Since around the time Meng Ting began to understand things, he has always been told that he was stupid, and it’s the kind that is becoming increasingly beyond redemption.
He is slow to crawl, slow to sit, slow to walk, and even learning to speak is the same, when the average child speaks sentence after sentence very smoothly, he still finds it difficult to express his needs using monosyllabic sounds.
Quiet, clumsy, gloomy… a very unlikable child.
When he was seven years old, his grandmother took him back from the orphanage and raised him until he was fourteen, for the same seven years, his grandmother told Meng Ting repeatedly every day that he was a thoroughly stupid child, a glutton who only knows how to eat, and a completely useless waste.
Meng Ting was once extremely afraid of words like useless and waste, so when he became a little more sensible, he anxiously spent all his energy trying to make himself more useful, smarter, and normal.
In the eyes of outsiders, he did it, he got rid of the shackles of ‘waste’, but only he himself knows, those so-called ‘useful’, were actually obtained by overdrawing his hard work and life in exchange.
He died, to be precise, he died of exhaustion.
He had been working in the Meng family’s private base laboratory for two days in a row, and just when he was about to produce the results, he died of exhaustion, also known as ‘sudden death’ or ‘death from overwork’.
He vividly remembered that feeling, his heart was strangled by an invisible hand, and his throat was strangled by pressure from all directions, he was suffocated as if he were drowning, he could feel the condition of his body, but he could only feel the arrival of death with lucidity and powerlessness.
He died at the age of twenty-eight.
Now, he is alive again, not being revived in the operating room, but returning to the time when he was seventeen years old.
He was the ‘product’ of a passionate night between his mother, who was a college student, and the third son of the Meng family, who was already married, in the end, no one wanted him. Less than three days after he was born, his biological mother threw him at the door of the orphanage, and he was raised there until he was seven years old. The Meng family accidentally learned of his existence and gave his grandmother a sum of money to take him back and raise him until he was fourteen years old. And then, they sent him to a fully enclosed high school for three years.
It was here that Meng Ting once encountered a darkness more terrifying than hunger and curses, it was also here that he got rid of the shackles of ‘waste’. He was admitted to the university and major that both his grandmother and the Meng family wanted him to enter. After graduation, he was sent directly to the Meng family’s experimental base, where he began experimenting and mixing fragrances day and night until he died of exhaustion in the laboratory.
He lived to the age of twenty-eight, but in fact, his life could be summed up in a few words, even he himself felt that his life was boring and monotonous, with nothing special to remember.
In the past, Meng Ting hoped that he would be ‘useful’, but now he is afraid of being that kind of ‘useful’. He no longer wanted to be exhausted to death again. That feeling was too terrible, not only did he experience death personally, but also these months after he rebirth and woke up again.
As soon as he fell asleep for a moment, that kind of suffocation and powerlessness would come over again, scaring him awake. This was still good, what was even more frightening was that many times, he couldn’t wake up, and experienced the feeling of powerlessness and fear in the face of death over and over again in his sleep.
After suffering this kind of torture for a month, it would be strange if Meng Ting could still do well in the exam. Of course, if he gritted his teeth, he wouldn’t do so poorly in the exam, but he could no longer find any reason for gritting his teeth and going through with it, he didn’t want to be ‘useful’, he thought being a ‘waste’ was quite good.
At the same time, he checked the report card, the Meng family also received it, and then Uncle Wen, the capable housekeeper of the Old Master Meng, called Meng Ting. This was also the second call he received in the three years since he came to this high school.
***
Early the next morning, a car parked in front of the school gate, not long after, a man in a suit and leather shoes came to the school and went through the formalities for Meng Ting to take him out of this prison-like school.
“Meng Ting!”
When the homeroom teacher called Meng Ting out, the whole class looked at him with pity and vigilance. Generally speaking, being called out by the homeroom teacher is not a good thing. Solitary confinement or running exercises are commonplace for everyone in this school, but at the same time, it is also the most effective punishment method.
Therefore, the students in this school are more well-behaved than a mouse meeting a cat when they face their teachers and instructors, but this does not mean that these students are all well-behaved. On the contrary, the law of the jungle here is more serious than any other school. If one wants to avoid being bullied, weakness is definitely not an option.
Although Meng Ting is thin, he is not short. He sat in the second to last row, when he stood up and passed by the front table, a tall and robust Sports Commission member provocatively placed his thick leg in his way. He raised the corner of his mouth in a taunting manner, staring straight at Meng Ting.
Generally speaking, even if Meng Ting found out, he would still have to give him some face and stumble to the ground, otherwise… it would not be good for him.
In less than half a year after he was sent to this school, he relied on his strong physique to become the second-in-command in Class Two of Grade Three, apart from the class monitor. He had been wanting to make a move against the student sitting behind him who had never shown him any respect, but because of the inexplicable awe the class monitor had for Meng Ting, he hesitated for some time. Now, he had decided to take action.
Meng Ting’s eyes only glanced at his stout and strong body. He retracted his eyes before reaching his face, and then he raised his foot and kicked him on the calf, it looked like he didn’t use much force, but that Sports Commission member screamed ‘Ouch’ miserably, and jerked his foot back, he hit the edge of the table leg, and let out another ‘Ouch’.
The pain is really painful. Some people think he is faking it, but some people dare not think so. Not because of him, but because of Meng Ting.
Nearly half of the students in the class, who had been classmates with Meng Ting for three years, vaguely recalled the first half of the year when Meng Ting entered school. There was hardly a day without injuries, but gradually, those old bullies in the school would take a detour when they saw him.
Their class monitor has never tried to provoke Meng Ting so far. Meng Ting has always been an invisible boss in their class, although he himself might not have known it, but today, that big idiot from the sports committee actually tried to provoke him, isn’t this simply trying to experience suffering?
After he retracted his feet, Meng Ting continued to walk forward and then followed behind the homeroom teacher until he saw someone from the Meng family.
The homeroom teacher seemed to want to say something to Meng Ting but then hesitated. However, Meng Ting only glanced at him and said nothing. He had nothing to say either. He directly followed the man in the suit, and left without saying goodbye, just as he had done before.
Moreover, Meng Ting also knew that from this moment on, he had embarked on a completely different path from his previous life, a path that belonged to the ‘waste’ of the Meng family.
***
When the man in a suit walked out of the school gate, he finally looked back at Meng Ting and said, “Seventh Young Master, please get in the car.”
When Meng Ting heard this, he raised his eyes and glanced at him, then he opened the back seat door and got in. It was only when Meng Ting raised his eyes did the man in the suit got a clear look at him, and was slightly amazed at the same time.
Wearing a blue and white sports school uniform, there is no comparison with what the young masters and young misses living in the family wear. However, Meng Ting is tall and has long legs, his appearance is also not unsightly. He has short black hair with some natural curls, and his face is a bit too pale, but his facial features are surprisingly delicate, especially his eyes, he has a pair of peach blossom eyes1桃花眼 (táo huā yǎn): Peach blossom eyes are an eye shape that is so named because the eyes resemble peach blossoms and bring good luck to them. There is a slight pink halo around the peach blossom eyes, and the eye shape is like a peach blossom, watery. The tail of the eye is parallel, slightly drooping, and slightly tilted. When smiling, it curves down like a crescent moon. 
, and he is naturally charming.
He somewhat understood why the master’s family still went to such trouble to take back this waste who scored less than 200 points in the college entrance examination.
Various thoughts passed by, and the man in the suit pursed his lips. He walked to the other side, opened the car door, sat next to Meng Ting, and then said to the driver who had been waiting for an hour, “Drive.”
Hearing this, the driver nodded lightly, and then the car started.
This is the outskirts of a prefecture-level city, three hours away from Haicheng, where the Meng family is located. There are still three hours of driving left, and with some delay after entering the city, it will take them roughly four or five hours to reach the Meng family’s old house.
“My name is Meng Zhong.”
Meng Zhong waited for a long time, but Meng Ting did not ask him anything, so he had no choice but to introduce himself. However, Meng Ting just glanced at him and still did not pay attention to what he was trying to say.
Meng Zhong clicked his tongue softly in his heart. They hadn’t even arrived at the Meng family’s residence, but he was already acting like the young master of the Meng family.
“I can be considered your Second Uncle2表叔 (biǎo shū): cousin-uncle (father’s 表弟; paternal grandmother’s sibling’s or paternal grandfather’s sister’s son younger than one’s father); son of grandfather’s sister; son of grandmother’s brother or sister; father’s younger male cousin..” There are three thousand miles of separation in the relationship3一表三千里 (yī biǎo sān qiān lǐ): From the saying 一表三千里，一堂五百年 (yī biǎo sān qiān lǐ, yī táng wǔ bǎi nián), lit. One cousin is three thousand miles away, one family is five hundred years. It means that the relationship between people will constantly change with the continuous change of blood relationship, just as the relationship between second cousins is not as good as that between cousins. In the olden days, this means immediate family and familial relationship from the paternal family is stronger than that of the maternal family, but now, this is not necessarily the case., if he was faced with any young master or young miss of the main family, Meng Zhong would never dare to say such a thing.
“You are ranked seventh among the grandchildren of the Meng family. The eldest young master and the third young miss are born to the First Madam, and they are your elder paternal cousin brother and paternal cousin sister. The second young master and the eighth young miss are born to the Second Madam. The third and fourth young masters are born to the Third Madam. The Third Madam is your father’s first wife. As for the fifth young master, and the sixth young miss… they are the same as you.”
The same what? They are all illegitimate sons or illegitimate daughters. They are children who need to be raised outside until they are sixteen or seventeen years old before they are recognized back to the main family. In the future, there are probably others like him, quietly raised in secret.
Old Master Meng is still the patriarch of the Meng family. Only in the past few years has he gradually delegated some power to his eldest son and second son. As for the third son, the prodigal son, even he can’t control him. He is over forty years old, but there is no end to sensational news about him.
Again and again, his illegitimate child was discovered or recovered. In the Meng family, and even in the wealthy circles4貴圈 (guì quān): T/N: Can also be translated as ‘Aristocratic circle’ or ‘Noble circle’. of Haicheng, this is nothing new.
Old Master Meng is also worthy of his name as the scheming and calculating Meng Fox. When it was first exposed that the Meng family’s illegitimate son was living outside, he made a prompt decision and found a wife for his third son, and set up his so-called rules.
It is impossible for him to watch the Meng family’s blood flow outside, but he will not give these children the right to inherit the Meng family’s property either. They are not even allowed to be taken back to the main family to be raised. They will all be raised outside and brought back when they are almost adults. Those that can be used will help the family, and those that cannot be used will be used for business marriages.
In short, no matter how many illegitimate sons and illegitimate daughters there are in the Meng family, none of them can threaten the rights and status of the several legitimate children born by the legal wife in the main family.
He has said so, and even if the several Madams have grievances, they won’t dare to make any more trouble openly.
The eldest son, Meng Yihang, and the second son, Meng Yigui, are competing for the right of succession to be the family patriarch. They are not keen on women and having children. On the other hand, the third young master, Meng Yide, had the same style as Old Master Meng when he was young. Even if he had a wife at home, he still had many lovers outside5家裏紅旗不倒，在外彩旗飄飄 (jiā lǐ hóng qí bù dǎo, zài wài cǎi qí piāo piāo): lit. The red flag does not fall at home, but the colorful flags flutter outside. Red flag represent legal wife, while colorful flags represent mistress. In short, he’s cheating without his legal wife knowledge.. One illegitimate child was born one after another.
The marriage between Meng Yide and his first wife Han Xuejun was originally a business marriage. Except for the two children they gave birth to during their first two years of marriage, they all went their separate ways.
However, compared to Old Master Meng, who openly has two wives at home, Meng Yide didn’t dare to bring his mistresses back home. So far, he had only brought back a few illegitimate children, who were almost adults.
Of course, he doesn’t necessarily care much about these things. The mothers of those illegitimate children, whether married or unmarried, have either aged or lost their allure, no longer the young girls that attract him. As for these children who share half of his blood, they are all subject to the rules set by Old Master Meng. He does not particularly favor anyone to the extent of defying Old Master Meng.
Meng Ting didn’t mean to leave Meng Zhong out to dry. He tried hard to search for the pitifully little information about the Meng family in his head.
It took Meng Ting seven years to accept that he was an orphan. Later, after being educated by his grandmother for seven years, he accepted the fact that he was an illegitimate child. In addition to the three years he spent struggling in a closed high school, he spent another ten years proving that he was still more suitable to be a ‘waste’.
Even though it had been more than a month since his rebirth, he was still confused about his current situation and future.
But after all, he also had lived an extra lifetime. He knew that he could not and should not express this confusion. He didn’t need to think too much about the Meng family, he knew that it was a place a thousand times more complicated than a closed school and an experimental base. Moreover, with his naturally stupid aptitude, it would probably be difficult for him to have a good time.
Meng Zhong chattered on and on, giving Meng Ting a brief introduction to Meng Yide’s first wife, Han Xuejun, and his several nominal brothers and sisters, pointing out some areas that required his attention. These were the things Uncle Wen instructed Meng Zhong to tell Meng Ting.
However, Meng Ting’s appearance made it obvious that his mind was wandering about, and Meng Zhong was close to losing his temper. In any case, he had fulfilled his duty. If Meng Ting didn’t listen and caused trouble, it wouldn’t be his problem. Whether he liked to listen or not was none of his concern.
Meng Zhong finally closed his mouth, only then did Meng Ting have time to ask what he wanted to ask.
“When will I get married?”
“Cough…” Meng Zhong was choked for a moment by Meng Ting’s straightforward question but finally glanced at him again. Ignoring Meng Ting’s temperament, which was so dull to the point of suffocation that he had already experienced, and just looking at his face, it would be impossible for the Meng family to let him have a free marriage. He actually had a clear understanding of his future and didn’t daydream about being a rich and powerful young master.
Meng Ting saw Meng Zhong choked by his words and somewhat unable to understand. He asked another question, “How can I get married as soon as possible?”
Anyway, in the end, he can’t get rid of the fate of getting married. He wanted to get married as soon as possible, leave the Meng family as soon as possible, and then find a way out. Otherwise, he would not be able to escape the Meng family’s control and manipulation by himself.
It took Meng Ting a month to figure out this relatively realistic or easily achievable goal, that is, to get married.
Meng Ting spoke frankly, and Meng Zhong couldn’t follow suit. He carefully considered his words, “When you go back to the main house, Uncle Wen will arrange for someone to give you lessons. You just need to learn along. As for… it depends on the right opportunity.”
Meng Zhong’s eyes flashed as he spoke. In fact, the reason why he was so anxious to take Meng Ting back to the main house was because he had an opportunity recently. However, that kind of thing was not something he could know in detail. It would be good if he could hear some rumors.
However, he felt that it was very possible that Meng Ting really hit the nail on the head. It shouldn’t be too long before he gets married if everything goes well.
Meng Ting nodded. He had always lacked a proper understanding of his own appearance. He had never felt that he was good-looking, or rather, he didn’t understand what good-looking was.
He didn’t say anything else, but he was already worried about the course that might be arranged next.
Not only is he not smart, but he is also not quite normal. He is clumsy in things that many people can learn easily. Fighting doesn’t count, the only thing he can be considered good at so far is mixing medicine and fragrance. However, those have already been covered with the shadow of death by overwork, in this life, and he has no intention of touching them again in this lifetime.
But if he wants to marry successfully, he cannot expose his shortcomings too early.
He furrowed his eyebrows slightly, genuinely distressed. Not only did he have many shortcomings, but he was also not very good at speaking, let alone the high-level difficulty of deceiving others. He was probably the most failed and useless person who has been reborn since the beginning of time.
Meng Zhong quickly moved his eyes away, he didn’t dare to look at Meng Ting anymore. The power of a beautiful person’s furrowed brow was extraordinarily strong, almost dispersing the anger he had previously felt from being ignored by Meng Ting before.
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List of Idiom in Chapter 001
無可救藥 (wú kě jiù yào): lit. there is no medicine that can save; no antidote is possible (idiom); incurable; utterly hopeless; unable to be saved (helped); beyond the point of help; beyond redemption; incorrigible; the disease is so serious that it cannot be cured by medicine, which means that the disease has reached a point where it cannot be saved.四面八方 (sì miàn bā fāng): in all directions; all around; far and wide; all directions/sides/quarters.
三言兩語 (sān yán liǎng yǔ): in a few words (idiom); expressed succinctly; just a few words; concise language; in one or two words.
西裝革履 (xī zhuāng gé lǚ): (esp. of a person) trendy in their taste of clothing; dressed in Western-style clothes; impeccably attired; in Western dress and leather shoes.
家常便飯 (jiā cháng biàn fàn): homely food; simple home-style meal; (figuratively) common occurrence; usual practice; routine; nothing out of the ordinary; Refers to the daily meals at home, also metaphor for common things.
欲言又止 (yù yán yòu zhǐ): to want to say sth but then hesitate; start to speak, but then falter; hold back words which spring to one’s lips; want to say but stopped; describing unspeakable difficulties.
老謀深算 (lǎo móu shēn suàn): rigorous schemes and deep foresight (idiom); astute and circumspect; circumspect and farseeing; experienced and astute; well-conceived and far-sighted; scheming and calculating; careful planning and far-reaching plans, and describes a person who is shrewd and sophisticated in doing things.
當機立斷 (dāng jī lì duàn): to make prompt decisions (idiom); to be decisive and make a decision promptly at a critical moment; make a quick decision equal to the occasion.
絮絮叨叨 (xù xu dāo dāo): long-winded; garrulous; to talk endlessly without getting to the point; talk endlessly/incessantly; babble ceaselessly/incessantly; hum about; talk like a magpie/chatterbox; describes someone who is chatty or nagging.
有史以來 (yǒu shǐ yǐ lái): since the beginning of history; throughout history; since ancient times.
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