Chapter 49
Chapter 49 A Battle of Tongue
Chen Derong looked up and saw Chen Kexin and Wang Weixi stand at the door. “My cute daughter and my dear son-in-law. Welcome, come here and sit down,” Chen Derong said smilingly.
Wang Weixi nodded slightly and said, “Nice to meet you, father. Nice to meet you, dear aunts.” Wang Weixi was polite but emotionally detached.
Chen Kexin turned her face away and remained silent.
The atmosphere was a little embarrassing for a while.
When Wang Weixi dragged her over to the table and sat down, he found out that he became the focus of everyone’s attention. Chen Kexin’s well-dressed aunts seemed to have gotten used to Chen Kexin’s rude attitude and did not say anything. All of them were just gazing at Wang Weixi at this moment.
He felt stressed out, which caused a cold sweat to form on his back.
Everyone at the table remained awkwardly silent, when servants were busy serving the dishes.
Chen Kexin glanced around, looking for Chen Keren.
“So, is this man the one that Kexin fought a desperate struggle to marry?” Finally, a woman sitting right beside Chen Derong spoke, breaking the quiet.
Wang Weixi frowned slightly, feeling quite uncomfortable.
When Chen Kexin was about to talk back, Wang Weixi pulled her hand, hinting that they should let Chen Derong take care of it.
“Uhm,” Chen Derong nodded, looking displeased.
“I can’t see what’s so great about him. He’s in good shape, but he looks ordinary and poor. Alas, Derong, your daughter is just like you,” the woman sitting on the other side of Chen Derong mocked.
Upon hearing that women belittling him, Wang Weixi was rendered speechless and could not help but curse that woman in his heart. However, he still smiled back at the women.
Chen Kexin gritted her teeth in anger, but Wang Weixi pulled her hand again, hinting that she should remain calm. He sat there quietly, concealed all his emotions and thought, “Well, I have to treat all my seniors with respect. Now, only two aunts have spoken. If I talk back now, the other three aunts will have no chance to speak. I have to remain calm and show my respect for them.”
Wang Weixi controlled himself very well, as he did not want to embarrass his father-in-law again.
“My second eldest sister, you’ve really crossed the line,” Chen Derong said with a forced smile.
Chen Kexin suppressed her anger and deliberately teased, “Yes, my second aunt, you’re just so second.” (In Chinese internet slang, “Second” means dumb or stupid.)
Wang Weixi turned to look at Chen Kexin smilingly, while thinking, “Well, my wife is no pushover.”
Chen Kexin’s second aunt Chen Duanrong was confused and asked with curiosity, “What do you mean?”
Chen Kexin remained calm and said, “Nothing. I was praising you with an internet catchword. Second aunt, aren’t you always trendy? How come you’ve never heard about this word?”
Wang Weixi really wanted to laugh out loud, but he suppressed his laughter and said gently, “Kexin, stop teasing second aunt. She’s a businesswoman and has a lot of things to do every day. How can she know such an internet catchword?”
Chen Duanrong ignored Wang Weixi and said with blushing cheeks, “I know what you meant. How can I not know this word? I was just joking.”
Wang Weixi and Chen Kexin exchanged a look and remained silent.
At this moment, Chen Kexin’s third aunt said, “Wang Weixi, right? I heard that your family lives in the most remote village of Y city and that your mother didn’t attend your wedding. Is that true?”
The five aunts of Chen Kexin looked at one another meaningfully.
“My brother-in-law is not your son-in-law. Why do you care so much about him?” Suddenly, Chen Keren came up to the table and interrupted. She gave her aunts a cold stare and then took a seat.
Upon seeing Chen Keren, Chen Kexin asked happily, “Keren, where have you been?”
Chen Keren gave Chen Kexin an indifferent look and said lazily, “I went to your room to have a rest.” After that, she rolled her eyes at Wang Weixi in disgust. Evidently, she did not like Wang Weixi’s cowardly attitude.
“Why did I speak for him just now? Didn’t I just plan to see how he would be embarrassed here?” she thought dejectedly.
Upon seeing Chen Keren, the other people at the table remained deadly silent.
The third aunt looked particularly somber after being retorted by her niece.
Chen Derong coughed and said, “Let’s dine together. We can talk after dinner.”
“I’m afraid that your daughters won’t want to talk with us after dinner,” Chen Kexin’s fourth aunt said meaningfully.
When Wang Weixi was about to talk back, he thought of Chen Keren and chose to remain silent. He was sure that Chen Keren would save him the trouble of joining the fight.
“Four aunt always knows herself very well,” Chen Kexin said flatly when her fourth aunt finished her sentence:
“Yeah, she’s the most self-aware person among our aunts. Fourth aunt, am I right?” Chen Keren added meaningfully.
Their aunts were green with anger now.
Their fifth aunt wanted to make peace and patch up their quarrel, so she said, “Whew, is there anything wrong with you guys? What were you talking about? We come here to attend a family party, don’t we? It’s rare for our family to get together. Calm down and have fun.”
“Yes, let’s have fun,” Chen Derong hurriedly echoed, while thinking gladly that he finally got a chance to end this quarrel.
Chen Keren gave him a long hard stare, and he immediately stopped talking.
Wang Weixi’s stomach started to growl.
He kept cursing these women in his heart and thought, “Well, this family party is about to turn into a fierce battle, and these women are determined to crush us mentally.”
As all the aunts knew that Chen Keren was not easy to deal with, they decided to keep silent for a moment and began to eat.
After a while, the eldest aunt complained. “I’m really tired of eating abalone. Derong, why didn’t you prepare some new dishes?”
Wang Weixi did not like abalone either, although this was the first time he had eaten it. He got used to ordinary food and drinks and did not find these so-called “first-class” meals very tasty.
“What do you want, my eldest sister? I’ll ask the kitchen to make it for you,” Chen Derong said smilingly.
The eldest aunt sneered and said, “I’m really tired of gourmet food. As now my niece is married to a man from the countryside, I think that he can give me the chance of enjoying some simple home cooking. Can you cook some dishes for us?”
Wang Weixi looked up and happened to see the scornful expression in the eldest aunt’s eyes.
“My son-in-law is also one of my guests, how can we ask him to cook for us?” Chen Derong hurriedly said.
“Are the cooks of your family only able to cook some gourmet food? Why can’t they offer you some traditional home cooking?” Chen Kexin said grumpily.
Chen Keren remained silent and kept eating.
Wang Weixi smiled and said, “I’m sorry, aunt. I cook only for my family. I never cook for the others.” Wang Weixi talked back while remaining perfectly calm and polite. He did not look panicked or embarrassed, which disappointed the eldest aunt a lot.
The next moment, she smirked and said, “Are you saying that we’re not family? Sigh, Derong, look at your son-in-law. I was just joking. He seems to have taken it seriously and wants to cut us off. Well… I dare not to come here again.”
Wang Weixi was rendered speechless. When he quietly looked at the eldest aunt, the second aunt could not help but echo, “Yeah, we’re just their aunts. We’ve been married off to other families and aren’t related to the Chen family now. Is that what you mean, nephew-in-law?”
The third aunt quickly joined the talk. “But Kexin is also a married daughter of the Chen family. Dear nephew-in-law, do you think that your father-in-law in not your family?”
Wang Weixi discovered that he was really too naive and thought, “I kept silent in the beginning just to avoid conflict. Do they think that I’m really a coward or something?”
Chen Derong felt that he was caught in a dilemma and tried his best to patch up the quarrel by saying, “Relax, sisters. Your nephew-in-law was just joking. This is the first time he has met you. You were quite mean just now. No wonder he said something like that.”
The aunts glared at Wang Weixi, and Wang Weixi kept smiling at them.
“Well, we can’t ask our nephew-in-law to cook for us. How about our niece?” Suddenly, the fourth aunt squinted her eyes and asked. “Kexin, you’re married to such a man. You can’t hire a maid, can you? Without a maid, you have to cook by yourself. Am I right?”
Wang Weixi was stunned, and Chen Keren looked up at him while smirking unpleasantly.
“Dosen’t Kexin always live like a princess? Sister, let them off,” said the fifth aunt, who always liked to pretend to be a good person.
Wang Weixi felt annoyed. He could tolerate being teased by these women but could not watch them ridiculing his wife.