Shu Wan seriously suspected that Meng Huaijin’s greatest pleasure in life was either intimidating her or deliberately messing with her.
Naturally, no plane came.
When the guard helped stuff the giant stuffed toy into the trunk, they almost couldn’t close the trunk lid.
Meng Huaijin clearly couldn’t understand why she liked fluffy things so much. His brows remained furrowed the entire time.
On the drive back, Shu Wan caught another faint scent of alcohol on him.
She couldn’t help glancing at him several times.
Wasn’t he not drinking when I left? How did he manage to start drinking again in barely half an hour?
The man had no idea what was going on inside her winding little mind.
He simply asked slowly,
“You like dancing?”
Shu Wan nodded.
“Mm.”
“What else can you do?”
She didn’t hide it.
“I know a little piano and painting too.”
Judging from the way she said it, “a little” clearly meant more than just a little.
Meng Huaijin knew his eldest sister’s personality well.
She was ambitious and capable. Naturally, she would never have allowed her daughter to grow up accomplishing nothing.
“Do you want to pursue this professionally in the future?” he asked again.
Shu Wan shook her head.
“They’re just hobbies. I’m not applying to an arts college.”
Apparently, she was much like the younger girls in his family. She had learned a little of everything—music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
However, even when the girls in his family danced, their movements were nowhere near as polished and impressive as hers.
Meng Huaijin turned his gaze toward her.
“Do you still want to keep learning?”
Their eyes met.
Shu Wan quickly lowered her gaze.
“School is about to start. I should probably focus on my studies.”
In truth, she simply didn’t want to spend too much money.
Meng Huaijin saw through her thoughts at a glance and said nothing more.
When the car stopped downstairs at the apartment, the guard went to park the vehicle.
Shu Wan struggled to carry the enormous stuffed toy by herself.
Just when she was at a complete loss, she suddenly felt the weight disappear from her arms.
Then a suit jacket was tossed onto her.
By the time Shu Wan realized what had happened, Meng Huaijin was already striding toward the elevator, holding the stuffed toy by its “neck” with one hand.
The man was at least 185 centimeters tall, and his imposing presence made him seem even taller.
At this angle, the enormous stuffed toy looked strangely… small and delicate in his hand, almost like an exquisitely crafted figurine.
Shu Wan stared blankly for a moment before hugging his suit jacket and hurrying after him.
The moment they entered the apartment, Meng Huaijin stated,
“These things can’t be left in the common areas.”
“I know. I’ll put it on my bed.”
Shu Wan immediately opened the bedroom door.
The man walked over and tossed the stuffed toy onto her fragrant bed.
He looked at it, then at her, clearly puzzled.
“What are you going to use it for?”
“Uh… probably to sleep with.”
“…”
Meng Huaijin was speechless.
He gave her a sideways glance, then, as usual, went into the study to deal with his work.
Just like the night before, Shu Wan went into the kitchen, made a bowl of hangover soup, and brought it to him.
At that moment, he was signing several official documents.
The ink brush moved across the paper, leaving behind elegant, vigorous strokes. The handwriting was as powerful as the sharp, commanding presence of the man himself.
“Uncle, you should really drink less from now on.”
Shu Wan pushed the bowl of hangover soup a little closer and finally gathered the courage to advise him.
Meng Huaijin glanced sideways at her.
His deep, dark eyes reflected her clear gaze.
He raised an eyebrow, the sharp lines of his face carrying a faint, teasing smile that only made him look even more wild and intimidating.
“Starting to boss me around now?”
After spending so many days together, Shu Wan had gradually begun acting like herself again.
Although she was still afraid of him, she was no longer as cautious and restrained as before.
Shu Wan pursed her lips but continued to stand by her advice.
“Anyway, drink less. Too much alcohol is bad for your health.”
Meng Huaijin looked at her for several seconds.
His eyes were like a calm, boundless ocean.
His years of experience and sharpness collided with her clear, innocent eyes, bright and translucent like those of a young deer.
For once, it felt as though all his strength had landed on a soft cushion, unable to make any impact.
In the end, the man expressionlessly picked up the hangover soup and finished it in one go.
Then he dismissed her.
“Go to bed early.”
Satisfied, Shu Wan took the empty bowl to the kitchen and washed it clean.
She then collapsed onto the sofa.
Listening to the faint sounds coming from the study, she soon drifted off to sleep.
The next day, she woke up in bed again.
There was still some warmth left in the breakfast on the dining table, but Meng Huaijin was already gone.
He wasn’t the kind of person who would leave a note or send her a message telling her where he was going.
Nor did he have any reason to report his whereabouts to Shu Wan.
Besides, his position in Beicheng was extremely important, and naturally, he had endless matters to deal with.
Shu Wan didn’t dare call and ask.
Just after she finished breakfast, there was a knock at the door.
She checked through the peephole and confirmed that it was Meng Chuan before opening the door.
Today, Meng Chuan was wearing a blue suit even more flamboyant than his Lamborghini.
He had also deliberately slicked his hair back until it shone.
He looked every bit the part of a carefree young master.
“Uncle Meng Chuan.”
Shu Wan smiled and greeted him.
“Little Shu Wan.”
Meng Chuan walked in and dropped himself onto the sofa in a relaxed, commanding manner.
“Go get yourself ready. I’m taking you to the dance studio.”
“Dance studio?”
“You didn’t know?”
Meng Chuan looked puzzled.
“Brother Jin didn’t tell you?”
Shu Wan shook her head.
They had talked a little in the car yesterday, but at the time, Meng Huaijin hadn’t said anything about enrolling her in a dance class or sending her to practice.
Even after getting into Meng Chuan’s car and heading toward the dance studio, Shu Wan still felt as though everything was somehow unreal.
Meng Huaijin had told her that whatever standard of living she had enjoyed in Nancheng, she would have the same here.
And he hadn’t been exaggerating.
During that period, Shu Wan went to the dance studio every day.
The studio was in the very heart of central Beicheng, and both its facilities and instructors were internationally renowned.
The place where Shu Wan had studied dance in Nancheng wasn’t bad either.
But compared with the capital city of Beicheng, there was still a considerable difference.
Meng Huaijin had enrolled her in the most expensive class and hired the best teacher.
A few days later, a piano appeared in the apartment as well.
It was brand new.
Judging from its quality and tone, it was clearly extremely expensive—better even than the piano Shu Wan had used at home before.
Shu Wan asked Meng Chuan how his salary could possibly be enough to buy all these things.
Where did his money come from?
Could it be that—
Meng Chuan laughed and lightly tapped her on the head.
“What goes on inside that little head of yours all day?”
“That little bit of salary really wouldn’t even be enough to cover his cigarettes.”
“But Brother Jin is the kind of person who, if he doesn’t do his job properly as a public servant, can simply go home and inherit a billionyuan fortune.”
“The Meng family has people in both politics and business. Didn’t your mother ever tell you?”
Shu Wan shook her head.
Her mother seemed extremely reluctant to talk about the Meng family.
Aside from her younger brother Huai Jin, who had joined the military and later entered politics, she had never told Shu Wan anything about the rest of the family.
Meng Chuan continued,
“Anyway, Brother Jin could just shake a little dust from between his fingernails, and you’d still have enough to keep living like a princess.”
Shu Wan had long since stopped being a princess.
And she didn’t want to be one either.
She simply felt guilty.
The more he gave her, the more she felt she had nothing to repay him with, even though he probably didn’t need anything from her in return.
“What about her?”
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the girl asked,
“That beautiful and coollooking woman. I heard people call her Prosecutor Jiang. What kind of relationship does she have with Uncle?”
“You mean Sister Jiang Jie?”
Meng Chuan thought for a moment before giving her a deliberately vague answer.
“Family friends. There are quite a few ties between them.”
Family friends… quite a few ties…
That certainly left plenty of room for speculation.
As for Meng Huaijin, although he had never explicitly said that he was moving back into the apartment, aside from work and business trips, he was basically always somewhere Shu Wan could see him at night.
He had also established a long list of strict rules for her.
For example:
She wasn’t allowed to enter his room without permission.
She wasn’t allowed to go to bars.
She wasn’t allowed to come home later than the designated time at night.
And so on.
Shu Wan seriously suspected that he had never gone through adolescence.
Oh, right.
He really hadn’t.
Back then, he had probably already been in the military—and had already made quite a name for himself.
Amid Meng Huaijin’s endless list of “don’ts,” Shu Wan finally entered her senior year of high school.
Because it was their graduating year, school started a week earlier than usual.
The school Meng Huaijin had found for Shu Wan was one of the top schools in Beicheng in terms of teaching quality.
On the first day of school, however, his position made it inconvenient for him to take her there personally.
So once again, Meng Chuan drove her.
As soon as school started, they had a placement examination.
Shu Wan ranked tenth in her class.
She thought that was decent.
But when Meng Huaijin saw her report card, his comment was simply,
“I’ve never gotten a score this low.”
Shu Wan:
“…”
After that, it became common for a round little head to poke through the study door while Meng Huaijin was reviewing official documents.
The girl would hug her workbook and ask with a bright smile,
“Uncle, are you free? I don’t understand this question.”
Nine times out of ten, helping her with her homework ended with Shu Wan falling asleep with her head on the desk.
By the time it was over, her textbooks and his official documents would inevitably be mixed.
As a result, there were several occasions when Meng Huaijin went into a meeting, pulled out the documents he had prepared beforehand—
Only to discover that he was holding a copy of Five Years of Gaokao, Three Years of Mock Exams covered in colorful tabs.
His subordinates wanted desperately to laugh but didn’t dare.
Fortunately, his memory was exceptional.
He was able to deliver the contents almost word for word from memory without even looking at the documents.
Shu Wan wasn’t nearly as lucky.
One Monday, when she was supposed to give a speech beneath the national flag, she opened her prepared manuscript—
Only to discover that it was Meng Huaijin’s document on “Ideological Rectification of the Political and Legal Forces.”
Her mind went completely blank.
Standing in front of the entire school, she had no choice but to improvise on the spot.
She racked her brain and somehow managed to give the speech.
Unfortunately, it came out as a complete mess.
She embarrassed herself.
And she embarrassed her class as well.
“I picked up the wrong book again today—”
The day before National Day, Meng Huaijin happened to pass by the school entrance.
Seeing that it was almost time for Shu Wan to finish class, he parked by the roadside and waited for her.
Just as he was about to light his second cigarette, he saw a girl in a white school uniform with a black skirt running out through the school gate.
She hadn’t even reached the car yet, but her voice had already reached his ears.
Shu Wan came running over, panting heavily.
She leaned against the driver’sside window and complained again,
“Your documents were in my schoolbag again! I made such a fool of myself this morning!”
There were tiny beads of sweat clinging to the loose strands of hair on her forehead.
Her fair cheeks were flushed from running, and her eyes sparkled like scattered stars.
She didn’t look nearly as embarrassed as she claimed.
Meng Huaijin had witnessed the changes in her over the past few months.
It wasn’t difficult to imagine what a bright and cheerful girl she must have been at home before the Shu family fell into crisis.
He withdrew his gaze and tossed the cigarette pack and lighter into the storage compartment.
Then he casually asked,
“Whose fault is that?”
Shu Wan opened the passenger door and climbed inside.
Her eyes lingered for a moment on the uniform shirt he was wearing.
The dark blue fabric caught the afternoon sunlight, appearing almost inkblack, further accentuating his tall, powerful, military bearing.
When he heard no response, the man slightly turned his head.
Shu Wan quickly snapped out of it, fastened her seat belt, and shamelessly grinned.
“Mine, mine. So, what are we having for dinner tonight?”
Meng Huaijin started the engine and tilted his chin toward the back seat.
“I brought you dinner from the office cafeteria. I have something to discuss tonight.”
The girl turned around and saw several boxes of food packed separately.
Her expression immediately fell.
“It’s National Day break. Can’t I go with you?”
“No.”
His refusal was decisive.
“You can go out and have fun with your classmates. As for which places you’re not allowed to go, do I need to repeat them?”
Shu Wan shook her head.
Then she heard his unmistakably commanding order.
“You must be home before ten.”