At the Jiang Family residence.
“Bai is great at everything, except that she doesn’t want to look for a boyfriend. Why doesn’t she think of her age? How can she still not have a boyfriend? She just stays home all day staring at her computer; the radiation has turned her entire face greasy! If it wasn’t for her Jiang surname, I wouldn’t recognize her as a daughter of mine!” Mrs. Jiang held a teacup as she gossiped with her best friend. She might be middle-aged, but she was still charming due to her extensive beauty regime which gave her supple skin and a well-maintained figure.
Throughout her life, she had placed great importance on skincare and maintaining her figure. For example, she would never allow her weight to go over a certain limit. Unfortunately, she found it detestable that she gave birth to a daughter who couldn’t care less about appearances. Despite all her efforts, she could not change her daughter’s way of thinking while raising her. It was something that angered her to no end. On the bright side, she and her husband had good looks, so Jiang Xiaobai was blessed with good looks too. Even if she was too lazy to doll herself up, she was still quite a beauty.
“I must say; I think Bai is doing quite well. It’s important to be down-to-earth and earn an income. The type of wife the current blind date candidate is looking for is someone like her.”
When Mrs. Jiang heard those words, she sneered in her heart, Looking for a down-to-earth wife that earns an income? Why don’t they just hire a nanny instead? “The guy you are introducing to her this time around won’t be like the last one, right? Demanding that once my daughter marries into the family, she would have to take care of her in-laws, do the laundry, cook their meals, and take care of everything in his daily life?”
“It won’t, it won’t! The last time was a mistake. This time, I guarantee that the guy I’m introducing is good.”
She snorted. “That’s good then. My daughter may have her flaws, but they are not utterly undesirable. Marriage is a two-person affair; my daughter may be expected to do the laundry and cook, but the other party must help out with the housework too. Otherwise, a marriage that only asks for a woman to keep on giving is impossible to sustain.”
“Yes, that’s right. You got it right, Mrs. Jiang. That’s the principle.”
Ding dong. When the doorbell rang, her face lit up. “Perhaps, Bai is home.” Thus, she got up to open the door. The moment she opened the door, she was greeted with Jiang Xiaobai’s depressed-looking face standing outside the door. Then, their gazes met. “Mom!”
Carefully giving Jiang Xiaobai a once over, she found that her daughter was wearing a plain white tee paired with shorts. She nearly rolled her eyes in anger as she pointed her finger at Jiang Xiaobai; she was so furious that she couldn’t speak. On the other hand, Jiang Xiaobai smiled in the face of her mother’s expression. Then, she took the initiative to shove her bare face forward. “Mom, I’m back! Is there any meat for me to eat?”
Mrs. Jiang did not reply. It’s bad enough that my daughter is without makeup and casually dressed, but to think that the first words out of her mouth were asking to eat meat? She drives me nuts! However, the voice of her best friend came from behind her, which was followed by the sound of footsteps. “Hey, Xiaoyu! Didn’t you say your daughter is back? Where is she?”
Hearing the voice of her best friend coming from behind her, Du Xiaoyu—Jiang Xiaobai’s mother—raised her hand and slammed the door shut without any hesitation. Bang!
Jiang Xiaobai’s face was still moving forward, so when Mrs. Jiang slammed the door in her face, it nearly hit her on the nose. Blinking her eyes, she reached her hand up to rub her nose. “What?” Subsequently, she clearly heard the conversation coming from inside the house.
“Xiaoyu, where’s your daughter?”
“Oh, the person that came wasn’t my daughter.”
“Then, who was it?”
“It was a delivery girl; she came to the wrong place.”
Jiang Xiaobai was speechless. Haha! She laughed coldly in her heart. My dearest mother sure is fickle! Earlier, she kept calling me to come home, yet now she says that I’m a delivery girl?!
However, Mrs. Jiang’s friend, who was inside the house, found it rather strange. “How could that be? Why would the delivery girl deliver to the wrong place? Isn’t that too unprofessional?”
Mrs. Jiang continued laughing wryly. “Who said she wasn’t? Why don’t you go inside and have a seat first? I’ll give Bai a call to hurry her up.”
“Sure.”
After that, she entered the restroom and gave Jiang Xiaobai a call. “Mom, is that how you should treat me after asking me to come home? Not only shutting me outside of the house but also claiming that I’m a delivery girl? Why am I not aware that I switched fields?”
Mrs. Jiang replied huffily, “You stupid girl! How dare you say that? Look at the way you are dressed! As the daughter of Du Xiaoyu, can you not look so slovenly? You are a girl! A girl!” By the end of her sentence, she was gritting her teeth and feeling dizzy from her anger.
“So what if I’m a girl? I’m comfortable in these clothes. It’s not as if I’m dressed like a beggar, nor would I hurt people’s eyes,” Jiang Xiaobai objected, “Look at yourself, Mom. Don’t you always pay attention to your image? Currently, you’re hiding in the restroom while calling me, aren’t you? Why don’t you lift your head to look in the mirror when you’re talking? I bet you’re gritting your teeth. Do you not care for your image anymore?”
Mrs. Jiang inadvertently raised her head to look into the mirror after her daughter pointed it out. Sure enough, she found that she was gritting her teeth; her face was twisted in a hideous expression. She was shocked by what she saw in the mirror, thus, she hurriedly calmed herself down.
“How was it? Were you shocked by how you looked?” Jiang Xiaobai chuckled into the phone.
Mrs. Jiang took a deep breath and worked hard to contain her emotions. After calming herself down, she softly said, “Go and hide in the stairwell immediately. You are not to show yourself at all. Once I send my guest off, you can come inside.”
Jiang Xiaobai replied, “Mom, why are you taking your revenge on me so soon? Hide in the stairwell? Nowadays, people only take the elevator; the stairs are very dusty! I don’t want to hide there.”
“Even if you don’t want to, you have to. You only have yourself to blame for dressing so carelessly. If you dare come out, you’re dead meat.” Then, Mrs. Jiang ended the call.
For a while, Jiang Xiaobai stood in front of the door with her phone in her hand. After mulling over it, she gave in and went into the stairwell. I’m so unlucky. If she were seen by her mother’s friend because she refused to hide there, then she would suffer a worse fate in the future. In the end, she resigned herself to her fate.
On the other side, after Mrs. Jiang ensured that Jiang Xiaobai was properly hidden, she said something to her best friend, then sent her friend on her way. The moment Mrs. Jiang’s friend stepped into the elevator, Jiang Xiaobai walked out from the stairwell. “My dearest mother, I was nearly bored out of my mind if you had stayed in there any longer.”
While making her retort, she forced her way into the house. Mrs. Jiang glared at her fiercely. “Bored out of your mind? But you haven’t lost your sanity being holed up in your house all day long? At least the stairwell has fresh air.”
“Mom, from the way you are talking, it’s as if there’s not a single breath of fresh air in the entire house. Should I still enter the house?”
“Of course!” Mrs. Jiang dragged her daughter into the house. “Come in.” Then, she slammed the door shut with a loud bang again, lest other people saw how Jiang Xiaobai looked.
“Are you really my daughter? You dress so poorly every day; can’t you dress up for a bit? Don’t tell me you plan on going on the blind date this afternoon dressed the way you are?”
Jiang Xiaobai shrugged nonchalantly. “That’s right; what’s wrong with it?”
