Meng Huaijin opened the door and walked into the living room.
With what little awareness he had left, he glanced at the sofa and spotted Shu Wan’s backpack there.
He then looked toward the girl’s tightly closed bedroom door.
He checked the kitchen and the study as well, but he didn’t see any hangover soup.
The man raised an eyebrow.
He went straight into his own room.
Without turning on the light, he tossed aside his jacket, took off his shirt, and collapsed onto the bed.
He fell asleep almost immediately.
The next day, Meng Huaijin woke with a splitting headache.
Before he even opened his eyes, he felt an arm tightly wrapped around his waist.
There was also a warm stream of air against his chest.
It was like breathing—light, steady, and subtle.
Like a cat.
The fat cat occasionally sneaked into his bedroom at night.
And because it used the same shower gel as its owner, it always smelled sweet, like dessert or milk, with a soft, lingering fragrance.
Still halfasleep, Meng Huaijin assumed it was the cat.
So, frowning, he reached out and rubbed it absentmindedly like he usually did with the cat.
But only a moment later, his fingers landed on something else.
Meng Huaijin froze.
“Mm…”
A soft, catlike sound.
But it wasn’t the sound of a cat.
To him, it was like a bullet fired from a hundred meters away, striking him directly.
Meng Huaijin’s eyes snapped open.
The girl was practically treating him like a stuffed toy.
Both her arms and legs were wrapped around him, most of her body sprawled across his chest.
Her face was turned toward him.
Her long, brushlike eyelashes were tightly shut, and she seemed caught somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.
The blanket had long since disappeared.
Her utterly shameless sleeping position made her look like a koala clinging to a tree.
And that was exactly how she appeared beneath Meng Huaijin’s stunned gaze.
His pupils contracted.
His voice was so cold it seemed to come straight from hell.
“Shu Wan!”
In her sleep, Shu Wan seemed to hear that intimidating voice.
Although it was the middle of summer, the temperature seemed to plummet in an instant, making her shiver.
She slowly opened her eyes.
And sure enough—
It was really him.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt.
Broad shoulders, a narrow waist, clearly defined abdominal muscles…
He had an incredible physique.
But his eyes—
They were terrifying.
Even more frightening than last night.
They looked as though he wanted to tear her apart alive.
“Why are you in my bed, Shu Wan?”
The words practically came through clenched teeth.
They startled Shu Wan awake.
This wasn’t a dream!
Her eyes widened.
She froze completely, as though someone had pressed a pause button on her.
“II…”
How had she ended up here?
For the moment, she couldn’t remember.
The next second, she felt a sudden pain.
Then the heavy blanket came crashing down over her head, covering her completely.
When she finally poked her head out, Meng Huaijin had already put on his shirt.
He was buttoning it from the bottom up, one button at a time.
If last night he had merely been angry, then what she saw in his eyes now was disappointment.
Disappointment that she would resort to such a low tactic.
Disappointment that she would learn those shameless tricks of climbing into a man’s bed.
Disappointment that all the time and effort he’d devoted to her had seemingly been wasted.
That look cut deeply into Shu Wan.
She immediately sat up and tried to explain.
“It’s not like that.”
The man shot her a sharp look.
She immediately lay back down and pulled the blanket over herself again.
“I waited for you until after two last night.”
“When you still hadn’t come home, I thought…”
“I thought you’d really gone to Miss Jiang’s place.”
“I felt so awful that I couldn’t sleep no matter how much I tossed and turned.”
“So I drank the two bottles of alcohol I’d brought back from the private room.”
“But when I was about to go back to my own bedroom, I found that I couldn’t open the door.”
“Maybe it was locked from the inside.”
“Or maybe the lock was broken.”
“I didn’t know what was wrong.”
“In a daze, I must have somehow ended up in your room.”
“At the time, I thought you weren’t home anyway, so sleeping here for one night wouldn’t be a big deal.”
“I just didn’t expect you to come back.”
“And I certainly didn’t expect you not to notice that I was already in your bed…”
“Anyway, that’s what happened.”
“I really didn’t deliberately climb into your bed.”
Her eyes were still swollen.
The beauty mark beneath one eye was red from all the crying.
She looked completely panicked and helpless, like a little lost fairy.
Meng Huaijin finished buttoning his shirt.
Without saying a word, he walked barefoot into the bathroom.
A moment later, the sound of running water came from inside.
It was like a bucket of ice being dumped over Shu Wan’s head.
Completely chilling.
Was he… treating her like she didn’t even exist?
He could scold her.
But he couldn’t ignore her.
She curled up on the bed as though her soul had been completely drained from her body.
Meng Huaijin took a rather long shower.
When he finally came out, he found that the girl was still lying in exactly the same position.
His handsome brows immediately drew together.
“Shu Wan.”
“Do you want me to dress you myself, or should I kick you out?”
Shu Wan came back to her senses.
She stared at him blankly.
“Do you believe me?”
“You’ve already given me so many reasons not to.”
“Do you really think I should believe you?”
“What I said is true.”
“If you don’t believe me, go try opening my bedroom door.”
“It really won’t open.”
“Last night I really waited for you until then.”
“I thought…”
“I thought you had gone to Miss Jiang’s place…”
“Where I go has nothing to do with you.”
Meng Huaijin looked at her with utmost seriousness.
“Shu Wan, can you listen to me properly?”
Shu Wan’s nose suddenly stung.
She nodded silently.
He looked at her eyes, still red and swollen after an entire night.
Then he spoke very seriously.
“We are not in a relationship where we can cross certain boundaries.”
“Your mother is watching from heaven.”
“If you behave like this, I have no way to answer to her.”
We are not in a relationship where we can cross boundaries.
Your mother is watching from heaven.
In an instant, Shu Wan felt as though a huge mass of rocks and sand had blocked her throat.
No matter how many words she had wanted to say, she could no longer get them out.
Meng Huaijin didn’t speak to her again.
He opened the door and walked out.
He tried the door to her bedroom across the hall several times.
It really wouldn’t open.
So he simply raised his foot and kicked it open.
“…”
Shu Wan wrapped herself tightly in the blanket and took tiny steps out of his room.
She returned to her own bedroom, then turned around and looked back at him.
The man’s hair was still slightly damp.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of a smile on his face.
His handsome, dark brows and eyes were solemn and utterly serious.
“Listen to me, okay?”
That was the only gentle wording he’d used toward her since his outburst the night before.
Shu Wan’s eyelashes fluttered.
Bitterness flooded her heart.
Yet she still nodded with great difficulty.
But just as Meng Huaijin turned around, she calmly spoke again.
“I’m truly grateful for the education and guidance you’ve given me.”
“After my parents died, there was someone who sincerely worried about my psychological wellbeing.”
“Someone who genuinely planned for my future.”
“I really feel incredibly lucky.”
“Last night, you asked me whether I wanted you to be my family or a stranger.”
“I can answer you right now.”
Under Meng Huaijin’s deep, unfathomable gaze, she said,
“I won’t choose either.”
“Because that question has no meaning.”
“We are family.”
“That was decided from the moment I was born.”
“And we can never become strangers again.”
“After all, we’ve already lived together for a year.”
“We’ve shared so many beautiful, happy, and healing memories.”
“What you said last night was simply an attempt to make me choose between continuing to like you and losing you, or giving up on liking you.”
“You wanted me to stop before I went too far.”
“But last year, you also told me that falling in love wasn’t something shameful.”
“You told me not to think of it that way.”
“So if that’s true, then doesn’t the same logic apply to liking someone?”
“I like you because that’s what my heart tells me.”
“It’s not something I can simply stop because I decide to.”
“I can’t stop.”
“Even if Mom were standing right in front of us right now, I’d still dare to say it.”
“Even if lightning were about to strike me from the sky, I’d still say it.”
“I still like you.”
“I just like you.”
“Even if you use your overwhelming authority and forbid me from saying how I feel about you, then I’ll simply keep it to myself.”
“But what I truly feel inside won’t change.”
She didn’t look away even once.
She was like someone who had already thrown herself into the game, completely fearless of the consequences.
“I’ve simply fallen for someone I technically shouldn’t fall for.”
“That’s not a crime.”
“I don’t feel ashamed.”
“You can refuse me.”
“You can reject me.”
“But you can’t stop a feeling that even I can’t control.”
“This is my youth.”
“This is everything I have right now.”
What a declaration.
What a reckless leap into the flames.
What a soaring determination.
What a completely unreserved heart of youth.
Meng Huaijin stared at her for a long time.
Only then did he realize that she wasn’t being rebellious.
She wasn’t being deliberately difficult.
And she wasn’t simply being spoiled or stubborn.
That stubbornness—the refusal to turn back until she hit the wall—and that ability to endure and push through obstacles were carved into her very bones.
No threat from anyone could change them.
He had thought she was merely a halfunderstanding young girl.
He thought that after crying and making a scene, after being harshly reprimanded by him without giving her any room to retreat, she would become frightened and back down.
But instead, she didn’t retreat at all.
She was clearheaded and logical.
She had laid her youthful, wholehearted, dignified feelings completely bare.
This is my youth.
I fell for you.
You can reject me.
But you can’t stop me from falling for you.
What an assertive declaration.
What a strongwilled girl.
What a beautiful face.
What an eloquent mouth.
She truly was Meng Xian’s daughter.
Her inner strength and determination were exactly like her mother’s.
After remaining silent for a long time, Meng Huaijin finally answered calmly, in the tone of an elder.
“Very well, Shu Wan.”
“Since you insist on taking charge of your own youth, and since you’re so determined, logical, and fearless…”
“Then you’d better not come crying to me.”
After saying that, he left for work.
What he left behind was a tall, powerful, resolute figure disappearing through the door.
It had taken an incredible amount of courage for Shu Wan to dare challenge the intimidating and formidable Meng Huaijin like that.
And the moment he left; all the strength drained out of her.
Like a deflated balloon, she wilted where she stood.
But it didn’t take long before she found another source of strength.
She knew that his rejection of her was absolute.
It was inevitable.
But she wasn’t going to give up.
Meng Huaijin got into the car, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a headache.
“Captain, are you still troubled by Shu Wan’s situation…”
“Mention her again and get the hell out of the car.”
“…”
Zhao Heng froze.
Ever since the captain had been transferred to Beicheng and taken up an important military and government position, he had rarely shown the temper he’d had back in the military.
It seemed Little Shu Wan had really pushed him to his limit this time.
His temples throbbed.
Everywhere felt vaguely uncomfortable.
Meng Huaijin leaned against the back of the seat with a trace of restlessness.
His eyes were deep as the sea.
What she had said wasn’t completely right.
But it wasn’t completely wrong either.
It was her youth.
She had the right to be reckless and let her imagination run wild.
But as someone who had spent so many years immersed in the complexities of human relationships, Meng Huaijin knew very well what would happen once the boundaries between a man and a woman were crossed.
Her feelings were pure.
But she didn’t understand that the adult world was murky.
It was tainted by desire and all the ugliness that came with it.
She didn’t understand the deeper meaning behind it.
How could he possibly allow her to act recklessly?
He couldn’t let her do that.
He absolutely couldn’t.
Meng Xian’s final words—
“I’ll watch over the two of you from heaven.”
Those words had been her entrustment.
Her trust in him.
But they were also a deeper warning.
There was a difference in their ages and their positions as elder and younger.
And beyond that was a fate dictated by the boundaries of society that could never be crossed.
The mistakes they had made before—
As far as Meng Huaijin was concerned, they absolutely could not be repeated.