Sister-in-law smiled and finished speaking, then she gave a faint fake smile and reminded everyone.
"The company has a thousand and one things to do every day, when is there ever a time it's finished? It's my wedding day today, and I've left Achen alone at home. I haven't had a proper chance to greet everyone. I promised my sisters-in-law at noon, and I wouldn't dare to slight them, so I came back early."
"Besides, I still have to go see Dad tonight."
"Heh, where's Achen? Is he upstairs alone?"
Big sister tossed a nut shell into the trash can and asked casually.
"He drank too much at lunch, probably sleeping upstairs. I say, Kexin, this son-in-law you found..."
"He's tall and strong, and looks quite clever. I didn't expect him to be unable to hold his liquor after just two drinks."
"Our family is in business, and he's a man. It's not good for him to be so frail."
"Hurry up and get him up to sober up and move around. No matter what, as a new son-in-law on his first day, he has to toast the elders one by one. We're all waiting."
Pei Kexin didn't know he had gone through this. She thought he really couldn't drink and her heart sank.
She was afraid he had bad behavior when drunk and would say something nonsensical.
She promised as she walked upstairs.
"I'll go get him up now. He's still in graduate school and rarely drinks. He's also very pure. If he gets too drunk and makes a fool of himself, please don't mind."
Everyone continued their conversation, not sure if they heard her. They chuckled and went back to talking.
Pei Kexin went upstairs a few steps.
When she reached the door, she saw it was ajar. She wondered why he didn't lock it.
She reached out to push it, and her eyes fell on a notch in the door frame.
"How did the door frame get broken? How much did you drink today? Did you go crazy from drinking and break the door frame? The door can't even close properly, you're really something!"
There was no response. She threw her bag down, changed into slippers, and went to the secondary bedroom.
She thought Zhan Jingchen was in the secondary bedroom, but when she pushed the door open, she was surprised again.
"Where's the bed? How did it get like this after not returning to the room all afternoon? Jiang Jingchen! Where are you? How did my house get like this? How did the room get like this?"
Zhan Jingchen kicked off his slippers, looking as if he hadn't sobered up yet, and lazily stumbled out of the master bedroom.
"I'm here."
Pei Kexin turned back, looking at his messy hair and half-drunken face.
"You..."
"What did I tell you before I left? Didn't I tell you to call me if anything happened? What happened while I was away? Didn't I tell you not to leave the room? What did you go and do?"
"Don't you know your own alcohol tolerance? Knowing they had bad intentions, you still went to drink!"
"Did you break the door? Did you say anything foolish? I'm warning you, Jiang Jingchen, if you leave any handle for others today, you..."
Expecting to see her reaction, he didn't expect her to vent all her anger on him.
Zhan Jingchen was not someone who could be wronged. Before she could finish her hushed roar, he lazily interrupted her.
"You don't trust me that much, thinking I'll mess things up for you at any moment. Why don't you find someone you trust to help you?"
"Who told you I was drunk and acting crazy? Them? You don't believe their lies about not letting me believe them?"
Pei Kexin heard his logic was quite clear, and her rising anger slowly subsided a bit.
"You weren't drunk? Then you mean... why did those bastards touch my things?"
Zhan Jingchen yawned and lazily put his hands in his pockets.
"Didn't your eldest sister want to bring her two daughters to live here? How could others let her? They could only target you."
Pei Kexin: "...Did they greet you? Did you agree?"
Zhan Jingchen smiled sarcastically. "I'm a live-in son-in-law who gets drunk after a few drinks. Do you think they would take me seriously?"
Pei Kexin gritted her teeth in anger.
So arrogant!
The new son-in-law just arrived, and they snatched things in front of him?
It was clearly a show of force against him!
This guy was truly useless.
Big sister was right, he looked tall and strong, and seemed clever, but after only a few hours of her absence, he was bullied like this!
After looking at Zhan Jingchen again, Pei Kexin sat down on the sofa with annoyance.
"The bed was taken from under your nose. This show of force was aimed at you. I don't care anymore. You settle this yourself."
Zhan Jingchen was almost amused to death by her.
After all his calculations, he never expected her to be someone who bullied the weak and feared the strong.
Instead of settling the score with them, she was blaming him?
"You mean, if I don't settle this score and get this bed back, I'll have to sleep on the floor from now on?"
"Understood perfectly."
Pei Kexin looked at him. "Otherwise? You want me to be humiliated and buy you another one?"
"..."
"If you don't want to sleep on the floor because you think it's dirty, that's fine too." Pei Kexin looked at the sofa she was sitting on.
That sofa was for two people, barely over a meter wide. For him, a man almost two meters tall, to squeeze in?
And she was subtly mocking him as a coward?
Zhan Jingchen really wanted to give up.
Twenty thousand was nothing. If he asked any of his sisters or brothers, they would give him more than that as pocket money in a day. Did they really treat him like a guest?!
But then he thought.
Why did he agree to cooperate with her in the first place?
To earn money? To save face?
No.
He was here to challenge himself, watch the show, and learn.
More hardship meant more learning.
He would endure!
"I don't find it dirty, I'll sleep on the floor. For your sake, I, a grown man, won't argue with them."
A good-for-nothing is a good-for-nothing, and she's quite good at finding an excuse for herself.
But a good-for-nothing is also someone she chose, and Pei Kexin had no right to dislike him anymore.
"I wasn't here this afternoon. Besides moving things, did they do anything excessive?"
Zhan Jingchen got tired of standing and sat down next to her, bumping her shoulder.
"A bunch of women, what could they do to me, a married man?"
"..."
Pei Kexin rolled her eyes at him.
"Don't play coy with me. You know what I mean. Is it fun to be so glib?"
Being retorted to repeatedly, Zhan Jingchen also couldn't take it anymore.
"Don't act like I'm inferior just because I took your money. As soon as you come back, you start bossing me around. I get angry too, you know?"
"You begged me to sign back then, and you said it was fair and just, and by mutual consent. Look at what happened in just one day..."
"Please, in this family, I'm your ally. If you want me to be even more powerful in the future, please be more friendly."
Pei Kexin: "..."
Zhan Jingchen began to tell her about the afternoon's events.
"Honestly, after mingling in society for a while, I find these people's skills really not that great. Their intentions are all written on their faces. Don't worry, I wouldn't fall for their tricks so easily."
He was just a delivery guy, and she really didn't know where he got the confidence to brag.
Pei Kexin, having lived this long, finally understood the term "overconfident man."
"I didn't realize you were so skilled. I got a great deal."
"Of course,"
Zhan Jingchen smiled flirtatiously and bumped her shoulder again.
"I've been delivering food for so long, living by the whims of others every day. How could I not see through such simple matters? Do you think you're the only one who has it tough in this world?"