Chapter 19
Meng Xueyuan had a vague premonition of what it would be.
Lu Xiao said modestly, “In a little while, I’m planning to take a stab at the business world.”
Meng Xueyuan replied calmly, “That’s great.”
Lu Xiao was, after all, a favored son of heaven. The amount of scolding he took in the entertainment industry—especially the abuse from Xuehua—was enough to last eight lifetimes. Meng Xueyuan browsed Lu Xiao’s solo-fan forums every day. He could calmly face the insults and distortions aimed at himself, laugh it off, post screenshots, and let it go. But he dared not read Lu Xiao’s solo-fan forums, afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from stepping in to defend him.
Sometimes the reasons for getting flamed were utterly ridiculous. Like now—Lu Xiao probably never imagined that one day he’d be mocked for being poor.
You couldn’t call him “the most popular” in the entertainment industry, but in Meng Xueyuan’s heart, Lu Xiao had already reached the top. Those reckless, hot-blooded years were over; returning to inherit the family business, he’d surely make something of himself. Being a CEO would be better—less internet abuse.
Meng Xueyuan offered his sincere blessing: “Whatever you do, you’ll succeed.”
Lu Xiao thought to himself: No. The quest to win my wife back isn’t finished yet—playing the pity card is still useful.
He decisively smeared his two brothers: “You know, I’ve got two older brothers sitting on top, holding all the power. They keep a tight grip on money and authority and won’t even give in on small things.”
They even nitpicked endlessly when he wanted to set up a company for his wife.
To make the pity play more convincing, Lu Xiao gave an example. “Before I went on that variety show, I already knew Yao Quan would be hard to deal with, so I gave them a heads-up—but it barely helped. The group is controlled by my eldest and second brothers. I don’t get a say; I’m insignificant. No one takes me seriously, and my brothers were happy to see it.”
He wasn’t exactly lying—Yao Quan and Xie Jingfeng really did think that way. And seeing Lu Xiao get stonewalled, Lu Lou was probably gloating too.
It was the first time Meng Xueyuan had heard Lu Xiao mention his family. He believed him and said righteously, “Your brothers are real villains.”
Lu Xiao paused, then continued, “If I go into business, I’ll inevitably have to compete with them for resources. Neither of them is married. If I have a stable marriage that’s far better than my eldest brother’s, my dad and the shareholders will be more inclined to support me.”
With the groundwork laid, Lu Xiao finally revealed his true aim: “So I can’t get divorced. And when necessary, you’ll have to cooperate with me in putting on a show of affection. Is that okay?”
Meng Xueyuan answered straightforwardly, “Sure. We’re colleagues—if you help me with appearances, I’ll help you with yours.” Even if he didn’t like Lu Xiao, he’d still agree.
Lu Xiao choked for a moment. “Thank you… colleagues.”
Keeping his composure, Lu Xiao thought: My wife really is kind-hearted. In a business world Meng Xueyuan doesn’t understand, deceiving him is as easy as breathing—fortunately, I have high moral standards, and I’m the first to deceive him.
Chu Hao once said a marriage certificate was useless—what nonsense. It’s incredibly useful. Once Meng Xueyuan got the certificate, he completely shut the door on anyone else trying to fool him.
Back then, Lu Xiao had only dared to ask for “keeping clean during the marriage,” but Meng Xueyuan carried it out to the letter. He brushed off flirtatious looks and olive branches from others with disdain, which earned him a reputation for being aloof.
Not having to get divorced made Meng Xueyuan happy too. He asked with concern, “Old ginger is spicier—taking on two at once, won’t it be hard?”
Lu Xiao said, “It’s fine. My dad supports me.”
Meng Xueyuan added, “I know two people working at Lu Group in fairly high positions. If you need them—”
Heh heh o(???)o—marrying the queen bee isn’t really any worse than forming an alliance outside.
Lu Xiao declined politely. “It’s not time to use connections yet.” He didn’t want his wife pulling strings for him; that would go against his original intent in entering business.
“All right,” said Meng Xueyuan.
After news of Yao Quan and Liu Qingqing withdrawing from the recording of Harmony of Marriage fermented online for ten minutes, Lu Xiao and Meng Xueyuan’s fans finally reacted. They dug up evidence from the show and fired back.
[Those two were posturing nonstop on the show—neither did a single proper task, and one needed three Filipino maids just to cook. Lu Xiao made them look terrible. They slunk off on their own and still bought hot searches to smear him?]
[Industry insider here. Sister Liu’s brother-in-law’s company is having operational issues and is in a complete mess right now. She really doesn’t have the energy to keep recording.]
[LMAO, who knows how many fake wealthy families have been exposed over the years—flashy on the surface, drowning in debt underneath. And people still treat them like treasures? Their cash flow isn’t even as good as our Yuanyuan’s.]
[Holy crap, everyone go check the precious on-site footage from the variety show posted by @RationalMelonEater—Yao Quan really has a filthy mouth, talking trash about gay men right to their faces.]
[Over fifty years old and still can’t watch her mouth. Cuiguo, slap that mouth to pieces!]
[Two male–male pairs on set still couldn’t shut her up. Now I finally get why Lu Xiao’s face went dark.]
[Has that old witch never experienced how foul-mouthed our esports fans can be?]
At the same time, Liu Qingqing immediately posted on Weibo, saying she really did withdraw because of family matters and that it had nothing to do with anyone else.
Film queen Jiang Weina also posted a Weibo.
[Accumulate virtue with your words, palms together.jpg]
With those two endorsements, the four fandoms were extremely combat-ready and all charged at Yao Quan at once. Her Weibo comments were filled with “slap” reaction images.
[LMAO, an internet cyber face-slapping scene.]
[F***, which kind soul leaked another clip of Lu Xiao’s on-the-spot sarcastic comeback? Yao Quan said two men sharing a room was indecent, and Lu Xiao said people in their fifties are the ones who should be sleeping in separate rooms—HAHAHAHA.]
[Lu Xiao you’re savage. Bro, you’ll definitely make it to eighty!]
The two of them leaned together, reading the comments under the marketing account @RationalMelonEater. Meng Xueyuan wasn’t big-hearted; he was reading with great relish.
Lu Xiao patiently scrolled for his wife, even tapping open folded nested comments when he came across them.
But when they reached the last comment—“Bro, you’ll definitely make it to eighty!”—their heads, which had been pressed together, instantly separated.
Meng Xueyuan scratched his cheek; it felt hot.
“Uh… want to keep watching?” Lu Xiao pointed at the paused variety show. “We haven’t reached the good part yet.”
“Okay.”
The best part was, of course, the segment where Lu Xiao left clues about a “kissing scene,” leading Meng Xueyuan to search all the way through.
The bullet comments were finally completely taken over by CP fans.
[Ahhhhh there’s a kissing scene! When the movie comes out I’m watching it 100 times!]
[Pig’s tail—top eats it to boost kidney power, bottom eats it for beauty. Lu Xiao really dotes on his wife.]
[The part where Lu Xiao carries Yuanyuan, who’s surrounded by bees, into the car—boyfriend power MAX!]
[The old top’s morning state not being shown… am I imagining things?]
[@ForensicsSis, hurry and identify it.]
[Identified as morning wood. Lu Xiao has that kicked-in-the-face look of confusion and restraint. He slept on the outer side; preliminary suspicion is that when Meng Xueyuan heard the knock and got out of bed, he brushed against Lu Xiao, triggering a stronger chain reaction.]
[Your “autopsy literature” really has something to it.]
Meng Xueyuan: “……” They could even analyze that he brushed against him? Is there no privacy on the internet?
“Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose. I just got out of bed too fast.”
Lu Xiao said frankly, without fear, “It’s fine. It’s not afraid of being rubbed—just don’t scrub it with a steel wool pad.”
Meng Xueyuan thought about the only two experiences he’d had; that part of Lu Xiao’s was indeed very durable. He said, “You’re really impressive.”
The air filled with pink bubbles. Seeing his wife defend him with his own eyes, Lu Xiao felt bubbles rising in his heart too. “Thank you. Otherwise I’d have embarrassed myself.”
Meng Xueyuan’s cheeks burned. “You’re welcome.”
Late at night, in some apartment.
A professional forensic pathologist shut off the internet and shook his head slightly. Fooling young girls online was one thing; he couldn’t fool himself. Their queen bee was currently—and would remain for a long time—in a virgin-queen state.
Lin Xilan had asked him to use his professional expertise to support them online. Clearly useless.
How did the queen bee end up fixating on such an impractical pretty vase like Lu Xiao?
Well—thinking of Lu Xiao’s face, the forensic pathologist felt it made perfect sense.
Their bees were born face-con lovers of flowers.
…
The variety show had an ending theme, a fitting song about how only mutual tolerance between spouses can bring them this far.
It was as if Lu Xiao had just had a three-hour limited-time romance with his wife. Knowing when to stop, he said, “It’s almost eleven. Go to bed early. No need to set an alarm—I’ll wake you when I’m sure filming starts tomorrow.”
The director had notified them to arrive at eight, but he liked to drag the screenwriter into last-minute remote script revisions; official filming often didn’t start until an hour later.
The director had shot erotica; the screenwriter had written erotica. Maybe that was why they got along so well—the script was getting more and more comedic.
That was fine. There was no need to force-feed sentimental values. Just give the audience a laugh. Lu Xiao also hoped that his first film with his wife would be smooth in every way.
In the script, the second kissing scene was scheduled for the final shot. The director wanted a bookend effect and could also use it as a marketing hook.
Lu Xiao had wanted the director to move it earlier, but as filming went on, he realized that if a kissing scene dangled like a carrot in front of him, he’d be full of motivation every day, eagerly looking forward to tomorrow.
He’d never been in such a great mental state while filming.
…
Meng Xueyuan hadn’t set an alarm. When his phone ringtone woke him, he glanced at the bedside clock—it was only six.
He sat up, grabbed his phone from the table, and answered. It was a call from home. “Good morning, Mom.”
His mother’s voice was anxious, tinged with sobs. “Yuanyuan, something’s happened. So many bees have died.”
Meng Xueyuan’s mind snapped fully awake. “Mom, don’t panic. Take it slow. Aren’t you keeping bees in Litchi Town?”
Beekeepers had to move their hives from place to place each year, chasing flower seasons. Even though Meng Xueyuan earned a lot now, the Meng family hadn’t given up beekeeping—partly as a livelihood, partly because good nectar sources and good bees made good honey for the clan to enjoy.
His mother’s thoughts became clearer. “Yes, yes. We signed a contract with the litchi orchard owner. We brought the bees over for pollination, and during that period they weren’t allowed to spray pesticides. This morning your dad smelled something off—that smell was pesticides. The owner still won’t admit they secretly sprayed at night. The bees have all flown out already; they’re still out collecting pollen.”
This meant a large batch would be poisoned. Meng’s mother cried in distress. The bees were so well-behaved, leaving early and returning late—how could they know that overnight the petals would be laced with poison? They’d brought three hundred hives this time; the losses would be severe.
“Mom, don’t worry. I’ll head back right now to recall the bees.” Meng Xueyuan immediately searched for flights. There was a 7 a.m. flight back to his hometown; he booked it at once. “I’ll arrive at eleven. The bees have only been out half a day—we can still salvage some. Don’t get into a conflict with the orchard owner. Wait until I’m back.”
A queen bee could summon bees. As long as Meng Xueyuan—this enhanced, overpowered version of a queen bee—stood by the hives, those bees that had gone out would be drawn back home.
Mother Meng said, “Your dad has already sprinkled sugar water, pollen, and detox solution outside the hives. Any bees that come back, we’ll keep them and won’t let them fly out again.
“Don’t worry. Be careful on the way.”
“Okay. Arrange for the trucks to come transport the hives and contact the next farm,” Meng Xueyuan replied as he spoke, changing clothes at the same time. He hurriedly grabbed his document pouch and ran out.
As soon as he opened the door, he bumped straight into Lu Xiao, who had come over to check on the situation—smacking right into his chest muscles.
Lu Xiao had gotten up to make breakfast. Hearing the commotion, he asked, “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Meng Xueyuan ran to the entryway to put on his shoes.
Without thinking, Lu Xiao followed and changed shoes as well.
Speaking at lightning speed, Meng Xueyuan said, “I have an emergency and need to go home. I’m really sorry I can’t film today. I’ll cover the entire loss from the crew stopping work for a day.”
Lu Xiao said, “They can film the supporting roles first. What happened at home?”
“My parents had a conflict with the orchard owner. I’m going back to handle it.”
Lu Xiao was afraid this “conflict” might involve a physical fight. Meng Xueyuan was so delicate—he couldn’t argue and definitely couldn’t fight. Conveniently, Lu Xiao could do both; a premium live-in son-in-law candidate. He said, “I’ll go with you. What time’s your flight?”
“Seven.”
Lu Xiao grabbed some clothes from the bedside, planning to change after boarding. “I’ll drive. There’s plenty of time. We can make it through the VIP channel—don’t panic.”
It wasn’t rush hour yet; the road to the airport was filled only with others rushing to catch flights.
Lu Xiao drove steadily and fast. Watching his focused profile as he drove, Meng Xueyuan’s anxious mood gradually calmed. If an F1 champion said there was plenty of time, then there really was plenty. He’d watched the race videos—Lu Xiao was incredible through high-speed corners and overtakes.
The loss of the hives might not amount to much compared to a day of filming with Lu Xiao, but the emotional value between the two was worlds apart.
Lu Xiao’s willingness to go with him meant he, too, believed feelings mattered more.
The day Meng Xueyuan received the red Ferrari, he’d imagined someday sitting in the passenger seat of Lu Xiao’s sports car—or race car. F1 cars didn’t have passenger seats, but rally cars did; he could be Lu Xiao’s navigator, checking the pace notes.
Whoosh—Lu Xiao was so good at overtaking.
Unable to resist, Meng Xueyuan recited, “Left turn in two hundred meters. Speed camera at three hundred meters.”
Listening to his clear, sweet voice following the navigation word by word, Lu Xiao couldn’t help but curl his lips. “Thanks, co-driver.”
His thoughts having been read, Meng Xueyuan puffed out his cheeks.
Lu Xiao added, “I mean navigator.”
They saved half the travel time on the road and boarded together. By chance, business class had only the two of them. Lu Xiao changed clothes, ordered breakfast from the flight attendant ahead of time, and placed it on Meng Xueyuan’s tray table.
Meng Xueyuan instinctively checked first to see if there was a boiled egg.
As if chatting casually, Lu Xiao said, “Actually, the Lu family ancestors came from the southwest. Starting with my great-grandfather, the whole family moved to Nan Cheng. Later, when they got older, my great-grandfather and great-grandmother moved back here to retire. I came here for a while when I was little. Our ancestral graves are quite close to your hometown.”
That was a sincere enough hint, wasn’t it?
What Meng Xueyuan focused on was, “So can you speak the local dialect?”
Lu Xiao: “…No.” His father, the eldest young master Shen, had studied abroad and even had to rehabilitate his native language, let alone a dialect.
To accommodate Shen Ning’s language system, his grandparents didn’t speak dialect—even when Shen Ning wasn’t present.
Correspondingly, Shen Ning didn’t speak French either.
Grandpa Lu had issued a domineering directive: family harmony starts with a unified language.
Lu Xiao felt a twinge of regret. If he’d known, he should’ve learned some dialect back when he went to the southwest to see his great-grandfather. He’d missed a great chance to get closer to Meng Xueyuan’s parents through dialect.
Meng Xueyuan said, “I can’t speak it either—only understand it. When I was learning to talk, schools were strictly promoting Standard Mandarin. My parents were worried I’d change schools often in the future and have trouble communicating with classmates, so they even hired a retired broadcaster to teach me standard Mandarin.”
Back then, the clan had already vaguely realized that the new generation would eventually leave the countryside and step into the wider world. They invited the broadcaster to the village and sent all the children to learn.
Meng Xueyuan added, “That teacher was lazy—half the time he just had us watch the evening news.”
Lu Xiao guessed the reason Meng Xueyuan transferred schools: changes in his parents’ jobs—something a child couldn’t control. He could forgive Meng Xueyuan for disappearing without a word, but he couldn’t forgive him for still not recognizing him.
He’d hinted this much already.
You remembered a lazy broadcaster from before school age—so why couldn’t you remember eating eggs with me in kindergarten?!
As the plane landed smoothly, jolting slightly in the airflow, Meng Xueyuan’s would-be ideal son-in-law, Lu Xiao, finally remembered something important.
For his first meeting with the parents, he hadn’t bought anything.
He couldn’t exactly buy souvenir gift boxes at the airport, could he?
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a tobacco-and-alcohol counter. Lu Xiao headed straight over. “Give me one minute.”
Take all the Moutai.
Realizing Lu Xiao might be buying a first-meeting gift, Meng Xueyuan quickly pulled him away. “No need to spend so much.”
Lu Xiao didn’t dare disobey his wife and made a last-ditch plea. “Let me buy something. I have social anxiety—at least I won’t show up empty-handed when I meet your relatives, and I can hand out a few cigarettes to make small talk.”
Like those grooms who go door to door at the village head and tail to announce wedding banquets, Lu Xiao decided that when he and Meng Xueyuan got married, he would definitely emulate that practice. He’d walk every household where Meng Xueyuan had lived, not missing a single one, thanking the land and people so blessed to have raised someone as pure and beautiful as Meng Xueyuan.
Meng Xueyuan pressed his lips together and cruelly told him, “Our clan chief’s main task is building a smoke-free village.”
He also didn’t think Lu Xiao seemed socially anxious at all.
Lu Xiao: “……”
All right—one useless piece of knowledge learned.
“I need to go up the mountain. How about you wait at the hotel?” Meng Xueyuan asked.
“No,” said Lu Xiao. “I called a car. It’s already here.”
Two hours later, Meng Xueyuan arrived at the place where his parents had set up the hives. The mountains were covered with litchi trees. During flowering season it should have been fragrant, but because the orchard owner had sprayed pesticides, a faint bitter astringency hung in the air.
As Meng Xueyuan reached the foot of the mountain, the queen arrived. The bees lost interest in gathering nectar, their wings beating into a rising roar.
Lu Xiao’s ears buzzed as if a massive wave of sound had surged up. He looked around, but all he saw were busy bees on the branches.
Meng Xueyuan raised a hand and rubbed his nose. “The weather’s about to change. The bees are getting ready to return to the hive. If you don’t believe me, just watch.”
Lu Xiao had no doubts about Meng Xueyuan’s ability to judge the weather. He said, “The mountain roads will be slippery and hard to drive. If Dad—uh, Uncle and Auntie—have been wronged in any way, let’s resolve it quickly and head back down the mountain.”
There were beehives starting from the foot of the mountain, lined all along the roadside up the mountain path. As Meng Xueyuan walked past the hives, the bees, alerted to his presence, returned home. In front of the hives lay some innocent bees that had fallen unconscious.
The more he looked, the more his heart ached. “The litchi orchard owner violated the contract and suddenly sprayed pesticides, poisoning a batch of bees.”
Lu Xiao asked, “How do you want to handle it?” Making the orchard’s produce unsellable would be easy—just pin down a few buyers. The real question was what Meng Xueyuan wanted.
Meng Xueyuan said, “I wish that from now on he won’t have any bees to pollinate his trees.”
The queen’s words carried power; once spoken, they took effect.
Even without bees, there would still be other insects—but bees were the most diligent and high-quality pollinators. Other insects might conveniently lay eggs on the leaves instead. Without bees, this year’s litchi harvest was as good as doomed.
After saying that, he looked at the litchi trees around him. The trees themselves were innocent, blooming year after year waiting for the bees to return. Feeling that his curse had gone a bit too far, he added, “Forget it. Let’s sue. We’ll handle it however the court rules.”
Lu Xiao smiled faintly. A soft-hearted person felt compassion even for grass and trees, grateful for and protective of nature’s gifts. Meng Xueyuan couldn’t even bear to curse the litchis with a lack of pollination—he certainly wouldn’t let the fruit rot on the ground.
“I’ll introduce you to a lawyer to fight for the maximum compensation,” Lu Xiao said.
Meng Xueyuan was about to say, “No need, we have lawyers in our clan,” but after a moment’s thought, he changed his mind. “Okay.”
Since Lu Xiao wanted to wrest power from his brothers and didn’t yet need his worker bees, it was better not to expose Lin Xilan and Bai He’s identities. If Lin Xilan represented the clan in the lawsuit, it would be easy for his superiors to notice, trace his connection to Meng Xueyuan, and suspect him of having already defected.
Before the queen gave an order, worker bees were just diligent laborers. Being misunderstood was very unpleasant.
Lu Xiao soon spotted a middle-aged couple packing up their tent, preparing to break camp.
“Dad, Mom.”
“Uncle, Auntie.”
From the way the bees were returning to the hive, Father Meng already knew his son had arrived. He wiped his sweat. “Good thing you came back in time.”
With the pesticide smell still strong, smart bees would avoid the litchi trees and go farther away to forage, escaping disaster for now. But once the sun dispersed the smell and it faded, the bees would return to the litchi flowers and fall into the trap.
So far, the orchard owner had only shown his face once, saying there was nothing he could do because the litchi leaves had pests, and then he’d turned into a cowardly turtle.
Father Meng was furious. “If there were pests, he should’ve told us in advance before spraying. We could’ve closed the hive entrances and transported them away overnight! It’s just because the flowering period isn’t over yet—he was afraid that if we moved the hives, pollination wouldn’t be effective. After all, it’s not his bees that got poisoned!”
“Calm down,” Meng Xueyuan said. “We’ll hire a lawyer and sue him.”
Father Meng asked, “All the honey in these hives can’t be used anymore—can that loss be counted too?”
Lu Xiao chimed in smoothly. “No problem, Uncle. I’ll definitely make him regret it.”
Mother Meng muttered, “Uncle?” Then, realizing it wasn’t appropriate, she looked at her son. Yuanyuan had asked them to pretend they didn’t know about the marriage registration.
Meng Xueyuan cleverly explained to Lu Xiao, “I let it slip before. They know we registered under an agreement. An agreement registration is still a registration—my mom thinks of it as legally adopting a godson.”
Lu Xiao went along immediately and changed his address. “Dad, Mom, I’m sorry—this is my first visit.”
If he’d known he counted as half a son in his in-laws’ eyes, he should’ve gone home with Meng Xueyuan for the New Year. Now it was too late—he hadn’t observed any proper courtesies at all. Lu Xiao regretted it to the point of his guts turning green, his stomach and liver aching. He’d missed too many things out of guilt from his forced affection.
Father Meng didn’t mind. “You and Yuanyuan are both busy with work, and we’re always on the move too. It’s fine, it’s fine.”
Most of the unpoisoned bees had been collected. The hives were loaded onto trucks, ready to be transported deep into the mountains to recuperate for a while.
Lu Xiao helped carry the hives, strength to spare, becoming more and more satisfactory to behold.
Father Meng muttered, “This young man’s really suited for farming. Good-looking too—no wonder Yuanyuan had him on his mind.”
Mother Meng nudged her husband. “Don’t you think he looks familiar?”
Father Meng said bluntly, “My son’s partner—he’s on TV every day. Of course he looks familiar.”
“No,” Mother Meng said. “It feels like he looks like someone else’s kid… never mind, you’re impossible to talk to.”
It was Lu Xiao’s first time doing work at his father-in-law’s place. He was selling his labor, following Father Meng’s truck into the deep mountains, unloading the hives and spraying them with detoxifying licorice water.
Father Meng patted Lu Xiao on the shoulder. Maybe it was just an illusion, but ever since Meng Xueyuan and Lu Xiao came back, the bee poisoning situation didn’t seem as bad as expected.
A good son-in-law—bringing good fortune.
Meng Xueyuan and his mother returned first to the rented place in the county to cook.
Mother Meng put the rice on to cook and received a call from her husband. “Mm-hm, don’t worry. We bought all the ingredients—very nourishing.”
Father Meng was reassured and said to Lu Xiao, “You’ve worked hard. Eat more tonight.”
…
Meng Xueyuan watched helplessly as his mom cooked an entire table of dishes.
Goji-berry lamb, sea cucumber stir-fried with yam, garlic oysters, chives with shrimp, cold wood ear mushrooms… Sima Zhao’s intentions were written all over her face.
Meng Xueyuan: “……”
Failing a nuptial flight was so embarrassing.
There was no need to ask—clan members could all sense the queen bee’s nuptial-flight status.
“It’s my own issue,” Meng Xueyuan said. “It has nothing to do with Lu Xiao.”
Mother Meng replied, “I know. Even if it were just an ordinary friend visiting, Mom would still cook a big meal.”
Lu Xiao had no idea that his in-laws seriously doubted his kidney function. He only felt that the spread was far too tonifying.
So tonifying that he couldn’t sit still, terrified that if he stayed the night, the two elders would discover his improper thoughts about Meng Xueyuan—and the next morning he’d be marched straight to the Civil Affairs Bureau for a divorce.
Outnumbered two to one, he might end up losing his wife in pain.
Father Meng asked his wife in a low voice, “Will this work? What if it’s congenital—dietary supplements won’t help, and he needs to see a doctor.”
Mother Meng said, “What else can we do? You can clearly see there’s affection—what kind of son would come all this way and be so attentive otherwise?”
Affection but no success—fate playing tricks. Their son worked so hard; as parents, this was about all they could do.
Mother Meng enthusiastically put food on Lu Xiao’s plate. “Eat more, it’s nutritious. Xiao Lu, you’re too thin.”
Lu Xiao could only accept it all and eat obediently.
That night, when he was arranged to sleep in the same room as Meng Xueyuan, Lu Xiao indeed became even more restless.
He held it in for a while and wanted to go to the bathroom, but the bedroom didn’t have one—only the living room did.
Most importantly, going from luxury to frugality was hard. Meng Xueyuan had said he would help, and from then on Lu Xiao no longer wanted to do it himself.
Braving the storm, Lu Xiao sat down beside Meng Xueyuan, who was reading, and said solemnly, “Teacher Meng, have you heard of imprinting?”
Meng Xueyuan put down the book he was holding for show. “Hm?”
Lu Xiao pointed and said, “You were the first to touch it. Now it only responds to you.”
Meng Xueyuan: Huh?
