Meng Huaijin shot her a sideways glance. His expression and tone were equally calm.
“That’s none of your business.”
“I wouldn’t dare interfere in your affairs. I was just asking.”
For Shu Wan, survival instinct always came first.
The man replied coldly, “You’re not allowed to ask either. I can ask about your business, and I can manage your business. As for mine, you don’t need to ask—and you’re not allowed to.”
“…………”
He really is my elder.
Otherwise… otherwise he’d drive anyone crazy.
The magistrate is allowed to set fires, but ordinary people aren’t even allowed to light a lamp.
Shu Wan stopped talking.
Ignoring her puffedup pufferfish expression, Meng Huaijin said matteroffactly, “Go tell your friend that you’re going home tonight. You can decide where to go tomorrow.”
“He’s flying back to Nancheng tomorrow,” Shu Wan replied.
Meng Huaijin raised an eyebrow.
“Do you want to go back to Nancheng with him that badly?”
Shu Wan froze for a second before shaking her head.
Go back?
There was no one waiting for her there anymore…
She stared blankly ahead and said softly, “I’m not going back. I’ll stay here, study hard, graduate from university, work hard, save lots of money… and then I’ll take care of you when you’re old.”
Acting cute and flattering people was one of Shu Wan’s specialties.
Just like making hangover soup.
Meng Huaijin looked at her with mild exasperation.
“Go tell your friend.”
He nodded toward the hotel.
Now he was acting like a broadminded guardian again.
A guardian whose mood changes every minute.
Shu Wan went back into the hotel to let Zhou Ze know she was safe.
Before she left, she finally received the gift he had brought for her.
The moment she saw it, she wanted to strangle both him and Bai Fei.
She’d thought it was going to be something thoughtful.
Instead…
It was Nancheng No. 1 High School’s own college entrance exam practice papers.
Twenty books.
Each book contained fifty test papers.
Those two shameless friends were treating me like I’m preparing for war.
But strangely enough…
That was exactly what made Shu Wan smile.
It meant they still treated her like a friend.
They were still the same people they had always been.
Shu Wan had no memory of when Zhao Heng parked the car beneath the apartment building.
She had been exhausted from wandering around all day.
Then she’d spent half the evening arguing with her impossible uncle.
Not long after getting into the car, she fell asleep.
A cool sensation on her wrist slowly woke her.
Shu Wan opened her eyes.
Then she didn’t dare move another inch.
Zhao Heng had already gotten out.
Only she and Meng Huaijin remained inside the car.
The first thing she saw was his slightly messy black hair.
His head was lowered, making the sharp lines of his face even more defined.
His aura was undeniably stern and powerful, yet his expression was calm and indifferent.
Meng Huaijin was applying medicine to her wrist.
His movements were skilled.
Professional.
Gentle.
To someone like him, who dealt with bullets and battlefield injuries, this was barely even a soft tissue bruise.
Yet he was treating it with complete concentration.
Simply because she was a girl.
That was exactly why he had been reluctant to agree to Meng Xian’s request in the first place.
Girls were delicate.
Girls were sensitive.
Especially teenage girls.
They were harder to understand than the policy documents piled on his desk.
Like tonight.
She had cried until he was completely at a loss.
Even speechless.
Shu Wan quietly watched the focused expression on his face and softly called out,
“Uncle.”
Meng Huaijin didn’t even look up.
“Mm?”
“You’re actually a good person.”
“Even if you’re a little scary sometimes.”
So now she was giving him a good person card.
Who was it that had just cried her eyes out accusing him moments ago?
Meng Huaijin glanced at her coolly.
“If you have something to say, just say it.”
He finished wrapping her wrist neatly with gauze.
Shu Wan gently moved it around before smiling at him.
“Tomorrow Zhou Ze’s flight is at eleven.”
“Can I borrow your car… and Brother Zhao Heng?”
“It’s hard to get a taxi during National Day. Could I trouble Brother Zhao Heng to drive Zhou Ze to the airport?”
Zhao Heng was the guard who had gone to Nancheng with them.
He was only twentythree.
He had been seriously wounded during a military exercise and had to retire.
After Meng Huaijin transferred back to Beicheng, he found Zhao Heng delivering food and hired him as his driver instead.
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
That was Meng Huaijin’s way of giving an answer without actually giving one.
The next morning, Shu Wan woke up early.
Seeing that Meng Huaijin was home, she was just about to repeat her request from last night when he grabbed his car keys and headed for the door.
Shu Wan opened her mouth.
Then closed it again.
She looked confused.
“Are you coming or not?”
He looked back at her coldly.
“I’m coming.”
Shu Wan hurried after him, tilting her head with a bright smile.
“Thank you.”
Meng Huaijin ignored her attempts to butter him up.
Instead of heading to the airport, he drove to a nearby specialty store.
He bought several large boxes of premium local gifts and loaded them into the trunk.
Shu Wan watched silently.
Her heart felt warm and sore all at once.
He was cold.
Overbearing.
Strict.
Illtempered.
But…
He really did treat his little shadow well.
Even this was his way of protecting her friendship—with the methods adults used.
As Meng Huaijin closed the trunk, Shu Wan got out of the car and asked the shop assistant for a few extra gift boxes.
“Planning to empty my salary for two friends?”
Meng Huaijin walked over and met her eyes.
“NNo. I’m paying for these myself.”
Although technically, it was still his money she was spending.
She hadn’t expected him to joke around.
Shu Wan instinctively took half a step back before explaining,
“Grandpa Chen is alone in the countryside. I wanted Zhou Ze to bring him some.”
Meng Huaijin frowned.
He looked at her quietly for a few moments before bending down, taking the gift boxes from her hands, and putting them back on the shelf.
“…”
So that wasn’t allowed either?
She had just been deeply moved.
Now…
“He isn’t in Nancheng.”
Meng Huaijin spoke slowly.
“He’s not?”
Shu Wan looked completely confused.
“His hometown is in the countryside outside Nancheng. If he’s not in Nancheng, then where is he—”
The light in her eyes suddenly returned.
They sparkled brilliantly.
“You relocated him?”
“And he’s in Beicheng now!”
Meng Huaijin didn’t answer.
He simply took a long stride toward the driver’s seat.
Suddenly—
A soft body carrying the faint scent of medicine threw itself into his arms.
Shu Wan wrapped both arms tightly around his waist.
She hugged him with all her strength.
“I’ll repay you.”
Sweet words poured out one after another as if they were free.
She hugged Meng Huaijin tightly.
Then, before the lightning of his anger could strike, she instantly let go, sprang backward, walked around the front of the car as though nothing had happened, and climbed into the passenger seat.
Meng Huaijin stood there, frowning at the busy street, his face calm as still water.
“Where is Grandpa Chen in Beicheng?”
“Can I go see him?”
Only after seeing that he hadn’t exploded did Shu Wan dare push her luck.
“You know why I didn’t let him come to Beicheng with you, Shu Wan.”
Meng Huaijin shattered her hopeful fantasy without hesitation.
“Your parents’ case.”
“You’re an innocent victim.”
“That doesn’t mean he is.”
“He served the Shu family for over twenty years.”
“How much do you think he knew?”
The smile disappeared from Shu Wan’s face.
After a long silence, she hugged her knees and stared blankly out the window.
Before she left Nancheng, Grandpa Chen had told her he was returning to the countryside to enjoy his retirement.
So…
He had lied to her.
In the end, he hadn’t escaped either.
“Will Grandpa Chen… end up like my parents?”
“He’s so old.”
Her voice trembled.
Meng Huaijin glanced at her in the rearview mirror.
In the end, he swallowed the cruelest words.
Meng Xian and her husband…
Were they guilty?
Or were they taking the blame for someone else?
Now they were dead.
There was no evidence left.
No way to investigate.
As for the old housekeeper…
Meng Huaijin finally raised a hand and rubbed her fluffy hair roughly.
“He won’t.”
“I promise.”
When they arrived at the hotel to pick up Zhou Ze, Shu Wan naturally intended to sit in the back seat with him so they could chat.
She had just opened the rear door.
The next second, someone grabbed the backpack on her shoulders.
Along with the backpack…
Her whole body was lifted.
Meng Huaijin treated her like he was picking up a chicken or a duck and dragged her straight to the front passenger seat.
Shu Wan: “…”
I have a friend sitting right there!
Can’t you leave me even a little dignity?
She wanted to cry.
This moody, impossibletoread, completely unpredictable man…
He wasn’t a good person all the time.
After Zhou Ze returned to Nancheng, Shu Wan was downhearted for quite a while because of Grandpa Chen.
That gloomy mood lasted…
Until the first snowfall of winter arrived in Beicheng.
And with it came her birthday.
It turned out to be…
A comingofage birthday banquet she would never forget.