Second Marriage of a Wealthy Old Man

by Usui Takumii

not mine, novel updates. Ps: Bl, be warned.

2. 11 to 20

SMWOM 11

Everyone was stunned by Meng Yang's words. Luo Sheng clenched his fists and glared at Meng Yang, saying, "It seems that you haven't learned your lesson. Your crazy words never end!"

As soon as Luo Sheng raised his fist, the bodyguard standing next to him quickly moved. Grabbing Luo Sheng's fist, he pressed him to the ground.

"You dare to fight me?!" Luo Sheng's heart was even more furious, but he recognized the bodyguard as one that often followed his father. Being pinned to the ground in front of so many people was humiliating, and he struggled and shouted, "Let me go! I told you to let me go, you hear me?!"

"Eldest Young Master," Mr. Yuan stepped forward to say, "It is true that Young Master Meng Yang has already registered for marriage with the Master as his husband, and they will hold a wedding later. Master has already given orders that Young Master Meng Yang is now an owner of Longling Mountain, just as he is."

"Hear that?" Meng Yang looked at Luo Sheng and said, "I'm a master here now. As for whether you'll be one in the future, who knows."

"Impossible!" Luo Sheng's face was ugly as he shouted, "How could my father suddenly marry him?! This is absolutely impossible!"

"Whether it's impossible or not, you can ask your father yourself." Meng Yang turned and said, "Mr. Yuan, take me to the master bedroom."

"Yes," Mr. Yuan replied respectfully, leading the way.

The others looked at each other, each seeing a look of incredible shock in everyone's eyes.

"This, what the hell is this?"

"Meng Yang married Luo Sheng's father? How could that be true?"

"Yeah, not mentioning anything else, Meng Yang used to be with Luo Sheng. Based on just this, how could Luo Sheng's father marry Meng Yang? Besides, his father is far too old for Meng Yang."

"Why on Earth did Luo Sheng's father marry him?

"How could we possibly know? Luo Sheng…"

When everyone looked at Luo Sheng to ask him if he knew the reason, they found that Luo Sheng's face was already quite ugly. Looking at him, it was obvious he didn't know the reason, so they didn't dare to ask.

Apart from Luo Sheng's face being the ugliest, Yu Junchen's face was also very twisted. If Meng Yang was really married to Luo Sheng's father, then Meng Yang would become Luo Sheng's elder. In his mind, Meng Yang would surely make his father prevent him from getting married to Luo Sheng.

Mr. Yuan took Meng Yang to the master bedroom, or rather, Luo Xiu's suite with many rooms in it.

Meng Yang took Lu Yunjing into the bedroom. Outside the French windows lay an open pool and a garden, and the ocean could be seen across the horizon in rolling waves of blue sea. The scenery really was amazing.

"Are you really going to stay here?" Lu Yunjing asked as he walked down to the settee in the garden.

"I'm married to Mr. Luo, of course I want to live here," Meng Yang said, standing at the fence and looking off into the sea in the distance.

The hatred of his previous life remained in his heart, but at the present, revenge wasn't the most important. Repaying kindness was more important. He would do his best to create opportunities to get along with Luo Xiu.

At that moment, Luo Sheng had rushed to the Luo group headquarters to question Luo Xiu.

"President Luo, the Young Master wants to see you," the assistant outside the office said through the phone.

"Let him in." Luo Xiu had expected Luo Sheng to come but didn't intend to let him waste too much of his time.

"Father!" The door of the office opened and Luo Sheng walked quickly to Luo Xiu's desk, looking at Luo Xiu and asking, "Is it true that you married Meng Yang?"

"It's true. He's now my legal partner and we'll hold a wedding later." Luo Xiu looked at Luo Sheng expressionlessly.

Luo Sheng said angrily, "You know that Meng Yang has been with me before! Did you even consider how I'd feel if you married him?!"

"It's not your place to question my decisions. Now that you know the truth, get out!" Luo Xiu said coldly.

"I don't agree!" Luo Sheng shouted. "I don't agree with your marriage! Over the years, even if you don't care about me, have you ever regarded me as your own son? Now you don't even ask about my feelings or thoughts about a thing as important as marriage?"

"What qualifications do you have to disagree with me? I want to get married, so I need to care about your thoughts and feelings? Which of the people you've been with have I approved of? Have I ever interfered in your love life?"

"Those were just relationships, not marriage. Marriage is such an important thing, it's not the same!"

"So if I told you right now that I don't approve of you and Yu Junchen together, and you had to break up with him immediately and marry my appointed person, you would do it?"

"…" Luo Sheng was stunned and tried to explain himself, "Junchen and I really love each other, we…."

"You don't accept my interference with your marriage, but you want to interfere with mine?" Luo Xiu interrupted Lio Sheng. "I'll say it one last time. No one has the right to interfere with what I do and the decisions I make, including you. If you ever come here to yell at me again, don't come back to the Luo family house. Get out of here!"

As soon as Luo Xiu's words finished, a bodyguard came in quickly and dragged Luo Sheng out of the room.

Yu Junchen sat in the car waiting for Luo Sheng. As he watched Luo Sheng get in the car with an ugly face, he asked gingerly, "What did your father say? Is he really married to Meng Yang?"

Luo Sheng clenched the steering wheel with both hands, breathing hard to suppress his anger. "My father admitted that he and Meng Yang are married and the wedding will be held later."

"How could that be?" Yu Junchen said doubtfully. "Why would your father marry Meng Yang? When did they meet?"

Luo Sheng held his forehead. He also couldn't understand why his father suddenly married Meng Yang.

"Is it because you're engaged to me?" Yu Junchen turned to look at Luo Sheng and said, "Your father, isn't it because he doesn't want us to be together…"

Hearing Yu Junchen's words, Luo Sheng immediately agreed, "It must be that. Because I wanted to get engaged to you without his consent, he's striking first to gain the upper hand. He married Meng Yang to threaten me into breaking up with you."

"Then what do we do?" Yu Junchen said with great difficulty in his heart. "I don't want you to have a bad relationship with your father because of me. If he doesn't want us to be together, then we…"

"No way!" Luo Sheng said firmly. "We can't compromise so easily. It must be my father's plan to break us up, but we can't waver so easily, or we'll definitely lose. My father wants to interfere with my freedom of marriage on the grounds that I'm against his marriage, but I can't let him do this."

"You really don't care about your father's marriage with Meng Yang?" Yu Junchen was still worried.

"You can rest assured that even if I don't object, there will be many others who will. We'll just be quiet spectators and wait for the result," Luo Sheng said, sneering. "Meng Yang really thought that if he married my father, he'd be able to suppress me? He had the nerve to marry my father, but he'll regret it!"

"Isn't it good to marry your father?" Yu Junchen said hesitantly. "Although your father is older, he is still the head of the Luo group. As far as I know, many people want to marry him, but he's been single since he divorced your mother. Unexpectedly, he ended up marrying Meng Yang."

"My aunts, uncles, and cousins are all bad seeds. What's more, my grandmother is still there. My father's always been very filial to my grandmother, and my grandmother loves me very much. Let's just wait and see what happens."

The news of Luo Xiu's marriage to Meng Yang shocked many people and aroused much discussion within certain groups.

Luo Xiu and Meng Yang's marriage was a huge surprise even to people who had nothing to do with it, and the rest of the Luo family was so shocked that a few of them went to ask Luo Xiu what was going on.

Luo Xiu didn't bother to respond to them one by one and simply declared at a shareholder's meeting that his marriage was his own personal affair, and no one had the right to interfere. He and Meng Yang were already legal partners, so if they divorced, Meng Yang would take half his property.

Luo Xiu's brothers, uncles, and cousins had already agreed to persuade Luo Xiu not to marry. Now that they'd heard that Luo Xiu was already legal partners with Meng Yang, and when they divorced he'd get half his property, they could only wait for the changes.

There was also Luo Sheng's grandfather. Given that Luo Xiu hadn't married for so many years, he'd thought that Luo Xiu had given up the idea of getting married. Luo Sheng would definitely have been the heir to the Luo group, but Luo Xiu suddenly announced that he was getting married. He thought that after Luo Xiu gets married, there was a great possibility he'd have children again, which would make things uncertain. He decided that he had to do something.

SMWOM 12

Yu Junchen returned to the villa that Luo Sheng gave him. When he told the family about Meng Yang's marriage to Luo Xiu, the whole family was shocked and in disbelief.

"Meng Yang married Luo Sheng's father?!" Zhao Juan said in shock. "How… How is that possible? Why would Luo Sheng's father marry Meng Yang?" (1)

"Yes," Meng Yang's aunt said, also incredulous. "Meng Yang's age is so different from Luo Sheng's father. What's wrong with Meng Yang? He married someone who could be his father."

After recovering from the shock, Meng Yang's younger aunt reasoned, "Although… Luo Sheng's father is older, he is the leader of the Luo group. No matter what he looks like, based on his assets and strength, there must be many young men and women who want to marry him. Looks and love can't be eaten; while people are alive it's most important to enjoy life.

"That's right," Yu Junchen's aunt said. "This Meng Yang marrying Luo Sheng's father was a step up as he is the leader of the Luo group. I don't know how many years it'll take for Luo Sheng to inherit the Luo family's industry. If Meng Yang gives Luo Sheng's father a baby, who will inherit Luo family's property? This isn't good!"

"What are you talking nonsense for?!" Zhao Juan was very unhappy and said, "Don't you know that Meng Yang marrying Luo Sheng's father might affect Jun Chen's engagement with Luo Sheng?! You don't want to help Junchen find a way, but you're here to discuss how smart Meng Yang is to marry Luo Sheng's father?!"

"We, I'm not serious," Yu Junchen's aunt ridiculed. "Even if Meng Yang's marriage to Luo Sheng's father is a great thing, it has nothing to do with Junchen's uncle and me. Our hearts are definitely with Junchen."

Yu Junchen's aunt simply responded that they are people on Yu Junchen's side. If Yu Junchen is better, then they're better. No matter how good Meng Yang is, it has nothing to do with their husband and wife pair.

Meng Yang's younger aunt exchanged a look with his other aunt and said, "Sister-in-law, don't think too much about it. Our hearts are also with Junchen. After all, you know Meng Yang's character is extreme and eccentric, do we dare to expect him to help us? Junchen is such a kind person. We certainly hope that he can get successfully engaged and married to Luo Sheng and have happiness and fulfillment."

"Yes," said Meng Yang's other aunt. "We're all counting on Junchen now. Although I'm Meng Yang's aunt, we can't stand his temper. A person like Junchen, with his good temperament and character, deserves more happiness."

Yu Junchen, who had been sitting on the sofa without a word, stood up and said, "I'm tired. I'm going back to my room to rest."

"Junchen…" Zhao Juan also stood up and watched Yu Junchen go upstairs before saying angrily to the other people, "I tell you, if Junchen can't get engaged to Luo Sheng smoothly, you will all move out for me, nobody can stay here!"

As soon as Yu Junchen entered the room, he lay down on his bed. He could now somewhat understand Meng Yang's feelings. Everyone lived in his house, but they were all calculating about him for their own interests, both in front of others and behind their backs. But Yu Junchen already knew what kind of people they were, so he didn't really pay attention to it. Now, his biggest worry was getting engaged to Luo Sheng smoothly. He also needed to have Meng Yang continue to show him the contents of the books handed down by Meng Yang's ancestors.

Yu Junchen thought that Meng Yang couldn't understand and grasp the contents of the books, so they were useless in his hands. If they were in his own hands, they would certainly play a big role in facing the competition after school started. He really needed those books, but how could he get them?

When it was time to go to bed that night, all the lights in the rooms of the villa that Luo Sheng gave Yu Junchen were on. Meng Yang marrying Luo Xiu gave everyone insomnia.

Yu Junchen's uncle and aunt naturally hoped that Yu Junchen could become part of the Luo family as soon as possible, so that their children could get more help from Yu Junchen in the future.

Meng Yang's uncles and aunts (2) were all considering whether or not to persuade Yang Su to reconcile with Meng Yang. Before everything, they knew that Luo Sheng didn't like Meng Yang, but liked Yu Junchen instead. They felt that Meng Yang and Luo Sheng had no hope, so they helped to conceal it. The situation was different now though, as Meng Yang had married Luo Sheng's father and was already a member of the Luo family.

Luo Xiu's brothers also lived on Longling Mountain, but they didn't live in the main house on the top of the mountain. Instead, they lived in several mansions on the hillside. Because the old lady was still there, they hadn't really split up as a family, so Luo Xiu allowed them to live in mansions on Longling Mountain.

When Luo Xiu returned to Longling Mountain in the evening, there was already a large crowd waiting for him in the main house.

As Luo Xiu entered the hall, Mr. Yuan took his coat and handed it to another servant and the others quickly stood up.

When Luo Xiu reached the main seat and sat down, the others also sat back down.

Luo Xiu wiped his hands with a hot towel and took a sip of tea from his teacup. He then looked at the crowd and said, "My wedding hasn't started yet, what do you want to do by getting together?"

"We, we're here to see if there's anything we can do for Da Ge's wedding," said Luo Ming, Luo Xiu's third brother.

In fact, they knew that Luo Sheng's grandfather was coming, so they all came to see what Luo Sheng's grandfather would say to Luo Xiu.

Mr. Yuan went to Luo Xiu's side and said, "Sir, Old Master Cheng, the eldest Young Master's grandfather, is here." (3)

After a moment of silence, Luo Xiu said, "Please invite him in."

"Yes." Mr. Yuan turned and walked out.

After a short while, Old Master Cheng came in. Except for Luo Xiu who sat still, everyone stood up to say hello to Old Master Cheng.

"You've come at an unfortunate time," Luo Xiu put down the teacup to say. "We are having a family meeting. If you're not in a hurry, why don't you sit and wait until I've finished with them, and then I'll listen to what you have to say?"

"It seems that I've come at a bad time," Old Master Cheng sat down opposite Luo Xiu and said, "You go ahead and talk, I'm not in a hurry."

Luo Xiu turned to the other people and said, "It's my business who I want to marry. If any of you dare to talk more or even interfere, I'll let you know what it's really like to be interfered with. Meng Yang and I have already registered for a license, and he's my legal partner now. If you want to look down on him, you should completely abandon your relationship with me. I'll hold a wedding with Meng Yang later and it doesn't matter if you come or not. However, if you dare to scheme, you should be ready to face the consequences."

"Sorry, Old Master Cheng," Looking at the elderly man, Luo Xiu said, "I let you see a joke. After living this good life for too long, people become unable to know what's good for themselves. They're so deluded they think they're qualified to dictate things. This kind of person with no self-knowledge that feels they're qualified to manage everything and wants to control everything, is the most lacking in lessons. What do you say?"

"….." Old Master Cheng said after a moment of silence, "You don't have to point at the mulberry tree and curse the locust tree. (4) I know you mean I'm not qualified to care about who you marry. Although you've been divorced from my daughter for many years, my daughter gave birth to a son for you. I'm Luo Sheng's grandfather and am considered your elder. Today, as an elder, I have a few words of advice for you, or is that too much?"

"You're always joking." Luo Xiu smiled and said, "I don't have such a good life that I could have an elder like you. When our Luo family was going bankrupt, you were eager to make sure our Luo family could never get back up. I still wonder what kind of hatred you had with our Luo family. I'd never dare delude myself that I could have an elder like you."

Luo Xiu was straightforward for the first time in many years. Old Master Cheng's old face was lost a bit, making him very embarrassed. At that time, he didn't expect that Luo Xiu would be so powerful. Not only did the Luo family's company turn over in a short time, he also made the Luo Group so big.

If he had known the Luo family would turn out like it did, he wouldn't have done such things before. Now that Luo Xiu had mentioned the events of that year, he really had no way to refute him. Still, he felt that since Luo Sheng was Luo Xiu's only son, as Luo Sheng's grandfather, he was qualified to fight for the benefits Luo Sheng deserved on his behalf.

SMWOM 13

Meng Yang had been standing at the corner of the stairs, secretly observing all the people below.

Among those sitting below were Luo Xiu's three younger brothers, his older cousin, his two younger cousins, and their respective wives.

Old Master Cheng who had come in later was originally planning to use the identity of an elder, but Luo Xiu only said a few words and rendered him speechless.

Meng Yang could feel the imposing pressure just from looking at Luo Xiu's back, let alone those who were directly facing Luo Xiu.

For Old Master Cheng, Luo Xiu and his daughter had been divorced for more than ten years, yet he wanted to use his identity as Luo Sheng's grandfather to put on airs in front of Luo Xiu. He wanted to make Luo Xiu declare Luo Sheng as his heir. Luo Sheng was the child born of his daughter, but was not the green-hatted(1) Luo Xiu's child. However, Old Master Cheng had yet to know about this.

At present, the only people who knew about Luo Sheng not being Luo Xiu's son were Meng Yang, Luo Xiu, and Luo Sheng's mother. Luo Sheng's mother must have thought that no one knew about this fact besides her. Like this, Luo Sheng could inherit the Luo family's property, so it'd be of no benefit to her to say anything.

Luo Xiu had never said anything about this though. Meng Yang speculated that if he wasn't saying anything yet, he must be taking a breather and waiting for the right opportunity. Now, it wasn't that Meng Yang didn't want to take advantage of this information to get revenge on the Cheng family. He knew that the Cheng family would make every effort to get Luo Sheng to inherit the Luo family business, and the more they expected it, the harsher the blow. Luo Xiu was just waiting for an opportunity to give the Cheng family a fatal blow.

Meng Yang thought that there might be other reasons, but he couldn't ask Luo Xiu clearly until this matter was made public.

Seeing Luo Xiu stand up, Meng Yang immediately turned to go upstairs.

Old Master Cheng left first. Except for Luo Qi, Luo Xiu's second brother, who took his wife back to his residence, the others surrounded Luo Ming to continue and discuss what to do.

"What the hell is going on with Da Ge (2)? All of a sudden he decided to get married to someone who'd dated Luo Sheng. A father marrying his son's former lover, what does that look like?"

"That Meng Yang is only 19 years old and must have married Da Ge for his money. He and Da Ge are already legal partners, so even if they divorce now, he can take at least half of his property. That's all the Luo family's money! If Meng Yang really divided it, I really think that my heart would start bleeding!"

"What is Da Ge thinking? I recommended so many suitable people to him before and was told to mind my own business. Now he's suddenly married to a shareholder of a small company."

"That kind of little boy, just give him some money to play with. Is Da Ge marrying him actually bad or something?"

"He became Da Ge's legal partner. Who knows, we might even have to give him face in the future. We live to be this age and still have to give face to a person almost the age of our children, do you think that's right?!"

"Now we can only have Mother come back quickly. Only when she's here can I live in this house."

"I called Mother and she can't get away right now since there's no way for her to come back immediately. Mom said to just wait for her to come back. No matter what happens, don't bother her by calling her right now. When she can, she'll come back to deal with these things."

"Now we can't do anything but wait for Eldest Aunt to come back."

Luo Xiu came out of the bathroom after taking a bath and saw Meng Yang sitting on the bed watching him. He said, "There are many rooms on this floor where you can sleep. You don't have to force yourself to sleep with me."

"I'm not forcing myself." Meng Yang looked at him and said, "We're legal partners now. Isn't it normal to sleep in the same bed? Anyways, if Luo Sheng knew that we slept in separate rooms right after we got married, wouldn't he use this to humiliate and ridicule me?"

Luo Xiu was a little tired and didn't say much. He pulled back the covers and got into the bed, trying to relax his mind and body.

Meng Yang saw that Luo Xiu seemed very tired and moved to his side, looking at his face and asked, "Are you tired?"

"Hmm…" Luo Xiu really was tired. He needed to quickly relax his brain and body or he'd have a headache for the next few days.

Seeing this, Meng Yang no longer disturbed his rest. He turned off the lights on the headboard with the remote control, leaving only the dim yellow night lights on both sides of the bed. He then lay down beside Luo Xiu to sleep.

After living alone under the cliff for fifteen years, Meng Yang became used to staying alert at all times. Otherwise, he could be attacked by snakes, ants, poisonous insects, or even wild animals at any time. Sleeping beside Luo Xiu though, and smelling his scent, gave Meng Yang an extremely secure feeling. It was the first time he'd slept so comfortably in many years.

Meng Yang suddenly woke up in the middle of the night because that familiar and reassuring smell was gone. He opened his eyes and, sure enough, saw that the other side of the bed was empty. Sitting up, he saw Luo Xiu sitting on the sofa by the glass wall.

Meng Yang got out of bed and went over to Luo Xiu, asking, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, go back to bed," Luo Xiu said with his eyes closed. The more he laid down, the worse his headache became. He had to sit up and rest.

Even if Luo Xiu didn't say it, Meng Yang already knew that he couldn't sleep because of his headaches. In his past life, he'd seen Luo Xiu's pain during his headaches when it was much worse than what it was now.

Meng Yang went to the dressing room next door and opened up the suitcase he brought, returning to the bedroom with the stuff he'd prepared for Luo Xiu.

Luo Xiu endured the feeling that his head was going to burst, his whole body tense and unable to relax. The more he was like this, the more tired he was. The more tired he was, the more severe his headache. He'd been suffering from headaches ever since a few years ago, which doctors blamed on a car accident that took place years earlier, as well as from working too long and not taking time off.

This was why after Meng Yang was injured after saving him, he always strictly demanded that Meng Yang rest well and go to check-ups on time. He didn't want Meng Yang to have any unexpected lingering injuries like him.

When Luo Xiu first took over the management of the Luo family company, he was involved in a man-made car accident. He had hurt his head at that time, but the wound soon healed and the doctor said that it was okay. Once he officially took over the Luo family company, he began to deal with all kinds of things day and night. Including entertaining people and communicating with them, his daily sleep time didn't exceed three hours. Sometimes he wouldn't go to bed for several days in a row, simply taking naps in the car before immediately beginning to deal with business.

After more than ten years like this, he suddenly had a headache one day. He didn't care too much about it, but as the pain gradually became more and more serious, he went to the hospital for an examination. The doctor prescribed a lot of medicine for him, but it was only a little effective in the beginning. Eventually, it had no effect at all. The doctor told him that there was no better way than to relax his body and brain.

So Luo Xiu had tried to relax in many ways. In the process, he fell in love with extreme sports. After a great amount of stimulation, he felt relaxed in mind and body.

Luo Xiu suddenly smelled a cold fragrance with a light herbal scent; it was quite pleasant and comfortable. He opened his eyes and, seeing Meng Yang's incense burner on the table, asked, "What's this incense?"

"Sleeping incense that I made myself," Meng Yang looked at him and said.

Luo Xiu closed his eyes once more, carefully smelling the fragrance from the incense burner. In order to treat his headache, he had tried many methods. From ancient times to the present day, aromatherapy had been popular in high society, but it was never effective for him despite multiple tries.

However, Luo Xiu didn't say that incense therapy had no effect on him, mainly because he didn't want to argue with Meng Yang. He had asked many master level aromatherapists to help him mix medicinal incense for the headaches. Their attempts had never had good effects, let alone Meng Yang, who wasn't even a perfumer.

Luo Xiu did think that the fragrance was really good. It had a scent that made him feel comfortable even with his headache. Meng Yang really was very talented.

In the fifteen years that Meng Yang lived alone under the cliff, he was blind, deaf, and mute. He could only distinguish everything by his sense of smell. In those fifteen years, he searched for food and judged his surroundings by scent. When dangerous animals were approaching, even if they were far away, he could smell them immediately and could also distinguish poisons by scent.

Meng Yang considered it lucky that after he was reborn, his sensitive sense of smell didn't disappear. After testing it, he learned that he had very good olfactory senses.

SMWOM 14

Luo Xiu suddenly opened his eyes and turned to look out the wall of windows, finding that the sky was already bright. He actually fell asleep with his headache and even slept until dawn. He looked at the censer on the tea table and found it a little inconceivable. Though his headache hadn't disappeared, it obviously wasn't as painful as last night after a full night of sleep.

Luo Xiu glanced at Meng Yang who was still sleeping while curled up on the sofa opposite him. Standing up and going around the tea table in the middle, he crouched down and looked at Meng Yang's sleeping face. Since they'd met, there were many questions that puzzled him, but he wasn't in a hurry to know the so-called "truth". Maybe everything really was just a coincidence.

Luo Xiu picked Meng Yang up from the sofa to put him on the bed and let him sleep, but as soon as he touched Meng Yang, he woke up.

"Is it dawn?" Meng Yang asked, eyes half open.

"En, it's already morning." Luo Xiu put Meng Yang on the bed, then looked at him and asked, "Do you still want to sleep?"

"Not sleeping anymore." Meng Yang sat up and rubbed his eyes with his palms. He asked Luo Xiu, "Did you fall asleep last night?"

"…Fell asleep." Luo Xiu replied.

"Yes?" Meng Yang said with a smile. "It's really good that those herbs have an effect on you. I also often suffer from insomnia, so I specially made the incense for myself. We can use it together in the future. However, I smelled something wrong with your body last night. Besides insomnia, there should be other uncomfortable things with your body, right?"

"Smelled something wrong with me?" Luo Xiu looked at Meng Yang, puzzled.

"Yes, when you were sitting on the sofa last night your body must have been uncomfortable. There was a scent because of this and I smelled it." Meng Yang pointed to his noise and said, "I have a very sensitive sense of smell and can smell things that ordinary people can't."

Luo Xiu thought about Meng Yang's words in silence. As far as he knew, in ancient medicine, doctors relied on watching, listening, cutting, and questioning to diagnose the disease. To judge the disease, there's also hearing the breath and diagnosing the smell of the patient's body. If you wanted to be an aromatherapy practitioner, you had to have a good sense of smell and a great olfactory quotient. (1)

"What's the matter? Am I wrong?" Meng Yang deliberately asked in response to Luo Xiu's silence.

"You're not wrong. I wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I couldn't sleep."

"Then can you tell me what's wrong with you? If you tell me more about it, maybe I can create an incense to help you feel better."

"Let's talk about it later." Luo Xiu looked at the time and said, "I'm heading to the company now. The wedding planners will come here today, so just tell them what kind of wedding you want to hold. First, decide on a time and place so they can send invitations."

"Okay, I got it." Meng Yang felt a little lost in his heart, but he could also understand why Luo Xiu didn't tell him. If it were him, he wouldn't have immediately believed that a headache that couldn't be cured before could be treated by someone who wasn't even a perfumer.

Luo Xiu stroked Meng Yang's hair before getting up to wash.

People from the wedding planning company recommended many venues to Meng Yang. Just within the Luo group, there were many hotels and resorts suitable for a wedding, but Meng Yang chose to hold the wedding in the main house on Longling Mountain.

Meng Yang's original intention was not wanting to have a troublesome wedding elsewhere. At present, his marriage with Luo Xiu was just a contract, so he didn't want to spend too much time on it.

But when Luo Sheng and his uncles learned that Meng Yang decided to hold his wedding in the main house, they were very angry and felt Meng Yang was deliberately showing off in front of them.

On the wedding day, all the guests who received invitations would hand over their letter at the foot of the mountain and then drive up the mountain.

Meng Yang was completely estranged from his father in his last life, so he didn't invite Yang Su and Zhao Juan to his wedding. His uncle and aunts came uninvited, however, but couldn't get up the mountain without an invitation.

The guard at the foot of the mountain reported to the housekeeper, who asked Meng Yang for instructions. Meng Yang told the housekeeper to drive them away.

Meng Yang's aunts and uncles, seeing the strong men in black suits and sunglasses, didn't dare to make a scene. They left in disgrace and scolded Meng Yang all the way back.

However, Luo Sheng did bring Yu Junchen to the wedding banquet. Yu Junchen looked around the magnificent hall in a very complicated mood. After he and Luo Sheng publicly got together, he always hoped to have a wedding with Luo Sheng in the main house of the Luo family one day. Unexpectedly, Meng Yang robbed him of this wedding by marrying Luo Sheng's father. Luo Sheng did tell him that his father's marriage with Meng Yang would most certainly not last long, but after being engaged to Luo Sheng, Meng Yang became his elder. Their relationship was too chaotic.

Luo Sheng originally didn't want to go to a wedding that he didn't agree with, but he didn't want Luo Xiu to have any excuse or reason to disagree with his engagement to Yu Junchen. For this reason, he not only attended, but he also brought Yu Junchen.

As the wedding officially began, Meng Yang held Luo Xiu's hand and walked from the red carpet to the dais among the sound of music and under everyone's eyes.

This was the first time that Yu Junchen had seen Luo Xiu. Seeing Luo Xiu's appearance clearly, he couldn't help but freeze. He always thought that Luo Xiu would be a middle-aged version of Luo Sheng, but Luo Sheng and Luo Xiu didn't look like each other at all; he didn't expect that Luo Xiu was more charming and handsome than Luo Sheng. At most, he looked like he was about thirty years old. He didn't look at all like someone who was nearly forty years old.

Luo Sheng didn't want to see the two people standing on the platform make their vows. He turned his eyes to Yu Junchen in anger and saw a dumbfounded expression on Yu Junchen's face. He asked, "What's the matter?"

"You don't really look like your father…" Yu Junchen hadn't returned to his senses and subconsciously said the truth.

"In fact, I don't look much like my mother either. I look more like my grandfather and uncle." Luo Sheng looked back at the people on the dais and immediately turned away again.

Yu Junchen looked at Luo Xiu's deep facial features, perfect proportions, height, and robust figure. He not only had a mature male charm that made people unable to move their eyes away, he was also very imposing and graceful. It had to be said, looking at his appearance and everything else, he really was a perfect and tempting man. Even though he was his boyfriend's father, his heart was racing uncontrollably.

Yu Junchen was previously very sure that Meng Yang married Luo Sheng's father to get revenge on him and Luo Sheng. But seeing Luo Sheng's father in person, his previous thoughts were shaken. Such a charming and perfect man, someone wanting to marry him because their heart was moved was more likely to happen. There was envy in Yu Junchen's heart.

"Is your father really marrying Meng Yang because he wants to break us up?" Yu Junchen asked in a low voice.

"Apart from this, I can't think of any other reason at the moment. They couldn't get married because they love each other," Luo Sheng said.

"That is to say, how could people who had no contact with each other before suddenly fall in love?" Yu Junchen didn't know if he was trying to comfort himself, but after he said it, he was inexplicably relieved.

Meng Yang and Luo Xiu finished their vows, and it was finally the ring exchange and kiss. After the two men put the rings on each other, Meng Yang looked up at Luo Xiu and waited for his kiss.

If Luo Xiu just kissed Meng Yang's forehead or cheek under everyone's gaze, it would likely cause Meng Yang to be ridiculed later. So Luo Xiu held Meng Yang's face and kissed his lips. Blocking his face from view with his palm, he kissed him softly.

Their lips pressed against each other gently. This was Meng Yang's first kiss in two lifetimes, but he didn't think of it as a real kiss. He was looking forward to the day when Luo Xiu really kissed him, showing that Luo Xiu really loved him. The reason why Meng Yang felt that Luo Xiu liked him back then was that one day, when they were looking at each other, Luo Xiu gradually approached to kiss him, only turning his head away when they were about to touch lips.

Luo Xiu felt the softness of Meng Yang's lips, and felt that Meng Yang was just as fresh and tender as his lips. He exuded a wonderful smell from his body, and was like a child that he couldn't resist loving.

Once the vows and ring exchange was done, Luo Xiu took Meng Yang to greet the guests.

Though the two had already registered for marriage and had just held a wedding, many people hoped they would divorce soon. In addition to Luo Sheng and his grandfather, those who were interested in Luo Xiu also wanted them to divorce quickly.

Meng Yang knew that his life after marrying Luo Xiu might not always be calm and smooth, but he was already prepared to face everything.

"Luo Sheng." Meng Yang stopped Luo Sheng, who instantly wanted to take Yu Junchen and turn around to avoid them.

SMWOM 15

Meng Yang and Luo Xiu went over to Luo Sheng and Yu Junchen. Meng Yang introduced Luo Xiu, "Husband, this is Luo Sheng's current lover, Yu Junchen."

"Hello Mr. Luo, I'm Yu Junchen," Yu Junchen greeted Luo Xiu nervously.

Luo Xiu just nodded without speaking.

"Luo Sheng, I know that my marriage with your father might be hard to accept for a while, and I know you can't call me Dad right now." Meng Yang smiled and continued, "But I can understand your mood. Just like I'm now married to your father, I also hope that you can marry the most suitable person. Among those who came to the wedding today, there must be someone more suitable for you. Your father and I will help you choose someone good."

"You…" Luo Sheng almost blurted out his anger, but he couldn't scold him in front of Luo Xiu's cold eyes. He could only clench his fists angrily. Giving Meng Yang a fierce glare, he hugged Yu Junchen and turned away.

Yu Junchen looked back and happened to meet Meng Yang's gaze. Meng Yang looked at him and smiled proudly and deliberately. Yu Junchen couldn't help but worry even more. He felt that with Meng Yang's objections, it'd be even more difficult to be with Luo Sheng.

In fact, Meng Yang had no intention of preventing them from being together. He wanted to see if the two of them would be as loving as the previous life after he changed the direction of things.

Lu Yunjing, his father, and his grandfather were also there. Meng Yang went to say hello to them as Luo Xiu had left to talk to some of his friends.

Luo Xiu's friend teased him, saying, "It's too sudden for you to get married. How could I have not known you like this young type after knowing you for so many years?"

"Yeah, I haven't seen anyone you really liked in all these years. We're all confused about your marriage."

"Also, you have someone you want to get married to but even kept it from us. Was it interesting to hide it?"

"For me to tell you in advance, I would also need to know in advance. I suddenly decided to get married, and I only knew a few days earlier than you," Luo Xiu said.

"Really? It really doesn't fit your character. What's the reason?"

Luo Xiu shook his head and requested them not to ask.

"But this child is indeed very beautiful."

"That's right, his looks are excellent in every aspect, but you've seen many good-looking people. It seems he has something special that's attractive to you."

"Anyways, you've got a partner now. Enjoy your wedding night tonight."

Luo Xiu's friends raised their glasses to toast him, but Luo Xiu sighed in his heart helplessly.

Many of the guests there were thinking that if they'd known that Luo Xiu liked such young and beautiful boys, they would've made preparations earlier. It was too late to know now though, as they hadn't sent anyone Luo Xiu would consider as a marriage partner. Those who had sent young and beautiful boys to Luo Xiu were even more confused. Had Luo Xiu suddenly changed his preferences?

Although Yu Junchen hardly knew any of the people who were at the wedding banquet, he knew these people were very rich. Almost all of them had to be high-profile people in upper class society in order to be invited to the wedding of the Luo Group's chairman. Thinking back, before he was ten he'd had a worse life than ordinary people; him being able to stand amongst the upper class was a huge change for him.

"When we're engaged, can we also hold an engagement banquet here?" Yu Junchen asked in a whisper.

"We can do whatever you want," said Luo Sheng as he looked at Yu Junchen.

"Then let's do it here, okay?" Yu Junchen wanted to be a member of the Luo family as soon as possible. Although it was just an engagement and not a marriage, if he could hold an engagement party in the main house, he'd feel more confident.

"Okay," Luo Sheng agreed immediately.

After the wedding banquet, Meng Yang and Luo Xiu retired to their room to rest.

Meng Yang came out of the bathroom in his bathrobe and sat down on the bed. He looked at Luo Xiu resting against the head of the bed with his eyes closed and said, "You're so busy these days, has your headache gotten worse?"

Just two days ago, Luo Xiu had finally told Meng Yang that he was suffering from headaches.

"I'm used to the pain." Luo Xiu had been very busy recently. During this period, he couldn't relax even after returning home.

"Can't you take a good break before going back to work?" Meng Yang looked at him and asked.

"I'll be fine once I get through this." Luo Xiu opened his eyes and saw Meng Yang's skin that was white almost to the point of transparency. His face, which had become rosier after a hot bath, looked like a peach that had just been washed. It was fresh, delicious, moist, and had an attractively sweet smell.

"Let me give you a massage to relax." Meng Yang recently spent most of his time researching and learning the incense therapy contents in the books left by the Meng family ancestors. Though it was clear that Luo Xiu's symptoms had accumulated over the years and couldn't be cured in a short time, he also hoped to help relieve Luo Xiu's headaches through his studies.

"No need," Luo Xiu refused. "You're tired after a busy day, so go to sleep."

"I'm not tired; I didn't worry about the wedding at all. It's still early, so if I go to bed now, I won't be able to sleep." Meng Yang took out the essential oil from the bedside table that he'd prepared earlier and got ready to massage Luo Xiu.

"Lay down quickly, it'll feel better soon," Meng Yang urged.

Luo Xiu looked at Meng Yang helplessly, then turned to lie down according to his instructions.

Meng Yang pulled Luo Xiu's robe down to his waist and straddled him. Although he'd had no talent for fragrance in his previous life, he'd had to learn all the basics to become a perfumer and understand those ancient books. For example, understanding all the acupuncture points in the human body was one of the most basic subjects that an aromatherapist must learn.

Meng Yang poured the oil into the palm of his hand and rubbed it until it was warm. He then pressed on the acupoints in Luo Xiu's neck, shoulders, and back with the precise amount of strength to clear the meridians.

Luo Xiu seldom got massages because he didn't like the feeling of others touching him with their hands. However, with Meng Yang's hands on his back, it could be said that the technique was really amazing. He felt highly comfortable as the tension in his body from enduring the headache gradually relaxed. Once his body relaxed, his head didn't seem to hurt as much.

Meng Yang massaged Luo Xiu for half an hour before he stopped. He served him quite considerately, using a warm towel to wipe the oil off of Luo Xiu's neck and back. Having sweated a bit, Meng Yang went to wash up while Luo Xiu fell asleep.

After taking a bath, Meng Yang went back to bed, lying down next to Luo Xiu and falling asleep next to him.

Luo Xiu woke up the next day to find Meng Yang asleep next to him and holding tightly onto his arm. Looking at Meng Yang's tender sleeping face, he felt that Meng Yang was more like a child when he'd fallen asleep. The age of nineteen was indeed like a child to him. Over the next few years, he'd just treat him as a good son.

Luo Sheng and Yu Junchen were about to be engaged, but that night, Luo Sheng was unhappily sitting at the bar in an entertainment club. He waited for his friends to come over and drink with him as Yu Junchen sat beside him and tried to comfort him.

"Since your father doesn't agree with having our engagement dinner in the main house, we'll have it in the hotel. In fact, the hotel is also very good, so don't be angry."

"I'm angry about his attitude towards me. Since childhood, he has never taken care of me. Even if he didn't love my mother, I was still his son, but he never did his duty as a father!" Luo Sheng was very angry as he thought of Luo Xiu's attitude towards him.

"It's all my fault; I shouldn't have asked you to hold the engagement banquet in the main house. Your father hasn't approved of our engagement from the beginning, and instead of preventing us from getting engaged, he only prevented us from holding the banquet in the main house. That's very good. I don't want to make your relationship with your father worse because of our relationship. I'll try my best to get your father's approval so that when we get married, we can get him to agree to have our wedding in the main house. So for my sake, don't be angry with your father anymore, okay?"

"Sometimes I really don't want you to be so kind. The kinder you are, the more vulnerable you are," Luo Sheng said, holding Yu Junchen's hand.

"But I believe that kindness will be rewarded," Yu Junchen said with a smile.

Once Luo Sheng's friends came, they accompanied him to drink and chat. Then they discussed how to celebrate and play when Luo Sheng and Yu Junchen booked their wedding banquet.

The door suddenly opened, the service personnel at the door having failed to stop the group of people from going in. In fact, these service personnel didn't dare stop them, but they still had to pretend.

"Young Master Luo! Congratulations!"

Luo Sheng's face collapsed at the sound.

SMWOM 16

Xiao Ke came in with a group of his friends. He put the bottle of wine in his hand before Luo Sheng and said, "I heard that your father remarried to your ex-lover, so my friends and I came to congratulate you. This bottle of wine is a gift. A former lover changing to one's father, I don't know a second person besides you. It's very gratifying."

"Crazy Xiao, I advise you to get out of here before Luo Sheng gets angry, or you'll definitely regret it!"

Xiao Ke pressed against his chest exaggeratedly. "Hurry up and make me regret it, Young Master Luo, I beg you."

"You really need a lesson. You need to be taught by me every once in a while before you feel comfortable." Luo Sheng looked at Xiao Ke coldly.

"If I had the habit of messing around with other people's cars like you do, do you think you'd still be able to say that to me?" Xiao Ke looked at Luo Sheng with heavy sarcasm. "You should thank me for not having the same habit as you, otherwise you would have been lying in the hospital."

Luo Sheng's face became even uglier at Xiao Ke's words.

"Crazy Xiao, don't talk too much! There's a limit to what you can say!"

"I'm just telling the truth, but you think I'm going too far?" Xiao Ke raised his hand and pointed at all them deliberately, before saying provokingly to Luo Sheng, "Send one of your guys over to race with the people of our team. If you win, I'll write those words on paper and swallow them into my stomach, never to be mentioned again. If you lose, the car you use for the race will be ours. Do you dare to accept this?"

"What challenge would I dare not accept from a defeated general?" Luo Sheng looked at Xiao Ke and said, "Time?"

"Tomorrow at eight," Xiao Ke said.

"Okay."

Xiao Ke grinned, the corners of his mouth curling up as he turned away to leave with his friends.

Xiao Ke's best friend Su Di was very good at driving. He had competed with Luo Sheng many times, and Luo Sheng had only won once. Luo Sheng had only won that time because someone had messed with Su Di's car. Su Di's car had run out of control and hit a boulder during the race, and Su Di then fell into a vegetative state. Since then, Xiao Ke's temperament had changed a lot. He wanted to get revenge for Su Di using violent racing, but his driving skills weren't as good as Luo Sheng and he'd never won.

Luo Sheng felt that it wasn't his fault that Su Di became a vegetable because he didn't have people tamper with the car. Su Di's cousin wanted to borrow money from Luo Sheng and did it on his own initiative to please him. Although he didn't explicitly tell him not to do it at the time, he stayed silent, so Su Di's cousin took it as a yes. He still felt that this matter wasn't his responsibility at all.

Although Su Di's cousin had been sent to prison and Xiao Ke had retaliated against him in various ways, Xiao Ke still felt that it was Luo Sheng's fault that Su Di became a vegetable. As long as Su Di didn't wake up, Xiao Ke's hatred for Luo Sheng wouldn't disappear.

Meng Yang called Luo Xiu and confirmed that Luo Xiu would be home very late. He then went to Lu Yunjing's house and asked his bodyguards to stay outside.

After dark, Meng Yang changed into black clothes and put on a hat, sunglasses, and a mask. He then secretly left through the back door with Lu Yunjing.

Near the race track, Meng Yang got into Xiao Ke's car again.

There were a lot of people who came to watch. Xiao Ke's team was very famous among non-professional drivers, so every time their team wanted to race others, there would be many spectators. Before Su Di's accident, Luo Sheng had never won against Su Di. After Su Di's accident, Xiao Ke had never won against Luo Sheng. Therefore, people who came to see the event this time were more optimistic about Luo Sheng's chances.

"Are you sure you still wanna bet on Young Master Luo to win today?"

"Are you talking bullshit? I don't care about the money, but it's very unlucky to lose a bet."

"I got a message from the racetrack staff; apparently Xiao Ke's driving skills have improved a lot. Maybe he'll win this time."

"They've lost seven or eight games now. No matter how much progress he's made, no one can win that quickly. This time it's definitely Luo Sheng's win. First look at the whole situation, and then judge the possibility of Xiao Ke winning against Luo Sheng."

"I also think there's a big gap between Xiao Ke and Luo Sheng. It always feels like Luo Sheng is going easy on Xiao Ke, otherwise the gap would be even larger. Maybe he feels uneasy about Su Di's situation in his heart. After all, even if it wasn't his original intention, it still happened because of him."

"Speaking of Su Di, it's such a shame. His driving skills were really cool and had their own unique style. It was quite different from his usual appearance."

"Yeah, if nothing had happened, he could be a professional driver now with Xiao Ke's support. After winning a few professional games, the endorsements come quickly. You can really earn a lot of money."

"Look! Xiao Ke's car is coming in!"

Xiao Ke drove directly to the starting point and swapped spots with Meng Yang. He didn't get out of the car to say hello, but he had a special relationship with Luo Sheng and others were used to it.

Luo Sheng was sitting in the car talking to his friends. Seeing that Xiao Ke had arrived, he drove the car to the starting point.

The race started and the two cars started at the same time. Soon, Luo Sheng's car took the lead with Meng Yang closely following him in Xiao Ke's car.

There were many cars parked beside the racing grounds, and Lu Yunjing drove his new car into the middle of these cars and parked. He sat in his car and looked up at the big screens playing the race. Although he knew Meng Yang's racing skills were now very good, accidents still happened often while racing, so he was a little nervous for Meng Yang.

After driving through several consecutive turns, Meng Yang had not overtaken him, until they began driving up a ramp. The distance between the two cars gradually narrowed. Luo Sheng's flew out in front of Meng Yang, and before everyone's eyes, Meng Yang drove directly over Luo Sheng's car.

The crowd watching made sounds of surprise. It took skill to fly so far and so steadily.

Luo Sheng was shocked to see Xiao Ke's car falling from the sky in front of him, before immediately accelerating to overtake him.

"That drift was really too beautiful, Xiao Ke's progress is too fast, isn't it?"

"So it's true that Xiao Ke has gotten a lot better. Has he found a good coach?"

"Looking at this, Xiao Ke's gonna win, but I bet all my pocket money for this month on Luo Sheng winning. Luo Sheng, get a little more angry!"

"Those really are some great driving skills. I'm gonna try to find that coach to teach me; I want to learn those moves."

Xiao Ke held tightly onto the handrail. He could feel that Meng Yang wasn't showing off all of his car skills, otherwise Luo Sheng would be losing very badly. But if people knew that there was an extra person's weight in the car, this would make Luo Sheng lose face terribly.

Luo Sheng couldn't overtake him and was getting anxious. Since Su Di's accident, he hadn't experienced the feeling of losing. He hated losing and couldn't lose to Xiao Ke.

Meng Yang had practiced hard in his last life. By the time he was able to beat Luo Sheng, Luo Sheng didn't play around with racing anymore. The reason why Luo Sheng refused to compete with him was very simple; he spent most of his time learning to manage the company and didn't have time to practice. Even if Meng Yang won, it would have no meaning.

There was no sense in those words. Meng Yang, who'd worked hard on his driving skills and finally achieved results, was hit hard. But if Luo Sheng was unwilling to compete with him, he had no way to make him.

When Meng Yang thought back to his past life, it was like remembering a person he despised. Everything he did for Luo Sheng was like a satirical joke. Now he couldn't understand what there was to love about Luo Sheng. Sometimes he even felt that the Meng Yang from the past was a completely different person from him, because their thoughts were totally different.

Meng Yang deliberately kept a certain distance from Luo Sheng. During a high turn, when Luo Sheng was about to pass him, Meng Yang suddenly swerved and crashed into Luo Sheng. Under everyone's gaze, Luo Sheng's car rolled down from the top as Meng Yang completed the smooth turn.

An alarm sounded on the racetrack as the staff rushed out to help. Although the simulated mountain road wasn't high and there was sand below, the driver could still be injured if the car overturned. If they weren't lucky, he could be sent directly to the hospital for medical attention.

Xiao Ke was also shocked by Meng Yang's actions. It wasn't only Luo Sheng who was in danger; their car could have also overturned. However, he was quite happy after watching Luo Sheng's car crash.

After a dozen staff members converged upon them along with the medical staff, they got Luo Sheng out of the car. Checking him, they found that he had no injuries except a dislocated arm.

Meng Yang drove the car to the end and stopped, giving the driver's seat back to Xiao Ke. He put on a mask and sunglasses and sat in the corner of the backseat.

Xiao Ke drove the car in front of these onlookers, and waited for Luo Sheng to be brought over before getting out and walking towards him.

"Luo Sheng, are you okay?" Yu Junchen worriedly asked Luo Sheng.

"I'm fine," Luo Sheng said with an ugly look.

"Let's go to the hospital for them to check." Yu Junchen still felt uneasy. In a few days they would hold the engagement banquet, and he didn't want Luo Sheng to carry out the engagement ceremony with injuries. He should go to the hospital to check.

Luo Sheng looked at Xiao Ke coming towards him and thought that Xiao Ke would definitely say something unpleasant and humiliating. Before Xiao Ke spoke, his face was already ugly.

"Your car now belongs to our team." Xiao Ke looked at Luo Sheng and said, "Remember, it's not me who beat you, but our team that beat you."

Xiao Ke's words puzzled not only Luo Sheng, but other people as well.

"This isn't the first time our team has beaten you, and it won't be the last time either, because from now on, I'll never give you a chance to tamper with our cars!"

"Well said!"

Xiao Ke's friends immediately clamored in response to his words.

When Xiao Ke finished speaking, the onlookers all thought he was trying to represent Su Di by saying it wasn't him that beat Luo Sheng, but rather it was the team that beat him.

Luo Sheng wanted to teach Xiao Ke a lesson in public after he won this time and let him remember not to talk nonsense in the future. He didn't expect that he would lose to Xiao Ke. Now he was talked down to by Xiao Ke, and even if he was angry, he couldn't argue back.

Although Xiao Ke's heart was a little excited, he wasn't the one who beat Luo Sheng, so he still seemed calm and didn't seem particularly excited. Other people, including his friends, felt that Xiao Ke had changed. He gave off a more mature and stable feeling.

Until Xiao Ke drove away, people were still talking about the race.

"Thank you," Xiao Ke said to Meng Yang.

"I didn't win for you. I won for myself," Meng Yang said. "When you can personally beat Luo Sheng, thank me then."

Xiao Ke held the steering wheel tightly with both hands and made up his mind to practice his driving skills according to the methods Meng Yang taught him. Before beating Luo Sheng, he wouldn't race with others.

SMWOM 17

Yu Junchen accompanied Luo Sheng to the hospital for an examination and confirmed that he had no other injuries. Because Luo Sheng was in a bad mood, he still felt uneasy, so he went with Luo Sheng back to the main house on Longling Mountain.

Sitting on the sofa in the living room, Luo Sheng took a sip of tea from his teacup. When he remembered that he'd been hit by Xiao Ke's car, his anger flared up again and he threw the teacup to the ground.

Yu Junchen was taken aback by his actions, looking at him and saying, "We're holding our engagement party in four or five days. Do you want to get engaged to me in a temper?"

"No matter who I lose to, I can't lose to that lunatic Xiao Ke, otherwise he'll definitely ruin my reputation! I must win against him as soon as possible; I can't let him be arrogant for too long!"

"Even if you want to win again, can't you wait until we book the engagement party?" Yu Junchen looked at him beseechingly. "Don't think about it right now. I really don't want to get engaged to you when you're in such a bad mood, so just do it for me, okay?"

Luo Sheng took a deep breath and pressed down his anger and unhappiness. Holding Yu Junchen's hand, he said, "I'm sorry, I'll try my best to control my emotions…"

At that moment, Meng Yang walked in to see Luo Sheng's unhappy appearance and Yu Junchen's worried appearance. He smiled and deliberately asked, "Looking at the two of you with such happy faces, what good thing happened? How about sharing your happy feelings with me to make me happy too?"

Luo Sheng was already in a bad mood, and seeing Meng Yang, he felt even more uncomfortable. He gave Meng Yang a fierce glare and got up to go back to the room.

Yu Junchen also stood up. Taking a look at Luo Sheng's back, he didn't immediately follow him. Instead, he went over to Meng Yang and said, "Meng Yang, I have something to ask you."

"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll allow you to talk," Meng Yang said with a glance at him.

"I know that you wanted to get revenge on me and Luo Sheng, so you married Luo Sheng's father. We…"

"You hope that I married Luo Sheng's father for revenge, right? I ask you, in what way do you think Luo Sheng is better than his father? Is Luo Sheng more handsome and charming or is Luo Xiu more handsome and charming? Is Luo Sheng wealthier and more capable or is Luo Xiu wealthier and more capable?"

"…" Yu Junchen had a very clear answer in his heart that he couldn't say.

"Don't think too hard. The answer's already pretty obvious, isn't it? I've married a man like Luo Xiu; do you think I still have Luo Sheng in my eyes? If you have a luxurious manor, who will think about a common villa?"

"You, you don't really like Mr. Luo, do you?" Yu Junchen asked, looking at Meng Yang in surprise.

"What if I do?" Meng Yang smiled and said, "Mr. Luo is much older than me, but in every other respect it's not strange that I'd like him, right?"

"Mr. Luo didn't marry you because he likes you. If you fall too deeply, you'll only be hurt more in the end." Yu Junchen gave this earnest and well-meaning advice as if he was doing it for Meng Yang's good. "Meng Yang, don't go on like this. Even if Luo Sheng isn't with me, he won't be with you. Even if you and Mr. Luo are married, you likely will end up unhappy. You deserve a happier life; if you just wait, I'm sure someone who loves you wholeheartedly will appear."

Yu Junchen's every word was very comical to Meng Yang. However, Meng Yang hid his derision towards Yu Junchen, and instead approached him to say in a low voice, "I'm so young and I look pretty good. I share Mr. Luo's bed every night, and then do some… I'm very confident that Mr. Luo will like me. After all, none of you thought I could marry Mr. Luo before, didn't you? Who can say exactly what'll happen in the future?

Yu Junchen fell silent for a while, not wanting to continue the topic. Looking at Meng Yang, he said, "I want to ask if you could please not show up on the day I get engaged to Luo Sheng? Because you sold the house before and didn't invite your aunt and the others to the wedding, they're still very angry now. Wouldn't it be a joke if you fought with them again? So why not just avoid meeting them?"

"That's no good," Meng Yang immediately said. "You came to my and Mr. Luo's wedding with Luo Sheng. You're getting engaged to Luo Sheng, so how can I not attend? Besides, Mr. Luo doesn't want to attend the engagement ceremony for you and Luo Sheng anyway. If I didn't persuade him to go, then he wouldn't go."

"How can Mr. Luo not go?!" Yu Junchen was anxious. "He's Luo Sheng's father. If he doesn't show up, Luo Sheng won't be happy."

"Luo Sheng brought you to our wedding, but now you're getting engaged to Luo Sheng and you don't want me to appear. It's nice to say that you don't want me to argue with my father and aunt, but what's the real reason? You know it in your heart, don't you?" Meng Yang smiled before turning to the elevator to go back to his room and rest.

"Meng Yang…" Yu Junchen was very worried. He didn't want Meng Yang and Luo Xiu to attend his engagement banquet together, but if Luo Xiu didn't come, people would think that Luo Xiu didn't acknowledge his engagement with Luo Sheng. They'd certainly laugh behind his back.

That evening while Meng Yang slept, he felt something moving around him and immediately woke up. He realized it was Luo Xiu though and fell back asleep, holding Luo Xiu's arm tightly as was his routine these days.

Luo Xiu was also used to Meng Yang's movements. After glancing at Meng Yang's sleeping face, he turned off the lights with the remote control and closed his eyes to sleep.

In the middle of the night, Luo Xiu suddenly woke up. This time, he didn't wake up because of a headache, but because of the hot and dry feeling in both his body and his heart.

Although Luo Xiu didn't think that he had any ideas about Meng Yang, he was still a normal man. Even while sleeping alone, he'd occasionally have a reaction like this, not to mention when there was such a fragrant and soft young body close to him. He didn't know where Meng Yang's sweet smell came from, but the more he smelled it, the hotter he felt. Luo Xiu knew that Meng Yang often practiced making perfume, so all of his toiletries were fragrance-free. However, every time he came out after bathing, he'd have such a sweet smell on his body. It wasn't noticeable in the daytime, but it would get more intense during the night.

Luo Xiu began to perspire. Taking a deep breath, he lifted the quilt and got out of bed, heading to the bathroom.

Meng Yang woke up because of Luo Xiu getting up. He thought that Luo Xiu just went to the toilet, so he didn't care too much about it. He didn't fall asleep completely though, instead keeping a little consciousness to wait for Luo Xiu's return.

Luo Xiu pressed his hands against the wall of the bathroom, feeling guilt in his heart. He had vented his desire on other people over the years without feeling anything, but those were all transactions. He shouldn't feel this way about Meng Yang. Meng Yang was such a clean child and had, after all, saved his life before. He trusted him and had a sense of dependence towards him because of this, but Luo Xiu couldn't control his most primitive physiological impulse. How was this different from being an animal?

Luo Xiu turned on the cold shower to make the heat go down while psychologically blaming himself.

Meng Yang waited for a long time but didn't see Luo Xiu come out of the bathroom. He thought that he had another headache, so he sat up and went to the bathroom to have a look just as Luo Xiu came out.

"Do you have another headache?" Meng Yang looked at Luo Xiu blearily.

"No, go back to sleep." Luo Xiu lifted the quilt and got into bed. Just as he was about to lie down, Meng Yang hugged his neck and concentrated on smelling it.

Luo Xiu held Meng Yang's body and sighed helplessly in his heart. As Meng Yang's smooth and tender face rubbed on his neck, the scorching heat that had finally fallen rose again.

When Meng Yang was sure that Luo Xiu's headache hadn't come back, he fell back asleep on top of him.

Luo Xiu moved Meng Yang over to let him lie down. Moving to the side, he laid down to sleep again.

Soon, the day of Luo Sheng and Yu Junchen's engagement arrived. Their engagement banquet was held in the Garden Castle Hotel, which was part of Luo Sheng's property.

But the engagement banquet seemed to be Old Master Cheng's party. All the guests, besides those friends invited by Luo Sheng and Yu Junchen, were invited by him.

Luo Sheng's mother, who was abroad, didn't come back to attend Luo Sheng and Yu Junchen's engagement banquet. She didn't agree with Luo Sheng getting engaged so early, and she was also dissatisfied with Yu Junchen's family background. Even though Luo Sheng said a lot of good things about Yu Junchen, she kept her dissension to herself and continued to observe whether Yu Junchen really was as excellent as Luo Sheng said.

SMWOM 18

Before the engagement ceremony, Yu Junchen was in the lounge talking to his friends.

"Luo Sheng's really worthy of being the master of the Luo family. I heard that you can't have a party here even if you have the money for it."

"This is your hotel, of course you can use it whenever you want. You don't need to spend a cent, and can just give the order and someone will get everything ready right away, right Junchen?"

"I don't know. Luo Sheng arranged it all," Yu Junchen said with a smile. In fact, he knew very well that Luo Sheng personally went to the general manager of the hotel and asked several times before the manager agreed, not wanting to offend him. Even so, money had to be paid.

All of Luo Sheng's spending money was given to him by his grandfather. Old Master Cheng truly liked Luo Sheng very much and devoted more to cultivating Luo Sheng than any of his other relatives or grandchildren. Of course, this was to enable Luo Sheng to bring more benefits to the Cheng family after inheriting the Luo group.

"Junchen, will Luo Sheng's parents come today?"

"What nonsense! They'll definitely come; how could a son get engaged with his parents absent? Isn't that right, Junchen?"

Yu Junchen simply smiled and didn't answer. He wasn't sure if Luo Sheng's father would come, and he knew that Luo Sheng's mother wasn't coming.

"Then will Meng Yang come too? It still surprises me that Meng Yang married Luo Sheng's father."

"It must be because Luo Sheng and his father are quite similar. Meng Yang can't be with Luo Sheng, so he decided to marry his father instead."

"Meng Yang really is the only person who'd do something like this. But Junchen, now that Meng Yang and Luo Sheng's father are married, it shouldn't affect you and Luo Sheng, right? Just in case Meng Yang says some pillow talk to Luo Sheng's father or something…" (1)

These people used to be Meng Yang and Lu Yunjing's friends, but they hadn't expected that Meng Yang would marry Luo Sheng's father. They regretted that they had taken sides so early, but it was too late to regret things. With Meng Yang's character, he wouldn't even pay attention to his father, let alone to them. They could only stand firmly on Yu Junchen's side now and hope that Yu Junchen could successfully marry Luo Sheng, or they would've fought for nothing.

Some of these people's families could only be considered as well-off. Before, their conditions were far worse than both Lu Yunjing and Meng Yang's families. They were too different in comparison to the Luo family, so they'd never seen Luo Xiu himself. They just thought that since Luo Xiu and Luo Sheng were father and son, they would look very similar.

"Luo Sheng's father didn't disagree with our engagement, and I believe that the relationship with me and Luo Sheng can overcome everything," Yu Junchen replied.

The others glanced at each other before continuing, "Luo Sheng is his father's only son, and he hasn't remarried until now. He must plan to have Luo Sheng inherit everything. Being father and son, how could their relationship be so easily provoked? Luo Sheng's father will definitely respect Luo Sheng's choice in the end."

"Yeah, Meng Yang must be thinking that as long as he's married to Luo Sheng's father, he could certainly prevent Luo Sheng from being together with Junchen. Luo Sheng will be engaged to Junchen today though, so his wish is completely impossible."

"Let me say that even if Luo Sheng and his father look alike, they aren't the same person. How could Meng Yang bear to share a bed with someone who could be his father?"

"Luo Sheng is very handsome though. If he's similar to his father, then his father must also be good-looking."

"The age is still there. Even if they're both good-looking and they stood together, it'd still obviously look like a father and son."

"That's right. Just to separate Junchen and Luo Sheng, Meng Yang's being really cruel to himself. Luo Sheng's father is so much older than him, and them being together… just thinking of it makes my hair stand on end."

"Even though there are many old husbands with young wives nowadays, Meng Yang is still a man with plenty of assets who hasn't worried about food and clothing since childhood. He must have married someone who could be his father in order to learn how to change his life.

Listening to them, the smile maintained on Yu Junchen's face became more and more reluctant. Fortunately, the service staff came to inform them that the engagement ceremony was about to begin, so he got up and walked out.

As the ceremony began, Yu Junchen saw that Luo Sheng's parents weren't present. To say that his heart wasn't a bit lost was a lie. The guests who came weren't as many as when Luo Xiu and Meng Yang got married, and although this garden hotel was very beautiful, it certainly couldn't compare to the magnificence and significance of the main house of the Luo family. Yu Junchen could only comfort himself in his heart, that once he and Luo Sheng got married, he would get everything that he wanted.

Once the ceremony had ended, Meng Yang and Luo Xiu arrived together at the engagement banquet where all eyes were on them.

People who had never met Luo Xiu, especially Yu Junchen's friends, were extremely surprised when they saw Luo Xiu.

"Is that Luo Sheng's father? How come he doesn't look like Luo Sheng at all?"

"It must be him; Meng Yang is holding his hand, and Luo Sheng and Junchen are also walking towards them."

"Did Luo Sheng really have such a young father? I'd believe it if he were Luo Sheng's brother."

"Yeah, he really doesn't look like a man with a son as old as Luo Sheng!"

"And he's too handsome, more handsome than Luo Sheng!"

"What a great figure too, like a male model. With his temperament and momentum, he's just like a walking male hormone dispenser."

"I always thought that I only liked girls because I didn't have feelings for any man, but if it's a man like this, I really could do it."

"Me too."

Meng Yang looked at Luo Sheng and Yu Junchen, saying with a smile, "Congratulations on your engagement. I hope that you can be together forever."

Meng Yang thought to himself, it's better for you two to be together for the rest of your lives and not harm people separately.

Luo Sheng ignored Meng Yang, looking at Luo Xiu to say, "Father, today my maternal grandfather and uncles are here. Why don't you take the opportunity to sit down and have a peaceful chat, let things that happened in the past go…"

"Luo Sheng," Meng Yang interrupted. "You aren't young anymore and are already engaged, so how can you be so ignorant? Some matters, can they simply be solved with a few simple words? If you say the past is in the past and that you shouldn't care, do you immediately not care anymore?"

When Luo Xiu took over the Luo family's business, the man-made car accident was arranged by Luo Sheng's uncle. This wasn't a secret, and everyone who should know already knew about it. Luo Sheng's uncle had wanted Luo Xiu's life at that time, and the Cheng family had done many excessive things to the Luo family. Luo Sheng wanted to make Luo Xiu forget these past conflicts with a few simple words. He truly had no brain.

"Shut up!" Luo Sheng glared at Meng Yang, growling, "You don't have the right to talk about this!"

"You have no say in my matters with your grandfather and uncles." Luo Xiu looked at Luo Sheng with a blank face, saying, "I don't care at all if you side with your grandfather, but if you think I'll forget our former enmity for your sake, then you think too much."

"Father…" Luo Sheng really hoped that Luo Xiu could see how much his grandfather had cultivated him over the years, and then reconcile with his grandfather and uncles because of that. He thought it was better to not fight, and instead cooperate with each other to achieve win-win results. With him as a link in the middle, the cooperation between the two families could solidify.

Meng Yang saw Luo Sheng's thoughts and mocked him in his heart for showering affection on an uninterested party. He really didn't think about things. When his grandfather and uncle wanted to put the Luo family and Luo Xiu to death, how could those things not be done for his sake? Now he asked Luo Xiu to reconcile with the Cheng family for his sake.

"Let's go," Luo Xiu said to Meng Yang.

"Okay." Meng Yang nodded.

Luo Xiu hadn't wanted to go today, but Meng Yang persuaded him to show his face. Meng Yang knew that Yu Junchen didn't want him to show up with Luo Xiu, but the more he didn't want him to come, the more Meng Yang wanted to appear with Luo Xiu.

After watching Luo Xiu and Meng Yang leave, Luo Sheng was called over by his grandfather to greet guests, while Yu Junchen was immediately surrounded by his friends.

"Is the man that Meng Yang was holding onto just now Luo Sheng's father?"

"…Yes," Yu Junchen nodded.

"He looks like he's about thirty at most; he doesn't look like he'd be Luo Sheng's father at all."

"Luo Sheng's parents… got married early," Yu Junchen said.

"But he looks so much younger than his peers. I've seen many handsome uncles, but it's the first time I've seen such a handsome and attractive one."

"That's right, and he's the chairman of the Luo Group. He's rich, powerful, and charming; Meng Yang really earned a profit by marrying him!"

These people were all too excited after seeing Luo Xiu. One of them finally noticed the change in Yu Junchen's complexion and gave a couple coughs as reminders, saying, "A person's outer appearance isn't what matters. The most important thing is whether a marriage can be happy and long-lasting if they really love each other."

Others then reacted and said, "You're right, Luo Sheng loves Junchen so much, so they'll surely be happy. Meng Yang is unlikely to be happy. After all, a person like Luo Sheng's father will have many people sent to him. I don't know how long Meng Yang can endure such a life."

"Yeah, and Meng Yang won't be able to fight those people when the time comes. It'll definitely be impossible to be happy. Maybe they'll divorce early because he can't stand it."

Meng Yang's father and Yu Junchen's mother, as well as Meng Yang's aunts and uncles, were also there. Seeing Luo Xiu, they were even more surprised than Yu Junchen's friends. Because of this astonishment, they didn't return to their senses until after Meng Yang and Luo Xiu left. They all looked at each other silently, not knowing what to say.

SMWOM 19

When spring came, students would begin to go back to school, and freshmen from all universities would begin to enroll.

The St. James University that Meng Yang had always wanted to enter was a famous private university countrywide, if not worldwide. This university had produced many celebrities.

The reason why Meng Yang wanted to be admitted to this university was that it had the best perfumery department in the country. He had learned all kinds of perfume-related knowledge since he was a child, so his basic knowledge was very solid, especially in regards to botany. So in his previous life, he had been admitted to the perfume department of St. James University. It was only after he entered the school that the gap caused by talent became more and more obvious.

In order to save Luo Xiu, Meng Yang had missed the entrance exams for St. James University and was originally not allowed to enroll. However, Luo Xiu's company invested a lot into the Perfume Department, School of Economics, and other departments every year. Over the years, the amount of investment had become very significant, so he asked the college to arrange a separate entrance exam for Meng Yang. Naturally, the college wouldn't refuse to give this big financial backer face.

Meng Yang's score in the entrance exam was very high. Even so, in some people's eyes he'd become a student who got into the School of Perfume through the back door.

On the first day of school, Meng Yang arrived at the entrance to the Perfume Department and went to the freshman classrooms. The School of Perfume at St. James University was like an ancient garden, with all of the buildings and arrangements done in a very classical style.

All the students were divided into classes according to their grades, but because it was the first day after being accepted, all of them were gathered in a large classroom. The seats in the classroom were arranged in a convex shape, with the table in the center of the front being the first seat in the whole grade.

Meng Yang's score in the entrance exam was higher than Junchen's, but with all of the grades and scores from high school, Yu Junchen's overall grade was higher than Meng Yang's. Junchen sat at the middle table and Meng Yang, as the second highest in the grade, sat at the first table to the left.

Meng Yang walked over and sat down while the other students watched. The students who knew each other were using their phones to talk. Meng Yang and Yu Junchen were stepbrothers, and their marriage and engagement with a father and son pair was the biggest gossip in the whole department.

Yu Junchen also looked over at Meng Yang and thought about how to talk to him. He had to reconcile with Meng Yang and try to make Meng Yang trust him as much as he had before. He wanted the chance to learn the contents of the Meng family's ancestors' books.

Only students in freshman year had the chance to listen to the master classes twice a month. After freshman year, only the students in the first class had the chance to listen to the master classes.

So in this first class, the students were all very excited about their first master class. Several national or even international level masters would teach them. Such an opportunity, for most of them, could only come once or twice in their lifetime.

A light tone reminded everyone that the class was beginning, and all the students stood by their seats. A few masters came in and sat at the front platform, each with two students who sat behind their master. After the teachers of each class were seated, the new students also sat down.

Of the two masters sitting in the middle, one had a serious face and indifferent eyes. Just looking at him gave the freshmen a sense of fear in their hearts. This was Yu Junchen's teacher, the world-class master of perfume, incense mixing, and aromatherapy, Xu Wangya. The other was slightly portly with a kind smile on his face. He was also a world-class master of fragrance, Lin Songtai.

These two people were generally recognized as the representatives of the fragrance circle in the country, and they had very high positions in the circle. However, they weren't only different in personality, but they often disagreed with each other as well. This was widely known among fragrance academics.

After sitting down, Xu Wangya quickly scanned all the new students. His eyes stopped on Meng Yang's face, frowning as he asked, "Who arranged the seats?"

The head teacher immediately stood and replied, "As always, the seats are arranged in order of scores."

"I'm not asking about the other students," Xu Wangya said with a frown. "Why didn't you arrange the students who didn't take the entrance exams and got in through the back door to sit in the back?"

The head teacher glanced at Meng Yang and said, "Although Meng Yang didn't take the entrance exam with the other students, the school arranged an exam for him alone. His overall score was second out of all the freshmen, so…"

"Those who break the rules will ultimately be excluded by the rules, and special arrangements shouldn't be included in these rules. It's the biggest injustice to those who abide by the rules," Xu Wangya said flatly. "I don't care whether he took a test or not or what his overall score is. In my eyes, this doesn't count. Move his seat to the back."

The head teacher looked at Meng Yang again. For a moment, he didn't know what to do.

Xu Wangya didn't believe that Meng Yang's score in the entrance exam could be higher than Yu Junchen's, because Meng Yang and Yu Junchen had participated in an incense-making competition before. Originally this level of competition wasn't high enough to invite Xu Wangya, but Xu Wangya happened to meet an old friend who invited him to be a temporary judge. All the participants were nervous and excited. Meng Yang made it to the semi-finals in this competition, but because he was too anxious while he was creating his fragrance, his movements were very stiff. His proportion of raw materials while mixing the incense also didn't match well, which was criticized by Xu Wangya.

Hearing the news that Meng Yang's score for the entrance exam was higher than Yu Junchen's, other students also didn't believe it, let alone Xu Wangya and Yu Junchen's teachers and friends. Because of this, those fellow students of Yu Junchen were very dissatisfied and often said bad things about Meng Yang in front of Xu Wangya, making him hate Meng Yang even more.

Xu Wangya asked the head teacher in the grade to move Meng Yang's seat to the end, but the head teacher felt very flustered. He was just a small head teacher who didn't dare to offend either Xu Wanya or Luo Xiu. When immortals fought, the ordinary people suffered. He couldn't afford to pick a side.

Xu Wangya saw that the head teacher was awkwardly standing still, and was ready to let the students sitting behind him do it. Yu Junchen then stood up and said, "Teacher, let's forget this today. Since the school has arranged it like this, I don't think the other students will care about it. Teacher's time is precious, and the other students have been looking forward to this for a long time. Other things can be put aside for a while."

Xu Wangya attached great importance to Yu Junchen as his student, because he was the most talented out of all of his students. He thought that he was talented and hard-working, much better than other impetuous young people nowadays. Besides that, he knew his manners, behaved well, and had a youthful style in his incense and fragrance.

Xu Wangya was about to say that for the sake of Yu Junchen's request, he wouldn't care about it for the time being. This way, Meng Yang would feel grateful towards Yu Junchen. However, Meng Yang saw his thoughts and stood up.

"Mr. Xu," Meng Yang said, bending slightly to salute Xu Wangya before directly looking at him. "Do you think that because I didn't comply with the school's regulations at the beginning of school, I don't deserve to sit here?"

Yu Junchen immediately turned towards Meng Yang and said, "Meng Yang…"

"Do you want to deny it?" Xu Wangya frowned.

"As far as I know, there are at least a few hundred students like me who've passed separate entrance exams since the founding of this university. That is to say, such a way of admission is allowed in the rules of the university. I'm not the first exception. Mr. Xu has been teaching at St. James University for more than ten years, and before me, there were many people who entered the university in the same way. You didn't raise any objections then, yet you only raised an objection against me. Should I think that as long as people dissatisfy you, they will always be breaking the rules in your mind while others are not?"

Xu Wangya's frown deepened and his face was quite ugly. Few people could make him speechless, let alone Meng Yang, a young kid whom he hadn't paid any attention to.

Lin Songtai put down his teacup and turned to Xu Wangya, saying with a smile, "His words are very reasonable. You say that his way of enrollment is unfair to other students, but you raising objections only to his way of enrollment is unfair to him. Or do you feel, because of your age and identity, that you can decide who follows the rules and who doesn't?"

Xu Wangya glanced at Lin Songtai before turning to Meng Yang and saying, "You're young but you're so scheming and deep when you speak, setting traps everywhere. Who do you think I am; can I be trapped by your words? Your character and scheming will come back to bite you someday, and the consequences will be tragic then."

"Then do you think that any of my words are unreasonable or untrue? I'm willing to listen to instruction," Meng Yang said, acting neither arrogantly nor humbly.

"I didn't want to take up the other students' time to argue with you, but since you haven't given yourself a way out, I'll make it clear," Xu Wangya said to Meng Yang. "Your way of entering this school is unfair to the other students because your exam results are ridiculously fake. You don't feel guilty to be sitting in your current position, and you even try to reason with me. Do you really think that as long as no one exposes you, you can continue sitting in that position?"

"Since Mr. Xu has decided that my achievements are fake, no matter how much I explain, it'll just be a deception in your old heart. In this case, how about another exam in front of all the students?"

"Luo Qing, bring a part of the exam questions to him." Xu Wangya turned to the student behind him before looking back at Meng Yang to say, "Since you've asked for it, I'll let you understand yourself and your reality. I'll let Junchen take the exam with you so you can understand the difference between you two."

SMWOM 20

Xu Wangya's students and two assistants brought up the "test questions", which were in a wooden box. These so-called test questions weren't written on paper, but were various kinds of powders, liquids, pastes, and solid raw material extracts that were all related to making perfume.

"Junchen, you'll be blindfolded to compete with him or he might think it's unfair," Xu Wangya said.

"…Yes," Yu Junchen replied, picking up the wide white strip of cloth and covering his eyes. Though he didn't want to worsen his relationship with Meng Yang, he could only show his strength now that things came to this.

Meng Yang sat down and also blindfolded himself with a wide cloth. Xu Wangya looked at his action and sneered.

Xu Wangya's two assistants opened the wooden box and took out the small covered saucers, and arranged them neatly on the long table in front of Meng Yang and Yu Junchen.

Just as Yu Junchen picked up the saucer and put it under his nose, about to concentrate on the smell, Meng Yang said, "Lingxiang bean powder." (1)

Yu Junchen froze for a moment, then waited for the answer to be announced.

The assistant swept the little powder in the dish into the lid with a feather and showed the bottom of the dish to everyone. "Lingxiang bean powder, correct."

"…Fir moss oil," Yu Junchen also replied.

"Fir moss oil, correct." The assistant showed the bottom of the dish.

"Tuberose root," Meng Yang answered again.

"Tuberose root, right."

"Zi orchid leaf," Meng Yang said.

"Zi orchid leaf, correct."

"Guihui grass."

"Guihui grass, correct."

"Honey pod."

"Honey pod, right."

Once Meng Yang had answered five kinds of plant ingredients in a row, Yu Junchen said his second one, "Guihui grass."

"Guihui grass, correct."

Other people were gradually becoming more surprised as Xu Wangya's brows furrowed.

Yu Junchen's heart was also a little anxious. He wanted to catch up with Meng Yang's speed as soon as possible, but with his eyes covered, he needed to concentrate to confirm the scent.

It was basically just Meng Yang's performance after that. Although Yu Junchen's accuracy was also very good, his speed was far behind Meng Yang's.

"The benzoin with sophora butter, cistanche, citrus pine, orange oil, and rice star calms the nerves and inner qi, makes people happy, and keeps them from feeling dizzy for a long time."

"…That's right." Xu Wangya's assistant looked at Meng Yang, even more surprised.

Benzoin referred to a type of fragrance. This kind of benzoin formula was quite common, but there were many different recipe combinations. Meng Yang being able to say all the ingredients correctly at such a fast speed was really too impressive.

After Meng Yang named several different kinds of blended incense in succession and also described the ingredients, all the students looked at him with shocked eyes. The masters sitting on the platform also couldn't believe it. As a student, naming only two or three of the major ingredients was already impressive, but Meng Yang had listed all the ingredients; his sensitivity to smell was really too shocking.

Yu Junchen had already started to panic, but the more he panicked, the more difficult it was for him to concentrate and the slower his speed became.

By the time Meng Yang had named all of the perfume materials on the table accurately, Yu Junchen had confirmed less than a third of them. Xu Wangya's face had become very ugly, but he had to confirm the facts with his own eyes.

Meng Yang untied the blindfold cloth, then looked at Xu Wangya to say, "What else does Mr. Xu want to test? Pharmacology? Botany? Zoology? Chemistry? Physics? Or fragrance geography or history?"

"It's not interesting to test on these basic subjects. Let's see you make an incense seal (2)." Lin Songtai raised his hand and asked people to prepare things.

Yu Junchen had also untied his blindfold, but his eyes were staring at the desktop, not daring to look at Xu Wangya. In fact, the extent that he could do now was beyond the ability of the other students. However, the strength that Meng Yang had shown made him panic, as he'd never dreamed that he'd lose to Meng Yang.

Yu Junchen's two senior brothers watched and couldn't help but worry about him. They were afraid that Yu Junchen would be scolded by Xu Wangya for losing to Meng Yang.

Lin Songtai's assistant brought the tools for creating the incense seal and put them on Meng Yang's desk. Lin Songtai then looked at Meng Yang seriously, waiting for him to start.

Sealing incense was similar to showing off tea making skills in a tea ceremony; it had certain steps and procedures.

From ancient times till now, incense making had become a kind of art. There were many different categories and schools, and was an important way to cultivate one's morality and body.

Lin Songtai carefully watched Meng Yang's movements. At first, he was expressionless from his seriousness and expectations, but seeing Meng Yang's relaxed and easy to follow movements, he gradually smiled again. It was very difficult to do these movements so freely and pleasantly and still do each step well. If he didn't do them well enough, it would make people uncomfortable, so most students were very willing to learn the proper steps. The display process of Meng Yang was completely Lin Songtai's style.

After filling in the incense powder, Meng Yang lifted the seal mold vertically, and lit one end of the design after finishing the final piece, finally covering the incense burner with the lid.

The assistant came over and carefully picked up the censer. Walking to Lin Songtai's side, he gently placed the incense burner on the low table.

Lin Songtai opened the censer's cover, first observed the seal, and then nodded in satisfaction. He closed the cover to observe the smoke, finally closing his eyes to earnestly take in the scent.

The incense powder was quickly prepared by Meng Yang, and Lin Songtai felt that the scent was fresh and relaxing. Though it was connected to the quality of the fragrance powders, it had to be said that the proportions in Meng Yang's preparation were very well-controlled. Other people around Lin Songtai, including Xu Wangya, felt the same way.

Lin Songtai opened his eyes and looked at the other incense masters beside him, who nodded at the same time.

"If you're willing to accept my guidance, you may come to me from tomorrow on," Lin Songtai said to Meng Yang.

Lin Songtai directly showed that he wanted to accept Meng Yang as a student, and the other students looked very envious when they heard this. Students of an international perfume master could be said to be set for life.

"Thank you to Mr. Lin for giving me this opportunity; I'll try my best to live up to it," Meng Yang replied seriously. There were many advantages to becoming a student of a world-class master of perfume. Although Meng Yang didn't need to change his fate by becoming a master's student like the others, it was still better to be one.

Lin Songtai smiled and nodded.

Meng Yang looked at Xu Wangya, whose complexion wasn't well, and said, "I know many people think that my achievements are fake, so I also want to thank Mr. Xu for giving me the opportunity to disprove the false rumors and prove myself."

Meng Yang then turned to the other students and said, "I'm really sorry for the delay caused by me."

Lin Songtai and several other masters around him gave Meng Yang a few mental points, because whether Meng Yang was genuine or hypocritical, his behavior was the best way to protect himself. After all, these masters still attached great importance to these young people's behavior and etiquette. Even though Xu Wangya had first caused the conflict and Meng Yang had proven his strength, if Meng Yang had shown an unreasonable and unforgiving stance, it would make people disgusted even if it was justified. Xu Wangya's status had already been established, and the more modest and decent Meng Yang acted, the more likely Xu Wangya had to utilize his high status to bully the younger generation. It really wasn't in line with a morally prestigious behavior model.

"Old Xu, are you satisfied now?" Lin Songtai turned to Xu Wangya and said, "Because of your prejudice, you've wasted both the students' time and our time. Do you have anything to say?"

Everyone on Lin Songtai's side began to cooperate.

"In fact, the order of the seats isn't fixed. After each month's assessment, the seats will be rearranged. Whether his achievements are true or not, there'd be opportunities to confirm it later. I really can't think of a reason to have his seat moved to the back today."

"That's right. If just by my own guess, I can conclude that a student's grades must be fake and I punish him with my identity without evidence, and all the teachers had the same type of teaching, wouldn't this school be messed up?"

"We don't care if you damage your own reputation, but don't damage our reputations and that of the school's. If the students think we're the same as you, then we won't sit idly by."

Xu Wangya was completely speechless at Lin Songtai's people. He couldn't refute their words, because this time he really was at fault. Even if Meng Yang had a 99% chance of having entered the school by cheating, he still should have made a decision after confirming evidence, rather than from just his judgment. Besides, he wasn't the leader of the school, and he had no right to make decisions about the students. Only because of his position in the aromatherapy field did the school leaders give him any face.

"I've wronged you, and I apologize." Xu Wangya had been respected for so many years, and he now had to put his face down and apologize to Meng Yang. Otherwise, it would seem as if he had no manners. Suppressing the anger in his heart, he said, "Grade leader, I'll personally teach all of the students tomorrow in an extra class."

"Okay," the grade leader replied.

It took a long time for these masters to begin their lectures. Today's class was mainly for the masters to explain their own ideas about aromatherapy to the students. The reason why so many masters were going on at the same time was because there was a lot of difference in their philosophies, so they had them carry out the course together.

After listening to the masters' opinions on fragrances, Lin Songtai and Xu Wangya separately explained some techniques and methods of perfumery to the students. All the students covered their eyes with blindfolds and held the plates with fragrant powders in their hands, earnestly feeling and experiencing them.