Both he and she bore heavy responsibilities.
The Meng family, torn by internal power struggles, and the Liang family, with its undercurrents of tension—neither family had it easy.
This marriage was merely a bridge; once they crossed it, their destinations would be different.
“Come have dinner with me at Xiyuan tomorrow night.”
Meng Ying nodded in agreement.
Liang Zongxu stood up. Just before leaving, he said to Meng Ying, “Older sister told me about the contract from the design institute. Just hand it over to me.”
Hearing this, Meng Ying asked, “What did you say to my sister?”
Liang Zongxu turned around.
Meng Ying looked up, furrowing her brow slightly: “Why did you tell her everything?”
Liang Zongxu thought back for a moment; he didn’t think he’d said anything out of the ordinary, so he asked, “What’s the matter?”
“How did my sister know we hadn’t seen each other in a long time? You must have told her.”
“I didn’t say we hadn’t seen each other in a long time. I just said I hadn’t seen you in a while, so I’m not sure about the contract.”
Meng Ying didn’t say anything.
She looked at him, just as she always did—scrutinizing and appraising him, earnestly and intently.
Technically, they’d only been married for a month, but in reality, the number of times they’d actually seen each other could be counted on one hand. It was only natural that she didn’t trust him and remained wary.
Liang Zongxu let her look.
After a moment’s thought, he sat down beside her, choosing his words carefully: “Maybe I didn’t express myself clearly. I won’t do that again next time—don’t let it bother you.”
“I wasn’t trying to tattle on you.”
“I didn’t say anything bad about you either.”
She was so much younger than him; what bothered her was surely different from what bothered him. He had to be more considerate of her, after all.
Meng Ying felt satisfied; she relaxed her shoulders, and her eyes crinkled with a smile: “Telling my sister on me? Saying bad things about me?”
—That was truly ridiculous.
Looking at her, Liang Zongxu smiled briefly and said nothing more.
Before leaving, he asked Meng Ying where the contract was so he could take a look first.
Meng Ying: “It’s in my bag. You can go get it.”
Liang Zongxu went to fetch it.
The study fell silent. Meng Ying slumped back on the sofa, her mind wandering for a moment to tomorrow night’s dinner at Xiyuan. Thinking of that imposing old man, she felt a bit uncertain deep down. At that wedding banquet, it was clear that Liang Changsheng treated her as his granddaughter-in-law and was very kind to her. Meng Hui had said that old man was cunning—a fox with a thousand years’ experience—and warned her not to be fooled by him. “Xiao Ying,” she’d said, “we should keep business and personal matters separate…”
Her mind kept switching between the image of the stern old man and her sister’s face, and before long, she fell asleep on the sofa.
When Liang Zongxu walked in with the contract, she was fast asleep. Wrapped in her fluffy coat, her lovely face was tinged with a faint blush from the warmth and drowsiness. She lay facing inward, her golden hair cascading down her back and cheeks. She wore slippers, her heels peeking out—so slender they looked like a piece of snow-white porcelain.
He stood there for a moment, watching her.
It was already very late. He could have carried her to her own room to sleep properly, or woken her up so she could make her own arrangements.
But Liang Zongxu did nothing.
He sat down at the desk beside her and began to examine the contract carefully.
The fragrance was still very strong.
It was ethereal and misty, like a cloud, yet also like a lake—light and moist.
After reading through the contract, he circled a few points he found problematic, added some notes, and placed it within Meng Ying’s reach.
Before turning off the light and leaving, he asked the butler to fetch a blanket from her room upstairs. After tucking her in, he quietly closed the door behind him.
He didn’t fall asleep for the rest of the night.
That was only natural, Liang Zongxu thought.
After all that time in the study, her scent had long since clung to him.
Setting everything else aside, his wife was truly beautiful.
Moreover, although she had been carefully nurtured in a sheltered environment—her mother doted on her, and her older sister devoted herself to looking out for her—she was also very level-headed, measured in her actions, and meticulous; that was evident from the contract alone.
As he thought about it, Liang Zongxu suddenly realized she had a very good temperament as well.
He wasn’t sure why that thought had crossed his mind. Back on the sofa, when she’d asked him what he’d said to Meng Hui, he’d thought she was upset—but then she’d actually smiled.
Liang Zongxu opened his eyes.
Feeling an inexplicable flutter of heat in his chest, he sat up in bed. After a moment, he got out of bed and poured himself a glass of water.
Meng Ying slept straight through until the afternoon.
When she woke up, she felt a sudden sense of emptiness beneath her back, followed by the sound of paper hitting the floor.
Having slept on the sofa all night, her back and waist ached. She picked up the contract from the floor and, upon seeing the annotations and revisions Liang Zongxu had circled, her mind suddenly cleared.
With no time to go upstairs and shower, Meng Ying sat on the sofa, her hair disheveled, and read through all of his annotations line by line.
Her expression was intense, her brow habitually furrowed, and her pair of playful almond-shaped eyes took on an extraordinary air of authority, as if nothing could escape her scrutiny.
Meng Ying realized that Liang Zongxu was a man with extremely strict standards for details and procedures.
He had provided her with supplementary explanations for some of the warranty clauses in this contract, leaving no stone unturned.
He was very mature—a thirty-four-year-old man who had worked his way up in a massive family-run conglomerate. Even though Jiusheng wasn’t as seasoned or adept as Huiying in real estate planning and design, his experience was more than sufficient to handle these matters.
His handwriting was also beautiful—
Meng Ying had noticed this before.
When they picked up their marriage certificate, he stood beside her to sign; his strokes were upright and crisp, without the slightest hesitation.
This contract was already very well-drafted, and it wasn’t the first contract she’d handled.
After graduating from college, she’d worked as Meng Hui’s assistant on numerous projects; she understood the logic behind every clause and every detail.
Meng Hui operated with extraordinary boldness; when projects landed on her desk, she took a bold, decisive approach, prioritizing efficiency above all else.
Her older sister never overthought things—she was ruthless and decisive, doing whatever needed to be done without regret or looking back.
She had always looked up to her.
But judging by the contract at hand, Liang Zongxu’s approach was much more measured. Meng Ying couldn’t help but wonder if this contract belonged to Jiusheng and Huiying—was that why he…
seemed so warm and affectionate?
One might even say he was looking out for Huiying.
She was still mulling it over while taking a shower.
She was used to Meng Hui’s approach—keeping personal emotions to a minimum and handling business strictly by the book—but…
What puzzled her most were the final figures showing the shares allocated to Jiusheng and Huiying—
What did he mean by that?
As she went downstairs to eat, Meng Ying video-called Meng Hui.
She photographed the contract page by page to show Meng Hui, then pointed to the figures on the last page and asked, “Sister, what does this mean?”
Meng Hui remained silent.
It had to be said that the share Liang Zongxu had offered was truly generous.
Was he extending an olive branch?
Or… was this a case of “first courtesy, then force”?
If this were the opportunistic Song family, it would be easier to guess, but the Liang family—the Liang family values reason and sentiment—
But where exactly do this “reason” and “sentiment” come from?
After a long moment, Meng Hui said to her perplexed younger sister sitting across from her, “Since Chairman Liang is being so generous, there’s no reason for us not to accept it.”
Meng Ying frowned. “Sister, that’s not how business is done.”
Meng Hui smiled. “Then you’ll have to ask Liang Zongxu himself.”
She hadn’t gone out that day; after eating, she went upstairs to catch up on sleep, sleeping until dusk, when Liang Zongxu came home to pick her up and take her to Xiyuan for dinner.
On the way, she glanced at him from time to time.
When they arrived and the car was parked, Liang Zongxu asked what was wrong.
Meng Ying said, “The final percentage split was something my sister and I worked out together.”
“It’s very fair—to you, to me, to Jiusheng, and to Huiying.”
The light inside the car was dim. Liang Zongxu looked at her, urging her to continue.
“So there’s nothing wrong with these figures.”
She met his gaze, her tone instructive: “Liang Zongxu, this is how business is done.”
“It’s not about one person giving in to the other.”
“Otherwise, what will we do next time? Do you want Huiying to give it back?”
“That won’t do.” She was quite principled.
He smiled again.
Meng Ying recalled that dinner at Xiyuan—he’d been like that then, too, smiling for no apparent reason.
Liang Zongxu suddenly asked, “Are you good at business?”
Meng Ying replied, “My mom and my older sister are. They’ve taught me a lot, and I’m still learning.”
For some reason, after she finished speaking, the smile on his face grew even wider, and the way he looked at her made it seem as though she were quite impressive.
Meng Ying felt a bit pressured under his gaze. She thought of that animated movie, *The Lion King*—she felt like that little lion cub being held aloft, the center of everyone’s attention. But why was Liang Zongxu looking at her like that?
“Indeed,” he said, shifting his gaze to the car window. “The numbers are solid. It’s a good business.”
“For you, for Jiusheng—”
“But I can’t discuss business with you,” he said, turning back to look at her.
Meng Ying was taken aback.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you’re my wife,” he said.
Author’s Note:
Thank you, everyone~