Lan Jin accompanies Sun Meirong, Qiang Yu, and Lulu as the greeter leads them further into the restaurant and offers them various tables. To him, all of the tables seem the same. Some of them are in slightly better positions and allow the patrons to see what’s going on around them, but if he were dining alone, he wouldn’t care which one he received. Sun Meirong, on the other hand, seems to care a very great deal. However, when Sun Meirong said she wanted a table off to the side somewhere, she apparently wasn’t kidding because she doesn’t accept any of the tables that look over the open area of the restaurant, and she vehemently denies the possibility of accepting a private room. Instead, she chooses one at the far back corner hidden behind a wooden pillar where it would be difficult to find them even if someone knew exactly where they were.
This particular table is pretty small, large enough for four people but suitable for five according to the number of chairs, and outside of the fact that it is in an incredibly inconvenient spot, he thinks it suits their group well enough. However, when he remembers that they are supposed to be waiting for a bunch of random people to start showing up, Lan Jin can’t help but wonder what is going through Sun Meirong’s head.
After waiting for the women in the group to sit down, Lan Jin is left with a difficult choice because Qiang Yu and Lulu sit on both sides of Sun Meirong which means he is going to have to sit by one of them. His first thought is to sit next to Lulu because it will create distance between him and Qiang Yu. But when he remembers how Lulu kicked him for no reason, he thinks she might do something worse if he were to sit down right next to her.
However, sitting down next to Qiang Yu is just as bad if not worse because not only would it make it so he was sitting almost opposite Lulu, and therefore in the range of her feet, but Sun Meirong might even get annoyed with him for sitting next to her daughter. And if he were to add the fact that Qiang Yu is still probably pissed off at him, then sitting next to her would just open up two different kinds of trouble for him.
Realizing he doesn’t have a good option, and that Lulu would have access to him regardless of where he sits, he just hopes that she won’t do anything while they are at the restaurant and begrudgingly sits down next to her. But as he sits down, he doesn’t miss the little smirk that forms on the corner of her mouth.
“Go get us tea,” Sun Meirong instructs the server, and as soon as he departs, she turns to Lulu.
“Dewdrop, behave.” Sun Meirong huffs, clearly annoyed by Lulu’s smirk, and then says, “It won’t be long before people start showing up, and the three of you have already given me far too much to deal with.” Looking at Qiang Yu and Lulu, she says, “your actions have disappointed me enough today, and I do not want to be disappointed further. Do I make myself clear?”
When Qiang Yu and Lulu rapidly nod their heads, Lan Jin feels warmth growing inside of him from her protection. However, that warmth is quickly dashed against the ground and drowned in a bucket of ice water when Sun Meirong turns to him and says, “As for you, right now, I largely view you as being innocent in this matter, and I am trying to treat you as such despite being very angry about what happened between you and my daughter. But if anything else happens, and if I have even the slightest feeling it is your fault, then I might just lose my temper. Do not make me lose my temper. Are we clear?”
His throat suddenly dry, Lan Jin swallows and then says, “Yes, ma’am!”
“Good.” With a frown on her face, Sun Meirong shifts in her seat before looking at him again. “Now then, the reason why I chose this restaurant is because you will be treating us to lunch.”
“What? Why?” Lan Jin asks, shocked by the sudden revelation and repulsed by the idea of having to pay for Qiang Yu’s or Lulu’s food.
“Really?” Lulu asks, her voice excited. “Can we order more food?”
With a sniff, Sun Meirong shakes her head at Lulu and turns back to Lan Jin. “Because you have offended me and my family and you are seeking to make amends for that fact. Or at least, that’s the story I plan on telling others. As for why you are really doing it, it’s because I intend to punish all three of you for what happened earlier. You will be paying for lunch, Dewdrop will be serving everyone tea, and I do mean everyone, Dewdrop,” Sun Meirong gives a pointed glance at the now-dispirited Lulu, “and Trinket will be kneeling in reflection and writing down my household’s rules ten times when we return home.”
Off to the side, Qiang Yu groans loudly.
“But didn’t you say that I’m innocent? Why am I suddenly getting punished?” Lan Jin asks while ignoring Qiang Yu and feeling frustrated with Sun Meirong’s capricious behavior.
“That’s true.” Sun Meirong nods her head. “However, think about it in this way: you will be a guest at my husband’s estate for the foreseeable future. You will be partaking in our food and enjoying our hospitality while also having free access to the Inner City. But, while you are there, you will also be a constant reminder to me of what happened between you and my daughter. And unfortunately, because nearly the exact same thing has happened two days in a row, I don’t trust you out of my sight. So, would you like me to vent some of my frustration here and now when you can determine exactly how it happens, or would you like my frustration to build until I decide to vent it out some other way?”
Her brown eyes meeting his blue ones, Sun Meirong says, “I will let you choose.”
Lan Jin’s mouth wags slightly, but he feels lost for words. From Sun Meirong’s explanation, he really is about to be a major mooch. In fact, considering that he might even be saving money if he ever had a reason to go to the Inner City, this is a pretty good deal for him. It’s just that he really, really doesn’t want to pay for Qiang Yu’s or Lulu’s lunch after what happened earlier.
He figures Sun Meirong probably knows exactly why he doesn’t want to pay for lunch, and that’s probably why she’s using this as a punishment instead of something else. But when he thinks that Lulu and Qiang Yu are also being punished, each in their own way, he decides to suck it up and accept her ultimatum.
“Fine,” Lan Jin sulks. “I’ll pay for lunch.”
“Smart,” Sun Meirong gives him a self-satisfied smile before continuing on with the earlier conversation.
“When the food arrives, you will make sure that my plate is never empty. As for Dewdrop and Trinket, they can serve each other or themselves, but I do not want you interacting with them in any way and I do not want them to be seen serving me any food, either. To outsiders, they are well-behaved young women who were involved in an accident, but they have no reason to try to settle my emotions because they did nothing wrong. And when busybodies begin arriving, ignore them. They are not here to see you, they are here to interrogate my daughter through me. But since you are serving me lunch, I don’t intend to speak with any of them because I am known to obey social niceties and I will not change that for them.”
“But… if you’re not going to talk to them, what’s the point of all of this? To ignore them? I’m all for it, but how is that going to solve anything?”
Sun Meirong smiles and says, “I will not speak with them because I am acting as the guest to your host and it would be impolite to entertain them under these conditions, and my daughters will not speak with them because it is not their place to speak with older men while I am present. That just leaves you, the host treating us to a meal, and one of the two parties to the incident earlier. But a group of older men will not lower themselves to speak with you for fear of harming their faces, and because they cannot force me or my daughters to speak, they will have no choice but to send their sons to speak with you. And though the older busybodies are a bunch of wily foxes, the younger busybodies are just a bunch of self-important fools who only think they are wily foxes. So I am sure they will try to separate you from the group, and when they ‘succeed’,” she places heavy emphasis on the word, “all you have to do is tell the story we came up with and let them be fools. I imagine they will take care of the rest themselves.” With a heavy sigh, she says, “They always do.”
“But how…” Lan Jin starts only to be interrupted.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“I already told you. People are blinded by their interests. And everyone who shows up here today will be very interested in ensuring my daughter is an unsullied young woman capable of marrying into their families.”
Lan Jin notices Qiang Yu scowling, but he doesn’t even know what he’s meant to do about himself, and he has little reason and even fewer means to help out Qiang Yu even if he does feel bad that a girl younger than himself is going through marriage talks already.
And with an explanation that makes no sense to him bouncing around inside of his head, Lan Jin sits back in his seat and wonders how long it will take before people begin showing up and how long after that before he ends up having to deal with a steamy load of bullshit that he never signed up to deal with in the first place.
***
For a while after their conversation, everything around the table remains silent.
Looking at their faces, Lan Jin can easily read Qiang Yu’s frustration, and the mixture of bored resignation coming from Lulu is so apparent that he feels himself growing more agitated as he looks at her. As for Sun Meirong, she is just completely unreadable and it makes him uncomfortable because he still isn’t sure how this little show of theirs is supposed to play out.
Eventually, the pot of tea is delivered to their table along with several cups. And just as she had before, Sun Meirong sends the server away, but this time it is with an order for several dishes instead of tea.
“Dewdrop,” Sun Meirong states calmly.
With a frown on her face, Lulu immediately picks up the pot of tea and begins filling the teacups. She does it smoothly enough that Lan Jin thinks she does it often, and when he remembers that she’s technically supposed to be some kind of servant, albeit one with a very motherly Mistress, he decides that she probably learned how to do it professionally somewhere.
Though, her professionalism apparently doesn’t extend to him because, when it comes to pouring him a cup of tea, she fills the cup all the way to the brim and slowly slides it across the table to him.
“Sorry,” she says while giving him a polite smile. “My hand slipped.”
Looking at the cup that couldn’t be more full if she tried, Lan Jin adopts a blank expression and pulls it closer to him. Then, moving very slowly while ignoring the heat of the cup against his skin, he lifts it up to his lips and downs it all before handing it back to Lulu and saying, “More tea, please.”
The smile slipping from her lips, Lulu fills the cup again, just as full as the first time. And when she hands it back to Lan Jin, he immediately downs it and hands it back to her while once more saying, “More tea, please.”
He smirks at her while thinking of the parties he had been to back home, and other than the temperature of the liquid inside, which isn’t even as hot as how he drinks his coffee, he realizes that there’s no real difference between downing a shot and downing the small cup of tea, so he takes delight in Lulu’s frustration, and he treats it as an excuse to vent a little bit of his own frustration.
What makes it better is that, even after she turns toward Sun Meirong to complain, she is immediately shot down with a single sentence, “Do not turn to me to solve a mess you created for yourself.”
In the end, their game continues until the pot of tea is emptied, and even after she serves him a half-full cup of tea, he downs it and hands it back to her before saying, “More tea, please.”
With a huff, Lulu says, “There isn’t anymore!”
Smirking at her, Lan Jin looks at the dry table in front of him and says, “Then you lose.”
She bristles at his words, and were it not for Sun Meirong being nearby, Lan Jin feels he would have gotten her heel swung into his leg. But even still, he feels happy about his petty victory even if he does end up suffering for it later.
Unfortunately, Lan Jin isn’t able to feel smug for long as, after their game is done, Sun Meirong reprimands them both.
“I believe I said I didn’t want you two interacting. This is your last warning. If it happens again, I will be punishing you both when we arrive at the estate later.”
Lan Jin grimaces, and his grimace turns to a scowl as he looks at Lulu, but instead of looking upset, she just gives him a cute smile while slowly mouthing, ‘You lose,’ to him.
With a huff, Lan Jin folds his arms and lays his head down on them as he chooses to wait for the food to show up.
It takes a while, but it does show up in the end. It’s just that, even after five serving platters are set on the table, he doesn’t have enough time to enjoy any of them despite how good they smell because Sun Meirong reminds him that he has to be serving her food.
At first, he thinks it won’t be a big deal. But he quickly realizes that every time he puts down a piece of braised beef on her plate, it practically disappears. Every time he adds a bit of rice to her bowl, she consumes it in seconds. Every time he gives her fish or garlic noodles, he doesn’t even have enough time to sit back in his chair before they’re gone. The only thing she doesn’t touch are the pickled vegetables which she casually moves to his plate every time he tries to put them on hers.
Looking at Qiang Yu and Lulu eating at a more reserved pace, he feels incredulous at how quickly Sun Meirong is packing away her food. He hadn’t had a bite to eat, and the people they are supposed to be ignoring hadn’t even arrived, yet Sun Meirong had already eaten half of the food on the table by herself.
“Is this… part of my punishment?” he asks, feeling a little out of his depth.
Instead of giving him a reply, Sun Meirong rolls her eyes.
After several minutes of this, Lan Jin feels sweat forming on his brow with how quickly he has to move to keep up with her, and, as she orders even more food, he starts wondering if the point of this trip to the restaurant wasn’t, as she claimed, to solve Qiang Yu’s problem, but instead to give him a hard time.
It isn’t until a loud man’s voice fills the room that Lan Jin realizes that she hadn’t been lying to him.
“Oh? Lady Sun?” The man laughs softly. “How good it is to see you! I was just telling my sons, Dong’yi and Dong’er, that I would very much like to share a meal with your family again, and here you are! Right in front of me. Isn’t it wonderful?”
Lan Jin is so surprised by the man’s sudden appearance that he almost stops serving Sun Meirong food as he turns his head to see a portly man accompanied by two younger men who look similar to him. However, when his hand hovers too long over her plate, she slaps her chopsticks against the back of his hand and makes a loud noise that fills the entire room.
Thankfully, it is just loud and not actually painful. But it does remind him of what he’s supposed to be doing, so he continues serving Sun Meirong more and more food and, every once in a while, he lifts up his arm and wipes off the sweat on his face.
“Ehem!” The man clears his throat and, his voice low, he begins advising Sun Meirong. “Lady Sun, don’t you feel a bit bad for that boy? Look at him sweating! And look at his plate! I don’t believe he’s had a bite to eat yet. That’s not good for a young man, you know. Men require quite a bit of nourishment to grow big and strong. You wouldn’t want to harm him, would you?”
Sun Meirong’s only response is to continue eating.
Even as he dishes up food for Sun Meirong, Lan Jin can feel the man’s annoyance building from behind him. But before he even has the opportunity to speak again, two more people show up.
Much the same as the man who fathered Dong’Yi and Dong’Er, the newcomer also immediately mentions wanting to have a meal with Sun Meirong. And after him, there is a third. And then a fourth. And, before the second order of food can arrive, fifteen men and their sons arrive and begin placing themselves around the room while watching Sun Meirong closely.
Lan Jin watches it all happen out of the corner of his eye, but even knowing that this was supposed to happen, he feels as though it’s all completely unbelievable.
Considering that everyone here is supposed to be here because they want to marry Qiang Yu, he would think that they’d be at odds with one another. But, instead, they’re all just sitting around quietly and, from time to time, they look at his table without saying a word.
This continues for quite a while, and whether it is due to boredom, impatience, frustration, or some other emotion, a sudden turn takes place when, as Sun Meirong had guessed, a man younger than Lan Jin approaches him and says, “Friend, I can’t help but notice that you seem to be a bit troubled. Is everything alright?”
‘Troubled?’ Lan Jin scoffs internally. He is completely covered in sweat, and despite this just being a show, Sun Meirong is not making things easy for him. So he’s a lot more than troubled, he’s struggling to keep up with her voracious appetite. He doesn’t even know how such a thin woman can eat all of this food! Qiang Yu should be expecting a little brother or sister at this rate, and Sun Meirong should look like she skipped the first two trimesters!
Grumbling under his breath, Lan Jin says, “Nope. Not ‘troubled’ at all!”
Next to him, Lulu snorts softly before quickly shoving a piece of food into her mouth and Lan Jin can’t help but glare at her for being amused when he’s struggling so much with such a stupid task. Thankfully, with the younger man still standing right behind him, Sun Meirong finally relents as she puts her chopsticks down and Lan Jin happily drops into his seat while panting softly.
However, when he looks at the table in front of him, he realizes that she only stopped eating because there is nothing left to eat. At least, nothing but a bunch of pickled vegetables that are piled high on his plate.
Groaning, Lan Jin looks at the pickled vegetables in front of him and wonders why Sun Meirong doesn’t like them. In fact, he doesn’t think Qiang Yu or Lulu ate any of them either. But, even after putting a few of them into his mouth, he thinks they taste pretty good; not unlike the pickled cucumbers he might get as an appetizer at a restaurant back home. The texture is a little off as they seem a little rubbery, but the flavor is alright so he doesn’t mind eating them.
“Friend,” the young man behind him speaks again. “I don’t think pickled vegetables are very filling, and I’ve been wanting to have a drink with you. A few other friends of mine are drinking upstairs and I would be more than happy to share a few cups with you.”
Looking at the table emptied of food in front of him and considering how more food is meant to be on the way, Lan Jin decides that, regardless of whether or not it is true, this is exactly how Sun Meirong had intended things to go. So, turning to the younger man, Lan Jin can’t help but readily agree.
“I would love to!”