By the time Yelan and Shen Luolun arrived in the breakfast hall, the table was already laden with a lavish spread.
Madam Xiao watched them with a beaming smile, as though she had been waiting there for quite some time.
"Mother... good morning."
Heavenly Queen Ye, who was usually so overbearing, was unexpectedly acting a little like a bashful young girl.
Perhaps she was ashamed to face her mother after being found out for doing something wrong.
"Good morning, godmother!"
Shen Luolun, by contrast, greeted her without the slightest awkwardness.
He made himself at home, pulling out a stool and sitting down before picking up his chopsticks and helping himself to the food.
Noticing that Yelan was still standing, he gave her calf a kick.
"Hey, sit down and eat. Why are you standing there?"
Who's the host here, anyway?
Yelan glared at him.
Then she sat down beside him.
The smile on Madam Xiao's lips grew wider.
"Oh, you young people do love to get up to things. I don't object."
"But take care of yourselves, especially you, Little Lan. Don't hurt Little Shen. Just look at him, he even has marks on his face."
"I don't mean to lecture you, but young people may have plenty of strength to spare, and you still need to take care of yourselves, or else in the future-"
"Mother!"
Yelan practically shouted it.
Her face was impossibly red.
Mother, what on earth are you talking about?
It's nothing like what you're imagining!
Honestly...
Yelan knew exactly what her mother meant and knew she must have misunderstood something. She hadn't done anything like that with this guy...
But when she saw Madam Xiao's teasing look, she couldn't help wanting to find a hole to crawl into.
This is so annoying!
Flustered, Yelan instinctively glanced at Shen Luolun to see how he would respond, but what she saw left her torn between anger and laughter.
He looked as though he hadn't picked up on it. No! Yelan was certain this guy hadn't understood what her mother meant at all! There he was, leisurely drinking his congee, sipping it from the edge of the bowl. He looked perfectly content.
Is this man really made of wood?
How can he miss something so obvious?
Well, she had hit the nail on the head.
Master Shen hadn't understood at all.
He was pure-minded and didn't have so many convoluted thoughts.
Besides, nothing of substance had happened between him and Yelan, so he naturally had nothing to fear and acted at ease.
As far as he was concerned, he was just staying over at his best friend's house, which was also his own.
His godmother, Madam Xiao, cared for him and had prepared breakfast for him.
As for Madam Xiao's words, he took them as a reprimand to Yelan: she had seen Yelan mistreat him and was speaking up for him.
As the beneficiary, Shen Luolun was undoubtedly pleased in secret, even secretly delighted.
Well said, well said!
That's what you get for hitting me. Your own mother's lecturing you now, isn't she?
Serves you right.
Excited as he was, he knew he couldn't show it. If he were found out, he would get another beating later.
So he kept a straight face, the kind not even a bomb could crack.
As for sipping his congee?
He definitely wasn't sipping it from the edge. He drank it straight!
What a tough guy!
Why? Wasn't it to keep a certain sharp-eyed woman from spotting the upward curve of his lips? That was why he sipped from the edge, to cover it up.
"What are you shouting for? Are you going to eat or not?"
With someone to back him up, Shen Luolun tapped her bowl with his chopsticks. His tone turned a little stern, and he put on a manly frown.
"You-"
Yelan bit her rosy lip and glared fiercely at him with her beautiful eyes.
How dare he talk to her like that?
Where did he get the nerve?
"Me what? Godmother's right here. Don't you know your manners?"
Sensing her intense killing intent, Shen Luolun was panicking inside, but he still feigned composure and used Madam Xiao as a shield.
"If you've got the guts, don't hide behind-"
Yelan had just started to speak when a steamed bun was stuffed into her mouth.
"Mmph, mmph."
Her cheeks immediately bulged into round balls.
A little cute, really.
Shen Luolun held her cheeks to keep her from spitting out the bun and spoke as though exasperated by her failure to live up to expectations.
"Just eat. No talking while eating or sleeping. That's a rule passed down by our ancestors."
"You've even forgotten the rules. Everything you eat from now on will give you heartburn."
Bastard!
I'm going to kill him!
That was the only thought in Yelan's mind right now.
Her beautiful eyes stared daggers at him.
As though she would tear him into pieces the very next moment.
Madam Xiao smiled without speaking and quietly watched their performance.
Oh my, young people these days are so lively when they express their feelings.
Unlike in her day, when people were very shy.
After all, marriages between families of equal standing, arranged on a matchmaker's word, had been the norm back then. Reason had outweighed emotion.
Although her family life was happy, something was missing in the end, leaving her with quite a few regrets.
Still, watching the two youngsters fool around gave her a little sense of satisfaction.
So this is young love. How sweet.
Although undercurrents swirled throughout breakfast, it passed peacefully in the end.
Yelan and Shen Luolun didn't make any trouble in front of everyone.
It wasn't that they had made peace and stopped squabbling, but that they couldn't.
After all, Madam Xiao was watching from the side.
What would it look like for the younger generation to keep fooling around in front of an elder?
After breakfast, Yelan and Shen Luolun had intended to find an excuse to leave, but Madam Xiao insisted they stay, saying she hadn't seen them in a long time and wanted to chat. The two exchanged a glance and had no choice but to stay.
A servant cleared the table and brought out three cups of tea.
Madam Xiao picked hers up and took a sip, then set it down and smiled at Shen Luolun.
"Little Luo, do you have any plans for the near future?"
Plans?
Why is she asking that?
Though puzzled, Shen Luolun answered honestly.
"As for plans, I just finished writing my book last month, and my payment came in this month. I'm planning to go out and relax, gather some inspiration while I'm at it, and get ready for a new book."
Madam Xiao nodded slightly.
She had read Shen Luolun's books, and they were very well written.
As a lady from a distinguished family, Madam Xiao was well versed in the Four Books and Five Classics. She knew that literary creation didn't happen overnight: sweat and inspiration worked together to produce a good work.
It was perfectly normal for a writer to go out to relieve stress and gather inspiration.
"I've read all your books. They're wonderful, and your prose is delicate and moving. It's just that the endings aren't very happy, and they tend to be heartbreaking."
There were books like The Lie Between March and May, On the Speed at Which Cherry Blossoms Fall, and Snow Country...
They were all outstanding, deeply moving literary works.
Unfortunately, most of their endings left something to be desired.
It wasn't that they were poorly written, but that they were full of regrets.
After reading them, Madam Xiao, who was already prone to melancholy, felt the emptiness inside her grow stronger.
If possible, she would rather read some beautiful works to ease the gloom in her heart.
"Hehe, godmother, there's nothing I can do about that."
"That's how literary creation is. It can't be perfect in every way, or it would lose the flavor the original work is meant to have."
"Besides, sometimes regret is a kind of beauty too."
Shen Luolun understood Madam Xiao's thoughts very well.
As a reader in his previous life, he had felt the same way.
When he first read them, he had wanted nothing more than to rewrite the endings.
But the more he read, the more he found himself unable to pull away.
And the more he could appreciate the literary emotions within them.
When he thought about changing them again, he found it hard to alter a single word.
They were best just as they were.
"...All right, you have a point. But honestly, where does someone so young find so much melancholy? Aren't you afraid of feeling sad when you write these works?"
Madam Xiao stroked the top of Shen Luolun's head.
"What melancholy could he possibly have? He's the most heartless person here," Yelan said coldly, folding her arms across her chest.
From what she knew of him,
this guy was definitely the sort who deliberately wrote sad stories just to see his readers become sad, or even cry, so he could laugh to his heart's content.
There was no way he was melancholy.
"That's not true. You're slandering me again. Godmother, she's slandering me," Shen Luolun said guiltily.
Whoa, did this woman install a camera in my head?
She even knows that? That's going too far.