Tiny beads of sweat appeared on the tip of the girl’s fair, jadelike nose, each one glistening like delicate pearls.
She stared at the man before her, who seemed to hold an executioner’s blade in his hand, as though he could send her straight into the depths of hell at any moment.
She was still afraid of him.
And even more so, she was hurt.
“You’re my elder. Whoever you marry will become my aunt. Am I not even allowed to know that?”
“I’ve been living with you for almost a year. I thought I at least had the right to know.”
“But apparently…”
“I don’t.”
Shu Wan didn’t dodge his gaze.
Her eyes were filled with pure innocence.
Once again, somehow, he had become the one being put on trial.
Meng Huaijin was momentarily caught off guard by her pitiful, innocent eyes.
He gained yet another understanding of just how eloquent and persuasive this girl could be.
Still, what she said wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
As his ward, she did have the right to know.
After a moment of silence, Meng Huaijin finally said calmly,
“We were supposed to discuss it today.”
As for why they hadn’t, the man merely gave her a mild glance before changing the subject.
“Going to the Internet café…”
“Was that because you were under too much academic pressure?”
Shu Wan lowered her eyes and flipped through her workbook.
“Mm.”
Meng Huaijin picked up the mock exam papers lying on the desk and flipped through both sides.
Then he said casually,
“Why put so much pressure on yourself?”
“If you don’t get into a good university, then so be it.”
He was trying to comfort her.
His tone just happened to be as unpleasant as ever.
But every word he said to Shu Wan now felt like an addictive drug.
Within just a few minutes, she could swing between bitterness, frustration, disappointment, happiness, and joy.
She was practically like a person who had gone mad from practicing some dangerous martial art.
“This is something I expect of myself.”
She quietly argued back.
“Besides, I might not be able to support you when you’re old.”
“We’re only ten years apart.”
There were so many things ten years could mean.
Things she didn’t dare say aloud.
Meng Huaijin tossed the exam papers aside and gave her a calm look.
“Even if we’re only ten years apart, I’m still your elder.”
“…”
It was the first time Shu Wan had heard him speak to her in such a rough, almost roguish tone.
She was stunned for quite a while.
Once the shock wore off, she secretly began savoring that tone of his again.
That night, she secretly took a cigarette from his cigarette pack.
She hid in her room and imitated the way he held and smoked cigarettes, copying his expressions and movements.
Yet she never dared light it.
In the end, she placed the cigarette beneath her pillow and fell asleep with it there.
The girl had gotten into trouble two or three times in a row, all around the moments when Meng Huaijin and Jiang Jie were supposed to discuss their engagement.
To avoid attracting attention, she stayed quiet for quite some time.
Of course, that was under one condition—
Meng Huaijin had to be home every night.
Then, in midMay, there were only a little over twenty days left before the college entrance examination.
That day was Jiang Jie’s birthday.
And that night, Meng Huaijin didn’t come home.
At Jiang Jie’s birthday banquet the previous night, Meng Huaijin had run into several old comrades from his military days.
They talked until late into the night and drank quite a bit.
Eventually, he was taken to a guest room at the Jiang residence to rest.
The ringing of his phone woke him.
He covered his eyes with one arm and answered the call groggily.
“Hello.”
“Hello, are you Shu Wan’s guardian?”
The voice on the other end asked.
Meng Huaijin’s brows furrowed.
He opened his eyes and glanced at the caller ID.
“What happened to her?”
The teacher replied,
“You’d better come over first. We’ll talk when you get here.”
Meng Huaijin rubbed his temples, got out of bed, and went into the bathroom to wash up.
He had just stepped out of the bathroom when the bedroom door was pushed open from outside without a knock.
“Huaijin, these are the clothes you changed out of last night. I had them drycleaned.”
Jiang Jie spoke as she continued walking toward the bed.
“Get out.”
Meng Huaijin had his back toward her.
He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes instantly turning cold.
The intimidating authority of someone accustomed to commanding others was on full display.
The pressure was enough to make it difficult to breathe.
Jiang Jie suddenly stopped.
Her expression turned aggrieved.
“We’re going to be husband and wife sooner or later.”
“Does Director Meng really have to be so cold and unforgiving toward his future wife?”
Meng Huaijin expressionlessly buttoned his shirt and picked up his coat.
As he passed her, he calmly replied,
“Not yet.”
Jiang Jie turned around, watching his departing back.
Her expression remained remarkably composed.
“My father and yours are in the study discussing our engagement date.”
Meng Huaijin’s footsteps paused slightly.
But he continued walking without turning back.
When he drove to the school, Meng Huaijin entered the teacher’s office with a dark expression.
When he had been a student, the worst that had ever happened was being punished by having to run laps around the field.
It had never reached the point where his parents had been called.
This girl, however, had really outdone herself.
She had managed to get her guardian summoned to school.
Shu Wan was sitting inside the teacher’s office.
Through the bars of the window, she spotted that tall, elegant figure approaching from a distance.
She instinctively shifted farther into the corner.
“Now you’re scared?”
Teacher Yao’s anger hadn’t subsided yet.
“Are you going to confess yourself, or should I tell him?”
Shu Wan lowered her head in silence.
After a moment, she quietly said,
“Teacher Yao, let me tell him myself.”
“Thank you.”
“Fine.”
“You can confess first. I’ll talk to you about your behavior afterward.”
“There are only twenty days left before the exam, and you couldn’t even hold out until then.”
“You’re really driving me crazy.”
As the teacher’s scolding trailed off, Meng Huaijin reached the doorway.
He lightly knocked on the door.
His gaze immediately landed on the girl in the corner wearing her school uniform.
It was both an assessment and an inspection.
“Mr. Meng.”
Yao Yan had met him once the previous year because of Shu Wan’s transfer.
Even now, she still found it difficult to meet his eyes directly.
Meng Huaijin nodded in greeting.
Then he asked the question he least wanted to ask.
“Teacher Yao, what did she do?”
“She said she’ll explain it to you herself.”
“You two talk.”
Yao Yan stepped aside and left the office, closing the door behind her.
The room instantly became so quiet that even a pin dropping could be heard.
The silence lasted for quite some time.
Unable to bear it any longer, Shu Wan finally looked up at Meng Huaijin.
The man was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday.
But they were perfectly clean and neatly pressed, without a single visible wrinkle.
Clearly, they had either been washed or carefully ironed.
She quietly called his name.
Then immediately lowered her head again.
Meng Huaijin rested one hand against the desk behind him.
His eyes remained fixed on her.
They were deep and unreadable.
“Shu Wan.”
“How many times has this been?”
Where did he sleep last night?
Was it in Jiang Jie’s room?
So… did they sleep together?
The thoughts made Shu Wan breathe heavily.
She bit her lip tightly and shook her head without saying anything.
“Why did your homeroom teacher call me here?”
“Because she saw me smoking and drinking on the rooftop.”
Shu Wan almost immediately picked up his words.
Her answer came suddenly, charged with emotion.
For several seconds, Meng Huaijin didn’t seem to process what she had said.
“What did you say?”
His eyes sharpened.
His gaze was as direct and cold as a beam of intense light.
“Shu Wan.”
“Say that again.”
Shu Wan lifted her eyes and met his deep, oceanlike pupils, where tiny sparks of anger seemed to surge beneath the surface.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
Yet she stubbornly refused to let them fall.
“I said…”
“I was smoking and drinking on the rooftop.”
Looking at the girl’s suddenly stubborn expression and rebellious eyes, Meng Huaijin was so furious that he almost laughed.
After a long while, he finally forced out two words, cold enough to freeze everything around him.
“Why?”
Shu Wan was backed into a corner by his sharp, steady gaze.
There was nowhere left for her to retreat.
So she told him the truth.
“I fell in love with someone.”