There are always some people in life who never appear before you when you are longing for them, but start showing up inexplicably just when you’ve decided to let them go.
Hao Bin was exactly that kind of person. He usually stayed within the town, and Kong Yinmeng had never seen him even when she went back home.
Yet, after only a few days, they met again in Hong City. And as always, he was with his heavily pregnant wife, greeting her.
Xiao Ya saw the dishes on their table and quietly nudged Hao Bin. They had planned to find a cheaper place to eat because the restaurant’s food was too expensive, but now that they’d run into a classmate, they couldn’t just leave.
She was a practical woman. As long as she could get a full meal, what was wrong with selling her husband’s looks? The woman sitting there liked him anyway.
Kong Yinmeng wasn’t blind. Seeing Xiao Ya’s gesture, she frowned almost imperceptibly.
“Yeah, it’s a real coincidence. Waiter, please cancel the dishes that haven’t been served yet. My friend has to leave for something urgent. Please pack the rest of the food for me to take home.”
She and Hao Bin had truly never interacted much, not even having topics to chat about. She felt that just responding to him was already being polite, yet he was still dissatisfied.
“You and Binbin are classmates, and you’ve finally run into each other! Let’s sit down and chat together!” Xiao Ya was so afraid the waiter would actually pack the food that she even considered reaching out to stop him.
Kong Yinmeng felt a surge of dislike. Her emotion was directed at Xiao Ya, not out of jealousy, but simply because she disliked her behavior.
“Sure, you two sit. I’ll go home to eat after you’re done chatting. Waiter, I’ll need takeout containers for packing. Plastic bags aren’t convenient. Thank you.” She skillfully and gently guided Xiao Ya into a chair and let the waiter leave.
Hao Bin’s mood was exceptionally complicated right now. The last time they met, she hadn’t lent him money, and he had thrown a huge tantrum after returning home. That was how Xiao Ya learned he once had a secret admirer who was now very wealthy.
They had come to Hong City for a prenatal checkup. Xiao Ya’s pregnancy was unstable, and the medical technology in their small town was limited, so the doctors there didn’t dare take her on. They had no choice but to come to Hong City once every two weeks.
Their family was already poor and in debt. Each trip cost them several hundred yuan, and Hao Bin was nearly driven crazy by the stress.
After Xiao Ya sat down, she naturally reached for the chopsticks to take some food. At that moment, Kong Yinmeng immediately stood up.
“Sorry, this is what my friend just left behind. She’s already used it, so it’s not clean. If you want to order food, you can wait until we’re done talking and then go to that empty table over there. This table is dirty.”
She had already taken the chopsticks away. To get new ones, she would have to stand up, making her intention to scrounge a free meal too obvious. She had no choice but to give Hao Bin a meaningful look.
“Mengmeng, was that friend who just left Lu Fangcao? I couldn’t see her clearly. She seems prettier than before.”
They had all gone to high school together, and Hao Bin had even been in the same class as Lu Fangcao once. Lu Fangcao had even passed a love letter to Hao Bin on her behalf, but he hadn’t accepted it.
Since then, Lu Fangcao had taken a strong dislike to him. Whenever she saw him, her eyes and nose would twist in contempt. If Kong Yinmeng hadn’t stopped her, Lu Fangcao might have beaten him up.
“Yeah, it was her.” She didn’t say a word more, her gaze fixed on the waitress. When she saw the waitress bring over five takeout boxes, she breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn’t have to eat lunch with them after all.
Xiao Ya’s expression was already very ugly. Hao Bin saw it, and Kong Yinmeng, sitting opposite him, naturally saw it too. The problem was, she didn’t want to deal with them.
The atmosphere between the three of them was so strange that the waitress acted as if she were blind and deaf, wanting only to finish packing the food as quickly as possible.
As the dishes were packed into takeout containers one by one, Xiao Ya’s stomach began to rumble. She tugged at Hao Bin’s sleeve.
“Your son’s hungry! Hurry up and order!” She had no intention of going anywhere else to eat. Everyone was equal—why should she have to find a cheap place to eat?
Hao Bin looked mortified. A meal for the two of them would cost at least two hundred yuan, and it was just a simple lunch; there was no need to spend so much money.
“Then I won’t disturb your meal.” Kong Yinmeng turned and left, a polite smile on her face as she carried the five packed takeout boxes. Hao Bin ignored Xiao Ya’s complaints and chased after her, walking her to the restaurant entrance.
For some reason, Xiao Ya took out her phone and snapped a photo of them arguing. She remembered Hao Bin saying this woman was an influencer.
“Hao Bin, if this is still about the same matter we discussed last time, I think my position is very clear. I earned that money myself, and it’s my right to spend it however I choose. If we were close, I would consider lending it to you. But we aren’t even ordinary friends. If you were in my position, would you lend this amount of money?”
Hao Bin had never really gotten to know Kong Yinmeng. He only knew she was a good student and quite pretty.
He knew she had a secret crush on him, but he had never reciprocated. Besides the fact that he felt nothing for her, he also felt he couldn’t handle someone like her.
“Mengmeng, did you ever really love me?”
At this moment, he truly wanted an answer. Why did someone who once loved him change her heart?
Kong Yinmeng looked at Xiao Ya, who had already started eating inside the restaurant. “Hao Bin, I admit I once loved you. But you have a wife now. All I have to do is let you go, and all you have to do is be responsible for your wife and child.”
“No, what you felt for me was more of an obsession. You’ve always gotten everything you wanted with ease, and I was the only one who never accepted you. You mistook that obsession for love.”
Kong Yinmeng’s gaze flickered. She had once questioned whether her feelings for Hao Bin were truly love, but she had never found an answer.
“At this point, whether it was love or obsession, there’s no chance for us. I wish you happiness.”
Some things, once passed, leave no room for return. They had never truly been in each other’s lives, and they didn’t need to be in the future.
Hao Bin didn’t want to admit it, but he began to regret not pursuing a mutual love with her back then. Even if it had ended badly, she wouldn’t have chosen to stand idly by.
He was desperately short on money now. A regular job simply couldn’t support his entire family. The thought of the baby on the way only added to his stress.
When Kong Yinmeng got home, she ate only two of the dishes, putting the rest in the refrigerator. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about dinner now that she’d brought her lunch home.
She opened Weibo and found her phone lagging again, just like it had when she and Zheng Yi performed on the same stage. After scrolling through a few messages, she realized the show had already started airing.
After a moment’s thought, she reposted Xiao Wu’s Weibo post. After interacting with her fans for a few minutes, she turned on her computer and started watching the first episode.
Xiao Wu had the post-production team rush the video editing. It was obvious it was a low-budget production with little technical skill involved.
If Zheng Yi hadn’t participated, no one would have paid attention to such a variety show. But with a top star on board, the show exploded in popularity on its first day.
In the first episode, Zheng Yi seemed rather useless. He was constantly led around by the nose by Kong Yinmeng, doing whatever she told him to do, looking completely devoid of his own opinion.
However, the scene where he carried bricks truly broke his fans’ hearts. Many passersby even commented that he had genuinely worked, as the dirt and grime on his clothes proved it.
Even the anti-fans didn’t let him off, saying things like “he’s not even as good as a woman,” but they were quickly driven away by his fans.
After watching the show, Kong Yinmeng felt a pang of sympathy. If she had known they would develop such a deep bond, she should have treated him better back then.
Having traveled extensively, she knew many ways to earn money, and making him move bricks was indeed a way to make things difficult for him. She thought he would get angry or refuse, but to her surprise, he silently did a lot of the work. The cameraman had captured it all on film, and she wondered how they were doing now.
Xiao Wu was monitoring the ratings while recording. After learning the ratings for the first episode, he was so happy he almost spun in circles.
Because the first episode received positive feedback from the audience, Xiao Wu happily treated the entire staff and all the guests to a meal. As the only guest, Zheng Yi inevitably drank a few extra glasses.
By the time he stumbled back to his room, his head was spinning, but he still didn’t forget to video call Kong Yinmeng. She answered almost instantly.
“Mengmeng, have you seen the show? The director was so happy he treated everyone to a meal. They all toasted me, and I drank a lot. I miss you so much right now.”
Judging by his flushed cheeks and bleary eyes, he had clearly drunk a lot.
“Since you’ve had so much, you should go to bed early. I’ve watched the show, and your fans are all feeling sorry for you.” She had also seen several fans scolding her for bullying him, but then again, she had been doing it on purpose at the time.
The criticism made her feel guilty. *Survival is priority one*, she thought. As for the show, she had only reposted a single Weibo post. She hadn’t dared to reply to any of the fans who came to her after watching the episode.
“Do you feel sorry for me?” Zheng Yi’s alcohol-fogged brain tried to recall what they had done in the first episode, and then he smiled genuinely.
His smiles were usually just polite ones. This was the first time Kong Yinmeng had seen him smile so sincerely. He looked so cuddly when drunk, not like Lu Fangcao, who just acted like a fool.
“I do. You’ve had a long, tiring day. Hurry up, wash up, and go to sleep,” she said, her voice softening unconsciously, a gentle expression on her face that she didn’t even notice.
Having received the answer he wanted, Zheng Yi didn’t go to sleep as told. Instead, he started telling her all about the day’s filming.
“Lan Xiao is just like me—he has no life skills. We were absolutely terrible today, coming in dead last the whole time. I bet the audience will be laughing their heads off at us when this episode airs.”
Just then, Lan Xiao returned from his break and overheard the comment. “Brother Zheng, if you hadn’t dragged me into this, the audience wouldn’t have the chance to laugh at me.”
He seemed much more sober than Zheng Yi. Kong Yinmeng quickly added, “Zheng Yi’s had a bit too much to drink. Could you keep an eye on him for me? Thanks, we’ll talk tomorrow!”
Kong Yinmeng wasn’t yet shameless enough to exchange sweet nothings with Zheng Yi in front of others, so she hurriedly ended the video call.
As she walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, Hao Bin’s words suddenly echoed in her mind: “Mengmeng, did you ever really like me?”