Meng Huaijin shot her a sideways glance, his tone and expression both mild. “That’s not something you should concern yourself with.”
“I wouldn’t dare meddle in your business. I was just asking.” Self-preservation always came first for Shu Wan.
The man shot back coldly, “You’re not allowed to ask, either. I can ask about your business and involve myself in it. You don’t need to ask about mine, and you’re not allowed to.”
“…………” He really was her elder—otherwise, honestly, he’d be enough to drive her mad.
He could set the whole state on fire, but the common people weren’t even allowed to light a lamp! Shu Wan fell silent.
Meng Huaijin ignored her puffed-up pufferfish expression and calmly instructed her, “Go tell your friend you’re heading back tonight. You can decide tomorrow where you want to go.”
“He’s going home tomorrow,” Shu Wan said.
He raised an eyebrow. “Do you really want to go back to South City with him?”
Shu Wan froze, then shook her head.
What would she go back for? There was no one waiting for her anymore…
“I’m not going back,” she said dazedly. “I’ll stay here and be good. Once I graduate from university, I’ll work hard to earn money and save up so I can support you when you’re old.”
Playing sweet and acting cute were her specialties, just like the hangover soup she made.
Meng Huaijin gave her a half-hearted sidelong glance and lifted his chin toward the hotel. “Go tell your friend.”
Now he was a kind, understanding guardian again.
What a fickle guardian.
Shu Wan went to the hotel to let Zhou Ze know she was safe. Before leaving, she also received the gifts they’d brought for her.
Speaking of those gifts, Shu Wan could have strangled the two of them!
She’d thought they’d be something nice. Instead, they’d given her the exam-prep papers published by South City No. 1 High School! Twenty books in all, each with fifty test papers!
Those two lousy friends were treating her like a Japanese invader again.
But it also showed that they still considered her a friend, and that the three of them still got along just like before.
.
Shu Wan had no memory of when the guard had parked the car downstairs at the apartment building.
She’d been exhausted from sightseeing all day, and then she’d spent half the day sparring with her dear uncle, leaving her even more worn out. So she fell asleep not long after getting into the car.
Feeling a cool touch on her wrist, Shu Wan slowly opened her eyes—and then didn’t dare move again.
The guard had already gotten out. Only she and Meng Huaijin were still in the car.
Right in front of Shu Wan was a head of fluffy hair. His face was lowered slightly, revealing clean, sharply defined bone structure. His bearing was so stern, yet his features were calm and untroubled, almost careless.
Meng Huaijin was applying medicine to her wrist. His technique was professional, his movements practiced. Though a minor soft-tissue injury like this wouldn’t even count as a scratch in his world, he seemed to be giving it his full attention simply because she was a girl.
That was why he hadn’t really wanted to agree to Meng Xian’s request before. Girls were delicate, girls were sensitive—especially during adolescence. They were harder to understand than even the guidance documents issued from above. Take today, for example: she’d cried until he was at a loss, and even speechless.
Shu Wan gazed steadily at his focused expression and called to him softly.
Meng Huaijin didn’t look up. He gave a faint “Mm.”
“You’re a good person, even if you can be a little fierce sometimes.”
So now she was handing him another “good person” card. Who had just been crying and delivering a long speech to accuse him?
The man shot her a chilly sidelong glance. “If you have something to say, say it.”
He’d wrapped her wrist beautifully in gauze. Shu Wan tested her wrist, then smiled at him. “Zhou Ze’s flight is at eleven tomorrow. Could I borrow your car and Brother Zhao Heng? It’s hard to get a taxi during National Day[1]China’s National Day falls on October 1 and is associated with a major public holiday, during which travel can become especially busy. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3733514_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3733514_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, and I’d like to ask Brother Zhao Heng to take Zhou Ze to the airport.”
Zhao Heng was the guard. He was only twenty-three when he was discharged after seriously injuring his abdomen during an exercise.
After Meng Huaijin was transferred to North City, he found Zhao Heng just as he was about to start delivering food and hired him as a driver.
“We’ll see tomorrow.” That was Meng Huaijin’s answer to Shu Wan—or rather, his almost-answer.
.
The next morning, Shu Wan got up early. Seeing Meng Huaijin there too, she was about to repeat her request from the night before when he picked up the car keys and headed out.
Shu Wan opened her mouth, then closed it again, a little bewildered.
“Are you coming or not?” he called back coolly.
“Coming.” Shu Wan smiled and followed him, tilting her head as she thanked him.
Meng Huaijin paid no attention to her ingratiating sweetness. He drove straight to a nearby shop selling high-end local specialties and loaded several boxes into the car.
Shu Wan watched in silence, her heart filled with a complicated ache she couldn’t name.
He was cold, domineering, stern and strict, with a bad temper. But he was also… genuinely good to her, his little tagalong. He even knew how to help her maintain her friendships, in his own adult way.
As Meng Huaijin closed the trunk, Shu Wan got out and asked the shopkeeper for a few more boxes of specialties.
“Are you going to empty my paycheck for the sake of two friends?” He came over and turned his head slightly to meet her eyes.
“N-no, I’ll pay for these myself.” Even though the money ultimately came from him.
She hadn’t expected him to joke around. Shu Wan took a half-step back and only spoke once she’d put a little more distance between them. “Grandpa Chen is alone in the countryside. I want Zhou Ze to take some things to Chen Zhong.”
Meng Huaijin frowned and watched her quietly for a moment. In the end, he bent down, took the things from her hands, and put them back where they’d been.
“…” So this wasn’t allowed after all? Shu Wan had just been so touched, and now…
“He’s not in South City,” the man said slowly.
“Not in South City?” Shu Wan was confused. “His hometown is in the countryside outside South City. If he’s not in South City, then where—”
The light in the girl’s dim eyes suddenly switched on, shining brilliantly. “Did you find him somewhere else to live? And he’s in North City now!”
Meng Huaijin didn’t answer. He took a long stride toward the driver’s seat.
Suddenly, a soft figure carrying a faint medicinal scent flung herself into his arms and hugged him tightly, locking both arms around his waist and squeezing hard.
“I’ll repay you.”
Sweet words came tumbling out as if they cost nothing. Shu Wan hugged Meng Huaijin once, then sprang away before his thunderous anger could strike. As though nothing had happened, she walked around the front of the car and slipped into the passenger seat.
Meng Huaijin frowned at the busy street, his expression as still as water.
“Where in North City is Chen Zhong? Can I go see him?” Seeing that he was driving normally without getting angry, Shu Wan dared to push her luck.
“Do you know why I didn’t let him come to North City with you, Shu Wan?” Meng Huaijin cut straight through her girlish fantasy. “You were innocent in what happened to your parents. That doesn’t mean he was. He spent more than twenty years with the Shu family. How much do you think he knows?”
The smile on Shu Wan’s lips fell away at once. After a long while, she hugged her knees and stared blankly out the window.
When she left, the old steward had told her he was going back to the countryside to enjoy his retirement. So he’d lied to her. In the end, he hadn’t escaped it either…
“Will Chen Zhong… end up like my mom and dad? He’s so old.” Shu Wan’s voice trembled.
Meng Huaijin glanced in the rearview mirror. In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to say the cruelest thing.
Had Meng Xian and her husband been guilty or innocent? And for whom had they taken the fall? They were dead now, leaving no evidence and no way to investigate. As for the steward…
At last, Meng Huaijin raised a hand and roughly ruffled her fluffy hair. “No. I promise.”
.
When they went to the hotel to pick up Zhou Ze, Shu Wan had planned to sit in the back with him and chat. But the moment she opened the car door, someone yanked her backpack up by its straps.
Meng Huaijin hauled her along with it, as if she were a chicken or a duck, and dragged her straight into the front passenger seat.
Shu Wan: “…”
Didn’t she deserve to save face in front of her friend? Couldn’t he leave her even a little dignity?
She was close to tears.
This moody, unreadable, mercurial man! He wasn’t always a good person.
After Zhou Ze went home, Shu Wan was down for quite a while because of what had happened to Chen Zhong. Then the first winter snow fell in North City, and her birthday arrived.
It was truly a… memorable coming-of-age celebration.
References[+]