Perhaps it was the powerful, spine-chilling aura about him, the sort that kept all the ghosts and spirits at bay, but as Shu Wan listened to the scratch-scratch-scratch of his pen approving documents, she found herself growing a little drowsy.
Before long, her awareness began to fade, until at last she sank into a deep sleep.
For the week she was in the hospital, Meng Huaijin brought files every evening to review. He would leave only after Shu Wan had fallen asleep.
She didn’t know what to make of this older relative.
Whenever she thought well of him, a single sentence from him was enough to douse her naïveté.
Whenever she thought poorly of him, some subtle gesture would set her thinking again. Perhaps he wasn’t quite as coldhearted as she’d thought.
.
On the day Shu Wan was discharged, Meng Huaijin didn’t come. Meng Chuan came to pick her up instead.
“Meng Huaijin has a very important meeting today,” he explained. “He asked me to come get you first.”
Meng Chuan had driven over in a flashy Lamborghini that drew plenty of stares outside the hospital.
Shu Wan smiled and thanked him before getting in.
The August heat came at her in a surging wave, scorching and overwhelming. She raised a hand, feeling the wind pass between her fingers.
What a good family, and yet such a calamity had befallen them… Meng Chuan sighed inwardly. “Little Shu Wan, I’ve got a date tonight. I wanted to take you along and show you a good time, but I’m afraid Meng Huaijin would skin me alive. So I’ve got no choice but to take you back to the apartment first.”
Shu Wan wasn’t a fool. She knew exactly what he meant by a “date”—it would be somewhere full of flashing lights and beautiful women.
She smiled. “Does Uncle Chuan get scared of Uncle Huaijin too?”
Meng Chuan shuddered. “There isn’t one of us in the younger generation who isn’t scared of him. But when all’s said and done, we admire him more than we fear him. Wherever he is, you feel you’ve got someone to rely on. You feel safe.”
That was true. Shu Wan tried to sound him out. “Has he told you whether he’ll be back at the apartment tonight?”
“He hasn’t. He’s just taken office, so he’s got plenty of fires to put out. He has more social engagements than there are cars on this street. He probably won’t make it back.”
Shu Wan fell silent, then asked casually, “Would he go to the kind of place you mentioned?”
Meng Chuan paused, then laughed. “Kids shouldn’t meddle in grown-ups’ business.”
By the time they got back to the apartment, it was late. Meng Chuan gave her a few quick reminders, then hurried off to his next engagement.
As soon as the door closed, Tiantong leaped into Shu Wan’s arms with a meow.
She gave the cat a little bounce, surprised. “How did you get so fat?”
One look at the food bowl told her everything.
If someone was feeding Tiantong three days’ worth of food in a single day, how could the cat not get fat?
Shu Wan could even picture the expression on the face of that big shot, famous throughout North City, as he fed the cat and scooped its litter. It must have been priceless.
Holding Tiantong on the sofa, Shu Wan smiled at first. But as she smiled, she suddenly fell silent, unsure who she could talk to.
In the hospital, Meng Chuan had kept her laughing, and Doctor Zhou had checked in on her with such concern.
And when all else failed, there was Meng Huaijin, with his face that seemed incapable of smiling. He might have a heart of stone, but his presence was imposing.
Shu Wan had stopped deliberately dwelling on certain things, but whenever everything went quiet, the fear and heaviness inside her became impossible to control.
She wasn’t sure whether Meng Huaijin would come tonight. After all, he had never said he planned to move back in.
Shu Wan looked toward the door again and again, but heard nothing.
When the clock hands pointed to ten, she finally gave up waiting and called him.
The phone rang three or four times before he answered. He didn’t speak first.
“Hello?” Shu Wan said, taking a gentle breath. “Are you really not coming back to live here?”
The second hand ticked three times before Meng Huaijin’s low, rich, slightly husky voice came through the receiver.
“Open the door.”
.
The cat in her arms meowed and jumped onto the wooden floor.
Shu Wan stood and headed for the door. Halfway there, she realized she was barefoot, so she went back to put on her shoes.
Then she made sure to check the peephole before opening the door to Meng Huaijin.
Meng Huaijin held his navy suit jacket in one hand. In his black shirt, he looked even colder and more unapproachable.
He stepped inside and set the things in his other hand on the dining table. “At least you remembered to check the peephole. You’re not completely stupid.”
Was that a compliment or an insult?
As he brushed past her, Shu Wan caught the faint smell of alcohol on Meng Huaijin.
“Did you cook?” Meng Huaijin glanced at the blackened mess in the trash can.
Shu Wan took a strategic sip of hot water. “I just made a little something.”
“Did it catch fire?”
“…No.”
“Then good for you.”
“…” If you can’t give a compliment, you really don’t have to.
Shu Wan hadn’t spent all those hours waiting around doing nothing. She’d seen fresh vegetables in the fridge and tried her hand at cooking. The result was one failure after another, and she’d filled the kitchen with smoke. It had really been just short of catching fire.
Once she’d recognized her shortcomings, she’d quickly pulled back from the brink, stopped trying, and cleaned up the “crime scene”—wiping everything down, mopping the floor, and opening the windows to air the place out.
She’d thought she’d covered her tracks perfectly. But for all her careful planning, she’d forgotten to take out the trash.
Meng Huaijin didn’t really hold it against her. He opened the food container, took out a steamer basket of hot buns and a bowl of soup, and tapped the dining table.
Over the past few days in the hospital, they’d developed an understanding about meals.
More precisely, Meng Huaijin had unilaterally laid down the rules.
He wouldn’t force her to eat meat, but she had to follow his arrangements and eat nutritious meals that would help her recover. No picky eating, and no arguing.
Shu Wan pulled out a chair and sat down. She took a sip of the soup first: fresh vegetables in a light, fragrant broth. Then she bit into a bun. She couldn’t stop eating long enough to say a word. It was a custard bun, with a crisp skin and a fragrant, sweet filling that melted in her mouth. It was delicious.
“Shu Wan.”
Just as she was nearly finished, Meng Huaijin called her name, his voice low and even.
She looked up. He had already loosened his tie and was sitting languidly on the sofa by the balcony, an unlit cigarette between his fingers.
“Hmm?” she answered.
He remained in the same posture. “You’ve been in North City for almost a month. I don’t think I’ve ever really sat down and talked with you.”
An opening like that usually meant a talk with the homeroom teacher.
Shu Wan instinctively sat up straight, looking every bit the well-behaved student.
“What happened to your parents can’t be defended. When you do wrong, you have to stand up and take the punishment. You’re a survivor, and you’re innocent too. Whether or not you can accept it, you need to move on as soon as you can. Understand?”
It was the first time she’d heard him speak so many words to her in the measured tone of an elder. Shu Wan froze, and it took her quite a while to remember to nod.
She’d always known that no one could stay immersed in grief forever.
Meng Huaijin continued, his voice still cool. “Before the accident, your mother called me and asked me to take you in. I refused.”
Shu Wan glanced at him, then lowered her eyes. “I understand. I’m a burden. Everyone should stay away from me.”
That wasn’t the reason, of course. Meng Huaijin shot her a look. “If you were a boy, I could have sent you into the army. But you’re a girl.”
“What’s wrong with being a girl? Girls can’t join the army? If you really wanted to send me, I could—”
“Even slightly rough fabric makes your skin break out. In a stiffer camouflage uniform, you’d probably end up with skin lesions.”
“…”
Meng Huaijin looked at her. “I mean, I don’t know how to look after girls. And the truth is, I haven’t done a very good job.”
Shu Wan strongly suspected he was only reflecting on himself because he’d been drinking.
Otherwise, she’d never have heard him say something so gentle in her entire life.
But, to be fair, he was only a little cold in appearance and a little sharp-tongued. All in all…
“You do have some redeeming qualities.”
Shu Wan mumbled indistinctly, afraid he’d hear her. Taking advantage of his tipsiness, she tested the waters. “So, Uncle, does this mean you’ve moved back in?”
Meng Huaijin gave her a sidelong glance. He used his palm to shield a lighter from the breeze and flicked it alight. Just as he was about to bring the flame to the cigarette at the corner of his mouth, he abruptly snapped the metal lid shut. Instead of answering, he asked, “How are your grades?”
“…Pretty good, I guess.”
“Did you have any friends back in South City?”
At that, Shu Wan fell silent.
She’d had two friends she’d grown up playing with, but after the trouble at home, their parents had wanted to keep themselves out of it and distance themselves from her family. They wouldn’t let the two of them see her anymore.
Shu Wan lowered her head to hug the cat. A few tears fell onto its back.
“They’re not worth crying over.” Even when he was trying to comfort her, Meng Huaijin’s tone was hard and cold.
He was the stern, impartial Chief, the cold-faced man with no mercy. What would he know about the unbreakable bonds of friendship between teenage girls?
Thinking of the friendship they’d shared for more than ten years made Shu Wan feel even worse.
Meng Huaijin furrowed his strong brows. In the end, he disregarded his usual restraint and lit the cigarette. He took a shallow drag, narrowed his eyes, and asked, “Are you this upset because he was your boyfriend?”