diff --git a/mqboost/dataset.py b/mqboost/dataset.py
index 5dea1e7..e43a5e9 100644
--- a/mqboost/dataset.py
+++ b/mqboost/dataset.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class MQDataset:
         data (pd.DataFrame | pd.Series | np.ndarray): The input features.
         label (pd.Series | np.ndarray): The target labels (if provided).
         model (str): The model type (LightGBM or XGBoost).
-        reference (MQBoost | None): Reference dataset for label encoding.
+        reference (MQBoost | None): Reference dataset for label encoding and label mean.
 
     Property:
         train_dtype: Returns the data type function for training data.
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ def __init__(
         self._data = prepare_x(x=_data, alphas=self._alphas)
         self._columns = self._data.columns
         if label is not None:
-            self._label_mean = label.mean()
+            self._label_mean = reference.label_mean if reference else label.mean()
             self._label = prepare_y(y=label - self._label_mean, alphas=self._alphas)
             self._is_none_label = False