Everyone on Shu Wan’s social media feed was posting pictures of their trips around the world after finishing the college entrance examination.
But Shu Wan was curled up in the apartment, going nowhere.
Restless and irritable, she spent the entire day painting.
That afternoon, she lay on her bed and took a nap.
Halfawake, she heard the clattering of pots and dishes coming from the kitchen.
Thinking Meng Huaijin had come home, she excitedly got up and opened the door.
But it was Chen Zhong.
“Grandpa Chen, are you cooking dinner tonight?”
She sounded surprised.
And a little disappointed.
“I’m afraid I’ll be the one cooking for you from now on.”
Chen Zhong turned around.
“The big day is approaching. Your uncle has moved back to the old residence.”
The girl stood there as though she’d been struck by lightning.
For a long time, she couldn’t recover.
He really was ruthless and coldhearted.
Once he’d made up his mind, nothing could change it.
Perhaps because she’d already seen his most merciless side and heard his harshest words, Shu Wan was heartbroken, but she remained relatively calm and rational.
She didn’t shed another tear.
If she’d dared to fall for Meng Huaijin, Director Meng himself, then she had to be brave enough to bear everything that came with those feelings.
Whether they destroyed her completely, whether she could never have what she wanted, whether she had to wait endlessly for him…
She had to accept it all.
“Oh, right.”
“Sir said that dance class you attended last year should continue.”
As he spoke, Chen Zhong took out a plane ticket.
“If you don’t want to go to the dance studio, this is a ticket to the Maldives.”
“He said you can stay there and have fun until school starts.”
Shu Wan actually laughed from anger.
Ginger really was spicier with age.
What a clever plan.
How could having her play until school started possibly be enough?
She ought to stay away until he and Jiang Jie had children old enough to run around before coming back.
Of course, she wasn’t going to the Maldives.
She went to the dance studio instead.
There, Shu Wan met someone named Guan Yulin.
She was the niece of Shu Wan’s maternal grandmother—and Meng Huaijin’s biological cousin.
“So that means I’m an entire generation above you.”
Guan Yulin smiled brightly while stretching her legs.
“What should you call me?”
She was sweetlooking and extremely easygoing.
She was about the same age as Shu Wan and had also just finished the college entrance examination.
The difference was that she was an artstrack student.
“Call you…”
“Auntie?”
Shu Wan smiled back.
“I’m already at the bottom of the seniority ladder in the Meng family.”
“Everyone I meet is either an uncle or an auntie.”
“Some of them are still in elementary school, and I still have to obediently call them Little Uncle.”
“So one more auntie doesn’t make much difference.”
Friendships between girls were strange and wonderful.
Two girls could become friends just by holding hands and going to the bathroom together.
Liking the same book, the same celebrity, or even having the same thing they couldn’t stand could be enough to bring them together.
Shu Wan went to the dance studio for three consecutive days.
When she learned that Guan Yulin was staying at her aunt’s house for the summer—the Meng residence—she couldn’t help feeling intensely envious.
“That…”
“Does your cousin come home every night?”
Shu Wan asked indirectly.
Guan Yulin took a moment to figure out which cousin she meant.
“He comes home after work every day.”
“My aunt is absolutely delighted.”
Thinking of that handsome face, Shu Wan became distracted for a moment before asking,
“Does Miss Jiang come too?”
“Sometimes.”
“Usually, she’s just accompanying my aunt to go shopping or play mahjong.”
“Doesn’t she go shopping with my uncle?”
“After all, they’re getting engaged soon.”
“I don’t really know about the two of them.”
“But I think Cousin Huaijin and Jiang Jie will probably be the kind of married couple who respect each other and keep a polite distance.”
“Like my parents.”
“Or my aunt and uncle.”
Respect each other like honored guests…
Even that kind of marriage still meant having children.
Continuing the family line.
Sleeping beside each other every day.
The terrifying thought burned in Shu Wan’s heart like a fire.
And with every gust of wind, the flames only grew stronger.
During the break, a sudden scream came from the coffee room.
It was Guan Yulin.
Shu Wan immediately ran over.
She found Guan Yulin already sitting on the floor, clutching her ankle in pain.
“What happened?”
“Did you twist your ankle?”
Shu Wan bent down to help her up.
“I slipped because I wasn’t paying attention.”
Guan Yulin used Shu Wan’s support to stand on one leg.
“Do you need to call your family?”
“Or should we go to the hospital now?”
Shu Wan supported her as they slowly made their way toward the door.
The girl wasn’t particularly dramatic about it.
“Don’t contact them yet.”
“Could you take me to the hospital?”
“If it’s nothing serious, then there’s no need to bother my parents.”
“They’re so busy they barely have time to worry about me.”
So Shu Wan called a taxi and took her to the hospital.
A colleague of Dr. Zhou examined her.
Thankfully, there was no damage to the bone.
She had only injured the soft tissue, which might remain swollen for several days.
She just needed to apply medicine at home.
“Could you take me back to the Meng residence?”
Guan Yulin asked pitifully.
They were friends now.
Shu Wan would have helped her without hesitation anyway.
And more importantly—
It meant going there.
The place where she could see him.
In the taxi, Guan Yulin continued pitifully,
“I probably won’t be able to dance until after the exam results come out.”
“Shu Wan, I wish you would stay at Grandpa’s house.”
“Then we’d have someone to gossip with again.”
Before, Shu Wan hadn’t really wanted to.
But now, of course, she was willing.
Besides, an opportunity had practically been placed right in front of her.
How could she not take it?
Meng Huaijin wanted to use this method to kill her feelings before they could grow.
He wanted to cut off her hopes.
But how could he know?
This would only be like wild grass after a spring breeze—
Burn it down, and it would grow back again.
She had already lost her heart.
She had already been consumed by this feeling.
She didn’t want to give up just like that.
That day, when Mrs. Meng saw that her niece had twisted her ankle—and that Shu Wan was the one who had brought her back—she was momentarily stunned.
Guan Yulin then praised Shu Wan enthusiastically in front of her aunt.
She also said that she wanted Shu Wan to stay and keep her company.
Mrs. Meng couldn’t resist her niece’s request.
Reluctantly, she agreed.
But her polite words were beautifully phrased.
“You silly girl, do you even need to ask?”
“Shu Wan is already our family’s beloved niece.”
“We’d be more than happy to have her stay.”
Then, with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, she turned to Shu Wan.
“Stay for as long as you like.”
“It just so happens that next month you’ll be able to attend your uncle and aunt’s engagement banquet.”
In the past, Shu Wan would never casually stay at someone else’s home.
Even if she were respectfully invited, she might not agree.
But now…
It didn’t matter anymore.
She smiled politely at the older woman.
“Thank you, Grandma.”
Shu Wan stayed in the same guest room she’d occupied during New Year.
It was directly across from Meng Huaijin’s room.
She was both excited and nervous.
But at dinner, Meng Huaijin wasn’t there.
He didn’t come home.
It wasn’t until after nine that she heard a car pulling up outside.
At the time, Shu Wan was playing the piano with Guan Yulin in the music room on the second floor.
Not long afterward, Mrs. Meng began asking whether he had eaten.
Shu Wan’s entire attention was focused downstairs.
She listened carefully.
But she didn’t hear any other voice.
It seemed he hadn’t said anything.
About ten minutes later, familiar footsteps sounded on the stairs.
He was coming upstairs.
Shu Wan became so nervous that she fumbled with the piano keys and hit two notes wrong in a row.
“Guan Yulin, have you been secretly learning from someone?”
“Your piano skills have improved.”
His deep, magnetic voice reached the room before he did.
The next moment, Shu Wan’s eyes met Meng Huaijin’s.
Guan Yulin happened to be in the bathroom.
There was no one else in the music room.
Meng Huaijin’s gaze swept over Shu Wan.
He said nothing.
His eyes were as dark as the night outside, heavy with the stillness before a torrential storm.
Shu Wan quietly called his name.
She didn’t dodge his gaze.
Nor did she explain why she was here.
Even if she explained, he wouldn’t believe her.
Besides, her intentions weren’t exactly innocent in the first place.
There was no need to explain.
Meng Huaijin withdrew his gaze and gave a faint,
“Mm.”
Without happiness or anger, without the slightest ripple of emotion, he turned around and entered his room.
Shu Wan completely forgot what note came next.
His indifference and calmness were even worse than the furious scolding and threats he’d given her in the KTV room.
At least his anger then had been like a raging storm—
Alive.
Burning.
Striking directly at her heart.
But now…
It was as though the year they’d spent living together had never happened.
As though all those warm, happy moments and the gradual understanding they’d developed between them had never existed.
It felt as though she’d suddenly returned to the day, he’d first gone to the Shu residence to pick her up.
Sharp.
Intimidating.
Cold.
As if they knew each other but weren’t close at all.
It felt like a corner of her heart had cracked.
Like glass.
It had made only the faintest sound, but the pain was so intense that she couldn’t breathe for several seconds.
Before Guan Yulin returned from the bathroom, Shu Wan fled back to her room in embarrassment.
Summer weather was unpredictable.
That night, there wasn’t just a violent storm.
There was also thunder and lightning so intense that the entire sky seemed to shake.
Shu Wan had been afraid of thunder and lightning since childhood.
After witnessing her parents take their own lives with gunshots, the experience had left an even deeper psychological scar on her.
The Meng family’s old residence had lush greenery throughout the courtyard.
Some of the trees even grew higher than Shu Wan’s windowsill.
Whenever thunder roared and the wind howled, the dense branches twisted wildly as they beat against her window.
The rustling sound was enough to make her ears ring.
Every strike felt like an electric current driving itself straight into her nerves.
Shu Wan turned over and sat upright on the pristine white bed.
She stared blankly at the lightning flashing across the sky.
At the curtains flying wildly in the wind.
Her face was pale.
She sat completely motionless, as though someone had cast a spell on her.
Like a beautiful shell whose soul had been taken away.
For one terrifying moment, she felt as though she might die from this instinctive fear.
Suddenly, the bedroom door was opened from outside.
Click.
The light switch on the wall was pressed.
The entire room instantly lit up.
The girl narrowed her eyes as she adjusted to the sudden brightness.
Mechanically, she turned her head.
Standing by the doorway was Meng Huaijin.
He was wearing pajamas, yet somehow still looked impossibly handsome.
Tall and straight, he stood there without saying a word.
He quietly stared at her blank, lifeless expression.
Her face was pale and bloodless, as fragile as shattered jade.
His gaze was deep and unfathomable.
After a long moment, he walked toward the window without saying anything.
He closed the window that had been blown open by the wind.
Then, with a swift motion, he pulled the curtains shut.
He turned around.
Standing close to her, Meng Huaijin examined the girl carefully.
Her face was clean.
There were no tears.
But both her hands were clenched tightly into fists.
He didn’t need to think to know that her fingernails must already have dug into her palms.
Before, even the slightest disturbance would make her cry in fear.
But now she had apparently grown stronger.
She was so frightened that she’d rather dig her nails into her own palms than shed a single tear.
She was so stubborn that she wouldn’t even call for anyone.
Meng Huaijin’s handsome brows furrowed again and again.
Finally, he bent down.
One by one, he pried open her tightly clenched fingers.
Then he used a wet tissue to wipe away the blood seeping from her palm.
Seeing that the wounds weren’t deep, he searched through the drawer and found a bandage.
He carefully covered the injury.
Only after doing all this did he speak in a low voice.
“Go to sleep, Shu Wan.”
Shu Wan’s clear, delicate almondshaped eyes stared at him without blinking.
The man’s expression remained cold and devoid of warmth.
Yet at that moment, it was as though the storm had suddenly stopped.
The moon had broken free from the clouds.
Its light seeped through the darkness and filled the room, illuminating his handsome, cold features.
She couldn’t look away.
After a long time, Shu Wan finally spoke in a dazed voice.
“You do care about me, don’t you?”