A scream echoed from the Zhan family's upstairs the following morning.
Following the sound, everyone rushed up to see what had happened.
Upon entering, Zhan Mohan and Wei Yumeng exchanged a glance, sensing something was amiss. They hurried upstairs, arriving at Zhan Yichen's room.
Zhan Mohan frowned and kicked the door open.
The scene before them was shocking. The two people in the room were disheveled, and seeing the man on the bed was a household servant only added to the astonishment.
"Xinyi?" Wei Yumeng asked, her voice filled with surprise, confirming the woman on the bed. The woman's panicked, pale face and the exposed shoulder as she clutched the blanket made it easy to imagine what had transpired between them last night.
"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, save me."
Zhang Xinyi was truly panicked. She had been in Zhan Yichen's room, so why was there a different person when she woke up, and a Zhan family servant at that?
Having visited the Zhan family before, Zhang Xinyi was somewhat familiar with the faces of their servants.
The servant before her was the gardener responsible for the outer gardens.
"Xinyi, what are you doing?"
Wei Yumeng gestured towards them, then looked at the expressions of the others present, which were as surprised as if they had swallowed an egg, making the scene even more dramatic.
"What are you all doing here? Nothing that happened today is to be spoken of, now go back to your work."
Wei Yumeng "pretended" to scold the others. They exchanged glances and then dispersed from the second floor, returning to their respective duties.
Working at the Zhan family's, they were accustomed to women trying to latch onto the Zhan family. Zhang Xinyi's presence in Zhan Yichen's room, and her intentions, were obvious.
Wei Yumeng entered the room and, feigning anger, looked at the servant.
The man lowered his head, his trembling body betraying his fear.
At that moment, Mu Linjing appeared at the doorway, looking in with a puzzled expression.
"What happened?"
Mu Linjing entered and, upon seeing the scene in the room, was initially surprised before understanding dawned.
After exchanging a look with Wei Yumeng, she then "pretended" to question Zhang Xinyi.
"Sister, I truly don't know what happened. It was him, he harbored ill intentions towards me!"
Zhang Xinyi had lost her composure and could only point at the man and accuse him. Regardless of what had happened yesterday, everyone this morning had seen her in bed with this servant, leaving her speechless.
But wasn't this Zhan Yichen's room?
The man was extremely nervous. Facing Zhang Xinyi's accusations, he only lowered his head, offering no defense.
Wei Yumeng walked over and, with Mu Linjing, wrapped Zhang Xinyi in a blanket and took her to another room, leaving the rest to Zhan Mohan.
Zhan Mohan walked in and stood before the man.
"Who gave you the courage to do this?"
The man looked up and met Zhan Mohan's gaze. His previous fear and helplessness were replaced by calmness, as he was merely following orders.
"Young Master, the Second Young Master told me to do this."
After the man's explanation, Zhan Mohan understood Zhan Yichen's intentions and no longer pursued the matter.
"Since that's the case, you may leave now. I won't fire you."
The man thanked him, picked up his clothes, dressed, and left Zhan Yichen's room with steady steps.
Zhan Mohan instructed the other servants to clean up and replace everything in the room with new items, even the bed.
Who knew what lingering impressions might remain on the bed that Zhang Xinyi had slept in.
Meanwhile, in the guest room, Zhang Xinyi's mind was a mess.
She didn't know how to explain to Mu Linjing her presence in her room, nor could she understand why the person had changed so inexplicably.
"Xinyi, go take a bath and get some rest. We'll talk about everything else after you wake up."
Wei Yumeng said softly to Zhang Xinyi. Zhang Xinyi nodded; she indeed needed time to sort out her thoughts and figure out how to explain.
"I understand, don't worry, sister-in-law. I won't do anything foolish." Zhang Xinyi pretended to be strong, as if she were the victim.
Mu Linjing also walked over and patted her shoulder, "Alright, you rest well. Yu Meng and I will come to see you this afternoon."
Mu Linjing and Wei Yumeng exchanged glances and a knowing look before leaving the guest room.
As they reached the front of the house, servants were carrying out the bed. The disgust on Mu Linjing's face made Wei Yumeng chuckle.
"It seems she's truly desperate."
Wei Yumeng teased. Mu Linjing's expression was not good; she had suppressed it earlier, but now she could no longer hold back.
"I never imagined she had such nerve, to even think of such a method."
It seemed their leniency towards her yesterday was too much.
"Don't be angry. It's not worth getting upset over someone like her. Where's Yichen? I don't see him."
Wei Yumeng looked around. The main person involved in this incident was nowhere to be seen.
Mu Linjing scoffed, "He told me he was going to the company when he left last night. When I rushed back today, he truly didn't disappoint me."
Wei Yumeng chuckled. She wondered what kind of brain Zhang Xinyi had, to come up with such a base tactic.
"Let's go, we'll find Mohan first and see what we need to do next."
"Mhm!"
Mu Linjing's expression was akin to someone who had accidentally swallowed a fly, and she followed behind Wei Yumeng to the study.
Zhan Mohan was looking at documents. Seeing them enter, he put the papers down. "Why the long faces? Did things exceed your expectations?"
Such an incident was naturally beyond anyone's anticipation.
Facing Zhan Mohan's teasing, Wei Yumeng shot him a look.
While it was her and Mu Linjing's idea to bring Zhang Xinyi to the house and play a trick on her, such a shameful incident was truly beyond their expectations.
Now that Grandpa had gone to play chess with his friends, he would surely be angry when he heard about this at noon.
"You're still talking. Grandpa will be furious when he returns. Hurry and think of a solution."
Zhan Mohan chuckled. These two, having gotten carried away, now wanted to shift the blame to him.
"You shouldn't be worried about what to do now; it's Yichen, this sister-in-law, who should be. Linjing, as the owner of that room, you have every right to question her why she was in your room."
With this reminder, Mu Linjing was no longer flustered.
Although this incident was the result of Zhan Yichen playing along with the plan, their grandfather was extremely wise and wouldn't fail to see through the scheme.
The one who should be worried about how to explain things was not them, but her cousin, who had carefully crafted a good image.
As the three were talking, Cen Yuan knocked on the door.
"The Master has returned and already knows about today's events. He wants you to go down and report." He then added, not forgetting to remind them, "The Master is very angry, so you should be careful."