Upstairs, the man who had just finished bathing sat down at his desk and casually pulled a file from the drawer.
He spread the neatly organized papers across the table. The investigation into the Meng family had been conducted thoroughly.
His fingers paused when he flipped to the third page.
The name written there was: Meng Yao.
As his fingertips brushed across it, he inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity.
Then he turned another page and finally saw the name of his fiancée: Meng Yu.
Lost at age three, found again at seven, now eighteen years old.
He quickly finished reading and casually tossed the file back into the drawer, filled with disdain.
She was nothing more than a village woman from the countryside. He truly couldn’t understand what his father had been thinking. The man had raised him strictly his entire life—
Yet when it came to the most important matter of choosing a wife, he selected a peasant girl for him!
Still, it didn’t matter. His future wife would only be decoration anyway. Since his father insisted on it, he would simply obey.
After all, if he wanted his career to continue advancing, he still needed his father’s recommendation.
Thinking of this, he cared even less about this future fiancée. As long as she behaved obediently and caused no trouble, she would make a perfectly acceptable puppet.
For the past few days, Meng Yu had been unable to figure something out.
How could Meng Yao’s studies possibly be progressing so quickly? Even Ji Ming had praised her?
The reason was simple. A few days earlier, Meng Zhihong had mentioned that he happened to run into Ji Ming after work, and Ji Ming praised Meng Yao as an excellent student who was improving at astonishing speed.
But clearly all the household chores belonged to her. On top of that, she still had to go to the county to sell vegetables.
Where could she possibly find the time to study?
Thinking of this, Meng Yu suddenly sat upright on the bed.
That day, she and Chen Hong had seen Meng Yao coming out of that residential building. Could she be hiding some unspeakable secret?
Or perhaps she really had become someone’s kept woman? Maybe after getting money, she bought study materials and that was why her grades had improved so dramatically?
But that still didn’t make sense. Even with study materials, how could she improve so quickly?
Unable to understand no matter how much she thought about it, Meng Yu secretly entered Meng Yao’s room while she was away, hoping to find evidence proving she was being supported by some wealthy man.
If her suspicions were true and Meng Zhihong found out, he would probably throw Meng Yao out of the house!
At the thought of this, a malicious grin spread across Meng Yu’s face.
She simply couldn’t stand seeing Meng Yao doing well!
After searching around, she discovered a large number of textbooks and English books in the desk drawer, which immediately struck her as strange.
Where did Meng Yao get the money to buy all these things?
Could those vegetables really earn that much money?
Suspicious, she continued searching and finally found a small box near the foot of the bed.
Opening it, she discovered a sparkling peacock hair clip inside!
Meng Yu flipped the box over to check the brand and nearly died from jealousy.
This hair clip belonged to one of the most famous luxury brands sold in the city department stores—a favorite among wealthy upper-class women. This single hair clip cost at least two hundred yuan!
The reason she knew so clearly was because in her previous life, after marrying into the Gu family, she had mingled with those idle rich wives and learned about these things.
Meng Yao had actually latched onto some rich benefactor!
No wonder she had become so arrogant lately. So she looked down on her poor younger sister now!
Without hesitation, Meng Yu stuffed the peacock hair clip into her pocket and rushed outside.
Today, she was determined to find proof and utterly destroy Meng Yao!
She wanted to see whether Meng Zhihong would be furious to death!
Hurriedly leaving the house and heading toward the county, Meng Yu knew Meng Yao had already gone there early in the morning. It still wasn’t noon yet, so she had to reach the same place where she had spotted Meng Yao last time and wait there.
Meanwhile, Meng Yao had already sold all her vegetables early. With her little purse full of money, her mood naturally improved as well.
Instead of immediately heading to Ye Lei’s house, she wandered the streets and bought several chicks to add to her space.
When she came back out, she also brought along a chicken and some vegetables before heading to Ye Lei’s house as usual.
Meng Yu, who had already been staking out the area in advance, became so excited she nearly jumped.
She had finally caught her!
She secretly followed Meng Yao into the courtyard and watched as she stopped at the second-floor landing. Soon after, the door opened and a refined man wearing glasses greeted her happily, taking the items from her hands.
Witnesses and evidence were all present now. Let’s see what excuse she could possibly make.
Meng Yu felt smug and could hardly wait to bring this news home.
Completely unaware, Meng Yao continued her tutoring session. After leaving Ye Lei’s house, she headed to the Gu family factory as usual.
This time, however, Gu Jingcheng wasn’t in the office when the assistant led her inside.
“Comrade Chen, President Gu will return shortly. He asked me to tell you to review the vocabulary from last time first. He’ll check it when he comes back.”
“Alright, thank you.”
Meng Yao thanked him.
Hearing the assistant call her “Comrade Chen” made her feel somewhat guilty. She pulled the scarf from her bag and placed it nearby, planning to give it to Gu Jingcheng when he returned.
After the assistant left, Meng Yao sat down in the chair familiarly and began reviewing the words from their previous lesson.
A few minutes later, she heard footsteps approaching and assumed Gu Jingcheng had returned.
But when the door opened, the face that appeared belonged to a delicate-looking woman.
“Who are you? Why are you in Brother Jingcheng’s office?”
Xu Li frowned as she questioned her.
Meng Yao stood up. Looking at the fashionable and glamorous girl before her, as well as the intimate way she called him “Brother Jingcheng,” she suddenly remembered Gu Jingcheng mentioning before that he already liked someone.
When she received that peacock hair clip, she had even narcissistically assumed it was meant for her.
But apparently that wasn’t the case…
“I’m Gu Jingcheng’s student. And you are?” Meng Yao asked in return.
A woman’s intuition was always accurate.
Xu Li carried her handbag inside and sat down across from the desk with practiced familiarity.
“I’m his childhood sweetheart. You could also say… his girlfriend.”
After speaking, a trace of unnaturalness flashed through Xu Li’s eyes.
But she had to say it this way.
Although the girl opposite her dressed simply and plainly, that lovely little face made Xu Li feel threatened.
She intended to destroy every possible rival before they could even grow.
Meng Yao’s mind was already in chaos, leaving her no room to judge whether the words were true or false.
After hearing this answer that completely crushed her hopes, her chest suddenly felt stuffy, and even her thoughts seemed frozen.
He already had someone he liked.
Yet she had accepted his tutoring and even accepted gifts from him.
What exactly was she doing?
Forcing herself to remain calm, she hurriedly packed the textbooks on the desk into her bag.
“If you’re his girlfriend, then I won’t disturb you two anymore. I’ll be leaving first…”
Xu Li kept staring at her.
Seeing the panic on Meng Yao’s face only further confirmed her suspicions.
Sure enough, she was a little temptress!
Otherwise, why would Brother Jingcheng kindly tutor someone else? He hated trouble more than anything.
This woman must have seduced him and used tutoring as an excuse to spend time alone with him.
Thinking this, Xu Li spoke again to the woman preparing to leave.
“After you leave, don’t come back again. Gu Jingcheng is my boyfriend. I’ll tell him that you said you don’t want tutoring anymore.”
Meng Yao paused briefly, said nothing, and walked away.
Xu Li felt very satisfied.
Dejected, Meng Yao slowly walked toward the factory gate.
The elderly gatekeeper looked surprised to see her leaving so early and greeted her.
“Little Comrade Chen, finished tutoring so early today?”
Meng Yao nodded and left with her schoolbag.
Thinking about the tiny spark that had only recently ignited in her heart, she patted her cheeks.
“Wake up, Meng Yao. Stop being lovestruck!”
The most important thing was to honestly live her own life, get into university, and let her parents live well.
After giving herself a long mental lecture, she finally decided that once she returned home, she would tell her father to cancel the marriage arrangement between them.
Thinking this might be her final visit to the Gu family, her chest felt heavy.
Without realizing it, she walked to the flower stall where she had bought flowers before.
Forget it.
She would buy herself a bouquet of flowers and treat everything that happened these past days as nothing more than a dream.