Rebirth: My Mother is a Virgin Mary

After dinner, Cheng Xinyuan was in charge of washing the pots and pans. I told him, "Mom has worked hard to prepare the meal. As a member of the family, you should share the housework. You can't just eat and do nothing." The children went to help. Ms. Lin wanted to stop them, thinking that they were guests after all, so how could she ask them to do housework? I said to Ms. Lin, "Just let them join in. Otherwise, it will be embarrassing for the three of them to have nothing to do."

Cheng Xinyuan and his friends were washing dishes in the kitchen, while Ms. Lin and I went upstairs to clean up the room. Even though Cheng Xinyuan's bed was big, it was still a bit crowded for four people to sleep on it. Ms. Lin pulled out the sofa in the living room and made it into a sofa bed, which was big enough for one or two people to sleep on. In summer, there was no need to cover ourselves with thick quilts, but we were afraid of catching a cold when we turned on the air conditioner at night. Ms. Lin took out some spare pillows and blankets from the closet in my room, many of which she had brought back from her previous job at the hotel. In her words, there would be room and quilts for two more people to sleep on.

I finished washing up when Xin Yuan and the others came up. When their eyes met, I suddenly realized something:

I seem to have moved into the boys' dormitory...

In that moment, I realized that these people had already taken off their shirts without any hesitation. I quickly covered my eyes, but still swallowed my saliva subconsciously: "What are you doing! You really don't treat me as an outsider! I'm still here!"

"Are you an outsider?" Cheng Xinyuan asked, four pairs of eyes looking at me.

"No matter what, there are differences between men and women!" I said this while my fingers left a gap. Ah~ Who is that? He has abdominal muscles~ How do kids grow up nowadays? Good looks, tall, and with good figures, and they're all white~ Roar~ I couldn't suppress the upward curve of my mouth corners any longer and shamelessly opened my fingers a little wider, glancing at four young bodies. Even if one of them is my younger brother, it doesn't matter. Everyone has the right to appreciate handsome men!

"Hey hey hey... if you want to look, just look openly. We don't feel shy at all, so why should you be shy?" Maybe I was too obvious and Cheng Xinyuan was speechless.

"Don't be shy, don't be shy~ I didn't expect that the younger brothers pay much attention to body management hehehe..." I think I must be like a big sun fan now, oh, not like, I am~

"What?" Cheng Xinyuan said with a sly smile, "Are you attracted to one of them? They're all single~"

I rolled my eyes and didn't notice that one of them blushed to her ears: "I'm just appreciating your beauty. Take a few more glances while you're still young. Who knows if you will grow up to be greasy uncles in the future~"

I was originally thinking about going downstairs and sleeping with Ms. Lin, but then I thought what the inconvenience was. They were just a bunch of little kids, and I didn’t have the habit of getting up at night. I could just close the door and sleep by myself.

"Haha~ You're disgusted so quickly, you're such a fickle woman~" Cheng Xinyuan teased me.

I narrowed my eyes and said, "Remember, I am a playboy. Go to bed early and get up early tomorrow morning to buy groceries!"

"Yes! Madam!" Have these people practiced this before? How come they said it so in unison?

When I think about the workload tomorrow morning, I have no time to focus on anything else. I have to go to bed quickly. In order to prepare a meal that can feed these four guys, I have to start working early in the morning.

"Sister, aren't you afraid of the heat if the door is closed and there's no air conditioning?"

"I have an electric fan, that's all!"

I am the kind of person who won't sleep unless the alarm goes off if something is on my mind. So I got up early the next morning and looked at the time. It was just past six o'clock, just in time. The vegetables in the market are the freshest at this time.

I thought the four kids were probably still fast asleep, so I didn't plan to wake them up. I could go by myself. I tiptoed to the bathroom to wash up, afraid of waking up the person sleeping on the sofa. I was going to put on some makeup today to look stunning.

When I turned around, I saw Qin Luotian’s sleepy face, and I was so scared that I almost screamed.

"Did I scare you?" Qin Luotian scratched his head embarrassedly.

"A little... Why did you wake up so early?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to buy groceries?"

"It's okay, I can go by myself, you go back to sleep..." I turned my head and looked at the sofa. My goodness, how come these people are sleeping on the sofa, all crooked...

"It was too hot in the room, so Xin Yuan and I both climbed onto the sofa in the middle of the night." Qin Luotian saw my curiosity and explained himself. Yes, there was only one vertical air conditioner in the living room on the second floor, and boys were afraid of the heat and couldn't stand it.

"Are you really not going to sleep a little longer?" I asked Qin Luotian.

"Well, I don't sleep much. Let me go shopping with you."

"Okay, then you wash up first and wait for me for a while. I need to put on some makeup. Then we can go shopping together!"

The morning market is always bustling with people, and the sounds of hawking and bargaining are heard one after another. I took Qin Luotian to start shopping from the back, so that we can buy everything in one trip without having to carry it back and forth.

When I came to a fish stall, I picked the biggest one and asked the boss to butcher and slice it. Qin Luotian smacked his lips and said, "This is too big!"

"With the appetites of the four of you, is this fish a big deal?" I patted Qin Luotian's shoulder, "Come to the front with the fish and find me later. I'll go chop some chicken legs."

Boiled fish, braised chicken, braised pork, salt and pepper shrimp, mapo tofu, minced pork eggplant... I thought about the recipes in my mind and how to buy the most convenient way next. "You really know how to order dishes. There is not a single vegan one. How can you not eat vegetables? I have to make some for you~" I complained to myself. Qin Luotian came over with the fish. "It's heavy, right?" I looked at the big bag of fish. "Isn't that what I do?" Qin Luotian said with a smile.

"Don't you have any dietary restrictions when you play the suona?" I asked casually.

"How do you know I play the suona?"

How could I not… Oops, I brought back memories from my past life, and asked subconsciously. We were familiar with each other in our past life, how could I not know what he did?

"Of course it was Cheng Xinyuan who said that. With his big mouth, he can almost dig out all your family's wealth. Your aunt and I know a lot. He said that Yao Yuan has been painting since he was a child, and that you have been practicing suona since you were a child." At the critical moment, Cheng Xinyuan is the best cover.

"Oh, no wonder~ I don't have any dietary restrictions. I can eat anything. It doesn't affect my suona playing. I also like spicy food!" Qin Luotian took the chopped chicken leg.

"Hmm?" I have the impression that Qin Luotian is not a person who can eat spicy food. "How much can you eat? Is Chuan Qiyu's super spicy hotpot edible?" Chuan Qiyu is the hot pot restaurant that I ate with Ms. Lin and Cheng Xinyuan last time. I can't forget the super spicy hotpot base.

"Of course, let's do it together next time."

"Oh, Cheng Xinyuan cried because of the spicy food last time. Don't be like him... Boss, give me a big piece of pork belly and a piece of lean tenderloin!"

"Tsk, who is as useless as him hehe~"

"Did we forget to buy shrimps?" I suddenly remembered.

"It seems... yes..."

I quickly turned back to the seafood stall. All four of them ordered salt and pepper shrimp. I had to buy it! The order of shopping was so well planned, but there was still a mistake.

"You wait here, I'll go buy the shrimps myself." Qin Luotian was already carrying a lot of things, and it would be so heavy to walk back.

"It's okay, I'm with you."

Today's shrimps are pretty good, except that they are a little expensive. I carefully selected the shrimps, and Qin Luotian's voice came from my ear: "Actually..."

"Huh? What's wrong?" I turned to look at him.

"I don't really like playing the suona, I just inherited my father's skill..." I don't know how he got to this topic, but seeing his somewhat lost expression, I straightened up. In his previous life, he was doing quite well in the suona field. "So you've been practicing this since you were a child. Haven't you expressed your thoughts to your family?"

"When I was little, I didn't know anything. I just did whatever they told me to do. But the older I got, the more I felt that learning this was useless. I only went out with my dad to do chores when there were funerals. I felt that this job was not respectable at all and was quite annoying..."

Oh, so this is the crux of the problem, the confusion of adolescence.

"Hmm... Do you think that playing the suona is a job that is not respected?"

"Well, some people also say it's unlucky. Anyway, it's not a good thing." Qin Luotian said dejectedly.

I was carrying the shrimps I had bought, and he took them from me. I didn't refuse and continued to walk to the next stall, saying as I walked, "I don't think there's anything wrong with playing the suona. Those who say it's unlucky are definitely idiots. They don't even know about the national treasure. As the saying goes, "One sound of the suona is worth a thousand taels of gold." The suona is the king of musical instruments. Who says that the suona can only be played at funerals? That's just prejudice!"

Qin Luotian smiled and said, "How come you know more about suona than I do?"

"This is traditional culture, and it's okay to know a little bit. You think it's embarrassing to follow your father out to do business, that's just what you think now. In fact, the host needs you to support the business, and your family also needs this business to support the family. The cost should not be low. Those who can make money rely on their own abilities. What's there to be ashamed of? Why bother about some low-brow words. You are so amazing. You can play instruments that others can't. Suona is now an unpopular instrument. Music theory is the same. You should also be able to play other instruments, such as piano," Qin Luotian nodded, "but people who can play the piano don't necessarily play the suona. And you can go out to make money at such a young age, it's amazing. Look at Cheng Xinyuan, what else can you do besides coaxing people?"

Qin Luotian couldn't hold back his laughter any longer: "So you think so highly of the suona. Hearing you say that, I feel much better!"

"It's nothing. The suona is just a musical instrument for you now. You will figure it out slowly as you learn more. You are at an age where you are confused and prone to overthinking. It's normal. Look at your parents. Even if they want you to follow in their footsteps, they didn't say that you can't do other things, right?"

"That's true. My dad and his friends didn't tell me that I must study suona in the future. They also hope that I can go to a good high school and get into a good university."

"Maybe you will find suona good in your future, and you may choose this path~" I picked potatoes, eggplants, enoki mushrooms, and two handfuls of water spinach. I saw that Qin Luotian's mood had improved, so I handed him ten yuan and said, "Go, go to the stall opposite and buy tofu, the thick kind, and tofu skin~"

"okay!"