Chapter 41.3

Perhaps after coming to this era, Xu Yuan had become more vulnerable. In the past, no matter what she encountered, she had gotten used to keeping it all bottled up, having no one to confide in, so she had to do it this way.

It was different now. She wanted to share her emotions with Meng Zhengrong, even if it was just weaving a lie, it could still reveal a hint of truth.

Meng Zhengrong could sense Xu Yuan’s seriousness and stopped changing the subject, instead taking the time to genuinely think about what regrets he had.

“I don’t have any.” Meng Zhengrong shook his head. “Currently, there’s nothing in my life that makes me feel regretful.”

“Ah, I really envy that.” Xu Yuan stretched lazily. “If one goes through life without feeling regret, that’s truly the happiest state.”

Compared to regret, what was more helpless was regret.

At least with regret, one could struggle or act hysterically. Regret felt more like accepting fate.

“Not necessarily.” Meng Zhengrong suddenly became serious. “Right now, I don’t feel regret, but once my parents are gone, I’ll regret not treating them better while they were still here. When our children grow up, I might regret not spending more time with them…”

He paused and looked at Xu Yuan. “When we grow old, I might also regret not creating more romantic memories when we were young.”

“Eh?” The topic suddenly became somewhat deep, and even Xu Yuan didn’t react right away.

“So, regardless of who it is, even ancient emperors will have many things they regret when it’s time to go. It’s an emotion that people cannot avoid.”

“That’s a good point.” Xu Yuan nodded.

“So, Mrs. Meng, don’t bother worrying about these philosophical issues that can’t even be clearly articulated.”

Xu Yuan replied, “I’m not worried.”

“You’re not worried? That Monday Syndrome won’t fool me.” Meng Zhengrong’s expression became inexplicably serious. “Still, if there’s anything you can’t solve or that troubles you, feel free to come to me.”

Xu Yuan: “…”

But she had to admit that after chatting with Meng Zhengrong like this, she seemed to have calmed down again.

Looking at Meng Zhengrong’s profile, Xu Yuan suddenly felt that, unknowingly, since she had tacitly agreed to become closer to Meng Zhengrong, perhaps their relationship was genuinely heading toward that of a real couple.

“What are you looking at? Are you thinking I’m much more handsome than your new assistant?” Noticing Xu Yuan was looking at him, Meng Zhengrong’s tone turned proud.

Suddenly bringing up Fang Mingyang made Xu Yuan’s expression darken for a moment. “Why bring up that assistant?”

“I heard the secretaries discussing it by chance. They said someone saw him in the morning, and he’s really handsome. Is that true?”

Meng Zhengrong had already passed the age of competing with any man over looks.

Or rather, for many men, being handsome or not wasn’t that important.

“Uh.” Xu Yuan casually replied with a sound of agreement.

Her cousin was indeed handsome, but a person’s appearance was still related to their temperament.

In her previous life, her cousin was talented and had a striking presence; even the emperor later remarked that he had seen the top scholar a few times and found him unforgettable.

Although Fang Mingyang had the same face as her cousin, his temperament was completely different. He was anxious and silent; besides his face, he lacked her cousin’s charm.

What was most helpless was that she clearly knew there was no similarity between the two except for their looks, yet she couldn’t help but feel a surge of uncontrollable emotions.

Meng Zhengrong wasn’t pleased with Xu Yuan’s response and just as they were passing a rest area, he made a turn and parked the car. After stopping, he seriously said to Xu Yuan, “Mrs. Meng, if I say Shen Jingjing is beautiful, how would you feel?”

Shen Jingjing was a celebrity of the same caliber as Yu Yu, but she took a different route, exuding a high-cold goddess vibe. In both television and film, she often played the role of the first love or the pure white moonlight.

Xu Yuan thought for a moment, “What would I think? She is indeed very beautiful.”

“……” Meng Zhengrong felt frustrated. He looked at Xu Yuan, trying to see any different emotions in her eyes. However, there was none. Finally, he had no choice but to get out of the car and head to the convenience store in the rest area to buy two bottles of water.

He thought perhaps in Xu Yuan’s dictionary, the words “jealousy” simply didn’t exist.

However, it proved that all men who thought this way had never seen the other person genuinely jealous.

Meng Zhengrong brought Xu Yuan to a place that wasn’t very far. After driving for less than half an hour, they arrived.

The car stopped halfway up the mountain, and Meng Zhengrong parked it, motioning for Xu Yuan to follow him out.

It was already a very hot summer, but at this mountain halfway up, there was a natural air conditioning feeling, pleasantly cool.

“Come here.” Meng Zhengrong pulled Xu Yuan closer to the car, wrapping his arm around her waist, and pointed at a piece of land not far down the mountain, “What do you think of that piece of land?”

Xu Yuan had good eyesight and followed his finger to look at that piece of land. Next to it was a small creek, and not far away were rolling mountains and lush green trees. It was quite cool here in summer; she didn’t know how warm it was in winter.

But looking at it like this, it really was a nice place.

Xu Yuan nodded, “Not bad, it’s pretty good.”

Meng Zhengrong’s expression immediately became proud, “I had my eye on this piece of land two years ago. I acquired it ahead of others, and we’ll start construction next year. I’m planning to build a smaller private residence here, larger than a regular home. This place isn’t too far from the city. What do you think?”

Could it be that they would live here?

Xu Yuan gently suggested, “It might not be convenient for work.”

Meng Zhengrong glanced at her, “After we retire, we’ll live here. By then, we won’t need to work. Once we have children, we can come here to play during holidays.”

“Isn’t there a villa at home?”

Xu Yuan had been in finance for some time; although this place wasn’t very close to the city, land was expensive now. She had no idea how much such a large piece of land would cost, let alone building a house and all that.

This land must be at least several hundred square meters. Based on Meng Zhengrong’s requirements, the building style and decoration would surely be the best of everything.

Just roughly calculating, the money spent here would be enough for many people to earn over several generations.

After coming to this era, Xu Yuan’s natural instincts had also been unleashed. She began to convert the costs of this piece of land into how many clothes and shoes that could buy…

Xu Yuan instinctively covered her chest, feeling a bit out of breath.

She felt that the land before her was no longer just barren land, but piles of clothes, shoes, and bags.

Meng Zhengrong didn’t take Xu Yuan’s words seriously, “A villa is still not close enough to nature, this place is so nice.”

Building a house here just for the sake of getting close to nature?

Xu Yuan thought Meng Zhengrong’s brain must have been fried, burned out by endless money.

“Just for personal use? Not for business?”

“Of course, it’ll just be for us to live in.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Meng Zhengrong sensed that Xu Yuan was acting a bit off and asked.

Xu Yuan looked at Meng Zhengrong and thought, thank goodness he’s not her son, or this spendthrift would definitely drive her crazy (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻. 

Xu Yuan didn’t even realize that because of Meng Zhengrong’s actions, she was no longer focused on Fang Mingyang, who was still in the office. She was only concerned about her own feelings of discomfort.