Zhen Rui picked up the red - wine bottle and poured half a glass of red wine into an empty glass. Then she handed the glass to Rong Lan. "Sit down. The alcohol content of this red wine is not high. It's okay to have a little."
Rong Lan took the glass Zhen Rui offered and thanked her.
She never expected that she couldn't escape drinking no matter where she went. She thought stargazing would be just that - simple stargazing.
"Did mother decorate this small rooftop? It's really nice," the little fox asked curiously.
The colored lights hanging on the rooftop, the potted plants, and the tables and chairs were all arranged just right, creating a very warm atmosphere. If she had a similar rooftop at home, she might also decorate it like this.
Hearing this, Zhen Rui glanced around the rooftop. "Yes. After I married into the Chu family, the rooftop was the only thing I put my heart into decorating. In summer, if you sit and lean back on the reclining chair, with a cold drink and a small cake on the table, it's very comfortable to sit here all night stargazing. It's just a bit cold in winter, which dampens the fun."
"Shall I accompany mother here to stargaze when summer comes?"
"Okay."
The two made this kind of promise without any psychological burden, not knowing if it could ever be fulfilled.
Rong Lan adjusted the reclining chair to an obtuse angle of about 155 degrees, just like Zhen Rui did. Leaning back against the chair and looking up at the sky, she held the glass of red wine in her hand.
It would be comfortable if she didn't have to consider the cold wind blowing from all directions.
Rong Lan wasn't afraid of the cold anyway, and she was dressed warmly. Without having to worry about the weather, after lying down for a while, she felt so comfortable that she almost fell asleep.
"Rong Lan, can I ask you a question?" Zhen Rui suddenly spoke.
Rong Lan woke up abruptly and replied with a smile, "Sure. Mother, go ahead."
"Did you marry Hengyuan because your younger sister didn't want to? I've been through your age, and I know what the look of someone in love is like. The reason you gave before about liking Hengyuan doesn't hold up in my opinion." She sat up and picked up the red - wine bottle to pour herself another half - glass of red wine.
Rong Lan thought for a while. "To be exact, it has something to do with Ranran, but it's not entirely because of her. I don't know how to explain the specific reason to mother..." She couldn't very well say that her initial obsession with Chu Hengyuan was just because of a ghost's wish.
"Why is mother curious about this question?" Anyway, she and Chu Hengyuan were already legally married. Did it really matter why they got married in the first place?
"I just thought that if one day Hengyuan has a certain say in the Chu Group, will your younger sister regret not marrying him and try to take him away from you?"
Rong Lan twitched the corner of her mouth. She really wanted to tell Zhen Rui that Bai Rongran would. In her previous life, Bai Rongran did just that. Thinking of those annoying things in her previous life, she angrily took a big gulp of red wine.
"If that happens, will you be willing to let your sister have him?"
"Definitely not!" Rong Lan answered firmly.
Once in her fox den, he was her partner. She would never let her well - nourished partner be taken away by someone else.
Just as she was thinking this, her mind went blank, and a new memory emerged.
In the memory, not long after she and Chu Hengyuan got married, they went back to the Chu family's old mansion for dinner. Zhen Rui had a conversation with her about almost the same topic and asked almost the same questions. But in the memory, Bai Ronglan couldn't answer as firmly as she did now. Instead, she evaded the question with some ambiguous words. Zhen Rui's look at her seemed full of disappointment. After that, Zhen Rui never talked to her alone again.
Their relationship was just like that of an ordinary mother - in - law and daughter - in - law, neither good nor bad.
"That's good," Zhen Rui said, as if relieved. "Rong Lan, let me tell you a secret."
The little fox pricked up her ears, ready to hear the secret.
"On the night of your wedding with Hengyuan, I had an extremely vivid nightmare while sleeping. In the dream, you married Hengyuan. Later, your younger sister regretted it and wanted to get back with Hengyuan. Although you didn't agree, you allowed your sister to use tricks to drive a wedge between you and Hengyuan, and between you and me. In the end of the dream, your sister got what she wanted, and we didn't even know where you had gone."
Zhen Rui frowned as she told Rong Lan this dream that had troubled her for a long time.
The fox was shocked and took another big gulp of red wine.
Wasn't this exactly what had happened to the original owner in her previous life?
"To be honest, I was very disappointed with what you did in the dream. You had already married into the Chu family and should have been one of us. When something like this happened, you chose to tolerate it instead of telling us and letting us face it with you. Later, you disappeared without a trace. We wanted to find you but couldn't, and we didn't know how you were doing."
Rong Lan was silent. The reason she disappeared without a trace was that she was killed by Bai Rongran.
Could it be that the reason the ghost Bai Ronglan made the wish to marry Chu Hengyuan again was that the Chu family tried to find her after she died?
"Although in my perception in the dream, our relationship was just so - so, I was a first - time mother - in - law. Maybe I didn't consider everything comprehensively, which led to our not - so - good relationship. But for such a big thing, when someone was threatening your position, if you had told me, I would definitely have stood by your side and helped you teach Bai Rongran a lesson."
Rong Lan remained silent and looked at the person holding the wine glass and complaining suspiciously.
She reasonably suspected that Zhen Rui was drunk, or else she wouldn't be so talkative.
The words Zhen Rui had said in these few minutes were already as many as what she had said in an entire afternoon.
"I was very nervous when I learned that you would come to the Chu family for dinner today. I wanted to get along well with you, but I was also afraid that our personalities wouldn't match. Otherwise, I couldn't explain why our relationship was so bad in my dream. After getting along today, your personality is actually the kind I like. I'm even more confused. In theory, we should be able to become friends..."
As Zhen Rui was talking, she felt so aggrieved that she directly grabbed the red - wine bottle and took a big gulp.
Rong Lan glanced at the bottle Zhen Rui had grabbed and then at her own empty glass. She had a bad feeling.
She wondered if it was just her imagination, but she felt a bit dizzy now.
But she had only poured the wine two or three times and had drunk less than a whole bottle of red wine in total.
Was her alcohol tolerance really that low? It couldn't be!
The little fox was doubting her fox - self and even forgot the important question of why Zhen Rui had dreamed about what had happened to the original owner in her previous life.
Suddenly, the phone in her pocket rang.
Zhen Rui glanced at Rong Lan. Even though she was really drunk, the etiquette and upbringing engraved in her bones forced her to shut up.
Rong Lan took out her phone and tapped the screen.
"My dear sister Ranran—"