Chapter 92: Song of Sadness and Sorrow!

Chapter 92: Song of Sadness and Sorrow!

My wives had a great day out with Victoria, and I drove Tina home afterward.

Sunday was thankfully uneventful, but it killed me that my healing shoulder kept me away from race-night. Of course, the nights I am physically barred from the track are always the ones where the itch to race hits the hardest.

I heard from James that he is recovering well, though he will be stuck using crutches for a little while until his leg completely mends.

Mei took a much-needed day off on Sunday after hunting down the specific tactical items on my shopping list, including a brand-new long-coat and an upgraded bulletproof vest. She did not get back until late at night, and I sometimes feel incredibly guilty about how hard I keep her working.

My fixed sleeping rotation is finally in full swing now. Saturday nights are reserved for Mary's bed. Sunday nights belong to Hana because of my usual race-night schedule. Mondays I sleep in Nadia's room, and Tuesdays are locked down for Nichole. The remaining days of the week are still completely up in the air, usually defaulting to group sleep in my master bedroom without any extra extracurricular activities.

When you have the option to mess around whenever you want, just holding each other and spending quiet, genuine time together actually becomes way more important. Though if I ever tried saying that philosophical crap out loud to Nadia, she would just give me the middle finger.

The physical layout of our massive house keeps everyone spread out nicely. Mary's master suite sits further down on the far edge of the parallel wing, and Hana claimed the bedroom directly above hers on the second floor. The twins took over the second and third-level suites right above my own room, giving all of us a perfect view of the westerly sunset. Nadia holds the second floor, while Nichole has the third.

The entire right side of the estate houses our indoor gym and pool. Because the house itself takes up so much real estate, our actual backyard lawn is pretty small compared to the neighbors, but the massive rear patio more than makes up for it when hosting large parties.

By Monday morning, the dynamic at the breakfast table was already a loud reminder of my new reality. Hana sat directly to my left since Mary had already left for an early shift at work. Nichole took the seat on my right, leaving Nadia to sit right next to her, pouting up a storm because she was forced further down the table away from me.

Hana leaned closer, breaking the morning quiet. "Honey, we were talking yesterday, and we thought after the Engagement Party, it would be fine for Linda to live here, what do you think?"

I set my knife and fork down on the porcelain plate, looking across at my wives. "Personally I love the idea, but I don't know what the Lang family will think, and I don't know what you girls want to do. And if she did move in, what would happen with Mercy Mu?"

Nichole flashed me a knowing, amused smile. "Husband, do not worry, sister Hana is asking because we have already settled most of it. We picked our nights with you because we are here first, fufu. Then we asked about her maid. Mercy Mu will follow Linda and move into our home and become our family maid. We will pay her instead of the Lang family. She also said she wants to keep serving Linda. As for Linda, she is one of us."

I rubbed my chin, processing the logistics. "So I need to ask George Lang about her moving in then?"

Nadia perked up, her pout instantly vanishing into a mischievous grin. "Do not ask her mother, she would say no, so just ask her father and it overrides the wife. He would rather have trouble from his harem than go back on his own words. Turtles are stubborn, Ufufu."

I chuckled, picking up my coffee. "Sure will do."

Zoe Hong walked into the dining area with flawless timing. She is the middle-aged bodyguard and maid assigned from our Tang family side, standing in her mid-forties and already grasping the absolute beginnings of Master Level Kung-Fu.

She wore a full-length, traditional maid uniform, her dark hair woven into a single tight braid, finished off with a sharp pair of wire glasses. Looking at her always triggered a massive wave of nostalgia from my first life on Earth, reminding me exactly of that terrifyingly polite psycho maid from the Black Lagoon anime.

She stopped beside the table and offered a flawless, practiced bow. "Mr and Mrs Tang's, I have pulled the limo up when you are ready for me to drive you to school."

Nichole beamed at the woman, clearly thrilled with the household addition. "Thank you Miss Zoe, we will be right out."

Zoe bowed one more time before turning on her heel to exit.

Having her around is a massive relief because Mei does not have to act as my exclusive chauffeur anymore, letting her ride up front with Zoe or chill in the back seat with me.

Zoe generally tracks the twins during the day, but her primary directive is protecting all my wives under the Tang family umbrella. Both she and Mei already know each other from the underground circuits, so there is a mutual respect between them, even if Zoe is still completely oblivious to the fact that Mei is a trained lethal combatant.

Hana pressed a quick, sweet kiss against my cheek before heading off toward the living room, completely free for the day and aggressively planning a massive soap opera marathon.

The moment the limo pulled up to the university campus, Mei stepped out with fluid efficiency to hold the heavy door open for the three of us. I checked my watch, watching the twins head off together toward their first law lecture before Mei flagged my attention.

Mei leaned against the limo door, keeping her voice low. "With Zoe doing the main limo trips now, I will bring my Honda Civic to keep here at school, for your and my use when the limo is not available or in an emergency. So see you later, Master~!"

I waved over my shoulder as I walked away. "Thanks again Mei, bye!"

Walking into the business lecture hall, the entire atmosphere felt incredibly bizarre compared to a normal Monday morning.

James was already occupying his usual desk, but Ashley was glued right to his side, helping him manage a pair of heavy aluminum crutches meant to keep the weight off his shot leg. A small crowd of classmates with massive gossip appetites had already swarmed his desk, throwing out a million questions about the shooting.

A few rows over, Tina looked incredibly smug, leaning back in her chair while Cat Woo sat beside her with an utterly miserable, gloomy expression.

Linda was sitting near the center row, staring blankly at the door like a completely abandoned doll until our eyes met.

I stopped dead in the aisle when I noticed their outfits. Every single one of my female friends had coordinated their clothes, wearing blinding white or off-white outfits that matched my casual jacket perfectly. There was absolutely no way this was a coincidence; they did this completely on purpose to mark their territory.

The only massive red flag in the room was the empty desk where Scott usually sat. Even after our brutal confrontation, he never missed a lecture, making his sudden absence stick out like a sore thumb.

Linda stood up the second I approached, walking in lockstep with me toward the podium to sign the morning attendance sheet.

She leaned in close, her soft perfume hitting my senses. "Good-morning Rick. Did the ladies talk to you?"

"Yes, and I would love for you to join us, and bringing Mercy with you is great as well," I answered quietly. "I still need to ask your father, right?"

Linda’s eyes locked onto mine, a sudden, fierce intensity taking over her regular gentle demeanor as she whispered directly into my ear. "Rick, ask my father first and do not ask my mother. But even if they said no, I will move in no matter what. I have already listed my home for sale, and am moving Saturday night no matter what."

As we walked back to our desks, the sheer stubborn resolve in her eyes made it glaringly obvious that she would break into my house and claim a bedroom even if I actively tried to forbid it.

I pulled out her chair for her. "Before Saturday, pick a room you like and find one for Mercy by Mei and Zoe's rooms."

Linda smiled softly, her posture relaxing completely. "Then I will listen to you, Rick."

Hearing her say it with that level of absolute vulnerability gave me a massive, warm sensation in my chest. She looked like a woman who would trust my word blindly, even if I stood under a blazing afternoon sun and told her it was midnight.

Before I could even sit down, my phone began to vibrate violently in my pocket, the screen lighting up well before the professor was scheduled to walk in. The caller ID showed my cousin Helen, prompting me to flash the screen to Linda before stepping back out into the quiet hallway.

I slid the green bar across the glass. "Hey what is up, cousin?"

The sound of heavy, breathless weeping immediately echoed through the small speaker. [Sniff, Rick, I am not in school today. My mother had an accident last night and did not make it. Sniff.]

The words hit me like a physical punch. I stood frozen in the corridor, my mind racing as the realization washed over me. The venomous bitch who had literally ordered her own son to put a bullet in my head was suddenly dead. I aggressively shoved the dark satisfaction down, forcing my voice to stay level for Helen's sake.

"Where are you Helen, I will come to you?!"

[I am at home, thanks Rick, I could use your company right now, sniff.]

"I will tell Teacher Long and take a cab," I said, already turning toward the exit stairs. "Are you at the main house or yours?"

[Fathers house.]

"Alright, I am on my way."

I popped my head back into the classroom for a split second, giving Tina, Linda, and the rest of my crew a quick breakdown of the family emergency before texting Victoria. I sprinted down the campus steps and flagged a passing yellow cab.

While the taxi wove through morning traffic, I quickly typed out an alert to the Harem-Chat to let my wives know the situation, before placing a direct call to Mei so she could coordinate a pickup for me later.

A half-hour later, the cab pulled up to the heavy security gates of the Tang estate. The gate guards recognized my face immediately, quickly driving me up the winding private road to the front entrance where my new step-aunt, Kim Tang, was already waiting at the door. As the second wife of my uncle, she was an incredibly beautiful woman in her mid-forties, sporting long black hair and a unique pair of striking gold eyes. Her personality was a mirror image of Mary’s—warm, open, and incredibly nurturing, which made her the polar opposite of the late Debby.

Kim offered a sad, comforting smile as she ushered me inside. "It is good to see you again Rick. I am happy you came to be with Helen right now, my husband is not very good with emotional support like this, fufu. Come with me, I will take you to them."

"Thanks aunt Kim, it is no problem for me to be here."

Kim turned and walked down the grand hallway, guiding me directly toward the informal living room at the back of the house.

The moment we stepped through the double doors, the sudden shift in temperature hit my face. A massive wood fire was roaring in the stone hearth, crackling loudly to combat the heavy autumn chill creeping into the city.

My uncle Anthony was pacing on the far side of the room, holding a glass of juice in one hand while talking in a low, intense voice into his smartphone.

Helen was curled up on the adjacent leather couch, clutching a decorative pillow tightly against her chest with tears staining her reddened cheeks. I offered a silent, respectful nod to my uncle across the room before sliding onto the couch, taking the spot directly to Helen's right while Kim quietly sat down on Anthony's left side.

I reached out, placing a reassuring hand over her trembling shoulder. "Sorry I am late Helen, but now I am here."

Her knees were pulled up tight against her chest, her arms still wrapped securely around the decorative pillow as she leaned her weight directly into me. I wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder, holding her steady while her eyes remained fixed on the dancing flames of the fireplace.

Yeah, I knew that exact hollow feeling. Truthfully, I absolutely hated Debby and was genuinely glad the venomous woman was finally dead, but I took zero pleasure in seeing my cousin crushed by sadness. I decided right then to just be a solid anchor for her. Debby was complete trash, but to Helen, she was still her mother.

My uncle Anthony finally finished his call, lowering his smartphone and exhaling a heavy sigh as he looked over at me. "Sorry you had to drop everything at school, Rick, but I really appreciate you getting here so fast."

"No, don't worry about it at all," I replied, gently tightening my grip on Helen's shoulder to keep her grounded. "I ace all those classes anyway and mostly just attend to show face. My teachers all understand the situation. I am just happy to be here and support you guys. If it is okay to ask, what actually happened to her?"

I continued to pat Helen's shoulder rhythmically, offering a silent stream of comfort while my uncle clarified the grim news.

"Well, ever since she left this house, she had been drinking heavily to cope with her constant troubles and lingering anger," Anthony explained, his face lined with exhaustion. "She ended up falling inside the bathroom last night and struck her head violently against the toilet bowl. She did not have any maids living with her at the new place, so there was absolutely no one around to help her up or call for medical attention. The police already completed their initial sweep and ruled it as a pure accident. She had completely finished two full bottles of wine that night and most likely lost her balance the moment she tried to use the bathroom."

My very first thought immediately jumped to her favorite child, wondering why the hell he had abandoned his own mother in a state like that. I frowned slightly and inquired, "If there were no servants living there to look after her, where exactly was Scott? I thought the two of them were sharing that same house?"

"Well, that is the most complicated part of the story," Anthony said, shifting his weight on the opposite couch. "Scott's wives completely left him recently, packed up their things, and moved all the way back to the White State to live with their original families. Because of that, he was dragged out last night to party and clear his head by his cousin, Hope Song. Scott was actually the one who discovered the body at five o'clock this morning, but she was already long dead by then. It seems she had tried screaming for help after the initial impact, but nobody was within blocks of the property to hear her. It was just a freak accident of terrible luck that nobody was home to catch her calls."

I sat in absolute silence for a moment, processing the sheer irony of the situation before I finally asked, "So what happens now with everything?"

Anthony reached over and gently took his wife Kim's hand, squeezing it softly before answering me. "My divorce from Debby was not legally finalized yet, so I intend to give her a proper, dignified Tang family burial. I owe her memory that much at least. After the funeral is concluded, Helen will officially receive the entirety of her mother's personal estate and belongings."

We spent the rest of the morning chatting about minor household things while a family maid brought over a hot cup of coffee for me. I stayed planted right on that couch, quietly sharing the heavy morning hours with Helen while she silently mourned her loss.

By the time afternoon rolled around, Mei arrived at the main estate to wait for me until I was completely finished with my family duties. She did not try to disrupt the room, instead choosing to sit quietly off to the side with her hands folded, blending in perfectly with the other estate maids.

Helen finally blinked away her tears, turning her tired face toward me to announce that she was going to be fine and wanted to head upstairs to sleep for a while. I gave her a warm nod, reminding her to call my phone immediately if she needed a single thing, before Mei and I quietly took our leave.

As we walked down the grand front steps toward the car, Mei noticed my quiet, distant expression and tilted her head. "Are you thinking about your own father, Master?"

"Yeah, a little bit," I admitted, checking the perimeter as we approached the vehicle. "But I am not depressed or anything like that. I just feel incredibly sad for what Helen is going through right now."

Mei opened the passenger door for me, her eyes scanning my face with deep, protective care. "Are you at all upset that the woman herself died?"

I flashed her a genuine smile, thoroughly appreciating how much my maid actively looked out for my mental state. "Debby? The literal woman who went out of her way to ruin my entire life? Hell no. I would gladly dance a jig right on top of her fresh grave if I knew it would not deeply upset the rest of my family. Good riddance to her. I just absolutely hate seeing my people sad is all, and that definitely includes you, by the way."

Instead of hitting me with her usual cheeky, sarcastic comeback, Mei paused on the asphalt and offered a remarkably soft, genuine smile at my words. I raised an eyebrow at her unusual silence. "What, no snarky comment today about me showing a little bit of care?"

She stepped closer, gently patting my arm with a playful glint returning to her eyes. "Not for today, my Master~! This humble maid will graciously accept the compliment this time. But I promise I will lecture you thoroughly tomorrow if you dare to say it again. Now, what do you want to do for lunch?"

"Well, since I am officially in a lecture-free zone for the rest of the day, let us take a drive down to that roadside market you love so much and grab some noodles," I decided, sliding into the seat.

Mei’s smile widened as she walked around to the driver's side, turning the key and shifting the engine into a faster speed to merge seamlessly onto the main road. "Yes, Master~!"

A few days later, we found ourselves in the southernmost district of Star City, standing inside the borders of the historic noble cemetery. It was a freezing, incredibly rainy Thursday afternoon, the gray sky pouring a steady deluge over the manicured grounds.

This massive, wide-open cemetery had served as the final resting place for the city's elite since its founding roughly five hundred years ago. All four of the major ruling clans buried their family members within these high stone walls.

I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Helen and my uncle Anthony beneath a heavy canvas tarp that the workers had set up over the excavation site to keep the freezing rain off our clothes.

Directly across the open grave, Scott stood surrounded by the rest of his Song family members. Heavy hitters from both the Tang and Song clans had turned out in large numbers to show face and offer their final farewells.

Though looking closely at the crowd, it was glaringly obvious that most of the attendees were secretly thrilled about her passing, despite putting on masks of profound loss. Debby was an intensely disliked woman throughout the high society circuits, and I was far from the only victim of her toxic hatred. There were probably dozens of people standing in this city right now who felt like Rick Lee, completely overjoyed by this exact moment.

Anthony stepped up to the edge of the dark earth, clearing his throat to deliver a few carefully chosen, kind words to bid his wife goodbye. There had been a few genuinely happy days scattered throughout the early years of their messy, dumpster-fire marriage, and as the Head of the Tang clan, he chose to focus strictly on those decent memories for the crowd.

Next, it was time for Debby's brother to speak. As the current head of the local Song faction, he forced out a few loud, dramatic tears for the benefit of the onlookers, but even a toddler could tell he was completely faking the grief.

Soon after, Helen stepped forward to say a few words of her own. Out of every single person who spoke that afternoon, her voice was the only one I actually bothered to listen to.

When she stepped back, Scott took his place at the head of the coffin. His entire face looked completely numb, his eyes hollow as he stared into the pit.

His only words were short and rigid.

"My mother was simply too good for this cruel world," Scott spoke, his voice cracking slightly. "I promise I will become the exact man she always wanted me to be. I love you, Mother."

The moment he finished, his cold gaze snapped directly across the grave toward me, looking at me as if I were the monster who had personally stripped everything away from him. I honestly could not blame the guy for harboring that perspective, but I had explicitly warned him about this outcome multiple times before.

With the speeches concluded, the cemetery workers began shoveling the dark earth down onto the polished wood, slowly burying her beneath the mud.

It did not take long before the crowd began to shift, signaling the start of the formal goodbyes. This world did not throw massive, celebratory after-parties for the deceased; we simply buried our dead, hung a framed picture on the wall to remember their faces, and moved on. Families visited the actual gravesite once a year to pay respects to the past, and then we went right back to living our lives.

Standing there in the rain, I found myself mentally comparing my two lives across both Earths. There were definitely a few specific cultural traditions I missed from my past world, but I loved this current life significantly more. It was far less complicated.

Kim and I maintained our positions a few paces behind Anthony and Helen. Since neither of us held any direct blood relation to Debby, the endless stream of formal condolences naturally flowed straight to them.

As the crowd dispersed, a few mid-ranking Tang family members happily walked over to shake my hand, introducing themselves with wide smiles. It was an incredibly common tactic for lower clansmen to try and secure a positive first impression with a newly minted member of the main branch. I openly greeted every single one of them, returning their kindness with equal politeness even when I knew it was completely fake.

I had made sure all my wives stayed safely locked away at home today, using the freezing weather and their pregnancies as the perfect excuse to keep them out of the storm, so only Mei and I had made the trip.

Right as the rain began to pick up, the core members of the Song family marched across the grass to greet us. Dan and Angel Song immediately gravitated toward Anthony to talk business, while Hope Song walked straight over to Helen's side. Hope threw her arms around my cousin, hugging her tightly.

"Cousin Helen, I am so terribly sorry for your loss," Hope whispered, her voice dripping with sorrow. "Please find it in your heart to forgive me for not being there at the house to protect your mother that night."

Helen was no fool and knew exactly what kind of manipulative viper Hope actually was. However, as the designated next head of the Tang clan, she was required to show absolute poise and kindness to everyone under the syndicate umbrella. She returned the embrace smoothly.

"Don't be a silly cousin, Hope, you cannot possibly predict everything that happens," Helen answered softly. "You are not responsible for everyone's actions, and I truly appreciate your condolences today."

The moment she pulled back, Hope’s calculating eyes landed squarely on my face. I watched the realization hit her as she remembered our very last confrontation, back before I was officially elevated to a main branch member of the Tang family, and how she had confidently called me a worthless bastard right to my face. Talk about awkward.

I could practically see the gears turning inside her head as she calculated her next move, frantically trying to balance saving face with sucking up to my new power dynamic. She made her choice instantly. Mind you, if you completely stripped away her garbage personality, this woman possessed the exact kind of high-tier aesthetic that you would aggressively want to recruit into your harem—well, assuming you had a massive fetish for pure misery.

Hope flashed me an incredibly warm, radiant smile as she took a step forward. "Rick, I am so terribly sorry about the awful nature of our very first meeting. I had been drinking heavily that entire night and was completely unaware of your true situation. Please say you can forgive me for that one silly slip-up? I promise I will never be so rude to you again, please?"

She was laying on the sweet, innocent act incredibly thick, so I immediately tapped into my Acting Basic skill, plastering a perfectly gullible, forgiving smile across my face to match her energy.

"I was also heavily at fault back then," I responded smoothly, matching her tone. "I had a long, bitter history with Scott and I wrongly projected that anger onto you, so I will gladly forgive you if you can forgive me."

Hope looked genuinely surprised that her basic acting had tricked me so easily. Her smile turned entirely genuine as she threw her arms wide, lunging forward to wrap me in a tight hug designed to completely distract my senses with her massive assets. It was the exact type of manipulative physical distraction her tramp mother had undoubtedly taught her to use on powerful men.

She pressed her body flush against mine, hugging me with the aggressive enthusiasm of a stripper looking to secure a massive tip. Standing a few feet away, Helen’s sad expression completely faltered for a split second, her jaw dropping as she watched me get blatantly taken advantage of right in the open air. Behind my shoulder, Mei looked completely speechless, her eyes flashing with a sudden, unscripted wave of deep betrayal and sharp jealousy.

The heat of Hope's chest warmed me right through my jacket as she leaned up, whispering directly into my ear. "I truly hope the two of us can become incredibly close friends from now on, Rick, fufu. Thank you, you are so wonderfully nice."

The sheer insincerity of her words smelled from a mile away, but I maintained my grateful expression anyway. She let go of me before she could push her luck too far, offering one last lingering look before spinning around to rejoin her parents.

The moment she was out of earshot, Mei marched right up to my side, clearly preparing to fire off a sharp question before Helen beat her to the punch.

"Rick, listen to me," Helen warned quietly, her eyes tracking Hope's retreating figure. "She may be my cousin, but she is an incredibly dangerous, nasty woman. I highly advise you not to let yourself get charmed by her tricks."

Mei’s tense posture relaxed slightly, offering a rare smile as she silently thanked Helen for giving me such solid advice. However, her entire body froze solid the exact moment my response left my lips.

"Don't worry Helen, I know exactly what she is," I whispered back, my eyes narrowing as I watched the Song family walk away. "But there is a very famous saying... Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer."

Helen, an incredibly smart and well-read woman, tilted her head in confusion, having never once encountered the phrase in her life. "Rick, that sounds absolutely amazing, but I have never actually heard anyone ever say that before?"

Mei instantly caught the brief flash of panic on my face as I realized my slip-up. Because the line belonged entirely to my first life on Earth, nobody in this universe had ever spoken it aloud. Oops.

I scrambled to cover my track. "I mean, I am going to make it famous so that everyone starts using it eventually. It is just so simple and funny. But seriously, I intend to make her think I am an absolute sucker so she drops her hostility completely. The Song family does ultimately serve the Tang clan, right? We are always going to catch way more flies with honey than vinegar."

Helen let out a genuine laugh, her brown eyes sparkling with amusement. "Ufufu, you always say the absolute funniest things, Rick. Thank you, you have already managed to cheer me up so much. Let us head back home now."

Once my remaining family duties were fully wrapped up, we walked back to the vehicle, and Mei took the wheel to drive us back to our estate. Her jaw remained tight as she navigated the sleek sports car through the heavy traffic, before she suddenly turned her head to look at me with an uncharacteristically serious expression. "Rick... if you ever choose to sleep with that Hope slut, I will be absolutely pissed at you for the rest of my life, alright?"

This was the absolute first time I had ever witnessed Mei getting genuinely upset with me over another woman. I held her gaze to show my sincerity. "Yeah, I promise you, Mei. I will never fall for her tricks, and I am absolutely never going to sleep with her."

Her tense shoulders dropped immediately as a satisfied smile spread across her lips. "Good boy, Rick. Just remember, if you are ever feeling an overwhelming urge and you absolutely need to make love, you always have me available. So no running off to trashy sluts."

I quickly looked out the side window to avoid her eyes, completely frozen by the sudden declaration. Why on Earth would she just say something that massive so casually?

I cleared my throat, trying to keep my voice steady. "Mei, I am really not that kind of guy. I am not going to sleep with a woman just to release a random physical urge. I truly think sex is supposed to be special. That is the exact reason I stayed a virgin for such a long time in the first place. If my actual feelings are not entirely invested in a woman, I simply will not do it."

Mei shifted the sports car into a higher gear, her smile widening because she had known exactly how I would answer before the words even left my mouth. "You are definitely not Scott, Rick. I only told you that because I already knew you would never take advantage of me like that. What I am really trying to say is... in the future, if you ever have the genuine urge to make love to me, I am telling you right now that it is completely fine with me. I am only going to say this to you once. So please just ignore this silly maid if you feel like I have crossed a line, my Master~!"

I forced my racing heart to calm down, silently analyzing the heavy weight behind her words. She was not aggressively trying to pressure me into hopping into bed with her right this second; she was opening her heart to show me that she trusted me enough to completely offer herself to me. If she ever did actively try to seduce me... could I even find the strength to resist her?

Realizing that this was her unique way of displaying absolute loyalty and affection, I turned back toward her. "Mei, I completely understand exactly what you are trying to convey to me right now, and I trust you just as deeply. Thank you."

Mei did not say another word, instead reaching over to crank up the volume on the rock music with a triumphant smile, clearly thrilled that I had given her the exact right response. We let the topic drop completely for the rest of the drive home.