SMWOM 27

As Meng Yang took first place in his grade, his senior brothers and sisters said they wanted to help him celebrate. Lu Yunjing also wanted to help him celebrate, so Meng Yang simply booked a small banquet hall with a garden and a swimming pool in a hotel for everyone to get together, and also invited Xiao Ke and his friends. After the last bar fight, Meng Yang had reason to publicly be friends with Xiao Ke. 

Meng Yang talked with his senior brothers and sisters for a while before Xiao Ke came. Xiao Ke brought some good bottles of wine from his own collection to celebrate Meng Yang’s first place. Wanting to talk to him alone, Meng Yang took him to one side and sat down with him.

Meng Yang opened the red wine that Xiao Ke brought and thought it was quite good after he tasted it. He chatted with Xiao Ke and couldn’t stop drinking one glass after another. 

“How’s Su Di?” Meng Yang asked. 

“How else could he be? Still sleeping well.” A flash of sorrow passed through Xiao Ke’s eyes when he heard Su Di’s name. He smiled bitterly and said, “Maybe he was in too much pain before, because now he just sleeps and doesn’t want to wake up.”

“Maybe he really is tired and just wants to have a good rest, so don’t worry too much. Once he has enough sleep, he’ll definitely wake up,” Meng Yang comforted. The Su Di of his previous life didn’t wake up, but there were methods to wake up comatose people in the aromatherapy books handed down by the Meng ancestors. However, he couldn’t tell Xiao Ke until he learned them.

Having talked with Xiao Ke for a while, Meng Yang went back to talk with his senior brothers and sisters. He kept drinking, and Lu Yunjing wanted to send him back home after seeing that he was on the verge of being drunk. 

Meng Yang waved him away and took out his cell phone, and called Luo Xiu and asked him to pick him up.

Luo Xiu frowned as he listened to Meng Yang’s slurred words. He knew that Meng Yang must be drunk as soon as he heard them, and though he knew there were bodyguards following him, he was still uneasy. Worried that something was wrong with him, he immediately got up to pick him up.

In the conference room of a certain branch of the Luo Group, the employees who were having a video conference looked at each other and didn’t know what to do. For the second time, their BOSS (1) who’d previously never been absent from a conference before had suddenly left the meeting. 

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The door to the banquet hall was suddenly opened, and everyone turned to look. Once they saw the man who’d appeared at the door, the originally talking and chatting voices immediately grew quiet. Their eyes were all focused on this tall and handsome man, and no one dared to continue talking. 

Luo Xiu looked around for a moment before going inside. His aura was so powerful that no one dared stop him, and no one went up to ask who he was looking for. Those who recognized him were even more afraid to speak to each other. Even Lu Yunjing silently stepped back after seeing Luo Xiu. 

Luo Xiu spotted Meng Yang lying on the sofa and quickly strode towards him. Looking at Meng Yang’s state, he found that he was completely drunk and seemed to be pretending that he was a fish as he kept spitting bubbles. 

After picking up Meng Yang, Luo Xiu directly carried him away until they both were out the door. Everyone seemed to come back to their senses, with some people even thinking that they’d drunk too much and were hallucinating.

“Was he Luo Sheng’s father?” Xiao Ke asked Lu Yunjing in a low voice. 

“Haven’t you met President Luo?” Lu Yunjing looked at him with some doubt. Xiao Ke was a young master of the Xiao family, there was no way he’d not seen Luo Xiu before.

“I’ve seen him before, but that was the first time I’ve seen him so closely. He seems more handsome now.” Xiao Ke touched his face and said, “And he’s got too much presence. Is it because of his face and body?”

“The reason behind his imposing manner is mainly his strength,” Lu Yunjing said. 

Luo Xiu carried Meng Yang back to his car, with Meng Yang constantly mumbling something incomprehensible. 

“Mr. Luo, don’t shake…” Meng Yang grabbed Luo Xiu’s face in his hands, thinking that Luo Xiu had been shaking him to make him dizzy. In reality, he was drunk and Luo Xiu hadn’t moved at all. 

Meng Yang’s lips kept falling on Luo Xiu’s face. Not only could he not find Luo Xiu’s lips, he also covered Luo Xiu’s face with saliva. 

Luo Xiu felt the soft, wine-scented lips and thought this little guy was really a lot to worry about. Even with a bodyguard following him, he would still worry that he would be bullied outside, that he’d be injured accidentally, that he was too young and didn’t have the self-awareness to avoid being cheated, that he was too beautiful and someone would take advantage of him, that he’d be approached by someone with ulterior motives or that he’d be harmed because of their marriage.

Stroking Meng Yang’s hair, Luo Xiu sighed helplessly. He didn’t know when his mind had begun to change. Although the child worried him a lot, it wasn’t a burden that annoyed him, but a burden that gave him a sense of happiness. 

True happiness? Luo Xiu thought, he believed, that he was the insulator between those two words. (2)

Meng Yang’s mouth was sour; he still couldn’t find Luo Xiu’s mouth to kiss and he felt tired, so he buried his face in Luo Xiu’s neck to rest. Still thinking he was a fish, he puffed and puffed. 

Luo Xiu returned to his room with Meng Yang in his arms. Meng Yang was so drunk that he couldn’t bathe himself, so Luo Xiu fed him some sobering tea and took a warm towel from the maid to wipe his face, neck, and body.

Mr. Yuan stood aside and watched. He was very surprised, as he’d been Luo Xiu’s steward for many years and had never seen Luo Xiu personally take care of people before. Mr. Yuan thought to himself, it seemed that Young Master Meng Yang was really a special case for the master. He could not only have him marry him, but make him willingly take care of him. It was just as well. After all these years, the master finally had a companion who could enter his heart. 

After having the servants leave, Luo Xiu changed Meng Yang into pajamas and covered him with a quilt, and left him to sleep. He then went into the bathroom to wash up. 

When Luo Xiu came back out of the bathroom, he saw that Meng Yang had no clothes on. He writhed around on the bed, looking extremely uncomfortable. 

Luo Xiu went to cover him with the quilt, but Meng Yang groaned and pushed the quilt away. He really felt too hot. 

Meng Yang felt like his body was on fire, making him extremely uncomfortable. Breathing hard, he opened his eyes and through his blurred vision, he saw Luo Xiu’s face that appeared like a miracle. He sat up abruptly and clung to Luo Xiu’s neck.

“Mr. Luo… Mr. Luo, I waited for you for so long, why didn’t you come to get me?” Meng Yang asked in tears. “How could you not come to get me?”

“I brought you back, you’re home now. Just sleep well now,” Luo Xiu said as he patted Meng Yang’s back. 

“I really wanted to give up countless times, but I couldn’t give up…” Meng Yang continued to cry. “I was always waiting, always waiting, I didn’t wait for you…”

Luo Xiu originally thought that Meng Yang was originally talking about waiting for him to pick him up while he was drunk, but he couldn’t comprehend what was said later. However, drunk people had no logic to their words, so he could only continue holding him and comforted him saying, “You waited, but I’m here now.”

“You liar, you didn’t…you didn’t come get me.” Meng Yang’s heart ached and his body was still hot as he twisted around in Luo Xiu’s arms. 

Because Meng Yang’s skin was so smooth and tender, Luo Xiu felt like he was holding a tender and slippery white fish, and he also began to sweat as Meng Yang moved in his embrace. 

Luo Xiu’s robe was also torn off by Meng Yang. As a man with normal physical and mental health, Luo Xiu felt a sense of guilt from the sensations produced in his body. His self-control had always been strong, and he didn’t know if it was because he hadn’t found someone to vent with for a while, but he felt those sensations easily these days. 

In order to let Meng Yang sleep well, Luo Xiu hugged him tightly in his arms and covered them both with the quilt. Meng Yang’s feet were suppressed by Luo Xiu and his body could no longer move around. Finally, he fell asleep in his exhausted state. 

Meng Yang slept, but Luo Xiu still couldn’t sleep. Since Meng Yang was drunk, the fragrance on his body seemed to be stronger. Luo Xiu was hot and sweaty, and ended up taking eight showers in that one night. 

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The next morning when Meng Yang woke up, he sat dazed in bed, unable to remember how he got back home. Just as he was about to give up on retrieving his memory of last night and get out of bed to wash up, he opened his quilt and found that he was naked, making his eyes widen in shock. 

“Awake?” Luo Xiu came out of the bathroom.

Meng Yang hurriedly covered himself with the quilt and stammered, “Luo, Mr. Luo, I, last night, I…”

“You were drunk last night, so I picked you up,” Luo Xiu said.

“Then, why am I not wearing anything, even underwear…” Meng Yang whispered. 

“You took it off by yourself. You might’ve felt hot after drinking too much, so you took everything off.”

“Then, did you, did you…”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything to you, I just held you to get you to sleep.” Luo Xiu sat on the bed, looked at him, and asked, “Do you think I’d take advantage of you and do something excessive?”

“I didn’t mean that.” Meng Yang hugged his legs and lowered his head. “I want to ask, Mr. Luo, did you, did you feel anything after I stripped last night?”

Luo Xiu’s eyes avoided looking at him for a moment before he said, “Don’t worry. In my heart, you’re still a child, so I won’t have any ideas even after seeing your body.”

Meng Yang gripped his hair and thought ruefully, you’ve given me ideas, though! I completely stripped for you to see, do you really want to hurt people like this?!

“What do you want for a gift?” Luo Xiu asked.

“What? What gift?” Meng Yang looked at him doubtfully. 

“You’re the first in your grade, so you should be rewarded,” Luo Xiu said. 

“It’s just a monthly exam, there’s no need for a reward.” Meng Yang thought for a moment and said, “How about this, I’m going to take part in a very important competition soon. If I can get first place in that, you’ll agree to one of my requests. How does that sound?”

“Good, just not something that will embarrass me.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I won’t ask for too much,” Meng Yang immediately said. 

Luo Xiu went to the other room to dress, and Meng Yang put on his pajamas and got out of bed, and quickly walked into the bathroom. 

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Meng Yang and his fellow students usually needed many kinds of incense making materials in order to study and practice, which were usually easy to obtain. However, obtaining some high-quality materials depended on financial resources, recognition ability, and luck. 

In the neighboring Rong City, there lay the largest spice and incense market in China, so the school gave them leave to go to the price-guessing auction in the spice market with the masters. Meng Yang went there first, and the masters would arrive on the next day. In addition to Meng Yang and the others, Yu Junchen and his senior brothers naturally came along, and Luo Sheng also came with them. 

The reason why Luo Sheng followed Yu Junchen was of course because he knew Wen Yuan liked Yu Junchen, and he’d already argued twice with Yu Junchen about it. Although he believed that Yu Junchen had no special feelings for Wen Yuan, he didn’t want to give Wen Yuan any chances, so he went with them.

Meng Yang had wanted to go to the spice market for a long time. In addition to buying many ingredients to practice with, he also needed to buy incense-making herbs for Luo Xiu’s headaches. This time, he was leaving for two days and one night, so Luo Xiu specially arranged for someone to go with him.

The fragrance market of Rong City was in an ancient part of the town, and all buildings and streets maintained a classic style. Entering it was just like traveling to ancient times, and a large number of tourists and merchants would travel from all over the world to see it. 

Everywhere in the city was fragrant, and almost every shop was lit with its own signature fragrance to attract customers. Meng Yang walked into a shop that looked like a private home and handed over the famous name card of Lin Songtai at the front desk. Wen Yuan also handed over the famous name card of Xu Wangya. 

After receiving the cards, the front desk staff immediately led them to the garden where important customers were received. 

The garden wasn’t big, but it was quiet and elegant. Meng Yang first registered and collected a multitude of wooden plaques with numbers on them, and then found a table to sit and drink tea while he waited for the bidding to start. 

When the time came, the wooden gate of the garden closed, and five service personnel in ancient-style clothes came out of the house with pallets. They put the pallets on a separate platform to display the materials, and all the guests took turns to look at them.

These raw materials were relatively rare, so they were also very expensive. They could only be seen and smelled, but not be touched. Some people even brought magnifying instruments to examine them. 

There were five kinds of raw materials in the first round of bidding. Those who’d finished their observations went back to their seats and began to seriously think. They then wrote down the prices they believed the materials were on the wooden plaques. 

Meng Yang only needed two of the five raw materials, so he wrote down the number of the materials and the prices he thought they were on two wooden plaques, and then handed them to the staff. 

When the time was up, the service staff would no longer accept any more bidding wooden plaques, but would announce the closest price. 

“Materials No. 1 and No. 3, obtained by guest No. 28.”

“Material No. 2, obtained by guest No. 30.”

“Materials No. 4 and No. 5, obtained by guest No. 35.”

The staff turned over the wooden plaques with the prices on them and put the wooden plaque with the closest price bid next to it. 

Meng Yang was No. 28. His bids were almost the same as the real prices, and even Wu Feng was shocked. 

“You’re too good at guessing, there’s almost no difference from the original price,” Wu Feng exclaimed. 

“The price of these materials isn’t hard to guess, so I can be fairly accurate,” Meng Yang said after a sip of tea.

“I guessed for No.1 too, but it was too far away,” Wu Feng said, holding up his chin with his hand. 

All the spices used for bidding had strict pricing standards. In addition to distinguishing the quality of the materials, people needed to understand the current market environment in order to guess the closest price. If everyone guessed a price lower than the actual price, then no one could buy it. Only those who guessed higher and closest to the actual price could buy it. 

The materials for the second group were brought out, and Meng Yang went to observe them again. After smelling them, he went back to his seat and began to think. He wanted all five spices from the second group. Although they were currently available, these materials couldn’t always be easily bought. Since he’d encountered them, it wasn’t a bad idea to buy all of them and store them.

“Materials No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, and No.5, all obtained by guest No. 28.” Once the staff said this, they’d turn over the price boards one by one and then put Meng Yang’s wooden plaques up. 

Then all the ingredients in the third, fourth, and fifth groups were again all bought by Meng Yang. Everyone couldn’t help but look at Meng Yang each time, with their eyes opening wider and wider. Meng Yang was young and was obviously still a student at a glance. Most of the other people who could enter this place were very talented in the field of fragrance, and there were even two masters present. It was really shocking that they all couldn’t outguess a student.

If Meng Yang hadn’t married Luo Xiu, he would’ve been more low-key until he had found a suitable backer. But seeing as he had Luo Xiu to back him up, there wasn’t any need to keep a low profile. 

When Yu Junchen saw that all the materials he wanted were taken by Meng Yang, he became anxious. Luo Sheng saw his anxiety and patted his hand to comfort him. 

Wen Yuan was worried because Meng Yang had bought almost all of the materials, and seeing Luo Sheng’s movements, he was even more upset. But what could he do, so he just kept drinking tea to calm his anger.

After that, five more rounds of spices were brought out one after another. Meng Yang casually succeeded in guessing the price of everything he liked. Even the boss of the auction house was shocked. He quickly asked people to check the register, and after seeing that Meng Yang had come under the name card of the famous Lin Songtai, he sunk into thought.

These materials weren’t cheap. Meng Yang bought so many materials all at once and directly paid without blinking an eye, and led others to think that his identity was not ordinary.

When everyone got up to leave, those who’d come there for nothing began to talk.

“Who is that? He looks so young yet he can be so domineering. I’ve never seen him before.”

“Yes, obviously a student. Where did he come from?”

“It seems that another genius has appeared.”

“No, even if he’s a genius, he didn’t suddenly become a genius. He should’ve at least participated in a competition before, but I don’t have any impression of that young man from just now.”

“It’s really strange, let’s go find out if anyone else knows his origins.”

Yu Junchen, Wen Yuan, and Yu Junchen’s other senior brothers were very uncomfortable hearing people praise Meng Yang. They thought they’d be able to successfully bid for at least one or two kinds of materials so as not to lose face for their teacher. They didn’t expect that they wouldn’t get anything and that they would let Meng Yang get almost everything. If their teacher knew this, he’d be very angry. 

Luo Sheng was also very unhappy. Any time he saw Meng Yang spending money, he felt that Meng Yang was spending his money. 

When they were about to go back to the street, someone suddenly stopped Meng Yang.

“Student no. 28, please wait a moment.”

Meng Yang and the others looked back together. A tall, handsome man approached them with a gentle smile.

“Is something wrong?” Meng Yang asked him.

Meng Yang looked at this mixed-race man and thought he seemed familiar. After some serious thought, he remembered who he was. 

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Translator Notes: Sorry this is so late everyone! Work got crazy and my mental state just went straight into the garbage. I’ll try to keep up with this though!

Thank you to Red Yak for editing!

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1. “BOSS” was in English all caps, like the way you might write it for a video game boss, novel villain, or something equally dramatic lmao.

2. Yeah, I’m a little lost on this sentence: “幸福吗？骆脩心想，他还以为，他对这两个字是绝缘体呢。” I know that the “缘” character in insulator could translate into something about fate, but I’m not sure how to structure the sentence if that was the intended meaning. I also know the phrase love insulator is a thing in Chinese, but I don’t know if that’s connected at all. Anyone with any ideas would be greatly appreciated!