Chapter 15: Wishful Thinking Won’t Help

Fang Yuan looked thoroughly displeased and glared at Lu Er. “Where are you sleeping? Where do you want to sleep?”

Lu Er opened his eyes. If I knew where I was sleeping, would I be this conflicted? Although he did not say a word, his expression conveyed it perfectly.

Fang Yuan snorted. “You haven’t even met my parents or my brothers yet. If you dare think any funny ideas, I’ll kick you out, believe it or not?”

Then she threw out a sentence. “Sleep at the end of the kang.”

Lu Er was happier than if he had heard an imperial pardon. He quickly went to the west room, carried over his shabby bedding, spread it out, then climbed onto the kang and went to sleep. He felt completely at ease.

The moment he closed his eyes, he could fall asleep. There was not the slightest bit of hesitation.

Fang Yuan was somewhat disgusted by the shabby bedding. Although it had patches, at least it looked clean, so she accepted it. “You’re quick when it comes to this.”

Lu Er replied gloomily, “It’d be fine if you told me to sleep in the west room too.”

Fang Yuan had her own considerations. “That won’t do. Outsiders already say I’m overbearing. If you slept in the west room, wouldn’t they say I’m domineering and unreasonable, even bullying my own man? You stay right there at the end of the kang. If people ask you about it, do you know what to say?”

Lu Er followed the female tyrant’s lead. “I know. You’re great. You’re even better to me. You don’t bully men.”

Fang Yuan nodded. “That needs to be made clear. I don’t bully my own man.”

Other men were not included in that category.

Lu Er did not dare praise her either. She certainly drew a clear line between insiders and outsiders. Whether that was good or not, he simply closed his eyes, went to sleep, and said nothing.

And it had to be said, regardless of whether their statuses matched, and regardless of the pile of messy problems still hanging over them, this day had stirred some ripples in Lu Er’s heart.

Fang Yuan was in an excellent mood and truly felt completely open and aboveboard. “Mm, not bad. Your bedding is really shabby. Tomorrow I’ll get you a new set. I’m not letting you say nice things about me for nothing. There’s still a set of new clothes in my trunk that I made for Lu Feng. You’ll wear them from now on. Dress yourself up a bit and don’t embarrass me.”

Lu Er wanted to die. He had absolutely no desire to wear the new clothes Fang Yuan had made for Lu Feng. The ripples in his heart immediately vanished. He could not even appreciate the meaning behind “my own man” anymore.

He could not help wondering, Is Fang Yuan even a woman? Her heart is so rough it could let boulders pass through. Didn’t she consider how awkward our relationship is when she said that?

This topic thoroughly ruined the mood for both of them. He might as well snore and avoid talking to this woman any further.

Fang Yuan was even more at ease than Lu Er. After reassuring him, she genuinely fell asleep, though she did not snore.

That left Lu Er tossing and turning. Looking back over the events of the day, he simply could not understand how he had ended up with a woman sleeping beside him. Did he really have a wife now?

When Fang Yuan was not talking, the phrase “my own man” that she had spoken earlier kept disturbing Lu Er’s thoughts.

Over on Lu Feng’s side, Li Meng was extremely gentle and knew how to handle people. She first went to the east room and fawned over her parents-in-law.

Only then did she shyly return to her room to talk with Lu Feng, though the room itself looked rather bleak.

The west room originally had a wooden cabinet, but because Fang Yuan’s dowry included a pair of trunks, the cabinet had been moved to the east room.

Earlier, Fang Yuan had ordered Lu Er and Lu San to carry away her dowry trunks. Now the west room was empty in every corner.

There was not even any bedding on the kang. Since it was a wedding, Mother Lu had made a new bedding set for Lu Feng, but Fang Yuan had taken it away.

Even the bamboo sleeping mat on the kang had been newly purchased for the wedding. Fang Yuan truly had not left behind a single thing. She took everything she could. She had even rolled up and taken away the sleeping mat.

Lu Feng sat in the room looking miserable and bewildered, glaring at Li Meng. This woman had left him with no family property at all.

The moment Li Meng saw Lu Feng’s expression, she knew he was blaming her. She did not dare let him leave, nor did she dare complain about the grievances she had suffered.

She personally went to the east room and asked Mother Lu for old bedding.

Otherwise they would have had to sleep directly on the kang platform.

Mother Lu felt sorry for her son and even brought an old mat from the woodshed to the west room, making do with whatever they could find. But no matter how one looked at it, it did not resemble a bridal chamber.

Broken things paired with old people. There was not the slightest trace of newlywed joy.

Li Meng knew her position and moved closer to Lu Feng. “Brother Feng, what should we do? That woman stole all my luggage.”

Lu Feng shifted away from her. He was annoyed. “You still have the nerve to say that? If it weren’t for you, would my wedding have turned out like this?”

If he had married Fang Yuan smoothly, they would have had family assets and lived better than almost any household in the village. But now, aside from a house that did not leak wind, they had nothing.

The biggest issue was that Lu Er now had family assets. He had everything. Half of it had been sponsored by this foolish woman, and the other half had originally been the bride price their family paid.

The gap between the brothers’ households had appeared immediately. The more Lu Feng thought about it, the more miserable he felt.

Li Meng wrapped both hands around Lu Feng. “Brother Feng, we’ll have everything in the future. But what do we do right now?” She was clearly throwing away all concern for appearances and sticking herself to the man.

Lu Feng could not escape Li Meng’s entanglement. Uselessly, his face turned red. Irritated, he said, “Didn’t you say you’re pregnant? Have some shame and let go.”

Li Meng looked a little embarrassed. “Not yet, but we’ll have one very soon.”

Lu Feng instantly sat upright. This woman had used a child to trick him. So it had all been nonsense.

“You...”

Li Meng pounced on him. How could she dare let Lu Feng keep talking? This woman truly had some tricks up her sleeve.

Only in the middle of the night did the two resume the conversation. Lu Feng asked, “Did some man dump you outside, and that’s why you came back to me?” He was not actually that stupid.

As if Li Meng would ever admit it. It was not that she had been dumped. She had already spent a lifetime with someone else. Things had not gone well, and she wanted to start over.

Naturally, Li Meng denied it. “No, no. Brother Feng, I was just young. I heard people say the outside world was wonderful, so I wanted to go out and see it. The moment I broke off the engagement, I regretted it. I was just too concerned about saving face, so I didn’t dare come back to find you.”

Then she started crying. “When I heard Brother Feng was getting married, I stopped caring about face. Brother Feng, you have to believe me. Otherwise, would I really have used such a shameless trick as pretending to be pregnant just to steal you away from someone else?”

Lu Feng said, “I’m not that easy to fool. After your family broke off the engagement with me, they introduced you to a man who worked in the township. Do you think I’m stupid?”

Li Meng replied, “That did happen, but I couldn’t let go of you in my heart. Otherwise, would I have... would I have done that with you...”

At that point, Lu Feng fell silent. The two of them really had been close before.

Otherwise, Lu Feng would never have believed Li Meng the moment she claimed to be pregnant.

Li Meng felt fortunate. Thankfully, when they had been engaged, she had never been especially reserved. Otherwise it would not be so easy to coax him now.

No matter how poorly this window papering held up, Li Meng had managed to patch over everything on the surface so tightly that no wind could get through.

Now that things had reached this point, Lu Feng accepted the marriage.

Early the next morning, Li Meng shyly greeted Father Lu and Mother Lu.

She even got up at dawn intending to help Mother Lu prepare breakfast.

Mother Lu’s expression was fairly normal, though she said one thing. “Eldest Daughter-in-law, you don’t need to cook. Even though we’ve divided the household, we’ll definitely eat together today.”

Li Meng wore an expression of enduring humiliation while bearing a burden. “It’s only right, Mom. For the sake of our family, I’ll endure Second Son’s wife.”