Chapter 52.3

Meng Zhengrong was with old friends and didn’t hold back, drinking quite a bit. Since he couldn’t drive and Xu Yuan didn’t drive either, they called a driver.

Once they got home, with the help of the housekeeper, Xu Yuan assisted Meng Zhengrong upstairs and into the bedroom. While helping him wash his face, he groggily opened his eyes, clearly drunk, and seeing double, he gave her a silly smile.

Fortunately, he was well-mannered even when drunk. Instead of causing a scene, he quietly lay on Xu Yuan’s lap, dazedly looking up at her, behaving quite obediently.

As they say, “drunken words are sober thoughts.” Xu Yuan, feeling playful, poked his nose and quietly asked, “Who am I?”

Though he was far from sober, Meng Zhengrong’s body was still aware. He managed to look at her and slurred, “Wife.”

Not too far gone, then.

Xu Yuan thought this was a great opportunity to get him to talk. She couldn’t let it slip by. “How many times have you dated?”

Meng Zhengrong’s romantic history was probably rich, but he claimed he had only dated three or four times, which raised her suspicions.

Xu Yuan was just curious about his dating history; even if he had a hundred exes, she wouldn’t use that against him in an argument. She simply wanted to know.

Surprisingly, even in his drunken state, Meng Zhengrong remained alert and didn’t answer.

Not knowing if he was pretending to be asleep or actually had passed out, she asked again, “Who did you like the most?”

Meng Zhengrong stared at her, barely able to form a response, and only managed to say one word, “Xu.”

Xu? What if one of his ex-girlfriends had the surname Xu?

Xu Yuan pressed on, “Who did you like the most?”

This time, he replied with another word, “Yuan.”

Well, that passed the test; she believed his earlier words now.

Xu Yuan remembered a joke she had seen online. She fished his phone out of his pocket and leaned closer to his ear, whispering, “I’m going to check your phone.”

However, Meng Zhengrong didn’t react at all.

After Xu Yuan finished her shower, she was still quite energetic. She couldn’t drag Meng Zhengrong into the bathroom, so she simply wiped him down with a wet towel.

While wiping him, her hand inadvertently brushed against a sensitive area, and she unconsciously sighed, “That must hurt a lot to get cut off.”

She had no ulterior motives; it just reminded her of her past life in the palace.

She didn’t notice Meng Zhengrong’s body involuntarily shiver at her words.

Meng Zhengrong was rarely this obedient. Xu Yuan, feeling bored and realizing she didn’t have to work the next day, suddenly decided to get out of bed and sat at her vanity, picking out some cosmetics before returning to bed.

“Your eyebrows look good, but they’re a bit unruly. Let me tidy them up for you.” Xu Yuan took an eyebrow razor from her makeup bag and began carefully shaping Meng Zhengrong’s eyebrows.

So focused was she that she didn’t notice his hands were clenched tightly.

Meng Zhengrong dared not move. He thought he shouldn’t have pretended to be drunk.

Actually, he hadn’t really been faking it; he was a bit tipsy. By the time he was placed in bed, he was somewhat awake.

Especially when she asked how many girlfriends he had dated, his awareness had returned about halfway.

Thank goodness he had built up some tolerance in his youth. Even though he hadn’t drunk much in recent years, he could still handle a fair amount without losing complete control.

If he really had lost all control and said something he shouldn’t, it would be disastrous.

When she asked who he liked the most, he had wanted to laugh. To tease her, he deliberately answered with just one word. To his surprise, she kept pressing for more; it was amusing.

Of course, that amusement turned into dread when he heard her say that cutting it off must hurt. Did she really have such thoughts?

That was terrifying; he had to stop that line of thinking immediately.

To make matters worse, she was now about to groom his eyebrows. No matter how small the razor was, it was still a blade!

He didn’t dare to move at all; what if he got a scar?

The wait felt long and torturous.

Just when he was about to catch his breath after Xu Yuan finished shaping his eyebrows, she started applying something fragrant to his face. It felt soft and sponge-like as she patted it on, over and over…

After Xu Yuan finished applying foundation on Meng Zhengrong, she started assessing his face.

In the past, she had never dared to look directly at his face, but now things were different. Perhaps the saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” was true; the more she looked, the more she liked him, and the more she liked him, the more she wanted to experiment with his appearance.

Xu Yuan continuously applied foundation and drew his eyebrows. Finally, she wanted to practice applying eyeliner on him.

At her current skill level, she was still a novice at makeup. Usually, she only applied foundation and drew her eyebrows. Fortunately, the original owner had good features, so even a light makeup look was enough to be beautiful.

Her eyeliner skills weren’t quite up to par yet, but with a model right in front of her, why not take the opportunity to practice?

Thinking about how Meng Zhengrong had been teasing her lately and how he made her restless at night, always insisting she wash up again after her showers, Xu Yuan felt no need to hold back.

“I’m going to apply eyeliner; this is a perfect chance for me to practice,” she muttered to herself as she pulled an eyeliner pencil from her makeup bag.

Meng Zhengrong was feeling utterly helpless.

A man applying eyeliner? It wasn’t that he had any prejudices, but he just felt that it was something only women did. It seemed his wife was determined to turn him into a flamboyant man. Well, he might as well go along with it.

Seeing her so excited, he couldn’t help but comply, especially since he had pretended to be drunk at the start.

After Xu Yuan finished his makeup, she took out her phone to snap a few pictures. Hearing the shutter click, Meng Zhengrong lamented internally, “Great, now I have embarrassing photos in her hands.”

As for the matter of the Zhenfu Gang… well, he could only think about it.

Fortunately, Xu Yuan wasn’t the type to tease and then run away. Although she had applied makeup on him, she carefully removed it afterward.

Once she was done, Xu Yuan noticed that Meng Zhengrong had fallen into a deep sleep. She was feeling sleepy herself, but she kept some distance from him, given that the bed was already quite large.

If it were up to her, she would have preferred to sleep on the couch or in the guest room. After all, who could guarantee that a drunk person wouldn’t vomit during the night?

If he threw up on the bed or on her, it would be hard to maintain any semblance of marital affection…

However, if Meng Zhengrong didn’t vomit and woke up to find her not in bed, he was naturally a bit petty, so who knew if he would sulk?

This was the best option—keeping as much distance as possible so that if he did vomit, it wouldn’t land on her.

Xu Yuan drifted off to sleep, feeling somewhat tired after the day.

Once she fell asleep, Meng Zhengrong opened his eyes carefully, quietly got out of bed, brushed his teeth, and took a shower before returning to bed. He smoothly wrapped his arms around her, and Xu Yuan, used to sleeping in his embrace, naturally nestled against his chest.

This little gesture made Meng Zhengrong’s heart soften instantly. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

“Of course, I like you the most.”

Was there even a need to ask? It was an unquestionable answer.