Transmigrating into the Genius Cannon Fodder’s Aunt

Chapter 115 – Mao Huimei’s Difficult Romance

Mao Huimei was already twenty-four this year—already considered a “leftover woman” in Xia Wenyue’s generation. If she weren’t still in school, her parents would have long started to worry.

Back in her first year of university, there had been a rather handsome and reportedly excellent student who pursued her relentlessly. Xia Mian still remembered that his name was Qi Kai.

He often escorted Mao Huimei home, so pretty much everyone in the family had met him. At one point, Xia Wenyue had even been waiting for her to formally bring him home. But nothing ever came of it.

“He was nice, really hardworking and motivated, but he kept going on and on about his parents,” Mao Huimei had once said. “If I bought a piece of clothing, he’d say I wasn’t being frugal, that it didn’t need to look good, just had to be practical.”

“And he’d go on about how his parents hadn’t had a good life yet, how he had to work hard first, and that money couldn’t be wasted…”

Mao Huimei complained, “He can be skimpy all he wants, but I wasn’t spending his money. I was using my own money to buy clothes, and he still tried to lecture me. We weren’t even married yet, and he was already like that. What would it be like after marriage?”

“But honestly, that wasn’t even the real dealbreaker,” she continued. “I later found out—his family’s extremely patriarchal. His mom’s probably just like our grandma.”

And that was Mao Huimei’s absolute red line. No, the Mao family’s collective red line.

Mao Huimei had only figured it out when Qi Kai got drunk one time. He had directly asked her, “Your family has three daughters. Did your parents say who’s going to bring a husband into the household?”

She had thought he was anxious about the possibility of being asked to marry into her family, since in this era, being a live-in son-in-law carried a certain stigma. To ease his mind, she’d made it clear her parents had no such expectations.

But then Qi Kai added, “So you don’t have a son in the family. Who’s going to inherit everything then?”

That set her off immediately. It wasn’t that she thought he was eyeing the Mao family’s assets—it was his belief that only sons should inherit that disgusted her.

When she questioned him more, she found out he had two older sisters and a younger one. Yet he’d never mentioned them before.

Mao Huimei didn’t believe those sisters hadn’t made sacrifices for him. But clearly, in his eyes, a girl’s contributions were just taken for granted. This was a major red flag that prompted her to break up with him on the spot.

Qi Kai did come back to pester her a few times. When he got nowhere with her, he tried going around her to Xia Wenyue, hoping to gain her approval.

Had he not let something slip while drunk, he really did look like an ideal son-in-law: hardworking, respectful to his parents, thrifty, reliable. But Xia Wenyue wasn’t a naïve young girl like Huimei. She could see right through him.

Qi Kai had his eyes on the Mao family’s wealth.

Although Mao Huimei kept a low profile at school and never talked about her family running a factory, as their financial situation improved, she had started accompanying Xia Wenyue on business trips and etiquette training. Her temperament and lifestyle clearly showed she came from a well-off family.

Anyone who was even slightly close could pick up on that. So Xia Wenyue had rejected Qi Kai more decisively than Huimei herself.

Since then, she’d been constantly urging her eldest daughter to find someone else.

So, after seeing Huimei’s reaction, she carefully sized up the young man in front of her: about 1.75 meters tall, average features, but well-groomed and with a bright, sunny smile. All in all, he gave off a pretty good first impression.

Her gaze drifted to the BMW he drove. It seemed his family was doing well too. In that case, he likely wasn’t trying to scam Huimei.

Xia Wenyue quickly straightened her clothes. “He Wei, right? Hello, I’m Huimei’s mother.”

“Auntie, nice to meet you.” He Wei greeted her with a beaming smile. Glancing around at the mess in the alleyway, he said to Mao Huimei, “I heard you were moving, so I came to see if there was anything I could help with.”

“Where should I park my car?”

Mao Huimei looked even more embarrassed and quickly said, “That’s okay, no need.”

Because of the move, she was dressed in old, work-stained clothes—completely unflattering. She didn’t want him to see her like this. Smiling, she added, “We’re almost done anyway. I’ll invite you over once we’ve finished setting everything up. Otherwise, it’d feel rude.”

He Wei still looked a bit reluctant, as if wanting to help, but in the end, he let her talk him out of it and left.

As Xia Wenyue walked back, she was clearly deep in thought. She had long forgotten about Mao Huizhu and was now focused on He Wei. Eventually, she let out a long sigh. “Forget it. There’s no such thing as a perfect person.”

Xia Mian knew exactly what she was torn about.

The men around them were all held to a high standard. Mao Zhishan, for starters—so long as he was around, he never let his wife or daughters do any heavy lifting. Ning Shaobai might be wealthy, but when it came to work, he never slacked off. Even Zhou Xuewen, who once had the hands of a young master untouched by labor, had worked hard for two years and was now a perfectly capable and hardworking husband and father.

That He Wei just now, Mao Huimei might be too young to see it, but Xia Wenyue’s eyes were sharp. She could tell the difference between sincerity and surface-level politeness.

No one knew how much she mulled over on that short walk. In the end, she sighed again and said, “You’re right. Kids from rich families… they’re not used to hard work. Judging by the way he carries himself, he’s clearly been spoiled.”

“And someone like Dr. Ning… how many of those can you find in the whole world?”

After Xia Wenyue finished convincing herself, she was already mentally calculating what kind of dowry she should prepare for her eldest.

Xia Mian couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. This era was really something—only twenty-four and already being pushed toward marriage.

But this time, it actually seemed pretty promising.

The day Xia Mian and Ning Shaoyun took Xiao Feng, Chenchen, and Mao Huizhu to the amusement park, He Wei had also come by to take Mao Huimei out.

Judging from how happy Mao Huimei looked afterward, they must’ve had a great time.

But when it came to love, it wasn’t just Mao Huimei feeling the flutter of romance—students who had just graduated from senior high were now totally free.

Not wanting to leave behind any regrets, their class reunion basically turned into a giant confession fest.

On the day of the gathering, Xia Mian first met up with Sun Yuexin and the others before heading to Haozailai restaurant.

“Haozailai’s food is good,” Li Lizhen said, “but they don’t have private rooms, right? Wouldn’t that be inconvenient for a gathering?” Whether for themselves or for other patrons.

Zhao Cheng grinned, “That’s where Old Han was smart. He invited 3-6 and 3-1 folks along with ours—one hundred plus people, enough to book out the entire Haozailai. Today, it’s all our Affiliated High students. We can be as noisy as we want.”

It really was a great idea—affordable and relaxed.

“Han Haoyan is actually pretty reliable when it comes to organizing stuff.”

But as the group stood in front of Haozailai, their eyes were drawn to a grand courtyard diagonally across the street. The plaque above the entrance had two bold characters “Ming Xuan” written in striking calligraphy.

Sun Yuexin sighed with envy, “If only we could casually go eat at Ming Xuan one day. My dad took us there once—the food was amazing.”

Xia Mian smiled. “But the prices are amazing too, right?”

Sun Yuexin chuckled sheepishly, “Yeah, after one meal, my mom was heartbroken for a whole month. Swore never again.”

“Maybe once we start working, we’ll be able to afford to have our gatherings there,” Zhao Cheng said with a laugh. “Come on, let’s go in.”

Xia Mian was just about to head in when her gaze froze.

Li Lizhen noticed she hadn’t followed and asked curiously, “Xia Mian?”

“Oh. You guys go ahead, I’ll be right there.” Xia Mian stood at the entrance, staring at a young man walking out of Ming Xuan.

The man wore a floral shirt and flared pants, his hair styled stiff with mousse. He had a beautiful woman in his arms.

Only when the two of them got into a BMW did Xia Mian confirm the person’s identity—it was indeed He Wei.

The man’s outfit and aura were flashy and playboyish, completely different from how he acted in front of them. If it weren’t for the identical car, Xia Mian would’ve thought he had a twin.

The kicker: walking beside him… was Qi Kai.

Qi Kai still looked modest and plain, trailing behind with calm composure. Beside him was another attractive, refined-looking girl.

Xia Mian’s brows slowly furrowed. She took out her phone and called Mao Huimei.

“Sis, has He Wei contacted you recently?”

“He said he was going south to check out a project, so he wouldn’t be in the city. Why?”

“Nothing,” Xia Mian replied. “I’ll tell you when I get back.”

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