Chapter 5
"You’ve got to make a show of it somehow. Even if you run over a cat or a dog, you still have to pay something."
Zhang Xinda said it lightly. "But I already said, if it’s only a minor injury, there’s no need. What’s a thousand yuan worth?"
"Right. You handled this with real class," Shen Ruyu, their mother-in-law, praised him with a smile.
Xu Bin, the one actually involved, had a black face, but Zhang Xinda still spoke from on high. "Xu Bin, show a little ambition, will you? Stop loafing around and doing nothing all day. Do you know how hard it was to find you a job? I even had to treat people to food and drinks."
"Exactly. If you’re not going to work hard, the least you can do is thank your brother-in-law. Instead you just know how to cause trouble," Shen Ruyu chimed in.
"Fine, fine. Let’s just let this go," Yao Xin played the good guy, but even her words were dripping with sarcasm. "Xu Bin, you’re on your own and have nobody to rely on. Our family didn’t ask for a thing and still let you come in as a live-in son-in-law. We don’t need you to make huge strides, but at the very least don’t disgrace our family, understand?"
"Got it, big sister!"
He had already taken so many knives today that he could take this one too. Xu Bin nodded.
Yao Nan came out carrying fruit, and Yao Xin immediately dragged her into the room. As the eldest daughter, she probably had another lecture waiting for her.
"Make tea for your brother-in-law. Look how much trouble your brother-in-law went through for your business, even coming all this way to see you. You don’t know a good thing when you see one," Shen Ruyu snapped.
Xu Bin made the tea while cursing inwardly. Coming to see me, my ass. They didn’t even bring a damn thing and still had the nerve to say that out loud.
Zhang Xinda, the eldest son-in-law, was just a playboy. He was the one who spent his days idling around doing nothing, but his father was a school principal and his mother was a department head at a major hospital.
He’d been born into the good life. Even when he worked, he did it three days out of ten, and when it came to spending money, he was a textbook wastrel.
He had pursued Yao Xin by throwing money at her, and when they got married, word was that the whole thing was spectacular. Yao Baichuan and Shen Ruyu both felt their daughter had married in a truly respectable way.
That kind of official-status mindset was hard to avoid. Even if he was a playboy and a layabout, the fact that his family held office made him impressive when they talked about him, so they were very satisfied with their eldest son-in-law.
After drinking a cup of tea, Zhang Xinda started getting restless. "Mom, let me take a look at your hand!"
Shen Ruyu held out her hand and said coyly, "What’s so interesting about it? It’s all old skin and wrinkles now, dried out and withered."
"Who says that? Mom’s hands are smoother than a young girl’s. This skin feels like silk," Zhang Xinda said flirtatiously as he took her soft hand and stroked it. "Mom, it’d be a shame if you didn’t wear some jewelry."
Shen Ruyu immediately sighed. "The few pieces I have are old and worn-out. If I wear them, I’d only embarrass myself. I don’t have money lying around to buy new ones now."
"Mom, I saw a bracelet last time that was really beautiful. Too bad someone else had already put a hold on it," Zhang Xinda said with an eager smile as he kept rubbing her hand. "The jewelry stores all carry mass-produced stuff. Next time my friend’s upscale shop has a custom piece, I’ll pick out something pretty for you."
"Really?"
Shen Ruyu was overjoyed, then quickly put on a modest front. "You two just got married, so this is a time when money should be going out. Raising children later will cost a lot too. You can’t just spend recklessly."
"How can money spent on honoring Mom count as reckless spending?" Zhang Xinda said, his hand getting even more active.
Shen Ruyu was smiling so broadly her whole body seemed to bloom with it. Right there in front of Xu Bin, the two of them looked exactly like a shameless pair of adulterers hooking up, completely treating Xu Bin like air.
"Ding... basic function development complete. Display commencing."
"Ding... this feature can only be used on people you know. It is ineffective on ordinary people."
Xu Bin stared dumbly, as if he’d been struck stupid. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
A line of text appeared over brother-in-law Zhang Xinda’s head: Favorability 0, contempt, disdain.
Over mother-in-law Shen Ruyu’s head appeared: Favorability 20% (worse than a stranger, looking down on him from the bottom of her heart.)
At that moment, footsteps sounded on the stairs. The two of them quickly pulled their hands apart. Hearing the sisters’ voices, not very clear, Xu Bin turned to look as well.
The same kind of display appeared over their heads too. Eldest sister Yao Xin showed: Favorability 50% (Treat him like a live-in servant doing housework, basically a stranger.)
His wife Yao Nan, blushing, showed: Favorability 75% (An ordinary married couple, stable because of first love and a long romance, a dull sex partner.)
In a blur, those labels suddenly vanished, and Xu Bin felt slightly drained.
"Turning on display mode consumes stamina. It stays hidden in daily life, but you’ll get a reminder when favorability changes."
Xu Bin thought that was pretty good. Otherwise, if he kept staring at the numbers over their heads all the time, he’d look like a.
"Mom, what are you all talking about!"
As the eldest daughter of the family, Yao Xin was sharp-tongued and had seen the world. Not only did she keep Shen Ruyu laughing and smiling, she was said to get along very well with her in-laws too.
Yao Xin and her husband had come supposedly to see Xu Bin, but after eating with empty hands they left. Shen Ruyu saw them off, then went out to play cards.
The house suddenly fell quiet, and only then did Yao Nan let out a breath and lean into her husband’s arms. In a soft voice, she said, "Honey, brother-in-law said that after the security guard position at Xinhui becomes regularized, the benefits are really good, and his uncle works there as a senior manager and can help."
"He can make a filthy security guard sound like gold," Xu Bin said bitterly, thinking of how Shen Ruyu’s face had lit up while Zhang Xinda was feeling her hand. "He’s the one idling around all day, and I don’t know where he gets the nerve to lecture me."
"He puts on airs every day, promising this and that, making empty commitments. Your mom is just foolish enough to keep getting fooled by his empty words," he muttered.
"Honey, calm down. She’s just like that. Ignore her," Yao Nan said gently from Xu Bin’s embrace. "If it really doesn’t work, we can talk to Mom again and move out to rent our own place."
As she said that, her eyes lit up. After all, she also longed for a life where the two of them could have their own world.
"Don’t bring that up. If you do, it’ll just be another excuse for them to yell at us. Your mom will definitely say we’re wasting money on pointless things."
Xu Bin knew all too well his mother-in-law’s double standards. Besides, now that he had the system and those tasks, he was definitely better off staying close to the action. Only a fool would move out.
"I’m used to it, but I’m sorry you have to put up with this," Yao Nan said as she reached out and touched Xu Bin’s face.
For a moment Xu Bin felt dazed. The ugly woman in his arms seemed to turn into a lovely wife, and that face, so much like Aiiri Suzuki and even prettier, was full of tenderness and love.
The body in his arms felt unmistakably softer and fuller now, no longer the dry, gaunt feeling it had before.
After a day of adjusting to everything, looking at that beautiful, moving face and smelling the faint fragrance of a woman, Xu Bin’s lust flared all at once. He stared at her intently.
Yao Nan, a little shy under his gaze, lowered her head. "What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?"
"You’re a little too pretty," Xu Bin said, reaching out to gently lift her chin. Under Yao Nan’s slightly startled gaze, he kissed her.