That evening, Meng Huaijin had a tea gathering to attend.
He took the call without deliberately avoiding Shu Wan, so she overheard the conversation.
When the man came out of the bedroom after changing, Shu Wan immediately stood up from the sofa. Her eyes were filled with anticipation as she carefully voiced her request.
“Um… I don’t want to stay home alone. Can I go with you? You can take care of your business, and I’ll just find a little corner to sit in.”
Meng Huaijin had his suit jacket draped over his wrist. He narrowed his eyes slightly but didn’t answer.
This wasn’t really a request.
She had already made up her mind.
After all, she had even changed her clothes.
She was wearing a simple yet elegant white dress, with a braid swept to one side and a little yellow flower hair accessory tied loosely at the end. She even had a tiny handbag that could barely fit her phone.
“What are you going for? To block the drinks for me?”
The man strode toward the door, his pace unhurried.
Unable to tell whether he had agreed or refused, Shu Wan wasn’t sure what to do either. Still, she silently followed behind him.
The guard who had accompanied them to Nancheng to pick her up last time was driving.
When he saw her coming downstairs, he waved in greeting.
“Miss Shu.”
Shu Wan stood two steps away from the car door with a smile.
“Just call me Shu Wan.”
Meng Huaijin had already gotten into the car on his own.
Since he hadn’t given her permission, she couldn’t shamelessly climb in after him. She could only stand there and wait for further instructions.
The black sedan didn’t start.
About half a minute later, Meng Huaijin’s gaze fell on her through the dim light inside the car. He lightly tapped his knuckles against the window.
It seemed to have become a silent understanding between them.
Permission granted.
Shu Wan immediately hopped into the car, closed the door, and turned toward him with a smile.
“Thank you.”
When the girl smiled, the beauty mark at the corner of her eye seemed even redder, while a faint dimple appeared on one cheek.
She looked so sweet and harmless that it was almost impossible to imagine her being any trouble at all.
Looks like she really has become a little tail he can’t shake off.
Meng Huaijin looked away and said coldly,
“Don’t wander off without my permission.”
“…Okay.”
The guard in the front was somewhat surprised by how much she had changed.
Compared with the girl they had met when they went to Nancheng to pick her up, she seemed like an entirely different person.
Now, sitting there beside his cold and merciless superior, she was practically a little sun radiating warmth and light.
The tea house was located inside an old residence with its own courtyard on First Ring Road.
Who knew which ancient prince’s residence it had once been?
The steps were all made of aged marble, while even the halfopen vermilion doors and the stone lions beside them were centuryold relics that had weathered countless years.
Before Meng Huaijin had even gotten out of the car, more than a dozen people were already waiting at the entrance to receive him.
There were both men and women, all displaying respectful attitudes.
Most of them were older than him, and judging from their attire and bearing, they were all influential figures in Beicheng.
Shu Wan even spotted a familiar figure among them.
It was the beautiful woman they had encountered at the mall that afternoon.
She was now dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit and a pair of slimheeled high heels. Her elegant demeanor was impeccable.
After walking a few steps, Meng Huaijin glanced back at Shu Wan, signaling for her to keep up.
Shu Wan withdrew her gaze and followed closely behind him, never straying even a step.
The guards accompanying them had initially worried that the girl might feel intimidated by the occasion.
Apparently, that concern had been unnecessary.
During the years when the Shu family had been at the height of its influence in Nancheng, they had been no less prominent than the Meng family was now.
Shu Wan had grown up surrounded by such things.
Naturally, she had seen her fair share of grand occasions.
The tearoom was on the second floor.
It was quiet and elegant, decorated with antique furnishings that were both simple and refined.
Shu Wan remained silent throughout, yet she somehow attracted countless gazes.
Some were curious.
Some were impressed.
Others were openly assessing her.
“Mr. Meng, who is this young lady?”
Someone finally couldn’t resist asking Meng Huaijin.
Apparently, they had assumed that this powerful man had recently developed a taste for innocentlooking college girls and were already wondering if they should find a few for him someday.
Meng Huaijin indicated a seat for Shu Wan by the window—a small table and chair of her own.
He then quietly instructed the server to bring her some light pastries before answering calmly,
“She’s a junior member of the family. Director Gu, do you have some insight into that?”
The man choked on his words.
He quickly laughed awkwardly and tried to smooth things over.
“Ah, so she’s family. A misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. My apologies.”
Shu Wan was no stranger to such situations.
In the past, she had occasionally accompanied her father to various gatherings, but whenever the adult’s discussed matters of importance, they usually made sure she couldn’t hear them.
The topics discussed at tonight’s gathering didn’t seem particularly interesting either.
They were mostly about who was being promoted, who was stepping down, which positions were vacant, and who might be taking them.
Shu Wan had absolutely no interest in any of it.
Meng Huaijin didn’t drink alcohol.
And even if he had, he certainly wouldn’t have let her block the drinks for him.
He simply enjoyed intimidating her.
While everyone else drank tea, Shu Wan didn’t have any either.
Meng Huaijin had the server bring her a cup of hot tea and a plate of exquisitely made pastries instead.
She tried one piece first.
It tasted pretty good.
So, she ate a few more.
Every now and then, she listened to see what they were talking about, only to realize that the conversation seemed to keep circling back to her uncle.
Some people were flattering him.
Others were trying to get him to do them favors.
The man simply listened.
He neither agreed outright nor refused them on the spot, skillfully dancing around the key points and responding with only a few vague words.
This tea gathering was clearly organized specifically for him.
Many of the people who came here would, after making this one visit, find themselves entangled in matters they could no longer easily distance themselves from.
But Meng Huaijin was different.
His calm yet razorsharp presence carried an intimidating authority even when he said nothing.
A few casual words from him were enough to make people ponder deeply, break into a cold sweat, and wonder what exactly he meant.
Wherever he was, that place became his territory.
No one could dictate the rhythm.
He was equally capable in both strategy and action.
Watching all of this was the only reason Shu Wan had managed to sit there for half an hour without falling asleep.
Any longer, however, and she was beginning to struggle.
Her eyelids were practically fighting each other.
In the end, she had no choice but to turn her gaze toward the window.
From where she sat, she could see the dazzling lights of the bustling streets nearby.
There was an event taking place in the square.
A person dressed as a clown was performing in the middle of it.
It looked rather interesting.
“Want to go?”
A voice drifted leisurely into her ears, quieter than usual.
Meng Huaijin had clearly been talking to someone else just moments ago.
She had no idea when he had noticed her.
Shu Wan turned around and met his deep, dark eyes.
She nodded.
The man estimated the distance between the square and the tea house, then finally relented.
“Keep your phone on.”
Shu Wan’s eyes lit up.
“Absolutely.”
“Huai Jin, which junior of the family is that? Someone from the Meng family?”
After Shu Wan left, Jiang Jie asked.
From where she stood, she could see the girl head downstairs and make a beeline for the lively square.
Meng Huaijin replied indifferently,
“No.”
Jiang Jie thought about it for a moment before suddenly realizing.
“Could she be… your eldest sister Meng Xian’s daughter?”
“Mm.”
They were all part of the same system, after all.
Even though the Shu family residence was in Nancheng, news of what had happened there had naturally reached Beicheng.
Jiang Jie didn’t ask anything further.
“Miss Jiang and Mr. Meng… are you two dating? What a perfect match—”
“No. We’re not.”
Meng Huaijin cut him off coldly.
Someone had tried to flatter him, only to accidentally kick the wrong horse.
Jiang Jie hadn’t expected Meng Huaijin to be so blunt.
A trace of embarrassment flashed across her face.
“Mm… We’re not boyfriend and girlfriend yet.”
Sure enough, the mall was holding an event.
Anyone selected by the clown only needed to dance one song with him to receive a huge stuffed toy nearly as tall as a person.
How long had it been since Shu Wan had stood among a noisy crowd?
She could hardly remember.
It seemed that ever since signs of the family’s impending crisis had begun to emerge, her mother had stopped allowing her to go outside except for school.
Until today, more than three months had passed.
The music around her was cheerful.
People came and went.
She stood alone amid all the bustling activity, yet her loneliness seemed even more pronounced against the prosperity surrounding her.
Suddenly, the clown with his brightly painted face extended a hand toward her.
“Miss, would you like to dance with me? Afterward, you can take the stuffed toy home for free!”
Shu Wan froze, then smiled and shook her head.
“You don’t know how to dance?”
Of course she did.
It was just that…
It didn’t seem quite appropriate.
But she really wanted that giant stuffed toy.
“Just one dance. I bet you’ll look beautiful when you dance.”
The clown continued inviting her, while the surrounding crowd gradually began clapping and cheering her on.
Unable to refuse such enthusiasm, Shu Wan hesitated for a long moment before finally placing her hand lightly on the clown’s fingertips.
The music began.
Shu Wan counted the beats, and before long, she had created an entirely new set of dance movements to match the rhythm.
The several men in black whom Meng Huaijin had assigned to protect her had been ready to rush forward the moment the clown approached her.
But when they got closer and realized that the girl had simply begun dancing among the crowd, they quietly withdrew again.
Perhaps no one present had expected that the pretty girl they had casually selected from the crowd would possess such extraordinary dancing ability.
Shu Wan danced Chinese classical dance.
Her entire body moved as softly as willow branches.
Rising and falling, her movements were as light as a dragonfly skimming the surface of water, as graceful as willow catkins drifting in the breeze, as delicate and beautiful as a lotus blooming upon a lake.
It was as though dance had been carved into her very bones.
Give her a song, and she could completely lose herself in it, forgetting where she was or what surrounded her, becoming one with the music itself.
The lights.
The halfdark night.
The onlookers.
The noisy world.
The girl’s striking yet still youthful face.
Her graceful, weightless movements.
Together, they formed the most harmonious scene within a hundredmeter radius.
When the song ended, Shu Wan placed one hand behind her back, bent her front knee slightly, and gracefully bowed to the crowd.
For a moment, the applause was deafening.
The girl showed not the slightest trace of stage fright.
It seemed she had long been accustomed to such cheers and praise.
She turned her gaze toward the crowd, as though searching for something.
She looked and looked, almost desperately hoping to find them.
But she never found those two people who had once watched her dance countless times—her closest family.
Disappointment filled her heart.
At that moment, the host dressed as a clown excitedly announced through the microphone that she was the MVP of the night.
He then handed the enormous stuffed toy to her with both hands.
Shu Wan’s eyes curved into a smile as she accepted it.
After thanking him, she tilted her head toward the sky.
From today onward, I’m going to live well.
With him.
After finally gathering herself, Shu Wan raised her eyes.
Without warning, she fell straight into a pair of deep, eaglelike eyes that seemed bottomless.
She had no idea when Meng Huaijin had arrived.
She didn’t even know whether he had seen her dance.
All she knew was that the black sedan was parked by the roadside.
Meng Huaijin was leaning against it with his back to the car.
Black shirt.
Black suit.
His legs crossed casually.
Both hands tucked into his pockets.
A lit cigarette between his lips.
His gaze rested quietly upon her.
Shu Wan called out to him.
After struggling to drag and carry the enormous stuffed toy all the way to the car, she finally made it over and proudly lifted her eyes.
“Look! I won such a huge prize!”
Meng Huaijin didn’t expose the happiness and relief she was forcing herself to display.
He flicked his extinguished cigarette into the trash can and replied without much emotion,
“I saw.”
“It’s just a little too big. Will it fit in the car?”
“No. It won’t. Want me to get you a plane?”
“…………”