Apology

Despite Meng Mei’s high hopes for a quick response from the other transmigrator were dashed pretty quickly. The system said that they had been notified that they had a message but they were currently busy with completing their own main quest.

Nothing of note happened until dinner that evening.

They all met up in the dining tent to make their formal introductions. It was incredibly awkward since the bruises on both Meng m]Mei’s and Zhong Changming’s faces had developed. Meng Yong and Meng Weiyuan were furious when they saw the cut on her lip and the bruise on her jaw

“How dare he!” Meng Yong seethed. “Who does he think he is? Laying a hand on my baby sister?”

Meng Weiyuan was just as furious.

“I knew that little brat was up to something when he didn’t show up to go on the tour.” Meng Weiyuan growled. He was surprisingly angry considering the fact that Meng Xiāng hadn’t spoken to him in nearly two years.

It was also clear that Madam Meirong and Meng Guoyao still hadn’t recovered from the news of Zhong Shoushan having an affair child.

What was supposed to be a very formal dinner where Meng Mei was finally introduced to her fiance turned into a tense meal where every sentence contained a hidden insult.

They were dismissed from dinner the very second that everyone was done eating. Madam Meirong came to help Meng Mei get ready for bed but she didn’t say a word the whole time.

Meng Mei wasn’t sure if it was due to the fight or something else.

That night Meng Mei stayed up for a while to plan out the rest of the trip. If she knew what she was going to be doing she could plan for ways to sneak away from her supervisors and make contact with Lai Huang.

Zhong Shoushan had sent Meng Guoyao a detailed itinerary as soon as he received word that the Meng family would be able to make it.

The first event was scheduled for the end of this week. It was a swordsmanship tournament where the winner would earn a celebratory feast. The two days leading up to the tournament were scheduled to be practice days. Meng Mei was pretty certain that in all of the distraction she could sneak away and find Lai Huang.

Next week there will be two archery contests. The first one was just regular archery with straw targets placed at varying distances. The second one was an archery competition that would be done on horseback. For each competition the day before was scheduled as a practice round to prove that the contestants wouldn’t hurt themselves.

The third week there would be a hunting competition, except this time the contestants would be solely hunting animals. That hunting competition would be open to even the non-cultivators from the camping grounds that wanted to participate.

For the final week, the hunting competition that was only open to cultivators would be held. It was Zhong Shoushan’s version of a thank you for joining his family on the trip since they usually didn't hold that competition until their three months were up.

Zhong Shoushan had to put in a special order to have yao beasts and walking corpses delivered to the camping grounds since they specifically chose this forest due to its absence of such creatures. They'd spend a few days at the start of that week preparing special barriers and then they'd set all of the beast loose so the cultivators could hunt them.

Sneaking away definitely wouldn't be easy but Meng Mei was nothing if not determined. This month would be her best chance at establishing a real sense of connection with Lai Huang. She had to succeed or the boy would pay the consequence for that.

If Meng Mei just became his one reason. His one reminder of why he shouldn't wreak havoc on the cultivation world then she was fine with that. Because at least then he wouldn't have a reason to be killed.

When she woke up the next morning she went through all the motions of getting ready. She was really starting to feel just how many hits Zhong Changming had managed to land on her torso.

When Madam Meirong came in to help her get ready she winced every time she had to lift her arms to get into another layer of robes.

“Zhong Jiayi and I have decided to have Zhong Changming apologize to you this morning at breakfast.” She announced as she brushed Meng Mei's hair. “Even though you hit him as well, he was the one in the wrong.”

“Yes a-niang.” Meng Mei couldn't summon the same vindictive pleasure she had felt yesterday at the news. She simply hurt far too much.

Madam Meirong made sure to hide the bruise on her jaw with some makeup. She even covered the cut on her lip with some lip stain.

“A proper lady should not show her injuries at formal events.” Madam Meirong said in explanation.

Madam Meirong helped Meng Mei along to breakfast but she abandoned her as soon as they made it into the dining tent.

Meng Mei was greeted with the sight of Zhong Changming waiting for her with a frown. Zhong Shoushan stood behind him with a heavy hand resting on his shoulder.

“Go ahead, Changming.” Zhong Shoushan prompted when Zhong Changming didn't say anything for a long moment.

“I’m….sorry I hit you.” Zhong Changming finally grit out. Meng Mei frowned. He'd done a lot more than just hit her.

“And?” Zhong Shoushan pushed.

“And for splashing you with water.” Zhong Changming conceded. “I hope we can move past this and build a good relationship as fiance's.”

Meng Mei had to admit that for all of the faults the apology had, it was more than she had been expecting from him.

Privately, she wished she could decline the apology and call him as many names as she could think of. It was least least he deserved after everything.

Realistically she knew she couldn't do that though.

“Apology accepted.” She finally managed to make herself say. “I too hope to move past this and build a better relationship as fiance's.”

Zhong Changming's face soured as Zhong Shoushan nodded in appreciation.

“Good. Now, let's eat and move on with another day.” He announced.