Chapter 48: He Felt Relieved – Running Away Was Doomed, It Was Better to Stay with Wen Zhaoyin

“I won’t leave. I’m not leaving,” Meng Huan said through gritted teeth after frowning and struggling for a long time, looking as if he had made a certain resolve.

Wen Zhaoyin was very surprised. She didn’t expect him to say he didn’t want to leave. Wouldn’t that mean he wanted to secretly leave with Wen Zhibai?

Her mood began to feel a bit strange, but she didn’t easily get angry. Instead, she asked, “You wanted to leave so badly before. Why don’t you want to leave now? Could it be that you’re afraid I’ll go back on my word?”

“You can rest assured about that. I do what I say. Once a word is spoken, it’s hard to take back even with four horses.”

Meng Huan had a bored expression. In the second before he spoke, he didn’t know why he chose to stay.

But after saying it, he wasn’t too sad. Instead, he felt a sense of relief, not knowing what psychology it was.

He didn’t eat anymore and lazily leaned back in his chair, sighing, “If I go home now that you’re down on your luck, what kind of man would I be?”

“If I, Meng Huan, were to leave, I couldn’t possibly leave when things are so difficult at home. Believe it or not, I won’t leave now anyway.”

After he finished speaking, he subconsciously looked at Wen Zhaoyin, wanting to see her reaction. Who knew that she would stare at him with a strange gaze, making him very uncomfortable.

“Don’t look at me like that…” Meng Huan leaned back, slightly increasing the distance between them, but it didn’t seem to have any substantial effect.

After looking at him for a long time, she suddenly blinked and asked, “Are you speaking from the heart?”

Oh my, he said it so responsibly, and she still dared to question him. Meng Huan glared at her and said, “Of course it’s true!”

Afraid that she wouldn’t believe him, knowing that she was very suspicious, he started talking about other things. “Moreover, I’m still carrying a child. This is your son. You wouldn’t send me back home because you don’t want to raise the child…”

Before he could finish the last two words, he was firmly hugged by Wen Zhaoyin. She was obviously using a lot of force, but she deliberately left room for his belly, carefully arching her waist to avoid it for protection.

Her reaction was a bit excessive. Meng Huan was caught off guard by her embrace. Who knew that what was even more unexpected was still to come? She, who usually only used kisses for flirting, actually kissed him this time without any ulterior motives.

It was gentle and soft, without a trace of lust, but instead mixed with some emotions he didn’t quite understand.

Meng Huan passively accepted it, breathing rapidly and chaotically, gradually being kissed to tears. He was only released when he raised his hand to wipe his face.

“So touched? Then you better treat me well in the future,” he said to her, rubbing his burning lips, smiling a bit brightly, but also a bit bitterly.

How should he put it? He suddenly felt relieved.

He always thought that he wouldn’t starve if he ran away, deceiving himself that he could be independent if he ran away. But in reality, this was impossible.

He had no idea what it was like outside. From Wen Xi’s description of the situation, it was also a world that was very unfriendly to men.

In a place where men couldn’t even see a doctor without being accompanied by their wives or mothers, he really had no way to survive on his own.

Now he realized that perhaps staying in the Wen family as a salted fish was his best choice.

One has to bravely face reality. There was no other way. This world was just like this. If he didn’t compromise, did he have any other options? Obviously not.

The preferential treatment and favoritism towards women in this world was far greater than the bias towards men in modern society. Women were the chosen ones, while men had to be carefully bound by various rules in their lives.

Wen Zhaoyin liked him and had the ability. Even if she was down on her luck for a while, so what? He believed that she would eventually have the day to rise again.

Perhaps being with her was his best choice now.

“Look at your lack of ambition. If you had been as obedient as you are now from the beginning, you wouldn’t have suffered so much before,” Wen Zhaoyin said with a smile, pinching his face.

After the two of them had an intimate moment, she said she was going to read and went to the small study.

After confirming that she had left, Meng Huan hurriedly had Wen Xi find a fire basin to burn Wen Zhibai’s letter, completely cutting off his own way out and staying in the Wen mansion steadily.

He himself was clear that if he made a choice, he had to firmly stand on that side. Being indecisive was definitely not acceptable.

If this letter was kept and discovered by someone one day, it would have an extremely bad influence on him. Destroying it immediately after making a decision was the most correct thing to do.

On Wen Zhaoyin’s side, while handling the task assigned by the empress, she heard the secret guard’s report on this matter and learned of Meng Huan’s determination. At that time, she was very satisfied.

So she made a decision and had Pei Lan go tell Zu Jun to appoint Meng Huan as a concubine now.

If it were before, Zu Jun would have definitely disagreed. But times had changed. At least on the surface, she was now an ordinary person, and Zu Jun would not be so strict about the status of the men in her backyard.

If he was appointed as a concubine now, when the child was born in the future, if it was a girl, she could directly and legitimately promote him to the position of official spouse, giving him all the substance and face of a proper husband.

Compared to the group of cold-blooded and heartless relatives who scattered like monkeys when the tree fell, she was willing to hold this man who valued loyalty and righteousness in higher regard.

Sure enough, Zu Jun’s side just replied with permission and didn’t say anything else, without any difficulty and quite accommodating.

Meng Huan was informed of this matter on the second day.

It was right after breakfast in the morning when a servant brought him a plain yet seemingly quite valuable set of clothes.

Considering the current situation of the Wen family, he felt that it must not have been easy to bring out such a set of clothes. Then he heard the servant say that Wen Zhaoyin wanted to appoint him as a concubine, and these clothes were to be worn to pay respects to the deceased official spouse.

Had he been in the Wen family for a year and a half or two years? Wen Zhaoyin was finally giving him a status, and it sounded like a concubine with a rather high position.

Meng Huan felt a bit complex. Obviously, he had compromised and was willing to be a salted fish, so why did he still feel dissatisfied when given a status? His mind was in a mess, and for a moment, he couldn’t sort out some things no matter how he tried.

He hadn’t finished changing his clothes when Wen Zhaoyin arrived.

She patiently waited for him to change clothes and carefully helped him comb his hair and draw his eyebrows, tidying him up properly, even better at taking care of him than Wen Xi.

“The situation is special during this period, so we won’t go to his grave to pay respects. We can just pay respects in the ancestral hall at home.”

“You don’t need to say anything either. Listen to my instructions, and at the end, just call out ‘official spouse’.”

Wen Zhaoyin tugged at a lock of his green hair, twirling it around her fingertips. Although she was speaking, her thoughts had already drifted far away, gazing out the window at the ginkgo tree, slightly dazed.

“I also sent an invitation to your family. As long as your mother signs her name, it will be fine.”

“Actually, according to the rules, you should be sent back to your father’s home to stay for three days, and then brought back home in a wedding sedan from the side gate. But now that you are pregnant, it’s not very safe outside, so we’ll skip that step…”

Meng Huan listened in a daze. He thought that taking a concubine was just like a man taking a concubine, casually mentioning it would be enough. How could there be so many procedures?

There was paying respects to the official spouse, staying at home for a while, and even riding in a wedding sedan. It was quite formal. “Are there so many rules for appointing a concubine?”

“Yes, and in the end, we even have to send our joint contract to the government office for filing,” she said with a smile, letting go of the green hair on her fingertips and helping him stand up from the chair.

He turned his head and looked at her in surprise. “We have to send a contract to the government office for filing?” Wouldn’t that be like a marriage certificate? Come to think of it, the status of a concubine in a female-dominant society was quite substantial.

Meng Huan suddenly no longer had that feeling of dissatisfaction from earlier. The strange mood that had come quickly also disappeared quickly, so quickly that he didn’t even have time to think about the root cause.

Wen Xi ran over and gently supported his hand, while Wen Zhaoyin vaguely held his waist. The two of them walked with him all the way to the ancestral hall of the Wen mansion.

The Wen family was a large clan with a unified grand ancestral hall on the mountain, where ancestors from eighteen generations were all enshrined. There were dedicated people who swept and dusted every day and offered incense.

The small ancestral hall in the Wen mansion only housed close relatives from the recent one or two generations. Only Wen Zhaoyin’s official spouse was qualified to be placed inside.

“Remember to be quiet,” she specifically reminded him again just before stepping inside.

Although Meng Huan was an atheist, he had experienced transmigration and naturally had some awe for these things. He had already stopped talking long before it was time. At this moment, he just nodded and was supported as he walked in.

He stood at the door, adapting to the light in the ancestral hall, and saw that Wen Zhaoyin had already stopped in front of a memorial tablet.

He lifted his foot and walked over lightly. As soon as he looked, he clearly saw the name on the memorial tablet—Xie Yunhuan.

So this was her deceased official spouse?

It was quite a coincidence that his name also had the character “Huan,” although it was written differently but had the same pronunciation.

“Yunhuan, this is the concubine I have chosen. Today, I specially brought him to meet you.” In front of him, Wen Zhaoyin didn’t call him Huan Huan but called him Yunhuan instead.

Meng Huan walked over at her beckoning and stood firmly in front of the memorial tablet. He then took the incense she handed him and offered three sticks.

“Greetings to the official spouse.” Finally, he opened his mouth and said this in a low voice.

To continue with the next step, Pei Lan brought the joint contract that had long been drafted. The two of them each signed their names, pressed their handprints, and even stamped a seal. Only then was it considered done.

She closed the contract and addressed Meng Huan, “Concubine.”

Wen Xi, who was beside them, was also very tactful. He quickly followed suit and performed a flattering bow, happily calling out, “Concubine!”

Wen Zhaoyin had come prepared. She actually took out a stack of red envelopes from her sleeve and gave the two thickest ones to Pei Lan and Wen Xi, respectively. The rest were distributed to the servants present.

The mansion had been in turmoil these past few days, and this was the first time rewards were given out recently. The people present all came forward to offer congratulations, holding the red envelopes and smiling very sincerely.

Meng Huan was also infected by the atmosphere. He felt that this was almost the same as getting married, with nothing missing that should be there. Seeing the joyous atmosphere, he was very happy.

The ancestral hall was still not suitable for noise. When the congratulatory words were almost done, Wen Zhaoyin left the ancestral hall with him to pay respects to Zu Jun.

Although he had been in the Wen family for a year or two, he had been nameless before. Now, he suddenly had a status, so he still needed to pay respects to Zu Jun to truly become a concubine.

However, Zu Jun was ill, quite seriously ill, to the point of being unable to get out of bed due to coughing. Meng Huan didn’t take the final step and skipped the part of meeting the elders. He didn’t take it to heart.

But Wen Xi softly said something about it being unlucky if it wasn’t complete. He didn’t take that to heart either.

Things were up to people to do. Whether it was lucky or not still depended on how people acted. How could it be predestined to be imperfect just because of missing a step?

Moreover, he just wanted to live the life of a salted fish. He didn’t pursue anything like luck or perfection, which had nothing to do with him anyway.