Married to his secret crush

"What's going on?" Jun Zixuan glanced at both the men who settled on their respective chairs.

"Your brother got assaulted..."

"Mu Shen!" Jun Boyan gritted his teeth as he kicked the man from under the table.

Jun Zixuan raised an eyebrow. Who in this house will assault him?

Just as Mu Shen opened his mouth to say something, Shen Lihua walked towards the dining table before passing the salad to Mu Shen who immediately arranged it on the table. 

"Where is Mei'er?" She asked. 

"I forgot to tell you. I brought a mutual friend of ours together with me. So, the girls are gossipping in the room," Mu Shen answered. 

Shen Lihua nodded, ''I'll go and call them. You all take your seats." 

"Pretty Aunt, shall I come with you?" Yu Jinhai offered. 

"No, dear. Sit with your big brothers. We will be back soon."

"Is it Shi Luo?" Jun Zixuan glanced at Mu Shen while pulling out a chair for his wife. 

"Yes, I was not aware of their friendship all these years. Did you know?"

"No," Jun Zixuan paused for a moment as he looked at his younger brother, ''Is she the assaulter?" He spoke in a low voice because of Yu Jinhai's presence. 

Mu Shen nodded, "You should have seen it. It was better than the movies. The way they-"

"Enough,'' Jun Boyan narrowed his eyes at Mu Shen warning the man to shut up before it's late. He then glanced at Jun Zixuan, "He is exaggerating it again. It was an accident. Ah Jin suddenly got off my lap and she-"

"What did I do?" Yu Jinhai's ears perked up when he heard the mention of his name. 

Jun Boyan pursed his lips before ruffling his hair, "What can you do? You are such a good boy."

Mu Shen glanced at Jun Zixuan, 'His first kiss is gone,' The man mouthed.

Jun Zixuan's brows tugged together, 'What has it got to do with you?'

'Are you really taking Shi Luo as your sister-in-law?'

'Stop being dramatic.' 

Back in the room. 

"...So, this is all that happened," Yu Mei concluded the story-telling of everything that has happened during this period. 

Shi Luo sighed, "This is all too shocking. But I'm happy you reunited with Brother Yu," She paused for a moment before adding, "About Jun Zixuan being the CEO of Eminence, how many times had I insisted on that? Yet you brainwashed me against it."

"What brainwashed? His age doesn't coincide with the time when Eminence was established and since I didn't know much about his background, I never believed it."

"So, do you know his background now?" Shi Luo asked. 

"I'm not sure but he is probably a member of the Amaranthine Royalty," Yu Mei spoke in a lower voice. 

Shi Luo's eyes widened slightly. 

"May I come in?" 

They glanced in the direction of the voice only to find Shen Lihua standing near the door. 

'How much did she hear?' was the first thought that came to their minds as they stood up.

"Please," Yu Mei nodded at her. 

As Shen Lihua's gaze landed on Shi Luo's face, her brows furrowed slightly, "You look familiar...?"

Shi Luo raised an eyebrow. It was her first time meeting this elegant lady who was possibly her friend's mother-in-law and she was pretty sure of that. "Hello, Madam. I'm Shi Luo," She bowed slightly. 

"Shi...?" Shen Lihua's gaze flashed, "Is your mother's name Shi Qing by any chance?"

"You know my mom?" 

"Of course," Shen Lihua stepped closer to her, "I even held you when you were born. You were so small at that time. Time passed too fast. You both are grown up now," She said looking at both Shi Luo and Yu Mei, "Come, give me a hug, dear."

Shi Luo nodded as she leaned in for a hug. 

Shen Lihua patted her back, ''You can call me Aunt."

As they parted, Shi Luo glanced at her, "I was not aware of it. Mom never mentioned you."

Shen Lihua stroked her cheeks as a soft smile made its way to her face., "Li Na, Shi Qing, and I were best friends. Your mother and I married at the same time and we were even pregnant around the same time. At one point, we were planning to have you betrothed to Ah Xuan.''

Yu Mei, who was listening to everything quietly, taking as much as information she could found herself choking on her saliva when she heard the last line. She broke into coughing fits as the piece of information got too heavy for her taste. 

Shi Luo patted her back, "Don't worry. There will not be a friend turned Mistress trope here, I don't have such hard taste. With a man like him, I will lose all my brain cells and wake up with grey hairs," She whispered. Other than Han Mei who is now Yu Mei, to everyone, Jun Zixuan is a devil incarnate and Shi Luo was not as naive to see him as an angel.

Yu Mei glared at her.

Shen Lihua glanced at her beloved daughter-in-law, "You are acting like they were betrothed. I was saying that we planned that initially but then you came into the picture, your mom was persistent on having you marry Ah Xuan. And we went with that."

"Her mother?" Shi Luo was confused. 

"Li Na. The third friend in the picture," Yu Mei answered nonchalantly. 

Shen Lihua slapped her shoulder, "Is this the proper way to talk about your mother?"

"Ah...Mother-in-law, this is domestic violence," Yu Mei rubbed her shoulder. 

Shi Luo paused for a moment, "If you all were so close, then why-?"

"Then, why we lost connection with each other?" Shen Lihua finished the sentence for her and as Shi Luo nodded, she continued speaking, "We all got a life, challenges that were too hard to overcome, we all got stuck in different struggles and schemes that were tough to get rid of. By the time I was away from all that, Li Na was no more and your mother...sigh...I never got the proper chance to reunite with them."

Yu Mei and Shi Luo exchanged glances. They could hear the sadness in the woman's voice. 

"Can you tell me more about Li...my mom?"