After being around the Xiā family several times, Sīān no longer felt the same strangeness as before. Even though this woman—this body's mother—looked so uncannily like his real mother and cared for him in nearly the same way, she was, at the same time, very different.
Madam Xiā was a wealthy and refined woman—gentle yet strong, dignified, with an elegance befitting her status.
His real mother, by contrast, had been an ordinary person. Yes, she too was beautiful and graceful, but she had not grown up in a rich household. Their life had been comfortable, but simpler. Of course, she had no understanding of the more complicated aspects of upper-class life.
For instance, although Madam Xiā was a housewife now, in her husband's and sons' absence she could still competently run the family business. That alone showed her remarkable capability. She was far from being a shallow, pampered lady.
