Chapter 272: Mother Gu’s Mystery Mission
Little Huzi was four months old now, and his chubby arms and legs looked just like plump, segmented lotus roots.
“Yeah~”
Huzi stared up at Sheng Wanyan with bright, starry eyes, almost as if he recognized her as his aunt.
“Look at Huzi watching his auntie. The little guy already knows a beautiful face when he sees one,” Grandma Sheng said softly, her heart melting at how lively and expressive the baby was.
Sheng Wanyan reached out to gently shake Huzi’s little hand, but the baby suddenly clamped his tiny fingers around her index finger and stubbornly refused to let go.
“My, what a strong grip you have.”
Sheng Wanyan could genuinely feel his surprising strength. He had latched onto her finger so tightly that she couldn’t have pulled it free even if she tried.
Having finished washing the dinner dishes, Mother Gu and Pan Yue emerged from the kitchen and gathered around Huzi’s crib to tease him.
“I haven’t had a chance to get a proper look at Huzi yet,” Mother Gu cooed, leaning over. “Look at him, he’s such a good, calm baby!”
Seeing his fair, plump cheeks, she knew instantly that the Sheng family had taken spectacular care of the child.
“Aa…”
Spotting the unfamiliar face hovering over him, Huzi stared at Mother Gu with wide, curious eyes.
“This is your auntie’s mother-in-law, sweetheart,” Pan Yue murmured softly to the baby. “You call her Grandma Gu.”
Huzi continued to stare at her with large, round eyes. Seeing the little infant studying her so intently, Mother Gu’s heart softened into a puddle. She couldn’t even describe the sheer, overwhelming joy she felt knowing she was going to have a grandbaby of her own to dote on in just a few short months.
When that day came, she was absolutely going to parade her own little meatball around the compound to show off.
The image brought a bright, radiant smile to Mother Gu’s face, making her naturally elegant demeanor appear even more captivating.
“Auntie Gu clearly loves children,” Pan Yue noted with a smile. “When my little niece or nephew arrives, I can’t imagine how thrilled Auntie Gu will be.”
“I truly am. I’m looking forward to it more than words can say,” Mother Gu replied, her excitement bubbling over. She secretly wished the little meatball in Sheng Wanyan’s belly would just pop out right this second.
The family spent a while longer teasing and playing with Huzi until the baby finally wore himself out and drifted to sleep. With the evening winding down, Grandpa Sheng, Grandma Sheng, and Pan Yue bundled up and headed back across the lane.
Sheng Wanyan and Mother Gu took their turns washing up and retired to their rooms for the night.
Lying in bed, Sheng Wanyan mentally counted the days. Gu Tingxiao had been deployed on his covert mission for half a month now, and she had received absolutely no news regarding his progress. She had no way of knowing if he was safe or if the operation was going smoothly.
Weighed down by anxiety, Sheng Wanyan eventually fell into a fitful sleep, her dreams restless and uneasy.
The following morning, Mother Gu woke up early and immediately set to work turning the soil in the backyard vegetable plot. Her speed and efficiency were staggering, and no matter how much Sheng Wanyan tried to persuade her to rest, the older woman refused to stop.
Watching her, Sheng Wanyan finally understood exactly where Gu Tingxiao had inherited his personality. He was just as fiercely stubborn as his mother; once they made a decision, a team of ten oxen couldn’t drag them off course.
Fortunately, the plot wasn’t massive, and Mother Gu managed to finish turning the earth before lunch. By the afternoon, she had already begun sowing the spring seeds. Without pausing for a break, she marched over and thoroughly cleaned out the chicken coop, completely unbothered by the dirt and smell.
Sheng Wanyan was absolutely stunned. Was this really her refined, aristocratic mother-in-law? How on earth was she so incredibly skilled at grueling manual labor?
When Mother Gu finally returned from the yard, Sheng Wanyan quickly stepped forward to hand her a glass of freshly prepared sugar water.
Before taking it, Mother Gu suddenly paused, her eyes widening. “Wait, I almost forgot to feed the chickens…”
Waving her hand dismissively, she spun around and marched right back outside, leaving Sheng Wanyan staring at her retreating back.
Sheng Wanyan: “……”
Are you truly this dedicated to chores? If you do everything, what exactly am I, the daughter-in-law, supposed to do?
After finishing her tasks with the chickens, Mother Gu finally returned indoors, collapsing into a chair to drink her water.
“Mom, are you alright?” Sheng Wanyan asked, noting her mother-in-law’s flushed, slightly winded appearance.
“I’m fine, just had to rush through the house chores quickly,” Mother Gu panted slightly. “I need to head over to the community garden plots in a bit.”
“Why are you going to the community plots?”
“To sow seeds, of course!”
Sheng Wanyan blinked in confusion. “Didn’t we just finish sowing seeds here in the backyard?” Why would she need to go out and do it again?
Instead of answering, Mother Gu disappeared into her bedroom to change clothes. When she emerged a few moments later, Sheng Wanyan took one look at her and froze.
Mother Gu was wearing a beautiful imported Bragi dress—the exact one Sheng Wanyan had gifted her. Over it, she had draped the luxurious woolen coat from the Overseas Chinese Store, and on her feet were the polished leather shoes Sheng Wanyan had purchased for her during the Lunar New Year.
“I’m heading out! You make sure to get plenty of rest while I’m gone,” Mother Gu announced cheerfully, adjusting her pristine wristwatch as she walked out the front door. She hadn’t brought a single seed packet or gardening tool with her.
Sheng Wanyan: “…….”
What on earth is my mother-in-law up to?
The bizarre behavior made zero sense. Sheng Wanyan wanted to follow her and see what was happening, but navigating the snowy paths with her heavy baby bump was far too inconvenient. If she couldn’t figure it out, she might as well stop overthinking it. It was actually the perfect opportunity; with Mother Gu out of the house, she could safely slip into her spatial domain and knock out a few hours of translation work.
Meanwhile, Mother Gu arrived at the community garden plots looking like a glamorous runway model. Spotting the neighborhood women clustered together turning soil and chatting, she tilted her chin up slightly and strolled confidently toward them.
Auntie Xie was the first to notice her dramatic transformation. Good heavens! she thought, her eyes wide. She looked like the Queen Mother descending from the heavens. Her aura was incredibly refined and commanding!
Is that an imported Bragi dress? And that coat… is that the legendary woolen coat from the Overseas Chinese Store? Even her leather shoes are so polished they’re practically reflecting the sunlight!
“Auntie Gu, you look absolutely stunning today!” Auntie Xie called out, unable to contain her awe. “Is that coat from the Overseas Chinese Department Store?”
Mother Gu smiled warmly and nodded. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Zhang Zhaodi lurking on the periphery, watching her with a sour expression. The corners of Mother Gu’s lips curled up into a perfectly calculated smile.
“Thank you, Auntie Xie. Actually, all of these pieces were gifts from Wanyan during the Lunar New Year,” Mother Gu announced, her voice carrying clearly across the garden. “Just look at how incredibly filial and devoted that child is!”
“Wait… Wanyan bought all of this for you?”
Auntie Xie had always held Sheng Wanyan in high regard, but she never imagined the young woman was this generous. An imported watch, a luxury dress, a high-end coat, and pure leather shoes? Most women wouldn’t even splurge like that on their own biological mothers!
“Oh, yes,” Mother Gu continued smoothly. “She even bought me an entire set of high-end skincare products for the holidays. They are absolutely miraculous in the winter. I apply them in the morning, and my face doesn’t feel dry for the rest of the day.”
Auntie Xie blinked in confusion. This was the first time she had ever heard the term “skincare products.” She only knew they were some precious, magical substance that prevented winter chapping. “Are they really that amazing? I’ve never even heard of such a thing.”
Several of the other military wives—even the ones who hailed from major cities—exchanged confused glances. They had heard whispers of such luxuries, but they had never actually seen them in person.
“I know what they are!” Xu Guihua suddenly chimed in, her eyes wide. “My sister-in-law from the Capital mentioned them before. You can only buy them at the Overseas Chinese Store because they’re imported from abroad. I heard a single set costs several dozen yuan!”
The collective gasp from the women was audible.
Several dozen yuan?! That was an entire month’s salary for a ranking officer, and she was just smearing it on her face?!
What kind of unimaginable luxury was this? Most families had to scrape and save for months just to set aside a few dozen yuan, yet Sheng Wanyan apparently bought imported goods without blinking an eye. Was Captain Gu really indulging his wife to this extent?
“Oh, it’s simply because my Wanyan is far too devoted to me,” Mother Gu sighed, adjusting her coat with a soft, affectionate smile. “I explicitly told her not to spend so much money on me, but she stubbornly refused to listen. She even got upset when I tried to decline the gifts. Auntie Xie, tell me honestly: when you have a daughter-in-law who treats you with such boundless generosity, and she is currently pregnant and enduring so much physical hardship… don’t I have an absolute obligation to come down here and take the very best care of her?”
In a flash, Auntie Xie understood exactly what was happening. Mother Gu had staged this entire glamorous outing on purpose.
She had marched down here specifically to flaunt Sheng Wanyan’s extravagant filial piety right in the faces of the neighborhood gossips—especially the blind, petty ones who had dared to criticize the arrangement yesterday. She was establishing an ironclad justification for why she was pampering her daughter-in-law so fiercely, entirely dismantling their judgmental narrative.
“Of course you do!” Auntie Xie agreed loudly, playing right along. “If I had a daughter-in-law who treated me half as well, I’d be thrilled to cook and clean for her for the rest of my life!”
The other women murmured in unanimous, deeply envious agreement. If their daughters-in-law showered them with imported luxury goods, they would worship the ground the girls walked on. But alas, they didn’t have daughters-in-law like Sheng Wanyan!
Standing nearby, Captain Wu’s mother shot a vicious, resentful glare at her own daughter-in-law, Zhang Zhaodi.
Look at how other people’s daughters-in-law behave, she thought bitterly, and then look at you. You offer me nothing but headaches and trouble.
