“She’s my mother.”
He frowned. “Of course I know she’s your mother.”
Something felt a bit off with the conversation.
“Then why didn’t you address her as ‘mother’?” asked Weiyi directly.
Shi Yuting paused for a moment. He had never thought that in this life, apart from his own mother, he would have to address his wife’s mother as ‘mother’.
He had always been a loner since he was young and rarely had to address anyone on more familiar terms. Even when his grandfather and father’s family friends came to visit, he had never address them as such.
Now that he was facing his mother-in-law, he could not help but feel a little awkward.
However, he knew this principle very well, just like how she called his mother.
Shi Yuting stared at the photo on the tombstone and did not speak for a long time.
Zuo Weiyi seemed to have seen through his awkwardness and her face suddenly darkened. She lowered her head and said, “Do you dislike my mother? Do you think that she was once sullied by Jiang Huaiyuan and became the mistress of others? Do you think that she doesn’t deserve to be called that by you?”
When she spoke, she looked very hurt.
Hearing this, Shi Yuting’s heart couldn’t help but tighten. He caught a glimpse of her sad face.
“Weiyi, you should know that I don’t care about these things.”
“Then why don’t you call her ‘mother’?”
He stared at her and was at a loss for words for a moment.
After a long while, he opened his thin lips and said, “When I was four years old, my father brought me to the Shi family. It was the first time I left my mother and also the first time I faced those strangers in the Shi family.”
It was also the second time he saw his father, so his father was still a stranger to him. For a really long time after that, he never saw his mother.
“At that time, grandfather also asked me to address Xiao Yayue.” He turned his gaze to her delicate face. “So I have always… hated calling women other than my mother as ‘mother’.”
Zuo Weiyi was surprised.
She remembered Nuannuan had said that he had left his mother when he was very young. His grandfather actually asked him to call Xiao Yayue Mother? Well, according to Shi Yuting’s personality, wasn’t it impossible?
Although she had silently guessed it, she asked anyway. “Then, did you call her ‘mother’ later?”
Shi Yuting was startled.
“What does Madam think?”
She looked at him and smiled. The answer was already clear.
“But you can’t keep up with not addressing my mother.” She looked at him. Although she knew that he did not have any intention of disliking her mother, him keeping this up wasn’t right either.
He glanced at her, and then his gaze fell on the photo on the tombstone. At the same time, he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer into his arms. Then, he looked at the tombstone with a serious face, “Mother-In-Law, I am Shi Yuting. From now on, I will take care of your daughter. Do…rest in peace.”
Zuo Weiyi fell silent upon hearing his words to Zuo Qing.
Him calling Zuo Qing ‘mother-in-law’ definitely killed two birds with one stone: he had managed to address her mother and remove the awkwardness in his heart.
“Is madam satisfied now?” He smiled at her.
She smiled sweetly. “Yes!”
It was already noon by the time they left the cemetery.
After lunch, Shi Yuting left in a hurry for Di Zun. After settling some urgent matters, he planned to return to C Country.
At home, Zuo Weiyi slept until three o’clock in the afternoon, as usual.
