Chapter 35.1

The shock lasted only a moment. It wasn’t that Xu Yuan was particularly surprised by this sudden kiss.

She had watched quite a few TV dramas lately, and scenes like this were not unfamiliar to her.

In her memory, she had never been this intimate with anyone. The warmth of his lips on hers, the back and forth, she could even feel his tongue desperately pressing against her teeth. Although she didn’t know much about these things, Xu Yuan had a vague feeling that if she loosened her teeth, something different would happen.

This was the only kiss she remembered from both her past and present lives. She originally thought she wouldn’t react at all, but at this moment, for some unknown reason, a slight and shameful shyness began to spread in her heart.

Maybe it was because she had never been in such close contact with a man before. Now, her inner self felt like a shy little girl. She wanted to reach out and push him away. She even wanted to act out a melodramatic scene from a TV drama, struggling desperately and shouting “no, no…”

She wanted to do these things, but she just couldn’t.

It seemed like he was slowly sucking away her oxygen. Her mind was in a haze, and she couldn’t feel anything except for his lips attacking hers.

What was Meng Zhengrong thinking at this moment?

He was caught in a dilemma, on the one hand, he really wanted to continue kissing her, and even deepen the kiss, because she was so sweet, like the sugarcane juice he drank as a child—fragrant and sweet.

On the other hand, he felt that he shouldn’t continue, because no matter how passionate they were, they wouldn’t be able to “drive” tonight. Since they couldn’t take things further tonight, continuing would only be a huge torture for him.

Anyway, there was plenty of time in the future. Now that they had started this, it wouldn’t stop here. Thinking of this, Meng Zhengrong used his exceptional self-control to let go of Xu Yuan. Both were breathing heavily.

She shouldn’t hit him, right? She probably didn’t have the strength now.

If she could, Xu Yuan would have liked to kick Meng Zhengrong in an important part of his body, but she remembered what Mother Xu had said: as long as she and Meng Zhengrong didn’t divorce, such physical contact was inevitable. What she needed to do now was to adapt to him.

There was a brief silence. In TV dramas, after a kiss, couples who are in love would share sweet words, but if the feelings weren’t mutual, it would just be awkward.

Just when Meng Zhengrong was starting to regret his actions, Xu Yuan gave him a way out, “Did you drink today?”

He did drink a little, but not much.

But should he admit that he acted this way because he was drunk? That would only make it worse.

Even if he had drunk, he should have sobered up after resting in the afternoon.

There’s a saying: when two people quarrel, first calm down and see if it’s your fault, and if it is, find a way to shift the blame to the other person.

They weren’t exactly quarreling, but the atmosphere wasn’t much better than that.

He wanted to have a candid conversation with her.

Maybe if they talked well, he could even secure some benefits for himself.

“I didn’t drink much.” Meng Zhengrong reached out and turned on the room light, then walked over to the sofa. Xu Yuan followed him.

They each sat on one side of the sofa, as if negotiating.

Meng Zhengrong wasn’t used to this kind of arrangement. He got up and sat next to Xu Yuan, ignoring her resistance, and started playing with her hand.

Her hand was very fair and delicate, truly like spring onions, soft to the touch, but not plump.

“What is it?” Xu Yuan wanted to pull her hand back, but Meng Zhengrong was being like this for the first time, so she had to endure it.

Let him touch if he wanted to.

Meng Zhengrong glanced at her, then quickly looked away, “I’m not sure if it’s good or bad that you didn’t go today.”

“What do you mean?” His sudden cryptic remark made Xu Yuan pay more attention.

What happened today?

“Nothing, there’s good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” Meng Zhengrong decided to be a bit mysterious.

Actually, Xu Yuan wasn’t very patient with such games, but the situation had changed. Mrs. Xu’s words made her think about things differently, and she had more patience for Meng Zhengrong.

“Let’s hear the good news first.”

“The good news is that starting Monday, you won’t see uncle at work anymore. He’s retiring officially starting today. The public welfare project department will now be completely under your control.” Meng Zhengrong said calmly.

The amount of information was too much for Xu Yuan to process immediately.

What was going on? How did Uncle Shen just step down so obediently in one afternoon? She sensed it had something to do with the bad news Meng Zhengrong hadn’t mentioned yet, and probably involved her.

Xu Yuan calmed herself and asked, “That is good news, but what’s the bad news?”

“The bad news led to the good news.” Meng Zhengrong paused, looking at her, his eyes calm, with no trace of the earlier anger. “When I went to Uncle’s birthday party today, I ran into an old acquaintance of yours.”

“…” A series of events lined up in Xu Yuan’s mind, and she could guess who this acquaintance was with her toes.

If that was the case, then the Shen family really did shoot themselves in the foot this time.

She was also glad she had been wise enough not to go, as even without trouble, there would have been trouble.

Seeing Xu Yuan remain silent, Meng Zhengrong continued, “I know what Uncle and Aunt were planning, but it doesn’t matter now. I’ve already warned that acquaintance of yours to stay away from you in the future. Of course, I hope you won’t meet with him again either… Do you have any objections?”

Xu Yuan quickly shook her head, “Of course not. To be honest, I don’t want to see him again.”

Whether Chen Hao was despicable or not, given the situation now, it was best if they never interacted again.

“I really don’t want to cause any more conflicts with you over the past. I also have a past, and I can’t expect you to have feelings as pure as a blank sheet before marrying me; that would be too selfish. It’s just that people have feelings, and it’s impossible not to have any emotions. To be honest, I’m still angry even now.”

Although he didn’t have much reason to be angry or a strong position to be angry, he was still angry.

No one wants to be petty, no one wants to be as calculating as a coward, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.

Who wants to quarrel over trivial old matters? He didn’t want to either, but if he could perfectly control his thoughts, he wouldn’t be human, he would be a deity.

Xu Yuan could understand how Meng Zhengrong felt, but when she realized that she was also involved in this issue, she felt she couldn’t remain so calm anymore.

After all, they had kissed and hugged earlier…

With many debts, one doesn’t worry, and with many lice, one doesn’t itch.

Thinking of this, Xu Yuan gritted her teeth. As the emperor’s favorite, the emperor didn’t avoid her when flirting with concubines…

Let her recall how those concubines behaved?

Just as Meng Zhengrong was about to continue speaking, Xu Yuan suddenly hugged him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head stiffly on his shoulder.

**