The Moon Festival Cousin Switch novel · Chapter 13 of 24
Chapter 13: Why a Card
Nobody touched the crab for a full minute.
The two plates sat side by side with their small cards, and Anqi sat down behind hers because her legs told her to.
Mengyao took the chair on her left and kept hold of her hand under the table.
Haoran stayed standing, still in his apron, with the black pen in his fist.
"Say it from the start," Anning said quietly from the end of the table. "You promised me."
Haoran nodded at the lazy Susan.
"Three weeks before Mid-Autumn I had lunch with Gao Chenyu's father," he said. "It was about a building. His firm wants my firm's sign-off on a stairwell."
His voice was flat, the way it was when he read a load report.
"He was in a good mood. He said his son would be a married man by the Double Ninth, and then he said the name."
Mengyao's hand tightened.
"He said Xu Mengyao, my cousin. He said it the way you say a date everyone has already agreed to."
"Who told him?" Mengyao asked.
"Your mother."
She said nothing.
"I went straight to her shop," Haoran said. "I asked if it was true. She said it was settled, and she said I was not to tell you before the dinner, because you would make a scene."
"I don't make scenes."
"I know. That was what frightened me." He finally looked at her. "You say yes, Mengyao. You say yes to keep the peace, and then you live in it."
Mengyao looked down at the tablecloth.
"I couldn't stop it," Haoran said. "I tried. I told my aunt the family was in no hurry. She told me to mind my own house."
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