Shu Wan jolted awake from her dream, relieved that she’d been leaning against a pillow.
If she’d accidentally leaned against that man, who knew how badly he might have berated or intimidated her?
The highway was pitch-black at night.
Meng Huaijin had taken over the driving. His guard sat in the passenger seat, head lolling as he snored like thunder.
Hearing movement, Meng Huaijin glanced at the girl in the rearview mirror and said evenly, “There are snacks in the trunk.”
Their eyes met briefly in the mirror. Shu Wan shook her head to show she wasn’t hungry.
The man said nothing more and continued driving, eyes fixed on the road.
Shu Wan kept staring at his profile for five minutes, ten minutes, perhaps longer.
Meng Huaijin had a high nose bridge and well-defined, deep-set features. His eyes were sharp, and his handsome face had a steely quality that combined keen incisiveness with composure.
Seen that way, his fierceness wasn’t the crude sort. It carried an air of refinement and experience.
“Shu Wan, is there something dirty on my face?” Meng Huaijin didn’t look at her, yet he knew she was watching him.
Shu Wan froze. She understood the implication, but still answered with perfect seriousness, “No. Your face is very clean.”
“…”
A little while later, the man realized she was still staring at him and spoke again. “Has no one ever told you it’s rude to stare at people like that?”
Shu Wan lowered her eyes and replied softly, “Driving at night makes it easy to get tired and drive unsafely. I could talk to you.”
The hand Meng Huaijin had resting on the center console paused. He glanced at the rearview mirror again.
The girl’s features bore some resemblance to her mother, Meng Xian’s, but were different too: an oval face, almond-shaped eyes, lashes long as brushes, an upturned nose, thin lips, and skin as white as jade. At the corner of her eye was a vermilion mole that looked as though it might shed tears.
He’d thought that even if she didn’t cry the whole way, she’d at least stay silent. He hadn’t expected her to speak up out of concern that the driver might be getting tired.
“I feel like smoking. Find me a lighter,” Meng Huaijin said, tapping the unlit cigarette between his fingers.
The occasional shadow of menace and roguishness in him made it hard to reconcile him with his identity and position.
“No,” Shu Wan said, mustering her courage to refuse. She explained earnestly, “You can’t smoke while driving.”
Meng Huaijin raised an eyebrow but wasn’t angry. He asked casually, “How old are you this year?”
“I’ll turn eighteen at the end of the year.” Ten years ago, when they first met, she had been only eight.
After a moment’s thought, Shu Wan asked in return, “And you? How old are you?”
“Twenty-eight at the end of the year,” Meng Huaijin said indifferently.
Ten years apart, and he had such a changeable temper. More importantly, she was about to depend on him for a living…
At the time, Shu Wan had no idea that for many years to come, she would remain entangled with the man who had rescued her from disaster.
And… their relationship would be the kind between a man and a woman that could never be spoken of openly.
Their brief conversation had at least broken the ice.
Shu Wan tugged at the corners of her mouth, trying to force a smile so she’d look more normal, but she couldn’t manage it.
Meng Huaijin had noticed everything. For once, he didn’t make a cutting remark. Instead, in an uncharacteristic act of mercy, he said, “The dead are gone; the living must carry on. Come with me. You won’t go hungry.”
.
As it turned out, a man’s words were lies!
After bringing Shu Wan back to North City, Meng Huaijin didn’t dump her straight into the Meng Family Old Residence. Instead, he arranged a separate place for her in the cadre apartments[1]In China, “cadre” can refer to a government, Party, or military official. Housing described as cadre apartments is typically associated with accommodation for such personnel; the passage does not … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3733506_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3733506_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, hired a housekeeper to look after her daily needs, and left her enough money to see her through university.
But for half a month afterward, he never showed up again.
When Shu Wan asked the housekeeper, she learned that Meng Huaijin had moved somewhere else and wasn’t coming back to live there.
.
Since Meng Huaijin’s transfer to North City, his whereabouts had been unpredictable. People kept sending invitations to pay their respects and treating him to meals, but they rarely got to see him in person.
Today’s gathering was a welcome banquet prepared for him by Zhou Zhenglin and Meng Chuan. The former was his childhood friend; the latter, his younger male cousin.
Meng Huaijin had no interest in socializing, but North City was different from the military. Here, personal connections and social etiquette mattered. He’d spent years in the military district, and now that he’d moved elsewhere, he still had to show up for some of the social obligations.
The old courtyard house in the Second Ring[2]Ring roads encircle central urban areas in many Chinese cities. “Second Ring” indicates a route or district near the city center here, without identifying a particular real-world road. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3733506_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3733506_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); was packed with nearly all the prominent young men and women of North City. Taking advantage of the occasion, everyone came over to toast Meng Huaijin.
If the older generation’s standing in the Meng family had been secured by their distinguished revolutionary credentials[3]In Chinese political society, a family’s standing may be linked to an older generation’s revolutionary service and connections. The passage does not specify the individual ancestors’ roles. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3733506_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3733506_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, the younger generation’s prestige rested on this man, whom no one else could hope to match.
While other young heirs his age were still living it up and wasting their lives on the wealth their ancestors had left them, Meng Huaijin had already forged his own path to the top in the military. And after his transfer to North City, he had both an impeccable family background and formidable political acumen.
Meng Chuan watched his cousin lean back in his chair, making polite conversation in an unruffled manner, and admired him from the bottom of his heart.
His cousin could wear a military uniform and raid a thousand miles into enemy territory, invincible and feared wherever he went; then put on a suit and tie and command the room with an understated refinement and an air of unassailable superiority.
“Brother, since you’ve already brought Sister Meng Xian’s daughter to North City, why not have her stay at the Old Residence? Wouldn’t it be easier for the family to look after her?” Meng Chuan edged closer through the crowd and asked in a low voice.
Hearing this reminded Meng Huaijin that he hadn’t gone to see the girl in half a month.
He didn’t explain that it had been Meng Xian’s wish.
Their eldest sister had always been deeply averse to the Meng family. Before entrusting her daughter to him, she had repeatedly begged him not to let the girl enter the Meng household.
“You brought Sister Meng Xian’s daughter here?” Zhou Zhenglin asked in surprise. “Why didn’t you bring her out so we could meet her? What’s her name? Is she pretty?”
Meng Huaijin held the unlit cigarette between his fingers and shot him a cool sidelong glance. Before he could answer, the phone in his pocket rang.
It was the housekeeper from the cadre apartments. He picked up without concern, but after hearing what she said, his brow furrowed. He told Meng Chuan to get the car, then hauled Zhou Zhenglin along with them.
On the way, they both asked at the same time, “What happened?”
They soon got their answer. At the hospital, the girl was lying in a bed.
Compared with half a month earlier, she had lost a staggering amount of weight, and her skin was so pale it had no color at all.
“Explain,” Meng Huaijin said to the housekeeper in the corridor, his voice icy.
His presence made the housekeeper tremble. She darted her eyes away. “M-Miss Shu doesn’t really like eating. Her blood sugar is low.”
“Is that so?” The man’s cold eyes narrowed. “It doesn’t look to me as if low blood sugar is the whole story.”
The housekeeper suddenly burst into tears and complained, “This young lady… she might be ill. She sits on her bed staring into space all night, night after night, and won’t let me turn off the lights. The moment I do, she screams.”
“And she can’t have any meat at all. I didn’t know on the first day, so I made meat soup. After she drank it, she threw up terribly. Since then, she’s hardly eaten anything. Even when she does, she’ll only have plain congee. It has no nutrition—how could she not have low blood sugar?”
“Mr. Meng, Miss Shu is so delicate…”
“Collect your pay and go.” Meng Huaijin dropped the words coldly and pushed open the door to the ward.
The male doctor had already left. A female doctor was still examining Shu Wan.
Zhou Zhenglin, now wearing a white coat, came up to him and clicked his tongue. “Is this how you look after a young girl?”
He was a doctor at this hospital. He’d meant to take the day off and welcome this man, but Meng Huaijin had dragged him into the car and brought him back to the hospital to work overtime.
Meng Huaijin went to the smoking area, lit a cigarette, and took several deep drags. “How is she?”
Zhou Zhenglin followed him. “The low blood sugar and allergy are only the surface problems. The worst part is the trauma in the girl’s heart. How could you bring her to North City and then just leave her to fend for herself?”
“…I didn’t leave her to fend for herself.”
“She’s just been through such a huge upheaval. Money and a housekeeper to take care of her daily needs aren’t enough. In short, she’s desperately short on any sense of security. What she needs is company and care, not a cold house and mechanical housekeeping.”
Meng Huaijin frowned.
Zhou Zhenglin continued earnestly, “And the girl clearly grew up pampered and well-provided for by Sister Meng Xian. That housekeeper must have been skimping on the living expenses you gave her and buying her the cheapest underwear. That caused a fiber allergy across her entire chest…”
“You saw?” Meng Huaijin shot him a knife-sharp look.
“…A female colleague told me. But is that the point? I’m a doctor. Even if I examined her, it’d be part of my job, wouldn’t it?”
“Have a female doctor examine the allergic area.” Meng Huaijin dropped the words, crushed the cigarette butt with his bare hand, and turned back into the ward.
.
The doctors had left. Shu Wan was awake. When she saw the tall, slender man approaching, she pressed her lips together in a sulk and turned to look out the window.
It was his first time looking after someone, and he didn’t have much experience. This really had been his oversight. Meng Huaijin pulled a chair up beside the bed and watched the girl’s thin back for a long while before speaking.
“Do you want something to eat?”
Shu Wan shook her head, then asked softly, “Do you hate me?”
“No,” he replied evenly.
“Then are you not going to live there anymore? Are you still going to hire housekeepers for me?”
“Mm. I’ll hire two this time—professionals with a strong sense of responsibility.”
The girl only said, “Oh,” her voice full of disappointment.
Meng Huaijin’s brow furrowed deeply. He stared at her without moving. “Shu Wan, what do you want?”
Only then did Shu Wan turn to meet his unfathomable gaze. Though his sternness frightened her, she still tried to reason with him. “I’m not used to living with strangers. Could you move back?”
The man refused. “You’re a grown girl now. It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to live together.”
The girl’s wide eyes flickered, half confused and half bewildered. “But aren’t you my family?”
Although she had only met him once before, her mother had often told her stories about him afterward. So when she lost everything, she clung to him like a lifeline, seeing him as her only family in this world, in this city, and her only comfort.
Meng Huaijin gazed at her in silence and didn’t answer.
It seemed there was no room for discussion after all.
Shu Wan sighed inwardly. Her chest was unbearably itchy, so she quietly pulled the blanket up to her neck, then slipped a hand beneath it and scratched discreetly.
Meng Huaijin looked away from the blanket, which was rising and falling in a painfully obvious attempt to hide what she was doing, and said sternly, “Don’t scratch.”
Shu Wan froze and stopped. A moment later, she looked up at him again with those clear, bright almond-shaped eyes.
Once more, she made a sincere, heartfelt plea.
“Could we… live together?”
References[+]