Sang Miao raised her eyebrows slightly and became a bit more awake.
Sang Rui didn’t even call ahead to ask if she was home.
She just showed up.
She wasn’t afraid of making a wasted trip.
Sang Miao knew that Sang Rui hadn’t forgotten the embarrassment she suffered last time,
But she was still a little surprised that she had come after all this time.
She had to admit it was impressive that Sang Rui managed to hold back this long.
If she’d waited any longer, Sang Miao might have forgotten the whole thing.
Sang Rui’s car was still outside the gate.
The security guard stopped the vehicle and informed Shao Ying that a visitor had arrived.
Because the owners were rarely home, unexpected guests at the villa were quite rare.
Most of Meng Peisheng’s meetings and social interactions took place at the company or outside,
and very few people came to the house.
Although the visitor was a relative of the lady of the house, as the Meng family’s housekeeper,
Shao Ying didn’t dare act on her own.
She came in first to report it.
Only after getting Sang Miao’s permission did she go to invite the guest in.
Sang Rui had been filming with a crew recently, and it was hard to coordinate shooting schedules.
She kept asking for time off, which naturally drew some dissatisfaction from the director and other crew members.
After what happened last time, some people were no longer as friendly toward her.
So it wasn’t that she didn’t want to come earlier;
She really couldn’t get away.
Sang Rui was stopped for a while before being allowed in, which made her feel a little irritated.
This used to be her home, and now she was so easily blocked outside.
Of course she felt a bit indignant.
On the one hand, she was grateful to have escaped her fate.
On the other hand, she couldn’t help but occasionally miss the good times here.
Sang Rui drove herself today.
From the gate to the house, as she drove along the familiar path into the villa area,
She realized everything still looked the same.
Every blade of grass and every tree was just like before.
Everything that happened felt like it had just occurred yesterday.
She parked the car at the front entrance.
The moment she got out, she saw Meng’s dog and Sang Miao’s cat playing together.
The border collie was sharp-eyed and very alert.
When it saw a stranger approaching, it barked a few times with alertness.
But it had been well-trained; it didn’t rush over or do anything aggressive.
Instead, it cautiously approached while observing.
To Youyou, Sang Rui’s face was familiar, but they didn’t have much contact.
She had never fed it any treats.
The little cat wasn’t interested, so it just lay back down on the grass to continue sunbathing.
The border collie was well-groomed, its coat sleek and shiny, and its elegant and handsome appearance made anyone want to pet it.
Sang Rui paused for a moment, remembering,
Yes, this dog was still around back then.
The Meng family had always had just this one dog.
Back when she was still part of the family, she had never been close to it.
She didn’t particularly like cats or dogs.
There were maids in the villa to take care of it anyway.
It could be quite noisy at times and sometimes destroy things, but as long as it didn’t bother her directly, she couldn’t care less.
Sang Rui couldn’t quite remember the exact day, but now that she thought about it, it was shortly after that when the dog got sick.
The border collie had always been healthy and had gotten regular checkups.
It was pampered with great care, and even sneezing was rare.
At first, it didn’t seem like anything serious, just a lack of appetite.
Coincidentally, Shao Ying was on leave for a couple of days,
Meng Peisheng was away on a business trip, and Meng Xici was at school.
She was the only adult woman at home.
The maids asked if they should take the dog to a vet.
Since it didn’t look too bad, she told them to take care of it and keep observing.
Maybe it will recover in a couple of days.
She knew that the father and son cared deeply for this dog,
So naturally, she didn’t want anything to happen to it.
But the dog was quite clever and sometimes faked illness to get attention and sympathy.
Who would’ve thought things would take a sharp turn in just two days?
When they finally took it to the vet, they found it had contracted an infectious disease,
and it passed away before it could be saved.
The dog had always been perfectly fine.
It had received all its vaccines.
Who knew it would suddenly contract such a deadly illness?
The disease came on aggressively, and the dog didn’t even make it through a few days.
Sang Rui had never owned a dog herself.
She didn’t know that what seemed like a minor issue at first could turn into something so serious.
When the dog was sent to the hospital, she was scared and quickly called Uncle Zhou, Meng Peisheng’s assistant.
In the past, she would never have taken the initiative to call Meng Peisheng directly, but this time was different;
She didn’t dare give him the bad news herself.
Lin Yanzhou immediately contacted the doctor to get an update.
Shortly afterward, both father and son returned home.
The border collie’s death was sudden and without warning.
After it passed away, the atmosphere in the house became heavy and somber for a long time.
Especially Meng Xici, he was already aloof by nature, but for a while after, he became even more unapproachable.
Sang Rui didn’t want to stir up any trouble, so she kept quiet.
One week, then two, still no improvement in the atmosphere.
She rarely had any meaningful conversation with either of them before, but now it was worse.
She constantly felt like she was walking on eggshells, afraid to set them off.
Although neither of them said anything to her, the oppressive atmosphere was too much for her to bear.
But was it her fault?
Was she to blame for not taking the dog to the vet earlier?
Who could’ve guessed it was that kind of disease?
Those two had always been distant toward others, but after that, they became even harder to approach.
At first, she understood they were grieving and didn’t dare do anything.
But after some time, she wanted to ease the tension, so she looked into several kennels.
They had top-tier dogs, smart and beautiful.
She showed them to Meng Xici and asked if he liked any of them, offering to buy a couple for him.
He didn’t appreciate it.
Fine, she could play the good guy for nothing.
If he wanted to stay upset forever, so be it.
Simba stared at her for a few seconds, as if recognizing she might be a guest and not some random intruder, then left her alone, turning his attention back to the grass where he went to fetch the toy he had been playing with.
Sang Rui stood there for a moment, her expression complicated as she looked at the frolicking dog.
She felt no obligation to say anything.
In the end, it was their failure to take care of it properly; who else could they blame?
She had no time or energy to worry about a dog’s affairs now.
When Sang Miao heard that Sang Rui had come to see her,
she wasn’t sure how long it would take, so she told Meng Xici that she might be a bit late going to the shooting range.
Still, she figured Sang Rui probably wouldn’t stay long.
Meng Xici didn’t mind.
Out of courtesy, he planned to wait in the living room until the guest arrived and greet her before heading upstairs.
Once they entered the first-floor main door, Sang Miao waited for her in the living room.
Even though just thinking about it still made her angry, enough time had passed that Sang Rui had calmed down a bit.
She wasn’t as fired up as she had been before.
Now, when she saw Sang Miao, she could still smile and greet her with a cheerful, “Sister.”
Today, she wasn’t here to argue.
When she noticed the young man standing nearby, Sang Rui was briefly stunned.
Meng Xici still had his usual cold and distant demeanor.
He gave her a simple greeting.
After that, Sang Miao immediately told him to go upstairs so he wouldn’t feel awkward staying there.
To Sang Rui, Meng Xici was someone difficult to please.
He had a cold personality and strong opinions, and in some ways, his temperament resembled Meng Peisheng’s.
But speaking of resemblance, he wasn’t even his real father.
One day, he would find out the truth.
What would become of this family then?
Sang Rui got lost in her memories for a moment and didn’t notice how Meng Xici was treating Sang Miao.
At the same time, Sang Miao noticed her gaze seemed to occasionally drift toward Meng Xici.
Was she curious about him…?
Sang Rui quickly came back to her senses and remembered why she was here.
Sang Miao smiled calmly and invited her to sit down, pouring her a cup of tea.
With ease, she asked, “What brings you by today?”
Sang Rui glanced briefly around the room.
It was clear Meng Peisheng wasn’t home, and Meng Xici had already gone back to his room.
She didn’t worry about being overheard.
One good thing about the staff here they knew when to stay out of sight.
During work hours, they tried not to disturb the family and had no bad habits.
Sang Rui took a sip of the tea, using that moment to compose herself.
She set the cup down and smiled as she said,
“It’s been a while, so of course I came to see how you’re doing. Not welcoming me?”
“This is my first time coming over for a visit, you know. Is brother-in-law not home today?”
Sang Miao replied, “Mm, he’s usually at work around this time.”
Sang Rui gave a casual “oh” and continued the small talk as if chatting idly, “I heard he’s very busy. He used to not be home a lot, even before”
“Is it still like that after you married him?” she suddenly lowered her voice, sounding both concerned and gossipy.
Sang Miao replied in stride, “What else could it be?”
Sang Rui pouted, sounding somewhat indignant,
“That’s not right, though. He should make time for you. Doesn’t it get boring being home alone all the time?”
“It’s fine. I enjoy the peace,” Sang Miao answered breezily.
“You wouldn’t know what marriage is like, I t’s just an agreement.
Whether he’s around or not, does it matter?”
Sang Miao still wanted to make it clear it was a contract marriage.
She wasn’t taking it seriously and hoped Sang Rui wouldn’t, either.
Sang Rui listened carefully, trying to decipher how much of that was true and how much was just pretending.
She didn’t believe it.
No way could someone live day after day with just a marriage contract and feel nothing.
Sure, the agreement promised decent perks, but at most, it gave you the life of a regular rich person.
Among the wealthy, even that came with massive class gaps.
These thoughts only lingered in her mind for a moment before she resumed her smile.
“As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters. Being the lady of a rich family sounds nice
no job, no dealing with the snobbery of outsiders.”
As she finished, her expression turned slightly melancholic, clearly waiting for someone to ask her if something was wrong.
Sang Miao gave her a faint glance, thinking:
She didn’t come today to throw a fit? She came to vent?
But venting didn’t help.
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