to shore.

Now Qin Mahua was completely reassured. “Xiaoze, go get some rest. I’ll do your laundry. No more blind dates—I’ll wait for you to bring home a daughter-in-law.”

“Mom, you’re the best mom in the world!”

Mu Chenze knew this was exactly what worked on his mother.

Sure enough, Qin Mahua was even happier.

After a sleepless night, Mu Chenze was indeed tired. Soon, he drifted off to sleep.

Qin Mahua took the money to show Fu Qing, explained everything, and promised not to arrange any more blind dates for Chenze for the next few years.

Both women were the type who never bragged about the family’s earnings, so the news of Mu Chenze making money selling hairtail didn’t spread.

At that moment, Chu Xuan had just finished lunch and was strolling in the courtyard to digest, sighing to herself—big hairtail really was delicious!

No one had found hairtail on this day in her previous life, but this time she had. Could it be that her rebirth had changed some things?

If fate was favoring her, would there be more surprises in store?

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Chu Xuan went over and unbolted it.

Standing outside was Chu Dashan.

Chu Dashan was sixty this year, tall and thin with graying hair, putting on the airs of an elder.

“Xiao Xuan, go tell the town security team you won’t press charges against your grandma and your second uncle. We’re all family—how could we really cut ties? I even skipped going out to sea today because of this, lost a good day’s earnings!”

He made it sound so casual that Chu Xuan cursed him inwardly for playing dumb.

“What are you talking about? Cutting ties means cutting ties! Are you going to help me pay off the three thousand yuan debt?”

Chu Dashan didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed, thinking Chu Xuan was still as easy to manipulate as before. “Didn’t your mom send you money? Why not use it to pay off the debt instead of building a new house? How about this—use the house money to pay the debt, and you and Xiao Feng move back in. We’ll patch things up as a family.”

Chu Xuan’s face grew colder. “The house money isn’t enough to pay off the debt. How about you give me two thousand yuan to help pay it off?”

Chu Dashan waved his hands frantically. “We don’t have that kind of money at home. You’ll have to pay the debt yourselves. Anyway, whenever you pay it off, we’ll patch things up. Just go tell the security team you’re not pressing charges against your grandma and uncle…”

Chu Xuan sneered. “If you want me to drop the charges against Feng Chunhua and Chu Zhi, fine. Give me a share of my dad’s compensation. I’m not asking for much—just five hundred yuan. You’d better decide quickly. If the security team makes a decision and I say I’m not pressing charges, it’ll be too late.”

Chu Dashan angrily kicked the door. “Five hundred yuan? Are you trying to kill me? If you don’t go, I’ll hang myself at your front door!”

Chu Xuan glanced at her rickety front door. “Suit yourself. But let me say this first—if you break my door, you’ll have to pay a hundred yuan for repairs!”

Chu Dashan was so angry his hands shook, but that didn’t stop him from pulling a hemp rope out of his pocket…"