They say there are three things a person can never hide—coughing, poverty, and love.
The girl wanted to hide how much she liked him, how deeply she was obsessed with him, how passionately she loved him.
But the slightest disturbance was enough to completely break down her defenses.
In the end, there was nowhere left for her to hide.
Shu Wan didn’t know when Meng Huaijin had realized it.
Perhaps it was when she was singing just now.
Perhaps it was hidden in all the little clues from the past twentysome days, when he had driven her to and from school morning and evening…
Either way, controlling her was as easy for him as controlling an ant.
He had deliberately sent Meng Chuan away.
He had answered the phone on speaker.
He had done all of it just to wait for her to confess.
“The person I like is you. The person I love is you.”
After saying it once, Shu Wan wasn’t afraid to say it a second time.
Meng Huaijin’s expression was unfamiliar and cold.
His eyes were calm and tranquil, without the slightest ripple.
“So?”
“So…”
Shu Wan was stunned by the question.
Right.
What came after liking someone?
What was she supposed to do?
She had never thought about it.
“So you can’t go see Jiang Jie tonight.”
Since he’d already found out, she might as well throw caution to the wind.
Meng Huaijin gave a quiet laugh.
There was something distinctly contemptuous about it.
“What gives you the right to control me?”
His voice was cold and intimidating.
Shu Wan’s eyes filled with tears.
She opened her mouth several times but couldn’t come up with an answer.
In front of the experienced Director Meng, all her little tricks were completely transparent.
The man continued calmly, his voice deep and heavy.
“There are plenty of people who like me.”
“If every single one of them acted like you—interfering with where I go for no reason, telling me who I can and can’t see—then what would that make me, Meng Huaijin?”
Shu Wan saw his merciless side.
He was completely different from the man who had always been sharptongued but softhearted toward her.
The sense of disappointment hit her so hard that tears began falling down her cheeks.
“Are you going to see her because you want to sleep with her?”
Her voice trembled, but she stubbornly refused to back down.
“I…”
“I can do it too.”
“You can sleep with me instead.”
“I’m younger than her.”
The fury finally erupted in Meng Huaijin’s eyes.
“Shu Wan.”
“Take that back.”
“I’ll pretend you never said it.”
With that, he stepped around her and walked toward the door.
“I can’t take it back.”
Shu Wan turned to face him, her voice rising several levels.
“From the time I took a cold shower and got sick over New Year’s, to going to the Internet café, smoking and drinking on the rooftop…”
“All of those things happened because I knew you and Jiang Jie were going to get engaged.”
“I was so devastated that I couldn’t control myself.”
“If I could take it back, I wouldn’t have waited until now.”
“I just like you so much that I’m going crazy.”
“I love you so much that I can’t pull myself away.”
The man turned around.
His gaze was as sharp as a blade, cutting across her face as though it could tear her apart.
“What did you call me?”
Shu Wan shook her head and stepped backward.
“Shu Wan.”
“What did you call me?”
Meng Huaijin advanced toward her step by step.
His tall, straight shadow seemed like a dark cloud descending from the heavens, accompanied by thunder, wind, and rain, capable of destroying everything in its path.
“Say it.”
“Who am I to you?”
The girl covered her ears.
Tears streamed down her face as she finally began sobbing.
She didn’t dare say those two words.
Several seconds of silence passed.
Then the man’s voice became cold and hollow, like a driedup well.
“If you acknowledge me in that role, then I’ll have a relationship with you.”
“The way I treated you before, the way we got along before—that won’t change.”
“If you lose your way, if you make mistakes, I’ll still guide you and teach you properly.”
“But if you don’t acknowledge me in that role, and you want to talk to me about this socalled love…”
“If you want to become my woman…”
“Then, Shu Wan, you don’t even qualify.”
The girl had been forced all the way back until her shoulders touched the wall.
The despair and pain she felt were impossible to put into words.
“You’re being so cruel…”
“So cruel…”
She sobbed uncontrollably, her shoulders trembling.
“If I don’t qualify, then who does?”
“Do you really like Jiang Jie?”
“If you really like her, then why don’t you look happy at all when you’re already about to get engaged?”
Meng Huaijin narrowed his eyes.
He hadn’t expected her to be this stubborn.
No matter what he said, she simply wouldn’t listen.
She insisted on crashing straight into the wall in front of her.
Meng Huaijin looked at her tearstreaked face and warned her word by word.
“It’s still the same answer, Shu Wan.”
“If you acknowledge me, then the way I treated you before and the way we got along will remain the same.”
“If you lose your way or make a mistake, I’ll guide you and educate you properly.”
“If you don’t acknowledge me, then there’s nothing for us to talk about.”
“So think carefully.”
“Do you want me to be the person responsible for you, or do you want me to be a stranger?”
“Think about it and tell me.”
Meng Huaijin left by slamming the door.
The deafening bang was so forceful that if the door had been of slightly poorer quality, it probably would have shattered on the floor.
In the entire year they’d lived together, Shu Wan had never seen him this angry.
She slowly slid down the wall and crouched on the floor.
She buried her head in the crook of her arms.
She looked like a tiny speck of dust abandoned in a corner—small, helpless, and forgotten.
When Zhao Heng pushed open the privateroom door and saw the scene, he was startled.
He first glanced at the table.
Only a few bottles from the two dozen had been opened.
Those must have been the ones the captain and the others drank.
Shu Wan probably hadn’t drunk any.
“Shu Wan?”
Zhao Heng crouched down and gently touched her arm.
The girl didn’t respond.
He touched her again.
Only then did she slowly raise her head.
Her eyes were swollen like walnuts.
“Did he ask you to come get me?”
She asked quietly.
“Where is he?”
Zhao Heng was professionally trained.
His superior’s whereabouts were naturally not something he could casually reveal.
He shook his head and sighed.
“Come on.”
“I’ll take you home first.”
Shu Wan’s legs had gone numb, and she couldn’t stand.
After sitting there for a long while, she finally braced herself against the wall and got up.
She put the unopened bottles of alcohol into her backpack and limped out of the private room with the guard.
Meng Chuan never expected that as soon as he and Zhou Zhenglin arrived at the hospital, he would receive a call from his brother telling him to find another place so they could drink again.
So, the two of them changed locations.
They drank quite a bit and talked about plenty of things.
“So, Brother, did you find out who that bastard is?”
Meng Chuan asked curiously.
Meng Huaijin shot him a cold glance without answering.
“I already feel like someone trampled on a cabbage I was raising.”
“Compared with you, that’s nothing.”
“For the past year, you’ve put more effort into taking care of Shu Wan than most people put into raising their own daughter.”
Another icy look came from Meng Huaijin.
Meng Chuan was completely confused.
“No, seriously.”
“Are you actually going to allow her to date this guy?”
“No.”
The answer was clean and decisive.
“That’s true.”
“She doesn’t understand much about relationships yet. It’s easy for someone to deceive her.”
“If Sister Meng Xian were still alive…”
“With her personality, she probably wouldn’t allow it either.”
Meng Chuan sighed.
“Speaking of Big Sister…”
“I still remember how, back then, the two of us were always running around after her in the military compound.”
“Especially you.”
“She used to lecture you all the time.”
“But she also loved you the most.”
“And now, just like that…”
“She isn’t here anymore.”
“Life really is damn unpredictable.”
When Meng Xian was eleven years old, her biological parents were both killed in the same incident.
Meng Zhenting, who had been her parents’ comradeinarms, brought her into the Meng family.
To protect her from those seeking revenge, he changed her name and identity to Meng Xian.
When Meng Huaijin was born, Meng Xian was already an adult.
By the time he started kindergarten, his Big Sister had already become an outstanding model figure.
During those years, Meng Zhenting and his wife were both extremely busy with work and had little time to look after Meng Huaijin.
It was Meng Xian who completely took responsibility for his studies and daily life until he was ten.
During the age when children were notoriously difficult to deal with, Meng Xian treated Meng Huaijin as her own younger brother.
Naturally, he respected her as his real older sister.
Later, Meng Xian met the man she wanted to entrust her life to.
She decided to marry him and move to Nancheng, cutting off all ties with the Meng family.
Young Meng Huaijin once secretly took his father’s service pistol.
He was determined to shoot the man who had “stolen” his sister away.
Fortunately, the matter was stopped in time.
A year later, Meng Xian gave birth to a daughter.
Meng Huaijin had the family driver take him to Nancheng.
At the hospital, he saw the baby girl Meng Xian had fought so hard to bring into the world.
To be honest, newborn babies weren’t exactly pretty.
She was wrinkled and red.
The boy’s dislike was written all over his face.
Meng Xian gently tapped him on the head.
“You’re my little brother, which makes you one of her little elders.”
“Besides, newborn babies all look like this.”
“She’ll definitely grow up to be a beautiful girl.”
“What should we name her?”
The boy asked with a sour expression.
“We haven’t named her yet.”
“Why don’t you choose one?”
Young Meng Huaijin, still in elementary school, froze.
After a long pause, he deliberately cleared his throat twice.
“A name affects a person’s entire life.”
“It’s very important.”
“I can’t choose it.”
“You’re my little brother. Why can’t you name her?”
“Come on. Think of a name.”
The boy looked again at the sleeping baby wrapped in blankets.
After hesitating for a long time, he finally said two words.
“Meng Wan.”
Meng Xian burst out laughing.
“’Wan’ is a nice character.”
“But I don’t want her to have the surname Meng.”
“What is her father’s surname?”
The boy asked reluctantly.
“Shu.”
Meng Huaijin silently stared at the baby girl for a long moment.
Then he said indifferently,
“Then… Shu Wan.”
Meng Xian gazed happily at her daughter.
“Shu Wan.”
“Blessings that arrive late.”
“What a beautiful name.”
“Shu Wan, you have a name now.”
“Uncle Huaijin gave it to you…”
When Meng Huaijin was eighteen, he had already achieved some success in the military.
When he learned that his Big Sister was returning to Beicheng, he specifically requested leave to go home.
But Meng Xian stayed for only one day that time before returning.
They barely had the chance to speak.
Over the following ten years, most of their contact was through phone calls, with occasional video calls during holidays.
Their final conversation happened in July of the previous year.
She called him.
Her voice was desperate and urgent.
“Huaijin, I may not make it much longer.”
“I don’t fear dying.”
“But the only thing I can’t let go of is Wanwan.”
“She is about to go through pain, criticism, and abuse that an ordinary person should never have to endure.”
“I don’t trust anyone else in the Meng family.”
“Only you.”
“You’re the only younger brother in this world I truly trust.”
“Only if I entrust her to you can I die without regrets.”
“Will you come and take her to Beicheng?”
“Protect her.”
“Teach her to stay positive.”
“Teach her how to conduct herself and handle things.”
“Take care of her until she is capable of surviving on her own…”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m trying to find a way.”
“Just wait a little longer.”
At that time, Meng Huaijin was far away at a highly classified base.
He hated that he couldn’t reach through the phone screen and stop what was happening.
“There’s no time left, Huaijin.”
“Consider it your sister’s request.”
“Take good care of Wanwan for me.”
“She has never suffered since she was little.”
“If you can, please be a little kinder to this niece of yours.”
“Don’t let her look so pitiful and helpless.”
“Huaijin…”
“I’ll watch over the two of you from heaven…”
Those were Meng Xian’s final words.
She was entrusting her daughter to him.
She was asking Meng Huaijin to take good care of Shu Wan.
The moment she finished speaking, deafening gunfire echoed through the sky.
At the same time, Meng Huaijin heard a heartwrenching scream through the phone.
It was Shu Wan’s voice.
A desperate cry that sounded more painful than death itself…
“Brother?”
Meng Chuan called several times without receiving a response.
He pushed Meng Huaijin.
“What happened to you?”
The cigarette between Meng Huaijin’s fingers had already burned itself out.
He hadn’t even noticed that it had burned his finger and raised a blister.
He drained the wine in his glass in one gulp.
Then he glanced at the time on his wrist.
It was already past three in the morning.
“Let’s go.”
He stood up and picked up his jacket.
His voice was calm.
“It’s just adolescence.”
“Any crush she has on some delinquent is probably only temporary.”
“Since we can’t find this guy, all we need to do is make sure no one gets close to her.”
Meng Huaijin remained silent.
He didn’t respond to that.
Instead, he told Meng Chuan,
“Go home early.”
Then he called a designated driver and got into the car, leaving the nightlife district behind.
“Sir, where are you going?”
The designated driver asked.
You’re my little brother. Why can’t you name her?
Then… Shu Wan.
You’re the only younger brother in this world I truly trust. I have no other choice but to entrust her to you. Please protect her until she can survive on her own.
She has never suffered since she was little. If you can, please be a little kinder to this niece of yours. Don’t let her look so pitiful and helpless.
Huaijin, I’ll watch over the two of you from heaven…
I’ll watch over the two of you from heaven…
The alcohol finally began to take effect.
Meng Huaijin pulled himself back from his memories and pressed his fingers against his temples, his head throbbing.
In a low voice, he gave the address of the government officials’ apartment.