1 – Meeting Again
It was a scorching summer day, right at noon.
The blazing sun had baked the leaves outside until they all drooped their heads.
Cicadas droned on and on.
It should have been prime napping time, but Xiang Wan was jolted awake by a shout.
Her temper flared—whatever it was, couldn’t it wait until she’d finished sleeping?
But she didn’t dare voice her anger, because the person calling her was Madam Shen.
Madam Shen, also known as Xiang Wan’s mother.
Xiang Wan took ten seconds to shake off her drowsiness, then dragged herself into her slippers with a thousand reluctances and headed downstairs.
“Mom!” she called out to Shen Erru the moment she reached the bottom of the stairs, her tone dripping with impatience.
“You called me up—what for—” The words died abruptly in Xiang Wan’s throat, because at that moment she noticed there was an extra person in the house.
A man.
A young man.
Xiang Wan stopped dead in her tracks.
She stared fixedly at the person before her.
She blinked hard.
Was it him?
Had he come back?
Sunlight streamed through the glass, its glow settling on the man’s face, making everything seem so unreal.
Ye Mianzhi had clearly heard the girl’s shout, and he turned his head to look.
The girl before him was disheveled without realizing it—the right shoulder of her pajamas had slipped halfway down.
He quickly turned his head back.
Shen Erru naturally noticed her daughter’s pajamas too. She rose and hurried over, frowning. “You child, coming down in your pajamas!” As she spoke, she fixed the fallen strap for her. “Go change before you come down!”
Only then did Xiang Wan realize, belatedly, what had happened. Her face flushed, and she turned and bolted.
As she climbed the stairs, she didn’t forget to grumble at her mother—why hadn’t she mentioned they had a guest? Now she’d made a huge fool of herself!
Shen Erru smiled apologetically at Ye Mianzhi. “That girl, she’s wild as can be, all day long.”
“It’s fine.” Ye Mianzhi smiled faintly and shook his head. “Wanwan has grown so much.”
“Hasn’t she?” Shen Kaiyuan chimed in. “When you went abroad she was only in her teens. Now she’s eighteen and about to start college.”
Almost in college already?
Ye Mianzhi marveled at how quickly time had passed.
It had been nearly six years since they’d last seen each other. The days of tutoring her in her schoolwork felt like yesterday.
Following the thread of conversation, he asked, “Which college?”
“Hai University.”
There was a note of pride in Shen Kaiyuan’s voice.
Hai University was one of Haicheng’s top schools.
Ye Mianzhi was a little surprised. He still remembered her grades back then—barely passing in more than one subject. Her mother had nearly dragged her to a psychiatrist to have her IQ tested.
Impressive.
He couldn’t help but praise her: “Really impressive.”
Meanwhile, Xiang Wan rushed straight to the bathroom the moment she got back to her room.
Sure enough, the girl in the mirror was a mess. “Bird’s nest” couldn’t have described her hair more aptly. She was grateful now that she’d been too lazy to take off her bra before her midday nap—otherwise…
Still, no matter.
Messy appearance? Her looks would make up for it.
As she changed clothes, Xiang Wan felt a little dazed. How long had it been since she’d seen him?
Six years?
Or seven?
She couldn’t even remember herself.
Back then, Ye Mianzhi’s parents had both died in an accident. Shen Kaiyuan, heartbroken that the boy had suddenly lost both parents, took him into the Shen household. He’d lived there for less than two years before going abroad to study.
…
Downstairs, the atmosphere was warm and cheerful.
Even Shen Erru, the workaholic, had turned down her afternoon engagements and kept chatting with Ye Mianzhi.
Their conversation, though, revolved mostly around finance, stocks, investments, and the like.
Which counted as work, really.
Xiang Wan couldn’t follow any of it, so she didn’t interrupt. After quietly coming downstairs, she curled up next to her grandmother and scrolled through her phone.
During this time, her gaze would unconsciously drift toward Ye Mianzhi.
He wore a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his profile handsome and elegant. As he spoke, his brows and eyes were gentle, and a proper smile stayed on his face.
When Xiang Wan looked at the man again, their eyes happened to meet.
He was watching her with a half-smile.
Probably afraid she’d feel awkward, Ye Mianzhi spoke first: “Wanwan.”
Only then did Shen Erru notice Xiang Wan. “When did you come down?”
Then she scolded her, “You didn’t even greet anyone when you came down? Where are your manners!”
She pointed at Ye Mianzhi and said, “This is your Uncle Mianzhi. He used to live with us back then. Don’t you remember him?”
Xiang Wan gave her mother a speechless look. She was the one chattering away so enthusiastically—was there any room for her to cut in?
And she was the one being lectured.
Still, manners couldn’t be forgotten. She gave Ye Mianzhi a polite smile. “Hello, Mianzhi—”
However, when it came to the word “Uncle” at the end, she got stuck.
As a result, it came out as her calling him by his full name.
Ye Mianzhi raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to add “Uncle.”
At the same time, he was seriously sizing up the girl before him. With her long hair draped down, clear eyes, and delicate, pretty features that still carried a hint of youthful awkwardness—she had grown into herself quite a bit, though a trace of childishness remained.
“You brat!” Shen Erru glared at her. “Is that how you greet someone?”
Xiang Wan lowered her eyes and said nothing. She found that she just couldn’t say it.
In her heart, she added: I don’t want to call you that. So there!
Ye Mianzhi didn’t get his “Uncle” from her, and he felt a small twinge of disappointment. Back then, she used to call him Uncle this, Uncle that all day long.
But on the surface, he just smiled indifferently. “It’s fine. Calling me by my name is nice too.”
Shen Kaiyuan figured Xiang Wan hadn’t seen Ye Mianzhi in a long time, so he asked her, “Are you feeling shy?” Then he prompted her memory. “When your Uncle Mianzhi lived with us, he helped you with your homework every day and took you out to play. Don’t you remember?”
Xiang Wan mumbled, “Grandpa, I’m not being shy.”
This time Shen Erru raised her voice a few notches. “Then hurry up and greet him!” She pointed at the pile of gift boxes on the coffee table. “Look, your Uncle Mianzhi still thinks of you so fondly—he brought you all these gifts.”
Xiang Wan just pursed her lips and stayed silent, still not greeting him.
Ye Mianzhi could see her awkwardness and spoke up. “It’s fine. You can greet me later, it’s all the same.”
The matter of the greeting was quickly brushed aside, and everyone just assumed Xiang Wan was being shy.
For the rest of the conversation, Xiang Wan didn’t join in. Occasionally the topic turned to her, but she quickly redirected it.
It wasn’t that Xiang Wan didn’t remember. It was that his departure back then had dealt her quite a blow. Her grades were poor at the time, and when she asked her brother for help with homework, he would either dodge her or chase her out of the room. Only he had the patience to teach her.
Gradually, she grew dependent on him. She had thought it would go on like this forever—until one day, he suddenly told her he was leaving.
A farewell without any warning. She hated it, and it hurt her deeply.
That was why, now, Xiang Wan didn’t know whether she felt angry at Ye Mianzhi, or wronged, or some other emotion she couldn’t name.
Time flew by, and evening approached.
The sun set in the west, and the earth was bathed in the glow of the sunset.
Throughout all this, Xiang Wan hadn’t addressed Ye Mianzhi even once.
Ye Mianzhi found it somewhat surprising. Was it really so hard for this girl to call him “Uncle” just once?
Three years ago he had come back once, but it happened that Xiang Wan was away at summer camp, so naturally they didn’t meet. While abroad, he would regularly call the Shen family. At first, Xiang Wan would chat with him a little, but as time went on, she answered his calls less and less, and in the last few years they had hardly spoken at all.
He thought, perhaps she was still shy around him.