Chapter 38.1

Early Saturday morning, Mother Meng called Xu Yuan to invite her and Meng Zhengrong to go out for morning tea.

Xu Yuan didn’t have a habit of sleeping in, but ever since she started working, unless there was a special circumstance, she and Meng Zhengrong would sleep until eleven o’clock on weekends.

However, with Mother Meng issuing the order, Xu Yuan and Meng Zhengrong had no choice but to reluctantly get up.

By the time they arrived at the restaurant Mother Meng had mentioned, it was already ten o’clock.

Xu Yuan guessed that Mother Meng had called them to discuss Meng Pingting’s situation, and sure enough, not long after they sat down, Mother Meng personally served Xu Yuan a shrimp dumpling, smiling as she said, “I still want to thank you, Xiao Yuan. If you hadn’t been there that day, it probably wouldn’t have ended well.”

It was also because of that incident that, not only Meng Pingting but even Mother liked Xu Yuan more.

“Mom, you’re too polite. I should have done that. Pingting is also my sister,” Xu Yuan said. In the past, she thought Meng Pingting was spoiled and willful, but since meeting Shen Xin, she considered Meng Pingting to be a pretty good girl—at least she was reasonable.

Meng Zhengrong couldn’t help but admire Xu Yuan more as he watched her.

He felt that he had never met anyone as sensible and understanding as Xu Yuan.

When Mother Meng heard this from Xu Yuan, she felt relaxed. “That day, Pingting should have talked to you. I won’t ask what you discussed, but the next morning, Pingting was very honest with me. You must have had a big role in this.”

Xu Yuan naturally had her own selfish motives. In fact, she didn’t really want to get involved in Meng Pingting’s affairs.

No matter how the situation was handled, it was too easy to offend someone. There was no need to mention Mother Meng’s attitude. She definitely wouldn’t support Meng Pingting’s relationship in the short term. Meng Pingting’s stance was also clear—she really liked her boyfriend and had no intention of breaking up.

The two women would certainly have disagreements on this issue, and helping one side would offend the other.

It wasn’t Xu Yuan’s style to get involved in muddy waters, so she encouraged Meng Pingting to confess to Mother Meng. In this way, she could let the mother and daughter figure out how to deal with the matter.

Xu Yuan didn’t respond further and simply smiled at Mother Meng before lowering her head to drink her porridge.

The restaurant chosen by Mother Meng was naturally upscale, so even on the weekend, there weren’t many people, making it quite quiet.

Mother Meng wasn’t someone who lacked perception. She understood that Xu Yuan had done a great job as a sister-in-law, and she couldn’t expect her to actually act like an older sister.

So, she turned to her son and said, “Pingting told me about that boy in general terms. She embellished a lot, but I’m still not satisfied. After all, they come from different backgrounds. They really don’t match. Zhengrong, what do you think?”

Meng Zhengrong and Xu Yuan were indeed a well-matched couple, and neither of them wanted to get involved.

He wasn’t afraid of trouble, he just felt that this was Meng Pingting’s personal matter. If they interfered too much, it might make her more rebellious. Who knows, it could even improve her relationship with her boyfriend.

Meng Zhengrong had his own past experience. He had gone through the same phase as Meng Pingting. Of course, looking back now, it seemed that he had never invested genuine feelings in his past relationships.

Whether he was a scumbag or not was a different discussion. From his perspective, Meng Pingting was too young. She thought her current relationship was true love, but in reality, even if a relationship has parental blessings, it doesn’t guarantee it will last.

For someone like Meng Pingting, the chances of a relationship ending in success at her age were very slim. This possibility didn’t have much to do with whether parents opposed it. In fact, if parents tried to oppose it, their feelings might become even stronger.

Thinking this, Meng Zhengrong looked at Xu Yuan and then at his mother, cautiously saying, “If it were up to me, I think you should just let it go and let them develop on their own.”

Mother Meng pressed, “What do you mean? Are you saying to ignore Pingting?”

“It’s not that we should ignore her. It’s just that it won’t matter whether we do or not. Besides, Pingting is still young and has a rebellious mindset. The more you oppose her, the more stubborn she’ll become.”

Xu Yuan completely agreed with what Meng Zhengrong said. Although she had never been in a relationship, excluding him, she knew that sometimes the more others oppose something, the more the person involved wants to go against it. It can be said to be a kind of rebellious spirit against parental authority, or it could simply be a human instinct.

Mother Meng thought for a moment and nodded, “You have a point. Your dad said the same thing.”

Now it was Meng Zhengrong’s turn to be surprised. “Dad knows? And he reacted to this calmly?”

Although he didn’t want to admit it, he had to say that his father definitely favored daughters over sons.

Meng Zhengrong is now somewhat understood. The soft and delicate daughter was favored over the mischievous son who was always causing trouble.

“Your dad is not calm. He couldn’t bear to scold Pingting. In fact, after he learned that Pingting was dating, he was restless for several nights and kept making threats in front of me, saying he wanted to deal with that boy…” Mother Meng lifted her milk tea cup and took a sip, speaking calmly.

So what actually drives Meng’s father crazy is the fact that Meng Pingting is dating? It didn’t matter if the boyfriend was rich or poor; even if Meng Pingting dated someone from a comparable background, Father Meng would still be agitated and angry?

Mother Meng glanced at Meng Zhengrong and said, “When you have a daughter in the future, you’ll understand your father’s feelings.”

This made Xu Yuan feel a great deal of pressure.

She had a strong sense that Mother Meng was hinting at something.

Meng Zhengrong imagined that with his and Xu Yuan’s genes, if they had a daughter in the future, she would definitely be incredibly beautiful. If the little girl he cherished was charmed by some punk, no matter how good the boy was, it would definitely be a blood feud!

Thinking about this, he began to understand his father more.

It was a good thing his dad hadn’t rushed out; his psychological resilience and composure were excellent.

“I understand,” Meng Zhengrong nodded seriously.

Although he would be sad to lose a daughter to someone else, he still wanted a daughter.

He completely understood the difference in attitudes his father had toward him and toward Meng Pingting.

**