Chapter 7: Like Meng Xiaolang More

“From the moment I met you until now, half of what you’ve mentioned is about your daughter. Are you sincerely here to see me, or are you using me to ingratiate yourself with her?”

He turned around and pointed his finger at Wen Zhaoyin, who was sitting in the main seat, drinking tea.

Meng’s mother quickly stood up, stepped forward, and pressed down Meng Huan’s hand, apologizing to Wen Zhaoyin, “Lord Wen, the boy is used to being undisciplined at home. Please forgive his offenses, please forgive his offenses.”

Wen Zhaoyin had a smile on her face just a second ago, but upon hearing this, she slammed the teacup on the table, and her face immediately darkened.

“Indeed, he is quite undisciplined, daring to point his finger at his wife like this and speak so rudely in the main hall. Pei Lan, take him back to the Green Bamboo Courtyard to reflect on his actions!”

Pei Lan knew very well that the family head was not angered even when called by name the day before yesterday, so how could she possibly get angry just by being pointed at? She just pretended to invite Meng Huan out.

On this side, Wen Zhaoyin didn’t wait for Meng’s mother to react and left the main hall with a swoosh of her sleeve.

After she walked out the door, four guards came in from outside and politely invited Meng’s mother out of the Wen family, not even giving her a chance to say a word.

After leaving the Wen family, she still believed that it was because Meng Huan had angered Wen Zhaoyin that she was implicated, completely deceived by their acting.

——

On this side, as soon as Meng Huan returned to his small courtyard, Wen Zhaoyin followed closely behind.

“I saw that you were unhappy earlier, so I put on that act. After all, if you openly clash with your mother, it’s easy to be labeled as unfilial.” For men of the current dynasty, reputation was sometimes more important than life.

She cared about him and carefully protected his reputation, showing that she was already very attentive. If Meng Huan were replaced by another man, he would probably be moved to tears.

But Meng Huan simply lacked the mindset of “female dominance” and only felt that Wen Zhaoyin’s impromptu performance was particularly good, leaving no room for the slightest bit of being moved.

He only said, “Thank you for helping me resolve a matter close to my heart.”

He originally planned to escape and find the original owner’s family. After all, borrowing someone’s body, taking care of their parents was the right thing to do.

Now Wen Zhaoyin had helped him find them in advance and even allowed him to understand the situation at home, saving him the trouble of going out later.

Wen Zhaoyin thought he was still thinking about what had just happened and didn’t mind his insincere gratitude. Instead, she comforted, “Many families are like this, with distinctions between the legitimate and the concubine-born, and the mother’s love also varies in degree.”

“Don’t be sad about the past. From now on, in the Wen family, I will definitely not let you suffer any grievances.”

Her words were firm and resolute, sounding more like a promise than just casual talk.

Meng Huan blinked, feeling that her words sounded as if she could relate, “Are you also concubine-born?”

Wen Zhaoyin was stunned by his question. She glanced at the lush ginkgo tree in the courtyard through the window, turned her face, and shook her head with a smile, “I am not.”

“Then why…”

Seeing that the conversation was heading in the wrong direction, Pei Lan hurriedly stepped forward with a book in her hands, “Young Master, this is the menu of dish names you asked for earlier. Everything the chef can make is in this book.”

Meng Huan didn’t pursue the question further, his attention fully drawn to the book. He quickly took it and flipped through the pages from right to left, checking what delicacies were available.

The text here was similar to traditional Chinese characters. The handwriting in the menu was neat, and he could understand it with some guesswork.

Yesterday, when he asked for a menu to order dishes, the head chef directly replied that there wasn’t one and only said, “Young Master, just order whatever you want to eat,” in a rather domineering tone.

But he didn’t know what dishes were available here. He couldn’t just say he wanted to eat fried chicken, steak, or lamb scorpion, right? If the head chef heard that, he would probably sigh at how bumpy his career had been.

So he asked Wen Xi to find Pei Lan and give a rough description, resulting in the thick menu he received today.

He selected a few meat dishes and very politely asked Wen Zhaoyin what she wanted to eat. She only ordered two vegetable dishes and said she had something to do and left.

He didn’t ask her to stay, let alone ask if she would come for dinner in the evening. A grown man shouldn’t act like a clingy wife, asking this and that.

If she comes, she comes. If not, he’ll eat by himself.

As Wen Zhaoyin passed by the ginkgo tree outside, her steps didn’t falter, but Pei Lan looked back and turned to advise with concern.

“Don’t take what happened earlier to heart…”

Wen Zhaoyin raised her hand to interrupt, not letting her continue, “Two years ago, I often dreamed of him. A year ago, I dreamed of him less. In the past half month, I haven’t dreamed of him even once.”

She clasped her hands behind her back, her steps still steady, but her voice trembled slightly, “Pei Lan, do you think Huanhuan thinks I’m a heartless person and doesn’t want to see me anymore?”

Pei Lan wouldn’t dare to agree with those words even if she had a hundred times more courage. She waved her hands and head together, “No, that’s impossible.”

“It’s precisely because Zhengjun loved you so much that after passing away, he entrusted Meng Xiaolang to be by your side and accompany you. He couldn’t bear to see you lonely!”

The family head hadn’t married or taken a concubine for three years due to Zhengjun’s passing. Now that she had finally brought someone back, Pei Lan felt that if she said Zhengjun was jealous and couldn’t tolerate Meng Huan, she would definitely become a sinner hindering the Wen family’s lineage.

Let alone Zu Jun not sparing her, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself!

“Zhengjun had a pure and kind nature. He must have wanted you to like Meng Xiaolang more and be happier, so he didn’t want to meet you.”

Wen Zhaoyin finally stopped, wiped her face with her hand, her expression already back to normal, “You’re right. Huanhuan was always the most considerate of me.”