Teleportations — I Wanna Be An Online Celebrity

Tang Xia paid the bill and walked out hurriedly. The beautiful love story did not move her much; instead, it made her become lost in thought.

“Why do women always have to give, but gain so little, while they themselves feel that they have won the whole world? It’s so puzzling.”

It had turned dark by the time Tang Xia walked out of the cafe, with the last sunset glow remaining in the sky. Tang Xia said goodbye to the waitress and went home.

When Tang Xia opened the door, it was silent in the room and Jiang Yuecheng’s shoes were not by the door. She was relieved that he had not come back yet or she would have been embarrassed facing him.

Tang Xia put her clothes on the hanger beside the door and then put on slippers. She looked around to make sure her mother-in-law was not there and then tried to slip into the room, but was caught in the act.

Tang Xia’s mother-in-law suddenly showed up in front of her, a fierce look in her eyes. Tang Xia was bound to be scolded because she did not get along well with her mother-in-law, and adding to that, she came back so late tonight.

“Stop. Why are you coming back so late? Where did you go?”

Tang Xia felt so uncomfortable due to her mother-in-law’s malicious look. But she could not say anything about this because her mother-in-law was a senior.

“Eh, I went out to have a walk and get some air. I didn’t pay much attention to the time. I’m sorry, I’ll never do it again.”

All Tang Xia could do was pretend to be obedient and make an apology, hoping the old woman would stop tangling with her and their acrimony would cease.

“Don’t you know it’s already time for dinner? As a daughter-in-law, do you expect your old mother-in-law to cook for you every day?”

Her mother-in-law continued scolding her. In her eyes, a daughter-in-law was nothing but a laborer. Rural people insist that their daughters-in-law have to obey the wifely submission and virtue now that they had paid to marry her.

A daughter-in-law should not say anything against her mother-in-law’s words.

But Tang Xia’s mother-in-law was absolutely wrong. Her-daughter-in-law would always do the opposite. Tang Xia did not respond and chose to be silent. “Whatever she says, I’ll keep silent.”

Her mother-in-law, who had kept talking for a long time, believed that Tang Xia had admitted to her fault when she saw that Tang Xia did not argue back, so she stopped scolding her. As an uneducated woman, she felt it was ok as long as she got the upper hand.

Then something suddenly came to her. She turned back, took out a piece of clothing stained with ink, and walked up to Tang Xia.

“And what about the ink on the clothing? Did you spill it there? Why would you destroy clothes like this?”

Tang Xia’s mother-in-law kept grilling her fiercely about what had happened to the clothing. Though Tang Xia was quite clear about it, she still pretended to be wronged.

“Mother, maybe the ink in Dacheng’s clothes spilled out. Don’t worry, I’ll wash it later.”

Tang Xia was so skillful at pretending to be innocent. Her mother-in-law stopped questioning her and took the clothes to the bathroom. Soon afterward, there was the buzzing sound of the washing machine.

Since Tang Xia’s mother-in-law was a countrywoman, she thought it remarkable that her son had gotten a job in the city. That was why she swaggered around in the family.

But after all, as a countrywoman, she was uncultured and did not know why her son put ink in his pocket. So she just gave Tang Xia a mean look and then washed the clothing in the bathroom.

Finally, it became tranquil again in the house. Tang Xia’s mother-in-law went to the kitchen and took out two dishes after washing the clothes while Tang Xia was watching TV in the room, who touched her belly and felt angry when she smelled the dishes.

So she braced herself to walk out. “I’ll just have dinner there. At worst, I’ll keep silent and go back to the room righter after having dinner.”

Tang Xia opened the door and went to the dining room step by step. She just came in time because her mother-in-law had just set everything in order. But what infuriated Tang Xia was that her mother-in-law did not even prepare tableware for her, so she had to get it herself before sitting down for dinner.

Jiang Yuecheng was working overtime in his company. So there were only Tang Xia and her mother-in-law eating in the room, who were as compatible as fire and water. It was likely that a cold war would break out.

Tang Xia kept her head down and ate in silence. She did not even look up. It was her mother-in-law, instead, who glared at her from time to time, never showing any kindness.

Then, her mother-in-law started to talk. She put down the tableware and said seriously, “Tang Xia, I’ll ask you one more time. You didn’t stain the clothes, right?”

She thought it strange because she did not remember that her son had put ink into his pocket, so she grilled Tang Xia again.

Then Tang Xia put down her tableware as well and turned on the “Hollywood Mode”—she was about to show her great prowess in acting.

Tang Xia opened her eyes wide, looking innocent, and said, “Mother, why don’t you believe me? I didn’t do that. Why would I stain the clothing with ink without any reason? This has happened several times. Maybe Dacheng put the ink in his pocket for some purpose since I wash it for him every time.”

Tang Xia directed a big show when Jiang Yuecheng was not home, in which she acted so vividly that no one would find anything wrong with it.

“Really?”

Her mother-in-law was almost convinced. Tang Xia just needed to take the last shot.

Tang Xia took the chance and hurriedly continued, “Mother, I do the laundry every time and clean up everything in the house.

“I asked him last time when he came back. He told me that it had something to do with his work. So I didn’t ask him further.”

Tang Xia went on making up her story. Her mother-in-law finally nodded, picked up her tableware, and continued having dinner. Tang Xia now was sure that her mother-in-law had absolutely been convinced by her. All she needed to do next was to wait for Jiang Yuecheng to come home.

The story moved faster and faster. Her plan was now underway. They continued having dinner in silence.

It was Tang Xia who washed the dishes when they had finished because she was fed up with the old woman’s complaints. She chose to do the laundry for the transitory peace in her ears.

Having washed the dishes, Tang Xia walked out of the kitchen. She knew her mother-in-law had fallen asleep when she glanced in her room and found the light out. She was thus relieved. For old people from the countryside, it was normal to go to bed now because they worked with the sun, and rested with the sun.

Tang Xia took out and washed some fruit, and then put them in the living room. Seeing her mother-in-law asleep, she started watching television in the living room and waited for Jiang Yuecheng.

She turned the volume down very low so the old woman would not get up and make trouble for her.

Tang Xia leisurely watched an idol drama on TV while having an apple. She could not help feeling that “fairy tales are full of lies”. There were no princes at all, just an unfaithful man and a villainous mother-in-law. She felt more and more aggrieved and changed the channel immediately.

At that exact moment, it occurred to Tang Xia that the clothing had been washed by her mother-in-law. Then how could she play Jiang Yuecheng off against her mother-in-law? So Tang Xia decided to go the whole hog. She took out one of Jiang Yuecheng’s coats and spilled some ink on it.

The ink on the coat was rather conspicuous. Tang Xia throw away the rest of the ink, clapped her hands, and threw the coat at the door. Then she picked up the apple and continued watching TV on the couch. Now there was only one big piece missing from the puzzle.

Tang Xia sat there calmly, waiting for Jiang Yuecheng to come back. He would definitely return home after she had argued with him in the company. She knew him well in this respect.

An hour later, there was finally the sound of the door opening. Tang Xia pretended as if nothing happened and waited for the fish to bite.

Having worked overtime for hours, Jiang Yuecheng looked extremely exhausted. He put on his slippers and was annoyed by the coat stained by ink. He lifted the coat and rushed over to Tang Xia.

“Did you do this? Why would you do this?”

Jiang Yuecheng had already been out of sorts and was suddenly infuriated when he saw his coat stained with ink. So he went to question Tang Xia immediately.

While Tang Xia urged him to keep silent with a slight movement of her fingers, she pointed at her mother-in-law’s room, which meant that Jiang Yuecheng’s mother was asleep. Then she said, “It was your mother who spilled the ink on your coat accidentally.”

The reason Tang Xia dared to speak this way was that she had already had a well-thought-out plan. Jiang Yuecheng had filial respect toward his mother, after all. Frankly speaking, that was a kind of simple-minded filial respect because he would obey everything his mother told him.

“If my mother did this, she must be feeling very guilty. I should go comfort her and urge her not to feel any remorse.”

Hearing that it was his mother who had done this, he immediately changed his face and started worrying that his mother might be unable to sleep well because of the coat. But he was stopped by Tang Xia when he was about to step into his mother’s room.

“What do you want to do?” Tang Xia asked.

“I have to comfort my mother, or she’ll be worried,” Jiang Yuecheng answered impatiently.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about her. She did blame herself and feel deeply guilty, but I comforted her and told her to take it easy. I told her that it doesn’t matter and I’ll take the coat to the dry cleaners. Your mother was relieved and went to bed after hearing my solace.”

Of course, Tang Xia had to stop Jiang Yuecheng from entering his mother’s room, or her elaborate plan would fail. The plan allowed her to kill two birds with one stone because she not only drove a wedge between them but also showed her selflessness. She was so delighted in her mind.

Jiang Yuecheng asked her dubiously, “Really?”

Tang Xia just nodded and did not say anything. She looked so sincere in her eyes, like an excellent Oscar-winning actor, that anyone would have believed her.

Jiang Yuecheng was filial to his mother. He felt that the woman was great and was moved by seeing that Tang Xia had swept the slate clean and comforted his mother regardless of his tryst.

He felt sorry for Tang Xia and said nothing. He pulled Tang Xia over and hugged her tightly, which was so abrupt it made Tang Xia lose her head.