The main light in the bedroom was already off, leaving only the bedside lamp on her side.
She quietly crawled onto the bed, turned off the light, and lay still.
After a long while, she reached out and gently patted Song Wenzhou.
“What is it?”
Receiving a response, she shifted closer, pressing up against the man.
“Song Wenzhou, we…”
Warm breath scattered across his neck. Song Wenzhou took a deep breath and pushed her away.
“Don’t get so close to me.”
Rejected coldly, Xu Chengyi pouted and said, “See, see, see? I’ve already been very proactive. It’s you who doesn’t want to. Tomorrow, when your parents and grandfather ask, just say it’s your problem, okay?”
“Mm.”
Seeing how readily the man responded, Xu Chengyi suddenly thought of her exceptionally talented and beautiful second sister, Xu Shutong.
“Are you still thinking about my second sister?” she asked.
The man didn’t answer.
She turned over, facing away from him, and said, “I advise you to face reality sooner and give up your fantasies. She doesn’t want you anymore. I’m your wife now.”
The night deepened, and the noisy mountain estate gradually settled into calm.
The next day.
Morning sunlight pierced through the heavy curtains, scattering specks of light into the room.
A “knock, knock, knock” came from outside the door.
“Second Young Master, Second Young Madam, time to get up.”
Xu Chengyi irritably pulled the blanket up to cover her ears.
Meanwhile, Song Wenzhou, who had been sleeping beside her, had already thrown off the covers and gotten out of bed, twisting the door open.
Aunt Wu smiled. “Good morning, Second Young Master.” Her gaze drifted inside. “And Second Young Madam?”
Song Wenzhou casually stepped aside, as if signaling her to come in.
Aunt Wu stepped into the room and saw Xu Chengyi wrapped in her blanket, fast asleep. Her expression turned cold. “Second Young Madam, breakfast is about to begin. If you’re late getting up, no meals will be prepared for you for the entire day. That is the Song family’s rule.”
Xu Chengyi took a deep breath, threw off the blanket, and sat up, staring at Aunt Wu with a face full of irritation. She snapped, “Then let me starve to death.”
What era was this? A living person couldn’t possibly starve just because there was no food at home, could they?
She was too sleepy to care about any of that and lay back down.
Aunt Wu had never seen such an unmanageable new daughter-in-law. She warned, “Second Young Madam, are you trying to make Second Madam come and fetch you personally?”
Xu Chengyi wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. “Then go ahead and call her over.”
Aunt Wu truly couldn’t out-argue her, so she flicked her sleeves and left.
After being disturbed by that racket, Xu Chengyi was no longer sleepy or hungry—because she was too full of anger.
She irritably threw off the blanket, only daring to take out her frustration on the pillows and blanket on the bed.
Song Wenzhou said, “Hurry up and get up.”
Seeing him only made her angrier. If it weren’t for him opening the door, if it weren’t for him allowing it, that old woman wouldn’t have come in to ruin her peaceful sleep.
The real culprit was still the man.
She climbed up, stood on the bed, and crooked her finger at him.
Song Wenzhou, puzzled, walked closer. “What is it?”
She raised her hand, hooked it around his neck, leaned in, and kissed him hard on the lips, as if venting her anger.
The next moment, the man shoved her away.
She fell back onto the bed and looked at his sour face.
So satisfying.
Song Wenzhou wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb. “Xu Chengyi, you—”
Xu Chengyi looked at him with an utterly innocent expression.
Song Wenzhou finally squeezed out a sentence. “You can’t kiss me from now on.”
Xu Chengyi blinked. “Then you can’t let that old woman into the room from now on.”
Song Wenzhou nodded. “Got it.”
Xu Chengyi smiled. “Song Wenzhou, you’re not stupid after all.”
With that, she climbed up and hummed a tune as she walked into the bathroom.
When the two came downstairs, the long dining table was already full of people.
The Song family, like the Xu family, was a centuries-old prominent clan. With great wealth came many romantic entanglements. Old Master Song had married several wives, and among his sons alone, there were two legitimate and five illegitimate.
But only the first four sons were present at the table, because the fifth had long since entered the monastic life and cut off contact with the family, while the sixth had been frail and sickly, passing away at a young age. Of this generation, the youngest was the seventh son, who was also the Old Master’s most beloved child.
The Song family had more money than anything else, and second to that, more people. The elders set the example, and the younger generation was too numerous to count.
Song Wenzhou and Xu Chengyi arrived late and took their seats at the end of the long table.
Two servants came forward to serve them breakfast.
Xu Chengyi hadn’t eaten much the night before and was starving by now. She picked up her fork to eat but noticed that no one else around her was moving.
Her hand paused. She turned her head and glanced at the old man seated at the head of the table—white-haired but still vigorous and sharp-eyed.
That was the head of the Song family, Song Yuanya.
Xu Chengyi shifted her gaze to the woman sitting beside him, dressed in a seductive manner, no more than thirty years old.
She’d heard she was his newly married young concubine.
A pear blossom overshadowing a crabapple—how dramatic the wealthy truly were, she silently remarked to herself.
She waited for nearly five minutes, her stomach about to cave in, yet no signal to begin eating came.
Another three minutes passed before a man with a carefree, roguish air strolled in, tapping his steps, and naturally took a seat at the very end of the long table.
He sat directly across from Elder Song, yet showed no trace of propriety—one leg crossed lazily, tie loosened and askew, collar unbuttoned two buttons down. His whole demeanor was idle and languid, slender fingertips tapping lightly against the table as he flashed a roguish grin:
“Everyone’s waiting for me, huh.”
Xu Chengyi, seated off to the side, secretly rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, “No kidding. What a show-off.”
Song Zhiyu lifted his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over Xu Chengyi, the smile at the corners of his mouth widening. He tilted his chin toward Elder Song. “Old man, you’ve let your newly arrived granddaughter-in-law go hungry.”
At those words, Xu Chengyi immediately became the target of hostile glares from the entire Song family.
Elder Song gave a light snort. “You have the nerve to say that.”
Song Zhiyu picked up his knife and fork, elegantly cutting into the steak on his plate. “I didn’t ask you all to wait.”
Song Zhixun, the third son of the Song family, sneered sarcastically, “Is Little Seven coming home for the first time? The family rules have always been this way.”
When everyone was present, the meal couldn’t begin until all had arrived.
Song Zhiyu lifted his gaze toward him, letting out a light chuckle. “Rules are rigid, but people are flexible.” With that, he turned his head to look at Xu Chengyi. “Right, niece-in-law?”
In an instant, Xu Chengyi became the target of their petty bickering.
Though Xu Chengyi felt he was right and wanted to agree, she wasn’t foolish enough to be used as his weapon.
She stared at Song Zhiyu with wide, innocent, bewildered eyes, as if she couldn’t understand what he was saying.
In this family, speak human words to humans, ghost words to ghosts, and say nothing when faced with a jerk—that was the way to go.
Song Zhiyu let out a helpless laugh. “See, you’ve starved the niece-in-law silly.”
Song Zhixun was about to say something more when Elder Song cleared his throat. “Enough.”
The voice was soft, yet carried weight.
The two stopped their sparring, and the room fell quiet for a moment before the others drifted into talk of business matters.
Xu Chengyi didn’t know how to cut her steak, and biting into it directly would be improper, so she waited eagerly for Song Wenzhou to cut a piece, then reached her fork over to spear it.
Song Wenzhou stopped her. “That’s not good.”
“Why not?”
“Unhygienic.”
Xu Chengyi waved it off carelessly. “We’ve already kissed. Why be so particular now?”
Song Wenzhou’s ears flushed warm, and he moved his blocking hand away.
Xu Chengyi flashed a sycophantic smile. “Thanks, hubby. You’re so good to me.”
Song Zhiyu, seated nearby, narrowed his eyes slightly. “Niece-in-law, have we met before? You look oddly familiar to me.”