Chapter 40.1

Meng Zhengrong was quite pleased with Xu Yuan’s initiative to hug him. He didn’t dare to reveal too strong an emotion, fearing that she might pull away again.

After careful thought, he concluded that she must have been satisfied with his earlier response.

In truth, his reply wasn’t meant to please her; he genuinely believed that feelings were elusive and difficult to define. However, everyone knows where the moral boundaries lie. Emotions are inherently one-to-one; no matter how much one might like something or someone, there are certain boundaries that cannot be crossed.

Of course, up to now, Meng Zhengrong had indeed never encountered a situation where he would compete with his brothers for the same woman.

Everyone was a person of principle; they wouldn’t do something so disgusting.

“Did you have fun with Yuyu today?” Meng Zhengrong took the initiative to ask.

Strangely enough, perhaps the fate between him and Xu Yuan had long been predestined. Although they were not familiar at all before getting married and had hardly spoken, their social circles oddly merged together.

Her brother was his good friend, her best friend was someone he had known before, and they had even eaten together a few times. In fact, her best friend had once been together with his friend.

Isn’t this fate?

Xu Yuan responded with an “Mm”: “It was pretty fun. She originally wanted to invite me to travel together.”

In her previous life, she had willingly stayed in the palace and had hardly been anywhere. In this life, in such an era, if she had time in the future, she also wanted to travel around and see what the outside world was like.

Meng Zhengrong was alert and asked, “Did you agree?”

Traveling? Wouldn’t that take at least a week?

He wasn’t willing, but if she wanted to go, he couldn’t stop her.

Xu Yuan shook her head: “Not yet, I still have to work, where would I find time to go play?”

Only then did Meng Zhengrong remember that he and Xu Yuan hadn’t gone on a honeymoon yet. Of course, it was inappropriate to bring up this topic now because it meant he had long since thrown the idea of a honeymoon aside.

Women probably cared about such things, right?

Once he had the time, he would still have to make up for the honeymoon soon; otherwise, when they argued and she brought this up, he would definitely be in the wrong.

Strangely enough, now that he thought about it, he felt it was really inappropriate to go on a business trip so soon after getting married. He felt inexplicably guilty, but at that time, he hadn’t thought that way. He even felt that he was doing it for work, for the Meng family; he couldn’t just set aside important tasks. So he went on the business trip with that mindset.

Even Meng Zhengrong had to sigh at this point that men really treat women they have feelings for differently from those they don’t.

“When we both have time, let’s go out and relax,” Meng Zhengrong said.

Xu Yuan casually agreed, but she didn’t take this matter to heart.

She fell silent for a moment and then asked, “It seems like your relationship with Song Yu is pretty good?”

Meng Zhengrong thought Xu Yuan was trying to probe, especially since Yu Yu had once had a fling with Song Yu, and since she was so close to Yuyu, did they talk about something today?

Otherwise, why was she asking today when she hadn’t before?

Meng Zhengrong replied, “Yeah, we’ve known each other since we were young, and our families have a good relationship. Now that his parents are not in the country, our families have had less contact. We might visit their home to celebrate the New Year this year.”

Xu Yuan nodded thoughtfully: “Does Song Yu have a girlfriend?”

Putting aside her prejudices against Song Yu today, he was actually quite a catch. Generally speaking, someone like him, regardless of gender, wouldn’t lack partners.

Meng Zhengrong knew Xu Yuan was probing for information; could it be that Yuyu really had signs of softening up?

“No, no, he hasn’t had a girlfriend for the past two years, and he’s been single all this time. His private life is extremely clean,” Meng Zhengrong said, although he didn’t want to wade into murky waters. Since Xu Yuan asked, he naturally wanted to speak well of his friend.

Song Yu really should treat him to a meal for this.

He was helping him out without any grudges.

Xu Yuan’s expression wasn’t very good, but Meng Zhengrong couldn’t see it. Her tone was still the same as before, “Mm, got it.”

After a day of shopping, Xu Yuan was a bit tired, and Meng Zhengrong didn’t force her to keep chatting. They turned off the lights and prepared to sleep.

The next morning, Meng Zhengrong woke up earlier than Xu Yuan. He remembered the idea he thought of last night and hurried downstairs. It was still early; the servants in the villa knew that the male and female owners didn’t usually get up that early on weekends. The housekeeper was taken aback when he saw Meng Zhengrong come downstairs and checked his watch; it was only seven o’clock, and breakfast hadn’t been prepared yet.

The housekeeper immediately walked up to Meng Zhengrong and asked, “Sir, do you want breakfast now? I’ll have the kitchen prepare it right away.”

Meng Zhengrong replied, “Just make some millet porridge and soup dumplings. Also, after breakfast is ready, give everyone a day off, including the driver.”

The housekeeper was astonished. “Give everyone a day off? Are you and the madam going out to eat?”

“That’s a secret,” Meng Zhengrong said, rarely playing coy. “Just make sure they leave early. Tell the others to come back tomorrow morning.”

Although the housekeeper was full of doubts, since Meng Zhengrong had spoken, he didn’t dare to say anything more and nodded to go announce the good news.

Meng Zhengrong went back upstairs to the bedroom and saw Xu Yuan sleeping soundly. He was feeling a bit sleepy himself and planned to catch up on sleep.

Around ten o’clock, Xu Yuan woke up, and the moment she did, Meng Zhengrong got up as well.

As usual, the two stood in front of the bathroom mirror brushing their teeth. There was no exchange of glances, but it was a quiet and warm harmony.

For Xu Yuan, weekends were the most comfortable, especially weekends spent at home without going out.

The happiest weekends were of two kinds: one was dressing up and going out to shop, and the other was staying home all day in casual clothes without makeup.

Although putting on makeup was enjoyable, and it felt like the whole world belonged to her, removing the makeup was incredibly tedious.

Xu Yuan went downstairs, with Meng Zhengrong following behind, eagerly anticipating her surprised expression.

As soon as she reached the first floor, Xu Yuan noticed something was off; the house was too quiet. It had been quiet before, too— the servants wouldn’t speak loudly while they were sleeping, nor would they make a lot of noise— but today was different. Xu Yuan casually walked around the living room, confirming that there should be no one at home. She turned around and asked, “Where is everyone?”

Meng Zhengrong smiled mysteriously and led her to the dining room, where there was steaming millet porridge on the table. “Let’s eat breakfast first.”

Xu Yuan didn’t like his expression at all. Any male lead in a drama trying to surprise the female lead always had a look that made her want to roll her eyes.

Because often what men considered surprises brought only shock to women, not joy.

“Where is everyone?” Xu Yuan asked calmly, not moving her chopsticks.

Meng Zhengrong felt he couldn’t keep this up any longer, so he spoke gently, “I think our weekends are quite boring. Either we go out shopping and dining, or we just stay at home.”

“And then?” Xu Yuan felt an ominous premonition.

“This time, let’s do something interesting.” Meng Zhengrong clasped his hands together on the table. “I gave everyone a day off. Today, we won’t go out to eat. We’ll buy groceries at the supermarket and cook for ourselves.”

Hearing this, Xu Yuan showed no surprise on her face, but rather stared at Meng Zhengrong with a blank expression.

Xu Yuan didn’t react as he had expected, but Meng Zhengrong didn’t feel discouraged. He reached out and rested his hand on her hand, “After we finish eating, let’s drive to the supermarket. We’ll buy whatever we want to eat.”

If possible, Xu Yuan would have loved to refuse Meng Zhengrong, but seeing his expression, she couldn’t say it.

Thinking positively, even if she didn’t want to, those servants probably wouldn’t be back anytime soon, so why make things difficult for herself?

“Alright.” Meng Zhengrong was so happy that he didn’t even notice her reluctant tone.

Xu Yuan sighed inwardly; she figured she could treat this as a way to experience life.

**