- Feng Mian and Zhang Liang's Mansion -
It was Yu Yan's first time visiting Feng Mian's new home. Looking at the grand mansion that would not lose against Long Ying's, Yu Yan started to think whether these types of big houses were actually very common. She seemed to be seeing them more and more often lately.
Their car went into the house with no problem as Feng Mian had informed the guards that her friend would be visiting.
"Madam, I'll be waiting here." An Luo was the one who took her out today since An Lin's face… was still unsuitable to be seen outside. San Xia was also following them to stand guard.
Yu Yan nodded. "I'll be fine."
"Yes."
The two of them retreated while Yu Yan looked at the large mansion before her. Her feelings right now were a bit complicated as she didn't know what she was supposed to say when she met Feng Mian later.
The door opened and Feng Mian rushed out. She was dressed in casual shirt and pants. There were even marks of paints on the edge of her shirt. It seemed that she was immersed in painting something before she came here.
"Did I come too early?" Yu Yan asked with a smile. She took out a bag from inside, which contained some snacks she brought along with her.
"Not at all!" Feng Mian grinned. She waved her hand, gesturing for Yu Yan to come inside. "Come in, the twins are inside. Sister in law comes to visit us this time with Father in law."
Uh…
All of the sudden, Yu Yan felt a bit nervous. She had met with Feng Mian's mother before but she had never met with Feng Mian's husband's family. With her coming like this, it felt as if she had intruded the family's warm reunion.
Entering the mansion, Yu Yan was startled by the sound of baby crying. She looked at Feng Mian in confusion. "Whose child is that?"
"Sister in law's." Feng Mian grinned. "She had a son just a few weeks ago. His name is Zhang Dan Hou."
"Good name."
"Brother in law is the one who picks the name. Come in and make yourself at home."
"Ok."
Entering the living room, Yu Yan saw that the other Zhang Family members were inside. Zhang Yi, the current head of Zhang Family and also Feng Mian's father in law, was seated in the middle while holding a small baby on his arms. Beside him was an elegant lady who was looking at the child with loving gaze. Yu Yan was sure that she was Lu Di La, Feng Mian's sister in law.
Zhang Liang was playing Go game against his twin brother, who looked so similar to him. Honestly, Yu Yan couldn't differentiate the two of them and probably, only someone like Feng Mian would be able to do so. The twins looked very much alike each other.
"Mrs. Long," Zhang Xue noticed that there was a guest and hurriedly stood up. "Welcome to our humble resident."
"That's my line, Xue." Zhang Liang kicked his brother's shin and stood up. His eyes landed on Feng Mian almost automatically. "Mian'er, change your clothes first. There's still traces of paint."
"Ah! I forget! Yan'er, wait for a bit."
"Okay."
Zhang Liang pointed to the seat. "Please take a seat. Mian'er will return back soon."
"Hahaha!" Zhang Yi laughed happily before handing the small baby, Zhang Dan Hou to Lu Di La. "It's rare for Mian'er to bring her friend along. I'm her father, pleased to meet you, Mrs. Long."
"My name is Yu Yan. There's no need to be so polite, Old Mr. Zhang." Yu Yan was trying hard to keep her composure.
Zhang Yi nodded but then turned his attention back to his first daughter in law, nagging her about Zhang Dan Hou. Lu Di La also patiently listened to what her father was saying while holding her son tenderly.
On the side, Zhang Liang and Zhang Xue had resumed their game.
"Just watch this! I'll defeat you this time."
"Give up, your math is terrible, so your strategy is even worse than that."
"Liang! Guard your mouth!"
"Heh, defeat me first. You always lose." Zhang Liang snorted and put the next stone. However, it was clear that his tone was merely playful and not really mean much to his twin brother.
Zhang Xue groaned as he began to try making the next move. Whenever they were talking about tactics, he was always got off worse than Zhang Liang, so he had to make sure that his movements were not easily counter able.
Yu Yan watched in silence. Not long afterwards, Feng Mian came while carrying a tray filled with glasses of water. "Drink some, Yan'er. Liang, stop playing for a bit, you haven't drunk any water in the last few hours."
"Alright."
The two brothers stopped their game and took the glass of water. Yu Yan also took a glass while Feng Mian took out her phone. She showed it to Yu Yan. "I heard that you're the one in charge of the advertisement now? The last one is really great and…"
As the two of them began their discussion about work, Yu Yan also started to relax. It was simply hard to not be comfortable in such warm environment. The one who finally left first was Zhang Xue and Lu Di La because they still had some work. Zhang Yi looked a bit heartbroken when he was separated from his grandson.
"Father, you can visit them again later." Zhang Liang reminded from the side.
Zhang Yi snorted. "You brat! You're always saying that but how about you? When are you going to give me a child? I'm still waiting for more children from your side!"
Zhang Liang was speechless. He still didn't have enough time with Feng Mian yet, so he didn't want to have a child yet. But of course, he would not say it out loud in front of his father in fear that he would get a beating in return.
Feng Mian's face still turned red. "Father in law… that'll wait for some time."
"I'll wait your good news." Zhang Yi humped. He wanted grandchildren from all of his children. Come to think about it, that little brat Zhang Ai was too busy with filming lately. Did she even spend some time trying to establish relationship or she was just busy creating trouble?
He had to ask her when she came back later.
Zhang Liang sighed helplessly. He patted Feng Mian. "Go back inside first. Don't you still want to continue your painting?"
"Yes." Feng Mian nodded then pulled Yu Yan away. Afterwards, the sound of Zhang Yi nagging on Zhang Liang could be heard faintly. It seemed that the old man was not satisfied with Zhang Liang's answer and hoped that the man could finally settle down.
Yu Yan smiled lightly as she followed Feng Mian to the studio. The place was decent and there were several drafts of drawing that Feng Mian had made over the past few months. Looking at them all, Yu Yan knew that her best friend had poured all of her heart to make those paintings but some of them were unfinished and might take some time.
"Your place is as messy as ever."
"Oh please, don't speak as if you're any better." Feng Mian rolled her eyes. She pulled two seats. "Come sit down, it's a bit inconvenient with the others around before but I think that you can talk now, right?"
"Yes?"
"I saw this yesterday." Feng Mian showed her phone. Inside it was an article regarding Yu Yan's father's company. It took a bit of dive but recently had returned back to its track. It was also said that they would have their only daughter as the representative of the company in a few more months.
Yu Yan looked at the news and her lips curled up to form a sneer. "It seems that the media had started to forget about what happened before."
"She's not an actress and only some low level assistant." Feng Mian put her phone away. "I thought that you're in bad mood because of this matter but it seems that you're thinking about something else."
"Mhm…. Your place is warm, Mian'er."
"Yes?"
"I just feel a bit conflicted. Yesterday I visited Long Ying's parents' house and the place is really cold and unfeeling. It makes me a bit scared because that place really can't be called as home and thinking about having a child who have to grow up in that condition just makes me feel conflicted."
Yu Yan didn't want her children to experience the same thing as her. And looking at Feng Mian, she felt that her best friend was really lucky to have such loving family both from her own and also from her husband's side. The only problem that she encountered was bad friends who tried to take advantage of the gullible artist.
But Yu Yan was different.. She had enemies both inside and outside and her husband was not any better.