Chapter 2

Then, she clasped my husband's and my hands together, patting them as she said, "Harmony brings wealth". I almost forgot, my mother-in-law was a theater actress before retirement, and her acting skills were certainly put to good use here!

The next day, she did make the carp soup for me as promised but deliberately added a lot of salt to it. I almost vomited from the taste. Seeing her eagerly waiting for my outburst, I knew she was intentionally provoking me, hoping to play the victim again like yesterday. This time, I swallowed it all down without getting angry, watching her turn away dejectedly.

Later, I quietly brought out the home sound system, placing it on the head of the wall.This device had a camera function, which my mother-in-law was unaware of, thinking I was using it to play lullabies to help the baby sleep. That night, she brought more vegetables and tofu, which were honestly unappetizing.

I held back my comments, ignoring her several attempts to provoke me. In the evening, my husband and I put the baby to sleep together. I showed him the video, "Your mom has been feeding me this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I can diet and eat less greasy food, but as you said before, the baby needs to be breastfed. I couldn't produce milk today."

"Didn't my mom prepare balanced confinement meals for you every day?" My husband muttered incredulously as he watched the video, hearing clearly my mother-in-law's repeated provocations.

I then took out the carp soup that I had saved behind my mother-in-law's back from the drawer and handed it to him, "This is the carp soup your mom made, try it."

My husband took a sip, then promptly poured the remaining soup into the trash bin, "This is not suitable for anyone to drink, let alone a pregnant woman. What is mom trying to do?"

"I think mom..." He seemed to recall the difficulty of raising him by herself, hesitating to defend her.

I knew it would be unrealistic to force him to believe that his mother was undermining me behind his back. So, I took a step back, "I guess mom didn't do it on purpose. Maybe she's just too tired from taking care of me lately and her memory is a bit chaotic. How about we hire a confinement nanny to help mom?"

"My wife, you're really kind to my mom." My husband sighed in relief, kissing my forehead, "You've worked hard, I'll go make you something to eat."

With that, he got out of bed and headed to the kitchen. After a while, I faintly heard my mother-in-law's voice. I quietly listened from the door, afraid that she might try to stir up trouble between my husband and me again.

"Penny is causing trouble for you again, isn't she? I made food for her during the day and she didn't eat it, and now she's making you cook at night." As my mother-in-law wiped sweat from my husband's brow and took the pan spatula from him, she murmured, "In this world, apart from your mom, no one else will treat you unconditionally well."

Perhaps recalling the taste of the carp soup, he took the spatula back, awkwardly saying, "I'll do it myself."

"Mom, I'll take a day off tomorrow to take you for a health check." It took my husband a while to muster the courage to suggest this. He firmly believed that the issues with his mother were due to health problems, but he was afraid of upsetting her and had to propose it tactfully.

My mother-in-law paused, pursed her lips, and said, "Will your wife get upset if I get checked? I feel like she doesn't like me very much recently. Do you think I'm in the way here? Young people want their private space, I..."

"Mom! Penny didn't say anything. She not only actively suggested that I take you for a health check but also asked me to hire a confinement nanny to help you with household chores!" My husband interrupted her, sounding exasperated.

Upon hearing that the health check was related to me, my mother-in-law's face changed, and she said coldly, "So she's deliberately saying I'm sick and wants to drive me away!"

"I've been learning how to be a confinement nanny for her sake. I never enter her room without her permission. She can dislike me, but she can't curse me..." She began to recount how she had single-handedly raised her son and then started to wipe her tears. Finally, she threw herself into my husband's arms, crying more vehemently.