Chapter 60
Lu Lou and Lu Yushu were so jealous their faces were practically distorted.
In the past, there had been incidents where the secretary abandoned them to help Meng Xueyuan, but at least it wasn’t in the same space, so they could keep silent about it.
Today, however, they were all present—and clearly being treated differently.
Even if they didn’t say anything privately, wasn’t this kind of occasion one where their superior should at least give them a bit of face?
Lu Xiao lowered his voice and said, “Tone down the sourness a bit. Even without my wife, the secretary wouldn’t be sitting next to you two at a family banquet. That’s the difference between a secretary and a wife.”
He felt like he was finally holding his head high and becoming the big brother thanks to his wife.
Big Brother and Second Brother: “……” Fair enough.
Grandpa Shen lectured Lu Fengge, the head of the family: “Look, with this arrangement, all three children are unhappy.”
Lu Fengge: “……”
Lu Xiao, unconcerned about his own father’s fate, stood up and said, “Yes, yes, let’s rearrange the seats.”
Thank you, Grandpa, for noticing that they were unhappy.
Lu Fengge’s face darkened. Damn you, sixth child. Your love life is a mess and I still have to take the blame.
The three brothers were just about to actively change seats following Grandpa’s suggestion—something extremely rare in their banquet history. First, they never sat in the wrong place; second, once seated, no one dared ask them to move.
Meng Xueyuan took a few steps to Shen Ning’s side and asked in a low voice, “Grandpa may have misunderstood something. I want to clarify something about the spiritual bloodline beings. Can I speak plainly now?”
Shen Ning’s suspicions were confirmed. He said, “Everyone present has some spiritual bloodline. If you trust me, you can say it.”
Meng Xueyuan raised his head and said to Grandpa Shen, who had kindly tried to rearrange their seats, “It wasn’t Uncle Lu’s arrangement. It’s because several of us all have bee-related spiritual aura, so we’re used to gathering together.”
Lu Fengge thought to himself that when Shen Ning talked in his dream about his three sons being unable to speak, he’d assumed it had nothing to do with reality. Turns out it was realistic after all. He’d been wrongly blamed—three filial sons saying nothing at all and hoping to step on him to change seats, all less effective than one sentence from Meng Xueyuan.
Serves them right to get stung all over their heads. Not only should they get no sympathy—they deserved a beating.
Wait… bee spiritual bloodline? Lu Fengge caught the key point a beat late. He narrowed his eyes to observe everyone’s reactions. Only Lu Xiao and Shen Ning weren’t surprised.
Lu Xiao’s aunt widened her eyes. No wonder she’d felt so fond of these young people at first glance!
Lu Lou and Lu Yushu were shocked, but also felt a sudden sense of “so that’s how it is.” No wonder. The secretary’s feelings toward Meng Xueyuan didn’t look like limitless romantic devotion, yet they couldn’t be defined as anything else either.
So Meng Xueyuan was the queen bee? And the secretary was a worker bee?
“Yuanyuan, you have the queen bee’s spiritual bloodline? And those four are worker bee bloodlines?” Grandpa Lu might be old, but his eyesight wasn’t. He remembered clearly the division of labor within the bee clan that he’d heard about as a child.
In years of favorable weather, such a united, hardworking clan without internal strife had enormous advantages in agriculture. Their ancestors had once prospered greatly and could even support neighboring families.
Grandpa Shen remembered elders telling stories about how envious everyone used to be of the bee clan. At the very least, marrying into them meant an extremely low chance of producing lazy men. Diligence was an invaluable quality in an agrarian society.
The flower clan had great advantages in appearance when pursuing the bee clan. But the bee clan had no interest in romance at all—only in work. Even if their advantages crushed all rivals, it didn’t matter if the other side didn’t want to date.
“How have you been all these years?” Grandpa Lu and Grandpa Shen grew emotional, their eyes reddening. One of life’s four great joys: meeting an old acquaintance in a foreign land.
Back then, the three clans had lived close together. But after that calamity, they had no choice but to scatter and go into exile.
Once the Lu and Shen families recovered, industrial development followed, yet they never stopped thinking about the bee clan.
However, when the three families separated, they had sworn solemn oaths: no mentioning it, no searching for one another—each to live well on their own, trusting that fate would reunite them if it was meant to be.
They worried about their old neighbors’ fates, yet had to abide by that old agreement.
The flower clan’s spiritual energy had originally been very strong, but it dissipated faster abroad. Grandpa Shen felt both relieved and a little wistful.
After the founding of the nation, Grandpa Shen often traveled to Hong Kong. Shen Ning was born there and studied in France—yet his spiritual energy hadn’t diminished.
But in the next generation, the spiritual energy was almost gone. After discussion, the two families decided to stop passing down the secrets of the bloodline altogether.
Yet now… this reunion with the bee clan had actually drawn out a bit of the hidden spiritual energy in the Lu brothers.
If this had been a hundred years ago, Third Lu marrying a queen bee would have been a tremendous honor for the family.
Meng Xueyuan spoke honestly. “Life in the clan is pretty good now. Once Baihua New Village is finished, you’re welcome to visit our Baihua Village.”
Things had been difficult before, but which clan’s inheritance hadn’t faced hardships? The Shen family had fled overseas; the Lu family had nearly been wiped out.
The two elders looked at the four worker bees beside Meng Xueyuan and nodded with satisfaction. “With young people like you, the bee clan will surely thrive.”
“You just mentioned building a new village—do you have enough funds? Bai He is the eldest’s secretary. Double the budget and run it through Lu Lou’s accounts.”
Lu Xiao thought to himself that his wife definitely didn’t want that. Otherwise, he’d have given money long ago.
Meng Xueyuan said, “Thank you for your kindness, but we’re all grown up now. We can rely on our own abilities to give our clanspeople a better life.”
Grandpa Lu said, “Doesn’t the bee clan distribute resources equally within the clan? Let Third go in as a live-in husband and share out his money—problem solved.”
Meng Xueyuan whispered, “That won’t do.” His nuptial flight was to find a husband, not a sugar daddy.
Grandpa Lu said, “Then how about a one-hundred-million-yuan meeting gift?”
Lu Yushu suggested, “Why not treat it as Lu Group advancing Xilan and Bai He’s salaries for the next twenty years? Calculated at base salary without dividends—two million per year each, that’s eighty million over twenty years.”
Lu Lou said, “That works.”
Grandpa Lu frowned. This plan was… acceptable, I suppose.
Lu Xiao watched the show quietly. Oh ho—Second Brother wants to use this chance to sign a twenty-year contract with the secretary. But my wife is definitely not someone to mess with.
Meng Xueyuan said, “Twenty years is too long.”
Lu Yushu replied, “Marriage is a lifetime contract. As long as it’s suitable, there’s nothing that can’t be signed. We can stipulate unconditional termination.”
Given Meng Xueyuan’s earning ability in the entertainment industry, it would be easy for him to make up that money for the secretary, so this was a contract with no traps whatsoever.
Meng Xueyuan thought: How is there no trap? The trap is psychological—freedom to resign would be constrained, creating a burden. Just like his marriage contract with Lu Xiao: on the surface, he seemed free, but he couldn’t go have another nuptial flight with someone else, could he?
Lu Xiao stayed silent. Sorry, brother—I’ve used this move before. My wife is very sharp now.
Meng Xueyuan shook his head. “Thank you, but it’s not necessary.”
Meng Shancha said, “Our clanspeople don’t want to leave the village. We can only demolish and build in phases; otherwise, there’s nowhere to live. So funding is actually just sufficient to keep up.”
The eldest and second brothers had no choice but to give up.
At this moment, the forensic doctor Fang Fu Rong said with a smile, “No wonder Bai He and Xilan were so set on being secretaries at Lu Group. Turns out it’s because a CEO with peony-flower bloodline fits the bee clan’s aesthetic.”
Lu Lou: ? You can become a boss just by being good-looking?
Lu Yushu: ? A perspective he’d never considered. He now knew what to do.
Lin Xilan looked at Fang Fu Rong—what are you doing?
Fang Fu Rong raised an eyebrow. Doing to you two what you did to me online—assisting, of course. Sorry, I’m just used to it.
Grandpa Lu and Grandpa Shen looked back and forth, only to realize in disappointment that the secretary really was just a secretary. They’d overestimated Lu Lou and Lu Yushu. Third child had been the early-marriage type since he was young.
Grandpa Lu sighed. “I’m old and slow-witted. Bai He and Xilan have come to the nursing home to see me many times, yet I didn’t recognize them.”
Lu Xiao said, “That’s normal. My dad didn’t recognize them either.”
If he’d recognized them earlier, he wouldn’t have green-hatted himself and angered his wife.
Lu Xiao slapped his thigh in regret. If only he’d brought his wife—barefaced—to visit Grandpa earlier. Grandpa would’ve recognized the red dots on the sides of Meng Xueyuan’s nose at a glance.
It was all because he’d gone on a business trip too hastily—after confirming their relationship, there’d been no time.
Shen Ning said, “Come on, sit down and eat. We can talk while eating.”
After the seats were rearranged, the two grandfathers, Shen Ning, and the five members of the bee clan sat at one table.
The elders asked with concern about the elderly in the bee clan—whether the people they’d known in childhood were still alive. The little bees answered one by one, filling in details, the atmosphere warm and harmonious.
The three Lu brothers still couldn’t squeeze in.
“Dad Ning,” Lu Xiao pleaded for help.
Shen Ning waved his hand. “Sorry, darling. I want to sit here and listen.”
Lu Xiao was speechless. So after all that fuss, nothing had changed.
Lu Fengge felt a tightness in his chest. What do you mean nothing changed? He’d been kicked off the table.
…
Three days later, Grandpa Lu and Grandpa Shen set off for Baihua Village. Back then, the Lu ancestors had specified a certain mountain peak for burial, without telling later generations that right next door was the bee clan’s land.
Meng Xueyuan originally wanted to accompany them, but an official program approached him. Fortunately, the old queen bee had returned to the village and would host them in his stead—they’d have more to talk about anyway.
The program that invited Meng Xueyuan was about disaster prevention and mitigation. In recent years, with global warming and the spread of information online, netizens had increasingly “felt” the frequency of extreme weather. It not only caused huge economic losses but also ruthlessly took precious lives.
To raise awareness of extreme weather and encourage people to follow forecasts and heed disaster warnings, the authorities produced a high-value science education program. Its main content analyzed the causes of extreme weather and the measures that should be taken.
Once the science content increased, there was concern the show would feel as serious as a geography class, so inviting one or two celebrities to add interest was a common approach.
And Meng Xueyuan—a high-quality idol who had just participated in a farming variety show and had a meteorology background—was the perfect candidate.
This was a long-term CCTV program with a fixed weekly episode. The director invited Meng Xueyuan; there was nothing to criticize about the program’s nature—only concern that Meng Xueyuan’s schedule might be hard to arrange.
Meng Xueyuan was of course very eager to go—not only because of its significance, but also because the end of the program featured a weather forecast for key regions. He could be the weather presenter! He loved the look of hosts reporting the weather while pointing at a giant electronic globe!
He’d studied Mandarin with Teacher Zhang; he was confident he could do a good job.
It was said that the weather forecast segment had been recommended by Teacher Zhang Jinhe, who said Meng Xueyuan could handle it.
Meng Xueyuan called to thank him and shared the program schedule in the Southwest Main Hive group.
It’ll be broadcast on CCTV-1—please watch! o(???)o
Clan members replied one after another that they would watch on time, lavishly praising the queen bee’s weather forecast. With the queen bee hosting, the weather would surely develop in a good direction—favorable winds and timely rain year after year.
Very mystical.
To be more professional, Meng Xueyuan pulled out his university textbooks to review.
The program had a quick Q&A segment, with participants including meteorology students. If he performed like an amnesiac illiterate senior, it would be far too embarrassing.
There would also be many experts and scholars—real meteorology professionals. As a specially invited guest, Meng Xueyuan would definitely speak a lot, so he needed to be professional and avoid looking like he was showing off in front of Guan Yu.
He’d already imagined the angles black fans would nitpick: That professor from University X barely spoke—where’s the promised science? What does Meng Xueyuan know?
Sorry—he knows a lot, dear haters.
Meng Xueyuan crammed like it was the night before a college final, even checking cloud maps before bed.
He tapped an image of dark clouds on his tablet—black and oppressive like a ferocious vortex, the sky before strong convection.
He zoomed in to examine it closely.
Lu Xiao, carrying his pajamas to take a shower, glanced over from afar and saw his wife intently enlarging an image, just like a doctor examining a prenatal ultrasound.
He jolted and pounced onto the bed, pale with fright. “Honey, what is this? An ultrasound?”
Meng Xueyuan was speechless. “Dark clouds.”
Lu Xiao let out a sigh of relief and confirmed, “You didn’t drink royal jelly today, right?”
Meng Xueyuan’s eyes flickered. “I did.”
Lu Xiao: “Huh?”
Meng Xueyuan fabricated calmly, “Brother Shancha came to see me today. To soothe him, I drank a little royal jelly. He felt like he’d straightened up again.”
“Good thing you asked, or I would’ve forgotten.”
When the queen bee drinks royal jelly, it stabilizes pheromones—and stable pheromones can soothe worker bees.
Lu Xiao: “……” Why is Brother Shancha like this?
Then they couldn’t go to bed. He’d better take a long shower.
Meng Xueyuan quietly curled his lips. He had a “final exam” coming up—night life would be postponed for now.
Next time. He’d make it up.
After Lu Xiao finished showering, he felt the day had been truly perilous.
He hugged his wife, ready for some sweetness together—uh, Meng Xueyuan was doing practice questions.
Lu Xiao was utterly confused but very brave. “Honey, the shows you’re on are getting more and more high-end.”
“I don’t understand any of this—teach me, honey.”
“Sure.” Meng Xueyuan happened to see a question. “Solar snow appeared in Beicheng. The cause is the easterly backflow at the bottom of a continental cold high-pressure system, bringing moisture from Bohai Bay…”
Lu Xiao looked at his wife’s fair profile. It should’ve been a short and precious spring night—but instead he was studying advanced meteorology.
Meng Xueyuan turned his head, playing hard to get. “Do you want to go to bed? Once should be fine, right? It wouldn’t lead to pregnancy—at most, like Dad Shen, three false pregnancies.”
Lu Xiao immediately declared his innocence. “No way. It has to be foolproof.”
What if after three false ones it becomes real? He wanted their couple-only world!
Meng Xueyuan said, “Mm.”
Lu Xiao emphasized seriously, “Baby, you’re still a baby.”
Meng Xueyuan said, “Mm.”
Even though he was still a baby, he could lie, you know o(???)o
Actor Lu had retired from showbiz—but Actor Meng’s acting skills were steadily improving—
[End of Main Story]
