One word came out softly from her lips: "I want to."
***
Neither Mu Lanshu nor Gu Nian expected that Mu Lanshu contacted Mu Dingjie, but it was Cui Xinmei who came.
Cui Xinmei arrived in City B three days later.
Cui Xinmei didn't say anything to anyone before she arrived. She didn't say hello to Mu Lanshu and Gu Nian. She just picked up her luggage and took the train north.
Thursday evening, Chu Zhaoyang and Gu Nian came back to Mu Lanshu and had dinner with her.
Mu Qishan was not at home. When Gu Nian asked about it, Mu Lanshu said: "She hasn't had a meal at home recently. She only came back at midnight these days and left again early in the morning. I didn't even see her face. I heard the door closing in the middle of the night and knew she was back. Before I got up in the morning, I heard the door closing again and knew she was gone."
Mu Lanshu put down the bowls and chopsticks and said, "Let alone face to face, I didn't even have a chance to say a word to her, and I don't know what she has been busy with recently."
"She hasn't made trouble again, has she?" Gu Nian asked.
Mu Lanshu sighed: "I've never seen her before, so why make a fuss? I hope she doesn't learn some bad habits outside."
Mu Lanshu was worried that Mu Qishan would be dazzled by the bustle of the city when she came from the small town, thinking that she already knew the inner workings, and would follow some not-so-good people and learn some not-so-good things.
There were too many errant young people nowadays.
Furthermore, Mu Qishan was not a stable person and was too impetuous.
"I'll have someone check it out later," Chu Zhaoyang said.
Mu Lanshu nodded and left it to Chu Zhaoyang, feeling more relieved.
"Come, let's eat." Mu Lanshu said.
The three of them sat down and had just eaten a few bites when the doorbell rang.
"Is it Mu Qishan who is back?" Gu Nian guessed.
"So early?" Mu Lanshu said, getting up and opening the door.
Gu Nian stopped her: "Mom, sit down and I'll drive."
Speaking, she was already walking towards the door.
When she opened the door, Gu Nian was shocked.
The person standing at the door was actually Cui Xinmei.
She also carrying a large suitcase.
Looking at it, it didn't look like she wanted to take Mu Qishan away, but rather she seemed to want to stay here.
"Aunt?" Gu Nian called in surprise.
She was so surprised that she forgot to let Cui Xinmei come in first.
Cui Xinmei looked tired and dusty.
The farthest she had ever been in her life was within the province where Yucheng belongs, and she had never taken such a long train ride.
She was really tired after this trip.
She pushed Gu Nian into the room and squeezed in with the box: "Don't be stunned. Let me come in first. Didn't you see that I brought so many things?"
Gu Nian was pushed back against the wall and watched Cui Xinmei dragging the box inside.
Mu Lanshu thought she was hallucinating, so she put down her chopsticks and came out, surprised: "Sister-in-law, why are you here?"
Seeing Mu Lanshu, Cui Xinmei immediately darkened her face and pushed the suitcase aside: "Didn't you call Dingjie and say you wanted to drive Qishan away?"
Mu Lanshu scolded Mu Dingjie in her heart for being hopeless, unable to even control his own wife, and unable to do such a small thing well.
"It's not that I'm rushing, it's because I can't accommodate her. She looks down on her sister so much, so there's no need to use her sister's food, drink, and accommodation. If you want to stay in City B, then go out and rent a house by yourself. If you find it too expensive, go home." Mu Lanshu said coldly.
"What are you hurrying about?" Cui Xinmei said loudly, spittle spitting out.
This posture was about to start a quarrel.
Gu Nian finally knew who Mu Qishan learned this trick from.
Mu Lanshu glanced at the huge suitcase, and was too lazy to argue with Cui Xinmei about this problem anymore. She raised her eyebrows at Cui Xinmei: "You say you are rushing, that's fine. So, you are here to pick up Mu Qishan?"
"Of course not." Cui Xinmei raised her eyebrows and raised her chin, not seeing anything wrong with her attitude at all. "You are her aunt, how can you drive your niece away? I am here to make the decision for Qishan."
Mu Lanshu took a deep breath and exhaled it again, her forehead hurting: "Then you are carrying the luggage-"
"Of course I live here!" Cui Xinmei said.
"I have no place to live here." Mu Lanshu said coldly.
"Why don't you have a place to live? Didn't Qishan live in Gu Nian's room before? I can be a little aggrieved and just squeeze in with Qishan." Cui Xinmei said, "We are all a family anyway, so we don't care about this, just squeeze in. It's okay to live there."
Mu Lanshu smiled angrily, not bothering to greet Cui Xinmei, not even willing to say any kind words to her.
"I called Dingjie to ask him to take her away, not you to come and live here with her." Mu Lanshu said.
"What do you mean, we are all relatives, and you are driving your own niece away? Since you have an empty house here, what's wrong with us living here? It's just that there is no one in B City, but you are here and you are driving us away. If you go out and live somewhere else, what's the use of you!" Cui Xinmei said with a sharp eyebrow, which hurt Gu Nian's ears.
"Anyway, our relatives over there were all crowded together and living together!" Cui Xinmei said.
"Then go to your relatives. Our family didn't have this rule." Mu Lanshu said directly.
"But don't we have no relatives here? You are Qishan's aunt, why don't you let us live here?" Cui Xinmei accused.
Mu Lanshu has never seen anyone who took things for granted like Cui Xinmei.
Since she was her aunt, she deserved to be scolded and smashed by them, and she deserved to be allowed to live here like a grandson.
If it's not allowed, it meant it's wrong?
Who stipulated it?
"Just because this is my home!" Mu Lanshu was so angry that she really felt that she couldn't communicate with Cui Xinmei and her daughter.
The brain circuits of each other were different.
"What's wrong with your family? Since you are Dingjie's sister and Qishan's aunt, you should let us live here." Cui Xinmei insisted on this and refused to let go.
Mu Lanshu snorted coldly: "First of all, this is my home, and the head of the household belongs to Gu Nian. Gu Nian's name is written on the property certificate. Letting you live here is a matter of relatives. But there is nothing wrong with not letting you live here too! Don't you are here to play tricks on me!"
She raised Gu Nian alone in City B, and she was not a soft persimmon.
There were so many things in life, how could they survive until now without some aggressive means?
"I have an extra bedroom here, but I just don't want to let you live in it. What's wrong? I just like to keep it for Gu Nian. Whenever she wants to go home, she can come back and stay for a few days! Why should she have to use her room for others to live in?" Mu Lanshu said coldly.
"This is my daughter's house. She bought it with a lot of hard work. Why should we let you live and eat for free?" Mu Lanshu pointed at Cui Xinmei, "Do you really think that we two orphans and widowed mothers are easy to bully? Who said that you are just a younger sister-in-law who are separated from me. Even if Mu Dingjie were standing here today, I would still say that!"
"You're not an orphan or a widowed mother." Chu Zhaoyang suddenly said, "Don't you still have me?"
She took out her phone and looked at Cui Xinmei expressionlessly: "If you don't leave, I will ask someone to drag you away."
Although she didn't say much, Cui Xinmei was afraid of him from the bottom of her heart.
Cui Xinmei opened her mouth and was stunned for a few seconds. Suddenly she turned around and opened the door, shouting at the top of her lungs: "Everyone in the neighborhood, come out and judge them! This Mu Lanshu didn't care about family ties. She wants to drive her niece away! It's totally unreasonable and unconscionable!"
Cui Xinmei ignored the cold weather and sat directly on the cement floor in the corridor, waiting for the neighbors upstairs and downstairs to come out because of the excitement.
She patted her thigh and said, "My poor daughter! We both trusted Mu Lanshu as the eldest sister-in-law, so we sent our daughter to help take care of her. But she drove people away, leaving my daughter homeless. There's nowhere to go, no place to go!"
"My daughter is helpless here, she can't even count on her own aunt!"
Mu Lanshu looked ugly, so she went out and dragged Cui Xinmei into the house.
Cui Xinmei tried her best to sink her body so that Mu Lanshu couldn't hold her anymore.
She kept tossing and turning, and with the force of her falling body, she was about to pull Mu Lanshu down.
Cui Xin patted her thighs and shouted: "Don't drag me! Do you feel embarrassed now? When you drove your niece out, why weren't you afraid of being embarrassed? I really want the neighbors to recognize you today. His true face!"
"It's so heartless to even bully your own niece!" Cui Xinmei shouted.
Mu Lanshu had an ugly expression and said in a deep voice: "I feel embarrassed for you. If you want to scream, just scream!"