Meng Xuan was playing with two blades of orchid grass by overlapping them. Then, he pulled them with his two hands. “Snap!” This time the left hand won. On the ground there were blades of it all over, and the three potted plants at the end of the bed were all bare. Judging from the stems in the soil, they seemed to be three pots of orchid grass before. Unconsciously, he destroyed all the plants He Danggui grew.

He leaned against the pillows to relax. After a long while, he said, “The left one represents me, and the right one represents Xiaoyi. Her grass broke… Something must have happened to her! I’ll go find her.” While saying this, he began to rummage through the cabinet at the end of the bed to find himself some clothes. Meng Ying saw it and stopped him immediately. He persuaded, “Although the poison in your body has been cleared away, you should rest well to help the wound recover. Don’t look for her. You’d better not get along with her anymore. She’s not a good woman so you should keep a distance from her.”

Glaring at Meng Ying, Meng Xuan asked, “You’ve met Xiaoyi, haven’t you? The disguise on your face must have been done by her, right?” Meng Ying nodded and replied, “Yes, I did meet her before. She said she didn’t want to see you in her room so she hid herself in somewhere and she would come back after you left. You can stay here for one more day. Then you should go back to the courtyard outside the mansion the day after tomorrow. I’ll send Su Niang there to take care of you.”

Meng Xuan glared at him again and suddenly smiled. He said, “Don’t try to sow discord between Xiaoyi and me. She doesn’t want to see me? How could it be possible? I should be the man she wants to see the most. I’m already her husband.”

Meng Ying looked at his blushed face in doubt. He sighed in his heart and thought that Meng Xuan was doing something silly again. He replied calmly, “Why would I sow discord between you? She said that herself. I didn’t tell you before just because I was afraid you would feel sad. If she does care about you, why would she leave you alone here for two days?” He pushed Meng Xuan back to the bed and continued, “Stay in bed and don’t move too much. I’ll go get some food for you. After all, you can’t feed yourself with grass.” With his long hair spreading on the bed, Meng Xuan slept in the middle and stared at the gauzy bed netting above. He asked, “What did she say?”

Meng Ying paused and then, answered, “I’ll tell you that after you’re recovered, or you may never get healed.”

“Tell me now.” Meng Xuan asked stubbornly, “I want to know every word she has said.”

Meng Ying felt helpless and could just tell him, “She told me that the man she liked was Duan Xiaolou. She said she found it after having been together with you, so she didn’t know how to face you now. She asked you not to look for her again… Meng Xuan? Meng Xuan?” Meng Ying stared at the man lying still on the bed in confusion, “Are you asleep? What do you want to eat? I’ll go get them for you. Uh, don’t think about nonsense. Just sleep.” Meng Xuan didn’t move a bit. Obviously, he was already in deep sleep.

Meng Ying kept saying some cold words to him, “Think it over. Who treats you the best? Who is so cold-blooded all the time? Who should you pay more attention to? To find the antidote, Su Niang has been badly hurt and is still suffering from a high fever now. She calls your name over and over again, but you haven’t even asked about her at all. Your eyes are blind, but is your heart also blinded? It’s hard to meet such a good woman. Except for Su Niang, who else would sacrifice herself for you like this?”

Leaving him on the bed to think alone, Meng Ying went to the kitchen to find some food. It was already late night and the whole Tao Yao Yard was in tranquility, so he didn’t bother to hide his trace but stride as if he was the owner here. It was still the festive time, so there was pot-stewed food, fried food, and steamed buns in the kitchen. The cooking range was still warm and there was sparerib soup with medicinal materials in the pot. Meng Ying wanted to light a fire and heat the food before bringing them to Meng Xuan, but it was his first time doing such a thing, so it didn’t go smoothly and he still failed again and again.

“Sir, what are you doing?” A rough male voice sounded outside the kitchen.

That sounded a bit similar to Meng Ying’s voice, so he came to his senses after being in a daze for a while. He looked back and saw a man almost of his height standing outside. This man looked less than twenty years old and the curiosity in his bleary eyes made Meng Ying have a guilty conscience. He made up a lie and replied, “I was going to heat some food for Her Ladyship. She said she would start her meditation for two days.” Finishing his words, he realized he had made an indiscreet remark. How would a miss let an old man serve her?

However, that young man even believed it and came over to help him light the fire. He turned around and left after the fire got bigger while he was mumbling, “There are three pots of chrysanthemums in total. Chan Yi’s and mine are still in blossom. Why did the pot of our sister wither so soon? Maybe it was because of the frost.”

After having heated some steamed buns and dishes, Meng Ying brought them into the room and saw Meng Xuan was still sprawling on the bed with his eyes seemingly opened. While asking him to get up and eat, Meng Ying persuaded, “You’re not a kid anymore and should have a concubine. After we go back to the capital, we will prepare for this. You do the most dangerous work in the world and yet sometimes you’re in a daze. How could you not get a wife or a son?”

Meng Xuan had some bites and smiled again. He said, “The food in her kitchen is more delicious than those in others’ home. The tea she makes is also more scented. I’ll never get tired of tasting them all my life… Meng Ying, didn’t Xiaoyi say when she would come back? Where did you meet her? I’ll go find her.”

Meng Ying answered him in a cold tone, “When I met her, she was with Duan Xiaolou and they had got engaged. You should stop thinking about her from now on. You should care more about Su Niang now. I’ve known the things about your son from Yi Tong. It turns out that the kid is not your biological son. If you allow him to stay in our family, he will be your eldest son. Don’t you mind it? What about we find him another house outside?”

Meng Xuan replied with his eyes looking down as he was eating, “Yi Tong is just so long-tongued. No matter how many times I’ve reminded him, it’s a waste of time. You’ve known it, but you should keep it a secret and not gossip with others about it, or Suxin will be sad. This happened two years ago. Suxin was abducted by some men because of my fault. When I found her, she had been raped. Nine months later, she gave birth to a boy. I paid much effort to persuade her not to commit suicide and help her pull herself together. Her maternal love to that boy encouraged her to recover from that tragedy gradually. I once promised that I would take care of her son and her. Since she was hurt because of me, it’s my responsibility to look after her. As for that kid, I can accept him as well.”

Touching his beard, Meng Ying nodded and said, “I see. No wonder that Su Niang and you are reticent about it and don’t discuss about your wedding ceremony at all even though you’ve already got a son. Huh, Yi Tong only knows half of the truth and makes me confused… Fine. People in Jianghu don’t think highly of virginity as we do. Since you can accept it, I will cover this for you, but that kid is the son of your foe and we couldn’t accept him. Su Niang can be a member of Meng’s Family, but he can’t. He shouldn’t use your surname, either. I know a master in Shaolin Temple and he is also in Yangzhou City for the Wulin Assembly. Just let the master take away Su Niang’s son.”

Enjoying the food, Meng Xuan replied slowly, “It’ll be so cruel to take away a kid less than one year old from his mother. I’ve told Su Niang before that we could let him be part of Meng’s Family as my eldest son, but she rejected it firmly. She said she had lost her virginity to some culprit and already couldn’t face me. She didn’t want me to have a son that was unrelated to me by blood.”

“What is her decision, then?” Meng Ying felt confused and asked, “She always wants to marry you, doesn’t she?”

Meng Xuan told him the most appropriate method, “Suxin and her son can live in Meng’s Mansion together, but I will make up a suitable identity for her. She is the legitimate daughter of Xiao’s Family in Yongzhou City, so it won’t be hard to do that. Xiao’s Family, as a well-known kung fu family before, broke down two or three years ago. Thus, no one will see through her fake identity. Then, her son can be introduced to others as her nephew and they can share the same surname as well. It may make up for her regrets in some way. After the kid has been eleven or twelve years old, we can do as you say and send him to Shaolin Temple or Wudang Sect to learn kung fu. Suxin will also agree with us.”

“Okay. I’ll arrange it as soon as I arrive at the capital. Su Niang is twenty-two now, right? If we delay it again and her age gets older, we’ll need to do more to persuade our mother.” Seeing Meng Xuan enjoying the food, Meng Ying began to pick up dishes for him. He continued, “Will you marry her as a co-wife or a concubine? Have you decided it?”

Meng Xuan said, “You can decide it for me. You like making matches so much and are more experienced than me.”

Meng Ying was startled and said, “Who told you that I like making matches? What do you mean by that? I’m just helping you.”

Meng Xuan sat cross-legged and finished the dishes one after another. He replied without stopping eating, “I can’t say you’re officious because you’re worried about Suxin and me, but why did you try to sow discord between Xiaoyi and me? You know nothing about us while you keep talking nonsense as a backseat driver here. Tell me now. Where did Xiaoyi go? I didn’t believe even one word of what you said just now.”

Meng Ying took out a tiny wooden folding fan from his sleeve, which was just as big as his palm when it was unfolded. He fanned himself quickly for a while and glanced at the wall behind the bronze mirror on the dresser in the inner room when he tilted his head. The color of a small space on the wall was slightly different from that of other parts, and the texture of it looked different as well. That space was about sixty centimeters long and thirty centimeters wide… It was a secret compartment! Meng Ying smiled right away and went to check it with his back bent. Later, he took out a small wooden box from inside. He returned to the bedside and showed it to Meng Xuan. When he opened the box, it was full of Xue Tao Paper. There were about forty or fifty ones in total.

Meng Ying said happily, “Meng Xuan, don’t you remember it? Last time you got drunk and complained to me that Miss He was not strict about keeping a distance from males and any man could enter her room randomly. You said Duan Xiaolou often came here for her in the midnight. Even Taoist Sage Bai Yangbai was often by her side in disguise and rummages through her personal stuff casually. He even knew there were letters written by Duan Xiaolou hidden in the secret compartment of her room. I was shocked back then and didn’t think that would be possible, but ‘an old man’ like me has walked back and forth in front of her room for long and no one came to drive me away. It can be seen that she is indeed not strict about keeping a distance from males.” Meng Xuan finally stopped eating and put the chopsticks down. He glared at that small wooden box as if it was his rival in love.

“See? You said I cheated you, but do you really believe her so much?” Meng Ying patted those fragrant Xue Tao Paper and the pile of letters were scattered. He said with a smile, “These are all for her written by Duan Xiaolou. She has hidden them so well and I wonder what they wrote. Do you want to read them?”

After glaring at the letters for a while, Meng Xuan took his eyes off them. He picked up the chopsticks and a bun again and continued eating. He replied at the same time, “Xiaoyi asked me to take care of myself, so I will recover as soon as possible. She said she wanted to get married to me, so I would visit her family and talk about our marriage. She told me these in person. Even if she doesn’t want me anymore and wants to go back to Duan Xiaolou, she has to tell me in person as well. I won’t believe anything said by others. I’ll go find her and ask her about it.”