Does it really need to be taken this seriously?

Wang Zhuo was melancholic, scratching his head repeatedly, unsure how to handle the current situation.

If he let Meng Shannan return to Taoyuan, he'd be stuck between a rock and a hard place. Worse still, revealing his secret relationship with Siyuan under these circumstances would surely make Qi Fei condemn him as an animal—after all, there was nearly an entire generation's gap between Siyuan and Qi Fei!

"This... well..." He tentatively explained, "I do like you quite a bit. But I'm sure you can guess—I already have more than one girlfriend."

Meng Shannan continued sobbing, showing no reaction to his words whatsoever.

Stubborn people were the hardest to deal with! Wang Zhuo directly asked her instead: "Then tell me—what exactly do I need to do for you to just listen to me?"

This "listen" had dual meaning; first, it meant keeping their secret relationship with Siyuan hidden, and second, staying in Jiangzhou without returning to Taoyuan. Deep down, Wang Zhuo knew he was at fault—he shouldn't have used that clumsy lie to deceive Meng Shannan back then. Now the karma was hitting him!

Only now did Meng Shannan look up, her words choked with sobs: "I don’t know..."

Wang Zhuo nearly fainted from frustration and sighed bitterly: "Then think it through first before coming to find me."

Saying this, he no longer paid attention to Meng Shannan and returned to his bedroom.

"Not going too smoothly?" He had just sat down on the bed when Siyuan cheerfully asked.

Wang Zhuo shrugged helplessly; only now did he realize that Meng Shannan was indeed still a naive child. No wonder so many men liked her—because she truly understood people!

The girl looked curiously: "What exactly did you lie to her about? Tell me."

At this moment, Wang Zhuo really needed someone to confide in and relieve his worries. He sighed deeply and recounted the entire situation truthfully—from the male-to-female ratio of seven women to three men in Taoyuan Village, to polygamy there, to Meng Mingliang's hope for his two daughters to have success by entrusting them to Wang Zhuo, as well as how he had lied to Meng Shannan that he only liked mature women.

After hearing all this, Siyuan blinked and said rather surprisingly: "Then why are you hesitating? Just 'take care of' her already!"

"What 'take care of'?" Wang Zhuo angrily tapped her head with no good temper, "Log off the Fat Dragon QQ group!"

Though Fat Dragon was Wang Zhuo's loyal sidekick who worked tirelessly for him, online he was actually a small leader running multiple QQ groups as a group owner. These included Dance Passion, Photographer Fearless, Same City Car Enthusiasts, and Pillow Whispering, among others. Somehow Siyuan had joined two of them—especially the Photographer Fearless group where photographers often boasted about having 'taken care of' certain models that day. That's how she picked up the term!

When Siyuan said "take care of," it actually meant urging Wang Zhuo to get physical with Meng Shannan, but there was no way he'd accept such a suggestion—it was sheer nonsense!

"Then figure it out yourself," Siyuan teasingly poked her tongue out. "I think you're too caught up in the situation to see clearly. You're ignoring the best shortcut just to force your way through narrow corners."

Wang Zhuo was about to argue when she turned away and went back to fiddling with her computer.

"I can't explain it to you," Wang Zhuo muttered unhappily before lying down with a thud on his bed.

"Why act like a lamb if you're really a wolf? So fake noble!" Siyuan whispered, amused.

Meng Shendi finished showering and exited the bathroom feeling fresh and cheerful. Seeing her sister's tear-streaked face made her pause in surprise.

"Got something in my eye," Meng Shannan hastily explained before quickly retreating into the bathroom.

Though clearly unconvinced, Meng Shendi didn't dwell on it for long. With great enthusiasm, she walked to the table and opened up the shopping bag the sisters had brought along, taking out all the drinks, snacks, and fruits inside, neatly arranging them.

Drinks went in the fridge while fruits were cleaned in the kitchen. Soon after, she served a large fruit platter and cheerfully entered Wang Zhuo's bedroom with it.

"Come eat some fruit!"

Siyuan picked a ripe mango, Wang Zhuo symbolically took an apple, and Meng Shendi placed the fruit tray on the table before herself snatching up a string of sweet grapes to sit beside Wang Zhuo and begin eating them. Among these four people tonight, she was by far the most carefree—just having enjoyed a pleasant shower, she had already temporarily forgotten about what happened in the garage earlier.

After her bath, she wore only a thin light pink bikini bottom paired with a short, tight white tank top that barely reached below her chest. The fabric was both thin and translucent; since she hadn't dried herself off completely after bathing, those two pieces of clothing were already slightly damp. Wang Zhuo didn’t even need to use his x-ray vision to see through them—like a semi-transparent outfit was right there in front of him!

If this girl had grown up in the city by now, at her age she would know how to be discreet and wouldn't strut around like that near Wang Zhuo. But since she came from Taoyuan where it was customary for everyone regardless of gender or age to bathe together in hot springs—and even bathed with Wang Zhuo twice—she didn’t care at all about being modest, showing complete disregard for any boundaries.

This really put Wang Zhuo through hell. He had just gone through an unfulfilled takeoff and was suppressing his arousal for now. But seeing the girl's youthful yet tempting body displayed so carelessly before him made him react immediately.

Meng Shendi cheerfully plucked a grape, lifting her innocent young face up. The purple grape looked like a crystal gemstone in her hand. She admired it for several seconds before slowly bringing it to her lips and squeezing firmly with her fingers while gently sipping the juicy pulp between them.

"With a sucking sound," she drank away the remaining juice inside the grape skin, placing the peel into the fruit rind bin beside her. Then, without missing a beat, she extended that light pink tongue of hers—like a little cherry blossom—and carefully licked along her lips to clean up any left-over grape juice.

Wang Zhuo couldn't stand this kind of performance anymore. He suddenly sat up and grabbed a magazine, pretending to read it while actually trying to cover his awkward situation down there.

Meng Shendi continued with her grape-eating show, even attracting Siyuan's attention who turned around briefly before glancing at Wang Zhuo and smirking knowingly. The pink tongue and purple grapes made an obvious contrast that immediately sparked Wang Zhuo’s imagination into wild flights of fancy.

"We don't have such big grapes in Taoyuan—only small sour ones about the size of a fingernail," Meng Shendi said happily after finishing her entire string of grapes, still feeling unsatisfied.

"If you like them, try another string!" Siyuan immediately handed over the fruit tray with a mischievous smile hidden behind it.

"I'll try this first!" Meng Shendi didn’t grab any grapes but instead took a big ripe plum in one hand. The shape and color of the plum were even more similar to grapes than grapes themselves, making Siyuan burst into laughter immediately. But Meng Shendi remained unaware why she was laughing. Her snow-white teeth pressed against the plum while her lips covered it up completely. Her tongue lightly touched the tip of the plum curiously as she stared at Siyuan in confusion.

"Cough!" Wang Zhuo finally couldn't bear it anymore, clearing his throat before getting up and declaring: "I'm going to watch TV."

...

Light rain fell during midnight as Siyuan slept soundly with her head resting on Wang Zhuo’s chest.

Wang Zhuo remained awake though, and when he used his x-ray vision to check the situation across from him, Meng Shannan was also awake, staring blankly at the ceiling of the room, thinking about something unknown.

Meng Shannan was a beautiful girl—she had the makings of becoming a stunner. After all, Taoyuan never produced ugly women; even those with average looks were still above average in appearance. Meng Mingliang himself was tall and handsome as well as the village head, while his wife used to be among the most beautiful girls in their village when she was young. Meng Shannan was exactly at her blooming age with lots of development potential ahead.

If Meng Shannan developed into a medium-sized yet full-figured girl, then Meng Shendi would become a slim tall girl. In time, these two sisters could definitely reach the level of campus beauties—judging only by their appearances, the Beijing Film Academy or China Central Drama College wouldn't have any barriers for them at all.

Wang Zhuo wasn’t someone who could easily refuse beautiful women; otherwise he wouldn’t have taken advantage of Ji Qiong even when he knew it would lead to nothing. Right now, the reason why he kept hesitating was simply because he lacked an excuse that could convince himself!

Actually many men were like this too: When a beautiful woman threw herself at him, there would be intense internal debates within his mind usually dominated by rationality leading to rejection. He might regret it for years after doing so. But when the same beautiful woman threw herself at him while also providing an excuse for cheating—even if it was a flimsy one—it could make him fall head over heels without hesitation.

This sort of justification was exactly what Wang Zhuo needed right now—unfortunately, Meng Shannan didn’t understand...

It had already become 3 am and soon dawn would break when Meng Shannan quietly got up from bed and began pacing around the living room with some hesitancy in her expression.

Wang Zhuo gently placed Siyuan's head back onto its pillow before stepping out of his bedroom, gesturing toward the couch for her to sit there.

"I was wrong last night," Meng Shannan spoke first, softly saying: "I won’t mention returning to Taoyuan again; I'm sorry."

Wang Zhuo was quite surprised and all the prepared words he had suddenly went out the window!

"I think I’m not inferior to anyone else!" The girl firmly raised her head and said: "On TV they say that love must be fought for on your own, not through someone's charity. So I want to make changes to get you to genuinely accept me!"

After hearing only half of what she had just said, Wang Zhuo was about to praise the screenwriter who made such a touching TV drama—only to be struck by lightning when he heard the rest! When did women start declaring their love while chasing men? Where on earth could this sort of speech possibly come from? Definitely one of those over-the-top Qiong Yao dramas?!

However, Meng Shannan’s sincerity and determination still deeply moved him. Being confessed to by a beautiful young girl like this might actually be considered success in a man's life!

"Rest assured—I won't tell anyone about your relationship with Siyuan. I'll also handle the work on Shendi. Once she wakes up, I'll talk to her."

Meng Shannan’s words gave Wang Zhuo another peace of mind. Now he felt that the girl in front of him was truly mature and understanding—she really knew how to care for men! Her level of wisdom actually rivaled Siyuan's!

"So... what exactly do you plan on saying to Shendi?" Wang Zhuo still had some doubts, thinking Meng Shendi’s innocent and cheerful personality might not be able to keep any secret.

"In fact, Shendi keeps her mouth shut better than I do," Meng Shannan lightly laughed like a little grown-up: "As long as she knows how important the matter is, there will definitely be no problem!"

Suddenly Wang Zhuo realized what was coming next—his sister was going to give his younger sibling some sort of enlightenment!

Actually he still underestimated the age at which Taoyuan people received such education. Two years ago had already been Meng Shendi's "enlightenment" time. All Meng Shannan wanted now was just using her recently learned search function via Baidu to find a certain “educational film” for her sister.

Baidu would once again make its mark!