Lan Qiren’s glare suggested a gross dereliction of duty. “While you were away …”

“To be fair, uncle, we did agree to let him take a vacation.” Ah, Meng Yao had wondered if the suggestion had come from Xichen alone. Apparently not. If the family had discussed Meng Yao, that suggested they were starting to see him as a problem.

“While you were away,” Lan Qiren repeated, “Wangji married that, that …” He petered off as if he couldn’t find a word bad enough to describe Wei Ying. “You were hired to prevent exactly this type of …”

“Mistake?” Xichen interrupted.