Chapter 892: Welcoming In-laws

"The sun is still out, for god’s sake. Are you really serious right now? All of the things you can be doing, and you’re drinking?"

Despite Leyan’s concerned face, Xiaoyun popped the wine bottle open before taking a small sip for himself.

"Stop nagging me... Let me catch a break for once."

Seeing Xiaoyun walk over to the backyard all alone with the bottle, a hint of anger appeared on Leyan’s face for a second.

But it all vanished as she looked down at her legs. The same ones that had used him to satisfy herself in the morning.

"Maybe I did push him a little too hard..."

---

As the afternoon turned into evening, everyone was back home once again, including Lily and Nami coming back from uni.

Both Houqin and Jingyi were also in the living room, talking about what to do for the upcoming wedding.

Meanwhile, Xiaoyun was on the countertop, holding a butcher’s knife with a whole steamed chicken still with its skin attached.

Right next to him was Wen Bo, who was watching him cook the whole time as if he didn’t want to be near a bunch of women.

Behind the two were a bunch of kids running around the tables, chasing each other with occasional laughter in the background.

"Xiaoyun, you really know how to cook?"

"I used to work as a kitchen porter back in high school... Didn’t I already tell you this before?"

As Xiaoyun cleanly chopped right onto the chicken’s neck, he quickly threw the head aside before chopping the neck into chunk after chunk.

"Maybe I had forgotten about it... I just never expected you to be doing that kind of job as the governor."

"Well, that was before the outbreak... And before I met Leyan or lived in this fancy mansion of hers."

Raising the butcher knife, Xiaoyun chopped right down onto the carcass, breaking it in half as he chopped it down to the wooden board underneath.

"So it really was true that you’re an orphan?" Wen Bo questioned, his mind seemingly having forgotten everything.

"What makes you think that wasn’t true? Do I have any reason to lie to the newspaper?" Xiaoyun questioned.

"How do you know I saw it in the newspaper?"

"Isn’t it obvious?"

This time, Wen Bo fell silent. He awkwardly scratched his head, as he didn’t expect Xiaoyun to be so direct.

"Old Wen, how long have you known Mrs.Lin?" Xiaoyun asked back as he started putting the finished piece onto a plate.

"Almost forty? Or fifty years at this point..."

"That far back? You two don’t look that old."

"I’ve known her since I was a kid." Wen Bo clarified after realizing Xiaoyun might have misunderstood his words.

"That’s nice..."

As the two of them fell into silence, the only sounds that came out were the kids giggling and the butcher’s knife cutting on the wooden board.

"Ahem, old Wen, do you know what Houqin’s birthday is? I know I should have asked this long time ago, but I forgot to ask her about it."

"Her birthday? I can’t remember. Give me a second to think."

Seeing Wen Bo unable to recall it, Xiaoyun was a little surprised. But then he realized how much older Wen Bo might be than he appeared to be.

A middle-aged man who looks to be in his late 30s, which wouldn’t add up at all when they have a daughter who already had a career before the outbreak.

"I think it’s December 14th? I can’t remember exactly, but I remember for certain it’s in December."

"I see. Thank you."

With the chicken’s main part mostly chopped into neatly shaped squares, Xiaoyun started ripping the wings and legs apart.

"Crap, I should have done this part first. Hey, old man, what do you think of my wives?"

"They look nice... I-I mean t-they are very kind."

As Wen Bo started panicking, Xiaoyun didn’t get angry at all as he put the wings and legs onto the plate.

"Relax. I’m not that type of person... I’m not going to cut your eyes out for looking and saying the truth." 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"Thank you... Ahem, Governor, do you—"

"Xiaoyun."

"Xiaoyun, sorry if this sounds rude to ask, but are you actually married to all of them? Like on paper?" Wen Bo questioned after being interrupted.

"Other than Lily, yes."

Putting the last few pieces onto the plate, Xiaoyun had finished cutting the chicken as he carried the plate over to the dining area.

"Hey, careful! Don’t you all see me walking?"

Despite the lecturing, all of the kids kept on running around the table as he slowly put the plate of chicken onto the rotating glass table.

"Xiaoyun, all of them are your kids?"

"Mhm... Why does it feel like you asked that before?"

Wen Bo looked a little shocked, but he didn’t speak up again as he watched Xiaoyun move back over to the countertop to prepare for the next dish.

"Xiaoyun, are you done with dinner yet?" Leyan’s voice suddenly appeared as she yelled from the living room.

"Close! Give me ten more minutes to cook some vegetables!"

As Xiaoyun started washing the cauliflower and several other vegetables at once, Wen Bo couldn’t help but ask him about things again.

"Hey Xiaoyun... Are you really going to treat my daughter fairly?"

"I try my best to love every single one of them as much as I can. Sometimes it doesn’t go smoothly, but I try my best."

The answer earned Wen Bo’s respect as he looked back to the living room, where his wives were giggling out loud with each other.

"You must be a very busy man with that many wives... I can’t imagine the work that needs to go into this."

"It’s not that bad."

Xiaoyun didn’t elaborate as he started cutting the cauliflower into pieces on the other side of the wooden board.

"Not that bad? Really? With nine wives?"

"About to be ten."

Hearing him sarcastically chuckle out loud, Wen Bo suddenly felt a little bad as he looked over to the kids near the table.

"Xiaoyun... Did you force your wives to have kids?"

"Not once in my life had I ever done that. Quite frankly, every single one of them had been their wish."

The answer surprised Wen Bo once again, as he didn’t expect Xiaoyun to be so blunt and brutally honest in front of him.

"You don’t want kids?"

"I... I don’t mind them. At the end of the day, I’m not the one taking care of them. I still have my own work to do."

Wen Bo nodded his head as he looked over to the living room again, only to see some of Xiaoyun’s wives holding onto a toddler.

More importantly, his eyes couldn’t help but notice something drastically different in this household. Something about Xiaoyun’s wives.

"What are you looking at?"

"Xiaoyun, you’re married to those three foreigners as well?" Wen Bo questioned as he couldn’t resist his curiosity.

"An American and a German, to be exact. Oh, and the white-haired one is as ethnically Han as a person could possibly get."

"Really?"

"Mhm. She didn’t dye it on purpose... Old Wen, are you sure you don’t have Alzheimer’s?" Xiaoyun asked.

"I’m fine."

Just as Xiaoyun turned the water off, he suddenly felt something bump into his legs before the culprit disappeared around the table corner.

"Enough. Yongyi and all of you, go back to the living room."

All of the kids immediately headed over to the living room, with zero complaints as they went to bother their mothers.

"They just listen to you like that?"

"Why wouldn’t they?"

The question caught Wen Bo a little off guard. It made sense to hear it out of Xiaoyun, but he couldn’t help but feel like something was off.

"Old Wen, can you turn the heat down on the inner stove? Yeah, that one... And can you take out a pan from the cabinet?"

---

After half an hour had gone by, Xiaoyun had finally finished cooking dinner.

As everyone sat down at the table, all the kids and the toddlers were sitting on top of their mom’s lap.

"Sorry about the dishes. I didn’t really have time to cook more." Xiaoyun apologized as he felt the food was lacking.

"Sorry? This is more than any of us had ever eaten since the outbreak... Houqin, you really are lucky to be married to a husband who can cook."

Everyone could see the frown on Wen Bo’s face as Houqin shyly looked down at her bowl of rice in front of her.

"Ahem, let’s eat before the food gets cold... Old Wen, you drink?"

"Sure—Ow!"

"My husband can’t drink, unfortunately. He’s been recently diagnosed with high blood pressure."

"That’s a shame..."

Just as Xiaoyun popped the bottle to pour himself a glass, Wen Bo’s eyes suddenly widened in shock.

"Is that what I think it is? There’s no way you got that at your house! Xiaoyun, you have to let me have a sip."

"Wen Bo!"

"Jingyi, you wouldn’t understand. That bottle cost hundreds of thousands of dollars before the outbreak."

Despite the price tag shocking everyone at the table, Xiaoyun still got up and handed the bottle over to Wen Bo’s side.

"Old Wen. Here. Take this as a gift."

"T-This is too much."

"I only brought this for 20 NRC. There’s no need to put emphasis on a price tag before the outbreak."

After hearing Xiaoyun’s answer, Wen Bo hesitated for a second before accepting the gift, much to her wife’s annoyance.

"Man, now you’re making me regret not bringing a gift when I came here." Wenbo jokingly murmured.

"Your daughter is the greatest gift I can ever get."

"Stop bootlicking with the formality. I’m hungry already."

As Nami moved her chopsticks first, it instantly triggered Leyan a little. But she kept it down as Xiaoyun moved his chopsticks next.

"She’s right, let’s all eat."