Chapter 18: Sharp tongued daughter-in-law.

Madam Xu slapped the table. “Hey, Tai Liwu, do you think that this is your house and you can just order us around as you please?”

Liwu raised her eyebrows, “What else? My husband told me to make myself at home. I am simply doing as he said. If you are comfortable ordering me to cook for you, then I am comfortable giving you the same exact treatment.”

Madam Xu looked at Weijun.

Weijun raised both of his hands halfway, a look of total confusion in his eyes. He had not told Liwu to make herself at home. He had not told her anything at all, as a matter of fact. He just kind of expected her to be polite and soft spoken in the presence of his family.

He lowered his hands and leaned towards Liwu, “tone it down,” he whispered.

“Tell that to your mother.” she replied.

“What are you whispering about?” Grand aunt Yuening asked them.

Liwu raised her chin. “My husband is also wondering why there is not enough honey in the porridge. One city has three of fifteen system hosts in the world with bee keeping systems. The master of the city gets five percent of the honey for personal use. This multigrain porridge lacks flavor. Wei is wondering if someone has been stealing honey from the kitchen. As an officer of the law, I have the duty to investigate all reports of theft, even if family is involved.”

Madam Xu gasped. “Are you accusing me of stealing honey from my son?”

“I am not accusing you; the porridge is.” Liwu muttered.

More chuckles rose from the people at the table, including Shen Deng.

Weijun grabbed Liwu’s wrist. “Shut up.” He hissed at her. He looked up and raised his voice. “Nobody is making any accusations. Mother, just talk to the cooks and have them add more honey to the porridge from now on.”

Liwu pointed to the bamboo baskets. “Wei, we should get rid of these things too. It’s not like we are shooting an episode of ’our dining table in 1900.’ Seriously, of what use is it to play peasants when the house is a mansion? Which peasants have gold trimmed napkins?”

Madam Xu clenched her fists.

“And the century eggs.” Liwu pushed at them with a fork. “How old are the hens that gave birth to them? They are so old that they have seen more history than all of us combined.”

“They are only two weeks old!” Madam Xu shouted.

Liwu rubbed the tip of her nose. “They smell older than that. And the mixed fruits, why are they cut into geometric and animal shapes? Is it a breakfast kindergarten art assignment? And who eats starfruit for breakfast? Its…”

Weijun covered Liwu’s mouth with his mouth. His mother, whose face had turned red, looked ready to explode.

Before the explosion could happen, two of Liwu’s personal maids that had been assigned to her by old lady Tai walked into the room. One was carrying Majesty and the other was following Reaper.

“Finally.” Majesty said as he was settled onto a chair, “I thought I was going to have to shave a few heads before someone brought me to the table.” He dipped a paw into the soy milk and licked it with disdain. “Who cooked this? It tastes like someone boiled a bean and changed their mind halfway through. And who put it in porcelain cups? I can see why Alix sent me here, someone needs to talk sense to these people.”

Weijun stretched his hand to cover the cat’s mouth too. Majesty smacked it away, staring at him disdainfully.

Meanwhile, the younger children were happily feeding Reaper the abalone dumplings.

Madam Xu gasped, horrified. It was bad enough that she had a fake daughter-in-law that was determined to defy her, but that daughter-in-law had also brought a talking cat and manner less dog! “Animals at the table?!”

“Who is an animal?” Majesty asked. “You are the animal; your whole family are animals. I am Majesty, the most noble cat in the universe.”

More gasps around the table.

Liwu pushed Weijun’s hand away. “Mother, what Majesty means is that you should not call them animals. Have you ever met a talking cat? And Reaper is the only dog in the world with a system. He has evolved beyond an ordinary animal so you should treat him like a human. Also, from now on, leave a place at the table for them. They are my family too, so they have to be with me at all times.”

Madam Xu pointed at Liwu, finger trembling as she heaved.

“Enough.” Weijun bellowed. He stood up and looked fiercely at Liwu. “You, come with me.”

Liwu remained in the chair, sipping with relish the very porridge she had critiqued.

Weijun grabbed her hand, ripped the spoon from her and tried to pull her away forcefully. Liwu planted her feet on the table. The boots her mother had given her could hold her body down. Pulling her, was like pulling a building.

She chuckled. “Wei, you should sit down and let your mother and I settle our differences. If these things are not ironed out today, we might clash in an even worse way in future.”

A maid, delivering new abalone dumplings for Reaper tripped, spilling soup across the table. Madam Xu gasped. Weijun dropped Liwu’s hand like it had burned him.

[Bad luck points +10]

“See? Her bad luck has started.” Madam Xu declared.

Liwu raised her hands. “Not me this time. Blame the clumsy maid and your temper. You scared the poor girl into dumping abalone soup on the table. Thank God it did not spill on anyone else.”

As if the universe had her request, Reaper reached out to eat one of the spilled dumplings and turned over a napkin. This sent a bowl of porridge flying in the air, and it splattered all over the Shen brothers.

More gasps, louder this time.

The brothers were lucky that the porridge was already lucky warm, so no one was hurt.

[Bad luck points +30].

Liwu smiled.

Madam Xu clutched her chest. “This marriage was a mistake.”

Liwu stood up. “Mistakes can be corrected, unfortunately for you, not this one. I am stuck with you, and you are stuck with me. I’m not leaving any time soon and risking the alliance just because you want to play the role of mean, shrewish, mother-in-law.”

The room fell silent. Madam Xu’s glare could have melted steel, but Liwu held her ground.

“I want to make it clear here today. This is not a drama, so we are not going to play roles like mean mother-in-law, vicious scheming sisters-in-law, lustful brothers-in-law, childhood sweetheart being a group favorite or nonsense like that. If any of you does these stupid things, I will file a report with the Bureau and report you for sabotaging the alliance. When everyone is looking for who to blame for the return of the system wars, it will be on your heads.”

Shen Deng finally spoke, his voice soft bit firm. “Enough. Liwu is family now. We will treat her as such.”

Madam Xu huffed but said no more.

The table was cleared and cleaned. Liwu was escorted to the bedroom by Shen Yulan, both of them smiling as they thought of the events at the breakfast table.

For Liwu, the smile was one of triumph. Her sharp tongue had won the first battle. In the end, her father had been right. Sometimes, arrogance was not such a bad thing!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep