Chapter 40.2

This idea was inspired by a parenting show that Meng Zhengrong watched, where a father and child or a mother and daughter would take a little money to the market to buy ingredients and then return home to cook and eat together. Just thinking about it was heartwarming.

With such expectations in mind, after finishing breakfast, Meng Zhengrong couldn’t wait to drag Xu Yuan out to the supermarket.

Originally, there was an imported supermarket not far from the villa where the servants usually bought things, and Meng Zhengrong initially wanted to buy things there. But then he thought, since he wanted to experience an ordinary couple’s life with her, they should go to a more local supermarket, preferably one that was a bit crowded and noisy— that would feel more like life.

They drove around looking for one and finally arrived at Walmart.

After parking, the two of them entered the supermarket, pushing their shopping cart like everyone else and starting to browse.

Weekends were when supermarkets were the busiest, especially since many stores offered discounts on these days. Even in the morning, the supermarket was still crowded.

At the same time, Meng Pingting was shopping in the supermarket, arm-in-arm with her boyfriend Wang Lin, appearing very excited and chattering nonstop, “My brother and sister-in-law live nearby, well, not really nearby; it takes about ten minutes to drive.”

Wang Lin picked up a large box of yogurt, checked the date, and seeing it was still fresh, put it in the shopping cart. Hearing Meng Pingting, he was a bit worried, “We won’t run into them, will we?”

Meng Pingting laughed at him, “How could we run into them? They wouldn’t even come to the supermarket. Besides, even if they did, they wouldn’t come to Walmart.”

After saying that, Meng Pingting realized her words were inappropriate. It felt like she had inadvertently hurt Wang Lin’s pride.

Noticing the nervousness in his girlfriend’s eyes, Wang Lin chuckled and reached out to pat her head, “I’m not that fragile.”

He really wasn’t that fragile; he wouldn’t get angry over this. That would be too unmanly.

She was a wealthy young lady, and now having her accompany him to shop for groceries, even calculating the price of milk, made him feel guilty. He was broke, but he shouldn’t take it out on her; that would be too much.

If Meng Pingting’s family were average, Wang Lin would hope to meet both families sooner, but her family was so prominent that it was inappropriate for him to go now.

He hadn’t achieved anything yet; what could he use to prove to her family that he could provide her with a good life through his efforts?

As they left the yogurt aisle and were about to buy some fruit, they passed through the fresh food section.

“Pingting?” Xu Yuan initially thought she had seen it wrong and looked again. After confirming it was indeed Meng Pingting, she exclaimed in surprise.

Meng Zhengrong was pushing the cart and looked over when he heard her call out “Pingting,” just in time to see Meng Pingting chatting and laughing with a boy.

When Meng Pingting heard Xu Yuan’s voice, her heart skipped a beat. She looked up and saw her brother and sister-in-law nearby.

She wanted to faint right there!

No matter how awkward it was, with her brother and sister-in-law present, she had to go over to greet them.

Reluctantly, Meng Pingting brought Wang Lin over, feeling like a tortoise inching forward, until they reached Xu Yuan and Meng Zhengrong.

“Brother, sister-in-law, what a coincidence,” Meng Lingtin greeted stiffly.

Wang Lin was also nervous, but he managed to hold his composure. “Mr. Meng, Mrs. Meng, hello.”

He didn’t call them brother and sister-in-law right away, which showed he wasn’t a typical jerk.

That was considered proper, right?

Xu Yuan and Meng Zhengrong felt awkward too, but since they had just spoken with Meng’s mother yesterday and decided not to interfere with Meng Pingting’s dating affairs, they naturally wouldn’t play the role of parents now.

Meng Zhengrong nodded slightly at Wang Lin as a response, and seeing Meng Pingting was present, Xu Yuan didn’t want to make it awkward for her, so she smiled at Wang Lin.

The atmosphere wasn’t as stiff as they had imagined.

To liven things up, Meng Pingting asked, “Brother, sister-in-law, what brings you here to the supermarket today?”

She never dreamed she would run into them here.

Her brother didn’t seem like the kind of person who would be out shopping like a homebody; his presence here felt very out of place.

Thinking about it, it should be that her sister-in-law wanted to come, and her brother accompanied her. Meng Pingting couldn’t help but admire Xu Yuan even more.

Meng Zhengrong usually didn’t talk much in front of outsiders. If it were just Meng Pingting, he might have taken the initiative to say a few words, but now that there was a man standing next to his sister, he didn’t feel like saying much.

Xu Yuan naturally took Meng Zhengrong’s arm and smiled, “We decided to cook for ourselves today, so we came to buy groceries. How about you two?”

Neither of them mentioned Wang Lin’s identity on purpose.

It wasn’t the right time to bring it up, and with no one from the Meng family acknowledging it, it would only make things awkward.

Meng Pingting replied, “We just came to buy some snacks to watch a movie.”

In the past, Meng Pingting didn’t usually shop at supermarkets, but since the supermarket’s prices were much cheaper than those at the cinema, and she loved snacks, she and Wang Lin would always make a trip to the supermarket before watching a movie.

Xu Yuan understood that Meng Zhengrong didn’t want to stay here longer, which was awkward for both men, so she said to Meng Pingting, “Well, we’ll take our leave. We still need to get back home to cook.”

Meng Pingting realized Xu Yuan was giving her a way out and quickly waved, “Goodbye, brother, sister-in-law! I’ll come over to your place for dinner another day!”

“You’re always welcome.”

Wang Lin politely said goodbye as well, “Mr. Meng, Mrs. Meng, take care.”

After pushing the cart to the side, Xu Yuan casually remarked to Meng Zhengrong, “That young man is quite polite.”

Meng Zhengrong felt a bit uncomfortable: “Isn’t being polite basic manners?”

“Alright, alright, let’s not talk about that. What else do we need to buy?” Xu Yuan glanced at their shopping cart. They had bought green peppers and eggs, but it still felt like they were missing a lot.

Meng Zhengrong wasn’t much better than Xu Yuan. He was still looking up recipes on his phone. “It says here we need to buy 500 grams of meat and some chicken wings. Oh, do we have any cola at home?”

“I don’t know,” Xu Yuan replied.

She really hadn’t checked what was left in the fridge; the housekeeper usually took care of that.

“Then let’s buy a can of cola. We should have ginger, scallions, and garlic at home.”

The two of them, who had never cooked before, found shopping at the supermarket to be a novel experience.

Meanwhile, Meng Pingting and Wang Lin intentionally avoided them and headed to the snack aisle. Meng Pingting was still amazed by what had just happened. “I never expected my brother to accompany my sister-in-law to the supermarket. I have to tell my mom; she’ll definitely be shocked.”

Wang Lin picked up two bags of chips from the shelf and said, “You might not want to tell your mom.”

“What’s the point of taking two bags? That’s a waste of money.” Meng Pingting snatched one bag from his hands and put it back on the shelf. “Why can’t I tell my mom?”

Wang Lin took the bag of chips down again and placed it in the shopping cart, blocking Meng Pingting’s hand. “I know you like them. It’s just a bag of chips; don’t argue with me.”

“Fine. Back to the previous question: why not tell my mom?”

Wang Lin chuckled, reaching out to pat her head. “You’re silly.”

The relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is always complicated. If not handled well, it can easily lead to misunderstandings. Meng Zhengrong probably rarely accompanied their mother to go shopping, and now that he was accompanying his wife to the supermarket, their mother might be happy about their good relationship, but would also feel a bit strangely about it.

The saying “Once you have a wife, you forget your mother” probably came from a mother. One can imagine that mothers often feel a bit possessive in such matters.

**